GB1562122A - Pump for an insulated container - Google Patents

Description

PATENT SPECIFICATION

( 21) Application No 48012/77 ( 22) Filed 18 Nov 1977 ( 31) Convention Application No's 803736 ( 32) Filed 6 Ji 837519 29 Sel ( 33) United States of America (US) ( 44) Complete Specification Published 5 Mar 1980 ( 51) INT CL 3 F 04 F 1/06 ( 52) Index At Acceptance Fi R 3 A 3 B ( 11) 1 -562 122 in 1977 p 1977 in ( 54) A PUMP FOR AN INSULATED CONTAINER ( 71) We, ALADDIN INDUSTRIES, INCORPORATED, a corporation organised under the laws of the State of Delaware, United States of America, of 1413 Merchandise Mart, Chicago, Illinois 60654, United States of America, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us and the method by which it is to be performed to be particularly

described in and by the following statement:-

This invention relates to a pump for an insulated container such as a vacuum flask.

The present invention also relates to an improved vacuum flask construction whereby the need to remove a cap to dispense the liquid therefrom is avoided Since the purpose of a vacuum flask is to maintain its contents at a desired serving temperature, either hot in the case of coffee and the like or cold in the case of soft drinks it is desirable to maintain the vacuum flask closed to prevent heat transfer.

Prior vacuum flask designs, whether wide mouth or narrow mouth in construction, usually require that a cap be removed and the bottle tipped to some degree to pour the contents from the bottle During this dispensing operation the insulating properties of the bottle are impaired Another disadvantage of prior designs is that during pouring it is easy to spill the contents and if the liquid is hot, burns can result.

One embodiment of the present invention provides an improved vacuum bottle design incorporating a pump which avoids the necessity for pouring liquids therefrom and which maintains the integrity of the temperature insulating bottle.

Accordingly there is provided a pump for an insulated container having a pouring opening through which liquids pass into and out of the interior of the container characterised in that said pump is adapted to removably engage the container and seal the pouring opening to prevent heat loss and spilling, and wherein said pump comprises a pump housing which defines an interior space and has a first opening therein and at least one opening through a bottom of said housing, the latter opening enabling, in use, said interior space to communicate with the interior of said container, pumping means positioned in said housing for pumping air into said container, said pumping means comprising a rigid force applying member accessible through said first opening and for downwardly displacing a flexible diaphragm having an inner portion and an outer periphery terminating radially outwardly of said inner portion attached to said housing and a sealable opening in said diaphragm to permit air to enter the interior space of the housing, the sealable opening being arranged relative to the housing to the capable of being sealed by user actuation during downward displacement of said diaphragm to force air from said interior space into the container interior via said bottom opening, and sais sealable opening permitting air to be drawn into said interior space during upward displacement of the diaphragm, and outlet means for permitting fluid to pass out of the container in response to air pressure created therein as the result of the downward displacement of said diaphragm.

Pump units for vacuum bottles have been developed by others These devices are highly complex employing a great number of components and being relatively more expensive to manufacture than the present invention The present invention achieves its simplicity through the use of a user controlled air intake and an efficient design whereby many of the components serve more than one function in the overall design.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:Figure 1 is a perspective view of a vacuum flask and pump dispenser according to the 1,562,122 invention.

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view of the pump according to the invention.

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view of the pump and vacuum flask showing the dispenser in its actuated position.

Figures 4 and 5 are enlarged sectional views of the lower portion of the pump illustrating operation of the gasket seal.

Figure 6 is a sectional view along the lines 6-6 of Figure 2.

Figure 7 is a sectional view along the lines 7-7 of Figure 6.

Figure 8 illustrates the use of a pump unit according to the present invention on a nonvacuum insulated container of a larger size than the vacuum flask of Figure 1.

Figure 9 is a view similar to Figure 2 illustrating the use of a gasket according to a second embodiment of the invention.

Figure 10 is a sectional view similar to Figures 4 and 5 illustrating the operation of the gasket according to the second embodiment.

Detailed Description

Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3, the vacuum bottle and dispenser according to the invention are illustrated The vacuum bottle, for the purpose of the present application, includes an outer jacket 10, a vacuum bottle 12, a bottom cap 14, and a bottle spacer 16 which positions the bottle 12 in the jacket and protects the glass nipple through which air is withdrawn from the interior of the filler.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 3 the filler is shown as being a narrow neck bottle, that is, one which tapers at its top to form a convenient pouring neck As will be indicated, the pump dispenser according to the invention is also capable of being used with wide mouth bottles A wide mouth bottle does not have the taper and, accordingly, the pump dispenser would have a dimensional change to correspond to the opening of the wide mouth filler.

The pump 18, according to this embodiment of the invention, includes a dispensing spout 20, a spout channel 22 and a fluid tube 24 which extends downwardly into the interior of the vacuum flask bottle In response to air being forced into the interior of the vacuum flask from the pump, fluid passes upwardly through the tube 24 into the channel 22 and out of spout 20.

Air is forced into the interior of the vacuum flask by the manually operable pump portion of the unit which includes a disk 26, a flexible sealing member or pump diaphragm 28 and a return spring 30 The disk 26 has an air port 32 located at its center for permitting the passage of air to an interior space 34 which is enclosed in part by the pump diaphragm 28 The disk is retained in the position shown in Figure 2 by the inwardly directed flange 35 of a pump housing 36 The flange defines an opening through which the disk 26 is accessible The disk 26 and diaphragm 28 can, however, move vertically downward against the bias of a spring 30 to effect the pumping action to be described The spring urges the disk and diaphragm back to their initial positions when manual pressure on the disk is removed The diaphragm 28, which has its outer end 29 secured between an upper portion 11 of the jacket 10 and a downwardly depending portion 37 of the housing 36, effectively seals the upper portion of interior space 34 to make it airtight except for opening 32 in the disk The inner surface of the diaphragm 28 is secured to the disk by any suitable bonding technique.

The lower portion of the space 34 is enclosed by a wall 39, a conical section 38, bottom 41, and a center post 40 The upper portion of the center post 40 provides a means for mounting the helical spring 30.

Bottom portion 41 is provided with a number of openings 42 to permit the passage of air from the interior space 34 into the bottle 12 in order to increase the air pressure on the surface of the liquid during pumping.

The number and size of the openings 42 depends upon the size of the pump unit and can be empirically determined for any given construction In order to prevent liquid from entering the interior space 34 should the vacuum flask be turned on its side or upside down a gasket 44 according to a first embodiment encompasses the conical section 38 and bottom 41 of the pump housing When the pump is secured over the filler 12 the gasket engages the top of the filler 12 to provide a fluid seal between the filler top and the conical section 38.

As best illustrated in Figures 4 and 5, the central portion of the gasket has an aperture therethrough to permit the fluid tube 24 to pass downwardly into the bottle interior.

When the pump is not being operated the gasket is retained in close proximity to the junction of the housing and the fluid tube.

This securely covers the openings 42 to prevent the passage of liquid upwardly from the thermos into the interior space 34 (Figure 4).

When the pump is operated, however, the lower portion of the gasket flexes away from the housing and fluid tube, as indicated in Figure 5, due to the air pressure generated by the pump unit This permits the air to pass through the openings 42 and around the gasket end 50 into the interior of the thermos.

Upon completion of the pumping operation the gasket returns to its Figure 4 position to again seal the pumping unit.

Operation of the pump unit as thus far described is as follows The unit is secured to a vacuum flask or other container for liquids by securing it to the top in the manner illustrated in Figures 1 and 3 When it is desired to dispense fluid from the interior without 3 1,562,122 3 the need for pouring or opening the container the index finger or thumb of the user is placed over the opening 32 of the disk 26 thereby sealing the pump interior 34 The user then applied downward pressure to the disk while maintaining the seal thereby forcing the air contained in the interior space 34 downwardly through the openings 42 into the interior of the vacuum bottle This air pressure acts in a well understood manner to force the fluid in the container up the fluid tube 24 through the channel 22 and out the spout 20 to a cup or glass, as desired During pumping the gasket 44 alternately seals and unseals the openings 42 to prevent back flow of liquid while permitting entry of air to the container.

At the bottom of its travel the pump disk 26 is released by the user and the air port 32 is unblocked This permits the return spring to return the disk and the attached diaphragm 28 back to the initial position illustrated in Figure 2.

This also fills the interior 34 with air in preparation for the next pumping stroke.

Referring to Figures 9 and 10, a sealing arrangement according to a second embodiment of the invention is illustrated Unlike the Figure 1 embodiment, the gasket illustrated in Figures 9 and 10 is not in physical contact with the fluid tube 24 Instead, it is spaced slightly therefrom by virtue of having a slightly larger diameter aperture 71 The following dimensions are exemplary of the type of relationship between the outside diameter of the fluid tube and the diameter of the aperture through the bottom of the gasket:

tube diameter 0 37 inches gasket aperture 0 40 inches A gasket 70, according to the second embodiment, is provided with a relatively thick tapering wall 72 and a relatively thin bottom wall 74 The opening 71 through the bottom of the gasket is defined by a circular bead 78 of increased dimension as compared to the bottom wall 74 As illustrated in Figures 9 and 10, bead 78 is intended to normally maintain contact with the bottom portion 41 of the housing The holes 42 through the bottom portion 41 are located on the side of bead 78 opposite the tube 24 so that the bead normally provides a sealing relationship to prevent liquid from entering the pump interior through the holes 42.

When air is pumped, by operation of the disk and diaphragm, the resulting air pressure causes a slight flexing of bead 78 away from bottom portion 41 permitting air to pass into the vacuum filler to dispense the liquid contained therein As will be apparent, in order to operate properly, the gasket should be formed of a suitable material which will retain its initial shape so that it will return to the desired sealing position after each flexing away from the bottom of the housing Many suitable materials are available for this purpose and exemplary thereof is the material sold under the trademark KRATON As indicated in Figure 10, the underside of gasket bottom 74 may taper upwardly and reduce in thickness (as viewed from the edge) to improve the flexing capability of the bead The angle of taper, as measured from the edge, may be on the order of 3 While this arrangement does not seal the pump unit against liquid as securely as the first embodiment does, it has the advantage of substantially reducing the amount of pressure required to operate the pump unit.

This is due to the ease with which the gasket bead can be caused to flex away from the housing bottom 41 as compared to the pressure required to pass air around the gasket illustrated in Figures 4 and 5.

Referring now to Figures 6 and 7, an important feature of the present invention is illustrated During the manual pumping operation there is a tendency for the pump disk 26 to wobble, twist or otherwise become angularly disoriented from its intended position This does have a material affect on the pumping operation in that it increases the difficulty of operation and may cause the unit to jam It is, therefore, desirable that the disk stay essentially perpendicular to the fluid tube during its movement between the Figure 2 and Figure 3 positions In order to prevent this undesirable movement of the disk 26, the pump housing 36 is provided with a plurality of guide ribs 52 spaced around its circumference The ribs extend vertically substantially the entire length of travel of the disk between the positions illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 The disk 26 is provided with a corresponding set of grooves defined by projections 56 and 58 which mate with the guide ribs 52 Thus, as the disk moves vertically, twisting movement of the disk is prevented by the projections tracking along the vertical length of the guide ribs.

Large angular displacement of the disk is also generally avoided by employing these ribs since this problem is in part caused by the twisting movement of the disk Thus, the guide rib and groove arrangement provides a smoother and more efficient pumping operation than would otherwise be obtained.

As indicated in Figures 2 and 3, the pump unit may be provided with an internal thread for engaging a mating thread on the jacket of the vacuum flask The conical section 38 of the pump housing is dimensioned to securely seal on the filler opening so that as the threads are engaged the gasket 44 effects a good seal between the pump unit and the top of the filler The threads 60 permit the pump housing to engage the thermos bottle jacket quickly and conveniently to allow the pump unit to be attached to or removed from 1,562,122 1,562,122 the thermos bottle for cleaning and refilling purposes.

As mentioned earlier, this pump unit is designed for use with vacuum bottles or similar insulated containers, such as, foam bottles and the like Figure 8 illustrates the use of a pump unit according to the invention in conjunction with a quart container 64 which may be of the foam type or similar construction.

While we have shown and described embodiments of this invention in some detail, it will be understood that this description and illustrations are offered by way of example, and that the invention is to be limited in scope only be the appended claims.

Claims (14)

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:-

1 A pump for an insulated container having a pouring opening through which liquids pass into and out of the interior of the container characterised in that said pump is adapted to removably engage the container and seal the pouring opening to prevent heat loss and spilling, and wherein said pump comprises a pump housing which defines an interior space and has a first opening therein and at least one opening through a bottom of said housing, the latter opening enabling, in use, said interior space to communicate with the interior of said container, pumping means positioned in said housing for pumping means comprising a rigid force applying member accessible through said first opening and for downwardly displacing a flexible diaphragm having an inner portion and an outer periphery terminating radially outwardlv of said inner portion attached to said housing and a sealable opening in said diaphragm to permit air to enter the interior space of the housing, the sealable opening being arranged relative to the housing to be capable of being sealed by user actuation during downward displacement of said diaphragm to force air from said interior space into the container interior via said bottom opening, and said sealable opening permitting air to be drawn into said interior space during upward displacement of the diaphragm, and outlet means for permitting fluid to pass out of the container in response to air pressure created therein as the result of the downward displacement of said diaphragm.

2 A pump as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said housing is provided with means for restricting liquid in the container from entering said pumping means, said restricting means including a gasket normally in a position to restrict liquid from entering said pumping means but flexible to a position permitting air to pass from the pumping 6 means into said container when said pumping means is operated.

3 A pump as claimed in either Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein said inner portion of the diaphragm extends substantially across said first opening and also in contact with said force applying member.

4 A pump as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said housing has a plurality of vertically disposed ribs and a plurality of mating grooves on said force applying member whereby during displacement of said force applying member relative to said housing said member is restrained from twisting or tilting.

A pump as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 4, wherein said pumping means includes resilient means for moving said force applying member upwardly in the absence of any actuation force acting thereon.

6 A pump as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 5, wherein the outer portion of said diaphragm comprises a first part and a second part which doubles back upon said first part and terminates in an edge secured in position against said housing, said diaphragm being displaceable in said housing by the movement of the first part of the outer portion relative to the second part.

7 A pump as claimed in Claim 6, wherein said housing includes a downwardly depending member which separates the first and second parts of said outer portion.

8 A pump as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 7, wherein said force applying member is a circular disc with an aperture therethrough, said disc being positioned directly beneath said first opening which is located in an upper part of the housing, said aperture, first opening and sealable opening in the diaphragm being in register whereby said sealable opening is manually closable.

9 A pump as claimed in Claim 8, wherein said circular disc has a downwardly depending rim at its outer circumference which co-operates with the housing to guide said disc during its displacement.

A pump as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 9 and a container therefor, wherein said permitting means includes a fluid tube extending into said container to a point near the bottom of the container.

11 A pump as claimed in Claim 10, wherein said pump housing includes means for removably engaging a suitable container whereby the pump may be easily attached to an removed therefrom.

12 A pump as claimed in either of Claims 10 or 11, wherein the pump is positioned over the pouring opening of said container.

13 A pump as claimed in any one of Claims 10 to 12, wherein said insulated container comprises a vacuum insulated flask.

14 A pump for an insulated container having a pouring opening through which liquids pass into and out of the interior of the container, arranged, constructed and adapted to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 8 or Figures 1 to 8 as modified by Figures 9 1,562,122 5 and 10 of the accompanying drawings.

For the Applicants RAWORTH, MOSS & COOK, Chartered Patent Agents, 36, Sydenham Road, Croydon, Surrey CRO 2 EF.

Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

by Croydon Printing Company Limited Croydon, Surrey 1980.

Pubhl,shcd by The Patent Office 25 Southampton Buildings.

london WC 2 A 1 AY, from which copies may be obtained.