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US 5,623,920 AGranted
Valve assemblies
AssigneeMinnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
InventorAndrew M. Bryant
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A valve assembly for a pressurized aerosol container which has a neutral bias. The valve may be of the metered dose type and is preferably springless. Containers equipped with such valves may be employed in breath actuated dispensing devices with simplified mechanisms since it is not necessary to overcome any biasing force within the valve.
Claims20
A valve assembly for a pressurised aerosol container comprising:
- a casing capable of being secured to an aerosol container;
- a hollow body secured to the casing and defining a metering chamber having a first opening communicating with the outside environment and a second opening communicating with the interior of the aerosol container;
- and
- an elongate valve member sealingly extending through an aperture in the casing and at least the first opening of the metering chamber, which elongate valve member is reciprocally movable between a dispensing position in which there is an outlet channel through the elongate valve member connecting the metering chamber with the outside environment and the metering chamber is sealed to prevent the passage of material from the interior of the aerosol container to the metering chamber and a closed, non-dispensing position in which the elongate valve member allows the passage of material from the interior of the aerosol container to the metering chamber but prevents the passage of material from the metering chamber to the outside environment;
- the elongate valve member having no net mechanical bias to the dispensing or non-dispensing positions.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.