TARGET SURFACE

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to a cap of a container, and more particularly to a cap that dispenses contents such as semi-liquids, jellies, and the similar products from a container.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Typically, a user must use a spatula or a spoon to dispense the contents from a container. The containers may be squeeze tubes or bottles. However, dipping spoons into the containers can reduce shelf life of the contents. Further, such designs require additional tools such as knifes to spread the contents onto a surface, which would need a lot of time to spread on a broad target surface. Also, use of such tools may not make it easy to spread the contents uniformly onto the target surface. Thus, there is a need for a dispenser to dispense and spread contents easily, accurately, evenly, and quickly.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

In another aspect, a cap for dispensing contents of a container to a target surface is disclosed. The cap includes a base that has an aperture. The cap further includes a first pair of parallel guiding channels formed on the base. The cap additionally includes a first slidable cover disposed on the aperture of the base and slidably engaged to the first pair of parallel guiding channels. The first slidable cover is slidable to adjust an amount of opening of the aperture to configure an effective size of the aperture to vary at least one of a width, a thickness, and a shape of the contents dispensed to the target surface via the effective size aperture.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The disclosed process will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail with the accompanying figures in which:

Figs, la, lb, and lc illustrate schematic isometric views of a base of a cap according to certain embodiments of the disclosure; Fig 2a illustrates a schematic isometric view of a slidable cover having a straight edge according to certain embodiments of the disclosure;

Fig. 2b illustrates a schematic isometric view of a cap having the base and the slidable cover according to an embodiment Fig. la of the disclosure;

Fig. 3a is a schematic isometric view of a slidable cover according to certain embodiments of the disclosure;

Fig. 3b illustrates a schematic isometric view of a cap having the base and the slidable cover according to an embodiment Fig. 1 a of the disclosure;

Fig. 4a is a schematic isometric view of a slidable cover according to certain embodiments of the disclosure;

Fig. 4b illustrates a schematic isometric view of a cap having the base and the slidable cover according to an embodiment Fig. 1 a of the disclosure;

Fig. 5a is a schematic view of the slidable cover having a flat portion and a protruding portion extending perpendicularly outwards from the flat portion according to certain embodiments of the disclosure;

Fig. 5b shows a schematic view of an attachment (i.e. addon spreader) which can be detachably coupled to the protruding portion according to certain embodiments of the disclosure;

Fig. 5c shows a schematic of another attachment which can be detachably coupled to the protruding portion according to certain embodiments of the disclosure;

Fig. 5d illustrates a schematic isometric view of the attachment on the slidable cover according to certain embodiments of the disclosure;

Fig. 5e illustrates a schematic isometric view of the cap having the slidable cover with the attachment according to certain embodiments of the disclosure;

Fig. 6a shows a schematic isometric view of a slidable cover having one or more openings in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figs. 6b and 6c are schematic isometric views of a cap having the base and the slidable cover according to an embodiment of Fig. 6a of the present disclosure;

Fig. 7 illustrates a schematic isometric view of a first slidable cover having a plurality of openings, for example, circular shaped openings, according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

Fig. 8a illustrates a schematic isometric view of a cap having first and second slidable covers in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; Fig. 8b illustrates a schematic isometric view of a cap having first and second slidable covers in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure;

Fig. 9a illustrates a schematic isometric view of a cap having a protruded spout portion in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Fig. 9b illustrates a schematic isometric view of a cap having a protruded spout portion in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure;

Fig. 10 shows a schematic isometric view of a second slidable cover in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Fig. 11 shows a schematic isometric view of a first slidable cover in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

Fig. 12 shows a schematic isometric view of a first slidable cover in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure.

Further, persons skilled in the art to which this disclosure belongs will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and may not have necessarily been drawn to scale. Furthermore, in terms of the construction of the device, one or more components of the device may have been represented in the figures by conventional symbols, and the figures may show only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present disclosure so as not to obscure the figures with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the disclosure, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the figures and specific language will be used to describe them. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the disclosure is thereby intended. Such alterations and further modifications to the disclosure, and such further applications of the principles of the disclosure as described herein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the disclosure relates are deemed to be a part of this disclosure.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory of the disclosure and are not intended to be restrictive thereof. The terms "comprises", "comprising", or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process or method that comprises a list of steps does not include only those steps but may include other steps not expressly listed or inherent to such a process or a method. Similarly, one or more devices or sub-systems or elements or structures or components preceded by "comprises... a" does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other devices, other sub-systems, other elements, other structures, other components, additional devices, additional sub-systems, additional elements, additional structures, or additional components. Appearances of the phrase “in an embodiment”, “in another embodiment” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. The system, methods, and examples provided herein are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying figures.

The disclosed exemplary cap provides a broad, uniform, and levelled dispensing of contents from a container and provides a faster coverage of a target surface without need for additional application steps and tools. The disclosed cap enables variations in patterns, width, and thickness of dispensed contents is configurable to cater to more than one type of use. The cap enables a user to configure quantity, shape, width, and thickness of dispensed contents. The user can use one hand to both dispense and spread, and the other hand to hold the target object. Choice of width, thickness, patterns, and quantity dispensed enables multiple uses for the same dispenser. Since no additional tools, such as spoons, knifes are needed for scooping, dispensing, and spreading, the cap allows hygienic dispensing and increases shelf life of the contents. Further, the cap provides a better preservation of contents due to air-tight storage of contents in the container.

Further the disclosed cap design can be used in various domains, such as food and manufacturing industries and also for medical and personal use, for example. In the food domain, the cap may be used for dispensing condiments such as ketchup, jams, honey, pickles, cheese, chutney powders, clarified butter, etc., to make sandwiches, rotis, etc. The cap may also find applications in fast food restaurants that make pizzas, sandwiches, subs, rotis, dosas, etc. The cap may be advantageous for dispensing on an assembly line of fast- food restaurants that make more than one kind of food due to its configurability, for example, ready-to-eat items like pizzas, sandwiches, cream biscuits, etc. In certain other industries, the cap may be used to dispense adhesives, paints, lubricants, etc. Further, the cap may be used for medical or personal care to dispense creams, ointments, jells, disinfectants, and sanitizers.

The diagrams illustrated here are not drawn to scale, although an attempt is made to reflect near accurate proportions of various components. Figs, la, lb, and lc illustrate schematic isometric views of a base 202 of a cap, according to certain embodiments of the disclosure. Fig. la shows a base 202 of the cap having an aperture 204 having a semi-circular shape configuration. Further, a pair of parallel guiding channels 206 (may also be referred herein as “first pair of parallel guiding channels”) are formed on the base 202. Fig. lb shows a base 200 of the cap having an aperture 208 having a substantially triangular shape configuration. Fig. lc shows a base 200 of the cap having an aperture 210 having a substantially trapezoidal shape configuration. It is to be noted that the shapes illustrated herein are only for example purpose and are not limited to these shapes. It should be noted herein that each of the illustrated apertures (204, 208, 210) is asymmetric along an axis perpendicular to the pair of parallel guiding channels (206) to provide variation in the effective width of the aperture for different positions of the sliding cover. The cap further includes a snap-on cover (not shown) to snugly fit to the base 200 and cover the aperture completely. The cap can be fitted to a container for storage of contents within the container.

Fig. 2a illustrates a schematic isometric view of a slidable cover 212 and Fig. 2b illustrates a schematic isometric view of a cap 200 having the base 200 and the slidable cover 212 (also referred to as “a first slidable cover”) according to an embodiment Fig. la of the disclosure. The slidable cover 212 is disposed on the aperture 204 of the base 202 and is slidably engaged to the pair of parallel guiding channels 206. The slidable cover 212 is in the form of a flat sheet. The slidable cover 212 has a straight edge and is slidable to adjust an amount of opening of the aperture 204 to form an effective size aperture (i.e. opening of the aperture is adjusted/varied) to vary at least one of a width, a thickness, and a shape of the contents dispensed to the target surface via the effective size aperture. The slidable cover 212 has a notch 214 to enable gripping of the slidable cover 212 during a sliding action of the slidable cover 212.

Fig. 3a is a schematic isometric view of a slidable cover 216 and Fig. 3b illustrates a schematic isometric view of a cap 200 having the base 202 and the slidable cover 216 (also referred to as “a first slidable cover”) according to an embodiment Fig. la of the disclosure. The slidable cover 216 has a patterned edge 218 having a plurality of curved protrusions. When the user slides the slidable cover 216, an amount of opening of the aperture 204 is adjusted to vary the pattern of the contents dispensed to the target surface according to the patterned edge 218 via the effective size aperture.

Fig. 4a is a schematic isometric view of a slidable cover 220 and Fig. 4b illustrates a schematic isometric view of a cap 200 having the base 202 and the slidable cover 218 (also referred to as “a first slidable cover”) according to an embodiment Fig. la of the disclosure. The slidable cover 220 has a patterned edge 222 having a plurality of flat protrusions. When the user slides the slidable cover 220, an amount of opening of the aperture 204 is adjusted to vary the pattern of the contents dispensed to the target surface according to the patterned edge 222 via the effective size aperture.

Fig. 5a is a schematic view of the slidable cover 212 having a flat portion 224 and a protruding portion 226 extending perpendicularly outwards from the flat portion 224. The protruding portion 226 enables spreading of the dispensed contents on the target surface, Fig. 5b shows a schematic view of an attachment 228 (i.e. addon spreader) which can be detachably coupled to the protruding portion 226. In the illustrated embodiment, attachment 228 includes patterned edges 230 or a brush like structure 232 to enable patterned or uniform spreading of the dispensed contents respectively, on to the target surface. FIG. 5c shows a schematic of another attachment 232 which can be detachably coupled to the protruding portion 226. The attachment 232 is a brush like structure. In another embodiment, a different type of attachment having straight edges may be used. While the flat edge can facilitate levelling of dispensed contents, the patterned edge 230 can help create a pattern of the dispensed contents. The addon brush type attachment 232 may be useful for spreading the dispensed contents such as oil or any fluid. Fig. 5d illustrates schematic isometric view of the attachment 228 on the slidable cover 212 and Fig. 5e illustrates a schematic isometric view of the cap having the slidable cover 21 with the attachment 228. The advantage of using a detachably coupled attachment 228 for spreading is that it can be removed for cleaning after each use and before the next use for reasons of better hygiene.

Fig. 6a shows a schematic isometric view of a slidable cover 302 having one or more openings 304 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figs. 6b and 6c a schematic isometric view of a cap 300 having the base 306 and the slidable cover 302 (also referred to as “a first slidable cover”) according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The base 306 of the cap 300 includes an aperture 308. The aperture 308 may have different shapes, such as a triangular, a semi-elliptical, or a semi-circular shape. The cap 300 further includes a pair of parallel guiding channels 310 formed on the base 306. The slidable cover 302 is disposed on the aperture 308 of the base 306 and slidably engaged to the pair of parallel guiding channels 310. The slidable cover 302 is slidable to vary a position of the one or more openings 304 over the aperture 308 to adjust an amount of opening along a width of the aperture 308 to vary a width, a thickness, and a pattern of the contents dispensed to the target surface via the one or more openings 304. The pair of parallel guiding channels 310 are formed on opposite sides on a top surface of the base 306. In one embodiment, the slidable cover 302 includes one or more openings 304 of the widest size and is slidable to vary the position of the one or more openings 304 along the width of the aperture 308 to form an effective size aperture to vary the width of the contents dispensed to the target surface via the one or more openings 304. This can be achieved by positioning the slidable cover 302 at appropriate positions over the aperture 308 of the cap 300 as shown in Figs. 6b and 6c. As shown in Fig. 6b, the first slidable cover 302 is pushed till an edge of the base whereas in Fig. lc, the slidable cover 302 is pushed to the other edge of the base 306, thus allowing the user to vary the width of the dispensed contents. In some embodiments, the slidable cover 302 may be transparent to facilitate seeing of the effective aperture size easily.

Fig. 7 illustrates a schematic isometric view of a first slidable cover 312 having a plurality of openings 314, for example, circular shaped openings, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The plurality of openings 314 enable patterned dispensing of contents from the container. In other embodiments, the openings 314 may have different shapes and sizes configured to generate a unique pattern of the contents to be dispensed. Thus, in some embodiments, the first slidable cover 312 enables to configure at least one of thickness, shape, pattern, and size of each individual component of the contents to be dispensed. Further, the first slidable cover 312 can have another pair of parallel guiding channels 316 (also referred as second pair of parallel guiding channels) such that a second slidable cover (not shown in Fig. 7) may be positioned over the first slidable cover 312, and slidably engaged to a second pair of parallel guiding channels 316 of the first slidable cover 312. The purpose of the second slidable cover is two-fold. Firstly, it helps configure the width of the dispensed contents by adjusting the extent of overlap over the first slidable cover 312. Secondly, it servers to seal the openings in the first slidable cover 312 to prevent leakage and enable airtight storage of contents in the container.

Fig. 8a illustrates a schematic isometric view of a cap 400 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The cap 400 includes a second slidable cover 318 positioned over the first slidable cover 312 and slidably engaged to a second pair of parallel guiding channels 316 of the first slidable cover 312, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The second slidable cover 318 is slidable over the first slidable cover 312 along the second pair of parallel guiding channels 316 to adjust an amount of opening along a width of the aperture to vary a width of the contents dispensed to the target surface via the one or more openings 314. Thus, the first slidable cover 312 configures the thickness and pattern of the dispensed contents while the second slidable cover 318 configures the width of the dispensed contents from the container. In some embodiments, the first slidable cover 312 has one or more openings 314 of desired size and shape, thereby enabling to resize the effective size of the aperture to that of the size of the one or more openings 314, to dispense contents as per a pattern formed by collective set of the one or more openings 314. The second slidable cover 318 is used to adjust the effective width of the aperture by configuring uncovered openings 314 of the first slidable cover 312 and hence the width of the dispensed contents. Thus, a combination of two sliding covers 312, 318, referred to as the first and the second slidable covers, provides complete configurability in terms of size, shape, and pattern, to thereby vary thickness, shape and the width of the dispensed contents.

Fig. 8b illustrates a schematic isometric view of a cap 400 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The cap 400 includes the second slidable cover 318 positioned over the first slidable cover 320 and slidably engaged to a second pair of parallel guiding channels 322 of the first slidable cover 320, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The second slidable cover 318 is slidable over the first slidable cover 320 along the second pair of parallel guiding channels 322 to adjust an amount of opening along one dimension (i.e. a width) of the aperture to vary a width of the contents dispensed to the target surface via one or more openings 324. In the illustrated embodiment, the one or more openings 324 are rectangular shape openings.

Fig. 9a illustrates a schematic isometric view of a cap 500 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The cap includes a first slidable cover 502 (for example, a sheet) having a flat portion 504 and a central protruded spout portion 506. The central protruded spout portion 506 includes a plurality of openings 508, for example, rectangular shaped openings, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The plurality of openings 508 enable patterned dispensing of contents from the container. In other embodiments, the openings 508 may have different shapes and sizes configured to generate a unique pattern of the contents to be dispensed. Thus, in some embodiments, the first slidable cover 502 enables to configure at least one of thickness, pattern, and size of each individual component of the contents to be dispensed. The cap 500 further includes a second slidable cover 510 positioned over the first slidable cover 502 and slidably engaged to a second pair of parallel guiding channels 512 of the first slidable cover 502, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The second slidable cover 510 is slidable over the first slidable cover 502 to configure an amount of one or more openings along a width of the aperture to vary a width of the contents dispensed to the target surface via the one or more openings 508. The one or more openings 508 may have different sizes and shapes to enable the user to configure the thickness of the contents to be dispensed on the target surface. The second slidable cover 510 can be shaped similar to the first sliding cover 508.

Fig. 9b illustrates a schematic isometric view of a cap 500 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The cap includes a first slidable cover 514 having a flat portion 516 and a central protruded spout portion 518. The central protruded spout portion 518 includes an elongated opening 520, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. In other embodiments, the opening 520 may have different shapes and sizes configured to generate a unique pattern of the contents to be dispensed. Thus, in some embodiments, the first slidable cover 514 enables to configure at least one of thickness, pattern, and size of each individual component of the contents to be dispensed. The cap 500 further includes the second slidable cover 510 positioned over the first slidable cover 514 and slidably engaged to a second pair of parallel guiding channels 522 of the first slidable cover 514, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The second slidable cover 510 is slidable over the first slidable cover 514 along the second pair of parallel guiding channels 522 to adjust an amount of opening along a width of the aperture to vary a width of the contents dispensed to the target surface via the opening 520. The opening 520 may have different sizes and shapes to enable the user to configure the thickness of the contents to be dispensed on the target surface. The second slidable cover 510 can be shaped similar to the first sliding cover 514.

Fig. 10 shows a schematic isometric view of the second slidable cover 510 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Fig. 11 shows a schematic isometric view of the first slidable cover 514 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Fig. 12 shows a schematic isometric view of a first slidable cover 524 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The first slidable cover 524 has a broader elongated opening 526 compared to the embodiment of Fig. 11.

In some embodiments, a plurality of detachable slidable covers may be used. The required slidable cover is selected from the plurality of slidable covers, wherein each slidable cover has one or more openings of different shapes and sizes configured to vary the thickness and the pattern of the contents dispensed to the target surface.

The figures and the foregoing description give examples of embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the described elements may well be combined into a single functional element. Alternatively, certain elements may be split into multiple functional elements. Elements from one embodiment may be added to another embodiment. For example, orders of processes described herein may be changed and are not limited to the manner described herein. Moreover, the actions of any flow diagram need not be implemented in the order shown; nor do all of the acts necessarily need to be performed. Also, those acts that are not dependent on other acts may be performed in parallel with the other acts. The scope of embodiments is by no means limited by these specific examples. Numerous variations, whether explicitly given in the specification or not, such as differences in structure, dimension, and use of material, are possible. The scope of embodiments is at least as broad as given by the following claims.