| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 20090184134 | Foam dispenser with liquid tube pump refill unit - A foam dispenser includes a housing and a refill unit. The refill unit carries a tube pump for pumping a foamable liquid, and the housing carries an air pump for pumping air. The tube pump and air pump fluidly communicate premixed chamber in a mixing unit to create a foam product when the dispenser is actuated to actuate both the 2 pump and the air pump. | 07-23-2009 |
| 20090188994 | Atomizing foam pump - An antomizing foam pump creates atomized droplets of a foamable liquid in air in a compression chamber. The compression chamber is then collapsed to force the droplets and air through a mesh screen to create a foam product. | 07-30-2009 |
| 20090200337 | Bifurcated stem foam pump - A bifurcated stem foam pump for use in foam dispensers. An air compressor portion of the bifurcated pump is attached to and maintained as a portion of the dispenser housing. A portion of the pump for transferring liquid and including a portion for generating foam is attached to and provided as a portion of a replaceable liquid-containing cartridge in the foam dispenser. The two portions mate and form a completed pump assembly operative for generating foam from the liquid of the cartridge when the cartridge is placed within the dispenser housing and the two pump portions are mated. The air compressor portion includes a collar having an air piston reciprocatingly received therein. The collar is attached to the dispenser housing. A collar receiving a hollow stem pump is attached to the liquid cartridge. Actuation of the air piston correspondingly actuates the stem pump such that air and liquid are forced together in the stem pump and through a foam generating member. | 08-13-2009 |
| 20090200339 | Bifurcated foam pump assembly - A bifurcated foam pump assembly for use in foam dispensers. A liquid dispensing portion of the foam pump assembly is attached to and disposable/replaceable with a liquid cartridge for the dispenser. The air compressor or air pump portion of the foam pump assembly comprises a portion of the dispenser itself and is attached to the dispenser housing. Upon replacement of a cartridge, the two portions mate and are operative as a foam pump generator. The liquid portion of the foam pump is received within a liquid chamber by gravity, and is subsequently driven from that chamber by air from the air compressor, which drives both the air and liquid through a foam generating member, such as a sponge or mesh. This foam generating member is a part of the liquid portion of the pump, and is replaced with the cartridge. | 08-13-2009 |
| 20090317270 | DIAPHRAGM FOAM PUMP - A diaphragm foam pump including a diaphragm made of a flexible material defining a mixing chamber and having an inlet opening and an outlet opening. An inlet passageway is in fluid communication with a reservoir containing a foamable liquid and the inlet opening, with the inlet passageway having a one-way valve therein. The pump also includes an outlet passageway in fluid communication with the outlet opening and having a one-way valve therein, and an air inlet in the inlet passageway having a one-way valve. The diaphragm foam pump further includes an electric motor and a motor-driven element associated with said electric motor. Actuating the electric motor drives the motor driven element to repeatedly collapse and expand the diaphragm, and where expansion of the diaphragm creates a vacuum causing foamable liquid and air to flow into the mixing chamber, and collapsing of the diaphragm causes the liquid and air mixture to be forced out through the outlet passageway as foam. | 12-24-2009 |
| 20100006597 | APPARATUS FOR HANDS-FREE DISPENSING OF A MEASURED QUANTITY OF MATERIAL - An apparatus for automatically dispensing a fluid includes a container adapted to carry a supply of fluid, and a valve connected to said container, wherein actuation of said valve dispenses the fluid. Also included is an apparatus position indicator proximally associated with the container and an object sensor positioned near the valve. The object sensor monitors an area below where the valve dispenses when open and upon detection of an object opens said valve. Initial positioning of the apparatus triggers the apparatus position indicator to generate an appropriate signal until said object sensor is properly positioned. Once positioned the device may be permanently secured. A control circuit within the apparatus also allows programming of lighting indicators, dispense cycle size, and dispense quantities. The control circuit also provides for overload protection, motor braking and RF shielding. | 01-14-2010 |
| 20100163573 | Low cost radio frequency identification (RFID) dispensing systems - A radio frequency identification (RFID) dispenser that includes low cost electronic components that can read and write to the tag of a refill cartridge. In one embodiment, the reader utilizes a multi band pass filter to convert the radio frequency identification into a digital signal that is processed by a controller to perform a dispensing function representative to the code of the tag. In another embodiment, the controller utilizes an internal comparator to convert the radio frequency identification into a digital signal that is processed by a controller to perform a dispensing function representative to the code of the tag. The dispenser in both embodiments also includes a pair of transistors that write to the RFID tag of the refill cartridge. A dispenser according to the invention also includes the capability to read and/or write to tags upon cartridges employed by the dispenser, and augmenting the operation of the dispenser as a function thereof. Additionally, a dispenser of variable size is presented that is adaptable, through adjustable partitions or a telescoping cup, to receive and maintain cartridges of various sizes. | 07-01-2010 |
| 20100320227 | DISPENSER WITH DISCRETE DISPENSE CYCLES - A dispenser includes a pump that, upon actuation, progresses through a discrete dispense cycle to dispense a discrete dose of product. The dispenser further includes an actuating mechanism serving to actuate the pump, and a dispenser controller that controls operation of the actuation mechanism. The discrete dose is less than a desired dose. When the dispenser controller receives a single dispense request, the dispenser controller causes the actuating mechanism to actuate the pump through multiple discrete dispense cycles so as to dispense multiple discrete doses to achieve a dispensing of the desired dose. | 12-23-2010 |
| 20110062182 | DISPENSER WITH AN AUTOMATIC PUMP OUTPUT DETECTION SYSTEM - A dispenser with an automatic pump output detection system provides a pump with an adjustable output. The pump is coupled to a current sensor that generates an operating profile based on the electrical current consumed during each dispensement of material by the pump. A controller that includes one or more previously-stored reference profiles that correspond to discrete pump output amount values that are compared with each generated operating profile, whereby the discrete pump output amounts associated with the matching reference profile is used to compute various usage data associated with the operation of the dispenser. | 03-17-2011 |
