Abstract:
A liquid dispenser system uses a container that has a reservoir in the bottom of the container and an opening in the top of the container. The dispenser has a cover, which covers the opening in the container and a draw tube that extends from the cover into the reservoir. An end of the draw tube in the reservoir has a plurality of inlets. The average cross-section of the reservoir below the inlets of the draw tube is less than one fourth of the average cross-section of the rest of the container. As a result of the difference in average cross-sections, the invention reduces the amount of liquid that the dispenser is not able to dispense, which reduces wasted liquid. In a production environment, the reduction in waste results in a reduction in down time.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to liquid containers. More particularly, the invention relates to a container that uses a dispenser mounted on the liquid container to dispense the liquid. More particularly the invention relates to liquid containers with top mounted dispensers where the container holds a removable bag which holds the liquid. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Liquid containers with a built in dispenser often have a dispenser mechanism mounted at the top of the container. Top dispensers use a draw tube that extends to the bottom of the liquid container. Many such containers have a flat interior bottom. Once the level of the liquid goes below the bottom of the draw tube the dispenser is unable to dispense the remaining liquid, which is often disposed with the container. Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a container and dispenser that dispenses a larger percentage of liquid. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, the foregoing object is accomplished by providing a container such as a bottle with a reservoir at the bottom of the container and an extended draw tube that extends into the reservoir. 
     Other features of the present invention are disclosed or apparent in the section entitled: “DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION.” 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
     For fuller understanding of the present invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings wherein: 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a side view of a prior art container with a prior art dispenser. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a side view of a container with a dispenser in accordance with the principles of the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 illustrates a side view of another embodiment of a container with a dispenser in accordance with the principles of the present invention. 
    
    
     Reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent parts of the present invention throughout the several figures of the drawing. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     As briefly discussed above, and as shown in FIG. 1, in the prior art a container  10  with a flat interior bottom  11  is lined by a plastic bag  12 , which contains a liquid  13 . A dispenser  17  is placed over an opening in the top of the container  10  and into the container  10 . The dispenser  17  comprises a cover  18  and a draw tube  19  extending from the cover  18  to near the interior bottom  11  of the container  10 , where inlets  24  are placed near the bottom of the draw tube  19 . The dispenser  17  may also have a fluid delivery tube  20 , which is used in industrial production lines to provide fluid from the dispenser  17  to a production line. 
     In a production line, a bubble sensor  21  is connected to the delivery tube  20 . The bubble sensor  21  is able to detect the presence of bubbles in the delivery tube  20  and either sounds an alarm or stops production when a bubble is detected. The dispenser  17  stops drawing liquid when the surface level of the liquid reaches a minimal surface level  22  determined by the depth of the draw tube  19 . The container  10  is then removed from the dispenser  17 , and a new container  10  with a new plastic bag are connected to the dispenser  17 . The old plastic bag  12  is removed from the old container  10 , and a new plastic bag  12  is placed in the old container  10 . The remaining liquid in the old plastic bag  12  may be disposed with the plastic bag  12  causing a waste of liquid. The failure to use the large volume of remaining liquid causes more frequent stopping of production to change the containers, thereby increasing down time. Since many of these chemicals have a high cost of disposal, in addition to paying to purchase the wasted liquid, there is the additional payment to dispose of the wasted liquid. In addition, the large surface area near the bottom of the draw tube  19  increases the amount of bubbles when the surface of the liquid is just above the inlets  24  and the container  10  is disturbed, thereby causing the bubble sensor  21  to create more false alarms and which further increases down time. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a container  40 , used in a preferred embodiment of the invention, with a reservoir  42  formed by a concave portion of the interior of the bottom  44  of the container  40 . In the preferred embodiment, the container  40  is a bottle, preferably a glass bottle or a plastic (polycarbonate) bottle. The container  40  is lined by a plastic bag  46 , which contains a liquid  47 . The exterior of the bottom  44  of the container  40  in this embodiment is flat. The bottom  44  of the container  40  is thick to allow the formation of the reservoir  42  on the interior part of the bottom  44 , while keeping the exterior of the bottom  44  flat. 
     A dispenser  49  is placed over an opening in the top of the container  40  and into the container  40 . The dispenser  49  comprises a cover  51  and a draw tube  52  with a first end and a second end opposite from the first end. The first end of the draw tube  52  is mechanically connected to the cover  51 . The second end of the draw tube  52  is placed into the reservoir  42  of the container  40 . Inlets  53  into the draw tube  52  are located near the second end of the draw tube  52  so that when the second end of the draw tube  52  is placed into the reservoir  42 , the inlets  53  are placed into the reservoir  42 . In the preferred embodiment, the dispenser  49  has a fluid delivery tube  57 , which is used in industrial production lines to provide fluid from the dispenser  49  to a production line. The delivery tube  57  is mechanically connected to the cover  51  and is outside of the container  40  and is in fluid connection with the draw tube  52 . 
     In a production line, a bubble sensor  59  is in fluid connection with the delivery tube  57 . The bubble sensor  59  is able to detect the presence of bubbles in the delivery tube  57  and either sounds an alarm or stops production when a bubble is detected. The dispenser  49  stops drawing liquid when the surface level of the liquid reaches a minimum surface level  61  determined by the depth of the inlets  53  of the draw tube  52 . The container  40  is then removed from the dispenser and a new container  40  is attached to the dispenser. The old plastic bag  46  is removed from the old container  40 . The remaining liquid may be disposed with the old plastic bag  46 . 
     In this embodiment the container  40  and reservoir  42  have round cross-sections, and thus have a diameter. If the container  42  and reservoir were square or had other shapes, the width would be used in place of the diameter. In the specification and claims, the term “width” also includes a diameter for objects with a round cross-section. The reservoir  42  has a width  63  that is less than  {fraction (1/4 +L )} of the width 65 of the remainder of the container 40. Therefore, the cross-sectional area of the reservoir 42 would be less than    {fraction (1/16 +L )} of the cross-sectional area of the container 40. This would mean that the invention fails to dispense less than    {fraction (1/16 +L )} of the liquid (by volume) that is not dispensed of in a prior art container if both containers have the same diameters and the inlets of the prior art container are spaced the same distance from the bottom of the container as the inlets in the preferred embodiment are spaced from the bottom of the reservoir, since the volume of the reservoir below the inlets in the invention is less than    {fraction (1/16 +L )} the volume of the container below the inlets in the prior art. This reduction in waste also causes less frequent stopping of production to change the container decreasing down time. In addition, the small surface area near the bottom of the draw tube 52 decreases the amount of bubbles allowing for fewer false alarms from the bubble sensor 59 and thus further decreasing down time.    
     In the preferred embodiment, the reservoir has a lowest section  67 , where the inlets  53  for the draw tube  42  are placed adjacent to the lowest section  67 . 
     FIG. 3 illustrates a container  73 , used in another preferred embodiment of the invention. The container  73  has a top  96  with an opening  97 , a bottom  75 , and a side wall  99  forming a tubular section extending from the top  96  to the bottom  75 . A reservoir  74  is formed by a concave portion of the interior of the bottom  75  of the container  73 . In the preferred embodiment, the container  73  is a bottle, preferably a glass bottle or a plastic bottle. The container  73  is lined by a plastic bag  77 , which contains a liquid  78 . 
     A dispenser  79  is placed over an opening in the top of the container  73  and into the container  73 . The dispenser  79  comprises a cover  81  and a draw tube  82  with a first end and a second end opposite from the first end. The first end of the draw tube  82  is mechanically connected to the cover  81 . The second end of the draw tube  82  is placed into the reservoir  74  of the container  73 . Inlets  83  in the draw tube  82  are located near the second end of the draw tube  82  so that when the second end of the draw tube  82  is placed into the reservoir  74 , the inlets  83  are placed into the reservoir  72 . In the preferred embodiment, the dispenser  79  has a fluid delivery tube  85 , which is used in industrial production lines to provide fluid from the dispenser  79  to a production line. The delivery tube  85  is mechanically connected to the cover  81  and is outside of the container  73  and is in fluid connection with the draw tube  82 . 
     In a production line, a bubble sensor  87  is in fluid connection with the delivery tube  85 . The bubble sensor  87  is able to detect the presence of bubbles in the delivery tube  85  and either sounds an alarm or stops production when a bubble is detected. The dispenser  79  stops drawing liquid when the surface level of the liquid reaches a minimum surface level  89  determined by the depth of the inlets  83  of the draw tube  82 . The container  73  is then removed from the dispenser  79 , and a new container  73  is attached to the dispenser  79 . The old plastic bag  77  is removed from the old container  73 . The remaining liquid may be disposed with the old plastic bag  77 . 
     Because the reservoir  74  is tapered, as shown, the reservoir  74  has a varying width and therefore a varying cross-section. The volume of the of the remaining liquid when the surface level of the liquid reaches the minimum surface level  89  is the average cross-sectional area of the reservoir below the minimum surface level  89  times the height of the minimum surface level  89 . The average cross-sectional area is a function of the average width of the reservoir  74  below the minimum surface level  89 . When the tubular section formed by the side wall  99  has a round or square cross-sectional area the average cross-sectional area is related to the square of the average width. For the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the container  73  and reservoir  74  have square cross-sectional areas. In addition, the tapered reservoir  74  has an average width below the minimum surface level  89 , which is equal to a width  92  which is about half way between the minimum surface level  89  and the bottom of the container  73 . The width  92  is less than  {fraction (1/4 +L )} of the width 93 of the container 73. This would mean that the invention fails to dispense less than    {fraction (1/16 +L )} of the liquid (by volume) than the volume of liquid that is not dispensed of in a prior art container if both containers have the same widths and the inlets of the prior art container are spaced the same distance from the bottom of the container as the inlets in the preferred embodiment are spaced from the bottom of the reservoir, since the volume of the reservoir below the inlets in the invention is less than    {fraction (1/16 +L )} the volume of the container below the inlets in the prior art. This reduction in waste also causes less frequent stopping of production to change the plastic bag decreasing down time. In addition, the small liquid surface area near the bottom of the draw tube 52 decreases the amount of bubbles producing fewer false alarms from the bubble sensor 87 and thus further decreasing down time.    
     Since the exterior bottom of the container  73 , in this embodiment, is not flat the container  73  is held in a support such as a cradle or stand that provides a stable placement of the container  73 . 
     In other embodiments the ratio of the average cross-sectional area of the container above the reservoir to the average cross-sectional area of the reservoir below the inlets could be different that 16:1. Preferably the ratio would be greater than 4:1. 
     In the illustrated embodiments, the dispenser provides air into the plastic bag, so that the plastic bag maintains the shape of the container as the liquid is dispensed. In other preferred embodiments, the dispenser provides air to the container instead of the plastic bag, which causes the plastic bag to collapse from the container walls as the liquid is dispensed. 
     The present invention has been particularly shown and described with respect to certain preferred embodiments and features thereof. However, it should be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes and modifications in form and detail may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventions as set forth in the appended claims. The inventions illustratively disclosed herein may be practiced without any element which is specifically disclosed herein.