GB2155117A

GB2155117A - Dispensers

Info

Publication number: GB2155117A
Application number: GB08505158A
Authority: GB
Inventors: James Collis Beardsley; Jeffrey William Spencer
Original assignee: English Glass Co Ltd
Current assignee: Rieke Packaging Systems Ltd
Priority date: 1984-03-01
Filing date: 1985-02-28
Publication date: 1985-09-18
Also published as: GB2155117B; GB8505158D0

Abstract

A dispenser for viscous fluids works on the "bag-in-box" principle using a "bag-in-box" construction which is modified for the purpose. A dispenser pump or an inlet tube for such a pump is filled in an airtight manner through a gland (17) secured to the bag (13) and fitted in a hole (16) in the top of the protection box (14). The foot of the inlet tube is at the opposite, bottom, end of the box and pins the bag down onto that bottom. It is designed with inverted V-notches (12) and conserves an outlet from the bag as it progressively collapses. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Dispensers The present invention relates to dispensers for dispensing fluid packed according to a method known as "bag in box" and is particularly concerned with dispensing viscous fluids e.g. sauces, ketchup, mustards and mayonnaise, in catering, and hand cleaning gels and barrier creams in industry.

The "bag in box" method is in wide commercial use for packaging liquids especially wine. The wine is decanted through a special tap, causing the bag to collapse without taking in any air. Spoilage of the wine is thus prevented. The box protects the comparatively fragile bag. Such devices fitted with a tap cannot be used to dispense viscous products, which must be forcible drawn or expelled from the bag. Pump-type dispensers are known which forcibly withdraw viscous or lumpy fluids from rigid containers.

The present invention seeks to provide a dispenser of the pump-type described above, adapted for dispensing fluids from a bag in a box, which is firmly secured to the bag, and does not allow air into the bag.

The present invention provides a dispenser pump or an inlet pipe thereof penetrating in an airtight manner through a gland on a bag in a box. The gland has inwardly protruding means which grip the pump or its pipe in an airtight manner. The gland is secured to the neck of a hole in the bag. In one form of the invention the gland is further secured to the pump by means of a threaded cap. The invention includes also, therefore, a bag in a box pack on the bag of which is a gland adapted to receive a pump or pipe, as mentioned above.

Below the pump there is preferably an inlet tube which pins the bag to the bottom of the box, thereby discouraging the bag from collapsing around the inlet. The danger of blockage may be reduced by providing an opening in a sidewall of the inlet tube, such as a notch extending upwards from its extreme end.

A dispenser fitted and adapted according to the present invention is capable of extracting virtually the entire contents of the bag without allowing air to replace the contents.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 shows a dispenser according to the invention together with a bag in a box with the bag partially collapsed; figure 2 shows the dispenser with the bag fully collapsed; Figure 3 shows an alternative dispenser according to the invention; and Figure 4 is a diametrical sectional view of a foot part of an inlet tube.

A dispenser 1 (Figures 1 and 2) includes a pump having an outlet tube 3 in communication via a flat knob-like top 5, with a valved hollow piston shaft 4 which has a piston ring (not shown) at its lower end.

The piston shaft 4 extends through a hole 6 in a threaded cap 7 into a cylinder 8 which has near its upper end an air vent 9 just below a flange 10. At the lower, inlet, end of the cylinder 8 there is a valve (not shown) and below that a wide inlet tube 11, at the foot of which is an upside down V-shaped notch 12.

A compression spring (not shown) is disposed vertically within the cylinder 8 between the bottom of the cylinder and the piston to urge the piston upwards. The cap 7 is screwed down over the top of the cylinder 8 to meet the flange 10, thereby creating a seal between the flange 10 and the cap 7.

A gland 17 is an annulus having, protruding radially outwards, a lip 18 at the top, a base flange 19 at the bottom having a raised inner portion, and a rib 20 approximately midway between the lip 18 and the base flange 19. On the inner surface two annular beads 21 protrude radially inwards into the cylindrical passage for the pump or its tube offered by the gland.

The cylinder 8 is inserted by being pushed into, and is gripped by the annular beads 21; at the same time the flange 10 rests on the lip 18 of the mouth of the gland 17. In use, the gland 17 secures the cylinder 8 to a bag 13 which contains the substance to be dispensed (e.g. mayonnaise, ketchup, hand cleansing gel) and is protected by being in a box 14.

The cylinder 8 and inlet tube 11 project into the bag through matching holes 15, 16 at the top of the bag 13 and the box 14 respectively.

The gland 17 has its rib 20 resting on the box surrounding the hole 16. The base flange 19 is inside the bag 13 and the neck 22 of the bag 13 around the hole 15 is welded to the upper surface of the base flange 19, thus preventing leakage of fluid from the bag 13.

The rib 20 is of a size and shape to be forced through the hole 15 in the box, or to be manoeuvred through by e.g. rotation. Since normally the pack will be sent out with the gland contained inside the box, and it will have to be fished out and set in position before the dispenser is inserted.

The alternative embodiment shown in Figure 3 has the following differences: The gland 17' is threaded on an upper region 23 of its outer surface; the lip 18' projects radially inwards and has an annular extension 24 projecting downwards inside the gland 17' to form a passage having two diameters the inwardly protruding annular beads 21 are on the annular extension 24; and there are two parallel ribs 20', instead of one, strengthened by four webs 25 which run vertically between the ribs 20' and are equally spaced around the circumference of the gland 17'.

The lower edge of the cap 7 rests on the upper surface of a second cap 26 which is threaded onto the threaded region 23 of the gland thereby sandwiching the flange 10 of the cylinder 8 between the lip 18 of the gland 17' and the underside of the second cap 26.

To operate the dispenser 1, the user pushes the pump 2 down by pressing firmly on the flat top 5, compressing the spring, causing the lower valve to close and reducing the volume in the cylinder 8 below the piston ring so that fluid is forced upwards through the piston shaft 4 to the outlet 3.

Air flows into the cylinder 8 through the vent and/ or between the piston shaft 4 and the edge of the hole 6 in the cap 7, to fill the voiume created above the piston ring. When the pump 2 is released, it is forced upwards bythe spring andthe airflows out the same way that it entered.

The annular beads 21 prevent admission of air into the bag by providing an airtight seal between the gland 17 and the cylinder 8. As the fluid is dispensed the bag 13 collapses becauses air is not admitted to it.

The present invention provides-a secure and airtight means for attaching the pump 2 to the bag 13 and the box 14. The embodiment shown in Figure 3 provides a more secure coupling, if required.

The inlet tube 11 is of a precise length, so that it pins the bag 13 to the bottom of the box 14, thus discouraging the bag 13 from collapsing around the inlet 11 and preventing the influx of fluid. The notched form of the inlet 12 reduces the danger of such blockage. Owing to gravity, the bag 13 tends to collapse from the top downwards thereby retaining a substantial quantity of fluid around the inlet 12 and enabling virtually the entire contents of the bag 13 to be dispensed.

A foot construction 27 which has the advantage of pressing the bag onto the box by a continuous smooth ring 28, is seen in Figure 4.

As before inverted V-notches 12' have their greatest width at the end of the V remote from the pump. They are continued downwards by parallelsided notch parts 29. The ring 28 is continuous around the extremity 30 of the foot, being supported by and integral with the wall of the tube between the three notches 12'. This forms a slight sill in front of the notches 12' but the possibility of slightly increased wastage is more than offset by this even spread of the bag underthe foot and the reduction of the risk of it being punctured by the foot.

When the fluid is exhausted the dispenser 1 may be taken off the gland and used again.

During transit, the gland 17 may as already mentioned be folded inside the box 14; the bag 13 may be sealed across the mouth of the gland with heat sealed aluminium foil in the case of the embodiment shown in Figures 1 and 2 and in the case of the embodiment shown in Figure 3 seaiing during transit may be achieved by a conventional scre-threaded closure cap.

In a possible adaptation of the embodiments shown a dispenser pump could be remote from the box 14 and connected to it by a length of flexible tubing which is inserted into the gland. This would provide a more convenient means for dispensing measured amounts of fluid, dispensing taking place where the fluid is required.

Claims

1. A dispenser for viscous fluids contained in a collapsible bag protected by a box, including a part of a dispenser pump or of an inlet tube thereof held in fluid-tight engagement with a gland which is itself in fluid tight engagement with the bag and is held in a hole in a wall of the box, a foot of the inlet tube of the pump holding the bag adjacent to the opposite wall of the box.

2. A dispenser according to claim 1 wherein the part of the dispenser pump is the outer wall of its pump cylinder

3. A dispenser according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the part is engaged by inwardly-projecting annular ridges on an inner surface of the gland.

4. A dispenser according to claim 3 wherein the inner surface is provided by an internal flap forming a cylinder of lesser diameter than a cylindrical part of the gland of which the outer surface engages the hole in the box.

5. A dispenser according to any one of the precesing claims wherein the part is held by frictional engagement with the gland.

6. A dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the part is held or is additionally held by a screw-threaded cap secured into the gland.

7. A dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the foot of the inlet tube includes V-notches of which the greatest width is at the end of the V remote from the pump.

8. A dispenser substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

9. A bag-in-box container for the dispensing of viscous fluids by means of a dispenser pump, having a gland permanentiy fluid tightly engaged to the bag and being engageable with a hole in the box to present access to the bag to outside the box though a passage through the gland, the gland being adapted for the insertion through the passage into the bag of a part of a dispenser pump or an inlet tube thereof and for the fluid-tight engagement and holding of the part to the gland.

10. A bag-in-box container according to claim 9 wherein the passage is provided with inwardlyprojecting annular ridges on its inner surface.

11. A bag in box container according to claim 10 wherein the passage is of two diameters, the said inner surface being provided by a cylindrical part of lesser diameter attached to the cylindrical part of greater diameter at one extreme end of the passage.

12. A bag-in-box container according to any one of claims 9 to 11, substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.