Patent Publication Number: US-11040566-B2

Title: Pen dispenser with plastic spring actuator

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This Application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/720,524, filed Aug. 21, 2018, the entire contents of which are herein incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH 
     Not Applicable. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Heretofore, pen dispensers have used a metal spring. There remains a need in the field to replace the metal spring with a plastic spring actuator. Without limiting the scope of the invention a brief summary of some of the claimed embodiments of the invention is set forth below. Additional details of the summarized embodiments of the invention and/or additional embodiments of the invention may be found in the Detailed Description of the Invention, below. 
     A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification is provided as well only for the purposes of complying with 37 C.F.R. 1.72. The abstract is not intended to be used for interpreting the scope of the claims. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In some embodiments, a pen dispenser is provided with a tube having an open top for holding a fluid to be dispensed. A valve housing made of plastic and having channels on an inner wall is also provided. There is also an applicator nib made of plastic, along with a plastic spring actuator having a plastic button, and a button retainer. In a closed position the plastic spring actuator is sealingly engaged to the valve housing blocking the flow of fluid out around the applicator nib, and in the open position, the plastic spring actuator is depressed so it is no longer sealingly engaged to the valve housing, allowing the fluid to flow through the channels on the inner wall and exit the dispenser around the applicator nib. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1 a    shows the valve body and Nib of the pen dispenser. 
         FIG. 1 b    show a cross-section view of  FIG. 1   a.    
         FIG. 2  show an enlarged view of  FIG. 1   b.    
         FIG. 3  show the bottom view of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4  show a cross-sectional view of  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 5  shows a view of the outside of the pen dispenser. 
         FIG. 6  shows a cross-sectional view of  FIG. 5 . 
         FIG. 7  shows an exploded view of the parts of the pen dispenser. 
         FIG. 8  shows a cross-sectional view of  FIG. 7 . 
         FIG. 9-12  show the valve body and Nib of the pen dispenser rotated and angled in various positions. 
         FIG. 13  shows a bottom view, showing the cutouts which allow the fluid to flow by gravity to the Nib end of the pen dispenser. 
         FIG. 14  shows a cross-section view with sections A-A and B-B of the pen dispenser in the closed position. 
         FIG. 15  shows section A-A of  FIG. 14 . 
         FIG. 16  shows section B-B of  FIG. 14 . 
         FIG. 17  shows a Nib cutout which controls how fast the fluid flows out of the pen dispenser and shows the pen dispenser in the half-open position. 
         FIG. 18  shows a cross-sectional view of  FIG. 17 , of the pen dispenser in a half-open position. 
         FIG. 19  shows a bottom view of the valve housing, showing the cutouts which provide a flow path past the button retainer, button and spring. 
         FIG. 20  shows the pen dispenser in the fully open position. 
         FIG. 21  shows a cross-sectional view of  FIG. 20 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 a   , the valve body with Nib is shown.  FIG. 1 b    shows a cross sectional view of  FIG. 1 a   , in which the valve body is shown at  10 , and the Nib is shown at  12 . The bottom of Nib  12  fits into spring actuator  17 , which is formed in one piece with button  14 . Button retainer  16  holds the bottom edge of button  14  in place, and when the Nib  12  is depressed, the valve seal formed by the top edge of spring  17  with the inner wall of valve body  10  (shown at  15 ), is opened and the liquid from the pen dispenser tube (shown below) can flow out around Nib  12 . The elastic button  14  can be made of thermoplastic elastomer, which allows the button to be depressed, as shown and discussed further below. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , an enlarged cross-section view is shown. The flow path is shown above  15 , between the Nib  12  and the inner wall of the valve body  10 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , a bottom view of  FIG. 2  is shown. The opening near the bottom is the relief for the catches of the retainer  16  to be inserted to the height of the valve housing windows (see reference numeral  21 ). The process would be to insert retainer  16  and turn clockwise to lock in place. There is a little detent to keep it from turning back. Also shown is Nib cutout  24 , which is a groove which can be sized to optimize desired flow for a specific product. When the nib is pushed in, it opens the valve seal  15  and allow fluid to flow out around the nib  12 . 
       FIG. 4  show a cross-sectional view of  FIG. 3 , in which the valve seal  15  is shown, which is created by the elastic button elastically returning to its normally undepressed position after the Nib  12  is depressed, to force the top edge of the spring  17  into contact with the inner wall of valve body  10  at point  15 , to prevent the flow of fluid out of the pen dispenser. When the pen dispenser is tipped upside down and the Nib  12  is depressed, the button  14  is elastically deformed against the retainer  16  causing the valve seal  15  to be opened, which permits fluid to flow by gravity around the Nib  12  and out of the pen dispenser. The series of cutouts  22  formed in the valve housing  10  allow fluid to flow from the tube or container, past the retainer  16  and spring/button  14  to valve seal  15 . 
       FIG. 5  shows a view of the outside of the pen dispenser, with an over cap  20 , which covers valve housing  10 , and a tube  18 , which holds the fluid to be dispensed. 
       FIG. 6  shows a cross-sectional view of  FIG. 5 . 
       FIG. 7  shows an exploded view of the parts of the pen dispenser. 
       FIG. 8  shows a cross-sectional view of  FIG. 7 . 
       FIG. 9-12  show the valve body and Nib of the pen dispenser rotated and angled in various positions. 
       FIG. 13  shows a bottom view, showing the cutouts  22  which allow the fluid to flow by gravity to the Nib end of the pen dispenser. Basically they are vertical cutouts  22  on the ID (inner diameter) of the housing  10  to allow fluid past the OD (outer diameter) of the Spring  17  and button  14  and the button retainer  16 . 
       FIG. 14  shows a cross-section view with sections A-A and B-B of the pen dispenser in the closed position.  FIG. 15  shows section A-A of  FIG. 14 .  FIG. 16  shows section B-B of  FIG. 14 . 
       FIG. 17  shows a Nib cutout which controls how fast the fluid flows out of the pen dispenser and shows the pen dispenser in the half-open position.  FIG. 18  shows a cross-sectional view of  FIG. 17 , of the pen dispenser in a half-open position. 
       FIG. 19  shows a bottom view of the valve housing, showing the cutouts which provide a flow path past the button retainer, button and spring. 
       FIGS. 20 and 21  show the pen dispenser in the fully open position, with the valve seal  15  opened to allow fluid to pass through (shown at  19 ). 
     The above disclosure is intended to be illustrative and not exhaustive. This description will suggest many variations and alternatives to one of ordinary skill in this field of art. All these alternatives and variations are intended to be included within the scope of the claims where the term “comprising” means “including, but not limited to.” Those familiar with the art may recognize other equivalents to the specific embodiments described herein which equivalents are also intended to be encompassed by the claims. 
     Further, the particular features presented in the dependent claims can be combined with each other in other manners within the scope of the invention such that the invention should be recognized as also specifically directed to other embodiments having any other possible combination of the features of the dependent claims. For instance, for purposes of claim publication, any dependent claim which follows should be taken as alternatively written in a multiple dependent form from all prior claims which possess all antecedents referenced in such dependent claim if such multiple dependent format is an accepted format within the jurisdiction (e.g. each claim depending directly from claim  1  should be alternatively taken as depending from all previous claims). In jurisdictions where multiple dependent claim formats are restricted, the following dependent claims should each be also taken as alternatively written in each singly dependent claim format which creates a dependency from a prior antecedent-possessing claim other than the specific claim listed in such dependent claim below. 
     This completes the description of the preferred and alternate embodiments of the invention. Those skilled in the art may recognize other equivalents to the specific embodiment described herein which equivalents are intended to be encompassed by the claims attached hereto.