Patent Application
20130320047
The embodiments relate generally to an apparatus and method for dispensing liquid from one container into another container.
Handheld gasoline containers are ubiquitous. For decades, people have filled up a portable gasoline container at a gas station and then used that container to pour gasoline into their car, boat, lawn mower, or other device with a gasoline motor. One limitation of the prior art is that a person has to physically hold the container until all of the liquid has been dispensed. Another limitation is that liquid sometimes leaks onto the hands or clothes of the person holding the container.
What is needed is a device that will enable a person to dispense liquid from one container into another container without physically holding the container during the dispensing process.
In one embodiment, body 20 is manufactured using a single-mold plastic technique that is well-known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Handles 30 in this embodiment are apertures in body 20 to accommodate a person's hands. Handles 30 optionally could comprise physical devices, rather than apertures, that attach to body 20 that a person will hold with his or her hands. Tube 40 preferably is a flexible device to enable a person to move tube 40 to place the loose end within the other container such as a gas tank. Tube 40 optionally comprises rubber, soft plastic, sectioned aluminum, or other known flexible and waterproof materials. Supporting members 50 in this embodiment comprise two plastic pieces that are used to support body 20. For example, this design would allow a person to place dispensing device 10 on a flat surface, such as a boat deck, car roof, or the ground, while dispensing the liquid. Body 20 further comprises a floor, not shown, that angles downward from the outer perimeter of the floor toward a hole around which tube 40 is attached.
Dispensing device 10 further comprises supporting members 60. Supporting members 60 are located within body 20 and are designed to support a container, such as a portable gasoline container, in an inverted position to allow liquid to flow from the container into body 20, and from body 20 into tube 40 and into the other container being filled. In this embodiment, supporting members 60 comprise four horizontal bars attached to body 20. The bars are placed such that two bars are lower than the other two bars, which one of ordinary skill in the art will understand enables a container to be supported.
Dispensing device further comprises notch 70, into which tube 40 can be inserted for easy storage when not in use.
Dispensing device 100 further comprises supporting members 160 for holding dispensing device 100 upright during use, and notch 170 for storing tube 150 when not in use.
One or ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that
In addition, while the foregoing has been with reference to particular embodiments of the invention, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes in these embodiments may be made without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims.
