The present invention relates to a fluid dispenser. More specifically, the present invention relates to a baffle disposed at the bottom of the fluid dispenser that enables near complete dispensing of the residual fluid from the bottom of the fluid dispenser.
Bottles for dispensing fluids often contain a spray nozzle and a dip tube that reaches to the bottom of the fluid dispenser in order to draw out as much fluid as possible. Fluids dispensed by such bottles may include but are not limited to window cleaning solutions, water, perfumes, mouthwash and oils. However, a height between about 0.1″ to as much as about 0.25″ cannot be removed because the dip tube does not quite reach the bottom of the fluid dispenser. Also, an amount of residual fluid stays trapped inside the dip tube which cannot be drawn out when the bottle is empty.
The residual fluid in commonly used fluid dispensers such as spray bottles makes up from about 0.5% to as high as about 10% of the weight of the fluid in the bottles and presents both a consumer and an environmental problem. Small amounts of residual and potentially toxic fluid in each fluid dispenser multiplied by billions of such dispensers disposed in landfills every year potentially amounts to a significant toxic load to the environment. Also these residual fluids reduce the amount of useable product from which consumers may benefit.
A spray bottle configuration currently on the market offers a partial solution. With this configuration, the dip tube is bent to one side of the fluid dispenser and reaches to a corner where the bottom joins a side wall. This design is useful for spray bottles that require tilting downward in order to reach horizontal surfaces or spray bottles that may be used to spray in a downward tilt. When spraying in a downward tilt, the fluid accumulates in the corner where the lower end of the dip tube is placed thus leaving only a negligible amount of residual fluid. A disadvantage of this design is that the residual fluid may not be drawn out if the bottle is used for spraying in an upright position, which currently is the most common position that spray bottles are used, or spraying upward when the fluid is drawn down to a low level.
Various solutions to this problem are provided in prior art references. U.S. Pat. No. 4,470,526 discloses a dispensing container having a sloped bottom sidewall, into a lowermost portion of which, a feed tube is extended and connects to a dispensing spout on a top of the container. U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,119 teaches a bottle having a flat exterior base, a sidewall extending around said exterior base and projecting upwardly to terminate in a neck, and a sloped internal base which tapers from said sidewall. The exterior base is separate from the bottle. Similar designs of fluid dispensers having sloped bottom sidewalls are presented in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,062,549, 6,257,446, 6,648,201, 6,752,297 and US Publication number 20060186144.
In order to maintain their original shape and base, the fluid dispensers described in these prior art references “fill in” the void created by having sloped sidewalls with solid material or void spaces inside the bottle. The material may be part of the fluid dispenser or a separate base for sitting the fluid dispenser onto. Some of these approaches have the disadvantage of increasing both manufacturing and disposal cost, and creating a detriment to the environment. Another disadvantage to some of these approaches is that part of the volume normally used for containing fluids is blocked off thus reducing the useful capacity of the bottle.
A solution provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,279,450, 5,518,150 and 7,055,722 involves placing one or more partitions that form two or more chambers inside a bottle that allow keeping the fluid in and/or transferring the fluid into the chamber from which it is drawn out by the dip tube. A disadvantage of the bottles described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,279,450 and 5,518,150 is that the chamber containing the dip tube from which the fluid is drawn out is small and thus empties quickly. This requires frequent transfers of fluid from the larger chamber. Also the structure disclosed in these prior art references limits the extent spray bottle may be tilted downward before the fluid escapes out of the chamber having the dip tube. A disadvantage of the bottle described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,055,722 is having a complex set of baffles that is difficult to manufacture.
In one aspect of the present invention, a fluid dispenser comprises: an inner cavity for holding a fluid, said inner cavity being defined by a substantially flat bottom, a first side wall, a second side wall, a front side, a back side and an open top side, said bottom of the inner cavity and said first side wall defining a first junction, said bottom and said second side wall defining a second junction; and a baffle having inner walls and outer walls, said inner walls of the baffle being disposed in the inner cavity of the fluid dispenser, said baffle having a bottom end and a top end, said bottom end of the baffle being disposed onto an area on the bottom of the inner cavity, said baffle extending from the area on the bottom of the inner cavity toward the first side wall, said baffle forming an acute angle in relation to the bottom of the inner cavity in a direction extending toward the first side wall in a manner that the baffle divides the inner cavity into a first compartment and a second compartment, said first compartment being in communication with the second compartment and in a manner that the top end of the baffle is disposed at a distance from the first side wall of the container, said baffle traversing through the front side and the back side of the bottle in a direction substantially parallel with the first side wall and the second side wall.
In another aspect of the present invention, a mold for forming a container having a predetermined interior shape comprises: a first block having a front side; a second block having a front side, said front side of the second block being configured to superimpose over the front side of the first block in a closed position of the mold; a first cavity disposed within the first block, said cavity containing a back wall, a bottom, an inside portion, a front portion, a first side wall and a second side wall; a second cavity disposed within the second block, said cavity containing a back wall, a bottom, an inside portion, a front portion, a first side wall and a second side wall; a first blade having a bottom end, a top end, a thickness and a front edge, said front edge extending from the back wall of the first cavity into the front portion of the first cavity; and a second blade having a bottom end, a top end, a thickness and a front edge, said front edge extending from the back wall of the second cavity into the front portion of the second cavity.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings, description and claims.
The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplated modes of carrying out the invention. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.
The present invention relates to a fluid dispenser and more specifically to a spray bottle configured for spraying fluids using a spray nozzle. However, devices using plungers for dispensing thick fluids such as lotions and shampoos that are not suitable for spraying also fall within the scope of the present invention. In an embodiment of the present invention, the spray bottle has a substantially flat bottom, a front side, a back side, a first side wall, a second side wall and a top side that define the bottle inner cavity. The top side ends with a threaded neck onto which a spray head equipped with a spray nozzle is attached. A baffle extends from an area on the bottom of the spray bottle toward the first side wall and ends at some distance from this side wall in a manner that the baffle forms an acute angle with the bottom of the bottle inner cavity as it extends toward the first side wall. The size of the acute angle with the bottom may range from about 25 degrees to about 75 degrees and most typically from about 40 degrees to about 50 degrees depending on the type and size of the bottle. The shortest gap between the top end of the baffle and the first side wall which the top end of the baffle approaches may range from about 5 mm and to about half the distance between the first side wall and the second side wall depending on the shape and size of the bottle. Also in this embodiment of the present invention, a dip tube extends from the spray head and bends toward the second side wall which is positioned opposite to the first side wall. The dip tube ends in a corner of a junction between the second side wall and the bottom. The distance from the position of the bottom end of the baffle, and the second side wall of the bottle may range from about 5 mm to about half the distance between the first side wall and the second side wall depending on the shape and size of the bottle. In an embodiment of the present invention, the bottle side walls are narrower than the front side and back side and represent the width dimension of the bottle, while the front and back sides represent the length dimension of the bottle. Accordingly, the baffle traverses the width of the bottle.
The bottle of the present invention has two compartments inside the bottle that are formed by the baffle: a first compartment between the baffle and the first side wall, and a second compartment between the baffle and the second side wall. In a typical use of this bottle, as the level of fluid dips below the top of the baffle, fluid resides inside both compartments. As the fluid level dips to a low level on the bottom of the bottle, the fluid may be transferred from the first compartment to the second compartment through the gap between the top of the baffle and the first side wall. This may be accomplished by inverting the bottle in a way that all the fluid gathers at the inverted top side of the bottle, tipping the bottom in a way that the fluid moves to the side of the second compartment and repositioning the bottle to its original position. The residual fluid will then gather at the junction between the bottom and the side wall of the second compartment where the bottom of the dip tube is positioned. With this configuration, most of the residual fluid may be drawn out in any spraying position: maintaining the bottle in the upright position as shown in
In an embodiment of the present invention, the baffle is formed by inserting a first blade through the front side of the inner cavity and a second blade through the back side of the inner cavity during the blow molding process used for forming the bottle from molten plastic. The insertion of the blades into the molten plastic results in pinching the plastic into a strip referred to as a weld that is wedged in a gap disposed in the outer walls of the baffle.
This embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in
The present invention also relates to a mold for making the fluid dispenser of the present invention in an extrusion blow molding process. In extrusion blow molding, plastic is melted and extruded into a hollow tube referred to as a parison. The parison is then captured by a cooled two-part metal mold which closes onto it. Air is blown into the parison inflating it into the shape of the fluid dispenser. After the plastic has cooled sufficiently, the mold is opened and the container is removed.
The mold of the present invention contains two sections. These sections may be mirror images of each other, fit together seamlessly and when brought together define an inner cavity. However, non-symmetrical molds and molds comprising of more than two sections also fall within the framework of the present invention.
An embodiment of a mold 20 for manufacturing the container of the present invention is shown in
A variety of polymers may be used for manufacturing the container of the present invention including, but not limited to, vinyl acetate, nylon, Polyethylene terephthalate, Polyvinyl chloride, Polyethylene, and Polypropylene. It is noted that the present invention is applicable to any shaped container bottom including, but not limited to, rectangular, elliptical and circular.
It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates to exemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.