Fluid pump with whistle
AssigneeOP-Hygiene IP GmbH
InventorsHeiner Ophardt, Andrew Jones
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fluid dispenser with a fluid pump for dispensing fluid on movement of an actuator, and an air pump for delivering a stream of air through at least one sound generator on movement of the actuator. The sound generator produces at least two sounds as the actuator is moved from a first position to a second position, with each sound produced in a different time period during a cycle of operation, or differing from the other sound in respect of one or more detectable sound characteristics, such as duration, frequency, temporal alignment, amplitude, and/or timbre. The time period of each sound is a function of the relative location of the actuator between the first and second positions.
Claims20
A fluid dispenser comprising:
- a fluid chamber containing fluid to be dispensed as foam;
- an air chamber containing air for mixing with the fluid to generate the foam;
- a foam generator for receiving and mixing the fluid from the fluid chamber and the air from the air chamber to generate the foam;
- a fluid outlet for dispensing the foam produced by the foam generator;
- at least one pump for dispensing the foam on movement of an actuator;
- a sound generator in fluid communication with the air chamber, the sound generator being configured to produce a sound from a stream of air passing through the sound generator;
- and
- a one-way air inlet valve that permits atmospheric air to enter the air chamber through the sound generator, and prevents the air contained within the air chamber from exiting the air chamber through the sound generator;
- wherein movement of the actuator from a first position to a second position reduces a volume of the air contained within the air chamber, forcing at least some of the air to pass from the air chamber to the foam generator;
- and
- wherein movement of the actuator from the second position to the first position increases the volume of the air contained within the air chamber, drawing the atmospheric air through the sound generator as the stream of air and causing the sound generator to produce the sound.
A fluid dispensing device comprising:
- a replaceable fluid pump operable to dispense fluid;
- and
- a housing configured to releasably receive the replaceable fluid pump, the housing comprising:
- (a) an actuator configured to dispense the fluid from the fluid pump when activated;
- (b) a sound generator configured to produce a sound from a stream of air passing through the sound generator;
- and
- (c) an air pump configured to deliver the stream of air through the sound generator when the actuator is activated.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.