Manual and touch-free convertible fluid dispenser

• US 20090266842A1
• Filed: 04/25/2008
• Published: 10/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ecolab USA Incorporated (Ecolab, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: UltraClenz LLC (Ecolab, Inc.)
• Inventors: Snodgrass, David L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,783,511 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 222/52
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 5/1202 dispensing dosed volume A47K5/1201 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 5/1217 Electrical control means for the dispensing mechanism

Abstract

A convertible fluid dispenser for dispensing personal care hygiene products has a chassis adapted to accept either a manual actuating unit or an automatic actuating unit, for upgrading or maintenance.

Claims

1. A dispensing system for dispensing a personal hygiene product, comprising:

a housing with a chassis, said housing adapted to removeably accept an actuating unit for dispensing personal hygiene product.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the actuating unit comprises a manual actuator which dispenses personal hygiene product in response to movement of an actuating mechanism by a user.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the actuating unit comprises an automatic actuator which dispenses personal hygiene product in response to detecting the presence of a user in the vicinity of the housing.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the manual actuator is adapted to be actuated by a hand of a user.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the manual actuator is adapted to be actuated by a foot of a user.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the automatic actuator is actuated by an infrared sensor.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the automatic actuator is actuated by an ultrasonic sensor.

8. The system of claim 3, wherein the automatic actuator is actuated by a capacitive sensor.

9. A dispenser for dispensing a personal hygiene product, comprising:

a housing having a chassis;

said housing adapted to removeably accept a manual actuating unit within the housing, the actuating unit having a connector for connecting to a source of personal hygiene product and an outlet valve for dispensing the product through the valve when the actuating unit is manually actuated;

said housing also adapted to removeably receive an automatic actuating unit having a connector for connecting to a source of hygiene product and an outlet valve, and a detector for detecting the presence of a user in proximity to the housing for actuating the outlet valve to dispense product through the value in response to said detection;

said manual and automatic actuating units being capable of being interchanged within the chassis.

10. The dispenser of claim 9, wherein the manual actuating unit comprises a manual actuator which dispenses personal hygiene product in response to movement of an actuating mechanism by a user.

11. The dispenser of claim 10, wherein the manual actuator is adapted to be actuated by a hand of a user.

12. The dispenser of claim 10, wherein the manual actuator is adapted to be actuated by a foot of a user.

13. The dispenser of claim 9, wherein the automatic actuating unit detects the presence of a hand of a user.

14. The dispenser of claim 9, wherein the automatic actuating unit detects the presence of a body of a user.

15. The dispenser of claim 9, wherein the automatic actuating unit comprises an infrared sensor.

16. The dispenser of claim 9, wherein the automatic actuating unit comprises an ultrasonic sensor.

17. A dispensing system for dispensing personal hygiene product, comprising:

a housing with a chassis;

a manual actuating unit adapted to be removeably received within the housing, the actuating unit having a connector for connecting to a source of personal hygiene product, and an outlet valve for dispensing the product through the valve when the actuating unit is manually actuated by a user, said manual actuating unit being removable and replaceable by another manual actuating unit or by an automatic actuating unit.

18. A dispensing system for dispensing personal hygiene product, comprising:

a housing with a chassis;

an automatic actuating unit adapted to be removeably received within the housing, the automatic actuating unit having a connector for connecting to a source of personal hygiene product, and an outlet valve for dispensing the product through the valve when the automatic actuating unit detects the presence of a user in the vicinity of the automatic actuating unit, said automatic actuating unit being removable and replaceable by another automatic actuating unit or by a manual actuating unit.