Abstract:
A method and apparatus for vending a containerized liquid product to a vendee, after an original liquid container has been emptied, by successive refillings of the product and utilizing machine-readable indicia on the container, a discount ticket or coupon being dispensed to the vendee upon completion of the filling of the container.

Description:
BACKGROUND AND FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     Commercial establishments, e.g., retailers such as supermarkets, etc., sell a wide variety of liquid products in various types of containers. A specific example of a liquid product is a liquid laundry detergent sold in relatively large plastic containers having a screw-type cap or closure. Vendees or customers, or consumers of such liquid products frequently discard the containers after using the contents thereof The discarded empty containers then migrate into a waste disposal area such as a landfill. 
     If an alternate system were used whereby the customer would bring back the empty original container to the commercial establishment for refilling the container using a user-friendly method (as will be described below in connection with the present invention), then the following benefits may be attained: 
     1. The commercial establishment can profitably vend or sell the liquid product for the refilling at a price significantly lower than the original sales price; such lower price will financially motivate the customer to return the empty container for refilling. The commercial establishment will use relatively low cost bulk quantities of the liquid product for the refilling; this will facilitate a strong profit margin for the commercial establishment. 
     2. The refilling and reuse of the containers breaks the cycle of “use and discard”, i.e., keeps empty containers out of the landfills with the obvious benefit to society. 
     Thus the present invention provides financial benefits to both the commercial establishment/vendor and the consumer/vendee while also facilitating a reduction in solid waste as a benefit to society. 
     DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,818 to Bradbury, et al., discloses a method and apparatus for vending a containerized product on multiple occasions. A customer initially purchases a fluid-filled container with a bar code that indicates the price of the container and fluid. Upon emptying the container, the customer returns to the store and refills the container at a refill station. The refill station modifies the bar code on the container to indicate that the container has been refilled. Thus, when the customer checks out, he or she is only charged for the refill, and not the container. A major disadvantage of the system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,818 is that it requires a relatively complex apparatus for modifying the bar code on the container to indicate that the container has been refilled. This complexity has been avoided by my invention. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In broad terms, the present invention provides a method of vending a containerized liquid product to a vendee utilizing an original container for said liquid product. Parenthetically, at the time of the original purchase of the original container of the liquid product, the container had thereon a machine-readable indicia such as a bar code or the like indicative of the liquid product and of the original sales price of the container as filled with the liquid product. After the original container had been emptied of the liquid product, then the invention provides for multiple refillings of the liquid product into the original container. The machine-readable indicia on the container is utilized to actuate the refilling of the container and, after each refilling of the container, the method dispenses to the refill vendee a discount coupon to be presented to the vendor&#39;s check-out station, together with the refilled container, whereby the price charged to the vendee by the vendor is the original sales price, less the value of the discount coupon. 
     Another important aspect of my invention is that the basic concept can be expanded to provide for the vending of a plurality of containerized liquid products respectively into a plurality of original refillable containers from a single dispensing station. For this case, each of the plurality of liquid products having been originally vended in an original refillable container (which may be of different diameters) having a unique machine-readable indicia thereon indicative of the liquid product in said original refillable container, and the original sales price thereof prior to the first refilling thereof For each refilling of a selected refillable container with the matching liquid product, then a discount coupon is dispensed to the refill vendee which then may be present to the vendors customer checkout station, together with the matching refilled container. 
     Another important aspect of my invention is that the liquid refilling method includes a vertically oriented liquid filling pipe or probe having an outlet and being positioned over a filling opening in an original container, and further being adapted to be vertically moveable with respect to the original container and being sized to freely enter the filling opening. The filling pipe or probe is inserted into the refillable container through the opening until the outlet is adjacent the bottom of the refillable container, following which the container is filled with a preselected volume of the liquid product. This is an important feature because it tends to prevent any foaming of the liquid as it is being transferred into the container. 
     Another aspect of my invention is to provide an additional marketing function to the method in connection either with the single product or multiple product versions discussed above by dispensing to the refill vendee, at the time of dispensing said discount coupon, at least one additional coupon or marketing message. 
     Another advantage of the present invention is that it can be linked to an inventory control management system whereby data is collected on the volume, on a product-by-product basis, of sales of the liquid products to thereby permit either the supplier to automatically restock the product or products at the appropriate time, and/or the retailer to automatically order from the supplier at the appropriate time. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a refill station; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a refill station cabinet; 
     FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an inventory control system; 
     FIG. 4 is a partial view of the apparatus of FIG. 1, with the filling pipe or probe  30  moved down and into the container AA; and 
     FIG. 5 is a view showing a total of six liquid storage containers for use, in one embodiment, with the apparatus of FIG.  1 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     FIGS. 1 and 2 depict a method and system of vending a single proprietary cleaning product, i.e., a self-service bottle filler designed to reduce cost and waste by reusing the consumer&#39;s bottle. It should be understood that the concept is applicable for the vending of two or more different proprietary liquid products. Thus, for one vending scenario, the consumer purchases one of ten different proprietary cleaning products. When the bottle is empty, the consumer brings it to a store when then has an automatic bottle refiller. The bottle is inserted in a chamber and the device reads the code on the label to identify the type and quantity of cleaner. The system then blends and dispenses the same product that is identified on the label. For this scenario, the products consist of one of five different concentrates dispensed selectively in full concentration or mixed with varying quantities of filtered water. The bottles preferably are of durable translucent plastic with removable tops. The shape of the bottles is selected so as to facilitate proper centering and orientation within the device&#39;s fill chamber. Additional considerations are that the label carrying the code or indicia must be durable, colorfast, and positioned correctly and consistently toward the code reader. The footprint and diameter of varying capacity bottles must be the same so as to facilitate centering under the fill-spout. The mouth of the container must be sufficiently wide for ease of receiving the filling probe. 
     Referring to FIG. 2, a refilling cabinet is depicted as a floor-supported device having a front panel  10  and a side panel  11 . A fill chamber  12  extends inwardly from a midsection of the front panel  10  and has a perforated bottom or drain shelf  13  for receiving and supporting an empty bottle or container AA. A suitable door  14  is provided for closing off the chamber  12 . A door latch and interlock  14 A on front panel  10  holds or retains door  14  and also is an element of the filling control circuit. A start button  15 , discount coupon dispensing means  18  and visual message means  16  and  17  are also provided on the front panel  10  of the cabinet adjacent to the start button  15  and positioned above the chamber  12 . 
     Referring to FIG. 1, the chamber  12  is depicted as having a lower surface  12 ′ with its integral perforated section  13  and an upper or top surface  12 ″. The empty container AA is depicted positioned resting on surface  13  with a neck-down portion terminating in an opening  26  at the top thereof. An overfill sensor  27  is fixed to chamber  12  and is positioned adjacent the top  26  of container AA. 
     The container AA has machine-readable indicia  20  thereon, selected in accordance with technology well known to those skilled in the art. For the example depicted, there are four separate indicia marks  20  which are adapted to be sensed by four sensors  22  attached to the chamber  12  for the purpose of identifying the type and quantity of the liquid product originally vended in container AA. 
     A fill-probe  30  is vertically positioned above the container AA and is adapted to be moved vertically from the position shown in FIG. 1 to the position shown in FIG. 4, i.e., with the spout of discharge end  31  of the probe (shown in FIG. 4) adjacent to the bottom of container AA. Thus, fill-probe  30  has an outside diameter preselected so as to permit insertion of the probe through the top opening  26  of container AA and thence downwardly into the container. This arrangement facilitates the refilling of the container AA with a minimum of foaming. 
     The fill-probe  30  is supported for the aforesaid vertical movement with respect to container AA by a pair of guide-bushings  33  and  34  shown in FIG.  1 . The top (as shown in FIG. 1) portion of fill-probe  30  is identified by reference numeral  30 ′ and has a longitudinally extending rack-gear  30 ″ which is adapted to be engaged by a pinion gear  36  driven by a motor-slip-clutch means  35 . Thus, when motor-slip-clutch  35  is energized in one sense it will cause the rotation of pinion gear  36  so as to drive the rack-gear  30 ″ and thus the fill-probe  30  downwardly as shown in FIG. 1 to the position shown in FIG. 4. A reverse energization of motor-slip-clutch  35  will retract the fill-probe to the position shown in FIG.  1 . 
     Rigidly attached to the fill-probe  30  are brackets  40 ,  45 , and  50 , on which are mounted suitable valve and flow control means  41 ,  51  and  46  respectively. Each of the units  41 ,  51  and  46  have a discharge conduit extending inside of the fill-probe  30 . Thus, valve and flow control  41  has a conduit  42  extending into fill-probe and extending down to a discharge opening  42 ′ adjacent the nozzle  31  of the fill-probe  30 . In the same manner, units  46  and  51  have conduits  47  and  52 , terminating respectively in discharge ports  47 ′ and  52 ′ within the fill-probe  30 . 
     Flexible fluid lines  64 ,  74  and  84  are connected respectively to inlet means of the valve and flow control units  41 ,  51  and  46 . Suitable pressure switches  43 ,  53  and  48  are connected to the flexible fluid lines  64 ,  74  and  84  respectively. The flexible fluid lines  64 ,  74  and  84  are respectively connected to the output of suitable pumps  62 ,  72  and  82  respectively, which are associated with bulk liquid containers  60 ,  70  and  80  respectively. The arrangement depicted in FIG. 1 is for a typical scenario where container  61  contains a dish-detergent having a high viscosity; container  71  contains filtered water, and container  81  contains a low-viscosity concentrate. Pump  62  has an inlet conduit  63  extending to the lower portion of container  61 ; the bottom of conduit  63  is identified by reference numeral  63 ′. Likewise, pump  72  has a conduit  73  with a lower end  73 ′, and pump  62  has a conduit  83  with a lower end  83 ′ extending to near the bottom of containers  71  and  81  respectively. 
     Within the chamber  12  is a collector  12 A concentrically positioned about the lower end  31  of the fill-probe  30  and functions to collect any errant fluid that might be on the outer surface of fill-probe  30 , such errant fluid then would be collected and removed via a suitable tube  12 B, adapted to discharge into a drain pan  12 C. 
     When container AA is filled to the proper level (as sensed by overfill sensor  27 ), then the control system functions to stop the pumps, to retract the fill probe, and to dispense at least one discount coupon at  18  for the vendee. In some cases, for marketing reasons as an example, the machine may dispense, in addition to the discount coupon, another coupon relating to another product. 
     As indicated, the scenario depicted in FIG. 1 is for a single proprietary-cleaning product. FIG. 5 depicts an expansion of the arrangement shown in FIG. 1 where only the bulk storage containers  60 ,  70  and  80  have been depicted but, in addition are three additional bulk storage containers  90 ,  100  and  110 , containing, respectively, proprietary products X, Y and Z. The containers  90 ,  100  and  110  comprise in part, respectively, pump means  92 ,  102  and  112 . It will be understood that pumps  92 ,  102  and  112  each would be connected to probe  30  through flexible fluid lines, valve and flow control units, and discharge conduits within the fill-probe  30  similar to those items associated with pumps  62 ,  72  and  82 . 
     Thus, in operation, the sensors  22  will respond to the indicia  20  on the container AA; this determines the type and quantity of cleaner for that specific container. Then the control means will selectively actuate the appropriate pumps and valve and flow control means. For the scenario depicted in FIG. 1 the pumps  62 ,  72  and  82  are actuated, as are their respective valve and flow controls  41 ,  51  and  46 . The valve and flow controls means are controlled so as to provide the proper blending of the three liquids being pumped through the flexible fluid lines  64 ,  74  and  84  into the fill-probe  30  and thence into the container AA. 
     For a different proprietary product, e.g., X, then the system control would cease utilizing liquid from tank  61 , and commence using product from tank  90 . 
     It will also be understood that the invention, shown in FIG. 2 as floor supported, may be configured for a support located above a floor. 
     Another aspect of the invention is schematically shown in FIG. 3 wherein information generated at the refill station  130  concerning the quantity of bulk liquids utilized is made available both to the retailer  140  and to the bulk supplier  150 . This information can be very useful and cost effective for purposes of inventory control. In one mode, the supplier  150  of bulk liquid products may receive the information from the refill station  130  and, pursuant to prior agreement, automatically maintain adequate fluid supplies at the refill station. Alternately, the retailer  140  may maintain control over the ordering of supplies by receiving the information from the refill station and then, as appropriate, order from the supplier  150  additional stock for the system. 
     While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated, it will be understood that variations may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the inventive concept. Accordingly, the invention is to be limited only by the scope of the following claims.