Pump

Abstract

To provide a pump capable of suppressing lowering of the energizing force of a resin spring, and capable of suppressing the unexpected operation of the pump.SOLUTION: A pump 1 has a cylinder 2, a fitting cap 4, a piston 5, an elevating member 6 having a push-down head 6a and moving up and down together with the piston 5, and a resin spring 7. The push-down head 6a has an outer peripheral wall 6c having a vertical rib 6d. The fitting cap 4 has a guide peripheral wall 4a. The guide peripheral wall 4a has a shelf part 4a1 for preventing push-down of the push-down head 6a by contact of the vertical rib 6d with the lower end surface at a lock position. The shelf part 4a1 has a notch 4a2 for allowing moving-down of the vertical rib 6d at a lock releasing position. The resin spring 7 has a fitting part 7a which is fitted to the push-down head 6a to move together with the push-down head. The fitting cap 4 has a support part 4b. One of a lower surface 7b of the lower end of the resin spring 7 and the support part 4b has a projection 10, and the other has an inclined surface 11 for compressing / pushing up the resin spring 7 in the vertical direction by sliding the resin spring with respect to the projection 10 as the push-down head 6a moves from the lock position to the lock releasing position.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a pump. [Background technology]

[0002] A pump is known which has a cylinder, an attachment cap which is attached to the mouth of a container and holds the cylinder, a piston which rises and falls by sliding relative to the cylinder, a lifting member which has a depression head with a discharge port and rises and falls with the piston, and a resin spring which generates a biasing force to lift the lifting member; the pump discharges the contents of the container from the discharge port through the cylinder and the internal flow path of the lifting member by raising and lowering the lifting member (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-123360 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Resin springs can be highly recyclable. However, if the resin spring is left in a compressed state for a long time, it will undergo plastic deformation and lose its ability to return to its natural length (bias). In addition, pumps are required to have a structure that prevents unexpected operation during distribution.

[0005] SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT EMBODIMENT An object of the present invention is to provide a pump that can prevent a decrease in the biasing force of a resin spring and can prevent unintentional operation of the pump. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] One aspect of the present invention is as follows.

[0007] [1] A cylinder; a mounting cap that is mounted on the mouth of the container and holds the cylinder; A piston that moves up and down by sliding relative to the cylinder; a lifting member having a depression head with a discharge port and lifting and lowering together with the piston; A resin spring that generates a biasing force for raising the lifting member by being compressed in the vertical direction, a pump that discharges the content in the container from the discharge port through the cylinder and an internal flow path of the lifting member by lifting and lowering the lifting member, The hold-down head has an outer peripheral wall with longitudinal ribs; the mounting cap has a guide peripheral wall that guides the outer peripheral wall of the pressing head, the push-down head is rotatable between a locked position and an unlocked position relative to the mounting cap; the peripheral guide wall has a shelf portion that prevents the press-down head from being pressed down by contacting a lower end surface of the vertical rib in the locked position; the shelf portion has a notch that allows the vertical rib to move downward in the unlocked position, the resin spring has a fitting portion that is fitted to the depression head so as to be rotatable therewith; the mounting cap has a support portion that supports a lower surface of a lower end portion of the resin spring, one of the lower surface of the lower end of the resin spring and the support portion has a protruding portion protruding toward the other, a pump, wherein the other of the underside of the lower end of the plastic spring and the support portion has an inclined surface that compresses the plastic spring in the vertical direction by sliding against the protrusion as the pressing head rotates from the locked position to the unlocked position, thereby raising the underside of the lower end of the plastic spring.

[0008] [2] The mounting cap has a mounting peripheral wall, a top wall, the guide peripheral wall, an outer cylinder portion, an inner cylinder portion, and the support portion, The mounting peripheral wall is mounted on the outer circumferential surface of the mouth portion in a state in which a flange protruding radially outward from the upper end of the cylinder is disposed between the upper surface of the mouth portion and the lower surface of the top wall, The peripheral guide wall is erected from the top wall, The outer cylinder portion is suspended from an inner peripheral edge portion of the top wall, The support portion has a connecting portion that partially connects a lower end of the outer cylindrical portion and a lower end of the inner cylindrical portion along an entire circumferential length, and an inclined vertical portion that is vertically extended from the connecting portion, The pump described in [1], wherein the inclined surface is formed by an inclined side surface of the inclined upright portion.

[0009] [3] The protrusion and the inclined surface are multiple, The pump according to [1] or [2], wherein the support portion has a plurality of the inclined surfaces, the upper end surfaces of the support portion, and the intermittent portions, in this order, in a rotation direction of the pressing head from the locked position to the unlocked position.

[0010] [4] The pump according to [3], wherein the cylinder has an air replacement port that introduces outside air that has passed through the multiple intermittent portions into the container. Effect of the Invention

[0011] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a pump that can suppress a decrease in the biasing force of a resin spring and can suppress unintentional operation of the pump. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the dispensing container in a locked state in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 2 is a development view of a lower end portion of the resin spring in the state shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from the radially outer side. [Diagram 3] 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a locking mechanism taken along the line AA in FIG. 1. [Figure 4] 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state when the lock is released from the state shown in FIG. 3. FIG. [Diagram 5] 5 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 4 taken along line B-B. [Figure 6] 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a state when the press-down head is pressed down from the state shown in FIG. 5. FIG. [Figure 7] 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along CC in FIG. 4. [Figure 8] 8 is a development view of the lower end portion of the resin spring in the state shown in FIG. 7 as viewed from the radially outer side. [Figure 9] 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a state when the press-down head is pressed down from the state shown in FIG. 7. FIG. [Figure 10] FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view showing a dispensing container in a locked state in a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 11] 11 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the lock is released from the state shown in FIG. 10. FIG. [Figure 12] 12 is a cross-sectional view showing a state when the press-down head is pressed down from the state shown in FIG. 11. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0013] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0014] As shown in Figs. 1 to 9, a pump 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention comprises a cylinder 2, an attachment cap 4 attached to an opening 3a of a container 3 and holding the cylinder 2, a piston 5 which slides up and down relative to the cylinder 2, a lifting member 6 which has a push-down head 6a having a discharge port 6a1 and which lifts and lowers accompanying the piston 5, and a resin spring 7 which is generated by compressing the biasing force for lifting the lifting member 6 in the vertical direction, and which discharges (see Fig. 6) a content 9 in the container 3 through the cylinder 2 (a pump chamber 8 therein) and an internal flow path 6b of the lifting member 6 by the lifting member 6 rising and falling (see Figs. 7 and 9), in which the push-down head 6a has an outer peripheral wall 6c having vertical ribs 6d, the attachment cap 4 has a guide peripheral wall 4a which guides the outer peripheral wall 6c of the push-down head 6a, and the push-down head 6a has a lock position (see Figs. 1 and 3) and an unlock position (see Figs. 4 to 7) relative to the attachment cap 4. The guide peripheral wall 4a has a shelf portion 4a1 that prevents the press-down head 6a from being pressed down by abutting against the lower end surface of the vertical rib 6d in the locked position, and the shelf portion 4a1 has a notch portion 4a2 that allows the vertical rib 6d to descend in the unlocked position. The resin spring 7 has a fitting portion 7a that fits around the press-down head 6a so as to be rotatable together with the press-down head 6a. The attachment cap 4 has a support portion 4b that supports an underside 7b of the lower end of the resin spring 7. One of the underside 7b of the lower end of the resin spring 7 and the support portion 4b has a protrusion 10 that protrudes toward the other (see FIG. 2). The other of the underside 7b of the lower end of the resin spring 7 and the support portion 4b has an inclined surface 11 that slides against the protrusion 10 (see the two-dot chain arrow in FIG. 8) as the press-down head 6a rotates from the locked position to the unlocked position, thereby compressing the resin spring 7 in the up-down direction. In this embodiment, the lower surface 7b of the lower end of the resin spring 7 has a protrusion 10, and the support portion 4b has an inclined surface 11, but this is not limited to the above, and the support portion 4b may have a protrusion 10, and the lower surface 7b of the lower end of the resin spring 7 may have an inclined surface 11.In addition, in this embodiment, the up-down direction is the direction along the central axis O of the cylinder 2, the down direction is the direction from the pressing head 6a toward the cylinder 2 along the up-down direction, the up direction is the opposite direction, the circumferential direction is the direction going around the central axis O, and the radial direction is the direction perpendicular to the central axis O.

[0015] According to the above configuration, the lock mechanism 12 can be efficiently configured with a small amount of resin by switching between a locked state in which the press head 6a is in the locked position and an unlocked state in which the press head 6a is in the unlocked position by the shelf portion 4a1 provided on the guide peripheral wall 4a of the mounting cap 4 and the vertical rib 6d provided on the outer peripheral wall 6c of the press head 6a, thereby suppressing unexpected operation of the pump 1. In addition, when switching from the locked state to the unlocked state, the lower surface 7b of the lower end of the resin spring 7 is pushed up by the sliding between the protrusion 10 and the inclined surface 11, thereby compressing the resin spring 7 and generating a set biasing force. Therefore, the compression amount of the resin spring 7 in the locked state can be suppressed, and the decrease in the biasing force of the resin spring 7 due to plastic deformation caused by being left in the compressed state for a long time can be suppressed. Therefore, the pump 1 can be realized in which the decrease in the biasing force of the resin spring 7 can be suppressed and the unexpected operation of the pump 1 can be suppressed.

[0016] As shown in Fig. 2, the pump 1 has a plurality of protrusions 10 and inclined surfaces 11 (four in this embodiment, shifted by 90°), and the support portion 4b has a plurality of inclined surfaces 11, an upper end surface of the support portion (upper end surface 4b1 of the support portion), and intermittent portions 4b2, in this order, in the rotation direction of the pressing head 6a from the locked position to the unlocked position. According to the above configuration, by providing a plurality of protrusions 10 and inclined surfaces 11, it is possible to improve the stability of the operation of the resin spring 7 when changing from the locked state to the unlocked state. Furthermore, by providing the intermittent portions 4b2, it is possible to form the support portion 4b using a small amount of resin.

[0017] The cylinder 2 has an air replacement port 2a that introduces (see the dashed arrow in FIG. 9) outside air that has passed through a plurality of intermittent portions 4b2 into the container 3. According to the above configuration, the intermittent portions 4b2 can be used to smoothly replace the contents 9 discharged from the container 3 with air (outside air).

[0018] The mounting cap 4 has a mounting peripheral wall 4c, a top wall 4d, a guide peripheral wall 4a, an outer cylinder portion 4e, an inner cylinder portion 4f and a support portion 4b. In a state where a flange 2b protruding radially outward from the upper end portion of the cylinder 2 is disposed between the upper surface of the mouth portion 3a and the lower surface of the top wall 4d, the mounting peripheral wall 4c is mounted on the outer circumferential surface of the mouth portion 3a. The guide peripheral wall 4a stands upright from the top wall 4d. The outer cylinder portion 4e hangs down from the inner peripheral edge of the top wall 4d. The support portion 4b is disposed on the outer The support portion has a connecting portion 4b3 that partially connects the lower end of the cylindrical portion 4e and the lower end of the inner cylindrical portion 4f located radially inside the outer cylindrical portion 4e over the entire circumferential length, and an inclined vertical portion 4b4 that is vertically erected from the connecting portion 4b3 and extends downward. The support portion upper end surface 4b1 is formed by the upper surface of the connecting portion 4b3, and the inclined surface 11 is formed by the inclined side surface facing the circumferential direction of the inclined vertical portion 4b4 and the inclined side surface facing the circumferential direction of the connecting portion 4b3. According to the above configuration, a large arrangement space can be secured for the resin spring 7 in the vertical direction, and therefore a large ratio can be secured between the length of the resin spring 7 at the time of maximum compression (when the lifting member 6 is at the lowest position) and the natural length, so that the sagging caused by repeated overcompression that is likely to occur in the case of the resin spring 7 can be suppressed. In this embodiment, the mounting peripheral wall 4c is attached to the outer circumferential surface of the mouth portion 3a by screwing, but this is not limited thereto.

[0019] The protrusion 10 on the lower surface 7b of the lower end of the resin spring 7 has an inclined portion 10a that faces the inclined surface 11 in the locked state and is configured with an inclined side surface facing the circumferential direction. According to the above configuration, the stability of the sliding operation between the protrusion 10 and the inclined surface 11 can be improved.

[0020] The support portion 4b has a plurality of connecting portions 4b3 and inclined vertical portions 4b4 arranged in the circumferential direction. According to the above-mentioned configuration, it is possible to improve the stability of the compressing operation of the resin spring 7 when changing from the locked state to the unlocked state.

[0021] The lifting member 6 has a pressing head 6a, a stem 6e and a piston guide 6f, the pressing head 6a has a stem fitting portion 6a2 attached to the upper end of the stem 6e, the inner peripheral surface of the stem 6e has a piston guide fitting portion 6e1 attached to the upper end of the piston guide 6f, the piston 5 is held between the lower end of the stem 6e and the lower end of the piston guide 6f so as to be liftable relative to the stem 6e and the piston guide 6f, and the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder portion 4f of the mounting cap 4 guides the stem 6e inserted into the inner cylinder portion 4f when the lifting member 6 is lifted. According to the above configuration, the inner cylinder portion 4f can improve the stability of the lifting operation of the lifting member 6. The internal flow path 6b of the lifting member 6 is formed by the pressing head 6a, the stem 6e and the piston guide 6f.

[0022] The pump 1 has a piston stopper 13, which has a mounting portion 13a attached to the inner surface of the upper end of the cylinder 2 and a lower end portion 13b that abuts against the piston 5 at the upper limit position of the lifting member 6 to prevent the piston 5 from rising, and the outer tube portion 4e is arranged along the inner surface of the mounting portion 13a of the piston stopper 13, and at the upper limit position of the lifting member 6, the lower end portion 13b of the piston stopper 13, the support portion 4b and the lower end portion of the stem 6e are arranged in this order radially inward.

[0023] The locking mechanism 12, which is constituted by the shelf portion 4a1 of the guide peripheral wall 4a of the mounting cap 4 and the vertical rib 6d of the outer peripheral wall 6c of the press-down head 6a, prevents the lifting member 6 from descending from the upper limit position in the locked state, and the plastic spring 7 does not urge the press-down head 6a upward when the lifting member 6 is at the upper limit position. With the above-mentioned configuration, it is possible to further suppress the decrease in the urging force of the plastic spring 7 that occurs when the lifting member 6 is left in the compressed state for a long period of time.

[0024] The resin spring 7 may be configured to have a natural length or a vertical length longer than the natural length (due to its own weight) by being suspended from the pressing head 6a via the fitting portion 7a in the locked state. With the above configuration, it is possible to avoid a decrease in the biasing force of the resin spring 7 caused by being left in a compressed state for a long period of time. In this case, the lower surface 7b of the lower end portion of the resin spring 7 may be configured to contact the support portion 4b in the locked state, or may not be configured to contact the support portion 4b.

[0025] The fitting portion 7a of the resin spring 7 is composed of an annular body 7c provided at the upper end of the resin spring 7, and the annular body 7c has a notched recess 7c1 that opens upward. The press-down head 6a has a top wall portion 6a3 connected to the upper end of the outer peripheral wall 6c, a fitted tubular portion 6a4 that is suspended from the top wall portion 6a3 and forms the outer peripheral portion of the vertical flow path portion 6b1 of the internal flow path 6b extending within the press-down head 6a, and a nozzle portion 6a5 that extends laterally from the fitted tubular portion 6a4 through the outer peripheral wall 6c to the discharge outlet 6a1 and forms the outer peripheral wall of the horizontal flow path portion 6b2 of the internal flow path 6b. The inner peripheral surface of the fitting portion 7a of the resin spring 7 is attached by fitting to the fitted tubular portion 6a4, and the recess 7c1 of the fitting portion 7a fits into the nozzle portion 6a5. Furthermore, the fitting portion 7a and the fitted tubular portion 6a4 are fitted together so as to be unable to rotate relative to each other, and when the press-down head 6a is rotated in the circumferential direction, the resin spring 7 rotates together with the press-down head 6a. According to the above configuration, the fitting portion 7a can be configured with a simple structure.

[0026] The outer peripheral wall 6c of the pressing head 6a is located radially outside the guide peripheral wall 4a of the mounting cap 4, the outer peripheral surface of the guide peripheral wall 4a has a shelf portion 4a1 formed by a circumferential rib, and the inner peripheral surface of the outer peripheral wall 6c has a vertical rib 6d. According to the above configuration, the vertical rib 6d is hidden inside, making the appearance neater.

[0027] The guide peripheral wall 4a of the mounting cap 4 has an unlocked position side rotation prevention portion 4a3 that can prevent further rotation of the pressing head 6a by abutting against the vertical rib 6d when the pressing head 6a rotates from the locked position to the unlocked position, and a locked position side rotation prevention portion 4a4 that can prevent further rotation of the pressing head 6a by abutting against the vertical rib 6d when the pressing head 6a rotates from the unlocked position to the locked position. With the above configuration, the locking mechanism 12 can be easily operated.

[0028] A plurality of the vertical ribs 6d and the notches 4a2 are provided in the circumferential direction (two in this embodiment, shifted by 180°). According to the above configuration, the stability of the operation of the lock mechanism 12 can be improved.

[0029] The support portion 4b is not limited to having a connecting portion 4b3 and an inclined vertical portion 4b4. For example, as in the second embodiment shown in Figs. 10 to 12, the support portion 4b may have an inward protrusion 4b5 protruding radially inward from the inner peripheral edge of the top wall 4d of the mounting cap 4, and the inclined surface 11 may be formed of an inclined side surface facing the circumferential direction of the inward protrusion. Even in the case of such a configuration, it is possible to suppress a decrease in the urging force of the resin spring 7 caused by being left in a compressed state for a long period of time. In the second embodiment, the support portion 4b has a plurality of inward protrusions 4b5 arranged in the circumferential direction. The piston stopper 13 has an attachment portion 13a and a stem portion guide tube 13c erected from the attachment portion 13a.

[0030] The resin spring 7 is a compression spring made of synthetic resin material and is flexible in the axial direction, the outer periphery of the resin spring 7 is formed of a spring structure, and the radially inner part of the spring structure is hollow. According to the above configuration, the resin spring 7 can be efficiently arranged in the annular space formed between the guide peripheral wall 4a of the mounting cap 4 and the outer periphery wall 6c of the pressing head 6a and the stem 6e.

[0031] All of the components constituting the pump 1 are made of resin. With the above-described configuration, it is possible to realize the pump 1 that is excellent in recyclability.

[0032] In this embodiment, the discharge container 14 includes the pump 1 and the container 3 that contains the content 9 and has a mouth portion 3a and a body portion 3b that is connected to the mouth portion 3a. According to the above configuration, it is possible to realize the discharge container 14 that can obtain the above-mentioned effects of the pump 1 of this embodiment.

[0033] Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the above-described embodiment can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, the shape of the resin spring 7 is not particularly limited and may be cylindrical, plate-like, coil-like, or the like. [Explanation of symbols]

[0034] 1 Pump 2 Cylinder 2a Air replacement port 2b flange 3 containers 3a Mouth 3b Torso 4 Mounting cap 4a Guide wall 4a1 Shelf 4a2 Notch 4a3 Rotation prevention part on unlocked position side 4a4 Lock position side rotation prevention part 4b Support part 4b1 Upper end surface of support part 4b2 Intermittent section 4b3 Connecting part 4b4 Slanted hanging section 4b5 Inward protrusion 4c Mounting wall 4d top wall 4e Outer cylinder 4f Inner cylinder 5 Piston 6 Lifting member 6a Pressing head 6a1 Discharge port 6a2 Stem fitting part 6a3 Ceiling wall section 6a4 Mated cylinder part 6a5 Nozzle part 6b Internal flow path 6b1 Vertical channel section 6b2 Cross flow passage section 6c outer wall 6d vertical rib 6e stem 6e1 Piston guide fitting 6f Piston guide 7 Plastic spring 7a Mating part 7b Bottom side 7c Annular body 7c1 Recess 8. Pump Room 9 Contents 10 Protrusion 10a Slope section 11 Slope 12 Locking mechanism 13 Piston stopper 13a Mounting part 13b Bottom end 13c Stem guide tube 14 Discharge container O center axis

Claims

1. A cylinder; a mounting cap that is mounted on the mouth of the container and holds the cylinder; A piston that moves up and down by sliding relative to the cylinder; a lifting member having a depression head with a discharge port and lifting and lowering together with the piston; A resin spring that generates a biasing force for raising the lifting member by being compressed in the vertical direction, a pump that discharges the content in the container from the discharge port through the cylinder and an internal flow path of the lifting member by lifting and lowering the lifting member, The hold-down head has an outer peripheral wall with longitudinal ribs; the mounting cap has a guide peripheral wall that guides the outer peripheral wall of the pressing head, the push-down head is rotatable between a locked position and an unlocked position relative to the mounting cap; the peripheral guide wall has a shelf portion that prevents the press-down head from being pressed down by contacting a lower end surface of the vertical rib in the locked position; the shelf portion has a notch that allows the vertical rib to move downward in the unlocked position, the resin spring has a fitting portion that is fitted to the depression head so as to be rotatable therewith; the mounting cap has a support portion that supports a lower surface of a lower end portion of the resin spring, one of the lower surface of the lower end of the resin spring and the support portion has a protruding portion protruding toward the other, a pump, wherein the other of the underside of the lower end of the plastic spring and the support portion has an inclined surface that compresses the plastic spring in the vertical direction by sliding against the protrusion as the pressing head rotates from the locked position to the unlocked position, thereby raising the underside of the lower end of the plastic spring.

2. The mounting cap has a mounting peripheral wall, a top wall, the guide peripheral wall, an outer cylinder portion, an inner cylinder portion, and the support portion, The mounting peripheral wall is mounted on the outer circumferential surface of the mouth portion in a state in which a flange protruding radially outward from the upper end of the cylinder is disposed between the upper surface of the mouth portion and the lower surface of the top wall, The peripheral guide wall is erected from the top wall, The outer cylinder portion is suspended from an inner peripheral edge portion of the top wall, The support portion has a connecting portion that partially connects a lower end of the outer cylindrical portion and a lower end of the inner cylindrical portion along an entire circumferential length, and an inclined vertical portion that is vertically extended from the connecting portion, The pump of claim 1 , wherein the inclined surface is formed by an inclined side surface of the inclined upstanding portion.

3. The protrusion and the inclined surface are multiple, The pump according to claim 1 , wherein the support portion has a plurality of the inclined surfaces, the upper end surfaces of the support portion, and the intermittent portions in this order in a rotation direction of the press-down head from the locked position to the unlocked position.

4. The pump according to claim 3 , wherein the cylinder has an air replacement port for introducing outside air that has passed through the plurality of intermittent portions into the container.

Images