Patent Application
20070215646
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a connector for connecting a trigger sprayer to a bottle. In particular, the present invention pertains to a connector cap of a trigger sprayer that is integrally formed with the sprayer housing of the trigger sprayer. The connector cap has a flexible cylindrical sidewall of varying thicknesses that enables the cap to be flexed and snap fit on a bayonet-type connector of a bottle neck by pressing the cap downwardly onto the bottle neck.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Trigger sprayers are those types of sprayers that can be held in a single hand of the user and operated by the fingers of the user's hand to pump liquid from a bottle connected to the trigger sprayer. A trigger sprayer typically comprises a sprayer housing that contains a pump chamber, a liquid supply passage that communicates a liquid inlet opening on the sprayer housing with the pump chamber, and a liquid discharge passage that communicates the pump chamber with a liquid outlet opening on the sprayer housing.
A dip tube is connected to the sprayer housing liquid inlet opening. The dip tube is extended through the neck of the bottle connected to the trigger sprayer, and into the liquid in the bottle. The dip tube communicates the liquid through the liquid supply passage of the sprayer housing, with the pump chamber of the sprayer housing.
A nozzle assembly is connected to the sprayer housing at the liquid outlet opening. Various different types of nozzle assemblies are known. The typical nozzle assembly is adjustable to provide various different discharge patterns of the liquid dispensed from the trigger sprayer. For example, the liquid can be dispensed in a stream or spray pattern, or as a foam.
A manually manipulated trigger is mounted on the sprayer housing for pivoting movement by the fingers of the user's hand. The trigger is operatively connected to the pump of the trigger sprayer. Manual manipulation of the trigger operates the pump, which draws liquid from the bottle connected to the trigger sprayer and dispenses the liquid from the trigger sprayer.
Many trigger sprayers are attached to their bottles by an internally threaded cap. To firmly secure the trigger sprayer on the bottle neck, the cap is positioned on the bottle neck and rotated. Complementary screw threading provided on the interior of the cap and the exterior of the bottle neck securely attach the trigger sprayer to the bottle.
Many trigger sprayers are also provided with bayonet-type connectors. Bayonet-type connectors firmly attach the trigger sprayer on the bottle neck by rotating the trigger sprayer connector cap relative to the bottle neck. However, with a bayonet-type connector, it is not necessary to rotate the trigger sprayer connector cap a full rotation to attach the trigger sprayer to the bottle. Trigger sprayers with bayonet-type connectors can be attached to complementary bottle necks by rotating the trigger sprayer connector a fraction of one complete revolution relative to the bottle neck. These types of connectors are advantageously used where a trigger sprayer is attached to a bottle neck by a machine in an assembly line.
Both types of trigger sprayer connectors discussed above require that the connector cap of the trigger sprayer be rotated relative to the bottle neck in attaching the trigger sprayer to the bottle neck. Even the bayonet-type connector is required to be rotated relative to the bottle neck to attach the trigger sprayer to the bottle neck. These types of trigger sprayer connectors have two different movements to attach the connector on a bottle neck. The connector must be moved in a linear direction onto the bottle neck while also being rotated relative to the bottle neck.
The present invention overcomes disadvantages associated with prior art trigger sprayer connectors by providing a novel design for a trigger sprayer connector that can be securely attached to a bottle neck in one movement, without rotating the connector relative to the bottle neck.
The bottle neck to which the connector of the invention is attached is designed for a bayonet-type connection. The bottle neck has horizontally oriented ridges that are spatially arranged around the bottle neck exterior surface. The horizontally oriented ridges secure the trigger sprayer connector of the invention to the bottle neck. The bottle neck is also provided with a plurality of vertically oriented ridges that prevent relative rotation between the trigger sprayer connector of the invention and the bottle neck.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the trigger sprayer connector is formed integrally as one piece with the sprayer housing of the trigger sprayer. The connector has a cylindrical sidewall that is dimensioned to fit over the bottle neck. A plurality of lug assemblies are provided on the interior surface of the sidewall. The positioning of the lug assembly on the connector sidewall corresponds to the positioning of the horizontal ridges on the bottle neck. Each lug assembly is provided with at least a pair of spaced lugs that engage above and below a horizontal ridge of the bottle neck when attaching the connector to the bottle neck. A bottom lug of each pair is designed to cam over the horizontal ridge as the connector is pressed downwardly onto the bottle neck. As the lower lug passes over the horizontal ridge, the resilience of the connector cap sidewall snaps the lower lug inwardly beneath the horizontal ridge, securing the horizontal ridge between the pair of upper and lower lugs.
The novel design of the connector of the invention includes a modified sidewall that allows the sidewall to easily flex as the lower lug of each lug assembly passes over a horizontal ridge of the bottle neck. The cylindrical sidewall is provided with thin areas that alternate with thick areas around the circumference of the sidewall. The thin areas of the sidewall have a greater resilience than the thick areas, and allow the sidewall to flex as the connector is pressed downwardly over the bottle neck. To provide a secure attachment of the trigger sprayer connector to the bottle neck, the lug assemblies are provided on the thick areas of the sidewall.
The thin areas of the sidewall allow the thick areas of the sidewall with the lug assemblies to flex radially outwardly as the lower lug of each lug assembly passes over a horizontal ridge on the bottle neck. As the lower lug passes over the horizontal ridge, the resilience of the sidewall snaps the sidewall back to its original cylindrical configuration. This positions a lower lug of each lug assembly beneath a horizontal ridge on the bottle neck, and positions an upper lug of each lug assembly above a horizontal ridge on the bottle neck. This securely attaches the trigger sprayer to the bottle neck by simply pressing the trigger sprayer connector downwardly on the bottle neck, without rotating the connector relative to the bottle neck.
Further features of the present invention are set forth in the detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention and in the drawing figures wherein:
In the preferred embodiment of the connector apparatus shown, the connector apparatus includes a connector cap 12 that is formed in one piece with the sprayer housing 14 of the trigger sprayer. The sprayer housing 14 contains a cylindrical pump chamber 16, a cylindrical vent chamber 18, a liquid supply passage 22 that extends from a liquid inlet opening 24 in the sprayer housing to the pump chamber 16, and a liquid discharge passage 26 that extends from the pump chamber 16 to a liquid outlet opening 28 in the sprayer housing.
A dip tube connector 32 is inserted into the liquid inlet opening 24 of the sprayer housing. The dip tube connector 32 has a lower portion that connects a dip tube (not shown) with the sprayer housing 14. The top of the dip tube connector 32 has a surface 36 that functions as an input valve seat in the liquid supply passage 22.
A two piece valve assembly 38 is inserted into the sprayer housing 14 above the dip tube connector 32. The valve assembly 38 has a flexible disk valve 42 at its lower end that seats against the valve seat surface 36 of the dip tube connector 32. The disk valve 42 controls the flow of liquid through the dip tube 34 and the dip tube connector 32 to the pump chamber 16, and prevents the reverse flow of liquid. A flexible sleeve valve 44 projects upwardly from the valve assembly 38. The sleeve valve 44 controls the flow of liquid from the pump chamber 16 through the liquid discharge passage 26 to the liquid outlet opening 28, and prevents the reverse flow of liquid.
A pump piston 46 is mounted in the pump chamber 16 for reciprocating movements between charge and discharge positions of the pump piston in the pump chamber. When moved forwardly to the charge position shown in
A vent piston 48 is connected to the pump piston 46 for reciprocating movements with the pump piston. The vent piston 48 is mounted in the vent chamber 18 for reciprocating movements between vent open and vent closed positions. When the pump piston 46 is moved rearwardly in the pump chamber 16 toward the discharge position, the vent piston 48 is also moved in the rearward direction in the vent chamber 18 toward the vent open position. In the vent open position, the interior of the bottle connected to the trigger sprayer is vented through the vent chamber 18 to the exterior environment of the sprayer housing 14. When the pump piston 46 is moved forwardly in the pump chamber 16 toward the charge position, the vent piston 48 is also moved forwardly in the vent chamber to the vent closed position.
A coil spring (not shown) is positioned in the pump chamber 16 and engages against the pump piston 46. The spring biases the pump piston in the forward direction toward the charge position of the piston relative to the pump chamber 16. Thus, the spring also biases the vent piston 48 in the forward direction toward the vent closed position.
A trigger 52 is mounted on the sprayer housing 14 for pivoting movement of the trigger relative to the sprayer housing. The trigger 52 is operatively connected to the pump piston 46 and the vent piston 48. Movement of the trigger 52 on the sprayer housing 14 by the user's hand holding the trigger sprayer results in the reciprocating movements of the pump piston 46 and the vent piston 48 in the respective pump chamber 16 and vent chamber 18.
An indexing nozzle 54 is mounted on the sprayer housing 14 at the liquid outlet opening 28. The nozzle 54 can be turned on the sprayer housing to selectively prevent and permit liquid discharge from the sprayer housing. In addition, the indexing nozzle 54 can be rotated to various positions of the nozzle relative to the sprayer housing 14 where the spray pattern of liquid discharged from the sprayer housing is changed between a spray, stream, and foam discharge pattern.
The construction of the trigger sprayer set forth above is typical, and is only one example of the construction of the various known types of trigger sprayers. As stated earlier, the particular construction of the trigger sprayer described herein is intended to be illustrative only, and is not intended to limit the use of the novel connector apparatus of the invention to any one particular type of trigger sprayer construction.
The connector cap 12 of the connector apparatus is formed as one monolithic piece with the sprayer housing 14. The cap 12 has a circular top wall 58 and a cylindrical sidewall 62 having a center axis 64. The center axis 64 defines mutually perpendicular axial and radial directions relative to the connector cap 12. The cap side wall 62 extends axially downwardly from the peripheral edge of the cap top wall 58 to a circular bottom edge 68 of the side wall. The cap bottom edge 68 surrounds a bottom opening to the interior volume of the cap. The cap sidewall has a smooth, cylindrical exterior surface 72 that extends completely around the cap sidewall and is only interrupted by circumferentially spaced mold holes 74.
Each of the mold holes 74 are a result of the molding process employed in forming the connector cap 12. The mold holes 74 are not essential to the functioning of the connector apparatus of the invention. The cap sidewall 62 could be formed with the lug assemblies without the mold holes 74 and the functioning of the connector cap 12 would be the same.
The cap interior surface is cylindrical and is comprised of a plurality of thick areas 76 and a plurality of thin areas 78. The thick areas 76 and thin areas 78 alternate around the circumference of the sidewall interior surface. The sidewall thick areas 76 have a first thickness dimension between the cap exterior surface 72 and the cap interior surface at the thick areas 76. The sidewall thin areas 78 have a second thickness dimension between the cap exterior surface 72 and the cap interior surface at the thin areas 78. The first thickness dimension is larger than the second thickness dimension. The cap thick areas 76 and thin areas 78 each have general rectangular configurations. The thin areas 78 extend the entire axial length of the sidewall interior surface from the cap top wall 58 to the cap bottom edge 68. Likewise, the cap thick areas 76 extend the entire axial length of the cap interior surface from the cap top wall 58 to the cap bottom edge 68. As seen in
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the thin areas 78 of the sidewall 62 are recessed into the interior surface of the sidewall. This provides the increased flexibility in the thin areas of the sidewall while presenting the more desirable appearance of the smooth exterior surface of the sidewall. Even with the thin areas 78 recessed into the sidewall interior surface, a majority of the sidewall circumference is made up of the thick areas 76 of the sidewall. Each thin area 78 of the sidewall interior surface occupies approximately 1/24th of the total circumferential dimension of the sidewall interior surface. Thus, the sidewall 62 remains substantially rigid and supports the trigger sprayer firmly on the bottle neck.
Four lug assemblies are provided on the sidewall interior surface. The lug assemblies are each comprised of a pair of circumferentially spaced upper lugs 88, and a single lower lug 92 that is axially spaced from the upper lugs. As seen in
As seen in
Only the top of a bottle 96 designed for use with the connector cap 12 of the invention is shown in
Just above the annular rim 104, the exterior surface 106 of the bottle neck is cylindrical and smooth except for four separate arcuate ridges 106 and two pairs of axial ridges 108. The arcuate ridges 106 are circumferentially spaced around the bottle neck. The positions of the arcuate ridges 106 correspond to the circumferential spacing of the lug assemblies on the interior surface of the cap sidewall 62. An arcuate spacing is provided between each of the arcuate ridges 106. The arcuate spacing 112 between the adjacent arcuate ridges 106 is sufficiently large to enable the lower lugs 92 of the cap lug assemblies to pass through the spacing. Each of the arcuate ridges 106 has an axial width dimension that corresponds to the axial spacing between the lower lug 92 and the upper lugs 88 of each lug assembly. In alternate embodiments of the invention, the arcuate ridges 106 could be replaced by a single circular ridge that extends entirely around the circumference of the bottle neck 102.
Each of the axial ridges 108 projects radially outwardly from the bottle neck 102 to the same extent as the arcuate ridges 106. The axial ridges 108 extend axially from the opposite ends of two of the four arcuate ridges 106. The two arcuate ridges 106 are to the left in
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the connector cap 12 is attached to the bottle neck 102 by being pressed axially downwardly on the bottle neck without rotating the connector cap relative to the bottle neck. In attaching the connector cap 12 on the bottle neck 102, the trigger sprayer is positioned relative to the bottle so that the connector cap center plane 82 is co-planar with the bottle neck center plane 116. This aligns the lower lugs 92 of the lug assemblies with the arcuate ridges 106 on the bottle neck 102. Continued axial downward movement of the connector cap 12 over the bottle neck 102 causes the cam surfaces 94 of the lower lugs 92 to engage with and slide over the arcuate ridges 106. This causes the arcuate ridges 106 to push radially outwardly on the lower lugs 92, and resiliently flexes the connector cap side wall 62 at the thin areas 78. This allows the lower lugs 92 to move radially outwardly relative to the arcuate ridges 106 as they are pushed axially downwardly over the ridges. When the lower lugs 92 pass over the arcuate ridges 106, they snap into position against the undersides of the arcuate ridges 106. In addition, two of the lower lugs 92 snap into the spacing 114 between the pairs of axial ridges 108. With the lower lugs 92 positioned beneath the arcuate ridges 106, the upper lugs 88 engage against the top of the arcuate ridges 106. This securely holds the connector cap 12 on the bottle neck 102 and prevents axial movement of the cap relative to the bottle neck. Furthermore, the engagement of two of the lower lugs 92 in the spacing 114 between the pairs of axial ridges 108 prevents the connector cap 12 from being rotated relative to the bottle neck 102. Still further, the engagement of the bottle neck annular rim 104 with the interior surface of cap side wall 62 securely holds the cap 10 on the container neck 102 and prevents any relative movement or rocking of the cap on the container neck. In this manner, the container cap 12 of the invention is attached to the bottle neck 102 by only being pressed axially downwardly onto the bottle neck, and without rotating the connector cap 12 relative to the bottle neck 102.
Although the present invention has been described above by reference to a specific embodiment, it should be understood that modifications and variations of the invention may be constructed without departing from the scope of the invention defined in the following claims.
