Patent Application
20170059383
Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to a dual chambered dispensing bottle that utilizes gravity and bottle geometry to precisely dose the desired amount of a liquid, such as an additive or concentrate. The bottle eliminates the need for a double neck and a secondary cap or valve to separate the main (reservoir) chamber from the dispensing chamber, reducing overall packaging costs.
Description of the Related Art
The current pharmaceutical, marine, agricultural, and automotive markets offer a number of dispensing containers for medicines, additives and the like. Typically automotive additives are dispensed using a view stripe to help gauge the amount of additive being used. This has proven to be very inaccurate and can be costly if the more expensive additives are not precisely measured and dispensed. The present disclosure addresses this need.
The present disclosure relates to a bottle for dispensing a premeasured amount of liquid. The bottle may comprise a body, a neck extending upwardly from the body and a transfer tube.
The body defines a main chamber and a dispensing chamber located above the main chamber. The main chamber and the dispensing chamber are separated by an internal wall. The internal wall comprises a bottom wall and a spill wall extending upwardly at an angle from the bottom wall and terminating in a spill edge. The spill edge limits the amount of liquid that can be held in the dispensing chamber.
The body further comprises a bottom and sidewalls extending upwardly from the bottom. The internal wall, the bottom and a lower portion of the sidewalls define the main chamber. An upper portion of the sidewalls and the internal wall define the dispensing chamber. The lower portion of the sidewalls should be of a construction and material that allows them to be squeezed inwardly.
The transfer tube defines a passageway between the main chamber and the dispensing chamber, and has a lower opening communicating with the main chamber near the bottom and an upper opening communicating with the dispensing chamber.
The present disclosure also relates to a method of filling a bottle, comprising the steps of: filling the dispensing chamber with liquid via a fill tube; and transferring the liquid from the dispensing chamber to the main chamber by tilting the bottle in the direction of the transfer tube so that liquid cascades over the spill edge and flows down through the passageway into the main chamber.
The present disclosure also relates to a method of dispensing liquid from a bottle, the method comprising the steps of: squeezing the sidewalls around the main chamber to force liquid up through the passageway, over the spill edge and into the dispensing chamber until a desired amount of liquid resides in the dispensing chamber; tilting the bottle in a direction away from the transfer tube so that the liquid in the dispensing chamber moves away from the transfer tube and toward the neck while any liquid in the transfer tube flows downwardly into the main chamber; and further tilting the bottle to dispense the liquid in the dispensing chamber while any liquid in the main chamber remains in the main chamber.
While this invention may be embodied in many forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail one or more embodiments with the understanding that this disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the illustrated embodiments.
This disclosure may use relative terms such as “above”, “below”, “horizontal”, “laterally”, “upwardly” and “downwardly.” These terms generally may be interpreted to refer to a direction or orientation with respect to the pull of gravity, as applied to a bottle in its upright position, where “upwardly”, for example, means in a direction against the pull of gravity, and “laterally” means in a direction substantially perpendicular to the pull of gravity, or what may conventionally be referred to as “sideways.”
This disclosure relates to a dual chambered dispensing bottle that utilizes gravity and bottle geometry to precisely dose the desired amount of a liquid, such as an additive or concentrate. The bottle eliminates the need for a double neck and a secondary cap or valve to separate the two chambers, reducing overall packaging costs.
Turning to the drawings, there is shown in
The body 12 has a lower main chamber 16 and an upper dispensing chamber 18 separated by an internal wall 20. The internal wall 20 may comprise a substantially horizontal (i.e., perpendicular to the pull of gravity when the bottle is at rest) bottom wall 29 and a spill wall 30 extending upwardly at an angle from the bottom wall 29 and terminating in a spill edge 32. The included angle defined by the bottom wall 29 and the spill wall 30 may be greater than 90 degrees and preferably about 125 degrees.
The body 12 may comprise a bottom 26 and sidewalls 28 extending upwardly from the bottom 26. Together with the internal wall 20, the bottom 26 and a lower portion of the sidewalls 28 define the main chamber 16. An upper portion of the sidewalls 28 and the internal wall 20 define the dispensing chamber 18 located above the main chamber 16. The lower portion of the sidewalls 28 should be of a construction and material that allows the lower portion of the sidewalls 28 to be squeezed inwardly.
A transfer tube 22 defines a passageway 34 between the main chamber 16 and the dispensing chamber 18. The transfer tube 22 has two openings. A lower opening 35 communicates with the main chamber 16 and preferably the bottom of the main chamber 16. An upper opening 37 communicates with the dispensing chamber 18 and preferably an area of the dispensing chamber 18 just above the spill edge 32.
The neck 14 extends upwardly from the body 12 above the dispensing chamber 18, and preferably above a portion of the body 12 laterally opposite the transfer tube 22. The neck defines a neck space 17. The neck 14 may terminate in a threaded portion 15 configured to receive a threaded cap 40.
A vent tube 24 defines a passageway 36 between the main chamber 16 and the neck 14 that can be used to vent air during the filling process as explained below. The vent tube 24 defines a lower opening 25 that communicates with the main chamber 16 and preferably a portion of the main chamber 16 above the internal wall 20 (and thus above the fill line 19) and an upper opening 27 that communicates with the dispensing chamber 18 or the neck space 17, preferably at a location above the top (maximum) achievable level 21 of liquid inside the dispensing chamber 18. Preferably the vent tube 24 is located on a side of the bottle 10 laterally opposite the transfer tube 22 and the spill wall 30.
The main chamber 16 may be filled up to a fill line 19 located at or just below the internal wall 20. After filling is complete, the vent passageway 36 may be closed using a weld or other means so that the only means of transferring liquid 50 between the two chambers is via the transfer tube passageway 34.
Alternatively, the main chamber 16 may be filled through an orifice located in the internal wall 20 (not shown) which is then sealed off. During filling, displaced air in the main chamber 16 exits through the vent tube 24, which again can be sealed off after filling is complete.
In
Preferably squeezing results in the inward movement of the lower portion of the sidewalls 28 (defining the main chamber) but not the upper portion of the sidewalls 28 (defining the dispensing chamber), so that the volume of the dispensing chamber 18 remains substantially constant. In this way a desired amount of liquid 50 may be transferred to the dispensing chamber 18 by filling the dispensing chamber 18 to the desired liquid level 21 using the molded calibrations 44.
The bottle may have a short neck or a conventional “long neck” design allowing a user to pour the desired amount of product into the fill point of an automobile, watercraft, or other vehicle that requires a dispensed product into the gas tank fill location, including the newer capless vehicles, such as those manufactured by Ford Motor Company. The bottle can also be used in the lawn and garden industry in the precise dispensing of lawn chemical concentrates, for weeds, feed, and insect control.
It is understood that the embodiments of the invention described above are only particular examples which serve to illustrate the principles of the invention. Modifications and alternative embodiments of the invention are contemplated which do not depart from the scope of the invention as defined by the foregoing teachings and appended claims. It is intended that the claims cover all such modifications and alternative embodiments that fall within their scope.
