Sterile system for dispensing a product contained in a container in particular a soft tube

• US 6,974,053 B2
• Filed: 11/29/2002
• Issued: 12/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: PROMENS SA (Berry Global Group Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Plastohm SA (Berry Global Group Inc.)
• Inventors: Hennemann, Pascal, Lautre, Philippe
• Primary Examiner(s): Bomberg, Kenneth
• Application Number:
  US10/496,612
• Publication Number:
  US 20050067440A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,110 Days
• Field of Search: 222/92, 222/107, 222/212, 222/492, 222/493, 222/495, 222/496, 222/521, 222/525
• US Class Current: 222/92
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 11/00444 with provision for filtering or cleaning the air flow drawn into the container
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 47/2081 in which the deformation raises or lowers the valve port

Abstract

The invention concerns a dispensing and closure system arranged at the top of a container, in particular a soft tube comprising a liquid or pasty product, which is delivered by pressing on the tube. The invention is characterized in that it consists of a valve comprising two concentric elements, one of which forms a mobile cylindrical delivery valve and the other forms a cylindrical body exiting from a plate linked to the tube. The two elements defined between them an annular gap through which the product passes. When a manual pressure is exerted on the tube, it causes the product to act directly on the delivery valve causing the latter to open, countering an elastic return member, so as to allow the product to escape from the tube, when the pressure is exerted thereon and to automatically close the delivery valve when the pressure is released, preventing the possible return of the product already dispensed from returning inside the tube.

Claims

1. A dispensing and closure system arranged at an end of a container formed by a soft tube containing a liquid or pasty product which is delivered by pressing on said tube, said system comprising a valve comprising two concentric elements, a first one of said concentric elements forming a mobile cylindrical delivery valve that includes, in its central upper part, an opening defining a peripheral seat, and a second one of said concentric elements forming a cylindrical body emanating from a plate linked to the tube, a closed top of said cylindrical body being able to interact, upon closure, with the seat of said mobile delivery valve, the two concentric elements defining between them an annular gap through which the product passes, at the time of a manual pressure exerted on the tube, causing, as a consequence, the product to act directly on the delivery valve causing the delivery valve to open, countering an elastic return member, and a double seal obtained in the opening/closure zone of the valve by means of the combination of a first peripheral lip and a second lip, which is also peripheral, produced at a distance from the first lip such that said lips form a double closure so that, upon closure, the residue of material located between the two lips is expelled outward, with no possible return of the product that has already exited toward the inside.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first peripheral lip is produced on the seat of the mobile plate so as to exert an axial action on a corresponding zone of the end of the cylindrical body of the linking plate, wherein the second lip, which is also peripheral, is produced, also, starting from the seat of the delivery valve so as to exert a radial action on an axial part of said cylindrical body of the linking plate, and wherein each of said lips is offset in terms of time.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mobile cylindrical delivery valve is mounted so as to slide in an axial direction between the body of the linking plate which is integral with the end of the tube and a cylindrical cap capping said system, also integral with the tube, said cap including, in its upper part, a first cylindrical outer bore that is open at its two ends, in which a first cylindrical part of the delivery valve is guided and can slide when the valve opens or closes.

4. The system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the mobile delivery valve includes a second cylindrical guide part, concentric with the first cylindrical part, produced at the periphery of a bottom collar extending from a lower zone of the first cylindrical part of said delivery valve and coming into contact with a second internal bore of the cap, which is open only at its lower part.

5. The system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the second cylindrical guide part of the mobile delivery valve includes an upper lip and a lower lip in frictional contact on the second bore of the cap, with a view to guaranteeing leaktightness when said delivery valve functions.

6. The system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the wall of the cap defining the second inner bore of the cap extends at its lower part in order to form a peripheral end edge interacting in a fixed manner with a raised edge of the linking plate, the latter being formed by a collar extending from an upper zone of a cylindrical sleeve emanating from said plate at its lower part, which sleeve interacts in a fixed manner with the top of the tube that it caps.

7. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the linking plate includes a second raised edge produced concentrically between the first peripheral raised edge and the fixed cylindrical body of said linking plate so as to form a lower stop for the mobile delivery valve acting upon closure, a lower end part of the first bore of the cap forming an upper stop for said delivery valve acting upon closure.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1, which includes an elastic return member for the mobile delivery valve, interposed between an inner part of the delivery valve and an inner part of the fixed cap.

9. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the elastic return member consists of a washer from which emanates a plurality of radial arms spaced angularly in an identical manner, said washer being arranged in a fixed manner on an inner shoulder of the cap, while the radial arms bear on the bottom collar of the mobile delivery valve so as to return the delivery valve automatically to the closure position after opening.

10. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the elastic return member consists of a plurality of radial arms spaced angularly at identical angles and obtained by molding with an inner part of the cap, the radial arms bearing on the bottom collar of the mobile delivery valve so as to return the latter automatically to the closure position after opening.

11. The system as claimed in claim 1, which comprises an air-intake device consisting of an end piece produced at a lower part of the linking plate and inside which a porous antibacterial filter is arranged.

12. The system as claimed in claim 1, which includes a closure cover, an inner bearing zone which comes into compressive contact with the top of the valve in order to lock the opening.

13. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mobile delivery valve, the linking plate, the cap, the elastic member, the tube, and the cover are obtained by molding from plastic.

14. The system as claimed in claim 13, wherein the mobile delivery valve, the linking plate, the cap, the elastic member, and the cover are formed from plastic containing silver ions.