Squeeze Bottle for Producing an Arbitrarily Directed Liquid Stream

The present invention relates to corresponding Swiss Patent Application 5117/80-7, filed in Switzerland on July 3, 1980. The priority of the Swiss patent application is hereby claimed.

The invention relates to a squeeze bottle, especially a hand squeeze bottle, with a pour-out member or nozzle, especially for the cleansing of toilet bowls.

Typical prior art bottles, provided with a pour-out member or nozzle, from which a volume of liquid is squeezed out by hand in a squeezing motion, are, practically speaking, only suited for producing a downwardly directed stream. With the exception of brimful bottles, the content of the bottle cannot be sprayed upwardly if the bottle is inclined in an upward direction.

It is true that known bottles are provided with an immersion tube reaching into the inside of the bottle for producing an upwardly directed stream by hand induced pressure. However, such structure allows for only an upward spray. When cleaning, especially toilet bowls, it is desired to cleanse the inside of the upper flushing rim with an upwardly directed stream as well as cleansing the remaining areas of the bowl with a downwardly directed stream.

In view of the above it is the aim of the invention to achieve the following objects singly or in combination:

to construct a squeeze bottle, especially a hand squeeze bottle, so that a liquid stream may be produced while the bottle is in any position suitable for toilet bowl cleaning and in any partially filled state;

to shape a squeeze bottle so that it may be expediently manufacturable by the usual bottle blowing procedures using synthetic tubing for mass production purposes; and

to provide a squeeze bottle which permits directing a stream or spray of the bottle content in substantially any desired direction by holding the bottle in a position suitable for effectively cleaning a toilet bowl without any separate squeeze-out mechanism.

According to the invention there is provided a squeeze bottle, especially a hand squeeze bottle, with a pour-out nozzle, especially for the cleaning of toilet bowls, which comprises a transversely extending partition wall or separation means forming an overflow edge inside the bottle, whereby said partition wall divides the interior of the bottle into a main portion or first chamber and a second chamber which is smaller relative to the main portion. A bottle mouth or discharge means projects from the bottle on the side opposite the overflow edge, said bottle mouth having an axis forming an acute angle with a longitudinal bottle axis such that a directed stream of fluid from the second smaller chamber may be produced by squeezing the bottle.

By means of this construction, it is possible to spray a liquid stream from the supply retained in the smaller chamber in any desired direction, independently of the volume remaining available in the larger chamber of the bottle as long as there is liquid in the smaller chamber. Since the bottle takes up only a small height in its horizontal position, the stream hits spots which are unaccessible to bottles held in an upright position. Furthermore, it is possible to produce the bottle in common bottle manufacturing machines once the blow mold has been adapted, whereby the greater difficulties and additional working steps caused by sharply angled nozzles are avoided.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood, it will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a section through a squeeze bottle in a horizontal position with a spray direction slanting upwardly;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of the bottle with a downwardly slanting spray stream direction;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic illustration of the bottle for a horizontal spray direction;

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of the bottle for a vertically upwardly directed spray direction;

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of the bottle for a vertically downwardly directed spray direction;

FIG. 6 is a front view of the squeeze bottle;

FIG. 7 is a section through the cap;

FIG. 8 is a section through the pour-out member or nozzle; and

FIG. 9 is a section through the immersion pipe.

The squeeze bottle according to FIGS. 1 to 6 is made of an elastic synthetic material and may be compressed somewhat by hand so that a pressure in excess of the ambient pressure is established within the bottle enabling the liquid contained inside the bottle to be sprayed out of a pour-out or squeeze-out nozzle 6 in a bottle mouth 5. The inside of the bottle is divided into a main body 1 and a comparatively smaller chamber 4 by a partition wall 2 extending substantially perpendicularly to the bottle's longitudinal axis 7. The partition wall 2 is formed by a preferably wedge-shaped, double-walled restriction in the bottle wall material. The wedge shaped restriction comprises an overflow edge 3 which extends past the bottle's longitudinal first axis 7 and preferably leaves free approximately 1/4 of the bottle cross-section. The wedge shaped restriction has a central plane extending substantially perpendicularly to said longitudinal axis 7. The body 1 of the bottle and the chamber 4 remain in flow-through connection so that liquid filled into the bottle may flow freely between the two inner spaces depending on the inclination of the bottle. The pour-out or squeeze-out nozzle 6 in the bottle mouth 5 leads away from the lower part of the chamber 4 of a bottle when the bottle takes up a substantially horizontal position. As shown in FIG. 9, the pour-out or squeeze-out nozzle 6 includes an immersion pipe 17 located within the bottle mouth 5 and reaching all the way to the lowest part of the chamber 4 when the bottle is in a horizontal position. The inner or clearance cross-sectional diameter of the immersion pipe 17 diminishes toward the discharge end 18. The immersion pipe 17 is surrounded by a pipe piece 15 forming a bushing which is inserted into the bottle mouth 5. The pipe piece or bushing 15 is connected to the immersion pipe 17 by crosspieces or lands 16 as best seen in FIG. 9. Ribs or fins may be arranged in a circular manner instead of the pipe piece or bushing 15. When not in use, the bottle mouth 5 and with it the pour-our or squeeze-out nozzle 6 is sealed by a cap 12 placed onto the outer threading 13 of the bottle mouth 5. Each of the cap 12, the immersion pipe 17 and the pipe piece 15 is made of a single or integral piece of synthetic material. Preferably, the bushing 15 and the immersion pipe 17 together form an integral one piece component as shown in FIG. 9. The bottle mouth 5 and the straight immersion pipe 17 extend coaxially relative to a central second axis 8, whereby the immersion pipe 17 determines the direction of the sprayed stream. The central axis 8 of the bottle mouth 5 and the longitudinal central axis 7 of the bottle 1 cross each other outside of the bottle and may include an angle .alpha., which is smaller than 50.degree. as shown in FIG. 1. This angle .alpha. is within the range of 25.degree. to 45.degree., preferably about 40.degree. for effectively cleaning under the rim of a toilet bowl. The central axix 8 coincides with the direction of spray. Hence, pressure applied to the squeeze bottle by the fingers induces a rising internal pressure causing the liquid located in the chamber 4, or at least a part of this liquid, to be sprayed out through the immersion pipe 17. Consequently, an upwardly directed stream results when the bottle is in a horizontal or in a slanted, upwardly directed position, which stream is suited, for example, for the cleansing of the upper inner rims of toilet bowls. If the stream should be directed more orthogonally upwards, the bottle may be held more upwardly, since some liquid remains in the chamber 4 even if the bottle is only partially filled. The volume of the liquid in the chamber 4 is usually sufficient for the desired cleaning procedure. Should one or more squeezes of the bottle use up the liquid in the chamber 4, it is sufficient to incline the bottle into the position shown in FIG. 2 to refill the chamber 4. As shown in FIG. 3, the stream may be directed horizontally. Furthermore, FIG. 4 shows that a vertically upwardly directed spray direction is possible. FIG. 5 shows that the bottle may also spray vertically downwardly.

As shown in FIG. 6, the bottle's cross-section approximates part of an oval or vault, whereby the upper side 10 is flattened. The axis 8 and thus a spray out of the nozzle 6 intersects a plane defined by said flattened side 10. When not in use, the bottle is placed on its base 11 so that no fluid can flow out. Additionally, the flow-out or squeeze-out nozzle 6 is closed by the sealing cap 12 which has an inner threading 20 as shown in FIG. 7 cooperating with the outer threading 13 shown in FIG. 8.

The viscosity of the content may range from a watery to a cream-like consistency.

In addition to using this bottle for the cleansing of toilet bowls, the bottle may be used for any other purposes, especially when an upwardly directed stream is necessary, whereby the content of the bottle may consist of sprayable mediums other than cleaning liquids. The volume of the chamber 4 is approximately in the order of magnitude of 1/20 of the bottle volume.

Although the invention has been described with reference to specific example embodiments, it is to be appreciated, that it is intended to cover all modifications and equivalents within the scope of the appended claims.