EP0986505B2 - Fluid product dispenser with snap-on fixing ring - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention concerns a fixing device for a fluid product dispenser adaptable on a reservoir (1) formed with a neck (10) and comprising a dispensing member (2) mounted on the reservoir (1) neck (10), said neck (10) forming an outer peripheral thickness (11) defining with the rest of the neck a lower shoulder (12), said fixing device comprising a fixing ring (20) to fix the dispensing member on the neck, the fixing ring (20) comprising a peripheral skirt (21) extending up to beneath said shoulder (12). The invention is characterised in that said skirt (21) is provided with flaps (22) the ends of which point inwards and upwards and are urged in stop contact against the shoulder (12) thereby providing a catching mechanism for the fixing ring (20) on the reservoir (1) neck (10).

Description

The present invention relates to a fluid dispenser comprising a neck tank and a dispensing member, such as a pump or a valve, mounted on the neck to extract fluid from the reservoir. The invention more particularly relates to a fixing ring of said dispensing member for fixing the latter on a neck having an outer peripheral thickening which defines with the rest of the neck a lower shoulder. This type of tank with such a neck is widely used for pumps or valves which are snapped onto the neck using the lower shoulder as the retaining or abutment surface.

EP-A-0 704 251 discloses a fixing ring comprising latching lugs at the ends of which are formed detent lugs intended to be housed below the shoulder of the neck. Subsequently, a hoop comes to cover the ring to prevent the lugs from disengaging from below the shoulder. Indeed, it is possible with this kind of fixing device to remove the collar ring as the hoop is not mounted. The snap lugs are flexible allowing the lugs to pass over the thickening to reach the snap position under the shoulder. Therefore, when mounting the ring on such a neck, the tabs must bend outward, which increases the useful diameter of the ring during the passage on the thickening of the neck. In addition, the final fixing is reached only when the hoop is mounted: the attachment therefore requires two parts.

US-A-4,773,553 discloses another fastener in which the fastener ring is made of a flowable material and has tabs with heads projecting outwardly. It is thus possible to mount the ring on a neck without deforming the tabs to the outside. The final fixing is carried out by forcibly engaging a ring on the ring so that the outwardly projecting heads are brought inward below the shoulder of the neck by creep material. In this case, it is also necessary two parts to achieve the fixation and more, it is necessary to exert a certain force on the hoop to make the heads flow inwards.

On the other hand, US-A-5,299,703 discloses a pump attachment system in which a ring has tabs terminated by a head formed by inwardly hemming. Before assembly, the hemmed heads are folded outward to allow passage of the neck. Once in position on the neck of the container, the heads are deformed inward with a hoop. This system is similar to that of US-A-4,773,553, except that the ring is metal and the heads are folded inwardly and not fluent. Since this is metal, this system may be similar to crimping since metal is deformed to shrink. Again, it is necessary to use a tool to fix the ring on the neck of the tank.

The object of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the aforementioned prior art by defining a fixing device whose fixing ring makes the final fixing without the aid of an attached band and whose mounting of the ring does not generate no deformation of the ring out of its normal dimensions of rest.

To do this, the present invention provides a fixing device according to claims 1 and 10. A claim 12 of the mounting method is also provided. Indeed, during the passage of the thickening, the flaps are located in the skirt without protruding outwardly and can then be bent or take their snap-fitting orientation under the shoulder. Advantageously, the flaps are preloaded inwards during the manufacture of the fixing ring. In this case, the flaps automatically return to their original prestressed orientation inward as soon as the thickening passes. Alternatively, the flaps can be constrained inward once the ring is in position on the neck. In this case, a subsequent operation will be necessary to fold the flaps below the shoulder. In both cases, the fixing is provided by the ring alone, without the need to add an additional hoop. The ends of the flaps in abutment against the shoulder alone guarantee the final fixation.

Preferably, the flaps have a wall thickness equal to or less than that of the skirt so as not to protrude out of the skirt during the passage of the flaps on the peripheral thickening of the neck. It is thus possible to premount the fixing ring in a decorative trim ring and then mount this set on a tank neck. Indeed, while in the prior art, the latching lugs must deform outward to pass the thickening, in the present invention, the flaps are never deformed outwardly, which allows the pre-assembly a fret, purely decorative, since it is not necessary for fixing the ring on the neck.

The present invention also defines a dispenser comprising such a fixing device for fixing the dispensing member on the neck of the reservoir.

The invention will now be more fully described with reference to the single figure, giving by way of non-limiting example, a cross section through a dispenser according to one embodiment of the invention.

In the single figure, only the upper part of the dispenser has been shown which comprises as a whole a reservoir 1, a fixing device 20 and a dispensing member 2.

The reservoir 1, which may be plastic or glass, is formed with a body 13 for containing fluid and a neck 10 at its upper part. We see that the neck 10 extends from the body 13 with a cylindrical section 14, then forms a shoulder 12 outwardly and ends with another cylindrical section of greater diameter forming an outer peripheral thickening 11. The shoulder 13 thus forms the transition between the thickening 11 and the remainder of the neck 14 which joins the body 1. The upper part of the neck defines an annular surface 15 which can advantageously be provided with an annular sealing bead 16 serving to improve the seal with a neck seal 24 sealing between the neck 10 and the dispensing member 2.

In the example shown, the dispensing member 2 is a pump, but a valve is just as possible. The internal structure of the pump will not be described because it is not critical for the invention. The pump comprises a pump body 25 and an actuating rod 26 on which is mounted an actuating head 27 equipped with a nozzle 28. For fixing the pump on the neck, it is provided, as a device fixing ring, a fixing ring 20 having a receiving housing in which the pump body 25 is snapped into force and a peripheral skirt 21 which extends downwards. The internal diameter of the skirt 21 is equal to or slightly greater than the outer diameter of the thickening 11 of the neck so that the skirt 21 can engage the neck with a minimum clearance to ensure the stability of the pump.

According to the invention, the skirt 21 is provided with flaps 22 disengaged in the skirt whose free ends point in the latching position upwards and inwards, so as to abut against the shoulder 12 of the neck. The flaps 22 are connected to the skirt by their lower ends and are bent inwards to extend to contact the shoulder 12. At the place of each flap, the skirt defines a window in which the flap respective can be housed when it is deformed to the outside. The thickness of the flaps is preferably equal to or less than the wall thickness of the skirt 21, so that the flaps can be housed in the windows without projecting either inwardly or outwardly. The flaps can therefore be fully included in their respective windows. The flaps may be prestressed with this orientation inward or initially housed in the respective windows of the skirt and only then folded into their final latching position. Preferably, the flaps are originally formed with their orientation inward, as this avoids a subsequent operation of folding the flaps inwardly below the shoulder 12 of the neck. The flaps, and hence the ring itself, will preferably be molded from plastic in the state shown in the single figure. In this case, the ring 20 comprises windows 201 formed vertically of each flap 22. These windows have allowed the molding of the ring the passage of mold pins adapted to define the free ends of flaps and the wall sectors internal skirt located above the flaps.

To make it clear the interest of the invention, we will now describe a mounting operation of this ring 20 on a neck 10. The ring 20, with the pump latched in is engaged on the neck 10 of the tank. The lower part of the skirt caps the thickening 11 of the collar. By continuing the depression of the thickening 11 in the skirt, the flaps 22 are then constrained in their respective windows because of the small clearance that exists between the skirt and the thickening. The flaps remain constrained in their respective windows without projecting outward until they have passed the thickening. They can then resume their initial orientation inwards below the shoulder 12. Their free ends are then in abutment against this shoulder 12, thus realizing a notch locking, because it is then no longer possible to remove the ring. It should be noted that the final fixing is carried out by the ring only. A decorative hoop 23 may come to cap the ring 20, but it does not contribute to fixing; it fulfills only an aesthetic purpose. In addition, since the flaps do not protrude outwardly as they pass over the thickening, it is possible to mount the hoop on the ring before snapping on the neck. We can thus premount the band on the ring and mount it all on the neck, which simplifies the assembly of the dispenser.

Claims (15)

1. Befestigungsvorrichtung für einen Fluid-Spender, der an einem mit einem Hals (10) ausgebildeten Behälter (1) befestigt werden kann und ein Abgabeorgan (2) umfaßt, das auf dem Hals (10) des Behälters (1) montiert ist, wobei der Hals (10) eine äußere umfangsmäßige Verdickung (11) bildet, die mit dem Rest des Halses eine untere Schulter (12) definiert, wobei die Befestigungsvorrichtung einen Befestigungsring. (20) zur Befestigung des Abgabeorgans auf dem Hals umfaßt und der Befestigungsring (20) eine in Umfangsrichtung verlaufende Schürze (21) aufweist, die sich bis unterhalb der Schulter (12) erstreckt, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Schürze (21) mit Zungen (22) versehen ist, deren freie Enden nach innen und oben weisen und an der Schulter (12) zur Anlage kommen, um auf diese Weise ein Einrasten des Befestigungsringes (20) auf dem Hals (10) des Behälters (1) zu realisieren.
2. Befestigungsvorrichtung nach Anspruch 1, bei der die Zungen (22) während der Herstellung des Befestigungsringes (20) nach innen hin vorgespannt werden.
3. Befestigungsvorrichtung nach Anspruch 1, bei der die Zungen nach innen hin vorgespannt werden, sobald sich der Ring (20) an seinem Platz auf dem Hals befindet.
4. Befestigungsvorrichtung nach einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche, bei der die Zungen (22) eine Wandstärke besitzen, die gleich oder kleiner der Wandstärke der Schürze (21) derart ist, daß die Zungen während ihrer Bewegung auf die Umfangsverdickung (11) des Halses nicht über die Schürze hinaus vorspringen.
5. Befestigungsvorrichtung nach einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche, bei der die Zungen (22) in Umfangsrichtung über die Schürze (21) verteilt angeordnet sind.
6. Befestigungsvorrichtung nach einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche, bei der der Befestigungsring aus Kunststoffmaterial hergestellt ist.
7. Befestigungsvorrichtung nach Anspruch 6, bei der der Befestigungsring Fenster (201) umfaßt, die das Hindurchtreten von Gußansätzen ermöglichen, die geeignet sind, die freien Enden der Zungen zu bilden.
8. Spender, der eine Vorrichtung nach einem der Ansprüche 1 bis 7 und ein Abgabeorgan umfaßt.
9. Spender nach Anspruch 8, der weiterhin einen mit einem Hals ausgebildeten Behälter umfaßt, wobei der Hals eine umfangsmäßige Verdickung bildet, welche eine untere Schulter definiert.
10. Befestigungsvorrichtung für einen Fluid-Spender, der an einen mit einem Hals (10) ausgebildeten Behälter (1) anpaßbar ist und ein auf dem Hals (10) des Behälters (1) montiertes Abgabeorgan (2) besitzt, wobei der Hals (10) eine äußere umfangsmäßige Verdickung (11) bildet, die mit dem Rest des Halses eine untere Schulter (12) definiert, wobei die Befestigungsvorrichtung einen Befestigungsring (20) zum Befestigen des Abgabeorgans auf dem Hals umfaßt, wobei der Befestigungsring (20) eine sich in Umfangsrichtung erstreckende Schürze (21) umfaßt, die sich bis unterhalb der Schulter (12) erstreckt und wobei diese Schürze mit Rastlaschen unterhalb der Schulter des Halses versehen ist, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß ein Zier-Mantelring (23) auf dem Befestigungsring (20) vormontiert ist, die Laschen sich beim Vorbeilaufen an der umfangsseitigen Verdickung nach außen in Richtung des Rings verformen, die Schürze Fenster aufweist, die zwischen den Laschen und dem Ring gebildet sind, um den Laschen zu ermöglichen dort einzutreten, wenn sie beim Vorbeilaufen an der umfangsseitigen Verdickung nach außen verformt werden.
11. Befestigungsvorrichtung nach Anspruch 10, bei der der Zier-Mantelring sich in Kontakt mit der Schürze erstreckt.
12. Verfahren zur Montage einer Befestigungsvorrichtung nach Anspruch 10 für einen Fluid-Spender, der auf einen mit einem Hals (10) versehenen Behälter (1) montiert werden kann und ein Abgabeorgan (2) umfaßt, das am Hals (10) des Behälters (1) montiert wird, wobei der Hals (10) eine äußere Umfangsverdickung (11) bildet, die mit dem Rest des Halses eine untere Schulter (12) definiert, wobei der Fluid-Spender eine Befestigungsvorrichtung gemäß Anspruch 10 umfasst, und wobei das Verfahren den Schritt umfasst, den Ring mit seinem vormontierten Mantelring auf dem Hals (10) des Behälters zu montieren.
13. Montageverfahren nach Anspruch 12, bei dem der Zier-Mantalring sich in Kontakt mit der Schürze über die gesamte Höhe der Schürze erstreckt.
14. Montageverfahren nach Anspruch 12, bei dem die Rasteinrichtungen nach außen verformt werden während sie sich über an der Verdickung des Halses hinwegbewegen.
15. Montageverfahren nach Anspruch 12, bei dem die Laschen während ihrer Vorbeibewegung an der Verdickung des Halses in Aussparungen zu liegen kommen, die vom Ring zwischen dem Mantelring und den Laschen gebildet werden.

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