Patent Publication Number: US-6216915-B1

Title: Dual chamber package

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a package for containing and simultaneously dispensing a plurality of fluent products. More particularly, this invention relates to a package of the foregoing character in which each of the products is not continuously externally pressurized in its as packaged condition. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,363,990 (Fillmore) describes a pump package for containing and simultaneously dispensing two fluent products, specifically, viscous products. The package of this reference has an outer plastic body that is internally divided into two compartments, one for each of the packaged products. The package has a dispensing end through which each of the packaged products is dispensed, and each of the products is caused to flow to the dispensing end by a piston within the compartment in which such product is contained; thus, two such pistons are required for a package that contains two products. Obviously, of course, two piston rods are required to advance the pistons within their respective compartments, one for each piston, and a one-way spring connection is required by each piston and the piston rod that is used to advance it. Moreover, to actuate the movement of the piston rods, a lever system is provided, and the lever system, of necessity, is external to the outer plastic body, since the interior of the plastic body is filled with the packaged products. Thus, the lever system is subject to accidental actuation during shipment of a pump package according to this reference or during its display on a retail shelf. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,046 (Miczka) also discloses a package for containing and simultaneously dispensing two fluent products, and teaches that each such product be contained within a collapsible container, both collapsible containers being positioned within an outer container body. The collapsible containers are caused to collapse by the motion of a common piston within the container body. However, the motion of the piston requires that it be pressurized by a gas propellant filling, and such internally pressurized packages are expensive because of the need to be strong enough to be able to contain the propellant, and sufficiently well sealed to be able to do so without leakage. 
     GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     According to the present invention, there is provided a package for two or more fluent products, neither of which is continuously externally pressurized and each of which is contained out of contact with the other fluent product(s) in its own chamber or compartment of a flexible outer container body. Each packaged product is contained within a collapsible bellows, and dispensing occurs when the collapsible bellows are simultaneously collapsed by the advance of a common elevator within the outer container body, and toward a dispensing end of the package. The advance of the elevator is actuated by the reciprocation of a single rod that passes through the elevator, and has a one-way or ratchet connection to the elevator. Motion of the rod is actuated by a spring biased lever handle system made up of an opposed pair of handles, each of which is contained entirely within the outer body, but externally of each of the collapsible bellows within the outer body, the flexibility of the outer body serving to facilitate actuation of the handles by way of hand pressure. A valve is provided for each of the collapsible bellows to close its outlet during periods in which no dispensing is occurring, and each valve is interconnected to the handles of the container to open the outlet from the bellows during the dispensing of the packaged product therein. 
     Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved package for containing and simultaneously dispensing two or more fluent products that are not externally pressurized. More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a package of the foregoing character in which the manually actuatable handles for actuating the dispensing of the packaged products are contained within the outline of a flexible outer container and are shielded from inadvertent disengagement during shipment and display on a retail shelf. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a package of the foregoing character with a valve for releasing each of the fluent products only during the dispensing of the fluent product. 
     For a further understanding of the present invention and the objects thereof, attention is directed to the drawing and the following brief description thereof, to the detailed description of the preferred embodiment and to the appended claims. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     FIG. 1 is perspective front view, partly in cross-section, of a dual chamber package according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention; and 
     FIG. 2 is perspective side view, partly in cross-section, of the dual chamber package of FIG.  1 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     A package according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is identified generally by reference numeral  10  in the drawing. The package  10  includes an outer container body  12  that has a closed end  14 , the opposed end of the container body  12 , which is the dispensing end of the package  10 , being open. The container body  12  is formed of a thermoplastic material in a single piece, and must have sufficient flexibility to be squeezable by hand, for purposes that will be hereinafter described more fully. 
     The open end of the container body  12  has a molded plastic fitment  20  frictionally secured to the container body  12  by a snap fit. The fitment  20  has depending arcuate fingers  22 ,  24  positioned within the container body  12 . The fingers  22 ,  24  are double-ended, with ends that are spaced apart, and depend from a transversely extending portion  26  of the fitment  20  to locations adjacent the closed end  14  of the container body  12 . A molded plastic, generally planar elevator  30  is positioned within the container body  12 , internally of and in sliding engagement with the interior of each of the fingers  22 ,  24 . 
     The package  10  is also provided with a plurality of collapsible bellows-type containers, shown as the containers  32 ,  34 , positioned within the container body  12 . The containers  32 ,  34  have closed ends  36 ,  38 , initially positioned adjacent to the closed end  14  of the container body  12 . The closed ends  36 ,  38  of the containers  32 ,  34 , respectively, are supported on the elevator  30 . First and second fluent products, not shown, are contained within the containers  32 ,  34 , respectively, out of contact with one another until they are dispensed from the package  10  in unison, as will be hereinafter described in greater detail. The packaged products are not continuously externally pressurized as in the case of fluent products packaged in an aerosol pressurized container, but it is contemplated that either or both of them may be somewhat internally pressurized, for example, in the case of a shaving gel that contains a pressurizing agent, such as isopentane, that causes the gel to foam upon its discharge to atmospheric pressure. 
     The end of the containers  32 ,  34  that are opposed to the closed ends  36 ,  38 , respectively, are open, and each is secured by a snap fit to the underside of the transversely extending portion  26  of the fitment  20 . The transversely extending portion  26  of the fitment  20  is provided with apertures  40 ,  42  extending therethrough to permit the products in the containers  32 ,  34 , respectively, to be dispensed through the transversely extending portion  26  of the fitment  20 . The apertures  40 ,  42  are normally closed by pins  44 ,  46 , respectively, that are slidable therein. The pins  44 ,  46  will slide from closing positions in the apertures  40 ,  42 , respectively, in which they block the flow of products from the containers  32 ,  34 , respectively, when the products in the containers  32 ,  34  are pressurized by the motion of the elevator  30  toward the open end of the container body  12  as will be hereinafter described more fully. 
     The elevator  30  has an elongate walking stick  50  passing therethrough, a spring-type ratchet member  52  being provided on the underside of the elevator  30  to receive a free end portion of the walking stick  50 . The ratchet member  52  permits one-way relative movement between the elevator  30  and the walking stick  50 , namely downward movement of the walking stick  50  relative to the elevator  30 , in the orientation depicted in the drawing. Thus, when the walking stick  50  is moved in an upward direction, as will be hereinafter described more fully, the elevator  30  will also move upwardly, to thereby pressurize the products contained in the containers  32 ,  34  and simultaneously dispense such products through the apertures  40 ,  42 , respectively. However, when the walking stick  50  thereafter moves downwardly, the elevator  30  will remain in the position it reached upon conclusion of the prior upward movement of the walking stick  50 . Thus, products in the containers  32 ,  34  will be gradually dispensed in small doses by repeated reciprocation of the walking stick  50  along its longitudinal central axis. 
     Reciprocation of the walking stick  50  along it longitudinal central axis is actuated by an opposed pair of generally L-shaped levers  60 ,  62 . The levers  60 ,  62  are provided with long generally downwardly extending legs  64 ,  66 , respectively, and short, inwardly extending legs  68 ,  70 , respectively, that extend generally perpendicularly with respect to the legs  64 ,  66 , respectively. The legs  68 ,  70  are bifurcated, having upper portions  68   a ,  70   a , respectively, and lower portions  68   b ,  70   b , respectively. The upper portions  68   a ,  70   a  of the legs  68 ,  70 , respectively, engage the exterior of an enlarged head portion  50   a  of the walking stick  50 , and the lower portions  68   b ,  70   b  of the legs  68 ,  70 , respectively, engage the underside of the head portion  50   a  of the walking stick  50 . The lower portions  68   b ,  70   b  of the legs  68 ,  70 , respectively, are pivoted with respect to the fitment  20  at pivot points  72 ,  74 , respectively, and when the levers  60 ,  62 , are pivoted inwardly by inward pressure on the downward legs  64 ,  66 , respectively, the lower portions  68   b ,  70   b  of the inward legs  68 ,  70 , respectively, will cause the walking stick  50  to move upwardly, and thereby cause elevator  30  to move upwardly, as previously explained. The inward motion of the downward legs  64 ,  66  is actuated by hand by a user grasping the container body  12 , the squeezabilty of the container body  12 , as previously explained, permitting inward motion of the downward legs  64 ,  66  by inwardly directed force applied at opposed locations of the container body  12 . 
     The walking stick  50  is normally biased downwardly by an opposed pair of levers  72 ,  74  whose interior free ends bear against the top of the head portion  50   a  of the walking stick  50 . The levers  72 ,  74  are pivoted about axes  76 ,  78 , respectively, that pass through projections  80 ,  82 , respectively, which extend downwardly from a top panel portion  84  of a cup-shaped molded plastic fitment  86 . The molded plastic fitment  86  is frictionally secured to the fitment  20  above the level of the junction between the fitment  20  and the container body  12 , and is normally closed by a cover member  88  that is hingedly connected to fitment  86 , the opening of the cover member  88  with respect to other portions of the fitment  86  being indicated by the arrow in FIG.  2 . The top panel portion  84  of the fitment  86  is provided with dispensing apertures  90 ,  92  in alignment with the apertures  40 ,  42 , respectively, and the apertures  90 ,  92  are closed when the cover member  88  is closed with respect to other portions of the fitment  86  by projections  94 ,  96 , respectively, that extend downwardly from the cover member  88 . 
     To dispense products from the containers  32 ,  34  of the package  10  the cover member  88  of the fitment  86  is opened and the container body  12  is squeezed to pivot the downwardly extending legs  64 ,  66  of the levers  60 ,  62 , respectively, inwardly. This will cause the walking stick  50  to move upwardly, as heretofore explained, thereby pressurizing the contents of the containers  32 ,  34 . Simultaneously, this squeezing action will cause the levers  72 ,  74  to pivot about the axes  76 ,  78 , respectively, thereby causing the outer free ends of the levers  72 ,  74 , to depress, an action that will cause sleeves  94 ,  96 , respectively, to depress therewith, thereby lowering the pins  44 ,  46  within the apertures  40 ,  42 , respectively. This will permit the now pressurized contents of the containers  32 ,  34  to simultaneously exit through the apertures  90 ,  92 , respectively, in the top panel portion  84  of the fitment  86 . Upon release of the grasping pressure on the container body  12 , the downwardly extending legs  64 ,  66  of the levers  60 ,  62 , respectively, will move outwardly under a resilient force imposed on the head portion  50   a  of the walking stick  50  by the levers  70 ,  72  as a result of the upward deflection in the top panel portion  84  of the fitment  86  occurring during a dispensing phase. This load on the head portion  50   a  of the walking stick  50  will return the walking stick  50  to its original position, but its position with respect to the elevator  30  will be altered by virtue of the one-way connection between the walking stick  50  and the elevator  30 , as heretofore explained. 
     A package  10  of the type described is useful in simultaneously dispensing separate products that are advantageously mixed together at the time of utilization, but not before. Certain formulations of shaving products advantageously consist of a mixture of separate products that are not continuously externally pressurized and are not mixed until the time of use, and the package  10 , as heretofore described, has utility for such an application. As shown in the drawing, the containers  32 ,  34  are differently sized, and this will lead to dispensing of the products therefrom at a fixed ratio that is greater or lesser than 1:1. Of course, the dispensing of products at any other fixed ratio can be achieved by suitably sizing the internal volumes of the containers  32 ,  34  relative to one another. 
     Although the best mode contemplated by the inventors for carrying out the present invention as of the filing date hereof has been shown and described herein, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that suitable modifications, variations and equivalents may be made without departing from the scope of the invention, such scope being limited solely by the terms of the following claims and the legal equivalents thereof.