GB2337246A - A device for minimising liquid surging during pouring - Google Patents

Abstract

Surging during pouring of a liquid from a container 1 is minimised by providing a vacuum breaker venting pipe 2 between the container outlet and interior. The pipe 2 may be incorporated into the container 1 during manufacture and the container 1 may be of metal, eg a can, of plastics, eg a drum or bottle, or may take the form of a carton, eg of folded cardboard.

Description

2337246 A DEVICE FOR MINIMISING LIQUID SURGING DURING POURING This

invention relates to a device for minimising liquid surging whilst the said liquid is being poured from an enclosed container.

The existing market for enclosed containers which are used to contain a variety of lquids may be divided into, Metal Containers & Cans Plastic Containers, Drums and Bottles Cartons (Folded cardboard or simila7) Because of the enclosed nature of these containers they tend to exhibit the problem of surging when the liquid is poured from the container. This surging is considered a problem due to the pulsating nature of the liquid output stream which results in the increased risk of spillage and the reduced volume of liquid poured per unit time.

The surging of 'liquid poured from any enclosed container occurs because as the liquid is emptied from the container it forms a vacuum within the container until the poured liquid flow eventually stops, allowing air to be sucked in to reduce the vacuum, whereupon the liquid flow is restarted when the vacuum has reduced enough to allow the flow of the poured liquid. This stopping and starting of the flow is the cause of the surging within the poured liquid stream.

According to the present invention there is provided a device comprising of a vacuum breaker pipe run from ',he liquid outlet to a point within the container, the vacuum breaker pipe being adapted to allow air to enter the container as the liquid is poured out.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:- Figure 1 shows a section through a container with a vacuum breaker pipe in position.

Figure 2 illustrates liquid pouring from a container with a vacuum breaker pipe in position.

Figure 3 shows a section through a container with the vacuum breaker pipe in position where the vacuum. breaker pipe may be split into two sections.

Referring to the drawing the smooth pouring device comprises an enclosed container 1, a vacuum breaker pipe 2, and a poured liquid stream 3. As an additional modification the vacuum breaker pipe ray be incorporated in a detacInable pouring spout 4.

The vacuum breaker pipe 2 ray be incorporated into the design of the container 1 at the manufacturing stage to form a new type of container which removes the surging of its liquid contents as they are poured from the container.

By way of example, this device will be described applied to ore particular type of container commonly manufactured in the plastic containers, drums and bottles industry. Referring to figure 1 and figure 2, in this example a moulding die is modified to form the vacuum breaker tube as the container itself is formed.

In this process a hot plastic tube, sealed at one end, is blown within a mould to form a container. The tube itself is normally formed by the extrusion technic although it may also be formed from the injection process. This process is common and was originally developed for the production of bottles and containers with high and low density polythene, which has good melt strength characteristics.

By way of &further example, figure 3 shows a container 1 where the vacuum breaker pipe 2 is split into two sections, one part contained within the enclosed container 1, and the other part contained in the pouring spout 4. In operation the pouring spout 4 is attached to the container 1 in such a manner that the vacuum breaker pipe performs its required function.

It might be assumed that the reduction in area of the pouring oifice would.-educe the amount of liquid which could flow, ri L. but this is not the case. The uninterrupted flow of this new design results, in practice, with an increased amount of liquid flowing.

This is of course only an example of how the concept might be applied to a particular type of container. The same concept could Just as easily be applied to a multitude of diversely constructed containers. In particular the same concept could be applied to metal containers, metal cans, plastic containers, plastic drums, plastic bottles, and cartons (folded cardboard or similar material).

Claims (9)

1 A device comprising of a vacuum breaker pipe run from the liquid outlet to a paint within a container, the vacuum breaker pipe being adapted to allow air, or another medium, to enter the container as the liquid is poured out.

2 A device as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the said vacuum breaker pipe is incorporated into a container during manufacture.

3 A device as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the said vacuum breaker pipe comprises one or more pieces.

4 A device as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 or Claim 3 wherein the said device is used to reduce liquid surging in a metal container.

A device as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 or Claim 3 wherein the said device is used to reduce liquid surging in a metal can.

6 A device as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 or Claim 3 wherein the said device is used to reduce liquid surging in a plastic container.

7 A device as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 or Claim 3 wherein the said device is used to reduce liquid surging in a plastic drum.

8 A device as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 or Claim 3 wherein the said device is used to reduce liquid surging in a plastic bottle.

9 A device as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 or Claim 3 wherein the said device is used to reduce liquid surging in a carton container (Folded cardboard or similar).

A device substantially as described herein with reference to Figures 1-3 of the accompanying drawing.