Abstract:
A manually operated demand delivery liquid pump dispensing device, includes: —a container ( 2 ) to be filled with a storage ( 20 ) of the liquid to be dispensed and with air inside the container, said container comprising a bottom part ( 6 ), a top part ( 5 ), and a side wall ( 7 ) between said bottom part and said top part, and a lid ( 3 ) which seals an opening ( 4 ) in the top part of the container, usable for filling the container, said lid being provided on the upper side thereof with a shallow basin ( 15 ), including, in the centre thereof, a concave dish-shaped cavity ( 21 ) and a discharge opening in the region of said dish-shaped cavity of the lid, and with a tube ( 22 ) for supplying liquid to said concave dish-shaped cavity from said storage of liquid which may be contained in the container. Said tube has an exterior top section ( 22   a ) extending upwards from the bottom of said concave dish-shaped cavity ( 21 ), and an interior section ( 22   b ) extending downwards from said top section into the storage of the liquid which may be contained in the container.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a manually operated demand delivery liquid pump dispensing device. Specifically, the invention aims at providing a dispensing device which is useful particularly in connection with manual dishing with a dish-brush at a wash hand stand. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Conventionally, in connection with manual dishing with a dish-brush, some liquid washing-up detergent is manually discharged from a plastic bottle into a dishpan or sink; however, sometimes too much, sometimes too little, but seldom a proper amount. It is also conventional to dispense, now and then, some liquid washing-up detergent directly on the dish-brush, but even that simple procedure involves difficulties as far as supplying a proper amount of detergent is concerned. 
         [0003]    U.S. Pat. No. 2,752,069 discloses a container to be filled with a supply of a liquid to be dispensed and with air inside the container, said container comprising a bottom part, a top part including a lid which seals an opening usable for filling the container, and a side wall between said bottom part and said top part, the lid being provided with a shallow and concave dish-shaped portion and a discharge opening in the bottom of said dish-shaped portion of the lid, and with a conduit for supplying liquid to said concave dish-shaped portion from a storage of liquid which may be contained in the container. This prior art dispenser is designed to be used particularly in hospitals, doctor offices, or the like, where frequent and repeated use of a small quantity of alcohol or other surface medicament is necessary. It may also be used to dispend liquid cosmetics in beauty parlors and barber shops. Typically, a wad or ball of absorbent material, such as a wad of absorbent cotton, is placed in the dish-shaped portion of the lid, where the liquid is sucked up by the absorbent cotton wad. As an alternative, excess liquid is drained back into the container for future use 
         [0004]    In principle a dispenser of the type which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,752,069 also could be used for wetting a dish-brush with a liquid washing-up detergent. In that case, the dish-brush could be pressed against the top part of the dispenser, more specifically against the top part of the dispenser in the region of the concave dish-shaped portion, such that the lid is deflected and an amount of liquid detergent is pressed up, filling the concave little basin and wetting the brush. However, a dish-brush in use is not clean. Therefore, every time as the dish-brush is wetted by means of this prior art type of dispenser, some impurities, such as fragmentized food leavings, soot and grime is deposited in the concave dish-shaped portion and drains back into the container together with excess liquid that remains in the concave dish-shaped portion. As such contaminated liquid repeatedly is drained back into the container, the impurities will successively collect there and not only make the liquid in the container disgusting but finally useless. 
       BRIEF DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    It is the purpose of the present invention to address the above mentioned problem in order to provide an improved liquid dispensing device which is particularly useful in connection with manual dish-washing by means of a dish-brush. This and other objectives can be achieved therein that the above mentioned conduit, for supplying liquid to said concave dish-shaped portion from a storage of liquid which may be contained in the container, has an exterior top section extending upwards from the bottom of said concave dish-shaped portion, and an interior section extending downwards from said top section into the liquid which may be contained in the container. Other characteristic features, objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and from the appending patent claims. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0006]    In the following description of the invention, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings, in which 
           [0007]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an embodiment of the assembled liquid dispensing device according to the invention, 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the dispensing device disassembled, part A showing a lid and part B showing a container included in the dispensing device 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  is a side view of the assembled device, a part of a bottom part partly in section, 
           [0010]      FIG. 4  shows a lid in cross section along its symmetry line, and 
           [0011]      FIGS. 5 , A and B, illustrate how the container, which is included in the device of the invention can, be compressed in the direction of a central axis ( 8 ) of the device. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0012]    In the drawings, a manually operated demand delivery liquid pump dispensing device is generally designated  1 . It consists of a container  2  and a lid  3  which seals a container opening  4  in the end of a top part in the form of a short neck  5 . On said top part/neck  5 , external threads  6  are provided, adapted to cooperate with internal threads  16  in the lid  3 , such that the lid  3  can be screwed on the container for tight sealing or easy refill of the container opening  4 . 
         [0013]    The container  2  is made of a thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family. Most conveniently, it is made of transparent polyethylene terephthalate, commonly abbreviated PET, which can be semi-rigid to rigid and is typically used in food and other liquid containers. The container  2  comprises said neck  5 , which is a top part of the container, a bottom part  6 , and a side wall  7 ,  FIG. 5A , between said bottom part  6  and said top part or neck  5 . Since the PET material is semi-rigid to rigid, it has a correspondingly low elasticity. Therefore, because it shall be possible to use the device of the invention as a pump, the side wall  7  is designed such that it can be compressed in the axial direction of the container  2  without at the same time widening it, when the top part/neck  5  is pressed towards the bottom part  6 . The volume of the bottom part  6 , in the disclosed embodiment of the invention, represents more than 50% (about 70%) of the total volume of the container  2 . 
         [0014]    As shown in  FIG. 5A , the outer and inner surfaces of the side wall  7  are geometrically defined as surfaces generated by serpentine shaped lines rotated about the central axis  8  of container  2 . More specifically, the container wall  7  has an annular bulge  9  below the top part/neck  5  and a pronounced waist  10  between bulge  9  and bottom part  6 . Upper and lower, annular surfaces and wall sections of the bulge  9  are designated  12  and  13 , respectively. The bottom part  2  is much larger than the bulge  9  as well in its radial as in its axial directions and therefor also in terms of its volume. As a matter of fact, the volume of the bottom part represents more than 50% of the total volume of the container  2 . The bottom part  6  is also wider than bulge  9 . This also means that the annular, upper wall section  14  of the bottom part  6  is wider than the upper and lower wall sections  12  and  13  of the bulge  9 . As is also apparent from  FIG. 5  A, the extension of the container wall  11  in the region of the waist  10  is very short and represents not more than 10% of the entire length of the container&#39;s  2  side wall  7  in the axial extension, thereof. 
         [0015]    Now, with reference to  FIG. 5A , when the top part  5  is pressed towards the bottom part  6 , all the said annular wall sections  12 ,  13  and  14  will be deflected to some degree, i.e. be bent upwards or downward as the case may be. All these deflections cause a compression of the container&#39;s side wall  7  to some degree, and this is particularly true as far as the lower wall section  13  is concerned, because of its larger extension in its radial direction. Therefore, because of the deflections of the annular wall sections  12 ,  13  and  14  of the container, when closed by the lid  3 , the device of the invention may be used as a pump for the purpose that will be explained in following. First, however, also the lid  3 , its design, its use and its mode of operation shall be explained. 
         [0016]    The lid  3  consists of a rigid type of polymeric material. A convenient material is for example polyethylene but also others may be employed as well. Like any lid, its purpose by definition is to be a closure. In the present case it shall seal the opening  4  which is used for filling the container  2  with a liquid detergent when the lid  2  has been removed. That, however, is not the only objective of the lid. Another objective of the lid is to form a basin  15  for the distribution of the liquid washing detergent to a dish-brush. Inter alia for that purpose, the lid is wider than would be necessary just for its closure function. The lid is also made stiffer than necessary for its closure function, in order that it shall not be deflected or in other way deformed when it is pressed against the container, when the container shall work as a pump for pumping up liquid detergent  20 ,  FIG. 3 , from the container to a basin  15 . The lid  3  therefor has two downwards directed flanges; one inner flange  16  with inner threads  17  matching the outer threads  18  on the container neck  5 , and an outer flange  19  which promote the rigidity and non-flexibility of the lid  3 . According to the embodiment, the lid, which extends to the said outer flange  19  via a rounded top portion  24  of lid  3  is at least as wide as the bottom part  6  of the container  2  or wider, and the outer flange  19  has a length in its axial direction that is longer than that inner flange  16  which is provided with said inner threads  17 . 
         [0017]    In its center, the lid  2  has a concave portion, forming a shallow cavity  21 , in the following referred to as cup  21 , in the centre of the basin  15 . The width (diameter) of cup  21  is about ⅓ of the entire width of the basin  15 . A tube  22 , forming a conduit for the transportation of the liquid detergent from a store  20  of liquid detergent in the container  2  to the shallow cavity  21  on top of the lid  3 , has two sections; an exterior top section  22   a  extending upwards from the bottom of said concave dish-shaped cavity  21 , and an interior section  22   b  extending downwards from said top section into the store  20  of liquid detergent which may be contained in the container. According to the disclosed embodiment,  FIG. 3 , the interior section  22   b  ends at a short distance d1 from the bottom  23  of the container  2 , when the container is closed by the lid but not subjected to pressure. Further, according to the invention, the upper, exterior section  22   a  ends at a distance d2 from the bottom of the cup  21  in the centre thereof, said distance d2 being equal with the depth of the cup  21 . Around the cup  21 , from the rounded top portion  24  of the lid  3  down to the periphery of the cup  21 , the basin  15  includes an annular portion, in the following referred to as brim  25 , which surrounds the cup  21  and which geometrically may be defined as a truncated cone. The bottom surface of basin  20  in the region of the brim  25  slopes at an inclination angle of about 12°. For reasons which shall be explained in the following, the outer diameter d1 of the brim  25  is at least twice as large as the diameter d2 of the cup  21 . Most conveniently it is about three times as large. This, however, also has an impact on the total height of the device  1 . In view of its considerable width, the overall height of the device should be smaller than its width, in order not only that the total size of the device should not be inconveniently large, but also because the device shall be stable and allow a dish-brush to be pressed against the lid without risk that the device will turn over. 
         [0018]    The device of the invention, as described above, functions in the following way. The store  20  of liquid detergent is supplied to the container  2  through the opened opening  4 , whereupon the container is closed by screwing the lid  3  tightly to the top part/neck  5  of the container. The section  22   b  of the tube is submerged into the store  20  of liquid detergent to the said distance d1 from container bottom  23 . Now, the lid  3  and the top part  5  of the container  2  is pressed down by a dish-brush or by hand towards the bottom part  6 . This causes the annular wall sections  12  and  13  of the annular bulge  9 , and in particular the annular, wider top wall  14  of the bottom part  6  of the container, to be deflected,  FIG. 5  B. These deflections cause the side wall  7  of the container  2  to be compressed, and hence the volume of the container to be reduced. This in turn causes an amount of liquid detergent to be pressed—pumped—up from the store  20  of liquid detergent in the container  2  all the way through the conduit in the tube  22  up to the very end and be emptied from the top of the top section  22   a  of the tube into the cup  21 . 
         [0019]    Because the exterior top section  22   a  of the tube  22  extends a distance above the bottom of the cup  21 , corresponding approximately to the depth of the cavity  21 , the said top section  22   a  functions as a back valve, as long as the cup  21  is not overloaded with any liquid, which it is not normally. In order prevent or reduce the risk of overcharging the cup  21  with liquid detergent, the distance d1 between the lower end of the tube  22  and the container bottom  23  is fairly short, suitably of the same length as the length of the exterior top section  22   a  of the tube. Therefore, even if the lid  2  and the top part  5  of the container  2  are pressed maximally downwards, only a small amount of liquid detergent is charged into the cup  21 , not exceeding the limit defined by the upper end of the exterior top section  22   a . As a matter of fact, just a small amount of liquid detergent is sufficient for most dishing operations by means of a dish-brush, since the liquid detergent can be spread out by the disc-brush in the basin  15 , where it will be efficiently brought into contact with the dish-brush, before it is applied to the object to be cleaned by the dish-brush which has been properly wetted with liquid detergent. In order that it shall be possible to move the dish-brush around in the basin  15 , allowing the dish-brush to be well wetted by liquid detergent which has been supplied in the central cup  21  but at the same time avoid spattering the liquid detergent as well as food leavings and soiled dish-water around, the basin  15  should have a sufficient but not exaggeratedly large width. A width of between 8 and 12 mm is appropriate. 
         [0020]    One would think that the basin  20  gradually would be soiled with food leavings, such as lard, grease or others. However, that does not occur normally. But would it occur, it would be easy to remove them as a final dishing operation. In connection to this, it should be mentioned that it would very well be possible even to flush the basin  15  with hot water, should that be necessary, without running the risk that any harmful amount of water, soiled or not, would flow down into the container through the tube  22 , because the exterior top section  22   a  even in that case would work as a preventive valve.