Patent ID: 6874663

Claim:
A dispensing actuator for a pressurized container having a tilt valve comprising: a dispensing nozzle having a wall and adapted to be fitted over and engage the tilt valve, a lever coupled by a living hinge to the wall of said nozzle, said lever being movable between a non-dispensing storage and shipment state and a dispensing state, said lever having first and second engaging edges, said living hinge having a normal unbiased state which holds said lever in a vertical position that is substantially parallel to the axis of said nozzle, said vertical position providing said non-dispensing state, said living hinge having a biased position that urges said lever into said normal state, said lever in said biased position having a substantially horizontal position extending essentially perpendicular to the axis of said nozzle, said horizontal position providing said dispensing state, an engagement mechanism between said first and second engaging edges of said lever and said wall of said nozzle to hold said lever in said horizontal position, said engagement mechanism comprising a first spaced apart pair of vertical ribs on said nozzle and a second spaced apart pair of ribs on said edges of said lever, a first one of said ribs on said nozzle engaging a first one of said ribs on said lever and a second one of said ribs on said nozzle engaging the second one of said ribs on said lever when said lever is in said horizontal position, downward movement of said lever in said dispensing state causing said nozzle to tilt thereby causing the valve to dispense product contained in the pressurized container.