Abstract:
A locking ring ( 30 ) is provided for assisting axial insertion and snap fit of an actuating head ( 5 ), including a pump ( 7 ), to a medium reservoir base ( 6 ) while protecting the pump ( 7 ) against actuation or excessive forces encountered during assembly. The locking ring ( 30 ) can be disengaged to allow actuation of the pump ( 7 ) and then re-engaged to permit actuation.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to a dispenser for media for securing to a support such as a reservoir or cylinder receptacle, a helve or the like with a mounting flange. The dispenser may comprise a volumetrically variable medium or pressure space such as a pump chamber from which the fluid medium such as a liquid, paste or cream, powder or gas can be conveyed under pressure to a medium outlet by moving a discharge and/or actuating head relative to the flange over a working stroke. 
     When securing the dispenser with the flange by a rotative, linear or axial movement, oriented jointing forces are necessary corresponding to a jointing resistance. The forces may increase sharply during fastening until the securing seat is attained. This seating may be a rigid or movable connection. For actuating the dispenser running forces are needed which are usually required to be introduced into the head and which likewise may increase commonly with the actuating path. The running forces correspond to a running resistance given by e.g. friction between piston and cylinder, by the resiliency of a return spring, or by the forces needed to actuate one or more valves etc. 
     The running resistance should be smaller than the jointing resistance. Therefore the head should not be loaded by the jointing force to avoid actuation of the head during jointing up to abutment on a stop or until the end position is attained. This stop can be encapsulated within the dispenser and may act on a counterstop of the piston unit, such as the end face of an elastic piston skirt which movably bounds, i.e. alters the volume of, the medium chamber. When this counter-stop is loaded with the jointing force it may be damaged or become leaky. Even in the absence of jointing forces it may be practical to prevent actuation up to the stop, despite the running force being fed into, e.g. as a tamperproof safeguard, childproof safeguard or the like. 
     OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the invention is to overcome the disadvantages of known configurations or of the kind as described. Another object is to permit blocking of actuation against actuating forces substantially higher than any of the cited resistances. A further object is that the jointing force is not to be introduced partly or exclusively via the flange but via the head. Still another object is to permit the dispenser to be repeatedly translated into the blocked and unblocked states. A still further object is that the dispenser is straightforward in design and actuation. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention provides an apparatus which make it possible to join the head to the reservoir by a snap action joint without subjecting the dispenser to the snap action force. A blocking member and an actuating head, including a pump, are assemble to a medium reservoir while protecting the pump against actuation or excessive forces encountered during assembly. The blocking member can be disengaged to permit actuation. 
     A blocking member of the blocking means may be provided as a spacer between head and flange.(When the blocking means or its blocking member is reengaged after disegagement blocking of the actuation is repeatable.) In this arrangement the blocking member may be permanently mounted on the dispenser or totally separable from the dispenser. 
     The blocking member may prevent a dispenser body from being distended, for example by forming an outer shield or clamp which reinforces the dispenser body against being radially deformed. 
     The blocking member can be disengaged or engaged by spring forces so that it reliably holds on simple actuation. The associated actuating forces are oriented transverse to the operational and joining forces, and although the operation and joining forces may differ in direction, preferably they are parallel. 
     Preferably the blocking member covers a recess such as an annular gap between blocking faces to keep out dirt. The dispenser thus presents smoother outer surfaces in the blocked condition than in the unblocked condition. 
     The blocking member may be disengaged or engaged for securing the head to the actuating stem of the pump. The jointing forces needed to secure the head to the actuating stem are higher than the running force and may be higher or lower than the jointing forces of the flange. 
     The configuration according to the invention is particularly suitable for fasteners or closures including snap members, bayonet members or other rotary lock members as well as for fastening pumps having a body integral with or separate from the flange. Such pumps may be configured e.g. in accordance with the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/387124 to the features and effects of which reference is made for incorporating them in the invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Example embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail in the following and illustrated in the drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a partially cross-sectional view of the dispenser according to the invention, 
     FIG. 2 is a top view of the dispenser of FIG. 1, 
     FIG. 3 is a diametral cross-section through the blocking member of FIG. 1, 
     FIG. 4 is an axial cross-section of FIG. 1, 
     FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the blocking member, 
     FIG. 6 illustrates a further embodiment as in FIG. 1, 
     FIG. 7 is an axial cross-section of FIG. 6, 
     FIG. 8 is a top view of FIG. 6, and 
     FIG. 9 illustrates a third embodiment in a perspective view. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In FIG. 1 the dispenser  1  includes two units  2 ,  3  mutually movable over a working or discharge stroke. Each unit has a base or dispenser body, namely a flange  4  and a head  5 . Unit  2  is fixedly connected to a base  6  or medium reservoir. Unit  2  includes a casing  8  of a pump  7  such as a thrust piston pump. The piston unit  9  of pump  7  is slidingly displaceable within casing  8 . Unit  3  includes unit  9  which has within casing  8  an outlet valve. This valve has two mutually movable valve members. Piston unit  9  has a piston skirt abutting at the end of the working stroke against an inner shoulder of casing  8  to thus open the outlet valve. All parts are located in a base axis  10 . Casing  8  comprises a longer sleeve-shaped housing part  12  protruding into reservoir  6 . The outer end of casing  8  includes a cover  13  sealingly snapped onto part  12  or made in one part with housing part  12 . The inner end of casing  8  is made to provide a medium inlet  11  followed in flow direction  61  by an inlet or ball valve located within housing part  12 . Cover  13  has a radially projecting ring or disk-shaped pump flange  14  which is to be sealingly supported or tension-mounted on base  6 . 
     Head  5  is traversed by an outlet duct  15  ending in a medium outlet  16  and porting to the environment. Outlet  16  may be an atomizer nozzle, a jet nozzle or a droplet dispenser. Outlet  16  traverses the free end of a freely protruding stud  17  suitable for nostril insertion. Instead of being located in axis  10  the medium outlet  16  may also be oriented transverse or perpendicular to axis  10  while traversing in the jacket of head  5 . Stud  17  includes an outermost shelly  18  and spaced therefrom an inner shell  19 . Shell  18  translates at the rear end into a planar ring-shaped end wall  21 . The outside of wall  21  forms on both sides of stud  17  a handle  22 , namely pressure faces for the users fingers. A protecting cap shown in dot-dashed lines may be slipped onto stud  17  to extend up to handle  22 . The circumferential face of shell  18  or of this cap and the end face of stud  17  or the end face of the cap, particularly however the handle, may form the driving face  22  in connecting dispenser  1  to base  6 . 
     A shell  23  protrudes beyond the inside of wall  21 . Shell  23  is wider than but not as long as shell  18 . Cover  13  is traversed by a piston stem  24  of unit  9 . A plug member like a sleeve  25  is linearly pushed onto stem  24  counter flow direction  61 , namely in direction  62  up to abutment. Sleeve  25  of head  5  is firmly seated on stem  24  to thus create a connection  26  frictionally firmly seating head  5  with respect to direction  61  and positively seating head  5  with respect to direction  62  by abutting on unit  9 . Stem  24  like the pump piston is centrally traversed by the outlet duct. For fixing the dispenser  1  to base  6  as well as for actuating a discharge stroke the head  5  is loaded at the driving face  22  in direction  62  by the jointing force or actuating force. 
     Wall  21  or handle  22  is oblong rectangular with length edges  27  and narrow edges  28  convexly curved outwards. Wall  21  is traversed by an insert  29  or filler inserted into shell  18 , the filler forming plug sleeve  25 . Each of bodies  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  12 ,  13 ,  29  is in one part and radially or axially dimensionally rigid. 
     For rigidly positioning head  5  relative to flange  4  in a position between the rest position shown in FIG.  1  and the actuated end position a lock  20  is provided with a blocking member  30  engaging between bodies  4 ,  5  as a spacer while being freely accessible at the ouside of dispenser  1 . Flange  4  has two shells  31 ,  32  freely protruding in opposite directions  62 ,  21 . Shells  31 ,  32  adjoin each other via a ring-shaped end wall. From the inner circumference of narrower shell  32  and axially spaced from this end wall an annular disk-shaped flange member  33  protrudes. Member  33  rotary directly supports on the end face of flange  14  to thus axially tension flange  14  against base  6 . Thus the end wall of flange  4  centeringly surrounds flange  14 . Cover  13  is located totally within shell  32  and the end wall. The free end face of shell  23  forms a shoulder or pushing face  34  and the outside of the end wall forms a shoulder  35  between shells  31 ,  32 . Shoulder  35  opposes shoulder  34  between which the blocking member  30  engages. 
     Base  6  has a neck  36  narrower than its barrel. Neck  36  or its outer circumference has a retaining or snap member, e.g. a circumference groove, spaced from the necks end face  38 . On the inner circumference shell  31  has a correspondingly protruding complementary snap member  39 . Two steeper flanks of members  37 ,  39  point in direction  61  and form the joint or connection  40 , namely a resilient snap engagement, between dispenser  1  and base  6  while tensionally supporting against each other. End surface  38  surrounds the reservoir opening which is traversed by casing  8  by a gap spacing. For sealing, a seal  41  is inserted between end face  38  and the tensioning face of flange  14  facing face  38 . Seal  41  is likewise axially tensioned or compressed. Seal  41  indicated dot-dashed sealingly contacts with axial or radial tension not only flange  14  and end face  38  but also the outer circumference of housing part  12 , the inner circumference of shell  31  and the inner end face of the end wall of flange  4 . 
     The interior space of base  6  is vented to compensate the drop in pressure resulting from drawing the medium. For this purpose a vent  42  bypassing casing  8  is provided with an angular fluid duct  43 . At the inner circumference of shell  31  duct  43  has the longer axial duct branch  44 . At the inside of the end wall of flange  4  duct  43  has the shorter branch  45 . Duct  43  is formed by a groove in flange  4 . This groove traverses the annular fastening member  39  which extends continuously annular up to the groove flanks. Seal  41  is pressed into branches  44 ,  45  radially or axially. Thus seal  41  tensionally contacts the groove bottom also in the transition zone between branches  44 ,  45 . Seal  41  is non-permeable for liquids but permeable or semi-permeable for air. Thus seal  41  is simultaneously a filter, such as a germ filter. The air enters filter  41  axially in direction  61  from the free end of shell  31  through branch  44 . Thereafter the air flows radially through filter  41  toward axis  10  to finally flow along the outside of casing  8  in direction  62  into reservoir  6 . Reference is made to US patent application serial No. 09/387124 as regards further features and effects incorporated in the invention. 
     The integral blocking member  30  has a ring-shaped or partially ring-shaped locking body  46  extending over at least 180° to 310° and maximally over 350° about axis  10 . Body  46  has two shells  47 ,  48  directly adjoining each other. The outer circumferential faces of shells  47 ,  48  translate smoothly into each other. The inner circumferential faces transit into each other via a blocking face  49 . The thicker shell  47  forms between shoulders  34 ,  35  a blocking member. Therefore shoulders  34 ,  35  abut against blocking faces  49 ,  51  which face away from each other. Shell  48  envelopes shell  23  as a shield so tightly that shell  23  is prevented from becoming distended by jolting load. The space between faces  49 ,  51  corresponds roughly to half the working stroke of head  5 , but may also be considerably greater. The outer circumferential faces of blocking member  30  or blocking body  46  and of shell  31  are the same in width. 
     The circumferential gap formed by the opposed ends of open ring body  46  is closed by a bridge or means  50  for preventing widening and distention. Shell or ring section  52  of bridge  50  is thinner than shell  48  and is offset relative to shell  48  radially outwardly about its thickness. Section  52  is integrally connected to the opposed end faces of body  46  via connecting links or nominal frangible points  53 , or via hinge members, or the like. Links  53  are cross-sectionally weaker than section  52 . Links  53  are located only at the downstream end of section  52 , but are set back by this end relative to the downstream end of shell  48 . Links  53  extend over less than half of the axial length of bodies  46 ,  50  and enable to pivot bridge  50  relative to body  46  about a tangential axis traversing both links  53 . 
     Therefor bridge  50  has an upstream elongation of shell  52  to provide a release handle  56  jutting inclined away from shell  31 . Handle  56  extends almost up to the plane of the free end face of shell  31  or up to the shoulder between neck and barrel of bottle reservoir  6 . Thus handle  56  can be under-grasped by a finger nail and drawn outwardly while pivoting about links  53 . Adjoining handle  56  section  52  supports against the outer circumference of shell  31 , in case, radially tensioned. On pivoting links  53  are either severed off by torsional shear or one of links  53  enables bridge  50  to be pivoted about an axis parallel to axis  10  when only the other link  53  is severed. Then bridge  50  can be moved back into its closing position. Bridge  50  closes the opening or ring gap or insertion mouth  54  of body  46 . This removal/insertion mouth  54  is used to radially withdraw blocking member  30  from dispenser  1 . 
     Therefor blocking body  46  forms by its end radially resilient legs, the interspacing of which at gap  54  is considerably smaller than the diameter of the associated shell  32 . These leg ends slide on shell  32  on removal. Thereby they primarily resiliently spread wide before then returning to their initial position. At the leg ends weblike flank juts  55  project radially outward from the outer circumference of blocking body  46  and extend only over the full length of blocking body  46 . The opposing flanks of juts  55  bound mouth  54  funnel-shaped and radially diverge outwardly. Thus blokking body  46  can also be remounted onto shell  32  whereby the legs resilienty widen up before then clicking back into the blocking position. Bridge  50  does not have the blocking face  49 . For pulling off and slipping on blocking body  46  has a handle  57  at that circumferential zone which faces away from mouth  54 . 
     Member  30  and handle  22  are symmetrical to a common axial plane. Thus handle  56  protrudes according to FIG. 2 radially at one narrow side  28  and handle  57  protrudes radially at the other remote narrow side. Likewise in axial view blocking body  46  does not protrude over the length edges  27  or only significantly less than handles  56 ,  57 . 
     Blocking member  30  is located in the vicinity of members or cams  58 ,  59  of withdrawal preventing means  61  which positively prevent body  5  from being removed from body  4 . Annular cam or downstream end  58  of flange  4  protrudes outwardly from shell  32 . Annular cam  59  protrudes beyond the inner circumference of shell  23  at the free end. When head  5  is moved from the rest position in direction  62  cams  59  abut on cam  58 . In the cited axial plane of blocking member  30  the radial height of cams  58 ,  59  is reduced or totally interrupted. When head  5  is mounted in direction  62  cams  58 ,  59  ride past each other by radial resiliency of shells  23 ,  32  until they click back into their function position as a snap connector. Cam  59  is located partly or fully within shell  48 . 
     Piston unit  9  requires axial running forces to overcome the running restistance which may increase with increasing stroke due to a return spring located in casing  8 . To produce connection  26  an axial connecting force is needed to overcome the connecting resistance of pinch fit  26 . To bring flange cap  31  or member  39  into the cited joint engagement with base  6  an axial jointing force is needed which overcomes the jointing resistance. To produce joint  40  between dispenser  1  and base  6  the dispenser  1  is grasped by a pressing tool so that its pressing faces support against at least one of the cited driving faces  22 . The dispenser  1  is then linearly impacted onto neck  36  in direction  62  with this tool. Thereby head  5  primarily executes the partial stroke up to abutment on blocking face  49 , the jointing force then being transmitted to flange  4  solely by shell  47 . 
     Due to the foregoing partial stroke the return spring is stronger pretensioned so that by this spring casing  8  is already firmly tensioned against end face  38  or seal  41  with flange  4  before connection  40  is produced. After this flange  4  still executes an axial travel relative to casing  8  until attaining its jointing position. Flange  4  and casing  8  or its associated part  12  or  13  may also be integral with each other. For executing a discharge stroke blocking member  30  is removed or released in the cited way and for subsequent locking member  30  is returned. The partial travel of the working stroke until stopped by the blocking face  49  is selected so that the outlet valve of pump  7  is not opened thereby. On the return stroke from this intermediate position, medium is drawn from reservoir  6  into the pump chamber via inlet  11 . Thus medium is able to emerge from medium outlet  16  already on the next or next thereafter pump stroke. 
     In FIGS. 6 to  8  blocking body  46  circumferentially extends uninterrupted as a closed annular shell of constant thickness while maximally reaching up to shell  23  or the outside thereof. Blocking member  30  connects to pushing face  34  via connecting links  53  which are circumferentially distributed about the circumference with interspacings and solely transmit the cited jointing force to ring member  30 . In axial view handle  56  juts over length side  27  and is located in the vicinity of a nominal frangible or weak zone of member  30 . When handle  56  is tiltedly drawn radially outward this frangible element tears and member  30  can be removed as an open tape. The shell thickness of locking body  46  i s less than that of shell  23 . Body  46  is axially spaced from shell  23  by a cleft. This tiny cleft is bridged only by links  53 . 
     In FIG. 9 head  5  is already blocked in the rest position. In this position faces  49 ,  51  contact faces  34 ,  35  with zero clearance or with light axial tension. For jointing bodies  4 ,  5  the blocking member  30  and at least one of bodies  4 ,  5 , particularly flange  4  in FIGS. 1 and 9 and head  5  in FIG. 6, may commonly be a preassembled unit. In addition, member  30  fitted to dispenser  1  is rotary about axis  10  relative to both bodies according to FIGS. 1 and 9 and together with body  5  relative to body  4  according to FIG.  6 . 
     Bodies  4 ,  5  also over the full stroke may be prevented from mutually rotating, e. g. by cams  58 ,  59  or by the associated circumferential faces of shells  23 ,  32  having riding flats which are offset radially inwardly relative to the connecting circumferential faces. 
     It is to be noted that like parts in all embodiments are identified by like reference numerals and thus all passages of the description apply accordingly for all embodiments. Each feature of each embodiment may be provided in any other embodiment additionally or in combination. The size relationships as shown are favorable for many applications for an overall length of the dispenser  1  of max. 100 or 80 mm. The effects and properties may be precisely or merely substantially or roughly as described or may even greatly deviate therefrom for corresponding applications.