Fluid dispenser

June 15, 1965

N. L. HOBBS ETAL

FLUID DISPENSER

Filed Dec. 7, 1962

3,189,227

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INVENTORS:

NORMAN L. HOBBS HOWARD TINT

BY

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ATTORNEY

United States Patent Office _{B J} 3,189,227

- Patented June 15, 1965 ' ¹ &lt; ' ' '

3,189,227

FLUID DISPENSER

Norman L. Hobbs, Rosemont, and Howard Tint, Havertown,. Pa., assignors to American Home Products Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware ³

Filed Dec. 7,1962, Ser. No. 242,981

Claim. (CI. 222—94)

This invention relates to a dispensing type of container and more particularly relates to -a multiunit, collapsible io fluid dispenser.

The present invention is directed to the multiple, singledosage unit, throw away type of collapsible container adapted to deliver on opening a measured amount of contained material. The package content may be any of a 15 wide variety of preparations such as drugs, ointments, or lotions used for medicinal purposes or it may be a material suitable for other uses, such as for example paints, oils, chemicals, glues, flavorings and the like.

The adoption of the “single-dosage” container for the uses described has filled a long felt need particularly in the pharmaceutical field. Such containers are sanitary, inexpensive and capable of storing and dispensing small measured amounts of materials in a most convenient manner. _ 25

Currently such “single-dosage” units are available in a variety of forms. Those which are made of glass have the obvious disadvantage of being breakable and the difficulty of being completely and quickly exhausted of the material contained therein particularly when the contents 30 are highly viscous. The hard gelatin type of containers require drying after forming and are then fillable only with dried products individually, an expensive and time ‘consuming operation. The soft gelatin type of containers may be filled as formed but are generally limited for use 35 with oil base materials. Containers of the flexible, collapsible plastic type presently available are formed with dispensing orifices or necks which require a separate sealing step after individual filling. These separate sealing and filling steps are obviously expensive, time consuming ⁴θ -and not completely satisfactory.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved collapsible fluid dispenser.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a collapsible fluid dispenser which is capable of being filled ⁴³in a manner that provides simultaneously a plurality of linked unitary containers.

. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a multiunit collapsible fluid dispenser capable of being readily and simply severed as desired into plurality ⁵⁰of separate fluid dispenser units.

These and other objects and advantages are provided by the present invention which in its broadest aspect comprises a collapsible, tubular, fluid dispenser formed into a plurality of integral linked container units each of which ⁵⁵is capable of being readily detached to permit dispensing of the material contained therein. As will be apparent from the description which follows the manner in which the integral container units are formed avoids the problem of individually loading and sealing separate con- ⁶⁰tamers. These and other advantages will be apparent from the description which follows taken in conjunction with-the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective top view of a dispenser of the present invention. 65 . FIGURE 2 shows a perspective end view of an alternative seal structure suitable for the dispenser shown in. FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a partial view of one form of seal between adjacent linked containers. 70

FIGURE 4 is -a partial view of an alternate seal structure.

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Referring now to FIGURE 1, a tube container of the present invention generally identified as 10 is shown. Tube 10 includes the plurality of linked integral containers identified as 12, 14, and 16, it of course being understood that any number of containers can be so linked depending on the length of tube 10. The length of the latter is limited only by the convenience of handling and filling as is described hereafter. For convenience of description, a single container unit 12 and the manner in which the same is formed will be described in detail since all container units are of the same construction and are formed in the same manner.

Container .12 is produced from a tube of flexible, collapsible material such as a plastic which has been filled with the material to be dispensed. As described hereafter a wide variety of flexible, collapsible, tubular type materials may be used for the purposes of the present invention. In preparing the container unit 12, tube 10 filled with the material to .be dispensed is passed through a seal20 ing machine provided with a sealing bar tool of a design suitable to affect the seal structure generally shown at 20.

Seal 20, it will be noted, forms a closed end or base for container 12 at 22. Additionally and simultaneously seal 20 forms the dispensing neck 24 of the next adjacent container 14. Neck 24 as shown is formed so as to terminate in a closed tip 26. The shape of neck 22 can be varied depending on the structure of the tool forming seal 20. Neck 22 is preferably formed to include a sweeping curved side which terminates in the closed tip 26.

If the filled tube 10 is.passed under or over a sealing tool in such a m^!anner that the tool is applied against the tube on a, flat surface, seal 20 and neck 24 will'have the configuration shown in FIGURE 1 in which the top surface of the neck is raised as at 23. -The bottom surface or top surface depending on the manner in which the sealing tool is applied will be flat as shown at 21. This seal structure on severing the container unit from the next adjacent unit will provide the orifice shown at 27. If the seal 20 is formed by opposing sealing tools of like configuration, neck 24 of seal 20α will have the shape shown in FIGURE 2 in which neck 24α of unit 12α includes raised sides 23α and 28 of bottom 21α which together form orifice 27 α on severance. Returning now -to FIGURE 1, seal 20 can be formed by a variety of sealing techniques including heat, pressure, or ultrasonics as well as by combinations of the same. The latter technique is preferred since it provides a most effective seal without adverse effect on the vaccine, medicament or other material contained in the tube. In addition, sealing by means of ultrasonics forces fluid present in the area of the seal away from that area when the seal is being formed. When pressure or direct heat sealing is used some fluid contained in the .tube may be undesirably trapped in the seal area.

As will be obvious, the manner in which seal 20 is formed provides an ideal means for simultaneously partitioning tube 10 into plurality of linked container units. The number of units in a dispenser will depend on the length of tube used as the starting material and the desired size of dose to be contained in the individual dispenser unit. The dosage size will of course also be dependent on the diameter of the tube used and the distance between seals. In forming the latter it is of course understood that seal 20 may be made individually by advancing the tube past a sealing bar or alternatively and preferably a plurality of seals can be made simultaneously by subjecting· the filled tube to a sealing machine equipped with a plurality of sealing tool bars constructed to be applied to the tube simultaneously.

It will be noted that seal 20 includes arrows indicating the position at which a cut may be made to separate or sever adjacent linked container units. In the embodiment

3,189,327 ά

shown in FIGURE 1, severance is obtained by cutting with a scissors or knife as desired at 29, removing tip 26 from neck 24 and providing an orifice as at 27. It may also be desired to sever the units without creating an orifice, and this can be accomplished by cutting seal 20 as at 29α. For convenience seal 20 may be provided with an integral severance means such as by scoring along line 29.

While as shown in FIGURE 1, the individual or separate containers are obtainable from the linked dispenser by severing at the appropriate place such as at 29 (or the arrows), alternate embodiments of seal 20 as shown in FIGURE 3 and FIGURE 4 obviate the necessity of cutting with a scissors or knife.

In FIGURE 3 it will be noted that seal 20 is serrated, perforated or scored at 38. The scoring or perforations extend across the width of seal 20 and are so positioned as to come in close proximity to but not include the sealed surface at tip 36. Tearing or breaking of seal 20 along perforations 38 will maintain the severed container unit closed until pressure is applied at the base. Finger pressure will be sufficient to rupture the seal at 36 and thus provide an orifice through which the contents of the container unit may be discharged. Alternatively, the scoring or perforations 38 could be moved closer to and include tip 36 so that tearing or breaking at 38 would create an orifice as at 27 of FIGURE 1. These constructions provide an obvious advantage over conventional single dose dispensers that require separate top or sealing means to effect closure of the dispensing neck orifice.

In FIGURE 4, an alternate embodiment of the seal structure of FIGURE 3 is provided. The seal structure 42, it will be noted, includes indented V-shaped cuts at 40 which with perforations 48, provide a most convenient means for separating adjacent dosage units from the multiunit structure.

As has been suggested, the tubular material from which the multiunit dispenser is formed is a flexible, collapsible plastic material. It is necessary that the selected tubular material be capable of easy sealing according to the manner described, without the addition of sealing agents. In selecting the particular plastic to be used, consideration is given to the characteristics of the material being placed in the dispenser. Among the plastic materials found suitable for purposes of the present invention are the vinyl resins, such as polyvinylchloride. Trichlorofluoroethylene, polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene are also suitable as are other similar plastics including rubber base materials.

While the foregoing has been a description of the present invention with respect to certain embodiments shown, it is not intended that the present invention be so limited. The latter is to be limited only by the claim appended hereto.