Double-tube dispensing container

Jan. 19, 1965

H. NIELSEN

DOUBLE-TUBE DISPENSING CONTAINER

3,166,221

Filed April 24, 1962

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United States Patent Office

3,166,221

Patented Jan. 19, 1965

1of the tube member engaging the intruding portion of the housing member, and with the pistons being at open ends of the tubes of the tube member. When the tube member is pushed slowly down into the housing member a quantity of the contents of the tubes of the tube member corresponding to the quantity filled into the tubes will be pressed out in the shape of two closely juxtaposed bands. It will then be easy to mix the two kinds of material in no time on the site of application, and the accurate guiding of the tube member in the housing member will ensure that the two substances are squeezed out in a predetermined ratio, e.g. in equal quantities. If, for instance, a neutralization is aimed at by mixing, it is possible by this means to prevent that· an undue excess of the one component or the other is dispensed.

A convenient method for assembling the dispensing container enabling the two tube compartments to be filled through the open ends of the tubes of the tube member may according to the present invention consist in the dispensing nozzle having notches on a level with surfaces which continue the cylinder surface of the housing member facing each other; the bottom of the housing member may consequently be one separate piece which is not mounted on the cylindrical part of the housing member until the tubes of the tube member have been filled, and the said member drawn out with its connection portion engaging the intruding portion at the other end of the housing member. In connection* with the mounting of the said bottom the pistons, too, are mounted in the tubes of the tube body.

Even if the accurate* shaping of the tube member and the resilience and exact fit of the housing member rendered possible by the present invention will minimize the tendency of the tube member during the squeezing it is, however, desirable in many cases, particularly if the contents of the tube cylinder consists of comparatively expensive preparations, such as pharmaceutical products or of pharmaceutical products of which an overdosing must be avoided on account of their powerful effect, that the tube member be capable of sliding inside the housing member with a constant but slight friction even if the dispensing container has not been used for some time or has been exposed to moisture or temperature changes which will hazardise * the operational properties of the dispenser. According, to an embodiment of the present invention the tube member and the housing may therefore be manufactured from two different plastics, chosen with a view to causing a minimum of friction. According to the present invention it is particularly convenient if the tube member is manufactured from low pressure polyethylene, and the housing member from impact proof polystyrene.

In the following the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing which depicts by way of an example, which should not be considered limitative, one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows the dispensing container without a covering cap, in perspective, in its extended position;

FIG. 2 shows the tube member in side elevation;

FIG. 3 shows the tube member seen from above;

FIG. 4 shows a section of the tube member on the line IV—IV of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 shows a section of the tube member on the line V—V of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 shows the housing member in a sectional view through the longest symmetry plane;

FIG. 7 shows a section of the housing member on the line VII—VII of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 shows a section of the housing member on the line VIII—VHI of FIG. 6;

3,166,221

DOUBLE-TUBE DISPENSING CONTAINER Helmuth Nielsen, Heriev, Denmark, assignor to livens kemiske Fabrik ved A. Kongsted, Ballerup, Denmark, a Danish firm

Filed Apr. 24,1962, Ser. No. 189,862.

Claims priority, application Denmark, Anr. 27, 1961, 1,739/61

Claims. (CI. 222—-137)

Dispensing tubes of pliable material, the compressible hollow body of which is divided in two separate tube compartments by means of a partition, are known, said tubes having at one end thereof a nozzle integrally cast with the container material and provided with two closely .15 juxaposed canals each connected with one of the tube compartments.

When the compartments contain different semifluid materials it is possible to expell a quantity of both by squeezing both compartments simultaneously; thereby the sub- 20 stances from both containers are brought into contact with each other immediately outside the nozzle of the tube.

Such double tube dispensing containers, however, cannot be used in cases where it is important that the quantities discharged from each tube compartment are equal, 25 or that the materials are discharged in some other predetermined ratio.

The present invention relates to a double tube dispenser of the above-mentioned type in which the said disadvantage has been remedied, and which consists of a rigid 30 tube member and a housing member, the tube member consisting of two juxtaposed cylindric tubes of substantially equal wall thickness united along a common generatrix, said tubes being open at one end and closed at the opposite end by a wall integral with a substantially cy- 35 lindric nozzle portion, the axis of which is central between the axes of the two tubes, said nozzle portion having channels leading to the interior part of each tube, and the housing member comprising two part-cylindric walls united to form a tubular body, and a base plate 40 closing said tubular body at one end and carrying two shafts protruding in coaxial position into the tubes and carrying at their ends pistons fitting therein.

By giving the tube body the shape of two completely or almost completely cylindrical tubes which at most are 45 connected at a narrow joint surface along a generatrix of each, it is possible to manufacture the tube body from plastic without the risk that'the body deforms unduly during the hardening of the plastic or during the cooling after the hardening; consequently the cylinder surfaces of the tube body are able to slide close to the cylinder surfaces of the housing member. This: latter .may also be of plastic, and still have no tendency to distort during the hardening and the subsequent cooling, as the walls of the said tube case have practically equal thickness through- ⁵⁵out. Owing to the -elasticity of the wall portions uniting the two part-cylindric walls. of the housing member it attains sufficient resiliency to fit the tube member without any undue.pressure, at the same time.being exactly to measure .with the tube body. By providing the tubes of ⁶⁰the-tube member adjacent their open ends with a connection portion extending only a short distance from the open end and the housing with an intruding-portion which likewise has only a slight extension in axial direction, it is prevented that the tube member be pulled out of ⁶⁵the housing unintentionally.

If desired, the tube compartments may be filled, the dispensing container has been assembled, the filling being made through cannulae to the channels of the dispensing nozzle. After the filling the dispensing container will * be in its expanded position with the connection portion

3,166,221

FIG. 9, in side elevation and part section, shows the separate bottom with pistons for the tubes, and

FIG. 10 shows the bottom seen from above in a horizontal sectional view through the piston rods.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a tube member, and 2 a housing member. Externally, the tube member (FIGS. 2-5) is shaped as two juxtaposed tubes 3 and 4, the axes of which are parallel, and which in the embodiment shown are mutually connected at a narrow strip 5 along a common generatrix. The said tubes are provided with cylindrical tube compartments 6 and 7 which are open at the bottom but at the top are closed by a plane wall 8 which carries a cylindrical dispensing nozzle 9, common to both tubes, with a thread 10 for the screwing on of a tube cap, not shown in the figure. The dispensing nozzle 9 is provided with channels 11 which leads each to its own of the two tube compartments 6 and 7.

At the bottom the tube member is on either side provided with a connection portion 14 which partly fills the space between those sections of the cylindrical external walls of the tubes 3 and 4 which face each other but is of slight extension in the axial direction.

The housing member 2 is made of a material whicn is substantially of the same thickness throughout the length of the housing member, as shown in FIG. 8, and consists of two part cylinder surfaces 12 and 13 which are mutually connected with more or less plane partitions 15 parallel with the symmetry plane 16 of the tube case, and at such a distance from the said symmetry plane that the connection portion 14 of the tube member may pass freely within the said partitions. At the top the housing member is provided with internal intruding portions 17 which fit into the angle between the tubes of the body member.

The dispensing nozzle is provided with notches 18 cut at opposite angles into the surface of the said nozzle which notches form a continuation of the cylinder surfaces of the tubes facing each other, and through which the intruding portions 17 may pass when the tube member is inserted into the housing member from the bottom of the latter, and is pushed so much forward that the dispensing nozzle will project from the uppermost edge of the housing member.

FIGS. 9 and 10 depict a bottom 19 with piston rods 20 and pistons 21. After the tube member 1 in the said manner has been inserted into the housing member 2, and the tube compartments have been filled the bottom is mounted, the pistons 21 being let into the tube compartments, and the tube member pushed forward to its extended position as shown in FIG. 1. By this, a groove 22 on the top side of the bottom 19 will fit round the lower edge of the housing member. If desired, the bottom may be secured to the said housing member by means of a suitable adhesive applied to the groove 22.