Patent Grant
6913169
The present invention relates to a low profile, fine mist, finger-operated, precompression-type spray pump, and more particularly to a spray pump provided with a second valve having a novel structure being moveable between a poppet valve and a bottom entrance of a housing, to precompress a liquid to be sprayed, whereby the spray pump can be operated even with a short travel distance of a piston, which enables the height of a push button spaced from a closure to be shorter than in existing spray pumps, and the pumping process to be smoothly performed without causing dripping of the liquid at a nozzle and to be initiated with a small number of pumping actions under the condition that the housing is empty (“empty pumping number”). In addition, the spray pump according to the present invention is constructed with a small number of constituent parts, resulting in the significant reduction of its manufacturing cost and assembly cost.
Spray pumps which nebulize a liquid sealed in a container, that is, dispense it in the form of very small droplets through a nozzle in response to a user's pressing a push button provided at the upper part of a pump, are widely used due to many merits thereof. These pumps have been developed to have various configurations depending upon the characteristics of the liquid to be nebulized. (e.g., the viscosity of fluid), the amount of liquid to be pumped, etc.
Generally, the spray pumps nebulizing a liquid of low viscosity comprise: a closure holding the pump securely to the neck of a container, a housing guiding the flow of fluid, said housing being engaged to the closure and having a smaller diameter at its lower portion than at its upper portion; a piston being moveable coaxially within the housing, said piston having formed therein a vertical duct penetrating vertically; a poppet valve closing and opening the vertical duct of the piston by a rod, said rod being formed at the upper portion of the poppet valve; a spring providing an upward returning force to the piston or poppet valve; and a push button being mounted on the upper portion of the piston, said push button being provided with a nozzle at its lateral portion which communicates with the vertical duct.
Accordingly, when the push button is pressed so as to spray the fluid (i.e., a downward force is applied to the push button), the fluid present in the housing is pressurized to rise along the vertical duct and then spray through the nozzle. On the other hand, when the downward force having been applied to the push button is released, the vertical duct is closed by the rod of the poppet valve, and the inner pressure of housing drops while the piston moves upward, whereby the fluid present in the container enters the housing to compensate the reduced pressure thereof.
Various configurations of spray pumps have been developed whereby the pumping of fluid can be carried out by closing and opening the bottom entrance of a housing (hereafter, sometimes referred to as “a housing bottom entrance”) to vary the pressure in the interior of the housing (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as the “housing interior”). As a closing/opening means of the housing bottom entrance during pumping, a metal ball is generally used. However, the metal ball fails to entirely close the housing bottom entrance because of its spherical shape. Furthermore, the metal ball cannot rapidly respond to the variation of pressure of the housing's interior, resulting in leakage by dripping at the nozzle, characterized by the leakage of some fluid owing to a small gap between the metal ball and the housing bottom entrance and hence the slow loss of pressure from the housing's interior. In addition, the metal ball acts to close the housing bottom entrance by gravity upon application of a downward force to the push button, and open it in response to loss of pressure in the housing's interior upon release of the downward force; however, the density of fluid present in the housing's interior increases upon application of the downward force to the push button and thus the relative gravity of the metal ball decreases, making the rapid closing of housing bottom entrance difficult. Therefore, owing to the pressure loss in the housing's interior and the slow response to the variation of pressure, a leakage by dripping occurs at the initial step and final step of a spraying procedure.
In order to solve these problems, spray pumps of various configurations have been developed which can precompress the fluid present in a housing during pumping. In such precompression-type spray pumps, the point of contact between a rod of a poppet valve and a vertical duct of a piston opens for a short time to enable spraying, only when the pressure of the fluid present in the housing's interior reaches a certain level, namely, the threshold pressure, upon application of a downward force to the push button, and then rapidly closes after completion of the spraying.
Examples of such precompression-type spray pumps include a spray pump disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,559 in which a sliding seal is hold moveable on a poppet valve, a spray pump disclosed in Korean patent application No. 2002-67623 to the present applicant, in which two springs are provided, a spray pump disclosed in Korean registered utility model No. 204024 to the present applicant, in which two metal balls are provided, and a spray pump disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,097 in which a second cylinder extends upwardly from a housing bottom entrance. These spray pumps have some technical merits, respectively, but also have demerits as described herein below.
The spray pump in U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,558 has a demerit that the sliding seal being moveable along the outer surface of a poppet valve must be molded with high precision, or else will malfunction. The spray pump in Korean patent application No. 2002-67623 and the spray pump in Korean registered utility model No. 204024 exhibit an excellent precompression function but have demerits of relatively high manufacturing cost due to the use of numerous parts. The spray pump in U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,097 has a demerit that a housing of relatively large size is required to provide the variable volume sufficient for compression of the fluid with the housing's interior, thereby needing a piston able to travel a large distance.
In recent, there has been a great demand for a spray pump which exhibits a high performance and also, when mounted on a container, does not render a final product unattractive. When a spray pump is mounted on a container, portions exposed outside are a push button and a closure. A large-sized push button or closure are likely to be perceived as unattractive on a final product and hence, from this viewpoint, a button and closure of small size are required. Meanwhile, the variable volume of a housing's interior and the travel distance of a piston must be sufficiently large to attain the desired pumped volume of fluid. The variable volume of a housing's interior is determined by the length and width of the housing and, considering the whole dimension of a pump to be mounted on a container, there is a certain it to the length and width of the housing. Where the lengths and widths of housings are the same in two spray pumps, the volume of fluid pumped depends upon the travel distance of the piston. When it is required to make the travel distance of piston to be long, the length of button or closure, more specifically, the height of button spaced from the closure, must be large, thereby remarkably degrading the appearance of a final product as stated above. Accordingly, a spray pump is required which operates based on a short travel distance of the piston, and ultimately a short height of the button spaced from the closure.
In addition, it is desirable that the number of pumping actions to be performed to effect a first spraying under the condition that the housing's interior is empty (“empty pumping number”), be minimized to in convenience of use, especially in the case of certain pharmaceutical products which should not be held for a long time in the housing's interior.
The purpose of the present invention is therefore to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior arts and to satisfy the requirements mentioned above.
More specifically, the object of the invention is to provide a spray pump which can operate even with a short travel distance of a piston, allowing the height of a button spaced from a closure to be small, and which enables the pumping procedure to be performed smoothly without causing leakage by dripping at the nozzle, and which can be constructed with a small number of constituent parts, thereby significantly reducing its manufacturing cost and assembly cost, and which can also start spraying with a low empty pumping number.
In order to attain this object, the low profile, fine mist, finger-operated, precompression-type spray pump according to the present invention comprises:
“Compression mode” in the present invention means an operating state wherein, by applying a downward force to the push button, the housing bottom entrance is closed and the piston moves downward and, more specifically, includes a “precompression mode” wherein the housing bottom entrance is closed by the glans part of the second valve and the fluid present in the housing's interior is compressed, and a “spray mode” wherein, when the pressure of fluid in the housing's interior reaches a certain level, namely, the threshold pressure, the vertical duct is opened and thus the fluid present in the housing's interior is sprayed through a nozzle.
“Release mode” in the present invention means an operating state wherein, by releasing the downward force having been applied to the push button, the housing bottom entrance is opened from the glans part of the second valve and, more specifically, includes an “inflow mode” wherein while the piston moves upward by the upward returning force of the spring, the fluid present in the container is introduced into the housing's interior through the housing bottom entrance, and a “rest mode” wherein the piston is positioned at the apex of its stroke and thus no longer moves upward. Therefore, the pumping procedure of the spray pump according to the present invention is performed with one cycle of “rest mode→precompression mode→spray mode→inflow mode.”
In the spray pump of the present invention, the second valve acts to close and open the housing bottom entrance with its glans part in the pumping procedure, allowing the fluid to be introduced into the housing's interior and the introduced fluid to be precompressed and then sprayed. More specifically, while the upper portion of second valve, i.e., the cylindrical body, is in moveable contact with the cylindrical extending part of the poppet valve such that the outer surface of cylindrical body slides upward and downward along the inner surface of cylindrical extending part, the lower portion of second valve, i.e., the glans part, closes and opens the housing bottom entrance.
Since the second valve is made of plastic material, like the housing, when the glans of the second valve comes into contact with the housing bottom entrance, the contact sealing effect is excellent, allowing almost no pressure loss in the housing's interior during the pumping procedure, compared to using a metal ball as an opening-closing means as in the prior art, which contributes to the prevention of leakage by dripping. Moreover, in the compression mode, as the poppet valve moves downward, the cylindrical body of the poppet valve being in contact with the cylindrical extending part of the poppet valve is also dragged downward, thereby the housing bottom entrance being immediately closed by the glans part of the second valve. In the release mode, as the poppet valve returns upward by an upward returning force of the spring, the housing bottom entrance is immediately opened in the same manner. Accordingly, when the pump is operated, the response speed of the glans part for closing and opening the housing bottom entrance is very fast. Due to this feature, the spray pump according to the present invention can have a relatively larger, variable volume in the same housing interior as that used in the prior art, thus pumping can be performed even with a short travel distance of the piston, which makes it possible to shorten the height of the push button spaced from the closure, and also reduce the empty pumping number.
In a preferable embodiment of the present invention, the top of the housing bottom entrance is formed to be concave in shape, and the bottom of the glans part of the second valve is formed to be convex in shape, enabling them to come into close contact with each other. Accordingly, when the second valve descends to close the housing bottom entrance in the pumping procedure, the convex portion of the glans part perfectly occludes the concave portion of the housing bottom entrance, thereby exhibiting a high sealing effect.
In another preferable embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of teeth are circumferentially formed on the outer surface of glans part of the second valve, and a plurality of grooves corresponding to the teeth are circumferentially formed on the inner surface of the housing in proximity to the housing bottom entrance, and when the teeth are engaged to the grooves, a plurality of through passages are created between them. Accordingly, the upward and downward movement of the second valve can be stably performed by the integration of these teeth and grooves, resulting in a smoother pumping action.
In another preferable embodiment of the present invention, an annular protuberance is formed on the outer surface of cylindrical body of the second valve and/or the inner surface of cylindrical extending part of the poppet valve at a position where the cylindrical body is in moveable contact with the cylindrical extending part, resulting in a further improved sealing effect
As shown below, the description refers to the relevant drawings in order to describe the present invention more clearly, and such description is not to be interpreted as limiting the present invention in any way.
Referring to
A cylindrical sleeve 210 of a closure 200 is screwed by a thread 212 formed thereon to the threaded neck of a container. A lateral part 220 horizontally extending from the sleeve 210 is resiliently bent such that it is held fast to the top of the housing 300 while being in sliding contact with the piston 400. Such structural characteristics of the lateral part 220 are described in the PCT international patent application No. WO 02/33258 to the present applicant, which is incorporated into the present invention as a reference.
A housing 300 is configured as a multi-step structure with its diameter decreasing downwardly by steps. In the bottom entrance 310 of the housing 300 is inserted a suction tube (not shown), which is immersed in the fluid to be nebulized. The housing 300 is illustrated in more detail, referring to
As can be seen in the top view (a) of
Again referring to
The poppet valve 500 is illustrated referring to
Again referring to
The second valve 800, disposed between the poppet valve 500 and the housing bottom entrance 310, is illustrated referring to
Meanwhile, on the side surface of the glans part 820, a plurality of teeth 822 are circumferentially formed. The teeth 822, as stated previously, are engaged to the inner portion of housing 300 next to the housing bottom entrance 310, i.e., to the grooves 322 of the second step 330 of the housing 300. Accordingly, the upward and downward movement of the second valve 800 can be further stabilized by the coaxially-moveable engagement of the teeth 822 and grooves 332. Furthermore, the bottom 824 of the glans part 820 is formed to be convex in shape, and the top 312 of the housing bottom entrance 310 corresponding thereto is concave. Therefore, when the glans part 820 closes the housing bottom entrance 310, the sealing effect can be improved by the close contact between the two bodies.
Referring to
In the rest mode of
As a downward force is applied to the pump 100 being in the rest mode by pressing the push button 700, the piston 400 and poppet valve 500 are actuated, with the vertical duct 410 being closed by the rod 510. At this time, the housing bottom entrance 310 is immediately closed by the descending glans part 310, because the second valve 800, of which the cylindrical body 810 is in contact with the cylindrical extending part 520 of the poppet valve 500, descends together with the poppet valve 500 due to its frictional contact with the poppet valve 500. As such, the spray pump 100 according to the present invention exhibits a rapid response to the application of external force in the compression mode. As the housing bottom entrance 310 is closed by the glans part 820, the housing's interior (S) is wholly sealed. As the piston 400 continues to descend under this sealing condition, the cylindrical extending part 520 of the poppet valve 500 moves downward, with its inner surface being in contact with the outer surface of the body 810 of the second valve 800, whereby the fluid present in the housing's interior (S) is pressurized. By this pressurization, the fluid can be precompressed until reaching a certain level, namely the threshold pressure, prior to spraying, thus the spraying procedure can be performed at a moment of reaching the threshold pressure, without leakage by dripping.
Accordingly, by continuous precompression, when the pressure of the fluid present in the housing's interior (S) reaches the extent of being able to overcome the compression force of the spring 600, as mentioned above, spraying occurs as shown in
Even after spraying, the distal portion 420 of the piston 400 continues to descend until reaching a first step 320 of the housing 300, with the vertical duct 410 being closed by the rod 510. As a consequence, the residual fluid remaining in the housing's interior (S) is again pressurized but the pressure is not increased sufficiently to cause another discharge of spray. This residual pressure is not preferred when the fluid present in the container is introduced into the housing's interior (S) in the following release mode, which will be illustrated later in more detail.
As the downward force having been applied to the push button 200 is released, the poppet valve 500, as shown in
As stated previously, the residual pressure in the housing's interior (S), having been generated after spraying in the compression mode, remarkably reduces the driving force for the inflow of fluid into the housing's interior (S). Meanwhile, bubbles remaining in the housing's interior (S) after spraying are accumulated by continuous pumping, causing an air cushion phenomenon. Accordingly, it is desirable to reduce the pressure of the housing's interior (S) and remove the bubbles by discharging the fluid toward the container after spraying. In the spray pump 100 according to the present invention, since a pair of small lugs 812 are formed on the outer surface of the body 810 of the second valve 800 at the height where the annular protuberance 522 of the extending part 520 of the poppet valve 500 is positioned immediately after spraying, as shown in
Again referring to
As described above, the low profile, fine mist finger-operated, precompression-type spray pump according to the present invention can be operated even with a short travel distance of its piston, thus it is possible to reduce the height of a push button spaced from a closure, which contributes to the beauty of a final product containing liquid to be sprayed, on which the spray pump is mounted. The spray pump according to the present invention can be smoothly pumped without leakage and also fabricated with a small number of constituent parts, resulting in the remarkable reduction of its manufacturing cost and assembly cost. In addition, it can start to pump with a small empty pumping number.
As the present invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, it should also be understood that the above-described examples are not limited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within its spirit and scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore all changes and modifications that fall within the meets and bounds of the claims, or equivalences of such meets and bounds are therefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2003-0059817 | Aug 2003 | KR | national |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20050045658 A1 | Mar 2005 | US |
