Device for dispensing a liquid-to-pasty product using a metering pump having a low dead volume

Abstract

A device for dispensing a liquid-to-pasty product to be placed at the open end of a rigid container and consisting of a manual metering pump for dispensing a predetermined amount of the product to be dispensed, includes a base member to be placed on the container, a push button provided with a dispensing spout capable of acting, when pumped, against an intermediate bellows comprising an opening / closing device provided at the upper end of the bellows, characterized in that the push button is combined with a cylindrical chamber directed towards the inside of the bellows and extending inside the bellows so as to form a dead volume with a predetermined value inside same and to accordingly reduce the available air volume, thereby improving the compression rate when pumped.

Description

BACKGROUND[0001]This invention relates to a device for dispensing a liquid-to-pasty product intended to be installed at the open end of a rigid container, and constituted by a manual metering pump making it possible to dispense a predetermined quantity of the product to be dispensed.[0002]Such pumps are in particular intended for the dispensing of all liquid-to-pasty products, whether pertaining for example to food, cosmetic products, hygiene, health, and beauty products or sun products.[0003]But from the moment the pumps were positioned on markets with lower value added, such as food or cosmetics, hygiene, health and beauty, the complexity and the price of the pumps have constituted a hindrance.[0004]Most of these new products that use these pumps are disposable products, with a reduced service life. In addition, their requirements in terms of dose precision and repeatability are more reduced.[0005]This problem with simplification has appeared very recently with the democratization...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0021]It is as such that according to a first phase of the inventive approach, it was established that it is required to reduce the dead volume in the bellows.

[0023]As such, a gain is made in the effectiveness in the priming phase in order to evacuate the air. The quantity of air that passes through the top valve is higher, and therefore a volume of product that is higher is sucked to replace the air evacuated via the top valve, and therefore have faster priming.

[0028]characterized in that the push button is associated with a cylindrical chamber, directed towards the interior of the bellows with which cooperates, in a sealed manner, a peripheral wall delimiting said chamber, the latter being hermetically sealed at its lower internal end and extending to the interior of the bellows, in order to constitute a solid volume of predetermined value inside the latter and reduce by as much its useless dead volume, improving as such the compression rate when pumped and the effectiveness of the pump.

[0030]For a new chamber volume of the bellows reduced to 2.56 ml, a new compression of 62% of this volume is obtained, making it possible to dispense an identical dose of 1.5 ml.

[0032]In addition, the invention allows for the use of products with a higher viscosity due to the fact that the pressure and the suction are also higher.

Problems solved by technology

But from the moment the pumps were positioned on markets with lower value added, such as food or cosmetics, hygiene, health and beauty, the complexity and the price of the pumps have constituted a hindrance.

Most of these new products that use these pumps are disposable products, with a reduced service life.

This problem with simplification has appeared very recently with the democratization of products, initially high-end, to be adapted for mass distribution.

A device aiming to achieve this objective was described in French patent application Ser. No. 07 / 02965 filed by the applicant, which in addition, resolved a safety problem on the dispensing of the product, with the latter no longer able to occur accidentally.

In fact, the main disadvantage of this pump is its substantial dead volume associated with a low compression rate.

With such a low compression rate of the air in the metering chamber, the air has difficulty reaching the pressure required to pass through a top valve of the device and the operation is not effective.

This results in priming that is too long due to the requirement of having to exert several presses on the push button.

This therefore generates a substantial loss of effectiveness, resulting in a substantial number of pumpings: about twelve priming strokes.

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