Media Dispenser With Removable Use Index

The invention relates to a dispenser for media, particularly for flowable media of a substantially random type, which are e.g. to be discharged from a medium reservoir in the form of discharge units by repeated manual actuation of a discharging means. Particularly for medical applications of such media it can be appropriate to have one or more determination or acquisition devices in the vicinity of or on the dispenser making it possible to determine, acquire or store such data and optionally render same visible from the outside as are of significance in conjunction with the use of the medium. Such data can e.g. be the number of already performed uses and/or at least the next-following use time, etc.

If the counting mechanism determines each pump stroke of the dispenser in such a way that one or more determining members are forcibly indexed in rotary manner, said determining member can be mounted on one or more bodies, which are simultaneously used for fixing the discharge pump to one or more bodies medium reservoirs or more.

An object of the invention is further to provide a discharge apparatus, which is improved compared with known constructions, particularly for certain applications which can be very easily constructed and/or fitted.

According to the invention, the body of the determination device is constructed as a separate component, which can also be fixed easily to the discharge unit if its discharging means is fixed to the medium reservoir not by a cap or a screw cap, but by a simpler fastening, which can e.g. be fixed by deformation or opened by destruction, such as e.g. by a crimp ring.

In place of a rotary mounting of the body on the preassembled discharge unit, there is appropriately a rigid mounting support either axially and/or in the rotation direction, the body in the manner of a holder forming a reinforcement of the relatively thin-walled fastening member for the connection of the discharging means to the medium reservoir. The body can also form a cover jacket for the complete protection of said fastening and optionally the constricted vessel neck and can be connected substantially continuously in elastically resilient manner to a shoulder of the vessel bulge of the medium reservoir, so that virtually no dirt gaps are formed. The outside diameter of the cover jacket can be at the most or approximately as large as the outside diameter of the vessel bulge, which gives a relatively uniform outer surface.

The body can also be directly constructed as a scale carrier for at least one scale, whose scale symbols are appropriately substantially uniformly distributed over the entire circumference. It is also conceivable to mount the body in relatively difficulty rotatable manner on the discharge unit, so tat it can be adjusted into different starting positions.

Moreover, to the body is advantageously connected a determining and/or indicating member in the manner of a freewheel, the locking engagement being such that on the one hand it is secured against unintentional rotation and on the other by applying a correspondingly high actuating force it can only be adjusted in one direction, whereas it is positively secured in the opposite direction. If said member is not formed by an adjusting structure mounted on the body, but instead is mounted axially and/or in rotary manner substantially independently of the body i a separate mounting support, it can be formed by an operating cap for operating the discharge means.

It is conceivable to so control the movable member of the determining device by a servodrive that during each discharge or after a certain number of discharges it is indexed. However, in additional thereto or in place thereof there can also be an adjustment by direct manual access completely independent of said discharge actuation, so that the determining member is only influenced by random adjustment.

The body can be easily fitted by substantially linear mounting or elastic resilient snapping on. If one of the two members of the determining device movable against one another is formed by the actuator of the discharge actuating means, then for arranging a counting mechanism only a single additional component is required, namely the body or scale carrier, which could optionally surround the actuator on the outer circumference and which would appropriately be provided with an indicating window or the like for rendering visible the scale provides on the actuator circumference. The reservoir is appropriately made from glass.

These and other features can be gathered from the claims, description and drawings and, either singly, or in the form of random subcombinations, can be realized in an embodiment of the invention and in other fields and represent advantageous, independently protectable constructions for which protection is hereby claimed. An embodiment of the invention is described in greater detail hereinafter relative to the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows an inventive discharge apparatus in a part sectional view.

FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional through the discharge apparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows a further embodiment in section.

FIG. 4 shows a exploded sectional view according to FIG. 3.

The discharge apparatus 1 has a discharge unit 2 constructed as a closed subassembly with a discharging means 3 and a storage vessel 4, which are manually operated by a discharge actuating means 5 having an actuator 11. The piston unit 7 of a pump 6 largely engaging in the storage vessel 4 is operated and its pump chamber has a valve-controlled inlet 8 and a valve-controlled outlet 9. For operating purposes, a piston or operating rod 10 is provided, which is connected with a delivery handle in the form of the actuator 11 as a pressure surface surrounding it and is located by means of a plug-in connection on the piston rod of the piston unit 7. The operating rod 10 is traversed by an outlet channel connected to the outlet 9, is surrounded by a discharge connecting piece 12 constructed in one piece therewith and located roughly in the pump axis and has in the vicinity of its end face the discharge nozzle or opening 13 of the discharge unit 2 leading into the open. The cylinder casing forms with a cylinder cover a body 14 with which the discharging means 3 is fixed to the vessel neck 17 by a fastening member or fastening 15, e.g. a crimp ring engaging round a cap-like vessel flange 16. Between the vessel flange 16 and the vessel bulge 18 the vessel neck 17 forms on the outer circumference a circular groove and provides an inwardly directed end face at its junction with the vessel flange 16, which can be bounded on one side by the fastening 15. The part of the body projecting from the storage vessel 4 and the fastening 15 are engaged over by a cap 19, which forms with its end face the actuator 11 of the actuating means 5.

For determining, setting and indicating the next use time, a determining or memory device 20 is provided, which is essentially formed by a single additional component, namely a tubular or sleeve-like basic determining body 21, as well as a corresponding shaping of the plastic cap 19. The cap 19 can serve as an indicating or determining or memory member 22 rotatable in each lift position with respect to the body 21, the pump 6 and the storage vessel 4, and with which is associated the jacket or circumference 23 of the cap 19 as the actuator. Thus, this single component 19 forms with one end face an actuator 11 for the feed actuation and with a circumference an actuator 23 for the determining device 20. The necessary rotary forces are so selected that a rotation by a loading of the cap 19 in the rotary direction is not possible or is only possible with difficulty, so as to prevent an accidental operation of the determining device 20.

The sleeve body 21 is fixed with a snap connection 24 by merely engaging on the discharge unit 2 when the discharging means 3 and the storage vessel 4 have already been sealed and fixed to one another for use by the fastening 15. The latter is formed by a thin metal ring, whose end portions are so beaded over radially inwards and pretensioned against remote faces of the body 14 and the vessel flange 16 that the outer circumference of the latter engages in substantially whole-surface manner on the inner circumference of the jacket of the fastening 15. The snap connection 24 has cams 25 projecting in a ring over the inner circumference of the sleeve body 21 and which in the vicinity of the vessel neck 7 engage in axially pretensioned manner behind the rear or lower beaded over end portion of the fastening 15.

These cams 25 are located in the vicinity of a portion of the sleeve body 21, which can be so radially expanded under elastically recovering extension, that it automatically expands during the running up of the cams 25 during mounting on the associated face of the body 14 or the vessel flange 16 and then springs radially inwards in the fastening position. On the other, top surface of the fastening 15 engages a collar 26 projecting in one piece from the circumference of the sleeve body 21 and under the aforementioned axial pretension. The outer circumferential surface of the fastening 15 is in substantially whole-area engagement on the inner circumference of the sleeve body 21 under said radial pretension, which gives a relatively high frictional connection 27 to prevent rotation.

From its lower end and roughly up to the collar 26, the circumferential jacket 28 of the sleeve body 21 has constant external and internal cross-sections. Above the collar 26 a slightly greater jacket 28 thickness is provided, so that the bottom jacket portion is more elastic than the top portion. At least in the vicinity of the top jacket portion, the sleeve body 21 is connected to the cap 19 by axially displaceable engagement by an inner retaining guide or rotation preventing means 29.

To this end on the outer circumference of the sleeve body 21 are provided several uniformly circumferentially distributed, sawtooth-like locking cams 31 with which are associated a larger number of roughly axial locking grooves 32 uniformly distributed over the inner circumference of the jacket 35 of the cap 19. However, the jacket 35 is radially resiliently expandable to such an extent that the locking cams 31 with their shallowly rising back edges in one rotation direction can jump over the separating web between each two adjacent locking grooves 32, whereas the cams 31 are positively blocked against the other rotation direction by the engagement of their roughly radial front sides on the associated sides of the locking grooves 32. This forms a catch system with a catch spacing in which manual rotation in a single direction can occur without accidental retraction in the opposite direction.

To render visible the information to be represented by the determining device 20, an indicating device 37 is provided, which has as the indicator an indicating window 38 in the form of a jacket opening connected to the open bottom end of the jacket 35. At least in the starting position of the indicating window 38, behind it is located a symbol of a scale 40, which is provided on the outer circumference of the sleeve body 21 roughly in the center between its ends or in the vicinity of the fastening 15. The symbols of the scale 40 are uniformly distributed over the circumference in accordance with said catch spacing.

The cap 19 is engaged with the operating rod 10 on a piston shaft of the pump 6 roughly parallel to the central axis of the discharge apparatus or to the plugging direction of the body 21. Following the snapping on of the sleeve body 21, the cap 19 can also be engaged in such a way that its jacket 35 closely surrounds the sleeve body 21 roughly over half its length on the outer circumference in the starting position.

After removing the cap 19, it is also possible to replace by another sleeve body 21 and therefore the scale. The rear end portion 36 of the sleeve body 21 can substantially sealingly engage with its end edge face or its inner ring edge on the transition surface between the vessel neck 17 and the vessel bulge 18 with axial tension and consequently is slightly radially resiliently expanded by the conical transition surface, so that also in the case of a very thin-walled construction of the sleeve body 21 with a thickness of about 1 mm or less a high rigidity is ensured. The thickness of the sleeve jacket 28 can be the same order of magnitude as the thickness of the cap jacket 35.

The individual components or arrangements according to the subclaims can in each case be separately provided, i.e. also multiply or can be provided singly on one component. Thus, it is also possible to provide several mounting supports, scale carriers/scales, actuators, rotation prevention means, catch systems, etc. For example, the construction according to FIG. 3 can be combined with an embodiment at least similar to FIG. 1, so that there are at least two independently functioning determining means with a common body or separate bodies or determining members.

FIG. 3 uses for corresponding parts the same reference numerals as in FIGS. 1 and 2, but followed by the letter a, so that all parts of the description correspondingly apply to both embodiments. The determining device 20a has a determining member 22a separate from the cap 19a, the actuator 11a and/or the jacket 35a of cap 19a, in the form of a stepping mechanism 23a, which is completely encapsulated with the cap 19a and has a radial spacing within the cap jacket 35a, so that during each operating stroke of the discharge actuator 11a of the discharge actuating means 5a, it is advanced or indexed by an operating step or a scale division. For this purpose the stepping mechanism 23a provides an operating arm 33 or 33a sloping with respect to the actuation direction and/or curved about the central axis of the stepping mechanism 23a substantially coinciding with the pump axis, and several operating arms 33 or 33a can be arranged in the form of one or more differently wide rings around the central axis. Each particular operating arm 33 or 33a is substantially fixed to either the determining member 22a or substantially fixed with respect to the body 21a so that it performs a pivoting movement about an axis at right angles to the central axis. Alternatively, the operating arm 33 or 33a which is bendable over its entire length can modify its inclined position by compression with respect to the central axis. One end of each arm 33 or 33a is fixed relative to either the determining member 22a or the body 21a, which can be achieved in simple manner by a one-part construction with said member. The other free end of the arm 33 or 33a is located in the vicinity of a ring of a tooth system 34 or 34a with sawtooth-like teeth and forms with said ring a freewheel-like locking mechanism, so that said free end can only be rotated in one direction about the central axis from said locking position with respect to the tooth system 34 or 34a.

As a flatter operating ring compared with its external diameter, the determining member 22a is axially secured in both directions in the cap 19a, e.g. by being mounted on the inner circumference of the jacket 35a and axially supported on the inner face of the end wall forming the actuator 11a. In the lower axial direction, the determining member 22a can be secured by a projection on the inner circumference of the jacket 35a by a ringlike snap cam, so that the determining member 22a is led past said snap cam, accompanied by an elastic widening of the jacket 35a and can be fitted from the cap opening by springing in. In the inoperative or starting position of the discharge apparatus 1a the determining member 22a is in a larger axial spacing from the face of the sleeve body 21a facing it than at the end of the pump stroke. The tooth system 34 or 34a can be so countersunk in the face of the sleeve body 21a or the determining member 22a, respectively, in the vicinity of a ring shoulder, that when the determining member 22a strikes against the sleeve body 21a in the pump stroke end position the operating arm 33 or 33a, is stretched and located in jamming-free manner within said countersink. If the two ends of the operating arm 33 or 33a, like the determining member 22a and the body 21a, are axially approached to one another during the pump stroke, then the slope of the operating arm 33 or 33a decreases and the circumferential distance of its ends increase by an amount which is at least twice as large as the single or integral multiple of the division of the teeth 34 or 34a, so that the determining member 22a is further rotated by a step corresponding with this amount. During the return stroke for the pump piston caused by the return spring located within the pump 2a, the ends of the operating arm 33 or 33a are axially moved apart, so that its slope increases. The determining member 22a is secured by a freewheel-like locking member 29a against rotation counter to its indexing or operating rotation direction, so that the free end of the operating arm 33 or 33a slopes over the sloping back faces of the teeth 34 or 34a until it again jumps in front of a locking tooth face and is therefore in the starting position of the next operating or indexing step.

The locking mechanism 29a acts between the determining member 22a and the cap 19a and can be provided in the vicinity of a circumferential surface and/or at least one end face of the determining member 22a. In place of the locking mechanism 29a in the vicinity of the inside of the end wall of the cap 19a and roughly between the outer circumference of the actuating rod 10a and the inner circumference of the outer jacket of the discharge connection 12a, it can be appropriate to position it on the other end of the determining member 22a and it appropriately extends up to the outer circumference of the member 22a. Instead of a locking mechanism 29a acting only frictionally or by a correspondingly high friction, it is also appropriate to provide a catch mechanism 39a which, as described relative to the locking teeth 34 or 34a, has in a ring a tooth system 32a, in which engage two or more circumferentially distributed locking cams 31a, which can jump over in one rotation direction and which appropriately project from the associated face of the determining member 22a and can extend radially up to its outer circumference and/or are provided in the snap cam for the determining member 22a or are formed by the same.

In this embodiment the mounting support for the determining member 22a formed by the cap 19a is appropriately prevented from rotation in each lift position with respect to the body 21a and a rotatability according to FIG. 1 can be provided in at least one end position. The rotation preventing means 30 has cams engaging in longitudinal grooves or splines, which project appropriately in one piece over the inner circumference of the jacket 35a and engage in axial grooves on the outer circumference of an end portion of the sleeve body 21a, whose outside diameter is slightly reduced. These cams can simultaneously form the snap cams for the determining member 22a or the tooth system or locking cams of the catch mechanism 39a and are spaced from the open end of the cap 19a.

Due to the fact that the sleeve body 21a can be fitted independently of the pump 2a or only following the installation thereof on the storage vessel 4a, the sleeve body 21a with its jacket 28a and the cap 19a can be relatively easily manually rotatably mounted about the central axis with respect to the pump 2a or the storage vessel 4a on the fastener 15a, without the reading of the determining device 20a being changed, so that the reading or display can always be brought into the most favorable viewing position. The sleeve body 21a is supported by an inner ring shoulder 26a remote from the tooth system 34 or 34a and which for obtaining a compact axial extension of the determining device is located within the jacket 35a located in the starting position on a circular face of the crimping ring forming the fastening 15a and which is directed towards the actuator surface 11a of the actuating means 5. The face extending up to the outer circumference of the crimping ring is formed by a portion of the latter, which is substantially contact-free on the inside and is therefore slightly elastically resilient, so that as a result of this support and that of the snap connection 24a or the cam 25a, it is possible to obtain a substantially axial clearance-free mounting of the sleeve body 21a. A contribution to this can also be made by the axial returning spring action of the operating arm 33 or 33a, which not only supports the return spring of the pump 2a during the return stroke, but also axially presses apart the determining member 22 and the sleeve body 21a, so that the determining member 22a is resiliently pressed against the face of the cap 19a and the sleeve body 21a with its inner ring shoulder 26a. The snap cam 25a can also pass in circularly interrupted manner over the inner circumference of the sleeve jacket 28a. Between the ring shoulder 26a and the teeth 34a and/or in the vicinity thereof the inner circumference of the sleeve body 21a can be centered with respect to the outer circumference of the casing of the pump 2a or the actuating rod 10a as a result of a corresponding narrow construction and consequently the stability against transverse forces is increased.

In this case, the scale 40 is located on the outer circumference of the determining member 22a. It is in the vicinity of a display window 38a of the display means 37a transversing the jacket 35a adjacent to the inside of the end wall of the cap 19a. Circumferentially and spaced from the display means 37a there is appropriately a further display means 37b, which e.g. dipslays the first and/or last actuating stroke of a predetermined total number of strokes, which can be performed with the discharge apparatus 1a. At the end of the final actuating stroke, the actuator 11a and/or the determining member 22a can be blocked against further operating movements, e.g. by a cam on the determining member 22a, which runs against a counterstop of the cap 19a and consequently indirectly locks against the actuating stroke via the operating arms 33, 33a.

Instead of the appropriately flat, strip-like operating arms 33, 33a being connected to the associated end face of the determining member 22a at a distance from the inner and/or outer circumference, they can be so connected to the determining member 22a in the vicinity of one of said circumferences, so that they are associated with one end of the tooth system 34 or 34a and form with the other end a locking cam for the catch mechanism. However, more favorable leverage is obtained if the operating arms 33, 33a are relatively close to the inner circumference of the cap jacket 35a. The predetermined total number of operating steps of the determining member 22a appropriately gives a rotation angle or less than 360.degree. or 180.degree. or even less than 90.degree., so that if the arms 33, 33a are articulated both to the determining member 22a and to the sleeve body 21a, respectively, no measures have to be taken to ensure that said arms move past or over one another, because at the start of the first actuating stroke they are angularly spaced and said angle is larger than the maxim rotation angle.

As the determining device 20a or the sleeve body 21a and/or the cap 19a, including the determining member 22a, can be released or replaced in non-destructive manner with respect to the remaining discharge apparatus merely by drawing off, it is easy to dispose of these components at the end of use of the discharge apparatus 1a, all the parts appropriately being made from plastic or substantially identical material.