Capsule having frangible wall portion

• US 4,201,316 A
• Filed: 09/26/1977
• Issued: 05/06/1980
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/1975
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Colgate-Palmolive Company
• Original Assignee: Colgate-Palmolive Company
• Inventors: Klingaman, Richard J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tollberg, Stanley H.
• Application Number:
  US05/836,767
• Time in Patent Office: 953 Days
• Field of Search: 222/83.5, 222/88, 222/86, 222/80, 222/82, 222/81, 222/168, 222/541, 222/167, 222/136, 206/222, 206/219, 206/303, 206/498, 259/60, 259/48, 215/100 R, 128/218 M, 128/272, 128/272.1, 128/272.3, 128/DIG. 28
• US Class Current: 222/80
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 11/0078 Arrangements for separately storing several components arrangements for pumping several liquids or other fluent materials from several containers B05B11/1081
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 11/1057 Triggers, i.e. actuation means consisting of a single lever having one end rotating or pivoting around an axis or a hinge fixedly attached to the container, and another end directly actuated by the user
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 51/2835 ruptured by a sharp element, e.g. a cutter or a piercer
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 75/22 the sheet or blank being recessed to accommodate contents containers simulating a book B65D77/006
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 81/3222 with additional means facilitating admixture
• CPC Class Codes: B67B 7/28 and associated with receptacle hodlers

Abstract

A capsule containing concentrated detergent liquid or like material has a frangible bottom wall. The capsule which has stiff side walls and a considerably more frangible bottom wall may be mounted in a cradle in the upper or neck portion of a special dispensing container having a removably top closure and the body of which contains a diluent or like liquid such as water and is provided with one or more devices for puncturing the bottom wall of an inserted capsule. In a preferred form the capsule has an annular storage compartment. A formation of the upper end of the capsule coacts with the container closure so that, after insertion of a fresh capsule, mounting of the closure upon the container body displaces the inserted capsule relative to the puncturing devices on the cradle to destroy the frangible bottom wall and empty the capsule contents into the body of the container. In one form the capsule may serve as the container closure.

Claims

1. A sealed capsule adapted to contain fluent material to be dispensed comprising an external cylindrical lower side wall portion, an external upper side wall portion symmetrical about the axis of said lower portion and decreasingly tapered to a closed reduced diameter top wall, and a bottom wall peripherally sealed to the side wall bottom edges, said side wall portions being relatively stiff and shape retaining, and said bottom wall being appreciably more frangible than said said wall portions, said bottom wall comprising a sheet of thin synthetic plastics material sufficiently strong to support the weight of the capsule contents but being readily puncturable for discharge of said contents.

2. A capsule according to claim 1, wherein a stiff, small diameter open end passage-defining tube extends centrally within said capsule between the top and bottom walls, said tube defining with said side wall portions an annular compartment, and the opposite ends of said tube being peripherally sealed to said top and bottom walls, said bottom wall being bonded to the lower end edges of said tube but leaving the lower end of said tube open.

3. A sealed capsule adapted to contain fluent material to be dispensed comprising an external cylindrical lower side wall portion, an external upper side wall portion symmetrical about the axis of said lower portion and decreasingly tapered to a closed reduced diameter top wall having a plurality of rotation imparting projections, and a bottom wall peripherally sealed to the side wall bottom edges, said side wall portions being relatively stiff and shape retaining, and said bottom wall being sufficiently strong to support the weight of the contents of the capsule but being appreciably more frangible than said side wall portions.

4. A capsule comprising an external cylindrical lower side wall portion, an external upper side wall portion symmetrical about the axis of said lower portion and decreasingly tapered to a closed reduced diameter top wall having an upwardly open well containing a plurality of rotation imparting projections, and a bottom wall peripherally sealed to the side wall bottom edges, said side wall portions being relatively stiff and shape retaining, and said bottom wall being appreciably more frangible than said side wall portions.

5. A capsule according to claim 4, wherein said well is substantially cylindrical and has a side wall from which said projections extend substantially radially.

6. A sealed capsule adapted to contain a fluent material to be dispensed comprising an external cylindrical lower side wall portion, an external upper side wall portion symmetrical about the axis of said lower portion and decreasingly tapered to a closed reduced diameter top wall provided with rotation imparting projections, and a bottom wall peripherally sealed to the side wall bottom edges, said side wall portions being relatively stiff and shape retaining, and said bottom wall being appreciably more frangible than said side wall portions, a stiff small diameter passage defining tube extending centrally within said capsule between the top and bottom walls, said tube defining with said side wall portions an annular material containing compartment, and the opposite ends of said tube being peripherally sealed to said top and bottom walls, and said top wall being formed with a central upwardly open well above said tube and said projections being generally radial and entirely within the well.

7. A sealed capsule containing a predetermined amount of a liquid such as a detergent concentrate and comprising an integral longitudinally stiff side wall of synthetic plastic material having a lower cylindrical portion that is closed at its lower end by a bottom wall in the form of a sheet of thin substantially film thickness synthetic plastic material sealed peripherally around the lower edge of said lower side wall portion and an upper portion that is of uniformly decreasing upward taper and terminates in a top wall closure, both of said side wall portions being symmetrical about a central axis and presenting smooth external surfaces, and said bottom wall being sufficiently strong to not sag appreciably under the weight of the capsule contents but being readily punctured by a sharp object.

8. The capsule defined in claim 7, wherein a longitudinally stiff hollow open-ended tube extends between the top and bottom walls coaxial with said side wall, and said bottom wall is an annular sheet sealed about its inner periphery to the lower edge of said tube.

9. A sealed capsule adapted to contain fluent material to be dispensed and adapted for incorporation in a dispensing assembly of the type including a container having at one end a neck removably mounting a rotatable dispensing closure having a downwardly facing rotation imparting formation, said container having internal means adjacent said neck for rotatably supporting a capsule inserted within the container, and said internal means having one or more upwardly facing projections for rupturing the bottom wall of the inserted capsule when the capsule is forced toward the interior of the container whereby to release and admix contents of the capsule with material in the interior of the container;

said capsule comprising a top wall provided with an upwardly facing rotation imparting formation adapted to interfit with said formation on the closure, stiff shape retaining side walls, and a bottom wall extending between and sealed to the lower edges of said side walls, said bottom wall being sufficiently strong to support the weight of the contents of the capsule but being so frangible as to be readily rupturable by said projecting means.

10. A capsule for incorporation in a dispensing assembly of the type including a container having at one end a neck removably mounting a rotatable dispensing closure having a downwardly facing rotation imparting formation, said container having internal means adjacent said neck for rotatably supporting a capsule inserted within the container, and said internal means having one or more upwardly facing projections for rupturing the bottom wall of the inserted capsule when the capsule is forced toward the interior of the container whereby to release and admix contents of the capsule with material in the interior of the container;

said capsule comprising a top wall formed with an upwardly open well having a side wall formed with a plurality of internal circumferentially spaced rotation imparting projections adapted to interfit with said formation on the closure, stiff shape retaining side walls, and a bottom wall extending between and sealed to the lower edges of said side walls, said bottom wall being frangible so as to be readily rupturable by said projecting means.

11. A sealed capsule for containing a predetermined amount of a liquid such as a detergent concentrate and comprising an integral longitudinally stiff side wall of synthetic plastic material having a lower cylindrical portion that is closed at its lower end by a bottom wall in the form of a sheet of thin substantially film thickness synthetic plastic material sealed peripherally around the lower edge of said lower side wall portion and an upper portion that is of uniformly decreasing upward taper and terminates in a top wall closure, said top wall having a central upwardly open well containing rotation imparting projections, both of said side wall portions being symmetrical about a central axis and presenting smooth external surfaces, and said bottom wall being sufficiently strong to not sag appreciably under the weight of the capsule contents but being readily punctured by a sharp object.

12. A sealed capsule for containing a predetermined amount of a liquid such as a detergent concentrate and comprising an integral longitudinally stiff side wall of synthetic plastic material having a lower cylindrical portion that is closed at its lower end by a bottom wall in the form of an annular sheet of thin substantially film thickness synthetic plastic material sealed at its outer periphery around the lower edge of said lower side wall portion and an upper portion that is of uniformly decreasing upward taper and terminates in a top wall, a longitudinally stiff hollow open-ended tube extending between said top and bottom walls coaxial with said side wall, both of said side wall portions being symmetrical about a central axis and presenting smooth external surfaces, said top wall containing a central upwardly open well the bottom of which is open to the upper end of said tube and side wall of which is formed with internal rotation imparting projections, and said bottom wall being sealed around its inner periphery to the lower edge of said tube and being sufficiently strong to not sag appreciably under the weight of the capsule contents but being readily punctured by a sharp object.

13. A sealed capsule adapted to contain a fluent material to be dispensed and adapted for incorporation in a dispensing assembly of the type including a container having at one end a neck removably mounting a rotatable dispensing closure and having internal means adjacent said neck adapted to be engaged by a bottom wall of the capsule for supporting the capsule inserted within the container, said internal means having one or more projections for rupturing said bottom wall when the capsule is forced toward the interior of the container to admix contents of the capsule with material in the interior of the container;

said capsule comprising a top wall, a stiff shape retaining annular side wall consisting of a cylindrical lower section of materially greater diameter than said top wall and an upper section gradually tapering from said lower section to said top wall, and a planar bottom wall extending across and sealed to the bottom edges of said lower side wall section walls, said bottom wall being sufficiently strong to support the weight of the contents of the capsule but being so frangible as to be readily rupturable by said projecting means.