Patent Application
20070181605
The present invention relates to a self-standing fluid dispenser that has a pump actuator and a discharge spout located at the top of dispenser.
Many fluid products such as liquid soap, shampoo, lotion, . . . etc. are commercially packaged in a disposable, self-standing dispenser with a pump actuator and a discharge spout located at the top of dispenser. The pump actuator draws the fluid product upward through a down comer tube. It is well known that such a conventional fluid dispenser suffers a drawback of inability for emptying the fluid product completely. This is because the pump actuator ceases to draw the fluid content as soon as the bottom entrance of the down comer tube being uncovered. As a result, there is a small amount of residual fluid product remained and wasted in the dispenser.
The amount of wasted residual fluid product is determined by the cross sectional area at the base of the dispenser, and the distance of clearance between the bottom entrance of the down comer tube and the base of the dispenser. One common approach in prior art to reduce the residual fluid product is to provide a step-down, reduced-cross sectional area at the base of dispenser. Such prior approach does not solve the problem satisfactorily. This is because the reduction in the cross sectional area at the base can adversely affect the stability of the dispenser standing in an up-right position.
Another approach in prior art can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,119, which discloses a dispenser bottle having a sloped internal base, a recessed sump and a flat exterior base. The sloped internal base slopes inwardly to terminate in the recessed sump so that the bottom of draw tube (i.e., down comer tube) fits snugly into the sump. The bottom of the draw tube has a plurality of vertically extending slots so that fluid content can be drained into the sump. Such a dispenser bottle of U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,119 has several drawbacks.
First, the overall height of dispenser bottle increases significantly. This is due to overlapping the sloped internal and the flat exterior bases, and adding the heights of both the sloped internal base and the sump. Second, the material, manufacturing, packing and transportation costs of the dispenser increase significantly due to overlapping the sloped internal base and the flat exterior base. There is also a technical problem in the dispenser bottle of U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,119. This is because the fluid content can only be drained into the sump through vertically extending slots at the bottom of the draw tube. Such a narrow and tortured flow path can adversely defeat the pumping ability of the dispenser.
It is understood that the issue of wasted residual fluid content needs to be concerned because the fluid dispenser is disposed (rather than being refilled and reused) after its usage. A disposable fluid dispenser is commercially marketable only if it has reasonably low packaging, transportation, material and manufacturing costs.
The fluid dispenser of present invention incorporates a sump integrated to a flat base that is raised up by external support legs. The bottom entrance of down comer tube is located in the sump at a level below the base of the dispenser. The sump provides sufficient clearance around the bottom entrance of down comer tube so that the pumping ability of dispenser is not affected. The support legs not only allow the dispenser to stably stand in right-up position, but also raise the flat base to a height so that the sump at the same height can be integrally connected to the flat base from below. Based on the principal of fluid hydraulic, the pump actuator continues to draw fluid content out of dispenser as long as the bottom entrance of down comer tube is submerged by fluid content. As long as the pump continues to draw the fluid content out of dispenser, the level of the fluid content continues to drop while the fluid content continues to drain into the sump by gravity, regardless the base of dispenser being flat or being sloped. Accordingly, the fluid dispenser of present invention eliminates the need for the sloped internal base, and the need for the redundant sloped internal base and flat exterior base. According to present invention, the residual fluid content is reduced to about the interior volume of the sump, and the material, manufacturing, packaging and transportation costs of dispenser are reduced to the lowest level.
An object of present invention is to provide a fluid dispenser for mining the wasted residual fluid content.
Another object of present invention is to provide a commercially marketable, disposable fluid dispenser at the lowest material, manufacturing, packaging and transportation costs.
The main hollow body and second hollow body in the fluid dispensers of present invention are shown in a substantially rectangular shape in the above preferred embodiments. It is considered within the spirit and scope of present invention if a round, square or other shape or configuration of the main hollow body or second hollow body is adopted. It is also considered with the spirit and scope of present invention that support legs of fluid dispenser can be in a shape or configuration different from that of the preferred embodiments. Preferably, the fluid dispensers of present invention in accordance with the above preferred embodiments are made from plastic molding.
