The present invention pertains to fluid dispensers of the type having a pump and a refillable fluid reservoir, intended for permanent use and suitable for dispensing liquids such as liquid soaps, lotions and other personal care liquids.

Background of the Invention

Fluid dispensing devices are used for dispensing fluids such as liquid soaps, lotions, cleaning fluids and other liquids. Such devices are connected to a fluid reservoir and typically comprise a pump attached to a nozzle that a user actuates to dispense a volume of fluid from the reservoir, through the pump, and out a dispensing outlet in the nozzle. The fluid reservoir may be refilled when it becomes empty. WO 2015/017910, Bentz et al. , published February 12, 2015, discloses a fluid dispenser of this general type, in which the nozzle is removable from the pump. It would be desirable that the pump assembly of such fluid dispensers can be easily removed from and re-attached to the fluid reservoir, for maintenance purposes, or to be replaced by a new pump assembly.

It would further be desirable to provide the option of a replaceable fluid cartridge in order to avoid the need for a worker (for example, a hotel maid) to pour a liquid from a supply container into the fluid reservoir. There remains a need in the art for a fluid dispenser which addresses one or more of the limitations of prior art devices.

Summary of the Invention

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a fluid dispenser, comprising a fluid dispensing device and a fluid reservoir. The fluid dispensing device comprises: a pump having a pump body with an input end for receiving a fluid, a nozzle operatively attached to the pump and in fluid communication therewith, the pump being rotatable by rotation of the nozzle about an axis parallel to a direction of actuation of the pump, the pump body having pin-receiving slots on a radially outer surface thereof. The fluid reservoir comprises: an outlet adaptor providing a passageway for the flow of fluid from the interior of the fluid reservoir to the pump, the outlet adaptor being configured to receive the pump body within it and sealingly attach thereto, the outlet adaptor having pins on a radially inward surface thereof configured to engage with the pin-receiving slots on the pump body, whereby the rotation of the nozzle and pump body engages the pin-receiving slots with the pins to lock the pump body to the outlet adaptor.

One advantage of the fluid dispensers of the invention is that they may be used in locations such as hotel rooms and spas, to replace single-use, disposable containers of liquid personal care products, thus reducing environmental waste. They are easily serviced, i.e., refilled and cleaned, by staff such as hotel maids.

Further aspects of the invention and features of specific embodiments of the invention are described below.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the fluid dispenser with the fluid dispensing device in position to attach to the fluid reservoir

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the assembled fluid dispenser.

Figure 3A is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the fluid dispenser of the type having a fluid cartridge in the fluid reservoir.

Figure 3B is a close-up view of the lower part of Figure 3A. Figure 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the fluid dispenser of the type not having a fluid cartridge, in which liquid is filled directly into the fluid reservoir.

Figure 5 is a partly cutaway view of the fluid reservoir and the fluid dispenser device without its collar. Figure 6A is an exploded view of the fluid dispensing device. Figure 6B is a rear elevational view of the nozzle.

Figure 7 is a perspective view of the fluid dispenser with the fluid dispensing device in position to be locked into the fluid reservoir.

Detailed Description In this disclosure, the term "input end" in relation to the fluid dispensing device and components thereof means the end that is proximate to the fluid reservoir. The term "output end" in relation to the fluid dispensing device and components thereof means the end opposite to the input end, i.e. proximate to the nozzle. The term "direction of actuation" means the direction in which a user depresses the nozzle of the fluid dispensing device in order to actuate the pump and dispense the fluid contained in the fluid reservoir, i.e., the direction from left to right in the view of Figure 3A.

The fluid dispenser 10 comprises a fluid dispensing device 12, having a pump, and a fluid reservoir 14 for containing a liquid that is to be dispensed, for example liquid soap or lotion. As shown in Figures 3A and 4, the fluid reservoir 14 is attached to and contained within a fluid reservoir enclosure 16, which has a top 18, a base 20, two side walls and a back wall 22. In use the fluid reservoir enclosure 16 may be affixed by its back wall 22 to the wall of a room, such as a bathroom wall. The fluid reservoir 14 fits within the reservoir enclosure 16, leaving the front wall 24 of the fluid reservoir exposed. A locking groove 26 between a bottom face of the base 28 of the fluid reservoir and a top face of the base 20 of the reservoir enclosure 16 is formed for engaging the fluid reservoir 14 with the reservoir enclosure 16, as described below.

In some embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in Figure 4, the fluid reservoir 14 is refillable by pouring a liquid directly into it. In other embodiments, as shown in Figures 3A and 3B, a replaceable fluid cartridge 30 is provided in the fluid reservoir 14 and the cartridge is removed from the fluid reservoir when it is empty and is replaced with a full cartridge. In both cases, the fluid dispensing device 12 is the same. The components of the fluid dispensing device 12 are shown in exploded view in Figure 6A. It includes a nozzle 32 having a nozzle input tube 35 (see Figure 6B) and an outlet 37; a collar 34 configured to receive the nozzle and its nozzle-retaining tabs 33 (the tabs 33 prevent removal of the nozzle from the collar), the collar having a collar arm 36; a collar spring 38; a pump cap 40 having two pins 42 that engage in sockets 39 within the nozzle; a piston shaft 44 having an input end 46 and an output end 48 that fits into the nozzle input tube 35 to feed fluid into the nozzle 32; a sleeve 50 that engages with the output end 48 of the piston shaft; a one-way valve 52 that is received in the input end 46 of the piston shaft 44; a pump spring 54; a check ball 56; and a pump body 58 having a circumferential groove 60 that holds an O-ring 62 for sealing engagement with the fluid reservoir, as described below. The pump body 58 has a tab 61 that engages a mating notch 63 within the pump cap, whereby rotation of the pump cap by the nozzle causes rotation of the pump body. The pump body 58 has a pair of pin-receiving slots 64 on its radially outer surface, arranged diagonally opposite each other. The input end 66 of the pump body has a tip 68 that is pointed and configured to puncture a fluid seal of the cartridge 30. The pump cap 40, piston shaft 44, sleeve 50, valve 52, pump spring 54, check ball 56 and pump body 58 collectively comprise the pump 70. The operation of piston pumps with valves for one-way flow of liquid is known in the art. By virtue of the pins 42 of the pump cap 40 being engaged in the sockets 39 in the nozzle, torque applied to the nozzle causes rotation of the pump cap. The pump body 58 is locked to the pump cap by the engagement of the pump body tab 61 in the notch 63 of the pump cap and, accordingly, rotation of the nozzle causes the pump body 58 to rotate. As best seen in Figures 1 and 5, the fluid reservoir 14 has an outlet adaptor 72 surrounding an opening 74 on the front wall 24 of the fluid reservoir. The adaptor 72 is configured for fluid-sealing attachment to the fluid dispensing device 12. A pair of pins 76 on the radially inward surface of the adaptor, arranged diagonally opposite to each other, are configured to engage with the pair of pin-receiving slots 64 of the pump body 58 when the pump body is inserted into the adaptor 72. The slots 64 are approximately L-shaped, configured so that once the adaptor pins 76 are fitted into the slots by movement of the pump body 58 into the adaptor, in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation of the pump body, a rotational movement of the pump body, clockwise in the view of Figure 1 , locks the adaptor pins 76 into the pump body pinreceiving slots 64. The O-ring 62 in the groove 60 on the pump body seals against the radially inner surface of the adaptor. The fluid dispensing device 12 is accordingly locked and sealed in place in the adaptor 72. The dispenser is configured so that a relatively small amount of rotation of the nozzle, for example through an angle of about 45 degrees, is sufficient to engage or disengage the adaptor pins 76 and the pump body slots 64. As seen in Figure 3B, the cartridge 30 has a puncturable fluid seal 78 which, when the cartridge is seated within the fluid reservoir, is aligned with the adaptor 72. When the pump body 58 is fully inserted into the adaptor, the tip 68 at the input end 66 of the pump body punctures the fluid seal 78, permitting fluid to flow from the cartridge into the pump 70. The cartridge 30 includes an inlet member 80 extending from the fluid seal 78 to adjacent the bottom wall of the cartridge. The inlet member 80 sealingly engages with the input end 66 of the pump body, providing a passageway for the flow of fluid from the bottom of the cartridge into the pump body.

In embodiments of the fluid dispenser in which the fluid reservoir does not hold a cartridge and is refillable by pouring liquid directly into it, as shown in Figure 4, the input end 66 of the pump body 58 simply projects into the interior of the fluid reservoir, there being no cartridge seal to puncture. In such embodiments, the fluid reservoir includes an inlet member 80 which sealingly engages with the input end 66 of the pump body and extends to adjacent the bottom wall of the fluid reservoir, being functionally equivalent to the inlet member in the cartridge, as described above.

The dispensing device 12 is further secured to the fluid reservoir 14 by means of the collar arm 36. As the pump body 58 is inserted into the adaptor 72, the collar arm 36 of the collar 34 is inserted into the locking groove 26. The collar arm and the locking groove have mating shoulders 84, 86, respectively, which engage each other to hold the collar in place against the front wall 24 of the fluid reservoir. To disengage the mating shoulders, a key (not shown), is inserted through apertures 88 in the base 20 of the enclosure to release the collar arm 36 from the locking groove 26. This feature renders the fluid dispenser tamper-proof, which is useful where, for example, the fluid dispenser is installed in a hotel room.

Removal of the fluid reservoir 14 from the fluid reservoir enclosure 16, for example to replace the cartridge 30 or refill the reservoir, is done by simply disengaging the collar arm 36 from the locking groove 26. The fluid reservoir 14 with attached fluid dispensing device 12 is removable as a unit from the fluid reservoir enclosure 16. Removal of the fluid dispensing device 12 from the fluid reservoir 14, where desired, may then be done by rotating the nozzle 32 counterclockwise to disengage the pin- retaining slots 64 on the pump body from the pins 76 on the adaptor 72. The collar spring 38 pushes the collar 34 back to separate the fluid dispensing device from the fluid reservoir, and the fluid dispensing device 12 is pulled away from the fluid reservoir 14.

As will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the foregoing disclosure, many alterations and modifications are possible in the practice of this invention without departing from the scope thereof. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is to be construed in accordance with the following claims.