Soap Dispenser Linkage With Resilient Stroke Limiting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional wall-mounted soap dispensers face issues with high viscosity liquid soap, requiring large quantities and leading to excess soap remaining in the dispenser, which drips onto surfaces or floors. Additionally, different soap products necessitate varying dispensing mechanisms, making it costly to switch between types in commercial settings.
Innovation Solution
A manually operated dispenser with a linkage mechanism that includes a resilient device to absorb excessive user interface movement, allowing a single stroke to dispense a predetermined quantity while preventing damage, and a ratchet mechanism to adjust for different dispensing mechanisms with varying stroke lengths, enabling use with multiple product types.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a high viscosity liquid soap is used to prevent running off, then the soap can cling to hands, but a large quantity is required and excess soap remains in the dispenser causing dripping
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical state parameter of the soap product from liquid to foam. By aerating the liquid soap to create foam, the dispensing characteristics are fundamentally altered - foam can be dispensed in controlled amounts that don't drip, while still providing sufficient coverage on hands.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses pneumatic principles by introducing air into the liquid soap through aeration. The foam generation mechanism uses air flow to transform the liquid into a foam product that can be dispensed without the dripping problems associated with high viscosity liquid soap.
2Ease of operation
If different dispensing mechanisms are used for different soap products to accommodate varying stroke lengths, then each product can be dispensed correctly, but the cost of manufacturing and installing wall mounted units increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the replaceable dispensing unit universal by designing it with a standardized interface that can accommodate different soap product types. The common linkage mechanism and user interface can work with various dispensing mechanisms having different stroke lengths, allowing a single wall mounted unit to serve multiple product types.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides the dispenser into separable components: a permanent wall mounted unit containing the user interface and linkage mechanism, and a replaceable dispensing unit containing the soap reservoir and dispensing mechanism. This segmentation allows the expensive wall mounted portion to remain while only the cheaper replaceable unit needs to be changed for different products.
3Productivity
If the linkage mechanism is directly connected to the dispensing mechanism, then the interface operates efficiently, but excessive pressure or movement can damage the dispensing mechanism
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates a resilient device in the linkage mechanism that acts as a cushion or buffer. This resilient element absorbs excessive movements or pressures from the user interface before they can reach and damage the dispensing mechanism, while still allowing efficient operation under normal conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The resilient device serves as an intermediary element between the user interface and the dispensing mechanism. It mediates the force transmission, allowing efficient operation when forces are within normal ranges while protecting the dispensing mechanism from damaging excessive forces.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution ensures consistent dispensing of soap without damage to the mechanism, allowing a common interface to be used with different dispensing mechanisms, reducing waste and enabling efficient switching between soap types by adjusting stroke length.
Implementation Method 1
the linkage mechanism comprises a resilient device between the interface and dispensing mechanism, the properties of the resilient device being sufficient to fully activate the dispensing mechanism on operation of the interface but which resilient device absorbs any further movement of the interface to prevent damage to the dispensing mechanism
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2a~2b
Figure 3a~3b
AI summary
A manually operated product dispenser (31) comprises a user interface (37) which operates via a linkage mechanism (36, 34, 39, 40, 38) on a dispensing mechanism (1). The linkage mechanism transfers displacement from the user interface to the dispensing mechanism (1) but incorporates resilient means (40) permitting the user interface to be operated to the full extent permitted by the interface, but transmitting to the dispensing mechanism only as much of the operation of the interface required to permit the dispenser mechanism 1 to dispense a predetermined amount of product.