CONTAINERS

• US 3,809,225 A
• Filed: 05/01/1970
• Issued: 05/07/1974
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/1969
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co. (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Original Assignee: Pierre Allet-Coche
• Inventors: Allet-Coche, Pierre
• Primary Examiner(s): Dixson, Jr., William T.
• Application Number:
  US05/033,780
• Time in Patent Office: 1,467 Days
• Field of Search: 206/47A,63.5 215/6 128/272,218
• US Class Current: 206/220
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 5/66 Capsules for filling material

Abstract

Small reusable containers with two compartments for storing, transporting and intermixing pre-proportioned substances such as a metallic powder and mercury used in making a dental amalgam, provided with a displaceable disk-shaped partition between the compartments to prevent intermingling of the substances during storage and transportation but which, when displaced by way of a pusher, and with the intermingling of the substances, acts as a pestle in aiding trituration of the substances into the dental amalgam.

Claims

1. A plural-chamber admixing container comprising a sectional container body forming a first chamber, one section having a reduced neck bore extending therefrom and open at the end thereof, a movable disk whose thickness is less than any other overall dimension thereof frictionally removably retained in and closing said neck bore at the entrance of the first chamber, said disk being smaller than and fully freely movable in tumbling mixassisting fashion within said first chamber upon removal from said neck bore, a plug slidably mounted in said neck bore'"'"''"'"'s open end and frictionally engaging the wall of said reduced neck bore in externally sealing relation, said plug being physically separate and spaced at all points from said disk forming a second chamber peripherally bounded by said reduced neck bore, the effective front surface of said plug and the effective rear surface of said disk, and manually manipulable means integral with said plug and protruding externally from said reduced neck bore for moving said plug along said reduced neck bore, a first admixable material disposed within said second chamber and forming an axial force transmission means between said plug and said disk, a second admixable material disposed within said first chamber for admixing with said material within said second chamber upon dislodgement of said disk into said first chamber, the inner face of said plug being movable substantially to the juncture zone between said neck bore and said first chamber during dislodgement of said disk to effectively form a single chamber bounded by the walls of said first chamber and the effective inner forward face of said plug for admixing of said materials after dislodgement of said disk into said first chamber, said disk assisting in the admixing on account of its mass and configuration.

2. The container as defined in claim 1, wherein said one section includes a locking portion for said disk, formed by at least one annular groove in its inner wall, and one of said disk and said groove is of a resilient material yielding when in frictional engagement with the other.

3. The container as defined in claim 1, wherein said disk is made of a substantially rigid material, at least said one section of said body being made of a resilient plastic material.

4. The container as defined in claim 1, wherein said plug has a head portion adapted to obturate the mouth of said second chamber when said pusher means is pushed into said neck bore, and wherein the length of said plug substantially corresponds to that of the portion of said neck bore which forms said second chamber, preventing manual removal of said plug from said neck bore once it has been completely pushed in and said mouth of the first chamber is obturated.

5. The container as defined in claim 1, wherein said plug has a head portion adapted to obturate the mouth of said first chamber when said plug is pushed into said neck bore, and wherein said head portion has a concave lower face adapted to engage a substantially complementary convex upper face of said disk means.

6. The container as defined in claim 1, wherein at least one of said sections of said body includes means for slidingly and frictionally interconnecting the same with the other section.

7. The container as defined in claim 6, wherein said interconnecting means is provided in the area of said first compartment, in the form of sleeve portions constituted by the adjoining ends of said sections, and allowing introduction and removal of one of the substances into said first compartment irrespective of the provision of said disk and said pusher means in said upper section.

8. A container for storing, transporting and intermixing pre-proportioned substances comprising a body having a first portion including a closed end defining a part of a mixing chamber for holding a first admixable substance and a second portion having an inner wall substantially free from indentations or protuberances defining a material containing chamber for communicating with said mixing chamber for holding a second admixable substance, a disk partition means having a thickness smaller than any other overall dimension and a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the mixing chamber held in a friction fit by the inner wall of one of said sections at the junction of said chambers and movable in said sections between an initial or closing position separating said chambers and a final or mixing position loosely contained within said mixing chamber, pusher means slidably positioned in said material containing chamber with the outer periphery of its inner end in sliding and sealing engagement with the wall thereof, said pusher means being movable from an initial position through the entire length of said material containing chamber to a final position with its inner end positioned substantially at said junction of said chambers for positively forcing said disk partition means and clearing the entire contents of said material containing chamber into said mixing chamber, the lower end of said pusher means when in said final position and subsequently sealing the upper end of said mixing chamber to allow intermixing in said mixing chamber of the admixable substances originally in said chambers by the shaking of said container with the disk partition means aiding in the mixing on account of its mass and configuration.

9. A container as in claim 8, wherein said disk has substantially planar upper and lower surfaces.

10. A container as in claim 8, wherein said disk has generally convex upper and lower faces.

11. A container as in claim 8, wherein said disk has generally concave upper and lower faces.

12. A container as in claim 8, wherein one face of the disk is generally concave and the other face is generally convex.

13. A container as in claim 8, wherein one face of the disk is generally concave and the other face is generally flat.

14. A container as in claim 8, wherein one face of the disk is generally convex and the other face is generally flat.

15. A container as in claim 8, wherein the opposing faces of the first portion of said pusher means and said disk are generally complementary.

16. A container as in claim 15, wherein said face of said pusher means is generally concave and said opposing face of said disk is generally convex.