Patent Publication Number: US-6341735-B1

Title: Receptacle fitted with a dispenser head

Description:
The present invention relates to receptacle fitted with a dispenser head comprising a body and a dispenser nozzle secured to said body, said nozzle being provided with a dispenser orifice, e.g. for spraying a substance. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Numerous dispenser heads of this type are known. 
     When the sprayed substance forms a solid deposit on drying, the dispenser orifice tends to become clogged. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,250,474 proposes mounting the nozzle movably on the body of the dispenser head, and forming a spike on said body for the purpose of closing the dispenser orifice when the dispenser head is not in use. 
     This reduces the risk of the dispenser orifice being clogged by a residue of dried substance. 
     However, the dispenser head described in that prior patent is relatively complex in structure. 
     Further, for manufacturing reasons, the end of the spike and the dispenser orifice can be made only with relatively large sections, and as a result that known dispenser head is poorly adapted to spraying a substance at a low rate. 
     OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the invention is to remedy some of the drawbacks of known dispenser heads. 
     The invention seeks in particular to provide a novel receptacle fitted with a dispenser head which is relatively simple to manufacture and which makes it possible to reduce the risk of the dispenser orifice becoming clogged by a residue of substance that has dried. 
     In this novel receptacle, the dispenser orifice is made through an elastically deformable wall organized to bulge outwards under the effect of the pressure in the substance and said orifice is organized in such a manner as to be closed at rest and to be capable of being opened by said wall deforming under the effect of the pressure of substance upstream while substance is being dispensed. 
     By means of the invention, a dispenser head is made available that is relatively simple to manufacture, and in which the dispenser orifice is closed at rest so that the substance contained in the dispenser head is prevented from drying out. 
     In a particular embodiment, the dispenser orifice is made by piercing the elastically deformable wall, but without removing material therefrom. 
     This makes it possible to provide a dispenser orifice which provides a very small flow section to the substance while dispensing, thereby enabling the substance to be dispensed at a relatively low rate. 
     In a particular embodiment, the elastically deformable wall is organized to deform other than at the dispenser orifice under the effect of the pressure of the substance while it is being dispensed. 
     This deformation of the elastically deformable wall favors detachment of any residue of substance that might be adhering to the surface thereof. 
     This further reduces the risk of the dispenser orifice becoming clogged and the nozzle is maintained in a suitably clean state. 
     In a particular embodiment, the elastically deformable head is constituted by an elastomer disk. 
     The disk may be held at its periphery to a ring made of a rigid plastics material. 
     The disk may have a rib on its inside face, the rib being inserted in a groove of complementary shape formed in the ring. 
     In a particular embodiment, said elastically deformable wall bears at rest against the front face of a center post belonging to the body of the dispenser head. 
     Swirling channels may be formed in the front face of the center post, in order to confer particular characteristics to the flow passing through the dispenser orifice. 
     In a particular embodiment, an annular gap is formed around the center post for feeding the above-specified swirling channels. 
     In a particular embodiment, the nozzle is fixed in a housing of the body of the dispenser head, and the opening of the housing presents a narrowing of section. 
     In a particular embodiment, the body of the dispenser head includes an endpiece for mounting on the control rod of a valve or a pump. 
     The axis of the dispenser orifice may be perpendicular to the axis of the endpiece. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will appear on reading the following detailed description of a non-limiting embodiment of the invention, and on examining the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view in axial section of a dispenser head in accordance with the invention; 
     FIG. 2 shows an implementation detail of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a view analogous to FIG. 2, showing the nozzle at the moment when substance is being dispensed; 
     FIG. 4 is an axial section showing the nozzle on its own, prior to being mounted on the body of the dispenser head; and 
     FIG. 5 is a front view of the center post as seen looking along arrow V of FIG.  1 . 
    
    
     MORE DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The dispenser head  1  shown in FIG. 1 comprises a body  2  molded out of plastics material, preferably a rigid plastics material. 
     The body  2  has a downwardly open endpiece  3  about an axis X for mounting the dispenser head on the control rod (not shown) of a valve or a pump fitted to a receptacle containing a liquid, e.g. hair spray. 
     When the receptacle is fitted with a valve, it may contain a propellant gas under pressure. 
     The control rod is designed to be received as a force-fit in the endpiece  3  and it includes a channel for feeding substance. 
     The body  2  has an outer skirt  4  to improve the appearance of the receptacle on which the dispenser head is mounted. 
     A indentation  5  is formed in the top face of the body  2  to receive the finger of a user pressing down the dispenser head  1  for the purpose of dispensing the substance. 
     The body  2  has a housing  6  on an axis Y perpendicular to the axis X for receiving a nozzle  7  that is shown on its own in FIG.  4 . 
     This housing  6  is open to the front face of the body  2 , and it communicates via a channel  8  with the end of the endpiece  3 . 
     A center post  9  on the axis Y extends inside the housing  6 . 
     Swirling channels  10  are made in the front face  11  of the center post  9 , as can be seen in FIG. 5, so as to create a flow that swirls around the axis Y, in conventional manner. 
     The nozzle  7  comprises a disk  15  made of an elastomer material, e.g. a thermoplastic elastomer known under the trade name Santoprene, which is secured in leakproof manner at its periphery to a mounting ring  16  made of a non-elastomer plastics material. 
     On its inside face  17 , in the vicinity of its periphery, the disk  15  has an annular rib  18  and the mounting ring has a circularly cylindrical setback  19  in its front face corresponding to the diameter of the disk  15 , with the inside face  17  of the disk bearing against the end wall  20  of said setback  19 . 
     In the end  20  of the setback  19 , the ring  16  has an annular groove  21  into which the annular rib  18  is inserted. 
     The disk  15  is pierced in its center by an orifice  22 . 
     The orifice  22  is made by piercing the disk  15  without removing material therefrom, so that at rest it is closed because of the elasticity of the elastomer material from which the disk  15  is made. 
     The opening of the housing  6  in the body  2  of the dispenser head has an annular rim  24  defining a narrowing in section, and the ring  16  is put into place by being snap-fastened in the housing  6 . 
     During assembly of the nozzle  7 , the ring  16  and the body  2  deform elastically to enable the ring  16  to move past the annular rim  24 . 
     When the nozzle  7  is in place, the inside face  17  of the disk  15  bears against the front face  11  of the central post  9 , as can be seen in FIG.  2 . 
     At its front end and its periphery, the ring  16  presents a conical surface  26  which bears against the rear flank of the annular rim  24 , as can be seen in FIG.  2 . 
     The ring  16  is thus held in leakproof manner in the housing  6 . 
     To dispense the substance, the user presses on the top face of the dispenser head  1 , thereby pushing down the control rod and causing substance under pressure to penetrate into the channel  8  and the annular groove  27  formed between the center post  9  and the ring  16 . 
     This substance under pressure reaches the swirling channels  10 . 
     The disk  15  bulges outwards under the effect of the pressure of the substance acting on its inside face  17 . 
     The deformation of the disk  15  makes it possible to detach any residue of dried substance that might be adhering to its outside face  28 , that become convex towards the outside. 
     In addition, the bulging of the disk  15  tends to open the dispenser orifice  22  which then offers an outwardly-flaring and substantially circular section to the flow of the substance, as can be seen in FIG.  3 . 
     The disk  15  deforms sufficiently to enable the substance to be ejected through the orifice  22  and be dispensed, e.g. in the form of a conical spray. 
     It will be observed that the section offered to flow of the substance by the orifice  22  remains very small, thus making it possible to dispense the substance at a low rate. 
     When the user releases the dispenser head  1 , the channel  8  ceases to be fed, and the disk  15  tends to return to its initial configuration in which the outside face  28  is substantially plane and perpendicular to the axis Y, and in which the orifice  22  is closed. 
     By closing the orifice  22 , the inside of the dispenser head is isolated from ambient air, thereby preventing the substance therein from drying out. 
     Naturally, the invention is not limited to the embodiment described above. 
     In particular, the shape of the substance feed channels upstream from the dispenser orifice can be modified as a function of the droplet size characteristics desired for the aerosol that is sprayed. 
     It is also possible to modify the shape of the dispenser orifice depending on the nature of the substance and on the flow characteristics that are desired. 
     It is also possible to make channels inside the nozzle. 
     The dispenser head can have two or more nozzles.