Wipe Dispensing Nozzle With Flexible Spikes to Prevent Fallback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wipe containers face issues with premature rupture of perforations during wipe extraction, failure to separate wipes into individual sheets, and moisture loss due to inadequate sealing, along with safety concerns for users and children from finger entrapment.
Innovation Solution
A dispensing container with a nozzle featuring flexible spikes or projections that flex to allow smooth wipe extraction and prevent retraction, utilizing a specific line of weakness for enhanced rigidity and a one-way valve effect to prevent finger entry and moisture loss.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the aperture is made narrow to enable wipe separation, then wipe separation is improved, but premature rupture occurs before the wipe is fully withdrawn
Solution Approach 1:
The dispensing nozzle is made flexible rather than rigid, allowing it to dynamically adapt its shape during wipe extraction. The nozzle flexes outward to accommodate the wipe as it exits, then returns to its original shape to prevent retraction, resolving the contradiction between needing a narrow aperture for separation and avoiding premature rupture.
Solution Approach 2:
The physical state of the dispensing nozzle changes from rigid to flexible, altering its mechanical properties. This parameter change allows the nozzle to deform elastically under the force of wipe extraction, enabling controlled separation without premature rupture.
2Reliability
If the container is hermetically sealed to prevent moisture loss, then moisture retention is improved, but finger entrapment safety hazard increases
Solution Approach 1:
The dispensing nozzle is designed as a dynamic, flexible component that changes shape during operation. When force is applied (wipe extraction), the nozzle flexes outward to allow passage. When force is removed, elastic recovery returns the nozzle to its original shape, automatically preventing finger entrapment while maintaining hermetic sealing.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible nozzle provides self-regulating safety through its elastic properties. The material's natural tendency to return to its original shape after deformation creates an automatic safety mechanism that prevents finger entrapment without requiring additional safety components, while maintaining the hermetic seal.
3Ease of operation
If the dispensing nozzle is made flexible to enable wipe extraction, then wipe dispensing is improved, but structural rigidity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The dispensing nozzle is constructed from flexible material that can deform elastically during wipe extraction. This flexible shell approach allows the nozzle to bend and flex outward when force is applied, facilitating easy wipe dispensing while maintaining sufficient structural integrity through the material's elastic properties.
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
Ensures effective separation of wipes into individual sheets, reduces moisture loss, and enhances safety by preventing finger entrapment while maintaining a hermetically sealed environment.
Implementation Method 1
one or more spikes or projections being able to flex between a first position and a second position
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a dispensing nozzle 2 for a container of wipes (not shown). The nozzle 2 features an annular projection 14 the inside of which features inward facing spikes 17. The spikes can be made from a flexible elastomer or a non flexible polypropylene material. The spikes 17 feature ‘slit’ sections of weakness that enables the spikes to flex upwardly when subjected to upward pressures from say a wipe (not shown) passing though the structure of the dispensing nozzle 2. If downward forces act on the wipe after it has been inserted into the nozzle so as to force the wipe 4 back into its container, two things happen.1) The spikes 17 or spikes flex back to their original position thereby imposing space restrictions within the annular projection that imped wipe fall back.2) The ends 20 of the spikes 17 dig into the wipe thereby impeding wipe fall back still further.