Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
20~3g42
The present invention relates generally to a brush
means and more particularly to a dispensing brush attachment for
a bottled barbecue sauce comprising a socket means with its lower
end connected to the bottle mouth and its upper end to a brush
head for dispensing. The upper end of the socket having male
thread provided around its outer periphery is adapted to mate
with the lower end of a closure cap when the bottle contents are
not in use and the brush head is detached from the bottle mouth.
A built-in tamper-proof seal is made integrally with the socket
and can be pulled off to enable serving the bottle contents.
Barbecuing has been a popular out-door activity
nowadays carried out at camping and picnics. Barbecue sauce is
an indispensable item which is usually bottled and upon using,
spread around with a brush. Suppliers of bottle sauce sometimes
provide brushes as a bonus to the consumers. However, the
adaptation of the brush to the bottle for direct dispensing is
what is dreamed about by users.
Some products in this respect have been available in a
rather crude form e.g. when a brush with a hollow shaft handle
serves such a purpose by being inserted directly into a sauce
containing a bottle mouth of which the outside periphery is
provided with male threads to mate with a female threaded cap as
the brush is detached. The insertion of the brush is rather
clumsy and rough and the user would feel uncomfortable and appear
to be clumsy facing such an operation. Besides, the detached
brush is no longer related to the bottle and hence may easily be
lost when being separately stored.
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Therefore, the main object of the present invention is
to provide a detachable brush assembly, with an additional socket
having its lower end pre-squeezed onto an unthreaded mouth of a
sauce bottle and readily engaged herewith so as to be an
inseparable or an integral part thereof while the upper end of
the socket is easily insertable into a connecting sleeve of a
brush head assembly to alleviate the undesirable short-comings of
a conventional brush head. The upper end is instead provided
with male threads to mate with a female threaded cap.
Another obj ect of the present invention is to provide a
brush head assembly having a flow channel provided within the
connecting sleeve to which a brush seat is attached. With
distribution grooves disposed therein to spread the sauce flow
amon~ bristle receiving holes for dispensing, and within the flow
path of the channel, a ball check valve is provided to regulate
the f low .
A further obj ect to the present invention is to provide
attaching means to the brush head assembly including a pair of
lugs on which a cord is provided to facilitate suspension of the
detached brush head from the bottle neck, so that the brush head
could not easily get lost when not in use.
Still another obj ect of the present invention is to
provide a built-in tamper-proof seal made integrally within the
upper end of the connecting socket, upon opening of the bottle
for serving the bottle contents, the seal can be easily peeled
off with a puller ring hinged to the seal.
Other objects and features of the present invention
2053~2
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will become apparent with the following detailed description
taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings depicting a
preferred embodiment according to the present invention, in
which:
Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a preferred
embodiment of the dispensing brush attachment for bottled
barbecue sauce according to the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a perspective view depicting a connecting
socket as applied to the mouth of a barbecue sauce bottle with a
built-in tamper-proof seal;
Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but with seal
pulled off prior to the use of the sauce;
Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the related brush head
showing a grated check grid of a flow regulating ball;
Fig. 5 is a top view of the seat brush head;
Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section of the brush head
assembly revealing the flow pathway with a regulating ball in
position. A list of components is provided hereunder to
facilitate the reading of the drawings.
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COMPONENT LIST
connecting socket
11 lower end, bottle receiving
111 taper inlet
112 bottle mouth retaining groove
113 outer cylindrical wall
114 inner cylindrical wall
115 minute flanges
lZ upper end, brush assembly receiving
121 male thread for cap
122 seal retainer
13 seal, tamper-proof
131 seal puller ring
13 2 pul ler hinge
brush head assembly
21 brush seat
211 seat wall
212 recess
213 bristle receiving hole
2L4 bristles
22 connecting sleeve
221 flow path opening (d)
23 flow channel .
231 flow guide rib
232 distribution groove
233 ~rate retainin~ seat
24 flow regulating ball (D)
grate member
251 check grid
26 attaching lug
261 attaching cord
bottle
31 cap, female-threaded
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Now referring to Fig. l for a preferred embodiment of
the dispensing brush attachment of the present invention. The
brush attachment can be clearly seen to comprise a
bottle-connecting socket 10 and a brush head assembly 20 wherein
the connecting socket lO includes a lower end 11 for receiving
the mouth of a sauce containing bottle 30 (Figs. 2 and 3); an
upper end 12 for receiving a brush head assembly 20, where the
assembly 20 includes a brush seat 21, a connecting sleeve 22
extended from the brush seat 21, and is forced into a flow
channel 23 within the sleeve 22; and characterized in that, the
lower end ll of the socket 10 has a tapered inlet llL leading to
a bottle mouth retaining groove 112 extending circumferentially,
a recess being formed between a pair of concentric cylindrical
walls, i. e. the outer wall 113 and inner wall 114 . A plurality
of minute tangentially extending flanges 115 are provided within
the groove 112 outside the inner wall 114, for tightLy squeezing
onto the sauce containing bottle mouth and elastically gripping
it. The upper end 12 is formed with a hollow through passageway
adapted for smoothly receiving the insertion of the connecting
sleeve 22 of the brush head assembly 20 so that the inside of the
bottle can communicate with the dispensing brush.
Referring in the meantime to Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the
brush head assembly 20 is composed of a brush seat 21 extending
from the connecting sleeve 12. The seat 21 is surrounded by a
wall 211 which is seen to have a generally oval shape, and to
form a shallow recess 212. A plurality of distribution grooves
232 defined within the recess 212 communicate from the flow
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channel 23 within the connecting sleeve 22 of the assembly 20
through a flow path opening 221 and are seen to be dispersed
among the distribution grooves 232 leading toward a plurality of
bristle receiving holes Z13 where respective bundles of bristles
214 are received.
At the end of the connecting sleeve 22 remote from the
brush seat 21, a grate retaining seat 233 is provided to receive
a grate member 25 with check grid Z51 disposed thereon. The
bottle contents entering through the grade 25 into the flow
channel or flow path 23 leading to a flow path opening ZZl having
a diameter d, then spreads through distribution grooves Z32. A
pair of flow guide ribs 231 extending along the fLow path serve
to guide the flow into the opening 2Zl. A ball of diameter D is
disposed within the flow path for regulating the flow during the
dispensing of the bottle contents, where D > d; thus the ball can
serve as a check valve. However, the grate is located at the
opposite end of the flow path so as to prevent the ball 20 from
falling out of the flow path, when the brush head is held
upright .
The upper end 12 of the connecting socket 10 is also
provided with male thread 121 to mate with a female threaded cap
31 for the closur~ of the bottle 30.
From Fig. 4, it can also be seen that a pair of
attaching lugs 26 are disposed diametrically opposite one
another outside the connecting sleeve 22 to receive an endless
loop of cord 261 suspended thereupon to facilitate suspension
from a bottle neck when the brush-head assembly is detached from
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the socket 10.
In Figs. 2 and 3, a tamper-proof seal 13 is shown
respectively in a built-in mode and in a pull-off mode. The seal
13 is formed inte~rally with a seal retainer 122 disposed within
the upper end 12 of the socket 10 and can be easily pulled off
with a self-contained puller ring 131 adhered to a puller hinge
132 connected with the seal 12. Upon opening of the bottle
before the insertion of the brush assembly 20, the seal 12 is
pulled off.
The above description by way of preferred embodiment is
for illustration purpose only and not for limitation. Those who
are skilled in the art can modify in many possibilities without
departing from the spirit of this invention and shall be deemed
as coverin~ under the scope of the annexed claims.
