GB2154207A - Coupling disposable drink container to dispensing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A liquid, particularly a drinks, dispense system including a storage container (not shown) for a liquid to be dispensed connected to a dispensing apparatus by means of a releasable coupling, the two parts of the coupling 40, 50 being so shaped that they form a unique fit so that the couplings are not readily connectable to containers other than those having a mating component, the part 50 connected to the dispensing apparatus having a valve which is automatically opened on coupling the parts, but which does not open under the action of suction in the line, the valve comprising a piston 52 movable in a bore transverse to an outlet 49 from coupling. On assembling part 40, which is fixed to the liquid container, and part 50, the interaction of piston 52 and push rod 41 serves both to move piston 52 to the right against the action of spring 53 and open outlet 49 and also to open the valve 42; thus the liquid supply is connected to the dispensing apparatus (not shown, but downstream of outlet 49). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Liquids dispense system This invention relates to liquids dispense systems and has particular, but not exclusive, reference to systems for dispensing a drinks concentrate, a wine or a fruit juice.

It is common practice to supply to outlets such as public houses, cafes, and restaurants a concentrate or syrup for the manufacture of aerated beverages within the establishment. It is increasingly common to supply wine in five or ten litre con tainers - the so-called "bag-in-box" container - for dispensing within the establishment. In the case of wines there is a reluctance on the part of established brand name proprietors to advertise extensively the wine for sale and to supply the wine in ten litre packs because of the potential risk that the more expensive proprietary branded wine will be substituted by a cheaper wine dispensed through the same equipment.

There is also a problem associated with the supply of soft drinks syrups in that the manufacturer supplying the dispense equipment obtains the bulk of revenue through the supply of syrups. In the event that cheaper syrups are dispensed-through the system the economics of the supply of the dispensing equipment becomes suspect.

By the present invention there is provided a liquid dispense system including: i) a storage container for liquid to be dispensed ii) apparatus for extracting liquid from the container and dispensing said liquid, iii) a connector interconnecting said container and said apparatus, iv) said connector comprising a first portion and a second portion the engagement surfaces of said portions being at least in part of non-circular cross section, v) one of said portions being connected to said container and other portion to the apparatus vi) said portion connected to the apparatus having a piston movable in a bore within said portion, the bore having an outlet for liquid in the wall of the bore, the piston being displaced on engagement of the first and second portions so as to open the outlet and permit liquid to be transferred from the container to the apparatus.

The portion connected to the apparatus may be a male portion and the portion connected to the container a female portion. The engagement surface of the female portion may be provided with one or more inwardly directed projections or outwardly formed recesses, the inwardly directed projections may be in the form of at least one rib.

Two or more ribs may be provided disposed at other than diametrically opposite locations on the engagement surface. The female portion may be provided with a substantially centrally disposed projection adapted to enter the male portion on coupling the connector, the projection displacing the piston to open the outlet within the bore of the male portion.

The male portion may be provided that projections adapted to displace a seal closing the end of the female portion. The seal may be a rupturable membrane, the disposable cap or resilient flap.

The female portion may be provided with a dip tube depending therefrom to extend into the container for liquid.

The piston may comprise a hollow cylindrical member having a transverse end wall adapted to seal the bore with an interested tubular wall adapted to encompass a biasing spring. The piston may be provided with a pair of 'O' ring seals, one at each end of the piston.

The bore of the portion attached to the apparatus may be stepped in diameter with the outlet formed in the larger diameter of the bore so that displacement of the piston to open the coupling permits liquid to flow around the piston and through the outlet.

The female member may be provided with a coarse filter which may be of conical or frusto-conical form.

By way of example embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a connector; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a syrup container; Figure 3 is a sectional view of a male portion; Figure 4 is a perspective view of a female portion fitting the male portion of Figure 3; Figures 5 and 6 are plan and sectional views respectively of an alternative form of female portion; Figure 7 is a perspective view of one end of a modified form of male portion; Figures 8 and 9 are sectional views of a female portions engageable by the male portion of Figure 7; Figure 10 is a double sectional view of a preferred form of valve to hold the vacuum when the bag in box connector is disconnected; and Figure 17 is a sectional view of a connector and tail pipe particularly intended for use in a beer barrel.

As is commonly understood practice, syrups, fruit juices and other liquids, such as wines, are delivered to retail outlets in semi-bulk containers.

There a connection is made between the container and a dispensing apparatus to enable the liquid to be dispensed. A connector which is releasable has to be provided to enable the connection between the container and the dispensing apparatus to be made.

Figure 1 shows such a connector in accordance with the present invention in which a female first portion 1 is engageable by a male second portion 2. The male portion 2 is connected by means of a hose 3 to the dispensing apparatus. The male portion includes a cylindrical member 4 having an O- ring 5 for forming a seal with a bore of the female connector. An enlarged 5 portion 6 of the male portion is provided with a recess 7. The female portion 1 has a lower bore 8 engageable by the cylindrical member 4 of the male portion and is so sized that the O-ring 5 forms a fluid-tight seal with the bore 8. The larger diameter bore of the upper part 9 of the first portion contains an inwardly directed rib (shown dotted) 7A which engages in the recess 7. A centrally disposed projection 10 is supported from the sides by lands 10A.The outer wall of the upper part 9 of the female first portion is provided with a vertical extending groove 9A which forms air vent. The air vent permits air to bleed back into a bottle when product is sucked from the bottle in use.

As is shown in Figure 2 the female portion 11 is located in a plastic bottle 12 and is provided at its lower end with a dip tube 13 which extends to the bottom of the bottle to permit the contents of the bottle to be extracted by suction. Preferably the female portion 11 is bonded to the neck 14 of the bottle to prevent its removal.

The connector portions which are shown in more detail in Figures 3 and 4 are particularly suited for use with bag in box type packages. In Figure 3 the male portion 15 is provided with a cylindrical member 16 and O-ring 17 which engages in the female member shown in Fig 4 to form a fluid-tight seal. A larger diameter portion 18 is provided with a recess 19 to engage a suitable rib in the bore of the female connector (for details see below). The male member 15 has a central bore 20 in which there is provided a piston 21 with a pair of 'O' ring seals 21A. The piston is biassed downwardly (as shown in the drawing) by spring 22. The exit from the male member 15 is via a side entry 23 which communicates 1 with a port 24 in the side of the bore 20.As shown in Figure 3 the male member forms a seal such that a vacuum in the side port 24 would not cause a movement of the piston 21 and thus the line connected to the side entry would not, when the male member was disconnected, permit the influx of air into the hose connected to side member 23. It can be seen that it is necessary to displace the piston 21 upwards to permit the bore 20 to come into communication with port 24.

This upward movement of the piston 21 is effected by a projection on the female member- shown in more detail in Figure 4.

Referring to Figure 4 this shows a female portion 25 having a centrally disposed projection 26 which contacts the lower surface of piston 21 when the male member is inserted into the portion 25. The projection 26 thus displaces piston 21 when the coupling is engaged to permit the contents of the container to which female portion 25 is connected to be sucked into the dispensing apparatus by a vacuum or low pressure applied to the side entry 23.

The female member 25 has an internally projecting rib 28 which engages with recess 19 and has a bore 27 which mates with the O-ring 17 on the portion 16 to form a fluid-tight seal.

Figures 5 and 6 illustrate an alternative design to the female portion illustrated in Figure 4. In Figures 5 and 6 the central projection 29 does not extend beyond the upper level of the female portion 30.

However, the male member is accepted into the female portion to a sufficient depth to permit the projection 29 to engage a suitable piston. The projection 29 is supported by a land 31 which extends across the bottom of the female portion and inwardly projecting ribs 32, 33 are provided to engage with mating recesses on the male portion (not shown).

The female portion shown in Figures 5 and 6 may, if required, be used with a conventional bagin-box type container for wine. In such an arrangement it is desirable to provide a seal for the outlet of the container for shipping purposes. Such seals are illustrated in Figures 8 and 9 and a co-operating male member capable of breaking the seal is shown in Figure 7.

The seal can be provided by a resilent diaphragm as shown in Fig 8 or a solid displaceable diaphragm as shown in Fig 9.

The bag in box units particularly require the balanced vacuum valve as illustrated in detail in Figure 3 because of the need to protect the wine or other liquid in the box from air. It will be appreciated that with syrup dispensers illustrated in the Figures 1-2 air always is in contact with the syrup and does not contaminate it. No vacuum therefore builds up in the plastic bottle 12 but the balanced vacuum valve prevents syrup escaping during changeovers of containers.

Referring initially to Figure 8 this shows a female portion similar to that shown in Figure 6 except that it is provided with a flexible rubber diaphragm 34 extending across the base of the female portion to seal the apertures 35, 36. The diaphragm 34 is secured to the bottom of the female portion by a sprag washer 134 clamped onto the extension 234 although the sprag washer can be omitted if the extension 234 is long enough. It will be appreciated that the flexible diaphragm 34 forms a re-sealable flap valve which is displaceable by the projections 37, 38. In addition there may be used either a piercable membrane or a displaceable cap 334 as shown in Fig 9. The cap when pushed onto the female member seals it.

The lower end of the male portion, as illustrated in Figure 7, is provided with a pair of cutting edges or projections 37, 38 referred to above which extend through holes 35 and 36 to displace or pierce the diaphragm or piercable member 34 or displace the cap 334 to permit product to flow from the container into the dispense system.

It will be appreciated that with the design of container illustrated in Figure 2 the seal for transit can be a normal screw cap. With a wine bag-in-box arrangement, however, such a screw cap is not easily provided.

The preferred form of the valve which prevents air being sucked into the bag when the connector of a bag in box type unit is removed as illustrated in Figure 10. In this arrangement the bag (not shown) is connected to it a first female portion 40 which corresponds to the portion 25 of Figure 4.

The first portion 40 contains an integral central projection 41 and as a rubber flap valve 42 at one end. The flap valve 42 blocks a series of apertures 43 disposed around the projection 41 when the outer edge of the flap valve is in connection with rest rib 44. Flap valve 42 is held by means of a sprag zo washer 45 which may be omitted if the projection on which the flap valve mounts is long enough The inside wall of the No. 40 contains one or more ribs 46.

The second part of the connector, shown partially within the first part, comprises a male member generally indicated by 47 which is inserted in the bore of the member 40. The left hand end, as shown in Figure 9 of the portion 47 is provided with projections 48 which pass through apertures 43 to displace the flap valve 42 and to pierce any heat sealed membrane which may close apertures 43. The right-hand-end of member 47 comprises an out-let pipe 49 which leads from a bore indicated generally by 50 which is partially blocked at one end by an inwardly directed flange 51. A piston 52 is moveable within the bore 50 and is resiliently biased in a left-hand direction by a coil spring 53.

The piston 52 can be moved against the bias of the spring 53 when it comes into contact with the projection 41. The piston 52 carries a pair of 'O' rings, 54 and 55. The '0' rings act on different diameters of the bore of the member 47. '0' ring 55 co-operates with surface 56 to seal the right-hand end of bore 50. '0' ring 54 co-operates with surface 57 when the piston 52 is moved to the left-hand position by spring 53. When '0' ring 54 is in contact with surface 57 and '0' ring 55 is in contact with surface 56 a vacuum developed within the line 58 will not be lost if the coupling is undone.

When the piston 52 is moved to the right by projection 41 '0' ring 54 clears the bore 57 by withdrawing over the tapered region 59 to permit liquid to flow between the tapered region 59 and the '0' ring 54.

The piston is shown partially moved by the projection 41. When the two parts of the connector are pushed fully together, so that the flange 47 engages fully the female member 40, the projections 48 will displace the flap valve 52 and the piston 52 will be moved fully clear of tapered region 59 to open the outlet 50.

The design of connector illustrated in Figure 10 has a significant advantage in that all of the surfaces contactable by the liquid passing through the connector are washed by the liquid. There are no dead regions. Such a design significantly reduces the likelihood of contamination and the possibility of bacteria build up within the fitting.

It will be appreciated that the '0' ring 60 on the outer wall of the left-hand portion of No. 47 functions in the same way as '0' ring 17 in Figure 3. It will also be appreciated that the wall 61 of the fitting is formed with a recess where appropriate to contact the rib to permit entry of the portion 47 in to the female member 40.

Although the above description has been directed to the use of connectors in bag in box units the connector may be used with solid containers such as beer barrels. Illustrated in Figure 11 is a female connector 71 which has a flap valve 72 and a central projection 73 of the type set out above. An adaptor 74 which is push fitted on to the lower end of the female portion comprises on blank ended tube with series of apertures 75 drilled through the wall of the tube. This aperture forms a coarse filter to prevent hops passing into the connector if the female member is inserted in to a beer barrel.

Such a member would normally be formed of plastics material and can therefore replace the heavy and expensive brass filters used heretofor.

It will be appreciated that instead of using circular cross-section interengaging surfaces with recesses and ribs alternative shapes such as squares, triangles, hexagons and other non-circular shapes could be used. However, circular sections are easy to mould and form seals and furthermore by the use of ribs and recesses different products can be identified by the use of ribs in different positions.

Thus if two ribs and recesses were used they could be at varying angles to each other to prevent the connection of different syrups or to provide for a proprietary connection to prevent syrups of different manufacturers being dispensed through apparatus provided by one manufacturer.

Claims (1)

1. A liquid dispense system including: i) a storage container for liquid to be dispensed ii) apparatus for extracting liquid from the container and dispensing said liquid, iii) a connector interconnecting said container and said apparatus, iv) said connector comprising a first portion and a second portion, the engagement surfaces of said portions being at least in part of non-circular cross section, v) one of said portions being connected to said container and other portion to the apparatus vi) said portion connected to the apparatus having a piston movable in a bore within said portion, the bore having an outlet for liquid in the wall of the bore, the piston being displaced on engagement of the first and second portions so as to open the outlet and permit liquid to be transferred from the container to the apparatus.

2. A system as claimed in Claim 1 in which the portion connected to the apparatus is a male portion and the portion connected to the container is a female portion.

3. A system as claimed in Claim 1 or 2 in which the engagement surface of the female portion is provided with one or more inwardly directed projections or outwardly formed recesses.

4. A system as claimed in Claim 3 in which the inwardly directed projections are in the form of at least one rib.

5. A system as claimed in Claim 3 in which two or more ribs are provided which are disposed at other than diametrically opposite locations on the female surface.

6. A system as claimed in any one of Claims 5 in which the female portion is provided with a substantially centrally disposed projection adapted to enter the male portion on coupling the connector, the projection displacing the piston to open the outlet within the bore of the male portion.

7. A system as claimed in one of Claims 6 in which the male portion is provided with projections adapted to displace a seal closing the end of the female portion.

8. A system as claimed in Claim 7 in which the seal is a rupturable membrane or disposable cap.

9. A system as claimed in Claim 7 in which the seal is provided by a resilient flap which reseals on separation of the coupling portions.

10. A system as claimed in any one of Claims 1-9 in which the female portion is provided with a dip tube depending from the portion to extend into the container for liquid.

11. The container as claimed in any one of Claims 1-10 in which the piston comprises a hollow cylindrical member having a transverse end wall adapted to seal the bore with an integral tubular wall adapted to encompass a biasing spring.

12. A system as claimed in Claim 11 in which the piston is provided with a pair of 'O' ring seals one at each end of the piston.

13. A system as claimed in Claim 12 in which the bore of the portion attached to the apparatus is stepped in diameter with the outlet formed in the larger diameter of the bore so that displacement of the piston to open the coupling permits liquid to flow around the piston and through the outlet.

14. A system as claimed in any one of Claims 1-9 or Claims 11-13 when appended to Claims 1-9 in which the female member is provided with a coarse filter.

15. A system as claimed in Claim 14 in which the filter is substantially conical or frusto-conical.

16. A liquid dispense system substantially as described with reference to and illustrated by any one or more of the accompanying drawings.

New claims or amendments to claims filed on 193-85 Superseded claims 1 New or amended claims: New claim 1, replaces original claim 1.

Claims 2-16 remain unchanged.

1. A liquid dispense system including: i) a storage container for liquid to be dispensed ii) apparatus for extracting liquid from the container and dispensing said liquid, iii) a connector interconnecting said container and said apparatus, iv) said connector comprising a first portion and a second portion, the engagement surfaces of said portions being at least in part of non-circular cross section, v) one of said portions being connected to said container and other portion to the apparatus vi) said portion connected to the apparatus having a piston movable in a bore within said portion, the bore having an outlet for liquid in the wall of the bore, the piston being displaced from a closed position on engagement of the first and second portions so as to open the outlet and permit liquid to be transferred from the container to the apparatus, the piston being resiliently biassed towards the closed position.