Patent Application
20060201965
The present invention relates to a coupling arrangement for coupling of a withdrawal arrangement to a package with liquid contents, through which withdrawal arrangement the contents are to be withdrawn from the package. The package consists, at least to a significant degree, of synthetic materials. The coupling arrangement comprises an inner coupling device with a part that is provided with holes and that is arranged on the inner surface of an unbroken part of the wall of the package. The coupling arrangement also comprises an outer coupling device that is arranged on the withdrawal arrangement. The outer coupling device comprises a tube section with which the unbroken part of the package can be broken and that can be introduced into the hole in the part that is provided with holes in order to be coupled to this part such that the contents of the package can be withdrawn through the tube part. The invention relates also to coupling devices and the use of a coupling device.
Coupling arrangements of the type described in the introduction are known from the documents U.S. Pat. No. 4,603,793 and WO 2004//037667. These documents describe coupling devices of circular form or other coupling sections with simple forms, and they describe coupling devices with non-circular coupling sections with fairly complicated designs. The latter designs of the coupling sections are intended to prevent the connection of packages and withdrawal devices that are not associated with each other.
It has proved to be the case that there is a need for coupling devices that, despite being circular or other coupling sections that are of simple design, cannot or may not be connected to each other. Such coupling devices are not known.
The aim of the present invention has been to remove this deficiency, and this has been achieved through the coupling arrangement named in the introduction principally comprising the characteristics that are made clear by the attached claims 1, 18 and 21.
The coupling devices can be coupled if the outer coupling device comprises a protruding part and the inner coupling device comprises at least one of a hole and a thin section of wall that the protruding part can be brought to interact with, while the coupling devices cannot be coupled if the inner coupling device lacks the said hole or the said thin section of wall. This means that a withdrawal arrangement of a particular design cannot be coupled to certain packages, and this eliminates the risk that withdrawal devices for the withdrawal of certain contents from certain packages can be erroneously used for the withdrawal of other contents from other packages. The inner coupling device can be used for the coupling of an outer coupling device that lacks a protruding part.
The invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
The drawings show part 1 of a package, the walls 2 of which consist fully or partially of synthetic material and which may be, for example, a plastic bag. The contents 3 of the package 1 are liquid or essentially liquid, and may consist of foodstuffs, such as, for example, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, dressing, or similar.
A withdrawal arrangement 4 is intended for the withdrawal of the contents 3 from the package 1 and a coupling arrangement 5 is intended to allow coupling of the withdrawal arrangement 4 to the package 1 such that the contents 3 of the package 1 can be withdrawn from the package.
The withdrawal arrangement 4 may be a pump 6 that is partially shown in
The coupling arrangement 5 comprises an inner coupling device 9 that is arranged within the package 1 and that comprises a part 10 that is provided with holes, through which the inner coupling device 9 is arranged on the inner surface of an unbroken section 11 of wall of the walls 2 of the package 1.
The coupling arrangement 5 comprises furthermore an outer coupling device 12 that is arranged on the withdrawal arrangement 4, thus on the pump 6 in the design shown in the drawings. In more detail, the outer coupling device 12 is arranged on the lower part of a pump housing 13 that is part of the pump 6. The outer coupling device 12 comprises a tube section 14 with which the unbroken section 11 of the walls 2 of the package can be broken, and that can be introduced into a hole 15 in the part 10 that is provided with holes, in order to be coupled to this part such that the contents 3 of the package 1 can be withdrawn through the tube section 14.
When the unbroken part 11 of the wall is broken with the aid of the tube section 14, parts of the part 11 of the wall will be folded in into the hole 15 (these inwardly folded parts are not shown in the drawings), and the tube section 14 is pressed into the hole 15 to such an extent that it is in tight contact with the part 10 that is provided with holes.
At least one protruding part 16 is arranged on either the withdrawal arrangement 4, to be more precise at the pump housing 13 in the design that is shown in the drawings, or on the tube part 14, or on both. At least one hole 17 or at least one thin section 18 of wall, or both, is arranged in the part 10 that is provided with holes. When the coupling devices 9, 12 are coupled together, the protruding part 16 can break up the unbroken part 11 of wall outside of the hole 17 and this part can be either introduced into the hole 17 or caused to break up the thin section 18 of wall, or both, in order to allow the said coupling. If the part 10 that is provided with holes lacks both the said hole 17 and the thin section 18 of wall, the protruding part 16 will prevent the coupling devices 9, 12 from being coupled since it will come into contact with the part 10 that is provided with holes without the possibility of being able to pass through this part.
The hole 17 for the protruding part 16 is preferably arranged next to the edge 19 of the hole 15 in the part 10 that is provided with holes, and the thin section 18 of wall is preferably a section of wall between the hole 17 for the protruding part 16 and the said edge 19.
The part 16a can be designed as a flange that extends along at least significant parts of the outer surface of the tube section 14 and protrudes out in a radial direction from this tube section. The part 16a may, furthermore, comprise a point 20 that protrudes outwards in a direction forwards from the tube section 14, preferably forwards from such a pointed front edge 21 of this tube section that is intended to break the unbroken section 11 of wall.
The hole or holes 17 for the protruding part 16 may comprise any suitable shape, for example a circular shape, or the hole 17 can, as is shown in
Instead of holes 17 and thin sections 18 of wall, the part 10 that is provided with holes may comprise one or several other thin sections of wall (not shown in the drawings) that can be broken by the protruding part 16 independently of whether this is a part 16a that is connected with the tube section 14 or a pin 16b that is not connected with this tube section.
The pump housing 13 or equivalent may comprise at least one coupling preventing part 23 that is intended to prevent outer coupling devices 12 that comprise protruding parts 16 from being coupled to inner coupling devices that lack both holes 17 and thin sections 18 of wall for the protruding parts 16.
The coupling preventing part 23 is preferably arranged to prevent the introduction by force of an outer coupling device 12 with a protruding part 16 into the hole 15 in an inner coupling device 9 through the expansion of the part 10 that is provided with holes by force exerted by the tube section 14 and the protruding part 16. Thus, the coupling preventing part 23 is so arranged that it cannot pass the part 10 that is provided with holes if it is attempted to introduce the tube part 14 with the protruding part 16 into the hole 15 by force. The coupling preventing part 23 may be a protrusion or equivalent that protrudes from the pump housing 13 or equivalent and that extends along the tube section 14. The distance A between this coupling preventing part 23 and the protruding part 16 is preferably less than the width B of the part 10 that is provided with holes.
The coupling preventing part 23 is advantageous principally in the case in which the part 10 that is provided with holes consists of soft material whose shape can be changed by force with the aid of the outer coupling device 12 and the protruding piece 16.
The inner coupling device 9 can be used to couple to the same outer coupling device (not shown in the drawings), which comprises a tube section 14 that has a shape that is adapted to the shape of the hole 15 in the part 10 of the inner coupling device 9 that is provided with holes but that lacks one or more protruding parts 16. Several different coupling devices can in this way be coupled to the inner coupling device 9 while outer coupling devices with such forms that are to be totally prevented from being able to be coupled to the inner coupling device 9 are prevented from being coupled to it. For example, if the hole 15 of the inner coupling device 9 is circular, the outer coupling device may be cylindrical and lack protruding parts 16.
The invention is not limited to the design described above and shown in the drawings: it can vary within the framework of the attached patent claims. As examples that have not been described can be mentioned that the coupling devices 9, 12 may be arranged on other arrangements or packages than those described, the withdrawal arrangement may, for example, be a tube or a pipe instead of a pump, the protruding part of the outer coupling device may be designed or arranged in another way, and they may be designed in a different manner. Thus, there may be one or several protruding sections on the outer coupling device and there may be one or several holes in the outer coupling device for the protruding part. The withdrawal arrangement 4 can be a tap instead of a pump 6, out through which the contents 3 of the package 1 can flow when it is opened.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0500551-7 | Mar 2005 | SE | national |
