Compact liquid container

A container system for liquids, including a parent container (110;

• 310) and a free-standing child container (220;
• 320), in which:
• the parent container (110) provides a storage cavity (113) for confining a liquid;
• the child container (220) is configured to be readily detached from the parent container (110) for use;
• the child container (220) is further configured to be recoupled to the parent container (110) and to automatically commence drawing liquid from the parent container (110) through a supply opening (111) in the parent container (110) to refill or recharge the child container (220) as soon as the child container (220) is recoupled to the parent container (110);
• the child container (220) is a dispenser having a refill opening (222), which is kept closed by a valve unless the child container (220) is connected to the parent container (110), and a dispense opening (224), these openings being located with a spacing from each other;
• and
• an open face of the child container (220) is covered by a deformable resilient membrane (227) to form a dispense cavity (226) adjacent to the refill opening, the volume of the dispense cavity being reduced as the membrane is deformed inwardly so as to empty the dispense cavity, the refill and dispense openings being such that if the child container is applied to the parent container by way of the refill opening, with the dispense cavity initially empty, when the membrane is subsequently allowed to spring back to its rest shape it draws liquid from the parent into the dispense cavity;
• wherein the resilience of the membrane, when deformed, exerts sufficient negative pressure to suck liquid in from the supply container when liquid within the supply container is unpressurized.

A container system for liquids, including a parent container (510) and a free-standing child container (520), in which:

• the parent container (510) provides a storage cavity for confining a liquid, and is configured to refill the child container (520) through a supply opening in the parent container (510);
• the child container (520) comprises a refill opening (522), which is kept closed by a valve unless the child container is connected to the parent container, and a dispense opening (524), these openings being located with a spacing from each other;
• and a dispense cavity (526) adjacent to the refill opening, whose volume is reduced as liquid is dispensed, the refill and dispense openings being such that if the child container is applied to a suitable parent container by way of the refill opening, with the dispense cavity initially empty, a resilient component draws liquid from the parent into the dispense cavity;
• the resilience of the membrane, when deformed, exerts sufficient negative pressure to suck liquid in from the supply container when liquid within the supply container is unpressurized;
• the connection between parent and child containers is magnetic, so that the child container is readily detachable from the parent container;
• and
• the child container is configured to reattach to the parent container, and once attached, to automatically commence drawing liquid from the parent container into the dispense cavity to refill or recharge the dispense cavity as soon as the child container is attached to the parent container.