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WO2025219819A1 - Diffuseur de substances évaporables à mèche anti-retrait améliorée - Google Patents

Diffuseur de substances évaporables à mèche anti-retrait améliorée

Info

Publication number
WO2025219819A1
WO2025219819A1 PCT/IB2025/053774 IB2025053774W WO2025219819A1 WO 2025219819 A1 WO2025219819 A1 WO 2025219819A1 IB 2025053774 W IB2025053774 W IB 2025053774W WO 2025219819 A1 WO2025219819 A1 WO 2025219819A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
wick
cuts
diffuser
perimetral
plug
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Pending
Application number
PCT/IB2025/053774
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Stefano Deflorian
Walter Sordo
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Zobele Holding SpA
Original Assignee
Zobele Holding SpA
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Zobele Holding SpA filed Critical Zobele Holding SpA
Publication of WO2025219819A1 publication Critical patent/WO2025219819A1/fr
Pending legal-status Critical Current
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical

Links

Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61L—METHODS OR APPARATUS FOR STERILISING MATERIALS OR OBJECTS IN GENERAL; DISINFECTION, STERILISATION OR DEODORISATION OF AIR; CHEMICAL ASPECTS OF BANDAGES, DRESSINGS, ABSORBENT PADS OR SURGICAL ARTICLES; MATERIALS FOR BANDAGES, DRESSINGS, ABSORBENT PADS OR SURGICAL ARTICLES
    • A61L9/00—Disinfection, sterilisation or deodorisation of air
    • A61L9/015—Disinfection, sterilisation or deodorisation of air using gaseous or vaporous substances, e.g. ozone
    • A61L9/04—Disinfection, sterilisation or deodorisation of air using gaseous or vaporous substances, e.g. ozone using substances evaporated in the air without heating
    • A61L9/12—Apparatus, e.g. holders, therefor
    • A61L9/127—Apparatus, e.g. holders, therefor comprising a wick
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01M—CATCHING, TRAPPING OR SCARING OF ANIMALS; APPARATUS FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF NOXIOUS ANIMALS OR NOXIOUS PLANTS
    • A01M1/00—Stationary means for catching or killing insects
    • A01M1/20—Poisoning, narcotising, or burning insects
    • A01M1/2022—Poisoning or narcotising insects by vaporising an insecticide
    • A01M1/2027—Poisoning or narcotising insects by vaporising an insecticide without heating
    • A01M1/2044—Holders or dispensers for liquid insecticide, e.g. using wicks

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to the field of diffusers or emanators of evaporable substances such as fragrances and/or insecticides .
  • the invention relates to a wick-type dif fuser, provided with an improved anti-removal wick .
  • Diffusers are devices widely available on the market and known for many years , which diffuse into the surrounding environment liquid evaporable substances , such as room fragrances or insecticides , contained in a portion of the device acting as a container of such substances .
  • the evaporable substances are diffused by means of a wick, one end of which is conveniently dipped into the bottom of the container of evaporable substances , while the opposite end emerges from said container, through a plug which encloses the wick in a sealed manner, thus being in contact with the ambient air to obtain the desired evaporation ef fect .
  • a container of this type which is widely available on the market , generally has the shape of a bottle with a neck, and said plug allows therefore a dual sealed connection both between the bottle neck and the plug and between the plug and the wick .
  • the evaporable substance diffusion is therefore mediated by a wick - which absorbs the evaporable substance from the container through its internal end and conveys it in the liquid state , by capillary effect , towards the external end from which this substance dif fuses in the vapour state - and can be accelerated by a ventilation or heating action targeting the wick external end .
  • the evaporable substances can cause health or ecological problems if accidentally ingested or released into the environment , which is why in these cases there is even an increased concern about avoiding any possibility that the tank liquid contents could be spilled into the external environment upon accidental removal of the wick .
  • ES 2 137 108 discloses a shutter device for a dif fuser of evaporable substances , consisting of a cylindrical body of plastic material equipped with stable means for mounting on the corresponding neck of the dif fuser .
  • Such cylindrical body has a concentric axial passage to house a wick .
  • the wick is then fixed in place by a compressive action exerted by the axial passage when this latter is deformed inwards by means of external flaps pro jecting from the body of the shutter device .
  • Said flaps can in fact be moved from an upper non-working position to a lower position wherein they radially protrude inwards , narrowing the passage and thus fixing the wick in place inside the same .
  • US 6 236 807 discloses a liquid diffuser equipped with a wick and containing a liquid to be evaporated with the aid of heat .
  • a retaining plug is inserted into a neck of the dif fuser; the retaining plug has an axial passage for housing a wick; the lower portion of said wick extends downward into the container body to absorb liquid from the container .
  • the wick is provided with a through steel pin which prevents the removal of the wick by abutting against the retaining plug .
  • US 6 354 513 discloses a plug for containers containing evaporable liquids .
  • the plug consists of a body permanently coupled to the neck of the liquid dif fuser, and a wick axially coupled in a concentric passage of the plug itself .
  • An inner portion of the axial passage of the plug wherein the wick is inserted is provided with longitudinal slots separating adj acent sectors , each provided with a semi-pyramidal pro jection .
  • the plurality of semi-pyramidal pro j ections allows the wick to move in the direction of insertion but blocks its movement in the opposite direction towards the outside, thus preventing the wick from being removed from the plug .
  • US 6 , 619 , 560 discloses a diffuser of evaporable substances having a neck into which a wick-holder assembly provided with a passage formed therethrough housing a wick is press-fitted and snap-locked, said passage being provided with at least two opposing fingers .
  • Each of the fingers has an internal surface defining part of the passage of the wick-holder and an external surface , a sealing ring being further provided on the external surfaces of the two fingers to thereby compress the wick between them .
  • US 2008 /0093475 discloses a diffuser of evaporable substances having a neck into which a wick-holder assembly provided with a passage formed therethrough housing a wick is press-fitted and snap-locked .
  • a slot is formed in the lower portion of the wick, which thus forms a retaining element which gets caught on the wick-housing passage to prevent removal of the wick from the container .
  • the technical problem underlying the invention is therefore that of providing a diffuser of evaporable substances equipped with an anti-removal wick, which does not suf fer from the above- mentioned drawbacks , and, in particular, a dif fuser which does not require complicated structures of the wick-holder passage inside the plug to increase the friction resistance with the wick, or modifications to the wick during assembly of the dif fuser .
  • a further ob ject of the present invention is to provide a modified wick which can be easily blocked in the wick-holder passage of a plug, in the event of attempted extraction therefrom, without any modification of the structure of the wick after its manufacture and without deteriorating its mechanical resistance .
  • Fig . 1A is a front , axial cross-section view of a plug for a dif fuser of evaporable substances , wherein an anti-removal wick according to a first embodiment of the present invention is inserted in its normal working position;
  • Fig . IB is a view similar to Fig . 1A, after an attempt to extract the wick in the direction indicated by the arrow;
  • Fig . 2A is a front , axial cross-section view of a plug for a dif fuser of evaporable substances , wherein an anti-removal wick according with a second embodiment of the present invention is inserted;
  • Fig . 2B is a view similar to Fig . 2A, after an attempt to extract the wick in the direction indicated by the arrow .
  • a wick W is housed inside a corresponding wick-holder passage of a plug P of a container of liquid evaporable substances (not illustrated) associated with a device for diffusing such substances .
  • the wick W has a circular cross-section; however, the solution of the present invention can be implemented with wicks having a cross-section of another shape as well, such as for example a squared or polygonal shape .
  • a two-component wick W is used, i . e . , a wick comprising a core portion (or inner portion) and an external covering (or skin) .
  • the core portion may consist of a bundle of wicks simply juxtaposed or partially joined together by a physical process .
  • the core portion may be composed of a fine particulate of plastic materials subj ected to a sintering process .
  • the external covering is preferably formed by at least one layer of a material which is porous or in any case permeable to evaporable substances .
  • the external covering is thin, for example , weighting 40-120 g/m 2 and being made of paper or textile material , in which latter case it is preferably a nonwoven fabric .
  • the external covering can be simply wrapped around and in contact with the core portion, i . e . , without the use of any means of mutual bonding; alternatively, the external covering can be joined to the core portion using adhesives , or by any other known means .
  • the plug P comprises a shoulder S which is stably fixed to the neck of said container of evaporable substances in a manner known per se , for example by means of a rib R which allows the plug P to be snap-locked in a not easily removable manner .
  • the shoulder S can be fixed to the neck of the container of evaporable substances by other means , all well-known per se .
  • the wick-holder passage of the plug P wherein the wick W is housed, is slightly smaller in its cross dimension than the wick W, so that a moderate interference is generated with the internal surface of said passage when the wick W is inserted therein, which interference therefore causes a pre-compression of the wick W - in its area Ws remaining inside the wick-holder passage - which makes it more difficult for the user to extract the wick W, thanks to the greater friction thus generated between these two elements .
  • the lower end of the walls delimiting the wick-holder passage of the plug P can have a sharp edge 4 in contact with the wick W surface , i . e . , an edge ending with an angle of less than 90 ° and/or comprising other elements of interference with the wick W (not illustrated) , for example in the form of ribs formed on the internal surface of the wick-holder passage of the plug P parallelly to the longitudinal axis of the wick W .
  • Said ribs may also be provided with a hook- or toothshaped end, still for the purpose of increasing friction with the wick W surface, and are also preferably oriented to facilitate the entry of the wick W into the wick-holder passage of the plug P and, on the contrary, hinder its removal , i . e . , gradually increasing their thickness starting from the wick-insertion side, the exit edge of said wick-holder passage of the plug P ending then with an angle of less than 90 ° .
  • the interaction between these two elements is additionally radically modified by providing one or more recesses on the lateral surface of the wick W in an area below the lower end of the wick-holder passage of the plug P , in order to avoid, even more safely, a possible extraction of the wick W from the plug P .
  • both the end edge of the walls delimiting the wick-holder passage of the plug P , or any other additional elements exerting friction on the wick W form retaining means of the wick W which engage within said recesses , thus abruptly increasing the force needed to extract the wick W to such an extent as to make it impossible to extract the wick W intact from the plug P .
  • the wick W breaking load is exceeded without however being able to remove it intact from the wick-holder passage of the plug P .
  • FIG. 1 illustrates two different embodiments of the invention, wherein a plug P with a wick-holder passage is provided with retaining means comprising a sharp edge 4 facing the wick (Figs . 1 ) and with retaining means comprising a bevelled edge 5 (Figs . 2 ) , respectively, according to a typical structure of standard plugs currently available on the market .
  • said one or more recesses consist of perimetral cuts 1 in the skin 2 of the wick W .
  • Each perimetral cut 1 preferably goes through the entire thickness of the skin 2 , thus exposing the inner portion 3 of the wick W in front of the walls forming the wick-holder passage of the plug P .
  • Figs . 1A and 2A show the normal working position of the wick W, wherein the lower end of the wick-holder passage is positioned just above the cuts 1
  • Figs . IB and 2B show the position of the wick W after an attempt to extract the same from the plug P in the direction of the arrow, where it can be noted that the retaining means of the wick-holder passage engaged within the cuts 1 , thus blocking any further movement of the wick W in the direction of the arrow .
  • the perimetral cut 1 is preferably partial , i . e . , it is in the shape of a discontinuous line , which therefore does not extend along the entire perimeter of the wick W, so as not to excessively weaken the skin 2 .
  • This measure is necessary above all in the embodiments where the skin 2 is simply resting, without any means of mutual bonding, on the underlying inner portion 3 of the wick W; in this case, in fact , a perimetral complete cut would make it possible the easy breaking and extraction of the skin 2 alone even through a modest force of extraction .
  • the recesses consist of a plurality of perimetral cuts 1 formed on the same perimeter of the wick W, mutually separated by sections of intact skin 2 .
  • This embodiment is preferred as it allows for a more balanced distribution of the forces applied to the skin 2 by the lower end of the wick-holder passage of the plug P , during an attempt to extract the wick W .
  • a first method may be that of inserting elements of correct mutual coupling, both in the wick W and in the wick-holder passage of the plug P , such as for example a longitudinal groove in the wick W and a longitudinal rib in the wick-holder passage of the plug P so that the perimetral cut 1 in the wick W can come into contact with the retaining means of the wick-holder passage when the wick W is pulled upwards .
  • This option leads to a satis factory result but is complicated to implement during manufacture and assembly and is therefore not currently preferred .
  • a second, preferred method for obtaining the desired alignment between said retaining means and the perimetral cuts 1 involves instead making several superimposed lines of perimetral cuts 1 (not illustrated in the drawings ) along the entire length of the wick W, each line of cuts being appropriately staggered with respect to the adj acent lines of cuts , so that sooner or later, during the attempted extraction of the wick W, the retaining means will necessarily coincide with one of the perimetral cuts 1 of said superimposed lines of cuts , regardless of which angular orientation the wick W has been inserted with into the wick-holder passage of the plug P .
  • the distance between two superimposed lines of perimetral cuts 1 must be less than the distance between the retaining means of the wick-holder passage and the bottom of the container of evaporable substances , when the plug P is fixed on the neck of said container . In this way, it is certain that there will always be at least two partially superimposed lines of perimetral cuts 1 below said retaining means .
  • this second method of implementing the perimetral cuts 1 is very suitable for the wick manufacturing process which is currently most widely used by manufacturers .
  • wicks are in fact manufactured in a cylindrical shape , given that such shape is the simplest to be produced and assembled, as it does not request any specific orientation to be respected .
  • This type of cylindrical wick is made in a continuous process , wherein all the wick components are assembled in a flow, resulting in a long, continuous wick, which is then cut into separate individual wicks of the desired length .
  • discontinuous recesses can be obtained by means of a sequence of superimposed lines of perimetral cuts 1 , each comprising 4 cuts of 3 mm in length, separated by a section of intact skin 2 of approximately 2 mm; this type of line of cuts can be repeated several times , in an appropriately staggered manner, at a distance of 3 mm from one another along the entire length of the wick, thus obtaining 23 lines of cuts per wick .
  • the wick W can therefore be moved, in an extraction attempt , from a minimum of 3 mm to a maximum of 6 mm before it is blocked by the retaining means of the wick-holder passage which engage within a perimetral cut 1 , depending on whether the engagement already occurs on the first line of cuts 1 or on the immediately following one .
  • the preferred direction is perpendicular to such axis , since a configuration of this type offers the maximum resistance with respect to the movements of the wick in the longitudinal direction of extraction .
  • the ob jectives of the invention would still be achieved .
  • a dif fuser of evaporable substances comprising a plug P , a wick-holder passage formed in the plug P and equipped with retaining means of a wick W housed therein, wherein said wick W has at least one recess on its external covering 2 .
  • the engagement of the retaining means within said recess ( es ) blocks the wick with an additional force over the ordinary friction force, preventing the extraction of the same from its seat , regardless of the roughness degree of the wick external surface or the yielding degree of the material which the wick is made from .
  • the cuts 1 are only formed in the wick skin 2 , the mechanical resistance of the wick body is not impaired and, furthermore , the implementation of the cuts on the skin 2 can be carried out during manufacturing of said skin 2 , and not on the already finished wick, thus considerably simplifying such operation .

Landscapes

  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Pest Control & Pesticides (AREA)
  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Toxicology (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Insects & Arthropods (AREA)
  • Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
  • Zoology (AREA)
  • Environmental Sciences (AREA)
  • Epidemiology (AREA)
  • Animal Behavior & Ethology (AREA)
  • Public Health (AREA)
  • Veterinary Medicine (AREA)
  • Catching Or Destruction (AREA)

Abstract

Un diffuseur de substances évaporables comprend un bouchon (P) ayant un passage de porte-mèche équipé de moyens de retenue (4, 5) pour une mèche (W). La surface latérale de la mèche (W) est pourvue d'un ou de plusieurs évidements, sous la forme de découpes périmétrales (1) dans le revêtement externe (2) de ladite mèche (W), à l'intérieur desquelles lesdits moyens de retenue (4, 5) du passage de support de mèche viennent en prise pendant un mouvement d'extraction de la mèche (W) à partir dudit passage de support de mèche, pour bloquer la mèche (W) et empêcher son extraction dudit passage de support de mèche.
PCT/IB2025/053774 2024-04-18 2025-04-10 Diffuseur de substances évaporables à mèche anti-retrait améliorée Pending WO2025219819A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
IT202400008818 2024-04-18
IT102024000008818 2024-04-18

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2025219819A1 true WO2025219819A1 (fr) 2025-10-23

Family

ID=92800338

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/IB2025/053774 Pending WO2025219819A1 (fr) 2024-04-18 2025-04-10 Diffuseur de substances évaporables à mèche anti-retrait améliorée

Country Status (1)

Country Link
WO (1) WO2025219819A1 (fr)

Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
ES2137108A1 (es) 1997-04-10 1999-12-01 Dbk Espana Sa Obturador autoblocante perfeccionado para mecha para la evaporacion de liquidos.
US6236807B1 (en) 2000-01-07 2001-05-22 Bath & Body Works, Inc. Wick-based liquid emanation system with child-resistant and miniaturization features
US6354513B1 (en) 1999-02-15 2002-03-12 Drk Espana, S.A. Plug for containers of evaporable liquids
US6619560B1 (en) 2002-07-19 2003-09-16 Blyth, Inc. Bottle assembly with wick holder assembly
US20080093475A1 (en) 2006-09-18 2008-04-24 Belongia David C Refill for a volatile material

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
ES2137108A1 (es) 1997-04-10 1999-12-01 Dbk Espana Sa Obturador autoblocante perfeccionado para mecha para la evaporacion de liquidos.
US6354513B1 (en) 1999-02-15 2002-03-12 Drk Espana, S.A. Plug for containers of evaporable liquids
US6236807B1 (en) 2000-01-07 2001-05-22 Bath & Body Works, Inc. Wick-based liquid emanation system with child-resistant and miniaturization features
US6619560B1 (en) 2002-07-19 2003-09-16 Blyth, Inc. Bottle assembly with wick holder assembly
US20080093475A1 (en) 2006-09-18 2008-04-24 Belongia David C Refill for a volatile material

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