Multi-component mixing
OwnerAlan Mark Crawleyinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A packaging system or a closure (1) or base (3) for a packaging system which provides for a positive displacement (or “pumping”) of at least some of each of one or more components out of their separate and hermetically sealed chambers, using a twisting motion of the respective chambers, to combine them into a single main chamber (2) or separate container.
Claims45
A packaging system which provides for a positive displacement of at least some of each of one or more components out of their separate and hermetically sealed chambers, combining them into a single main chamber or a separate container to which the packaging system is attached.
A packaging system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and wherein the container is an assembly of the type in which one or more of the following are included:
- a first part of the container is interlocked with a second part of the container in such a way as to allow the two parts to rotate with respect to each other while not substantially changing the internal volume enclosed within the two rotating parts,
- a third inner part is keyed to the first part and threadingly engaged with the second part, creating one or more internal and hermetically sealed chambers,
- alternatively, a third part is keyed to the first part and threadingly engaged with the second part, creating one or more internal chambers that house separate and fully hermetically sealed sub-chambers,
- two or more components are kept totally separate from each other prior to mixing in the hermetically sealed chambers and/or sub-chambers,
- combination of the components is achieved mechanistically by a positive displacement, or “pumping”, action, effected by rotating the first part with respect to the second part, causing the first part to move due to the keyway/thread so as to reduce the volume of one internal chamber,
- this positively displaces the component or components out of the chamber as the volume reduces,
- if a second chamber is present, the volume of this second chamber increases directly in proportion to the reduction in volume in the first chamber so that the overall internal volume of the assembly remains substantially constant,
- if sub-chambers are present, the reduction in volume of the chamber exposes the sub-chambers enclosed, which can then be manually operated by the user, or the mechanism can automatically cause the sub-chambers to operate,
- combination can be either the total combination of the two or more components at once, or the dosing of one or more components into the first component as required,
- and where, due to the rotating action, a mixing/stirring action may also be generated to aid homogenous mixing.
A packaging system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the first and second parts are outer parts of the container and the third part is an inner part.
A packaging system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the at least two parts that rotate with respect to each other allow integral stirring devices to be mounted on to one or more of the rotating surfaces so that during rotation, the stirring devices generate a swirling and/or eddy current action to assist in the homogeneous mixing of the two or more components as they combine.
A packaging system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the two or more components are kept separate from each other prior to combination.
A packaging system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the relative motion of the third part relative to the part to which it is keyed is effected by a combination of a thread form on the surface of the third part and one or more male thread form flanges or lugs moulded on to a mating surface of the other part so that during assembly, the third part is first inserted and as the third part is pushed into the other part, the one or more free-standing male thread form flanges or lugs flex backwards as the thread form on the third part moves past them and when the third part has been fully inserted the one or more male thread form flanges or lugs are fully engaged at or near the lowest part of the thread form in which position a shoulder section of the other part acts so that the flanges or lugs can no longer flex to thereby create a functional thread form between the third part and the other part.
A packaging system closure or base incorporating means which provides for a positive displacement of at least some of each of one or more components out of their separate and hermetically sealed chambers, combining them into a single main chamber to which a bottle or container is in use attached.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.