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Description  |
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There are many prior art suggestions concerning the design of a
self-closing dispensing valve which can be applied to the mouth of a
squeeze bottle, collapsible tube or the like containing a fluid product.
Characteristically such suggestions involve a stationary valve seat and an
elastically flexible diaghragm having a hole with a periphery normally
seating on the valve seat under the spring force of the diaphragm, fluid
pressure on the inside of the diaphragm springing the diaphragm away from
the valve seat for opening and release of the pressure permitting the
diaphragm to spring back and close the valve.
For commercial production, any self-closing valve must be designed so it
can be made with injection-molded plastic parts which can be easily
assembled.
A commercially successful squeeze bottle, self-closing dispensing valve is
disclosed by the Laauwe and Roggenburg U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,342. It is
applied to squeeze bottles containing a viscous liquid product,
exemplified by soft soap for personal use, and millions have been sold and
used successfully.
This patented valve has a valve seat formed by the periphery of a thin
wafer of comparatively small diameter, the elastic, flexible diaghragm
hole having a thin periphery seating on the wafer's periphery, both thin
peripheries having substantially mating conical surfaces, the entirety of
these surfaces contacting each other when the valve is closed. The wafer
is supported by radial spokes which connect with an annular base which is
attached to the squeeze bottle's mouth, and the diaphragm is part of a cap
having a depending flange which via a ring lock formation is snapped on
the base to assemble the valve. The base and cap are each integral
injection-molded plastic parts and the cap cannot be rotated on the base.
With the above construction, during the self-closing action, the viscous
fluid product is squeezed easily from the two twin peripheries so that
they reclose with a positive shut-off and only a relatively small pressure
on the diaphragm is required for valve opening because the intermating
conical peripheries are not wedged or frictionally held together when
closed. To insure against wedging, the spokes adjacent to the periphery of
the wafer and slightly therebelow form stops preventing excessive downward
movement of the diaphragm, thus positively preventing the periphery of the
diaphragm's hole from wedging downwardly on the wafer's periphery. The
valve parts are designed to permit them to be molded with precision and
the stops can be positioned so as to stop closing diaphragm motion just as
the two conical peripheries intercontact under the spring closing force of
the diaphragm. The wafer has a flat top and bottom, and excepting for its
supporting spokes, its bottom is otherwise free from obstructions in a
downward direction, the viscous fluid product being otherwise free from
obstructions in a downward direction.
The valve is used commercially on hooked, squeeze bottles which can be hung
with the valve upside down where it operates equally successfully as when
upright.
Any self-closing squeeze bottle dispensing valve involves the problem that
when the user packs the squeeze bottle having the valve, for example, in a
suitcase, inadvertent squeezing of the squeeze bottle discharges the
bottle's content. The prior art has made suggestions in connection with
prior art self-closing valve constructions.
For example, the Schlecksupp U.S. Pat. No. 2,711,271 suggests the use of
what is in effect a bayonet joint arrangement so that by manually turning
an externally accessible part, the diaphragm can be rigidly locked against
opening motion. This concept has the disadvantage that after being locked
closed for a time, the cooperating plastic parts of any self-closing valve
tend to acquire a set or substantially permanent deformation.
The concept of leaving the diaphragm free from rigid restraint and for a
manual shut-off by preventing the fluid product from reaching and being
extruded over the valve seat, is suggested by the Nilson U.S. Pat. No.
4,414,475. In this case the bottom of the diaphragm is completely closed
off from the product in the squeeze bottle by the valve having a solid
wall therebetween, a manually operated valve arrangement connecting the
product with the space between the wall and the diaphragm. This leaves the
valve parts free from rigid restraint, but the product pressurized when
the squeeze bottle is squeezed, must travel a devious path requiring
excessive pressure on the squeeze bottle. This U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,475
shows that to manually operate its positive shut-off, a cap is turned, the
cap being rotatively connected to a part connected to the squeeze bottle.
A commercially acceptable self-closing valve must incorporate an air vent
to permit reexpansion of the squeeze bottle after its squeezing. Such an
air vent introduces the problem that even when having a manual positive
shut-off, when a squeeze bottle having a self-closing vented valve is
shipped or squeezed excessively, the bottle's content can escape via the
vent.
The object of the present invention is to provide a squeeze bottle
self-closing viscous liquid dispensing valve having a manually operated
positive shut-off, and which retains the advantages of the valve of the
Laauwe-Roggenburg patent. That is to say, the valve must be designed to
permit its production in large quantities by the injection-molding
technique, permit the use of the principles of the Laauwe and Roggenburg
patent, and for positive shut-off must be manually controllable,
preferably by turning the cap of that patented valve.
Briefly summarized, this invention includes the concept of the Laauwe and
Roggenburg patent wherein the spokes position the upwardly facing valve
seat or wafer with the diaphragm thereabove having its lower surface
exposed downwardly so as to receive directly the pressure of the viscous
fluid product upwardly displaced by squeezing of the squeeze bottle. There
is no wall between the diaphragm's lower surface and the product being
squeezed upwardly from the squeeze bottle.
The diaphragm is free from restraint other than that its hole's thin
conical periphery contacts the thin conical periphery of the wafer forming
the valve seat, a stop preventing the two peripheries from wedging
together. If the squeeze bottle is squeezed inadvertently, the diaphragm
is very free to displace and open its hole's periphery from the wafer's
periphery. To prevent such inadvertent discharge of the product, the valve
body provides a manual means for closing and positively shutting off the
product from the valve seat without rigidly restraining the diaphragm,
while preventing the fluid viscous product from flowing to the seat.
However, the diaphragm's bottom is always completely exposed to the
product in the bottle and the diaphragm can move at all times.
The Laauwe and Roggenburg patented valve must incorporate a vent for
venting the squeeze bottle after squeezing because it is air-tight when
closed. Consequently, the valve of the present invention has one or more
air vent passages, but at the same time has means for opening and closing
the vent or vents automatically and simultaneously with opening and
closing of the valve means which shuts off the product from the valve
seat.
In addition to the above, the present invention provides for non-removably
locking the valve on the mouth of the squeeze bottle by the manufacture of
the product merchandised in the squeeze bottle. This is to prevent product
substitution.
In connection with the following detailed description of the invention,
reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the new valve as it is attached to the
mouth of a squeeze bottle;
FIG. 2 is an exploded view showing the cap and base parts of the new valve;
FIG. 3 is a vertical cross section showing the cap of the new valve;
FIG. 4 is a bottom view of this cap taken on the line 4--4 in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a vertical section showing the base of the new valve;
FIG. 6 is a plan view of FIG. 5;
FIG. 7 is a vertical section of the valve with its cap and base assembled
together and its positive shut-off parts open for normal dispensing valve
action;
FIG. 8 is a horizontal cross section taken on the line 8--8 in FIG. 7;
FIG. 9 is like FIG. 7 but showing the parts in the valve shut-off
condition;
FIG. 10 is a horizontal cross section taken on the line 10--10 in FIG. 9;
FIG. 11 is a cut-apart perspective view of the valve's shut-off parts in
open position;
FIG. 12 is the same as FIG. 11 but shows the parts in shut-off position;
FIG. 13 is an elevation view showing a locking arrangement for preventing
unscrewing of the valve when once applied to the mouth of a squeeze
bottle, the parts shown in this figure indicating the valve lock-on
condition;
FIG. 14 is the same as FIG. 13 but shows the valve as it is screwed on a
squeeze bottle mouth;
FIG. 15 is a bottom view of the valve shown by FIGS. 13 and 14;
FIG. 16 shows the upper periphery of the squeeze bottle mouth on which the
valve is screwed in FIGS. 13 and 14; and
FIG. 17 schematically shows the action involved during the screwing on of
the valve for locking it unremovably to the bottle mouth.
Familiarity with the Laauwe and Roggenburg patent is assumed in the
following description of the details shown by the above drawings.
FIG. 1 shows the external appearance of the new valve with its rotative cap
1 bearing close and open indicia and its base 2 screwed on the mouth of a
squeeze bottle 3. The valve is in the form of an annular body, the cap
forming an upper portion and the base forming a lower portion.
The base 2 above its screw-threaded skirt 4 which is screwed on the
standard threaded mouth of the squeeze bottle, has above the screw thread
4a the spokes 5 that extend radially inwardly and position the upwardly
facing valve seat wafer 6. The cap has the upwardly deflectable elastic
diaphragm 7 above the spokes and having the hole with its periphery 7a
normally seating on and mating with the valve seat wafer's periphery as
shown by FIGS. 7 and 9 for example. Both peripheries form thin conical
surfaces. The lower surface of the diaphragm is exposed downwardly and is
completely open downwardly, excepting for the thin spokes, for receiving
the pressure of a viscous fluid product when contained by the squeeze
bottle and the squeeze bottle is squeezed. This pressure causes upward
displacement or springing of the diaphragm and separation of its hole's
periphery from that of the valve seat 6.
The valve means for closing and positively shutting off the viscous product
from the valve seat 6 without restraining upward displacement of the
diaphragm, or for permitting the product to flow to this seat, depending
on whether the cap 1 is turned to close or open position, with the
diaphragm being free from rigid restraint at all times, is as follows:
The valve seat 6 is positioned by the inner tips of the spokes 5 via an
interposed pedestal 9 upstanding from the spokes and having a cylindrical
side 9a of larger diameter than the valve seat and the diaphragm's hole.
In this cylindrical side four vertically extending passages in the form of
longitudinally extending grooves 9b lead to the valve seat. The grooves
have closed lower ends 9c, leaving therebelow a lower ungrooved portion 9d
of the cylindrical side. The cap's diaphragm has a cylindrical sleeve 10
depending from it around the periphery 7a of its hole. This sleeve is
telescoped on the cylindrical side of the pedestal so as to be axially and
rotatively slidable on this side, and is part of the cap that is now
designed to rotate on the base of the valve. This sleeve has four side
openings in the form of open-bottom slots 10a, each slot extending
upwardly to a position above the closed bottom ends 9c of the grooves in
the pedestal. The grooves and slots are symmetrically positioned so that
they can mutually register. Rotation of the cap can turn the sleeve's
slots into registration with the pedestal's grooves so that a viscous
product squeezed from the squeeze bottle has free access to the valve seat
6 for dispensing of the fluid product, and when the cap is turned so that
the sleeve's slots are on the ungrooved portions of the pedestal's side,
the grooves 9b are closed by the sleeve's unslotted portions.
In the above way a mutually positive shut-off of the dispensing valve is
provided while at the same time the diaphragm's sleeve can slide
vertically on the pedestal with the diaphragm to move correspondingly
without rigid restraint.
The lower portion 9d of the pedestal extends ungrooved upwardly far enough
so that the lower portion of the sleeve never uncovers the pedestal's
grooves during upward diaphragm motion within the limits of its possible
movement. Therefore, the pedestal grooves are always closed when the
sleeve is in its closed position. The diaphragm 7 is elastic and following
the laws of elasticity, its resistance to displacement rapidly increases
with its displacement or strain, assuring that the lower end of the sleeve
never leaves the ungrooved portion 9d of the pedestal.
To insure against production problems that might be caused by injection
molding the pedestal 9, it is cored out from its bottom so that the
pedestal has the appearance of an inverted cup with a thin wall. This
reduces substantially the volume of plastic that might otherwise be
required by the pedestal when injection molding the base. Also, the valve
seat wafer is made thin with a flat bottom 6a as well as a flat top, and
is supported by the spoke tips via the ungrooved portions of the pedestal,
substantially maintaining the advantages of the Laauwe and Roggenburg
patent construction.
In other words, the valve seat 6 is essentially the wafer seat of the
Laauwe and Roggenburg patent, and the spokes 5 radiate from its bottom,
the pedestal grooves 9b providing downward clearance for the viscous
product when the diaphragm hole's periphery 7a closes its equally thin
mating surface on the valve seat periphery, when the diaphragm returns
from its displacement to its normal seating position, and, of course, the
manually controlled positive shut-off valve means is open. To positively
prevent downard wedging of the diaphragm hole's periphery on the valve
seat, the base of the pedestal is formed with an encircling flange or ring
9e which forms a stop below the valve seat wafer's periphery, preventing
excessive downward movement of the diaphragm from which the sleeve
depends. As in the Laauwe and Roggenburg patent, the valve seat 6 and the
hole's periphery 7a are both thin mating conical surfaces which
substantially contact each other in their entireties when closed together,
the ring or flange 9e on which the sleeve's bottom end is rotatively
slidingly supported insuring this relationship.
To rotatively interconnect the cap and base, the cap has a depending skirt
7a which fits over the upper portion of the base, the two being shaped to
form a ring lock RL. The cap and base are respectively integral
injection-molded plastic parts and for assembly of the valve the cap is
pushed onto the base with the ring lock RL snapping into its locked
position. The lock is formed by angular surfaces exerting a wedging action
which pulls the cap down on the base when the parts are assembled, and the
cap is formed with an annular flat surface 7b which is then pressed down
on a corresponding flat surface 11 on the upstanding rim of the base so
that the viscous product cannot escape between the peripheries of the cap
and base. However, the surface 7b can rotatively slide on surface 11.
For the air venting required for reexpansion of the squeeze bottle after
squeezing, the base's rim surface 11 is formed with at least one or more,
preferably two, radial grooves 11a, each groove being radially aligned
with one of the grooves 9b in the pedestal's side. In each case, this
forms a venting passage extending to the outside of the valve, the ring
lock RL permitting the passage of air because it inherently cannot be made
air-tight. The cross-sectional area of each venting groove 11a is
proportioned so that with its top closed by the cap surface 7b, normal
squeezing of the squeeze bottle cannot force the viscous product through
the venting passage due to the product's flow resistance, but when the
bottle is released, air with its much lower viscosity, can be sucked back
into the bottle for venting. However, when the manual positive shut-off is
closed and the bottle is packed under constant pressure in a suitcase, for
example, the product can under the constant pressure ooze through any such
venting passage.
To prevent the above, the cap has for each of the venting passage grooves
11a a depending tab closure 7c which rotatively slides in an annular
groove 9f formed in the base inwardly of the rim surface 11 on which the
surface 7b of the cap rides, each tab closure 7c being positioned radially
opposite a solid or unslotted portion of the cap's sleeve 10. When the cap
is turned to its positively closed or shut-off position, the tab 7c also
positively shuts off the venting passage 11a for which it is intended. The
groove 9f is provided with stops 9g positioned so as to be engaged by the
tab closure or closures 7c and in such a manner as to limit the rotation
of the cap to its closed and opened positions.
To accommodate the difference in diameter between the valve seat 6 and the
larger diameter of the pedestal 9, the upper portion of the pedestal forms
a conical male portion between the seat 6 and the pedestal's cylindrical
side 9a, and the grooves 9b extend vertically in this male portion to the
seat's periphery. The upper tip of this male portion, above the top ends
of the grooves, forms the axially thin conical seat 6. The male portion
and the seat have the same conical angularity.
The diaphragm is formed with a conical female portion separably fitting the
male portion and extending coextensively therewith from the diaphragm
hole's periphery 7a to the base of the conical male portion where the
female portion forms a junction with the diaphragm's sleeve, from which
junction the diaphragm extends radially.
With the above construction, when this new valve is in its open position by
rotation of its cap, the periphery of the valve seat is extensively open
downwardly via the groove 9b and slots 10a.
When the manual positive shut-off parts are in their open position, the
operation of the valve is essentially the same as described by the Laauwe
and Roggenburg patent. The entire bottom of the diaphragm is open to
receive the pressure of the viscous product squeezed from the squeeze
bottle, and when squeezing is terminated, the thin conical mating valve
surfaces freely close because there is nothing to prevent free flow of the
product from them, there being no substantial obstruction in the downward
direction because of the multiplicity of grooves in the pedestal's side.
The stop or ring 9e assures proper complete mating of the conical valve
surfaces without any wedging action between them. When the cap is turned
to its closed position, any possible flow of the product is positively
prevented from reaching the valve seat with consequent inadvertent
extrusion, while simultaneously the venting passage or passages are also
shut off. A positive manual and complete shut-off is provided.
At the same time the two parts of this new valve can be injection-molded in
the large quantities required, without production problems. The pedestal
is cored out so that it is of small volume with thin cross sections, and
can be held to the precision concentricity with the diaphragm hole
required for the complete mating of the conical valve surfaces, when the
parts are injection molded. This also applies to the pedestal side and the
diaphragm's sleeve which if asymmetric would jam and restrain the
diaphragm's free motion.
The manufacturers of some viscous products have indicated a desire for a
non-refillable squeeze bottle. To meet this requirement as shown by FIGS.
13-17, this new valve can have the bottom of its base provided with an
annular series of ratchet teeth 12, with the mouth of the bottle provided
with one or more upstanding ratchet teeth 13 pointing in a direction
opposite to that of the teeth 12. The direction in which the teeth
interlock to prevent reverse motion should be opposite to the screwing
direction required to apply the valve to the bottle, the standard squeeze
bottle having a right-hand thread. As the cap is screwed on the bottle,
the action illustrated by FIG. 17 occurs, ultimately arriving at the
condition shown by FIG. 13 with the valve unremovably locked on the
bottle.
Because of the right-hand bottle mouth thread, it is preferable to design
the new valve so that the cap turns to its closed direction with a
right-hand rotation. The valves are applied by automated machinery which
screw the valves on one bottle after another, and with the cap turning in
the screwing direction to its closed position, all bottles are produced
with the valves in their positive shut-off condition which is a shipping
advantage.
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