Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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The present invention relàtes to a container for a
fluid and a closure membèr thèrefor includ~ng a brush or
brush holder portion.
Such an arrangement may be utilised, for example, to
apply a fluid from inside the container directly to the
brush and in a particularly preferred embodiment the brush is
used to clean false dentures.
Many such containers hàve been proposed~ Many of the
proposa~s are impractical from a commercial point of view
since they contain parts which would be difficul-t and expen-
sive to manufacture. For example it is expensive to provide
holes through surfaces particularly wilhout damage to surround-
ing surfaces and so for a practical design these should be
reduced to the minimum possible.
Other containers which have been manufactured or proposed
have inclùded several parts intèr-engaging and cooperating with
one another and clearly it is best if the number of parts can
be reduced to a minimum.
The present invention provides a container for a fluid
comprisi~g: A) a generally cylindrical neck portion having an
outwardly tapering inside surface portion and an elongate
channel being provided in the outwardly tapering inside surface
portion, the channel extending at least to the bottom of the
outwardly tapering inside surface portion, B) a closure member /-
mounted in the neck por-tion including: 1~ a brush holder por-
tion which includes a longitudinally extending portion for mount-
ing a brush, 2) a portion of the closure member extending inside
the neck, the portion extending inside the neck including:
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a) an outer sur~ace formed to generally sçal with the outward-
ly tape.ring inside surface portion o~ the neck, b) a fluid
connection bore extending from the sealing outer surface to
the brush holder portion, the lower end of the bore being
situated axially at a point where it lies adjacent the elongate.
channel but spaced axially from the lower end of the portion
of the closure member extending inside the neck, the lower
surface portion of the closure member extending inside the
neck being adàpted to be spaced adjacent the lower end of the
outwardly tapering inside surface portion of the neck but above
the lower end of the elongate channel, and 3) an outer portion
surrounding the neck portion of the container, the closure mem-
ber and neck portion being adapted for relative rotational
movement so that in one positi.on one end o-E the fluid connection
lies adjacent and communicates with the channel and the channel
communicates with the interior of the container to control
liquid flow from the interior of the container to the fluid
connection and to the brush holder and in another position liquid
does not pass from the interior of the container, C) limiting
means mounted on the outer portion of the neck portion for limit-
in~ the e~tent o relative rotational movement between the neck
and closure member.
It will be understood that the words "flow control" have
a broad meaning in the present specification. Thus the words
cover accurate control of the flow of a fluid in which the var-
ious parts would need to be accurately dimensioned or alterna-
tively, the restriction of flow of the fluid from the interior
of the container so as to prevent too much passing out of the
container in normal use in which case normal manufacturing
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tolerances would suffice. In respect of the latter meaning,
there will bè described a dispenser whlch includes an arrange-
ment for preventing too much li~uid from being passed out o~
the container by the user and this.may be particularly useful
in dispensing liquids from bottles of toiletries such as
perfumes, shampoos and denture cleaners.
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The neck may be of generally cylindrical shape
or may be of other cross section such as square if
desired. The channel may be in the form of an elongate
channel or may be dish shaped and may be of constant
depth or otherwise. By controlling the depth of the
channel the flow of fluid from the interior of the
container may be restricted to any extent desired
and may thereby be metered.
The fluid connection may be provided by a bore
through the closure member and the closure member may
have an outer portion surrounding the neck o~ the
container and may be provided with means to retain it
on the neck to prevent removal.
The relative movement between the neck and the
closure member may be provided by a rotation.
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Means may be provided for limiting the extent of thismovement and in the case where the closure member has
an outer portion surrounding the neck, this may be
provided thereon.
- In the case where the neck is of
generally cylindrical shape and the brush or brush
holder portion includes a longitudinally extending -
portion for mounting a brush, the axis of the longit-
udinally extending portion may be coaxial with the
neck or may be at an angle thereto.
Preferred embodiments of the invention
will now be describPd by way of example only with
reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a vertical a~ial section
of part of a container according to a first embodime~t
of the invention including a neck portion and a
closure member,
Figures 2 and 3 are sections on the line
A-A of Figure 1 with the neck and closure member
respectively in first and second relative positions,
Figure 4 is a horizontal sectîon on
the line B-B of Figure 1,
Figure 5 is a plan view of the container
of Figure 1,
Figure 6 is a vertical axial section of
part of a container according to a second em~odiment
of the invention including a neck portion and a
closure member, and,
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Figure 7 is a plan view of the
container of Figure 6.
In Figure 1 there is illustrated a
container 10 having an opening 11 surrounded by an
upstanding neck 12. The container which is for fluid
- may-be of any suitable material.but may preferably be
a bottle moulaed of flexible plastics material, the
neck 12 being closed by a closure member 13 at the top
of which is mounted a brush holder portion 14. The
type of brush and the manner of its stapling to the
brush holder portion 14 is illustrated in our
earlier British patent no. 1,502,942.
The neck 12 is of generally cylindrical
form the upper portion of which includes an outwardly
tapering inside surface portion 16 and ~ormed in this
surface portion by moulding is a depression in the
form of a channel 17 having an axial length illustrated~
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in Figure 1 (note it does not extend to the top of the
neck 12) and a cross section illustrated in Figure
2 or Figure 3 (Figure 3 is clearer). The channel
17 extends generally downwardly towards the interior
of the container 10 to at least the bottom of the
tapered inside surface portion 16. It will be
understood that if the container 10 is of moulded
material then the channel 17 by virtue of its small
size and being formed in the outwardly tapering
surface portion may be easily formed and the mould
may be easily withdrawn without damaging the
remainder of the outwardly tapering inside surface
portion.
The outer surface of the neck 12 includes
a circumferential rib 18 and, at the base of the
outer surface of the neck, two stop members 19,20.
As is clear from Figure 1 the closure
member 13 comprises an inner portion 21 for engagement
within the neck 12. This inner portIon 21 has an
outer surface 22 which is of opposite taper to the
surface 16 and is sealingly engaged there~ith.
However, a bore 23 extends from the surface 22 upwardly
through the closure member 13 to the brush holder 14.
The lower end 24 oE the bore 23 îs situa~ed
axially at a point where it may lie adjacent the
channel 17. This is illustrated in Figure 1. It is,
however, spaced axially from the lower end of the
inner portion 21 of the closure member 13.
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The lower surface o~ the inner portion 21
is adapted so as to be spaced adjacent the lower end of
the tapered portion 16 but above the lower end of the
channel 17.
The closure member 13 also includes an
outer skirt portion 26 which downwardly depends and
surrounds the outer surface of the neck 12, the skirt
portion 26 including a circumferential groove 27 adapted
for engagement with the circumferential rib 1~ on the
outer surface of the neck to thereby retain the closure
member 13 to prevent its removal. If the closure member
13 and the container 10 are made of a-flexible plastics
material then the closure member 10 may be pressed on
to the neck 12 and the flexibility of the material will
allow the skirt portion 26 to ride over the circumEer-
ential rib 18 until the groove 27 and rib 18 inter engage.
It will be seen from Figure 1 that they are shaped to
facilitate this but the shape of- the groove 27 and rib
18 is such as to discourage or prevent the removal of
- the closure member 13.
The lower edge of the skirt 26 is
castellated to provide two dot~nwardly projecting stop
members 28, 29 for engagement with the stop members 19~
20 as will be described with further reference to Figure
4.
The lower edge of the skirt portion 26
also includes an outwardly depending marker 31 and the
adjacent upper surface of the container 10 carries the
words OFF and ON spaced as shown in Figure 5.
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The provision of the bore 23 necessitates
the use of a core during moulding and this core
requires a further bore 32 through the skirt portion
26 coaxial with the bore 23 but this takes no part
in the operation of the apparatus of the invention.
In use the container lO may be filled
with a liquid such as a composition ~or cleaning
dentures. It is desired to pass a controlled flow of
fluid from the interior of container 10 to-the base of
the brush in the brush holder 14 through the bore 23.
This is done by arranging the closure member 13 and
neck 12 in the relative positions shown in Figure 1
which correspond to the relative positions shown in
Figures 2 and 4. In this position the lower end of
the bore 23 communicates with the channel 17. Fluid
may pass from the interior of the container 10 (when
turned upside down or squeezed) into the channel 17
wl~ere its flow is controlled as the channel 17 is of
(ie 0.203 mm cross section)
small cross section/and is abutting a wall portion
of the closure member 13, to the top of the channel
17 and then through the bore 23 to the base of the
brush where it may pass to the tip of the brush. As
shown in Figure 4, the stop members 19, 28 and 20, 29
respectively abut one another.
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As is clear from Figure 4 the closure member 13 may
be rotated through 90 relative to the neck 12 to the
position shown in Figure 3 (and Figure 5) at which point
the lower end of the bore 23 will not: be in communication with
the channel 17. Thus liquid may only pass into the channel
17 but cannot pass from there to the bore 23 and is prevented
from passing further upwards than the channel 17 by the seal-
ing engagement between the upper portion of the tapered surface
16 and corresponding surface of the inner portion 21 of the
closure member 13. In this positionr therefore, the container
is sealingly closed and fluid cannot pass rom the interior
to the exterior.
As mentioned before, the provision of the tapered surface
16 allows for the channel 17 to be accurately moulded which
allows for accurate flow control of the fluid passing through
the channel and also allows for a fine surfacQ to be moulded
on the portion 16 and abutting portion 22 whereby they may
sealingly engage with one another. The number of components
which require to be moulded is two, that is the container 10
and the closure member 13.
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Referring now to the second embodiment
of the invention illustrated in Figures 6 and 7, in
the drawings the same parts have been given the same
reference numerals as in Figures 1 to 5. To save
further description,it will be taken that all parts
of the arrangement of Figures 6 and 7 are the same as
the embodiment o~ Figures 1 to 5 except that the brush
holder portion 14 is not coaxial with ~he neck 1~ but
is at an angle thereto. This is clearly illustrated in
Figure 60 T~le arrangement is such that the bore 23 is
then a straight bore passing directly ~rom the brush
holder portion 14 to the outer surface 22 and because
of this construction, the closure member 13 may be
moulded without the further bore 32 throught the skirt
portion 26.
A further advantage is that in use, the
brush which ext~nds out of the brus~ holder portion 14
is at an angle which facilitates cleaning of false
teeth with the brush. It will be seen ~rom Figure 7
that the container which is general elliptical in
horizontal section and the closure member 13 are arranged
so that in the open position whereby the lower end of
the bore 23 communicates with the channel 17, the angled
brlsh holder portion 14 lies generally along the major
axis of the elliptical cross section (when seen in plan
view in Figure 7). When closed the brush holder portion
lies generally at right angles thereto.
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It will be understood that the second
embodiment of the invention incorporates all of the
advantages of the first embodiment of the invention
and in particular that the neck portion of the
container has an outwardly tapering inside surface
portion with a channel being provided in the
out~ardly tapering inside surface portion.
The invention is not restricted to the
details of the foregoing examples. For example, in
both the embodiments, the neck 12 may form part of a
tube rather than the bo-ttle shaped container 10.
Means may also be provided for retainin~
the brush~holder in the open and closed p~sitions. This
may be provided by a moulded stud on the neck or brush
ho~der and a cooperating depression on the brush holder
or neck respectively.
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