Automatic closure device for the discharge of a foam product from a pressurized container

An automatic closure device for use in combination with a pressurized container which has a liquid or pasty filling dischargeable as a form, as well as a propellant, and comprises a valve means spring-biassed into the closed position;

• which closure device comprises an actuator head having a discharge orifice, a single discharge duct in the actuator head which duct connects the discharge orifice with an entry port, remote from the orifice, in the actuator head and serving for connecting the latter to an outlet opening of the container controlled by the aforesaid valve means, the discharge duct and orifice being surrounded by an integral wall consisting, at the discharge orifice and the wall portion adjacent the latter, of two wall zones the contact edges of which at the discharge orifice are of equal length and abut each other in closed position while, in open position, these contact edges merge with each other under an acute angle, one of these wall zones being elastically flexible and the other rigid;
• and a beak-shaped closing member having a lip portion and being associated with the actuator head in a manner such that the free end of the lip portion of the closing member rests against the elastically flexible wall zone from the outside of the latter at the discharge orifice, thus pressing the flexible wall zone in the closed position hermetically sealingly against the rigid wall zone;
• said discharge duct in said actuator head being provided with a bend or knee zone;
• said flexible wall extending from the discharge orifice rearward at most to the beginning of the knee zone of the duct;
• and said flexible wall zone being, in the closure position effected by pressure of the free end of the lip portion of the closing member on the outside of the flexible wall zone, inclined relative to the central plane extending through the discharge duct between the flexible and rigid wall zones toward the discharge orifice, at a small angle such that when the spring biassed valve means of the pressurized container suddenly opens, the flexible wall zone will withstand the resulting sudden pressure buildup in the interior of the discharge duct;
• a cap, mounted on the pressurized container and surrounding said actuator head, having an opening therein to permit access to, and manipulation of said actuator head;
• wherein the portion of the actuator head which contains the discharge orifice is displaceable within said cap along the central axis of the pressurized container which axis extends through the valve thereof;
• and a spring for effecting the return movement of the actuator head relative to the cap, said spring being adapted for biassing the valve of the pressurized container into its closing position, and said spring acting in such a manner on the actuator head in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the region of the discharge duct extending from the knee zone in the latter to the entry port that the rigid wall zone and the flexible wall zone are pressed against one another and against the free end of the lip portion of said closing member, thereby hermetically sealing the discharge orifice.