Fluid dispenser pump

#The present invention relates to a manually-actuated fluid dispenser pump, and to a fluid dispenser including such a pump.

#To dispense metered doses of fluid contained in a reservoir, it is known that it is possible to use a fluid dispenser pump which is assembled to said reservoir, and by means of which the contents of said reservoir are dispensed by dispensing a dose each time the pump is actuated. To ensure that most of the fluid contained in the reservoir is dispensed, provision is generally made, at least in devices that are used in the upright position, for a dip tube to extend down to the bottom of the reservoir. In order make sure that emptying is good when little fluid remains, provision is often made to dispose the bottom end of the dip tube at a side edge of the bottom of the reservoir, so that, by tilting said reservoir slightly, almost all of the fluid can be dispensed through the dip tube. To achieve that, one of two options is generally chosen. In a first option, the dip tube is flexible and slightly longer in the axial direction than the depth of the reservoir, so that, when the pump is assembled to the reservoir, the bottom end of the dip tube comes into abutment against said bottom of the reservoir, and, by means of its flexibility, is flexed or deflected towards a side bottom edge of said reservoir. However, that is not always possible, in particular when the dip tube is made integrally with a portion extending inside the pump body, which makes it impossible for the dip tube to be made of a flexible material. In addition, the use of flexible dip tubes can be a drawback in certain assembly systems, in particular when the diameter of the opening of the reservoir is very small and when the assembly rate is fast. That can result in the dip tube not penetrating into the reservoir during said assembly. Another option for placing the bottom end of the dip tube at a side bottom edge of the reservoir consists in assembling a dip tube to the pump directly in a tilted configuration, and then in assembling said pump together with said tilted dip tube to the reservoir. That option suffers from a major drawback: it complicates the operation of assembly to the reservoir, since said assembly can no longer be performed merely axially because of the tilt of the dip tube.

#An object of the present invention is to provide a fluid dispenser pump that does not suffer from the above-mentioned drawbacks.

#Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will appear more clearly on reading the following detailed description of two embodiments of it, given with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of non-limiting example, and in which:

#FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic section view of a fluid dispenser pump in a first embodiment of the present invention, prior to said pump being assembled to a reservoir;

#FIG. 2 is a view similar to the view of FIG. 1, after the pump has been assembled to a reservoir;

#The figures show two embodiments of the invention as applied to the same type of pump which is described below. Naturally, the present invention is applicable to any pump, and the scope of the invention is not limited to the examples shown in the drawings.

#With reference to the drawings, the pump includes a pump body 10 having a longitudinal axis A. The pump body 10 is extended by means of a dip tube 90 inside the reservoir 2, only the neck of which is shown diagrammatically in FIGS. 2 and 3. The pump may be assembled to the reservoir by means of a fixing ring 1 which may be of any type, in particular screw-fastenable, crimpable, or snap-fastenable. Generally, a neck gasket 5 is interposed between the fixing ring 1 and the neck of the reservoir 2. The pump shown in the drawings includes a first piston 50 connected (preferably in integral manner) to an actuating rod 60 that is preferably hollow and that incorporates an expulsion channel 61. The user exerts an axial force on said actuating rod 60, e.g. by means of a pusher or by means of a dispensing head (not shown). The pump shown in the drawings further includes a second piston 55 which is mounted to slide in a small-diameter portion of the pump body. A pump chamber 20 is defined between an inlet valve 30 and an outlet valve 40. A return spring 70 is provided in the pump to urge the pump automatically towards its rest position, and to return it to said position after each occasion on which it is actuated. In addition, an abutment element, such as a ferrule 80, is assembled to the top edge of the pump body 10 to define the rest position for the pump.

#In the invention, the dip tube 90 is substantially rigid, and it extends along the longitudinal axis A of the pump prior to the pump being assembled to the reservoir. The position prior to assembly is shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. The facts that the dip tube is rigid and that it extends along the longitudinal axis A of the pump facilitate assembly, and remove any risk of malfunctioning in the machine for assembling the pump to the reservoir, in particular when the mouth of the reservoir is small. To ensure that the fluid contained in the reservoir is emptied optimally, it is desirable for the bottom end 99 of the dip tube 90 to be positioned at the bottom side edge of the reservoir after assembly. For this purpose, the substantially rigid dip tube 90 is provided with deflection or tilting means 95 suitable for deflecting or tilting the dip tube 90 once it has been assembled to the reservoir, so that said dip tube 90 forms an angle with said longitudinal axis A, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4.