US3720376A

US3720376A - Method of attaching innermost of two containers to a dispensing valve carried by the outermost container

Info

Publication number: US3720376A
Application number: US00154417A
Authority: US
Inventors: B Morane; P Alexandre
Original assignee: LOreal SA
Current assignee: LOreal SA
Priority date: 1970-06-24
Filing date: 1971-06-18
Publication date: 1973-03-13
Anticipated expiration: 1990-03-13
Also published as: FR2094539A5; DE2129669A1; GB1322085A

Abstract

Valve in outer jacket carries depending cup having bottom with annular projection and lateral projection on its side walls. This cup is ultrasonically welded to a connecting member having an annular seat into which the neck of the inner container is screwed and cemented.

Description

United States Patent I 1 Morane et al.

11 3,720,376 1 1March 13, 1973 [75] Inventors: Bruno P. Morane; Pierre E. Alexandre, both of Paris, France [73] Assigneez' LOreal, Paris, France 221 Filed: June 18, 1971f" 21 Appl. 110.; 154,417

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data 3/1961 Ferguson ..239/308 X 3,255,926 6/1966 Modderno... ..222/94 X 3,325,056 6/1967 Lewis ..222/l36 X 3,372,839 3/1968 Hayes ..222/136 X 3,508,685 '4/1970 Flynn ..222/136 X 3,525,456 8/1970 Prussin et a1. ..222/l36 X 3,565,290 2/1971 Prussin et a1. ..222/94 X 3,581,952 6/1971 Marand et a]. ..239/308 X 3,595,440 7/1971 Prussin et a1. ..222/1 36 X Primary Examiner-Allen N. Knowles Assistant Examiner-Gene A. Church Attorney-Holcombe, Wetherill & Brisebois [57] ABSTRACT Valve in outer jacket carries depending cup having bottom with annular projection and lateral projection on its side walls. This cup is ultrasonically welded to a connecting member having an annular seat into which the neck of the inner container is screwed and cemented,

9 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures June 24, 1970 France ..7023382 [52] [LS- Cl 239/308, 222/136 [51] Int. CL", ..A62C 13/34 [58] Field of Search ..222/94, 136, 145, 399; 7 239/308 [56] References Cited 'UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,888,208 5 1959 Fedi t. ..239 308 It: :JLt. E

METHOD OF ATTACHING INNERMOST OF TWO CONTAINERS TO A DISPENSING VALVE CARRIED BY THE OUTER-MOST CONTAINER SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is frequently desirable to package in a single container of the aerosol bomb type a plurality of incompatible products which must be simultaneously dispensed. These products are often relatively corrosive to the walls of the container. This is particularly the case when it is desired to enclose in a pressurized dispenser both an oxidation hair dye and an oxidizing composition for use with this dye.

It has already been suggested that the inside of the outer jacket which holds one of the products be coated and that both the inside and outside of an inner container attached to the dispensing valve of the outer jacket be similarly coated. This valve is adapted to simultaneously dispense the product enclosed in the outer jacket and the product enclosed in the inner container. It has also been suggested that the inner con tainer be made of metallic sheet material such as a thin sheet of aluminum for example, sandwiched between two plastic sheets, such as polyethylene. It has been found in these two cases that difficulties are encountered in making a fluid-tight seal between the inside of the inner container and the inside of the outer jacket. These difficulties are encountered principally in the area in which the inner container is connected to the dispensing valve carried by the outer jacket.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a method of connecting the inner container to the valve of the pressurized jacket, which method makes it possible to. avoid the aforesaid difficulties and produce a fluid'tight' seal between the valve and the neck of the inner container attached thereto.

The present invention is accordingly directed to a new method of attaching the neck of the inner container within a pressurized jacket to the lower cup of the dispensing valve of the outer jacket, and is essentially characterized by the fact that a plastic connecting spout, preferably of the acetal type, is heat sealed in a fluid-tight manner to the lower cup of the valve, which valve is likewise made of a plastic material, preferably acetaL'Said. spout comprisesv a central passageway in which. the lower cup of the valve is seated and heat sealecLThisv spout also comprises an annular seat encircling said passageway into which the neck of the-interior container may be screwed. The neck of the interior container is adhesively secured to the annular peripheral seatby a fluid resin containing a setting agent.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the a dispensing valve of the pressurized container is first mounted'onametallic cap which supports it. The lower cup of the valve comprisesan'annular projection on its base, which base is inserted into the central passageway of the connecting spout,'and a peripheraliprojection mounted on the lateral wall of the base. The central passageway in the spout has a bottom adapted to come in contact with the, annular ring on the base of the lower cup of the valve. The bottoms of the spout and the lower cup are centrally pierced to permit the passage of the. product contained in the inner container through the dispensing valve. The lower cup of the valve and the connecting spout are ultrasonically welded together. The ultrasonic welding is produced by means of a vibrating electrode called a sonatrode, the volume of which is equal to about times the volume of the connecting spout. The neck of the inner container is not seated in the spout during this welding. The ultrasonic waves applied during the welding have a frequency between 19,000 and 21,000 cycles per second. During the ultrasonic welding the sonatrode is applied to the bottom of the spout against which the annular projection from the base of the lower cup of the valve rests, said valve being supported in order to support the weight of the sonatrode but not being laterally gripped. The neck by means of which the inner container is attached inside the peripheral annular seat of the connecting spout has male threads on its outer wall and the connecting spout has corresponding female threads on its inner wall. The neck of the inner container is attached to the connecting spout by means of an adhesive of the epoxy type having a bis-phenol base, sold under the trademark Araldite 201 by the Societe CIBA, and mixed in a suitable quantity with a polyamide setting agent. The quantity of adhesive spread on the neck of the inner container to insure its connection to the connecting spout is between 0.15 and 0.25 grams for a neck having an outer diameter of about 15 mm. The wall of the central passageway of the connecting spout which comes in contact with the inner wall of the neck of the inner container is slightly conical so as to decrease the width of the annular peripheral seat in the spout as this wall approaches the top of the neck.

It has been found, surprisingly, that by utilizing the process according to the invention, the ultrasonic welding between the connecting spout and the lower cup of the valve is perfectly fluid tight. In effect, the process according to the invention as described produces a seal not only along the annular projection on the base of the valve, but also along the peripheral projection from the lateral wall of the lower cup of the valve. Moreover, in the range of ultrasonic frequencies indicated, and under the conditions specified for the welding, neither the spout nor the valve are in any way damaged.

A completely fluid-tight sealing of the inner container of the pressurized dispenser to the dispensing valve thereof is thus insured and, if the wall of the inner container is made in such a manner as to resist both chemical action by the product inside the outer jacket and chemical action by the product inside the inner container, as is described in U.S. application Ser. No. 124,360 filed Mar. 15, 1971, it is possible to provide convenient means for storing two incompatible products in such a pressurized dispenser.

0n the contrary, when the process of assembly according to the invention is not used there is always the risk of leakage between the contents of the outer jacket of the pressurized container and the contents of the inner container which leads to accidents during storage, particularly when the inner container holds an oxidizing solution such as hydrogen peroxide, while the outer jacket holds an ammoniacal oxidationhair dye.

A further object of the present invention is to provide as a new article of manufacture, a pressurized container comprising an outer jacket equipped with 1 a dispensing valve to the lower cup of which is attached the neck of an inner container, with the outer jacket and inner container each holding at least one fluid product. The two products may, for example, be chemically incompatible but simultaneously dispensed. This device is essentially characterized by the fact that the neck of the inner container is attached to the lower cup of the valve by the above process, utilizing a connecting spout as hereinbefore described.

In order that the invention may be better understood a preferred embodiment thereof will now be described, purely by way of illustration and example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows in axial section a pressurized dispenser according to the invention;

FIG. 2 shows an axial section in greater detail the attachment of the connecting spout to the lower cup of the valve by ultrasonic welding; and

FIG. 3 shows in partial axial section and in detail the connecting spout and the lower cup of the valve after the welding operation illustrated in FIG. 2.

Referring now to the drawings, it will be seen that reference numeral 1 designates the outer jacket of the pressurized dispenser according to the invention. This outer jacket holds a product 2. The outer jacket 1 may be made by extruding a disc of metal and may be internally coated in a conventional manner to resist chemical corrosion by the product 2. At the top of the outer jacket is a cap 3 which supports a dispensing valve 4 and is attached to the outer jacket 1 by a crimped joint 5. The valve 4 has a dispensing orifice 4a and its lower cup projects into the jacket 1 and has a bottom 6 which is pierced along the axis of an orifice 7. Reference numeral 4b indicates the lateral wall of the valve 4. At the lower end of the lower cup of the valve 4, in the area in which the lateral wall 4b contacts the base 6, said wall 4b has a peripheral projection 8. The bottom 6 is provided with an annular projecting ring 9 having the same axis as the orifice 7.

The lower part 4b-6 of the valve 4 is attached to a connecting spout carrying reference numeral 10. The spout 10 is provided with a central tube 11 which leads at its lower end to a bottom 12 centrally pierced by an orifice 13. A play of 0.2 mm is provided between the inner diameter of the central tube 11 of the spout l0 and the outer diameter of the projection 8. The lateral wall 14 of an annular seat 15 which encircles the central tube 11 is connected to the end thereof remote from the bottom 12. The wall 14 carries an inner female thread 140 which cooperates with the male thread 16a of the neck 16 of an inner container 17.

The container 17 is made in a conventional manner by extruding a disc of metal and coating the inner and outer walls thereof in accordance with the process described in U.S. application Ser. No. 124,360, filed Mar. 15,1971.

The container 17 holds a product 18 and the upper part of its neck 16 is gripped inside an annular seat 15 by reason of the conicity which is provided on the surface of the wall 11, which is in contact with the collar 16. This conicity is about 25.

In order to attach the connecting spout 10 to the lower cup of the valve 4 they are ultrasonically welded together. For this purpose, after having positioned the cap 3 which carries the valve 4 on the support 19 and after having positioned the connecting spout 10 as shown in FIG. 2 on the lower part 4b of the valve 4, a

vibrating electrode 20 called a sonatrode is applied to the base 12 of the spout 10. This sonatrode 20 has a volume 150 times that of the spout 10. The valve 4 is carried by the support 19 but is not held laterally. A play of 0.5 mm is provided between the annular projection 9 and the base 12 of the spout 10. The sonatrode 20 produces electrasonic waves at 20,000 cycles/sec. for a length of about 1 second. The lower cup of the valve 4 and the connecting spout are made of a resin of the Acetal type. When welding is carried out under the conditions which have just been set forth welding takes place along the length of the annular projection 9 and the length of the peripheral projection 8 and is fluid tight. No deterioration of the walls, spout 10 or the lower cup of the valve 4 results.

When the spout has thus been mounted on the valve 4, 0.20 g of an adhesive material of the epoxy type having a bis-phenol base and sold under the trademark Araldite 201 by the CIBA Corporation is applied by a piston dispenser to the neck of the inner container 17. This adhesive is mixed in suitable proportions with a setting agent of the polyamide type. It should be noted that for the quantity of coating material indicated, the external diameter of the neck 16 is 16.2 mm when the interior diameter of the spout at the bottom of the threads is 16.5 mm. The adhesive material is positioned on the threads 16a of the inner container 17 and this container is screwed into the seat in the spout so that the threads 16a cooperate with the threads 14a.

The adhesive material deposited on the threads 16a then hardens to produce a fluid tight seal between the inner container 17 and the connecting spout 10.

One example of such a container will now be described. In this example the outer jacket 1 holds 45 cm of a product 2 which is a solution of an oxidizing hair dye responding to the following formula:

nonylphenol condensed with 4 molecules of ethylene oxide 23 g nonylphenol condensed with 9 molecules of ethylene oxide 25 g copra dietharolamine 6 g butylglycol monoether 2 g propylene glycol 16 g 20% ammonia 12 ml paratoluylene diamine 0.9 g para-aminophenol 0.9 g meta-diamino-anisol sulfate 0.06 g meta-aminophenol 0.2 g resorcinol 0.5 g nitroparaphenylene diamine 0.002 g hydroquinone 0.10 g sodium salt of diethylene-triamino-pentaacetic acid 1.5 g sodium bisulfite 1.2 ml water q.s. g

The container 17 holds 45 cm of an oxidizing product 18 responding to the following formula:

aqueous solution containing 6% 11,0, by weight 44 g B-hydroxyquinoline 0.01 g pyrophosphate of anhydrous sodium carbonate 0.03 g sodium salt of ethylene-diamine-tetra-acetic acid 0.02 g phosphoric acid q.s. pH 3 water, q.s. 100 8 The inside of the jacket 1 is pressurized with 8 grams of trichloromonofluoro-methane which constitutes the propellant gas 21.

When the neck 16 has thus been sealed in a fluid tight manner to the container 17, which is open at the bottom, to the connecting spout l0 and to the lower cup of the valve 4, the product 18 is placed in the container 17 and the bottom of the jacket is closed. The product 2 is then introduced into the outer jacket 1 and finally the cap 3 is mounted on top of the jacket 1. They are crimped together at 5 and the propellant gas 21 is introduced through the valve 4.

It should be noted that, in this example, the metallic wall of the container 17 has been protected on both inside and outside from corrosion by means by a coating material applied in several layers at the rate of 45 mg/cm of the wall, said coating material responding to the following formula:

vinyl chloride 18.5% vinyl acetochloride containing 1% maleic acid 6.5% phenolic resin obtained by condensing phenol with formaldehyde 2.23% titanium oxide phosphoric acid 0.1 1% polyethylene wax 0.8% solvent as hereinbefore defined q.s. 100% This coating material is applied by means of a solvent using the process described in French Patent No. 70-14192. The inner wall of the outer jacket 1 has also been coated in the same way with a coating material having the same formula as the one used for the inner container 17.

It has been found that such a dispenser makes it possible to store the dyeing composition 2 and the associated oxidizing solution 18 for 4 months at 40C without any deterioration in either the chemical composition of the

products

2 or 18 or in the resistance to corrosion in the areas connecting the neck 16 and the spout 10. In other words, at the end of such a period of storage, it is possible, by acting on the dispensing spout 4a of the valve 4, to simultaneously dispense the dyeing composition 2 and its associated oxidizing solution 18.

It will be course by appreciated that the foregoing embodiment has been given purely by way of example, and may be modified as to detail without thereby departing from the basic principles of the invention as defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Method of attaching the plastic neck of an inner container to be enclosed within a pressurized outer jacket to a plastic dispensing valve carried by said outer jacket and comprising a lower cup, which method comprises the steps of ultrasonically welding to said cup a connecting spout having a central tube in which said outer cup is seated and welded, said spout also having an annular seat encircling said passageway to which the neck of said inner container may be attached, said method comprising the further step of cementing the neck of the inner container in said peripheral annular seat by means of a resinous fluid containing a setting agent.

2. Method as claimed in claim 1 essentially characterized by the fact that the dispensing valve of the pressurized container is mounted on a supporting metallic cap before it is welded to the connecting spout.

3. Method as claimed in claim 1 in which the lower cup of the valve carries near its bottom, which is introduced into the central tube in the connecting spout, on the one hand an annular projection positioned near its bottom, and on the other hand a peripheral projection extending from its lateral wall while the central tube of the spout also comprises a bottom adapted to contact the annular projection on the bottom of the outer cup of the valve, the bottom of the spout and the outer cup being centrally pierced to permit passage of the liquid contained in the outer container through the dispensing valve.

4. Process as claimed in claim 1 in which the outer cup of the valve and the connecting spout are ultrasonically welded together by means of a vibrating electrode, the volume of which is more than times that of the connecting spout, and the neck of the inner container is outside the spout at the time of this welding.

5. Method as claimed in claim 4 in which the outer cup of the valve and the connecting spout are made of a plastic material of the Acetal type and the ultrasonic vibrations applied for welding have a frequency between 19,000 and 21,000 cycles/sec, the vibrating electrode being applied to the bottom of the spout against which the annular projection from the bottom of the outer cup of the valve rests, the valve being supported to sustain the application of the vibrating electrode but not being laterally held.

6. Method as claimed in claim 1 in which the neck by which the inner container is attached inside the peripheral annular seat of the connecting spout comprises male threading on its outer wall, and the connecting spout carries mating inner female threading, the connection of the neck of the inner container to the connecting spout being made by means of adhesive material of the epoxy type having a bis-phenol base mixed with a polyamide setting agent.

7. Method as claimed in claim 6 in which the quantity of adhesive material used on the neck of the inner container to connect it to the connecting spout is between 0.15 and 0.25 g for an external neck diameter of about 15 mm.

8. Method as claimed in claim 3 in which the wall of the central passageway of the connecting spout which comes in contact with the inner wall of the neck of the inner container has a slight conicity which decreases the diameter of the peripheral annular seat in the spout in the zone which receives the top of the neck.

9. Pressurized container comprising an outer jacket provided with a dispensing valve having an inner cup, and an inner container having a neck connected to said cup, the inner container and the outer jacket each enclosing at least one fluid product, said products being chemically incompatible, essentially characterized by the fact that the neck of the inner container is attached to the cup of the valve by the process of claim 3.

Claims

3. Method as claimed in claim 1 in which the lower cup of the valve carries near its bottom, which is introduced into the central tube in the connecting spout, on the one hand an annular projection positioned near its bottom, and on the other hand a peripheral projection extending from its lateral wall, while the central tube of the spout also comprises a bottom adapted to contact the annular projection on the bottom of the outer cup of the valve, the bottom of the spout and the outer cup being centrally pierced to permit passage of the liquid contained in the outer container through the dispensing valve.

4. Process as claimed in claim 1 in which the outer cup of the valve and the connecting spout are ultrasonically welded together by means of a vibrating electrode, the volume of which is more than 100 times that of the connecting spout, and the neck of the inner container is outside the spout at the time of this welding.

5. Method as claimed in claim 4 in which the outer cup of the valve and the connecting spout are made of a plastic material of the Acetal type and the ultrasonic vibrations applied for welding have a frequency between 19,000 and 21,000 cycles/sec., the vibrating electrode being applied to the bottom of the spout against which the annular projection from the bottom of the outer cup of the valve rests, the valve being supported to sustain the application of the vibrating electrode but not being laterally held.