CA2260375C

CA2260375C - Contents expeller for collapsible tube

Info

Publication number: CA2260375C
Application number: CA 2260375
Authority: CA
Inventors: Jacques Picard
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1999-01-28
Filing date: 1999-01-28
Publication date: 2001-08-21
Anticipated expiration: 2019-01-28
Also published as: CA2260375A1

Abstract

A reusable contents expeller for collapsible tube which prevents said contents from reverting back into said collapsible tube and that can easily be removed and installed on another tube without the need to firstly insert it through the base of the collapsible tube, said expeller is comprised of an oblong element with two extremities. Said oblong element has a place where it is thin at its thickness and across its breadth so that said place is flexibly pliable to allow said oblong element to fold upon itself to the point where the two said extremities join, thus forming two pressure plates. Said pressure plates are further held and secured together by the use of a hinged flap contiguous and part of one of the said pressure plates.
Said flap acts like a hook to secure both pressure plates tightly together. Once closed about a collapsible tube, the contents expeller for collapsible tube expels the contents when it is slid across the length of said tube.

Description

CONTENTS EXPELLER FOR COLLAPSIBLE TUBE
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1/ Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to devices used to expel or squeeze out contents out of collapsible tubes such as those used for toothpaste, cosmetics, liniments and any other types of pasty substances. Some of those devices also prevent the contents from flowing back into the tube and thus prevent waste and user aggravation.

2/ Description of the Relevant Art:
United States Patent number 5,782,385 by Soon , besides teaching its own patent, gives a comprehensive explanation for the recently found need for devices that help in expelling the contents of collapsible tubes. Said patent also reviews 3 design patents and 2 utility patents.
Besides the aforementioned prior art, United States patent number 5,857,593 by Patronaggio, issued after Soon, is another variation of a device used for a similar purpose.
Given the rather simple nature of the device at hand, there is no need to elaborate in long sentences and paragraphs the specifics of each patent application, Soon's application did a terrific job of that. Suffice it to say that none of the prior art discussed offers the simple and convenient ability to quickly remove the device from an empty tube and putting it onto a new one.
For example, the device that Soon teaches states that a screw driver be used to separate the two portions of his tube squeezer and goes on to describe the 8 steps required to remove said tube squeezer from one tube before putting it onto another tube.
The present invention described herein offers a much simpler and efficient way of performing the same useful duty as any of the other prior art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The principal object of the present invention is to provide a simple, reliable and economically realized apparatus which can help in expelling contents from collapsible tubes.

It is also an object of this invention to prevent said contents from said collapsible tubes from reverting back into said collapsible tubes.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a reusable expeller.
It is another object of this invention to provide an expeller that can easily be removed and installed onto another tube without the need of tools.
It is another object of this invention to provide an expeller that can be installed onto a collapsible tube at any place along its length without the need to firstly insert it through the base of the collapsible tube.
It is yet another object of this invention to maximize the use of the contents within the collapsible tube.
It is finally an object of this invention to provide a simple collapsible tube expeller which makes it easy to evaluate the amount of contents remaining.
To attain these ends, the present invention is embodied in the form of an oblong element with two extremities. Said oblong element has a place where it is thin at its thickness and across its breadth so that said place is flexibly pliable to allow said oblong element to fold upon itself to the point where the two said extremities join, thus forming two pressure plates. Said pressure plates are further held and secured together by the use of a hinged flap contiguous and part of one of the extremities of said pressure plates and whereby said hinged flap acts like a hook when engaged into a tongue to secure both pressure plates tightly together and when wrapped about a collapsible tube aid in expelling contents of said collapsible tube when it is slid across the length of said collapsible tube.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 Is an isometric view showing generally the contents expeller for collapsible tube in operating mode.
Fig. 2 Is an isometric view of the expeller semi opened.
Fig. 3 Is a top view of the expeller, fully opened.
Fig. 4 Is a side view of the expeller, fully opened.
Fig. 5 Is a cut across the width of the expeller.
Fig. 6 Shows alternate embodiments of the ribs of the expeller DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Fig. 1 Is an isometric view showing the contents expeller for collapsible tube 1 in operating mode as it is snugly held onto a collapsible tube 2.
Fig. 2 Is an isometric view of the expeller 1 semi opened. One can clearly see the two oblong elements referred to as pressure plates 3 and 3' each one being flexibly attached to the other by means of a flexible hinge 4. Said flexible hinge 4 is made of the same plastic and is integral to the rest of the expeller 1 . When the expeller 1 is closed, there is a hinged flap 5 also made of the same plastic and is integral to the rest of the expeller 1 with a through hole 12 into which a tongue 6 is inserted. Said tongue 6 is also made of the same plastic and is integral to the rest of the expeller 1 . With a flick of a finger one can flip the hinged flap 5 and open the expeller 1.
Fig. 3 Is a top view of said expeller 1 in an opened position showing the flexible hinge 4 the two pressure plates 3 and 3', the hinged flap 5 the tongue 6 . A concave curve 8 and a convex curve 9 give a kink to a collapsible tube (not shown) in order to increase friction just enough for the content expeller to keep its place and not allow contents to flow backwards into the tube but not so much as to prevent the said expeller 1 from being able to slide along a collapsible tube. The reasoning being that the content of a collapsible tube will find it easier to come out of the tube opening rather than pushing back into the tube, providing that there is substantially more resistance such as that provided by the content expeller described herein.
Fig. 4 Is a side view of the expeller 1 opened showing how the flexible hinge 4 works by virtue of its thinness. Also, the thickness of the ribs 10 and 10' that provide the necessary stiffness to the expeller 1. The hinged flap 5 also works by having a thin segment 11 between said hinged flap 5 and one of the said pressure plate 3'.
Fig. 5 Is a cut across the width of the expeller 1 to better show the concave curve 8 and the rib 10 of a pressure plate 3.
Fig. 6 Shows alternate embodiments of the rib 10 of the expeller(not shown) that present a non exhaustive list of possible configurations of ribs 10 to indicate that the design of the expeller is not limited to that of the expeller illustrated in the other figures but that variations of the rib shape, not limited to those presented here, could perform the same duty and therefore be covered in the claims set forth in this application.

Claims

1 A reusable contents expeller for collapsible tube which prevents said contents from reverting back into said collapsible tube and that can easily be removed and installed on another tube without the need to firstly insert it through the base of the collapsible tube, said expeller is comprised of an oblong element with two extremities with said oblong element having a place where it is thin at its thickness and across its breadth so that said place is flexibly pliable to allow said oblong element to fold upon itself to the point where the two said extremities join, thus forming two pressure plates and said pressure plates are further held and secured together by the use of a hinged flap contiguous and part of one of the extremities of said pressure plates whereby said flap acts like a hook to secure both pressure plates together and when wrapped onto a collapsible tube aid in expelling the contents of said collapsible tube by allowing the expeller to slide along the said collapsible tube.

2 A contents expeller for collapsible tube as described in claim 1 has one of the pressure plates with a concave surface and the other pressure plate has a convex surface with the surfaces facing each other when the pressure plates are secured together.

3 A contents expeller for collapsible tube as described in claim 1 has the other of the extremities of the pressure plates with a tongue and the hinged flap hooks into the tongue.

4 A contents expeller for collapsible tube as described in claim 1 has at least one rib on each pressure plate to provide stiffness to said contents expeller for collapsible tube.