Patents Examined by Andrew Bainbridge
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Patent number: 8066152Abstract: A device that attaches to a bottle's neck has a base that secures to the bottle's neck and has two passages that traverse the base. The first passage leads to an enclosure located above the base that holds cooling material and optionally has a conduit that improves the heat exchange between a dispensing liquid and the cooling material retained in the enclosure. The exit passage of the enclosure has in at least one embodiment a valve. The second passage through the base forms a vent line that is located entirely below the enclosure and allows air to flow into the bottle as bottle's contents are dispensed through the first passage.Type: GrantFiled: March 20, 2007Date of Patent: November 29, 2011Assignee: Ravi Solutions Inc.Inventors: Martin Tétreault, Jean-François Jodoin
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Patent number: 8056761Abstract: A pouring device for a liquid filled container that fits into the neck of a container opening. The pouring device has a buoyant hollow ball valve that when the container or bottle is seated in its normal vertical storage position is pressed against an inner lip of the pouring device to form a seal by a spring that is seated on a distal inner lip of the pouring device. The valve opens when the container is inverted as the hollow ball valve is so buoyant that it overcomes the spring bias, thereby allowing the container's fluid contents to pour out. The hollow ball valve's movement is controlled by at least one vertical projection along the length of the pouring device.Type: GrantFiled: May 13, 2004Date of Patent: November 15, 2011Inventor: Raúl Acarreta Delgado
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Patent number: 8056774Abstract: A fluid dispensing system includes a container, a pump assembly and a bleed valve. The pump assembly is connected to the container selectively pressurizing the container and includes an outlet port. The outlet port has a check valve precluding flow from the container through the outlet port. The bleed valve is in communication with an aperture formed through the container. The bleed valve relieves excess pressure in the container.Type: GrantFiled: January 30, 2007Date of Patent: November 15, 2011Assignee: The Fountainhead Group, Inc.Inventors: Joseph F. Arcuri, Mark I. Cushman, George A. Mitchell, Mario J. Restive
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Patent number: 8042711Abstract: A receiving device in a dosage-dispensing device, which serves to receive any insertion unit that can be inserted in the receiving device, includes a plurality of support arms that are arranged parallel to each other and extend in their lengthwise direction substantially orthogonal to the direction of gravity. At least two support arms are arranged in planes lying above one another relative to the direction of gravity. Each support arm includes at least one support location, so that, when the dosage-dispensing device is in its operating state, the insertion unit can be supported through the support locations against the force of gravity. Each support arm includes at least one protrusion which serves to position the insertion unit in a plane that extends orthogonal to the direction of gravity. The main dimension of the protrusion is directed essentially against the direction of gravity.Type: GrantFiled: February 13, 2008Date of Patent: October 25, 2011Assignee: Mettler-Toledo AGInventors: Paul Luechinger, Marc Zehnder, Eduard Fringeli
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Patent number: 8038032Abstract: A topping dispenser for dispensing serving portions of topping onto beverages and desserts comprises a housing having a front product compartment and a rear drive compartment separated by a partition. The product compartment is adapted to receive a pastry bag containing topping such that the bag is suspended against the partition, and a vertically displaceable roller is provided in the product compartment to roll down along the partition to squeeze contents of the bag out through a bottom dispensing tip of the bag that extends through an opening in the housing to direct product onto a waiting beverage. The roller is advanced downward in predetermined increments by a pawl drive mechanism located in the drive compartment and coupled to the roller by a mounting bracket extending through travel slots in the partition. The pawl drive mechanism is actuated by an operating lever pivotally mounted on the housing.Type: GrantFiled: June 18, 2008Date of Patent: October 18, 2011Assignee: Rich Products CorporationInventors: James Faller, Christopher V. Tirone, Gerald A. Rusch
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Patent number: 8038034Abstract: Personal dispensers include a refill unit and a refill casing. The refill unit is a collapsible container that is associated with pump mechanisms for dispensing fluid from within the collapsible container. The refill casing retains and protects the refill unit, and includes a pump lock that is manipulated to selectively cover a pump opening in the refill casing. When the pump lock covers the pump opening, the pump mechanisms cannot be manipulated, and when the pump lock does not cover the pump opening, the pump mechanisms can be manipulated to dispense product.Type: GrantFiled: October 3, 2008Date of Patent: October 18, 2011Assignee: GOJO Industries, Inc.Inventor: Keith A. Pelfrey
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Patent number: 8033429Abstract: The dispensing device for single use includes a multicomponent cartridge with a closure and a mixer. The cartridge and the mixer form an interconnected unit and the closure, arranged between the outlets of the cartridge and the inlets of the mixer, is configured as a valve arrangement in order to establish a connection between the cartridge outlets and the mixing elements of the mixer after performing a relative movement between the mixer and the cartridge or syringe. In certain embodiments of the invention the connection is effected by rotation of the mixing unit relative to the cartridge, and in other embodiments of the invention by axial displacement of the mixing unit relative to the cartridge. This results in a disposable dispensing unit that can be economically produced and is particularly easy to use.Type: GrantFiled: July 7, 2005Date of Patent: October 11, 2011Assignee: Sulzer Mixpac AGInventor: Wilhelm A. Keller
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Patent number: 8033433Abstract: A dispensing nozzle for a container with a long tapered nozzle body has a narrow tapered dispensing end and a wider base end. A passage for fluid runs from the base end to the dispensing end and through an outlet. The dispensing nozzle has a removable cap that fits over the dispensing nozzle when in the closed position which closes the dispensing nozzle's outlet with a penetrating plug located on the interior of the cap. The cap has a narrow closed end that has the penetrating plug on its interior side and the cap has a wider open end. The cap fits onto the nozzle in a tight fit when closed. The invention contemplates that the fluid in the container is strong glue, so that hardened glue makes removing the cap difficult. To solve this problem, the nozzle and the cap have two distinct sets of ramps that provide the initial separating force to twist the cap with respect to the nozzle in order to remove the cap easily and allow dispensation.Type: GrantFiled: February 9, 2005Date of Patent: October 11, 2011Assignee: Locite (R&D) LimitedInventors: David J. Gibson, Geoffrey F. Seymour
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Patent number: 8028865Abstract: A two-way dispenser cap has a main cap member and a toggle valve. The main cap member has two passages that allow material from inside an attached container to dispense. The first passage leads to a trap chamber that is defined by the main cap member and the toggle valve walls. The second passage leads to an outlet passage for continuous pouring dispensation. The toggle valve pivots in relation to the two-way dispenser cap between one of three positions: no dispensation, metered dispensation from the trap chamber passage or continuous pour dispensation. When the toggle valve pivots to open the trap chamber passage, the trap chamber inlet is closed off. When the toggle valve pivots to open the continuous pour passage, the trap chamber outlet remains closed. When the toggle valve pivots to the closed position, both the inlet passages are in fluid communication with the attached container's interior, but both outlets are closed. The main cap member has a recessed top portion.Type: GrantFiled: January 20, 2009Date of Patent: October 4, 2011Assignee: DeJonge Associated, Inc.Inventor: Stuart W. DeJonge
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Patent number: 8028858Abstract: A compressed gas cartridge is pierced and dispenses its pressurized gas through a permeation element that serves as a way to regulate the rate of gas dispensed out an outlet in the surrounding housing. It has been found that the use of a permeation element can control the rate of dispensation to an almost constant rate over time, which is valuable in applications such as art preservation for just one example.Type: GrantFiled: December 28, 2010Date of Patent: October 4, 2011Inventor: Anthony S. Hollars
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Patent number: 8025185Abstract: A hot and cold water dispenser includes a base unit that has an open top end and a closed bottom end respectively. The base unit is formed from rigid material such that the base unit maintains a fixed shape when a traditional one gallon, square shaped bottle typically sold at supermarkets and other retail outlets (referred throughout the patent application as an “existing one-gallon water bottle”) is positioned therein. A mechanism heats and cools water contained within the base unit, and is housed within the base unit. A mechanism dispenses the heated and cooled water, and is housed within the base unit and directly connected to the heating and cooling mechanism.Type: GrantFiled: July 27, 2007Date of Patent: September 27, 2011Inventor: Jack Stephans
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Patent number: 8025188Abstract: A fine powder is reliably dispensed from a hopper into containers on a moving conveyor belt with the assistance of a powder feed system. The hopper serves as a powder inlet that dispenses by gravity into a feed chamber that is form fitted to the sweep of a relatively slow rotating feed wheel with two spaced sets of pins. A relatively fast rotating agitator is located below the feed wheel which has a series of agitating blades that rotate between the span of the feed wheel pins, the blades in at least one embodiment resemble a J-shape. The agitator is located directly above a rotary trap chamber wheel, which has recesses that take doses of powder and dispense them into awaiting containers moving on a conveyor belt below.Type: GrantFiled: December 28, 2007Date of Patent: September 27, 2011Assignee: MannKind CorporationInventor: Michael A. White
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Patent number: 8025182Abstract: Fuel gas or some other kind of fluid is stored in a collapsible metallic bag that is attached to a valve and is stored inside a rigid outer container. Between the rigid outer container and the collapsible bag is a space or volume filled with compression gas during use which puts a collapsing pressure evenly upon the bag. In order to reduce bag failures, the outer surface of the collapsible bag has a series of projected streak portions that project outwardly from the vertical length of the collapsing in several locations that prevent the bag from expanding to fill the entire space between the rigid outer container and the bag. These projected streaks form recessed portions in the bag's surface which facilitates the bag collapsing in those predetermined locations evenly which in turn reduces the collapsible bag's failure rate from breaking during operation.Type: GrantFiled: January 25, 2007Date of Patent: September 27, 2011Assignee: Max Co., Ltd.Inventors: Keijiro Murayama, Katsuhiko Murayama, Jyunichi Tamura, Masakazu Konishi
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Patent number: 8020731Abstract: A fluid dispenser formed of a bottle for housing the fluid, a discharge mechanism for discharging fluid from the bottle, and a protrusion that is connected to and extends from the bottom of the bottle. The protrusion has a diameter that is smaller than the diameter of the bottom wall of the bottle. The bottle is capable of standing upward on a horizontal surface without the use of a separate base or mount when the protrusion extends into an aperture in the horizontal surface such that the bottom wall of the bottle rests on the horizontal surface.Type: GrantFiled: January 30, 2008Date of Patent: September 20, 2011Assignee: Evonik Stockhausen, LLCInventors: Anthony McCullough, Ron Shuster, Lori Huffman
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Patent number: 8016162Abstract: A bottle formed of a food-grade plastic material, such as clear polyethylene terephthalate includes a frustoconical neck portion, a shoulder region, a base region, and a sidewall portion have opposed grip-enhancing surfaces, and elastically deformable pressure panels. A cap for the container may include a valve to control product leakage, and may be sized to allow inversion of the bottle. A generally trapezoidal tab of the cap moves between a closed position covering a cap orifice and an open position outside the plane of the cap.Type: GrantFiled: June 30, 2006Date of Patent: September 13, 2011Assignee: H.J. Heinz CompanyInventors: Wayne C. Cleary, Michael D. McMahon
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Patent number: 8011536Abstract: A dispenser of cooled or heated liquid which in one embodiment is a server cart for an aircraft. To avoid the need for a pump, the reservoir has a cooling or heating heat exchanger that helically coils around the main reservoir, which cools from the top down or heats from the bottom up, forming a counter current. The reservoir is connected to at least two conduits, one near the cooler top of the reservoir and one near the relatively warmer bottom of the reservoir. The two conduits connect to one another at a distance from the reservoir forming a dispensing passage, thereby allowing fluid to constantly circulate through the dispensing passage due to difference in the specific gravity in the fluid caused by the temperature difference. The elimination of the pump device is especially desirable for weight sensitive environments such as an aircraft.Type: GrantFiled: August 3, 2006Date of Patent: September 6, 2011Assignee: Airbus Deutschland GmbHInventors: Matthias Witschke, Wolfgang Ebigt, Marco Mundt, Peter Detjen
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Patent number: 8011537Abstract: A dispensing system for an appliance has a main tank for holding a fluid. The main tank controls the temperature of the fluid. A dispenser outlet fluidly is connected to the tank by a dispenser fluid line. An auxiliary tank holds a volume of the fluid. A flow control device selectively moves the fluid held in the auxiliary tank to the main tank then through the dispenser fluid line to the dispenser outlet and selectively removes the fluid remaining in the dispenser fluid line after dispensing.Type: GrantFiled: December 31, 2007Date of Patent: September 6, 2011Assignee: General Electric CompanyInventors: Solomon Muthumani, Jawahar Gopalan, John Joseph Roetker, Toby Whitaker
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Patent number: 8006871Abstract: A liquid-dispensing device includes a liquid-containing unit, a flexible tube, a nozzle, and a cam mechanism. The flexible tube is connected to the liquid-containing unit. The nozzle is connected to the flexible tube. The cam mechanism includes first and second cams, and first and second cam followers. The first and second cams are co-rotatable. Each of the first and second cam followers is driven by a respective one of the first and second cams to move to a squeezing position, where each of the first and second cam followers exerts a squeezing force on the flexible tube.Type: GrantFiled: March 25, 2008Date of Patent: August 30, 2011Assignee: Bobson Hygiene Internation Inc.Inventor: Cheng-Chang Chen
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Patent number: 8002148Abstract: The invention relates to a drink dispenser provided with a chamber with an opening for accommodating a container containing carbonated drink. The container is provided with an outlet closed by a shut-off valve and a tap head that during use is connected via a line to the outlet, which tap head has an operating member for opening and closing the line. The line has a relatively stiff line section with a first part and a second part that are in contact with one another in a contact plane extending in a longitudinal direction of the line and which can be taken apart to provide access to an interior surface of the line section. Rubber strips extend in the longitudinal direction of the line section and are arranged in or close to the contact plane to form a liquid barrier. The two line parts have a clamping member that is able to engage on a locking element for fixing the line parts in a position in contact with one another.Type: GrantFiled: July 15, 2004Date of Patent: August 23, 2011Assignee: Heineken Supply Chain B.V.Inventors: Engbert Hermannes Pakkert, Quintijn Innikel
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Patent number: 7997463Abstract: A nozzle, which is for in at least one embodiment a hot glue gun, has a resilient cap that is positioned within the nozzle's conduit. The resilient cap has at least one slit that serves as a check valve. The invention solves the problem of resilient caps in hot glue guns becoming unseated and wedging in the tapering section of the glue gun nozzle conduit by adding a collar inside the conduit that prevents the base section of the resilient cap from wedging in deeper into the nozzle's conduit, which would otherwise make the valve fail.Type: GrantFiled: October 30, 2007Date of Patent: August 16, 2011Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties CompanyInventors: Gerald W. Quinn, Gerald P. Schouten