Pump bottle flow control apparatus

Abstract

A pump bottle flow control apparatus consists of a bottle and pump combination. The bottle has a bottom and a peripheral side wall that rises from the bottom terminating at its upper extremity in a top opening. The bottle has an interior sump, serving as a lowermost portion of the bottle into which liquid flows by force of gravity. The pump is secured to the top opening of the bottle. The pump has a manual actuator and a rigid supply tube that extends into the bottle and terminates within the interior sump.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a pump bottle apparatus that provides better control of flow.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Pump bottle apparatus are in common use in North American households. They each consist of a bottle having a top opening, with a pump secured to the top opening. The pump has a manual actuator and a rigid supply tube that extends into the bottle. Upon movement of the manual actuator, liquids from the bottle are pumped up the rigid supply tube.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention there is provided a pump bottle flow control apparatus, which consists of a bottle and pump combination. The bottle has a bottom and a peripheral side wall that rises from the bottom terminating at its upper extremity in a top opening. The bottle has an interior sump, serving as a lowermost portion of the bottle into which liquid flows by force of gravity. The pump is secured to the top opening of the bottle. The pump has a manual actuator and a rigid supply tube that extends into the bottle and terminates within the interior sump.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features of the invention will become more apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to in any way limit the scope of the invention to the particular embodiment or embodiments shown, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view, in section, of a pump bottle flow control apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view, in section, of a first embodiment of pump flow control bottle apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view, in section, of a second embodiment of pump flow control bottle apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view, in section, of a third embodiment of pump bottle flow control apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The preferred embodiment, a pump bottle flow control apparatus generally identified by reference numeral 10, will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 4.

Structure and Relationship of Parts:

Referring to FIG. 1, pump bottle flow control apparatus 10 is a combination of a bottle 12 and a pump 14. Bottle 12 has a bottom 16 and a peripheral side wall 18 that rises from bottom 16, terminating at its upper extremity 20 in a tubular neck 22 defining a top opening 24. Bottle 12 has an interior sump, generally identified by reference numeral 26. Interior sump 26 is a lowermost portion of bottle 12, which results in liquid flowing into interior sump 26 by force of gravity. Pump 14 is secured over top opening 24 of bottle 12, by engaging exterior threads 28 on tubular neck 22. Pump 14 has a manual actuator 30 and a rigid supply tube 32. Supply tube 32 extends through top opening 24 into bottle 12 and terminates within interior sump 26. Interior sump 26 has walls 34 converging to a relatively narrow terminus 36 at bottom 16 of bottle 12. Supply tube 32 terminates within terminus 36 of interior sump 26.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a first embodiment of pump bottle apparatus 10 in which there are two converging walls 34. In this embodiment, converging walls 34 serve to form a trough which directs liquids to interior sump 26.

Referring to FIG. 3, there is illustrated a second embodiment of pump bottle apparatus 10 in which converging walls 34 form a conical funnel which directs liquids to interior sump 26.

Referring to FIG. 4, there is illustrated a third embodiment of pump bottle apparatus 10 in which four converging walls 34 from a four sided funnel which directs liquids to interior sump 26.

Operation:

The use and operation of pump bottle apparatus 10 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 4. In the prior art, problems were encountered in maintaining a steady flow of liquid from the bottle and, in particular, pumping the remnants of liquid from bottle 12. Referring to FIG. 1, with pump bottle apparatus 10 converging walls 34 of interior sump 26 serve to direct liquid contents within bottle 12 by force of gravity to supply tube 32. As a result, recovery of liquid from bottle 12 is improved. As is apparent from a review of FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, there are several ways in which converging walls 34 can be configured to create interior sump 26.

In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be one and only one of the elements.

It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the illustrated embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter defined in the Claims.

Claims

1. A pump bottle flow control apparatus, comprising in combination:

a bottle having a bottom and a peripheral side wall that rises from the bottom terminating at its upper extremity in a top opening, the bottle having an interior sump serving as a lowermost portion of the bottle into which liquid flows by force of gravity;

a pump secured to the top opening of the bottle, the pump having a manual actuator and a rigid supply tube that extends into the bottle and terminates within the interior sump.

2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the sump has defining walls converging to a relatively narrow terminus at the bottom of the bottle, and the rigid supply tube that extends into the bottle and terminates within the terminus of the interior sump, such that the converging walls direct liquid contents within the bottle by force of gravity to the supply tube.

3. The apparatus as defined in claim 2, wherein there are two converging walls which form a trough to direct liquids to the sump.

4. The apparatus as defined in claim 2, wherein the converging walls form a conical funnel to direct liquids to the sump.

5. The apparatus as defined in claim 2, wherein there are at least three converging walls which form a funnel to direct liquids to the sump.

6. The apparatus as defined in claim 5, wherein there are four converging walls which form a funnel to direct liquids to the sump.