Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
1289513
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Description
The invention relates to a pouring insert
for a container closable with a cup-shaped dosing,
metering or proportioning cap which is jammed into
the container neck and reduces the original cross-
section of the container neck to 1/10 or less, the
base area of the inserted pouring insert being
positioned lower in the container than its opening
area.
In a known pouring insert of this type
(EU-OS 0,109,704) the side wall is cylindrical and
has in the lower part a sloping partition forming the
base area and from which projects a cylindrical
pouring connection. An additional opening is provided
in the lowest area of the partition. In a represented
embodiment, this known pouring insert reduces the
original cross-section of the container neck into
which it is inserted to approximately 1/10, so that
the liquid is discharged from the container in a
smaller stream than in the case of a completely
free container neck, so that the dosing cap can be
filled much more easily, as is e.g. desirable in the
case of soft scourer bottles and the like.
In the known pouring insert, pouring takes
place through the pouring connection and during
this pouring process the additional opening in the
partition should be in a position above the discharge
opening of the pouring connection, so that a
pressure compensation can be obtained through the
opening. If the container is held in such a way that
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liquid can also flow out through the opening ln the partition,
this means that the liquid stream through the opening does not
pass into the dosing cap and instead flows down alongside the
latter.
The problem of the present invention is to provide a
pouring insert, which is simply constructed and which permits a
controlled pouring to take place without it being necessary to
hook the container in a specifically oriented manner during the
pouring proce3s.
The invention provides pouring insert for container
closable with a cup-shaped dosing cap which is jammed into the
container neck and reduces the original cross-section of the
container neck to one-tenth or less, the base area of the
inserted pouring insert being lower in the container than its
opening area, characterized by said pouring insert having at
least three uniformly circumferentially distributed openings,
in each case extending into the side wall and into the base
area of said pouring lnsert.
Thus, the pourlng lnsert according to the lnvention
ls cup-shaped. When lt is inserted into the container neck,
lts base area ls located further within the container than its
openlng area and, lndependently of the way ln which the
container is held during pouring, llquid only passes through
some of the clrcumferentlally distributed slots and out of the
opening area, whilst at least one opening i5 available for
producing a pressure compensation in the container.
As the openings extend into the base area, liquid
residues can flow downwards out of the dosing cap after
mounting the latter on the container and can then pass through
the openings back lnto the container.
Admittedly, a cup-shaped pouring insert is
already known (German Patent 1,607,982), which can
be inserted in a container neck and has two facing
openings in its side wall adjacent to the base area.
However, this pouring insert can only be inserted in `
the container neck in such a way that its base wall
is located outside the container and its opening area
forming the cup opening inside the container. In
addition, this known pouring insert is not suitable
for use in conjunction with containers to be closed
by dosing caps, because the residual material flowing
downwards from the re-fitted dosing cap flows into
an annular area of the pouring insert, but cannot get
back into the container again.
According to a preferred development of the
invention, the base area of the pouring insert is
convex in the direction of the open end thereof and
between the side wall and the convex base area it is
possible to provide an annular transition area into
which extends the openings.
Due to the convexity of the base area, an
additional strength and stability of the pouring insert
are obtained and the residual material flowing back
out of the dosing cap is also passed from the central
part of the convex base area in the direction of the
slots and consequently into the container.
In order to beable to mechanically insert
the pouring insert according to the invention to a
predetermined position within the container neck,
it is possible to provide on its open end an outwardly
directed annular shoulder, adjacent to whi_h a sealing
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surface is formed on the outer face of the side wall.
The autornatic inserting movement of the pouring insert
is in this way limited by the engagement of the annular
shoulder on the end face of the container neck and due
to the sealing surface, there is simultaneously a
sealing fit in the container neck.
In order to be able to firmly anchor the
pouring insert on the container, an outer holding wall
can emanate from the annular shoulder and run parallel
to the side wall. This holding wall passes in the
direction of the base area and has an anchoring
projection on its inner face.
On inserting the pouring insert in the
container neck, the anchoring projection can pass over
a corresponding anchoring projection on the outer face
of the container neck, accompanied by elastic deforroation
of the holding wall, so as to lockingly engage behind
said neck in the inserted end position.
With such a construction, a thread can be
formed on the inner face of the side wall, into which
is screwed an outer thread of the dosing cap.
With such a construction, the pouring insert
and screwed-in dosing cap can be inserted as one unit
and in a single operation into the container neck.
In order to achieve a reliable seal between
the pouring insert and the dosing cap mounted on the
container neck, an annular sealing surface can be
provided on the pouring insert on the wall area forming
the annular shoulder and on the side remote from the
base area. This sealing surface sealingly engages with
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a corresponding sealing surface of the dosing cap, when the
latter has been fltted.
According to a further feature of the present
lnventlon there ls provlded a closure assembly for a container
havlng a threaded neck, a pouring insert disposed in said neck,
a dosing cap threadedly secured to said neck, seallng means
between sald insert and said neck, said insert having a base
area provlded wlth an opening therein, characterized by said
dosing cap extendlng into said insert, said insert including
sealing means extending outwardly of said neck and engageable
with said dosing cap.
According to yet a further feature of the invention
there is provided a closure assembly for a container
comprising: a cup-shaped pourlng insert jammed into the neck
of said contalner so as to reduce the cross-section of said
neck to one-tenth or less its original area, said cup-shaped
insert consistlng of a base and peripheral slde walls extendlng
upward from said base, and a cup-shaped dosing cap for closing
said container, characterlzed ln that sald insert is located
wlthln said container wlth its base at a level lower than its
upper end and with at least one opening provided
circumferentially within the cup-shaped construction of said
insert, said openlng extending through sald side walls and lnto
said base and in that the walls of said doslng cap extend lnto
said cup-shaped insert when said container is closed by sald
dosing cap, sald doslng cap being provided with screw-threaded
means for securing it to said container or to said pouring
insert.
The invention is described in greater detail
hereinafter relative to non-limitative embodiments and the
attached drawings, wherein show:
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7a
Figure 1 a partial section through a container with
an lnserted pouring insert and a screwed-on dosing cap.
Pigure 2 a view corresponding to Figure 1 of another
pouring insert conflguration.
The container 1, which is partly shown in Fiqure 1
and e.g. a soft scourer bottle has a container neck 2, on whose
outer face i8 formed a thread 3, onto which is screwed by means
of its inner thread 5 a doslng cap 4.
A cup-shaped pourlng insert 7 ls pressed into
container neck 2, so that the ba~e area 9, 10 thereof is
located in the lnterlor of container 2, whilst the opening area
is in the vicinlty of the discharge opening of container neck
2. The pouring insert, whlch ls conventionally made from
elastlc plastlc engages with an outer annular shoulder 14 on
the end face of contalner neck 2 and wlth an outer or sealing
surface 12 of side wall 8 connected to annular shoulder 14 ls
in seallng engagement wlth the lnnerface of container neck 1.
The cup-shaped pouring insert has a base area 9
curved in the direction of lts openlng area and whlch is
connected by means of an annular transltion area 10 to side
wall 8. Slots 11 parallel to the
A
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longitudinal axis of pouring insert 7 are provided
in side wall 8 and extend through the transition
area 10 and just into the convex base area 9. The
six slots 11 in this embodiment are uniformly
circumferentially distributed.
If for removing the container content, the
dosing cap 4 is unscrewed and the container 1 is
tilted in such a way that its content flows out, then
only a relatively small amount ~ liquid passes through
some of the slots 11, because as a result of the pouring
insert 7 the original opening cross-section of container
neck 2 is considerably reduced and specifically to
1/10 or less. The much smaller quantity of outflowing
content as compared with the completely free container
neck can be very easily filled into the dosing cap 4.
Filling can be controlled without difficulty in such
a way that the dosing cap 4 is filled up to a given
level. It is unimportant in what "turning position"
the container neck 2 and consequently the pouring
insert 7 are located during pouring out, because as
a result of the uniform distribution of the slots 11
liquid passes out through some slots in each pouring
position, whilst other slots remain connected to the
ambient air for producing a pressure compensation in
the interior of container 1.
When the filled dosing cap 4 has been emptied,
it can again be screwed onto thread 5, its sloping
sealing surface 6 sealingly engaging on the sloping
sealing surface 13 at the upper end of pouring insert
7. In this position, as shown in Fig 1, the liquid
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residues still remaining in dosing cap 4 trickle
down the inner face of cap 4 and drip substantially
onto the transition area 10 and partly onto the
convex base area 9, so that said liquid residues
gradually pass through slots 11 back into container
1.
The embodiment according to Fig 2 corresponds
with that accordingto Fig 1 in that a pouring insert
17 is inserted in container neck 2' of a container 1
said insert having slots 21 in each side wall 18 and
which extend into an annular transition area 20,
corresponding to transition area 10 in Fig 1. In
accordance with the embodiment of Fig 1, a convex
base area 19 is linked with the annular transition
area 20. By means of a sealing surface 22 formed on
the outer face of side wall 18, the pouring insert
sealingly engages on the inner face of container
neck 2' and the insertion depth of the pouring insert
17 is limited by the outwardly directed annular
shoulder 24 connected to sealing surface 22 and
which rests on the end face of container neck 2'.
An outer holding wall 26 passes downwards
substantially parallel to side wall 18 from the wall
area forming the annular shoulder 24 in Fig 2. In
holding wall 26 is formed an inwardly directed, annular
anchoring projection 28, which engages behind a
correspondingly shaped anchoring projection 27 on
the outside of container neck 2'. This engaging
behind is obtained in that holding wall 26 is
elastically outwardly expanded on inserting pouring
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insert 17, so that anchoring projection 28
slides over anchoring projection 27 and then
"snaps" behind the latter.
A thread 25 is formed on the inner face
in the opening area of pouring insert 17 and into
it is screwed by means of a corresponding outer
thread 5' the dosing cap 4'. In this screwed-down
position, a sloping sealing surface 6' of dosing
cap 4 formed on an annular rib sealingly engages
with a sloping sealing surface 23 formed on the
upper end of pouring insert 17 in Fig 2.
The operation of the ~uring insert 17
during the pouring process, as well as during the
return of residual liquid from dosing cap 4' into
container 1' corresponds to the operation of the
embodiment according to Fig 1.
