Liquid dispensing nozzle and device comprising a cap

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10220989-B2
Application number	US-201815994329-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 31, 2018
Priority date	May 31, 2017
Publication date	Mar 5, 2019
Grant date	Mar 5, 2019

Abstract

A liquid dispensing nozzle including a liquid dispensing opening and a removable cap designed to cover the recess. The cap has an exterior envelope and an interior envelope that are coaxial, mounted mobile relative to one another in an axial direction and each have a sealing surface and able to assume a before first use storage configuration, in which the sealing surfaces of the exterior envelope and the interior envelope are in hermetically sealed contact with one another. The cap further includes a safety envelope mounted mobile relative to the exterior envelope between a configuration for unscrewing the cap when a bearing force exerted on the safety envelope has an intensity greater than a predetermined threshold, and a safety configuration when the bearing force has an intensity less than a predetermined threshold or when no bearing force is exerted on the safety envelope.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A liquid dispensing nozzle, comprising:
a liquid dispensing opening,
a removable cap designed to cover said opening when the cap is mounted on the nozzle, the cap comprising an exterior envelope and an interior envelope that are coaxial, mounted to be mobile relative to one another in an axial direction (A) of the nozzle and each have a sealing surface and are able to assume a before first use configuration, termed storage configuration, in which the sealing surfaces of the exterior envelope and the interior envelope are in hermetically sealed contact with one another,
the cap further comprising a safety envelope mounted to be mobile relative to the exterior envelope between:
a configuration for unscrewing the cap when a bearing force exerted on the safety envelope has an intensity greater than a predetermined threshold, in which rotation in a first direction of the safety envelope drives rotation of the exterior envelope in the same first direction so as to be able to unscrew the cap;
a safety configuration when a bearing force exerted on the safety envelope has an intensity less than a predetermined threshold or when no bearing force is exerted on the safety envelope, in which the safety envelope is configured to freewheel relative to the exterior envelope in the first direction, the safety configuration further corresponding to a configuration, distinct from the storage configuration, in which the respective sealing surfaces of the exterior envelope and the interior envelope are separated from one another so as to allow air to pass between them.

2. The nozzle according to claim 1 , wherein the safety envelope covers the exterior envelope entirely in the unscrewing configuration.

3. The nozzle according to claim 1 , wherein the safety envelope comprises a bottom and a cylindrical wall that comprises an interior rim for retaining the exterior envelope inside the safety envelope, the interior rim being on an end of the cylindrical wall opposite the bottom and further comprising a protuberance projecting from the interior surface of the cylindrical wall.

4. The nozzle according to claim 1 , wherein the safety envelope comprises drive elements intended to cooperate with complementary drive elements carried by the exterior envelope in order to drive the latter in rotation in the first direction in the unscrewing configuration.

5. The nozzle according to claim 4 , wherein the drive elements comprise a plurality of projections arranged at the periphery of a cylindrical wall of the safety envelope and the complementary drive elements comprise a plurality of recesses, each projection being intended to come to bear against an recess in the unscrewing configuration.

6. The nozzle according to claim 5 , wherein the safety envelope comprises a bottom, and wherein the cap comprises a return element between the safety envelope and the exterior envelope intended to inactivate the drive elements relative to the complementary drive elements when the cap is in the safety configuration, wherein the safety envelope comprises a bottom and the return element comprises a flexible tongue projecting from the interior surface of the bottom of the safety envelope.

7. The nozzle according to claim 5 , wherein the drive elements and the complementary drive elements are configured so that the exterior envelope and the interior envelope are constrained to rotate together in a second direction opposite the first direction in order to screw on the cap.

8. The nozzle according to claim 1 , wherein the cap comprises an indicator between the safety envelope and the exterior envelope configured to give the user tactile and/or sound feedback in the safety configuration, said indicator comprising the flexible tongue intended to pass over detents carried by the exterior envelope.

9. The nozzle according to claim 1 , wherein there is a residual liquid evaporation path between the opening and the exterior of the nozzle, the residual liquid evaporation path being blocked in the storage configuration and open in the safety configuration and the unscrewing configuration.

10. The nozzle according to claim 1 , wherein the interior envelope comprises first locking elements intended to cooperate with complementary first locking elements carried by the exterior envelope in order to hold the sealing surfaces apart.

11. The nozzle according to claim 1 , wherein the cap comprises a residual liquid absorbing pad in the vicinity of the liquid dispensing opening.

12. The nozzle according to claim 1 , wherein the cap comprises a protuberance intended to be in the immediate vicinity of and facing the opening when the cap is mounted on the nozzle, this protuberance having a shape for expelling the residual liquid configured to evacuate the residual liquid to the outside when the cap is mounted on the nozzle.

13. The nozzle according to claim 1 , wherein the cap includes on the exterior of the safety envelope raised or visual elements indicating to the user how to go from the safety configuration to the unscrewing configuration.

14. The nozzle according to claim 1 , wherein the cap comprises a slot in the safety envelope and in the exterior envelope enabling two zones of different color of the interior envelope to be seen for indicating that the cap is in a configuration other than the storage configuration.

15. The liquid dispensing device including a liquid dispensing nozzle mounted on a reservoir, comprising a nozzle according to claim 1 .

16. The nozzle according to claim 2 , wherein the safety envelope also covers the exterior envelope entirely in the storage and safety configurations.

Assignees

• Nemera La Verpilliere S A S
• Nemera La Verpilliere

Inventors

• Painchaud Gaëtan
• Quaglia Benjamin

Classifications

• B65D50/041

  the closure comprising nested inner and outer caps or an inner cap and an outer coaxial annular member, which can be brought into engagement to enable removal by rotation · CPC title

• B65D47/18 Primary

  for discharging drops; Droppers (droppers in general B01L3/00; {pipettes connected to container closures B01L3/0282}) · CPC title

• B65D47/2081

  in which the deformation raises or lowers the valve port · CPC title

• B05B11/04

  Deformable containers producing the flow, e.g. squeeze bottles · CPC title