Back to results
US 5,772,079 AGranted
Device for packaging and dispensing a liquid or semi-liquid substance
AssigneeL'oreal
InventorJean-Louis Gueret
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeL'oreal
InventorJean-Louis Gueret
Estimating the term…
A device for packaging and dispensing a liquid or semi-liquid substance includes a receptacle suitable for containing the substance. The receptacle has a substance outlet orifice fitted with a pump including a valve suitable for enabling the substance to be delivered without ingress of air. The receptacle also includes a bottom wall constituted by a bag that defines a space inside the receptacle and contains the substance. The bag is capable of moving inside the receptacle in response to the substance being delivered so as to reduce the volume of the space and to ensure that the substance stored inside the receptacle does not come into contact with air. A margin at one end of the bag is fixed to the receptacle and the bag is suitable for deforming so as to reduce the space until the bag coincides substantially with the inside shape of the receptacle. The bag is made of a material that is elastically deformable.
A device for packaging and dispensing a liquid or semi-liquid substance, the device comprising a receptacle suitable for containing said substance, the receptacle having a substance outlet orifice fitted with a pump including a valve suitable for enabling substance to be delivered without allowing ingress of air, the receptacle also including a bottom wall constituted by a bag that defines a space inside the receptacle containing said substance, said bag being capable of moving inside the receptacle in response to the substance being delivered, so as to reduce the volume of said space and to ensure that the substance stored inside the receptacle does not come into contact with air, a margin at one end of said bag being fixed to the receptacle and the bag being suitable for deforming so as to reduce the volume of said space until the bag coincides substantially with the inside shape of the receptacle, wherein said bag comprising a wall that is elastically deformable.
A device for packaging and dispensing a liquid or semi-liquid substance, the device comprising a receptacle suitable for containing said substance, the receptacle having a substance outlet orifice fitted with a pump including a valve suitable for enabling substance to be delivered without allowing an ingress of air, the receptacle also including a bottom wall constituted by a bag that defines a space inside the receptacle containing said substance, said bag being capable of moving inside the receptacle in response to the substance being delivered, so as to reduce the volume of said space and to ensure the substance stored inside the receptacle does not come into contact with air, a margin at one end of said bag being fixed to the receptacle and the bag being suitable for deforming so as to reduce the volume of said space until the bag coincides substantially with the inside shape of the receptacle, wherein said bag comprises a wall that is made of a material that is elastically deformable, wherein said bag is suitable for deploying initially without the wall being subjected to tension so as to occupy more than half of the space initially occupied by the substance, and then subsequently the bag is suitable for expanding elastically to occupy the remaining space released by the substance and wherein the bag is provided on the inside with a lining of material that is not elastically deformable but that is highly impervious to gas, said lining being suitable for deploying to accompany deformation of the bag until the wall of the bag comes under tension.
A device for packaging and dispensing a liquid or semi-liquid substance, the device comprising a receptacle suitable for containing said substance, the receptacle having a substance outlet orifice fitted with a pump including a valve suitable for enabling substance to be delivered without allowing an ingress of air, the receptacle also including a bottom wall constituted by a bag that defines a space inside the receptacle containing said substance, said bag being capable of moving inside the receptacle in response to the substance being delivered, so as to reduce the volume of said space and to ensure that the substance stored inside the receptacle does not come into contact with air, a margin at one end of said bag being fixed to the receptacle and the bag being suitable for deforming so as to reduce the volume of said space until the bag coincides substantially with the inside shape of the receptacle, wherein said bag comprises a wall that is made of material that is elastically deformable, said device including a cock suitable for isolating the inside of the bag from ambient air, at least prior to the first use of the device, said cock having at least two positions, organized so that in one of the positions, the cock prevents air from penetrating into the bag and in the other position, the cock enables air to penetrate into the bag, wherein said cock is fitted with an air inlet valve serving, in a first position of the cock, to allow air to penetrate into the bag, while preventing air from escaping therefrom, and an air outlet valve serving in a second position of the cock, to allow to air to escape from the bag and to prevent air from entering therein.
A device for packaging and dispensing a liquid or semi-liquid substance, the device comprising a receptacle suitable for containing said substance, the receptacle having a substance outlet orifice fitted with a pump including a valve suitable for enabling substance to be delivered without allowing an ingress of air, the receptacle also including a bottom wall constituted by a bag that defines a space inside the receptacle containing said substance, said bag being capable of moving inside the receptacle in response to the substance being delivered, so as to reduce the volume of said space and to ensure that the substance stored inside the receptacle does not come into contact with air, a margin at one end of said bag being fixed to the receptacle and the bag being suitable for deforming so as to reduce the volume of said space until the bag coincides substantially with the inside shape of the receptacle, wherein said bag comprises a wall made of a material that is elastically deformable, wherein the bag is folded and suitable for deploying initially without the wall being subjected to tension, and then subsequently for expanding elastically.
A device for packaging and dispensing a liquid or semi-liquid substance, the device comprising a receptacle suitable for containing said substance, the receptacle having a substance outlet orifice fitted with a pump including a valve suitable for enabling substance to be delivered without allowing an ingress of air, the receptacle also including a bottom wall constituted by a bag that defines a space inside the receptacle containing said substance, said bag being capable of moving inside the receptacle in response to the substance being delivered, so as to reduce the volume of said space and to ensure that the substance stored inside the receptacle containing said substance does not come into contact with air, a margin at one end of said bag being fixed to the receptacle and the bag being suitable for deforming so as to reduce the volume of said space until the bag coincides substantially with the inside shape of the receptacle, wherein said bag comprises a wall made of a material that is elastically deformable, wherein the device further includes a removable membrane suitable for isolating the inside of the bag from ambient air, prior to first use of the device.
A device for packaging and dispensing a liquid or semi-liquid substance, the device comprising a receptacle suitable for containing said substance, the receptacle having a substance outlet orifice fitted with a pump including a valve suitable for enabling substance to be delivered without allowing an ingress of air, the receptacle also including a bottom wall constituted by a bag that defines a space inside the receptacle containing said substance, said bag being capable of moving inside the receptacle in response to the substance being delivered, so as to reduce the volume of said space and to ensure the substance stored inside the receptacle does not come into contact with air, a margin at one end of said bag being fixed to the receptacle and the bag being suitable for deforming so as to reduce the volume of said space until the bag coincides substantially with the inside shape of the receptacle, wherein said bag comprises a wall made of material that is elastically deformable, wherein the bag is communicating with ambient air after first use of the device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
Drawings are temporarily unavailable. Open the PDF at USPTO
No related US applications are recorded in the indexed filing history.
Containers or packages with special means for dispensing contents: for dispensing fluent contents by means of a flexible bag or a deformable…
Compensating underpressure by ingress of atmospheric air into the container, i.e. with venting means: the means being located at the bottom of the…
Membranes separating the content remaining in the container from the atmospheric air to compensate underpressure inside the container: inverted…
Containers for storage or transport of articles or materials
Term ended 13 May 2016 (estimated)
USPTO file history isn’t available for this patent, so only indexed dates are shown.
The present invention relates to devices for packaging and dispensing a substance that is liquid or semi-liquid.
Devices have been proposed that comprise a receptacle having a cylindrical body in which a piston can slide. Inside the receptacle, the piston defines a space of variable volume for containing the substance. The receptacle is provided with a pump for extracting substance from said space. The piston moves inside the receptacle in response to substance being delivered when the pump is actuated, thereby ensuring that the substance stored inside the receptacle does not come into contact with air. An advantage of devices of that type is that they can be used equally well head-up or head-down. However, the use of a moving piston gives rise to leakage problems, particularly if the substance is a liquid, so the use of such known devices has been restricted to packaging and dispensing viscous substance such as toothpaste.
German utility model G 90 13 168.1 discloses a device for packaging and dispensing a liquid or semi-liquid substance that comprises a receptacle suitable for containing said substance, the receptacle having a substance outlet orifice fitted with a pump that includes a valve suitable for enabling the substance to be delivered without allowing ingress of air, the receptacle also including a bottom wall constituted by a bag defining a space inside the receptacle and containing said substance, said bag being capable of moving inside the receptacle in response to the substance being delivered so as to reduce the volume of said space while preventing the substance still inside the receptacle from coming into contact with air. The margin at one end of the bag is fixed to the receptacle, and the bag is suitable for deforming so as to reduce the volume of said space until it fits substantially over the inside shape of the receptacle. The bag is folded up when the receptacle is full of substance and it is deployed progressively as the substance is dispensed. The bag is held captive inside the receptacle by a rigid wall pierced with an orifice that enables air to penetrate into the receptacle on the side of the bag which faces away from the substance. The device described in that German utility model is used with a pump at the bottom and it is unsuitable for use with a pump on top since, under such circumstances, there would be a risk of the substance being retained in a cavity formed by folds in the bag and thus preventing the substance from being dispensed by the pump. In addition, the bag runs the risk of covering the orifice which allows air to enter into the receptacle, and that would prevent the device from operating properly.
Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention appear on reading the following detailed description of non-limiting embodiments of the invention, and on examining the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 shows a packaging and dispensing device constituting a first embodiment of the invention, before first use;
FIG. 2 shows the FIG. 1 device while in use;
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a device 1 of the invention for packaging and dispensing a liquid or semi-liquid cosmetic substance P. Naturally, it would not go beyond the ambit of the invention to use the device to package and dispense a substance other than a cosmetic.
The device 1 comprises a rigid-walled receptacle 2 that is generally circularly symmetrical in the example described, and that is assembled by snap-fastening a body 3 on a base 4. The base has a top tubular skirt 5 having a rim 6 projecting radially inwards from its free edge. The body 3 is provided with a bottom tubular wall 7 of outside diameter adapted to engage in the tubular wall 5. The tubular wall 7 joins the remainder of the body 3 via a portion of narrow section 8 that defines an outside angular groove in which the rim 6 engages when the body 3 is snapped to the base 4. The base includes a bottom tubular skirt 9 with an outside thread for screw engagement in a base that is known per se and not shown. A plane wall 10 perpendicular to the axis of symmetry of the receptacle 2 extends radially inwards at the junction between the top and bottom tubular skirts 5 and 9. This wall 10 has openings 11 passing through it in a central annular region. A central fixing stud 12 secured to the wall 10 extends along the axis of symmetry of the receptacle 2 inside the threaded tubular portion 9. The fixing stud 12 serves for retaining removable closure means 14 as described below.
The top portion of the body 3 is closed by a wall 15 having an upwardly-extending neck 16 provided at its top end with a radially-outwardly-projecting annular rim 17. A pump 18 that is known per se and not described is fixed to the neck 16. The pump 18 includes a substance-dispensing pushbutton 19 and it is provided at its bottom with a cap 20 shaped to snap onto the annular rim 17 of the neck 16. The pump 18 has a tube 21 for taking substance P from the receptacle 2. The tube 21 is engaged in the opening of the neck 16 and its bottom end extends beneath the wall 15 in an inside space 23 of the receptacle 2 containing the substance P. Two lateral openings 24 having a function that is explained below are provided through the bottom end 22 of the tube 21.