Patent Publication Number: US-5839298-A

Title: Dispensing and dosing device

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a dispensing and dosing device for granular detergent, said device being introduced with the laundry in the washing machine. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Dispensing devices for granular detergents, which are to be introduced with the laundry in the washing machine, are well known in the prior art. One of the reasons these dispensing devices have been introduced is to increase the solubilization of high density granular detergents, so-called &#34;compact&#34; detergents. In fact, compact detergents dissolve poorely compared to regular detergents. One of the main benefits of using compact detergents is that a lesser amount of detergents are needed for a washing. 
     On top of the obvious environmental benefit, using smaller amounts of detergents for a wash cycle means that compact detergents can be packed in smaller packages. Smaller packages means less space needed for storage and transportation, therefore also logistic and cost improvements are achieved. However, including a dosing and dispensing device in said packages means that the volume occupied by said device has to be made available, instead of being occupied by a corresponding amount of detergent. Thus, part of the advantage resulting of compact granular detergents is lost when a dosing and dispensing device is included in the packages. 
     EP-A-0 343 069 describes a process of washing laundry in a machine with a bag-shaped dispensing device. Said device is made of a tissue-like material. The lack of elasticity of the tissue-like material requires the ttachement of a rigid frame inside the bag to prevent the collapsing and twisting of this tissue, as described in EP-A-0 343 070. Otherwise detergent can be trapped without dissolving in this twisted part. On the other hand said rigid frame needs an amount of volume which can not be reduced further. This illustrates the packaging space problem discussed hereinbefore. It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a dosing and dispensing device which solves this packaging space problem. 
     Furthermore, the tissue-like material is too pliant to allow a dosing of the detergent amount necessary for a wash cycle in the dispensing device itself. Therefore, an extra measuring scoop is also necessary. Said extra measuring scoop does not only increase furthermore the total cost and volume of this dispensing device kit comprising the dispensing device and the spoon, but makes also the exact measuring of the detergent difficult. It is therefore another object of the present invention to provide a dosing and dispensing device which allows an easy dosing without the need for an extra scoop. 
     A collapsible dispensing device for liquid detergents with a bellows-shaped wall is described in EP-B-0 288 347. The walls are made of a plastic material. Therefore, although this device collapses in the direction of the bellows, the wall does not deform perpendicular to this collapsing direction. We found that pliable walls can prevent that lumps of granular detergent can be formed onto the surface inside said device. These lumps are formed when said detergent contacts with water. Said lumps can eventually last through the whole wash cycle without being solubilized, therefore resulting in unnecessary residues and waste of detergent. It is therefore another object of the present invention to provide a collapsible and resilient dosing and dispensing device with pliable walls. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is a dispensing and dosing device for granular detergent. Said device comprises a pliable bag-shaped sleeve and maintaining means. Said sleeve extends around an opening which remains at least partially open during the washing. The maintaining means plunges into the bag, of which one end is fastened in the region of the opening. Said maintaining means are collapsible and resilient. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
     FIG. 1 shows cross sectional view of an embodiment of the dosing and dispensing device according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 shows a cross sectional view of another embodiment of the dosing and dispensing device according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 illustrates the cross section of the ring (16) shown in FIG. 2. 
     FIGS. 4 to 7 show various shapes of the maintaining means applicable to all embodiments of the dosing and dispensing device according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 8 to 10 show various examples of masks applicable to all embodiments of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     In the following, &#34;vertical&#34; means a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the device (10), i.e. the perpendicular direction to the plane generally defined by the opening (18) of the device (10 ). 
     The preferred embodiment of the device used in accordance with the invention is shown in FIG. 1. Said device (10) mainly comprises a bagshaped, pliable sleeve (12) and resilient and collapsible maintaining means (14). 
     As a first essential feature, the device herein comprises a bag-shaped pliable sleeve (12). The material of said sleeve may be impermeable or not to water and to the washing medium. In the case of an impermeable bag, the transfers of fluid in the direction towards the inside and the outside of said bag, are made solely through the opening (18) of the bag. Said material of the bag-shaped sleeve has to be sufficiently resistant to the temperatures of the washing medium reached during the washing. The temperatures can be up to 95° C. Said material of the sleeve can be a woven or non-woven material made from natural or synthetic fibres or a mixtures of such fibres. 
     Purely by way of illustration, it is possible to use a sleeve consisting of pure cotton, in the form of a woven fabric having a mesh size smaller than 0.5 mm approximately. Said cotton can also be in the form of a non-woven article having apertures ranging in particular from 0.5 mm to 0.8 mm. Said bag may also be made from extruded or co-extruded films, provided with perforations. The dimensions of the perforations may vary within wide limits, depending on the nature and the particle size of the particulate product. As an indication, films having perforations of 380 μm may be used. However, the material of the bag is not obligatorily a textile material. The sleeve may also be made from a lattice of plastic material or from a sheet of paper or other porous, water resistant cellulosic material. If the material used for the bag does not itself have sufficient resistance to water, it may be provided with a coating making it water resistant. For example, in the case of porous paper, the coating may consist of a latex based binder associated with a hydrophobic substance. 
     As a second essential feature, the device herein comprises collapsible and resilient maintaining means. The simplest maintaining means is a spring (14), as illustrated in FIG. 1. Said spring can be replaced by any other elastic body or device that recovers its original shape when released after being distorted to accomplish the same functions of the maintaining means in the present invention. Said spring (14) makes the device (10) collapsible and resilient. Applying a vertical force, the spring (14) can be folded on itself till the spiral arms (15) are brought to the nearest possible position from each other. In the collapsed or flat configuration the vertical height of the device is reduced to a minimum which is also helped by the fact that the sleeve (12) is pliable. 
     To manufacture the device (10), the spring is first inserted inside the bag (12) and then the sleeve is attached to the spring. Preferably the attachment is made between the last top spiral arm (13) of said spring and the top portion (11) of said sleeve. The simplest attachment consists of glueing said top portion onto said last top spiral arm, or sewing said top portion around said last top spiral arm or a combination thereof. 
     In the preferred embodiment of the present invention the spring (14) stretches and maintains the sleeve in its maximum volume, i.e. the sleeve is not loose around the maintaining means (14). This allows a good measurement of the amount of granular detergent necessary for a wash cycle, since the stretched sleeve defines always a constant volume. The dosing lines may be on the outer and/or inner surface of the bag-shaped sleeve (12). Said dosing lines may be printed or indicated in some other manner. It is also possible to take the spiral arms (15) of the spring (14) as reference lines. 
     The spring (14) of the present invention is preferably made of elastomeric materials, such as polypropylene, polyethylene or polyesther. All these ensure enough compatibility with the wash solution and resistance to the temperatures mentioned above. However, a metal spring can also be considered, provided that it is stainless steel or it is protected by a layer of plastic on the outside. Also aluminum is a suitable material. The metal spring has the advantage that it allows an easier variation in shape of the spring itself. In FIGS. 4 to 7 are represented possible forms of the spring (14), plastic or metal. The form of the spring may be chosen by any person skilled in the art. 
     Through the opening (18) the dosing and dispensing device (10) is filled with the granular detergent. As discussed previously, in the case of an impermeable bag-shaped sleeve, the transfers of fluid and dissolved detergent in the direction towards the inside and the outside of said bag, are only possible through said opening (18). Therefore the opening (18) of the bag (12) has to be kept at least partially open during the washing to allow the progressive release of aqueous solution of granular detergent. The shape of said opening is preferably rounded to avoid to cause scratches in the fabrics through sharp edges. The last top spring arm is sufficiently resistant to have the device (10) serving also as a scoop. In this manner, by scooping with the device (10) it is possible to directly convey the granular detergent into the bag-shaped sleeve (12) without the need of an additional scooping device. 
     As an optional, but preferred feature, a ring (16) is added around the opening (18) as shown in FIG. 2. This improves the before mentioned scooping of the detergent into said device (10). The ring (16) may be made of a material of widely varying hardness. The only conditions being that the opening (18) should be held open during the washing and that said ring resists at least at the same temperatures of the sleeve (12). The hardness of the ring (16) ensures that the lip of said ring is resistant enough to scoop the granular detergent inside the bag (12). The material of the ring (16) may be any water resistant material, withstanding also the temperatures reached in the washing and/or dryer machines. For example it is possible to use plastic, such as polyethylene and polypropylene, or also metallic materials. 
     It is possible to use flexible, i.e. deformable and resilient, materials for the ring (16), but hard enough to allow the scooping. A deformable ring reduces the noise of the device (10) during the agitation in the drum of the washing machine. A resilient ring is to insure that the opening (18) is always held open as wide as possible during the washing. Such a material is, for example, polyurethane (PU) or other elastomers. The ring (16) may have any possible cross section, not only the preferred U-shaped one. This ring can also act as the sole attachment means between said sleeve and said maintaining means. The fastening of the spring (14) with the ring (16) is illustrated in FIG. 3 in a cross sectional view. The last top spiral arm (13) and the sleeve are inserted into the hollow ring (16) and held by the transverse portion (17) of said ring. The last top spiral arm is inserted by pushing into the hollow part of the ring using the elasticity of the material. Other possible execution of the holding of the sleeve and the spring inside the ring can be considered by any person skilled in the art. 
     In another optional, but preferred embodiment of the present invention, the ring is provided also with means to mask the opening (18) apart from predetermined orifices which allow the filling and dispensing of the dosing and dispensing device. A top view of a mask (50) is shown in FIG. 8. Other examples are shown also in FIGS. 9 and 10. The impellers (72) of mask (70) are in a helical form. Indeed said masks ensure the filling of the bag (12) with the granular detergent and the access in the interior and the exit from the interior of the bag (12) of washing medium. 
     The advantage of the masks (50) to (70) resides in the fact that they cut in smaller pieces the lumps of granular detergent breaked up from the interior of the device (10) before said lumps get on the laundry during the wash cycle. This means, that these masks (50) to (70) further contribute to the better dissolution of the granular detergent in an aqueous medium. 
     All the embodiments of the dosing and dispensing devices described so far can be brought in a collapsed or flat configuration. The device (10) in the flat configuration has great logistic advantages. Granular detergents are supplied to the consumer in packages. These packages are usually cylindrical or rectangular canisters made of carton or plastic. Bags made of pliable material, like paper or plastified paper may also be used to contain granular detergent. Said bags containing compact detergent are small enough to be easily transported by the consumer without any need for cartons. 
     The flat configuration of the device (10) reduces to a minimum the space needed for a package comprising the detergent and the device (10). Said device (10) in collapsed configuration can be easily put onto or inside said packages. For example, the device (10) being in flat configuration can be fastened outside or put inside the package in a fastened manner to hold the flat configuration. Fastened in this manner, the dosing and dispensing device does not prevent a stable stacking of said packages. As a consequence, the packages comprising these devices have the same dimensions and occupy the same volume as those packages without said devices. Therefore, the packages containing the detergent together with the dosing and dispensing devices are not different from the packages containing only the refill of detergent. The logistic and cost problems deriving from a strict differentiation are completely solved. Also, the packagings will comprise a greater amount of detergent, for a given package volume. 
     Means to fasten the dispensing device (10) on the refill bags or to hold the dispensing device (10) itself in flat configuration, when put inside the refill bags, may be chosen by any person skilled in the art. For example, ligatures or adhesive tapes may be used. But also shrinkable plastic film are possible. These means are placed around the refill bags fastening the dispensing device (10) on top of said bag or directly around the dispensing device (10) to hold it in a collapsed configuration. 
     Another important advantage of the collapsibility and pliability of the device (10) is the avoidance of residues. The weight of the dry or wet laundry landing on said device (10) during the drying or washing cycle in the washing machine is sufficient to let said device (10) collapse and deform at least partially. Once the load is removed, said spring (14) recovers quickly its original shape. This compression/springback action during the wash cycle helps to break up lumps of detergent formed on the inside of the walls and therefore obtaining a more effective dissolution of the detergent in the wash cycle. The residues of detergent remaining after the wash process are therefore reduced to a minimum.