The present invention relates generally to liquid vaporization devices and, more particularly, to a device that vaporizes a liquid perfume and to a specialized bottle that can be used therewith.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,659,301 of Fellows et al, there is disclosed a specialized bottle that has been designed to interfit into a plurality of different housings for liquid vaporization devices. As described in that patent, a bottle was specially designed to interfit specifically with a Wizard and a Glade vaporization device, respectively hereinafter referred to as first and second vaporization devices, with the consequent advantages of having a single bottle of vaporizable liquid that could be used with either commercial liquid vaporization device. The advantages recited in that patent include the ability of a consumer to purchase a single replacement bottle for use with a home vaporizer and not need to know which vaporizer was in use in the home. Accordingly, the consumer was not faced with the problem of having purchased an incompatible replacement bottle for the vaporizer being used in that home.
Recently changes have been made to the second vaporization device resulting in a third vaporization device. Those changes have thwarted the versatility of the bottle disclosed in the '301 patent to the extent that certain modifications to the second vaporization device resulted in incompatibility of that bottle to interfit and be locked into an operative position within the third vaporization device.
In particular, the third vaporization device includes an extruded circular ring that depends downwardly from the housing of the third vaporization device and abuts against the distal upward end of the bottle of the '301 patent, thereby preventing that bottle from being insertable vertically upwardly into the third vaporization device sufficiently to allow the outwardly extending projections formed on the bottle to snap into the alignment holes in the housing of the third vaporization device.
Therefore, the addition of the extruded circular ring that has been incorporated into the third vaporization device creates a problem in operatively interfitting the bottle of the aforementioned '301 patent into the third vaporization device and be locked into that position.
As such, it would be advantageous to have a modification to the bottle of the '301 patent to create a modified new bottle that can be interfitted into the third vaporization device and yet also still be interfittable into the second vaporization device. In addition, it would also be advantageous for the modified bottle to still be interfittable to the first vaporization device so as to be usable with those vaporization devices already in the hands of consumers.
In addition there is a fourth vaporization device currently on the market and which is also commercially available as supplied by Waldwick Plastics, Inc, the assignee of the present patent application. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a single bottle that could be operatively interfitted to all of the aforementioned commercial vaporization devices, that is, the first, second, third and fourth vaporization devices.
The present invention relates to a liquid vaporization bottle that is specially designed so as to operatively interfit into a plurality of commercially available vaporization devices and, in particular, operatively fit into the first, second, third and fourth devices.
Accordingly, the bottle of the present invention has overcome the lack of compatibility with the third vaporization device while still maintaining the ability to operatively interfit with the first and second vaporization devices by a redesign of the bottle. In the present bottle, therefore, certain of the features of the bottle that have been shown and described in the aforementioned '301 patent have been retained, that is, the bottle still has certain locking features that enable the bottle to be locked into its operative positions to both the first and second vaporization devices. Those locking features include at least one projection, and preferable a plurality of projections, extending outwardly from the bottle and which are located and dimensioned to fit through corresponding openings formed in the second vaporization device in order to retain the bottle to that device.
As the other locking feature, the present bottle also has an annular collar that surrounds the neck of the bottle in order to releasable affix the present bottle to the first vaporization device so that such locking devices enable the present bottle, in a manner similar to that of the bottle of the '301 patent, to operatively be locked into position to both the first and second vaporization devices.
As a further feature however there is also a means that allows the present bottle to be interfitted to and locked to the third vaporization device having the downwardly extending circular ring and which prevents the bottle of the '301 patent from being affixed and locked to the third vaporization device. The feature relates to a modification of the '301 bottle such that the neck of the bottle has been widened and a circular recess is formed in the wick holder that is affixed within that neck to hold the wick in its operative position.
As such, when the present bottle is fitted into the third vaporization device, the downwardly extending circular ring on that housing of the third vaporization device fits into the circular recess due to the predetermined dimensions and location thereof on the bottle of the present invention and therefore the inventive bottle can fit up into the third vaporization device sufficiently to allow the outwardly extending projections on the bottle to extend through the openings in the third vaporization device to lock the new bottle into its operative position.
In addition, the bottle of the present invention is still compatible and operative with the first and second vaporization device and also can be interfitted into the fourth vaporization device such that the present bottle can be used with the first, second, third and fourth vaporization devices, all of which are commercially available and in the homes of consumers.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent during the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings herein.
Referring now to
Briefly, however, as can be seen, the second vaporization device 10 includes a housing 14 containing an annular heater 16 having a heater opening 18 formed therein. As is conventional, the annular heater 16 is powered by an electrical source that is provided when the second vaporization device 10 is plugged into a standard wall outlet. The housing 14 also has a pair of openings 20 (only one of which is shown) that are oppositely disposed and which are used to lock the prior bottle 12 into its operative position to the second vaporization device 10.
The bottle 12 can be seen to be interfitted to and locked into its operative position within the housing 14 of the second vaporization device 10. When so positioned, two outwardly extending projections 22 located on opposite sides of the prior bottle 12 (again, only one of which is shown in
The foregoing explanation of
Turning now to
Turning now to
The location and depth of the circular recess 52 is, of course, predetermined to receive the circular ring 36 and the depth of the circular recess 52 is designed to be about 7.5 mm. with the outer diameter about 13 mm. and with the inner diameter to be about 10 mm. With those dimensions, the circular ring 36 of the third vaporization device 34 will fit within the circular recess 52 sufficiently to enable the new bottle 44 to be locked into its operative position within the housing 40 of the new vaporization device 34.
Turning to
Turning finally to
As such while the new bottle 44 of the present invention has been modified so as to fittingly engage with the housing 40 of the third vaporization device 34 (
Turning now to
As such, the new bottle 44 of the present invention can be seen to operatively interfit with the fourth vaporization device 70 as well as interfit with the first vaporization device 58, the second vaporization device 10 and the third vaporization device 34. Thus, the same new bottle 44 is designed to interfit with at least four commercial vaporizers having differing dimensions and produced by at least three different manufacturers.
Those skilled in the art will readily recognize numerous adaptations and modifications which can be made to the bottle of the present invention which will result in an improved bottle and method of using the same, yet all of which will fall within the scope and spirit of the present invention as defined in the following claims. Accordingly, the invention is to be limited only by the following claims and their equivalents.