Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02506145 2005-04-28
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TITLE OF THE INVENTION:
Pump Bottle Flow Control Apparatus
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a pump bottle apparatus that provides better
control of
flow.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Pump bottle apparatus are in common use in North American households. They
each
consist of a bottle having a top opening, with a pump secured to the top
opening. The pump
has a manual actuator and a rigid supply tube that extends into the bottle.
Upon movement of
the manual actuator, liquids from the bottle are pumped up the rigid supply
tube.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention there is provided a pump bottle flow
control
apparatus, which consists of a bottle and pump combination. The bottle has a
bottom and a
peripheral side wall that rises from the bottom terminating at its upper
extremity in a top
opening. The bottle has an interior sump, serving as a lowermost portion of
the bottle into
which liquid flows by force of gravity. The pump is secured to the top opening
of the bottle.
2 0 The pump has a manual actuator and a rigid supply tube that extends into
the bottle and
terminates within the interior sump.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other features of the invention will become more apparent from the
2 5 following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings,
the drawings are
for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to in any way limit
the scope of the
invention to the particular embodiment or embodiments shown, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a side elevation view, in section, of a pump bottle flow control
apparatus
constructed in accordance with the present invention.
3 0 FIG. 2 is a top plan view, in section, of a first embodiment of pump flow
control
bottle apparatus.
FIG. 3 is a top plan view, in section, of a second embodiment of pump flow
control
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bottle apparatus.
FIG. 4 is a top plan view, in section, of a third embodiment of pump bottle
flow
control apparatus.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION (~F THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The prefer-ed embodiment, a pump bottle flow control apparatus generally
identified
by reference numeral 10, will now be described with reference to FIG.1 through
4.
Structure and Relationship of Parts:
Referring to FIG. 1, pump bottle flow control apparatus 10 is a combination of
a
bottle 12 and a pump 14. Bottle 12 has a bottom 16 and a peripheral side wall
18 that rises
from bottom 16, terminating at its upper extremity 20 in a tubular neck 22
defining a top
opening 24. Bottle 12 has an interior sump, generally identified by reference
numeral 26.
Interior sump 26 is a lowermost portion of bottle 12, which results in liquid
flowing into
interior sump 26 by force of gravity. Pump 14 is secured over top opening 24
of bottle 12, by
engaging exterior threads 28 on tubular neck 22. Pump 14 has a manual actuator
30 and a
rigid supply tube 32. Supply tube 32 extends through top opening 24 into
bottle 12 and
terminates within interior sump 26. Interior sump 26 has walls 34 converging
to a relatively
narrow terminus 36 at bottom 16 of bottle 12. Supply tube 32 terminates within
terminus 36
2 0 of interior sump 26.
Referring to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a first embodiment of pump bottle
apparatus
10 in which there are two converging walls 34. In this embodiment, converging
walls 34
serve to form a trough which directs liquids to interior sump 26.
Refernng to FIG. 3, there is illustrated a second embodiment of pump bottle
apparatus 10 in which converging walls 34 form a conical funnel which directs
liquids to
interior sump 26.
3 0 Referring to FIG. 4, there is illustrated a third embodiment of pump
bottle apparatus
10 in which four converging walls 34 from a four sided funnel which directs
liquids to interior
sump 26.
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Operation:
The use and operation of pump bottle apparatus 10 will now be described with
reference to FIG. 1 through 4. In the prior art, problems were encountered in
maintaining a
steady flow of liquid from the bottle and, in particular, pumping the remnants
of liquid from
bottle 12. Referring to FIG.1, with pump bottle apparatus 10 converging walls
34 of interior
sump 26 serve to direct liquid contents within bottle 12 by force of gravity
to supply tube 32.
As a result, recovery of liquid from bottle 12 is improved. As is apparent
from a review of
FIG. 2, 3, and 4, there are several ways in which converging walls 34 can be
configured to
create interior sump 26.
In this patent document, the word "comprising" is used in its non-limiting
sense to
mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically
mentioned are not
excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article "a" does not
exclude the
possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context
clearly requires that
there be one and only one of the elements.
It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that modifications may be made
to the
2 0 illustrated embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the
invention as
hereinafter defined in the Claims.
