Self-cleaning valve

Self-cleaning valve for use at the outlet of a container for dispensing a material from the valve and comprising an axially elongated flexible flattenable tube having an inlet end through which the material enters the valve and an outlet end from which the material is dispensed after passing through said tube, said tube having an at-rest condition and a dispensing condition, said tube forming a passageway extending between said inlet end and said outlet end, said tube having an axially extending first section extending from said outlet end toward said inlet end and an axially extending second section extending from the end of said first section spaced from said outlet end to said inlet end, said first section having a first side and an opposite second side, a housing forming a support surface for said first side of said first section of said tube, said support surface extending in the axial direction of said first section and having a first end adjacent said outlet end and a second end spaced in the axial direction of said first section from said outlet end, said housing having a projection extending therefrom outwardly beyond said support surface and the surface of said projection extending outwardly beyond said support surface forming a fulcrum, a closure-cleaning lever member extending in the axial direction of said first section and located on the opposite side of said first section from said support surface and disposed in contact with said second side of said first section, said lever member having a first end located adjacent said outlet end of said tube and a second end extending beyond the second end of said support surface, said lever member is pivotally supported on said fulcrum intermediate the first and ends thereof so that it can be pivoted and maintained in moving contact with said second side of said first section of said tube between the first and second ends of said first section so that in the at-rest condition said first section is in the flattened state cleared of the material to be dispensed and in the dispensing condition said first section is opened from the flattened state so that the material to be dispensed can pass through said first section.