Patent Publication Number: US-4060182-A

Title: Bottle with electrically-operated pump

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a bottle with an electrically-operated pump and more particularly, it relates to an improvement of a vacuum bottle designed to pump the liquid contents by turning a propeller in the bottle by means of dry cells and a miniature motor incorporated into a boxed cover of the bottle. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The characteristic features of this invention reside in the fact that a boxed cover containing dry cells, a motor and a switch hinges the upper and rear part of the vessel, and that a fistulous plug, comprising a propeller shaft driven by the motor and pipes passing the liquid contents therethrough, is constructed separately from the boxed cover, and that the rotation of the motor is smoothly transmitted to the propeller shaft by the engagement of clutch pieces when the boxed cover is closed. One of the clutch pieces is attached at the lower end of the motor shaft, and another is attached at the upper end of the propeller shaft. 
     An object of this invention is to provide a bottle with an electrically-operated pump, in which the fistulous plug can be easily removed when the vacuum bottle is filled with liquid. 
     Another object of this invention is to provide a bottle with an electrically-operated pump in which the liquid contents thereof can be pumped therefrom smoothly, and with little vibration or noise. 
     A further object of this invention is to provide a bottle with an electrically-operated pump in which the rather heavy boxed cover can be opened and closed in safety, and wherein the structure enables those electrical parts to be rust-proof which most affect the life of this kind of bottle, and wherein there is no leakage when the bottle falls down and there is no accumulation of water that leaks into parts other than the pipes. 
     Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a preferred embodiment of this invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view, broken in part, of the disassembled embodiment of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the boxed cover disassembled; 
     FIGS. 4 (A) and (B) are perspective views showing the relation between a hinge rod and a locking piece which locks the opened boxed cover; 
     FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the hinged part of the boxed cover showing the locked state; 
     FIG. 6 is a front elevation view of water leak preventive valve disassembled in parts; 
     FIG. 7 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the principal part in FIG. 1. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     In the figures, 1 is a vacuum bottle formed from a double glass bottle. The bottle is held within a casing 2 by known means. The brim 1a of the vacuum bottle is held by fixing a funnel-like pour member 3 to the upper part of the casing 2, and the pour member has a bottom opening 3&#39; with a beak portion 3a at the front end. This bottom opening 3&#39; is equal to or larger than the mouth 1&#39; of the vacuum bottle. 
     As shown in FIGS. 2 and 7, the bottle of this invention is made of a vessel 4 comprising the casing 2 holding the vacuum bottle 1 therein with a pour member 3 attached to its upper part, and a boxed cover 5 thereover. The pour member and cover are connected by a lower hinge piece 61, an upper hinge piece 62 attached at the back sides of each, and a hinge rod 63. 
     A fistulous plug 7 is downwardly inserted through the mouth 1&#39; of the vacuum bottle from a bottom opening 3&#39; of the pour member 3. 
     An inner pipe 8 extending downward and an outer pipe 9 extending laterally are connected to the fistulous plug 7; the pipes are connected to the plug so that they can be treated as one when the fistulous plug 7 is inserted and removed. The fistulous plug 7 is a double cylindrical plug comprising an inside cylinder 7a and an outside cylinder 7b sealed with a common upper cover 7c. 
     The inner pipe 8 has an outside flange 8a around the upper end and a groove 8b formed by constricting partially, the inside and outside diameter of the pipe at the part thereof that is 1/20 ˜ 1/5 of the pipe length down from the upper end. The inside diameter of the inside cylinder 7a of the fistulous plug 7 becomes, at the lower part, smaller and is about the same as the outer diameter of the inner pipe 8. A step 71 is formed at the inner surface of the inside cylinder when the diameter is reduced. Since the outside flange 8a of the inner pipe 8 is designed to be caught by the upper surface of the step 71, and since the dimension of the lower part of the inside cylinder 7a is designed so that the groove 8b is situated beneath the lower end of the inside cylinder 7a, the inner pipe 8 can be easily and security connected to the fistulous plug 7 when a snap ring 8c or the like is fastened around the groove 8b. 
     At the inside end of a pouring pipe 9a integrated with the fistulous plug 7 and connected to the inner pipe 8, a lower valve casing 91 is formed, and at the inside of the jointing end of a round pipe 9b, an upper valve casing 92 is formed, the round pipe 9b attached removably to the pouring pipe 9a and being bent downward. Therefore, the lower valve case 91 and the upper valve case 92 are combined to form a valve chamber 93 when the round pipe 9b is coupled with the pouring pipe 9a to form the outer pipe 9, as shown in FIG. 6. 
     A valve holder 94 is set into the valve chamber 93, and a ball valve 95 is put into the valve holder 94. In this embodiment, the valve holder has an outside flange 94a at the front end, and the outside flange 94a is between the front edge of the pouring pipe 9a and the pressing cylinder 96 formed inside of the upper valve case 92 to fix the valve holder 94. A hole 94&#39; for water passage is perforated on the surface of the valve holder 94. In this embodiment, the inside diameter of the pressing cylinder 96 is designed smaller than the diameter of the ball valve 95 so that the pressing cylinder 96 works as a valve stopper for the ball valve 95. 
     A propeller shaft 81 is inserted longitudinally through the inside cylinder 7a of the plug 7 and the inner pipe 8. The lower end of the propeller shaft 81 is situated near the lower opening 8d of the inner pipe 8 and a propeller 82 is attached thereon. The upper end of the propeller shaft 81 projects from the upper part of the fistulous plug 7 and has a lower clutch piece 10b which engages an upper clutch piece 10a, of a motor 81. The propeller shaft 81 is not only borne by the lower part of the inner pipe 8 and the upper part of the fistulous plug 7, but also by partitions 72, 73 fixed above the pouring pipe 9a. 
     Partitions 72, 73 are provided in order to prevent the liquid W which is pumped up by the propeller 82 from entering into the upper end of the fistulous plug 7 and into the space where the lower clutch piece 10b is fixed through a shaft hole. In spite of the existence of the lower partition 72, a little quantity of liquid will pass through the shaft hole. The liquid which has passed the partition, however, does not accumulate in the upper part of the fistulous plug 7, but flows out from a window 74 and returns to the vacuum bottle 1 through the inside space of the outside cylinder 7b, because the window 74 is perforated on the side wall of the inside cylinder 7a and is positioned at the same level as the lower partition 72. The window 74 faces the inside space of the outside cylinder 7b. Less liquid goes up through the shaft hole of the upper partition 73, but that which does returns to the vacuum bottle 1 as described above. 
     The bottom member 50 of the boxed cover 5 is formed so that only the part which covers the upper side of the beak portion 3a is placed at a higher level than the rest part of the bottom member 50. Therefore, a downward looking space 5c is formed at the front part of the boxed cover 5 and an upward looking space 5d is formed at its rear part. The greater part of the space 5d is covered with a fixed cover 5a, which corresponds to the upper part of the boxed cover 5, to form an isolated chamber 5e, wherein electrical parts like the motor 51 and lead wires are contained. The motor shaft 52 projects downward through the opening of a circular pedestal 50a provided around the center of the bottom member 50, and the upper clutch piece 10a is attached to the lower end of the motor shaft 52. 
     The projecting portion of the motor shaft 52 is perfectly sealed with a seal plate 53, engaging closely with the motor shaft 52, which is pressed against to the upper surface of the circular pedestal 50a by a spring 54. A push button is equipped on the fixed cover 5a and the power supply is controlled by the opening and closing of a movable contact 56a and a fixed contact 56b switched by the push button 55. Since the dry cell chambers 5f, 5f, in the right and left sides of the space 5d are not covered by the fixed cover 5 but a removable cover 5b, it is easy to exchange the dry cells. In the space 5c, as shown FIG. 3, a lock lever 57 equipped with a nail 57b which engages with a hook 4a on the upper portion of the vessel 4. The operation portion 57a of the lock lever 57 projects upward through a hole 5c&#39; which is perforated far from the isolated chamber 5e.  In this embodiment, a support bottom plate 5g is positioned beneath the space 5c and the nail 57b of the lock lever 57 projects downward from a hole 5g&#39; perforated in the support bottom plate 5g. 
     A locking member 59, made of an elastic body such as spring material, is attached by a screw 58 at the hinged part 6 of the boxed cover 5, such as the rear part of the bottom member 50. The nail 59a is designed so that the end of the locking member 59 can press the lower hinge piece 61 or the upper hinge piece 62 by an elastic force, when the boxed cover 5 is opened a necessary angle (normally 90 degrees or so) to fill the bottle 1 with liquid. On the other hand, since a groove 64, whereinto the nail 59a is inserted, is prepared at a position of the lower hinge piece 61 or the upper hinge piece 62 where the nail 59a touches, the boxed cover 5 is, as shown in FIG. 5, locked in an opening position when the nail 59a is inserted into the groove 64 by an opening operation of the boxed cover 5. The hooking force between the groove 64 and the locking member 59 is designed so that the boxed cover 5 does not close by its own weight when the vessel 4 is tilted and the boxed cover 5 is open by more than 90 degrees from the vessel 4 and so that the boxed cover can be pushed down by a rather weak force when it should be closed. 
     In this embodiment, the locking member 59 is folded on a support plate 59b which is formed with the locking member 59 as shown in FIGS. 4 (A), (B), and a hinge rod holder 65 with a narrow groove 65a is attached to the support plate 59b. Furthermore, a guide surface 61a, whose sectional view is arc-like, is provided above the lower hinge piece 61, the hinge rod 63 being the center of the guide surface 61a, as shown in FIG. 2. 
     When the boxed cover 5 is opened, the nail 59a of the locking member 59 slides on the guide surface 61a, and then, at the instant the nail 59a reaches to the groove 64 on the outside of the guide surface 61a, the nail 59a, as shown in FIG. 5, enters drastically into the groove 64 by the elastic force of the locking member 59. 
     In this bottle of the invention, a suitable guide 11 is provided at the upper part of the fistulous plug 7 and at the bottom member 50 so that the boxed cover 5 always closes with an accurate position relative to the vessel 4, when the boxed cover 5 is closed after being released from its locked, open state. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, an upper piece 11a of the guide 11 is formed as an concentric cylinder with the motor shaft 52 at the opposite side of the circular pedestal 50a of the center of bottom member 50 or around the projection of the motor shaft 52. The upper piece 11a has a conical inside surface and is expanded downward. A lower piece 11b corresponding to the upper piece 11a is formed as a concentric cylinder with the propeller shaft 81 on the common upper cover 7c of the fistulous plug 7 or around the projection of the propeller shaft 81, and the lower piece 11b has a conical surface which is contracted upward. In this embodiment, since the outside diameter at the upper end of the lower piece 11b is smaller than the inside diameter at the lower end of the upper piece 11a, the upper end of the lower piece 11b is always positioned in the lower opening of the upper piece 11a, even if the boxed cover 5 does not hinge securely, when the boxed cover 5 is closed. Therefore, the boxed cover 5 itself returns to the closed position shown in the FIGURES or the position wherein the inside surface of the upper piece 11a perfectly engages with the outside surface of the lower piece 11b by the mutual guiding operation of both surface, when the boxed cover is pushed forward further. When the boxed cover 5 is closed, both axial lines of the motor shafts 52 and the propeller shaft 81 always concur with each other, and the upper clutch piece 10a smoothly and perfectly engages the lower clutch piece 10b. 
     Subsequently the operation of the bottle of this invention is explained hereafter. In order to fill the vacuum bottle 1 with liquid W, liquid W is poured through the funnel-like pour member 3 after the nail 57b is released from the hook 4a on the vessel 4 by a touch on the operation portion 57a of the lock lever 57, the boxed cover is opened by more than 90°, and the fistulous plug 7 is removed. While the boxed cover 5 is open more than 90°, it is locked in position as described above, by the engagement of the nail 59a of the locking member 59 with the groove on the lower hinge piece 61 or the upper hinge piece 62. Therefore, unexpected accidents caused by a sudden closing, such as an injury to user&#39;s fingers or a damage of the vacuum bottle 1, can be prevented. 
     After the liquid W is completely poured, the fistulous plug 7 is reinserted into the mouth 1&#39; of the vacuum bottle through the bottom opening 3&#39; of the pour member 3, and the boxed cover is closed. During above operation, the boxed cover 5 can be guided exactly to the correct closing position by the function of the guide 11 comprising the combination of the upper piece 11a and the lower piece 11b, and the upper clutch piece 10a smoothly and perfectly engages with the lower clutch piece 10b by during this motion. The motor 51 rotates and drives the propeller 82 through the upper clutch piece 10a and the lower clutch piece 10b after the push button 55 is pushed to close the contacts 56a and 56b under this condition. The liquid W pours out of the bottle by way of the lower opening 8d, the inner pipe 8, the inside cylinder 7a of the fistulous plug 7, the pouring pipe 9a and the round pipe 9b. Since the liquid W in the valve chamber 93 passes through the hole 94&#39; of the valve holder 94, the existence of the valve holder 94 does not prevent the liquid W from pouring. Because of the smooth and perfect engagement of the clutch pieces, as described before, troubles, such as strong vibration, loud noises and unsteady pouring due to an eccentric rotation of the propeller shaft 81, never occur. While the propeller, shaft 81 rotates, the liquid W tends to leak out of the fistulous plug 7 through the shaft holes of the partitions 72, 73, which bear the propeller shaft 81, and the shaft hole of the common upper cover 7c. But the leak through the shaft hole of the common cover 7c is prefectly prevented, since a water seal packing 75 is attached around the propeller shaft 81. Furthermore, because the isolated chamber 5e containing electrical parts such as the motor 51 and the contacts 56a, 56b is perfectly isolated from the space 5c by the bottom member 50 itself vapors of the liquid to be poured not leak into the isolated chamber 5e, even if the vapor leaks into the space 5c from the hole 3a&#39; of the beak portion 3a at the upper part of the pouring mouth of the round pipe 9b through the hole 5g&#39; of the support bottom plate 5g. Adding to above description, the opening of the circular pedestal 50a, which is the one and only downward opening of the isolated chamber 5e, is tightly sealed by a sealing plate 53, so that the electrical parts such as the motor 51 are prevented from the damage to be caused by water or vapor. 
     If the bottle of this invention is dropped by accident, the level of the pouring mouth of the round pipe 9b becomes lower than its jointing end. But at this moment, the valve holder 94 leans forwardly and the ball valve 95 in the valve holder 94 is driven by the gravity and shuts the surface of the valve stopper of the pressing cylinder 96. Therefore, the liquid W can not flow out to the round pipe 9b and the liquid is prevented from flowing when the bottle is dropped. Since the fistulous plug 7 is constructed separately from the boxed cover 5 and the vessel 4 and the motor rotation is transmitted to the propeller shaft by the engagement of the upper clutch piece 10a provided at the boxed cover 5 and the lower clutch piece 10b provided at the fistulous plug 7, the bottle of this invention has the following advantages when compared with a former plug unit which is assembled together with a box containing electrical parts such as a motor. 
     1. Even if the materials of the plug deteriorate due to continued exposure the liquid or vapor, the cost of exchanging parts is low because it is not necessary to exchange the boxed cover 5 itself. 
     2. The initial cost of the material is low because it is not necessary to use expensive metalic materials in order to prevent the plug from deteriorating. 
     3. Since all the rather heavy parts such as the motor and dry cells are contained in the boxed cover and are constructed separately from the plug, the force to remove the plug is small. 
     4. There is little possibility of damaging the inside surface of the vacuum bottle with the lower part of the inner pipe, since the diameter of the portion which is pulled up for removing can be designed rather small which makes it easy for the plug to be pulled uprightly. 
     The bottle with an electrically-operated pump of this invention, as minutely described above, is designed quite reasonably and is free from the unconveniences in handling, expensive cost and difficult maintenance and repair which have existed in some of the prior art bottles, so this invention greatly contributes to a development of the industrial technology about this kind of bottle.