Dispensing container for air treating gel

March 8, 1966

A. D. RUSSO

3,239,145

DISPENSING CONTAINER FOR AIR TREATING GEL

Filed Dec. 12, 1963

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3,239,145

Patented Mar. 8, 1966

United States Patent Office

3,239,145 DISPENSING CONTAINER FOR AIR TREATING GEL

Aurelio Dello Russo, Bronx, N.Y., assignor to Airkem, Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York

Filed Dec. 12, 1963, Ser. No. 330,190

Claims. (CI. 239—35)

This invention relates to a dispensing container for air treating gel adapted for liquid filling and subsequent gel solidification within the sealed container. More particularly, the invention relates to a dispensing container of the class described, comprising two lightweight plastic parts providing the combined features of vapor-tight sealing during storage and transit, effective control of air circulation therethrough in use, and economy of construction, permitting disposal of the container when the contents have been consumed.

Air treating gels of the type disclosed in United States Patent No. 2,691,615 provide effective means for gradual introduction into air of volatilizable air treating components, including for example, air freshening and odor counteractant components. In commercial use of such gels, it has generally been the practice to pre-fashion bodies or slugs of gels having a suitable shape and contour, and then place the preformed bodies in a desired container or dispenser. More recently, in United States Patent No. 2,949,710, a departure from this procedure has been disclosed, in which a cup-shaped top and multifingered base dispensing container are liquid filled in an inverted position and returned to the normal upright position during solidification of the gel. In order to provide for separation of the parts to expose the gel for use, the base part carries an internal tapered core extending through the body of gel to a void space at the top of the assemblage from which the body of gel will readily separate as the cup part with the gel body adhering thereto, is lifted from the base. This action permits a flow of auto the void space above the gel body, permitting the gel body to slide by gravity down the elevated cup to rest upon the base and be exposed between the fingers thereof. This approach has certain disadvantages for practical use. In the first place, the gel will sometimes adhere tightly enough to the cup part, so that the admission of air and the force of gravity, even with shaking, will not readily cause the gel body to separate from the cup. Another disadvantage is that the tapered core on the base displaces a substantial volume of gel in the area of the gel body which is subject to most rapid shrinking through evaporation of the volatile components during use, with the result that the desired uniformity in evaporation rate cannot be achieved.

In accordance with the present invention, a quite different approach to liquid filling of a dispensing container for air treating gel has been devised, wherein means is provided in the base part for establishing an extensive zone of anchorage between the gel body and base part which, coupled with a very slight taper in the wall structure of the cup part, permits the cup part to be readily separated from the gel body by a combined rotary and longitudinal movement when it is desired to open the container and expose the gel for initial air treating use. In addition, the new construction provides for vapor-tight sealing of the container, not only in initial packaging, but also each time the device is closed between intermittent uses, thereby prolonging the effective life of the air treating gel. Furthermore, the simplicity of construction, and ability to use lightweight plastic materials, makes it economically feasible for the new device to be treated as a one-use container-dispenser to be thrown away when the useful contents have been consumed through evaporation.

The new device is also particularly adapted for use with a snap spring end point indicator affixed to the bottom thereof, in accordance with the teachings in United States Patent No. 3,104,816. If such an end point indicator is used to tell, by reason of weight loss of the container and contents, when the end of the useful life of the gel has been reached, the new dispenser enhances the accuracy and effectiveness of the end point indicator by establishing a fixed and predetermined relationship of the shrinking gel slug centrally of the container base.

The novel features of the container-dispenser device will readily be apparent from a consideration of the following description taken together with the accompanying drawing in which a preferred form of the device is illustrated with the various parts thereof identified by suitable reference characters in the several views, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of the container top shown in the inverted position for liquid filling and with the base to be attached thereto indicated in dotted lines;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the assemblage in the upright position, indicating the relative profile of fresh and spent gel bodies therein, and as shown in dot-dash lines, the position assumed by the container top in operative air treating use of the device;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view similar to FIG. 2 with portions of the structure broken away and in section to show the details thereof; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view substantially on the line 4—4 of FIG. 3.

As shown in the drawing, the dispenser-container comprises a base part 10 and top or closure part 11, each comprising a unitary body of molded plastic material. While these parts are preferably fashioned from polyethylene or polypropylene, it is to be understood that various types of plastic can be employed, and the parts can be formed from the same, or different plastic materials.

The parts are of generally circular cross-sectional form with the base 10 comprising a cup-shaped closed bottom 12, and an intermediate tapered zone 13 which flares slightly in the direction of an upper portion 14 which is of slightly larger diameter than the bottom portion 12, and has a plurality of upwardly extending spring fingers 15, four being shown for purpose of illustration. The spring fingers 15 have elongated inwardly protruding radial ribs 16 which provide both effective stiffening means for the spring fingers, and substantially line contact with outer surfaces of the top or closure part 11.

The closure part 11 is an essentially cylindrical cup having a closed end 17 and slightly tapered side walls 18 extending to an open end 19 of larger diameter than the end 17, having at the outer periphery thereof a tapered or beveled surface 20 adapted to provide sealing engagement with the tapered zone 13 of the base 10.

Closely adjacent the beveled surface 20, the closure member 11 is provided with a plurality of circumferentially spaced protruding lugs 21, having a slightly convergent taper, as shown in FIG. 3 of the drawing, for interengagement with corresponding circumferentially spaced lugs 22 protruding from inner surfaces of the upper base part 14. The number of lugs 21 and 22 should correspond with the number of spring fingers 15, four being shown in the drawing, in order that the lugs 21 when disengaged from the lugs 22, can slide vertically between the spring fingers 15 and the protruding ribs 16 thereof. The lugs 21, 22, when brought into engagement by rotary movement of the closure part 11 with respect to the base 10, force the tapered portion 20 of the closure part into close vapor sealing engagement with the tapered zone 13 of the base. In order to prevent too tight a closing action, at least two opposed lugs 21 have at the wider ends thereof, a supplemental protruding lug 23 which acts as stop means, limiting rotation of the parts.

3,239,145

In use of the device, the top or closure part 11, is oriented with the open end 19 at the top, as shown in FIG. 1, and is filled with air treating gel in liquid form as indicated at 24. While the gel is still in liquid form, the base part 10 is slid over the closure part 11 as indicated in the dotted line showing in FIG. 1, and the parts are relatively rotated to provide a vapor-tight seal therebetween as above described. The assemblage is then inverted to the upright position shown in FIG. 2, at which point the liquid gel flows into the base 10, establishing a new upper level 25, leaving a substantial void space 26 adjacent the closed end 17 of the closure part. In this position, the gel is allowed to solidify to a gel mass 27.

The bottom wall 28 of the base 10 is provided with an inwardly extending cylindrical member 29, forming a central circular recess 30 in the base 10, which is closed by a supplemental bottom wall 31 traversing the cylindrical member 29, and forming therewith a shallow recess 32 within the base 10.

The primary function of the cylindrical member 29 and supplemental bottom wall 31 is to provide a substantial and irregular surface area within the base 10 to become embedded in the solidified gel 27. The anchorage of gel thereby provided supports the gel mass 27 against rotation with respect to the base as the closure part 11 is rotatably moved to disengage the lugs 21, 22. The closure part can then be raised to the open or operative position shown in dot-dash lines in FIG. 2 of the drawing, so that air may circulate around the exposed gel mass between the spring fingers 15, to permit gradual introduction of volatilizable components from the gel into the surrounding air. The closure part 11 is readily supported in any desired position of elevation by the spring fingers 15, thereby providing substantial variations in the rate at which evaporation of volatilizable components can proceed.

As evaporation of the gel progresses through use, the gel mass 27 gradually shrinks both in height and diameter while being anchored to the base 10 as above described, so that when the volatilizable components have been substantially exhausted, the gel mass will assume the irregular (inverted mushroom-like) contour indicated at 27' in FIG. 2 of the drawing. At this point, the spent gel is no longer useful for treatment of air, and the entire device should be discarded in favor of a fresh package of air treating gel.

An odor counteractant or air freshening gel may have perceptible odor even after the volatilizable components have been consumed through evaporation. As an aid to the consumer in knowing when to discard the spent gel, there can be mounted in the recess 30 of the base, suitably on a projecting lug 33, a signal device in the form of a snap spring 34 of the type disclosed and claimed in said United States Patent No. 3,104,816. If the snap spring 34 is employed, the base 10 should preferably be provided with a radial recess 35 in the bottom wall 28 thereof, to permit the snap spring 34 to project substantially to the periphery of the base 10. The snap spring 34 acts as a signal element by projecting to the dotted line position shown in FIG. 3, causing the assemblage to tilt with respect to the horizontal supporting surface when the combined weight of the container and gel reach a reduced weight, predetermined by the manufacturer as the weight when the useful life of the gel has been spent. The sensitivity of the snap spring 34, in indicating the proper end point, can be quite accurately adjusted by regulating the angularity between the mounting end 34a and the flexing end 346 thereof; and the fact that the shrinking gel slug 27' is centrally and fixedly positioned on the base 10, enhances the accuracy in the manufacturer’s presetting of the signal element.

Even without the signal element 34, however, the anchorage provided between the shrinking gel mass and the base 10, and the characteristic contour 27' assumed by the spent gel, provides the user with a reasonably clear indica tion of how evaporation of the gel is progressing, and when to be prepared to switch to a fresh gel.

It will be recognized that the closure part 11 and base part 10 can be opened and extended, or lowered, and re5 closed innumerable times before the gel is consumed; evaporation progressing only when the device is open, and being arrested when the device is closed. If the initial period of use of the gel should be extremely short, so that no appreciable evaporation has taken place when it is ₁₀ desired to reclose the container, it may be advantageous to invert the assemblage to the position shown in FIG. 1, so that the weight of the gel mass hanging from the now upwardly oriented base 10, will cause a slight elongation of the gel mass, and permit freer movement of the closure 15 part 11 to the closed position. This procedure, however, need not be followed after shrinkage of the gel through evaporation has commenced.

Various changes and modifications in the dispensercontainer herein disclosed will occur to those skilled in 20 the art, and to the extent that such changes and modifications are embraced by the appended claims, it is to be understood that they constitute part of the invention.