A hand-held dispenser for a flowable product, comprising a container having a neck portion at its top, and a cap body having a discharge opening and a base portion cooperable with the neck portion of the container to mount the cap body thereon. The said base and neck portions have cooperable automatic pressure-relief valving means which are responsive to increased gas pressure in the container, for venting a limited quantity of gas when the container is in its upright position, thereby to prevent possible explosion of the container and spillage or splattering of its contents. In one embodiment, there is a first annular sealing surface on one portion and a cooperable annular sealing surface on a companion portion which is engageable with the said first surface when the cap body is fully seated on the neck portion, A projection on one of the portions is disposed adjacent the sealing surface thereof, and is engageable with the cooperable sealing surface on the other of the portions. The projection is capable of effecting a non-destructive deformation of at least one of the portions when the cap body is moved axially from the fully seated position on the neck portion. The arrangement is such that under conditions of excess pressure, the seal between cap body and neck portion will automatically be momentarily broken or interrupted, thereby enabling limited venting to occur and avoiding the possibility of excessive pressure build-up in the container. Following the venting, the seal is automatically restored, whereby there is no possibility of contamination, leakage, etc.
CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present application is a continuation-in-part of my co-pending application U.S. Ser. No. 699,306 filed Feb. 7, 1985, and entitled HAND-HELD DISPENSER WITH AUTOMATIC VENTING, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,899 dated Dec. 2, 1986.
A twist-on/twist-off dispenser cap, of a type normally used for dispensing mustard or ketchup, comprises a bottom cap portion which screws onto a cooperating container and a generally cone-shaped spout portion which is captively held by a screw-type arrangement on the bottom cap portion. Rotation of the spout portion with respect to the bottom cap portion allows an orifice at the tip of the spout portion to be either opened or closed. A relatively wide annular flange at the base of the spout portion fits into a corresponding shallow recess in the top of the bottom portion of the dispenser cap. The flange and a plurality of spaced circumferential ridges at the periphery of the flange allow excellent gripping of a shrink-wrap seal to make the dispenser cap tamper-proof. The container onto which the dispensing cap is screwed has a circumferential collar adjacent a threaded neck portion. Two series of notches on opposing sides of the collar define intervening protuberances. The notched collar affords secure gripping by a shrink-wrap seal to hold the cap portion to the container in a tamper-proof manner.
A dispensing structure is provided for dispensing the contents from the interior of a container out of an opening in the container. The structure includes a body for mounting to the container at the container opening. The body is adapted for movement in directions toward and away from the container. The body defines a dispensing orifice for establishing communication between the exterior and interior of the container. The body has a sealing member for being disposed in the container opening. The sealing member has an outer sealing surface for sealingly engaging the container around the container opening when the body is located at a first sealing position relative to the container. The sealing member defines a vent passage extending inwardly from the outer sealing surface for communicating with the container interior whereby movement of the body in the direction away from the container a sufficient amount to a venting position locates a portion of the vent passage outwardly of the container opening to establish communication between the container interior and the container exterior. A lid is provided to accommodate movement between a closed position occluding the body dispensing orifice and an open position away from the body dispensing orifice.
Prior art bottle closures having a stationary closure member applicable to the top of a bottle and a closure member that is movable relative to the stationary closure member are improved by incorporation, between said closure members, of mutually cooperative, fluid sealing members extending transversely of the pouring axis of the bottle closures and separable therefrom for preventing escape of gaseous ingredients, such as carbonation, of drinkable liquids contained by bottles to which the bottle closures are applied.
A vented closure, for preventing deformation of a container containing a gas evolving liquid, is provided. The closure includes a first closure member and a second closure member. The first closure member seals the container from the outside atmosphere and defines a gas inlet, a gas outlet and a gas flow passage between the inlet and the outlet. A gas-permeable, liquid-impermeable membrane is placed in the gas flow passage. The second closure member is moveably fitted on the first closure member and encases the first closure member with a small clearance fit that allows gas passage. A sealing element coupled to the second closure member is aligned with the gas outlet of the first member so as to block gas flow when a predetermined load is applied to the second closure member and allow gas flow when the predetermined load is absent.
A closure for a bottle. The closure includes a spout neck attached to the bottle and a cap rotatably positioned on the spout neck. The spout neck may have a sealing lip and the cap may have an internal vent and an internal body portion. The sealing lip of the spout neck and the body portion of the cap align to seal the bottle when the cap is in a first position. The sealing lip of the spout neck and the circular vent of the cap align so as to vent the bottle when the cap is turned to a second position.
