Dispenser pack for small solid articles for consumption, in particular sweets, pills and the like

Abstract

The dispenser pack comprises: for containing the loose articles, a limp container ( 10 ) of yieldable material having a mouth ( 11 ) and a rigid dispensing head ( 20 ) which is joined to the container mouth ( 11 ) to close the mouth ( 11 ) and has an outlet ( 22 ) for the articles, means for dispensing the articles to the outside in a controlled manner, and means for closing said outlet ( 22 ). According to another aspect of the invention, the dispensing head ( 20 ) comprises a dispensing element ( 30 ) arranged to project outwards from the head and having a dispensing cavity ( 31 ) able to receive, virtually as an exact fit, one article ( 8 ) at a time disposed with predetermined orientation, said cavity ( 31 ) having, provided in one side, an outlet aperture enabling the article ( 8 ) to leave the cavity ( 31 ), and an insertion corridor ( 23 ) substantially coaxial with the major axis of the dispensing cavity ( 31 ) and communicating therewith via a passage section ( 37 ) located in the plane perpendicular to said major axis of the cavity ( 31 ), and which is arranged to convey the articles disposed loose in the container ( 10 ) one at a time into the corridor ( 23 ), and from there into the dispensing cavity ( 31 ) in a predetermined orientation.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A dispenser pack for small solid articles for consumption, in particular sweets, pills and the like, characterized by comprising: 
 for containing the loose articles, a limp container ( 10 ) of yieldable material having a mouth ( 11 ) and    a rigid dispensing head ( 20 ) joined to the container mouth ( 11 ) to close the mouth ( 11 ) and having an outlet ( 22 ) for the articles, means for dispensing the articles to the outside in a controlled manner, and means for closing said outlet ( 22 ).    
     
     
         2 . A dispenser pack as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that the limp container ( 10 ) is in the form of a limp tube having one end closed on itself and its opposite end open to define the container mouth ( 11 ), which is closed by the dispensing head ( 20 ) to which the edge ( 12 ) of the end is fixed.  
     
     
         3 . A dispenser pack for small solid articles for consumption, the main dimensions along the three Cartesian axes of which are different, comprising a container ( 10 ) for containing the loose articles, and a dispensing head ( 20 ) having an outlet ( 22 ) for the articles, means for dispensing the articles to the outside in a controlled manner, and means for closing said outlet ( 22 ), characterized by comprising a dispensing element ( 30 ) arranged to project outwards from the dispensing head ( 20 ) and having a dispensing cavity ( 31 ) able to receive, virtually as an exact fit, one article ( 8 ) at a time disposed with predetermined orientation, said cavity ( 31 ) having, provided in one side, an outlet aperture enabling the article ( 8 ) to leave the cavity ( 31 ), and an insertion corridor ( 23 ) substantially coaxial with the major axis of the dispensing cavity ( 31 ) and communicating therewith via a passage section ( 37 ) located in the plane perpendicular to said major axis of the cavity ( 31 ) and arranged to convey the articles disposed loose in the container ( 10 ) one at a time into the corridor ( 23 ), and from there into the dispensing cavity ( 31 ) in a predetermined orientation.  
     
     
         4 . A dispenser pack as claimed in  claim 3 , characterized in that said dispenser element ( 30 ) is arranged to assume two different stable positions: an open position in which it projects outwards from the dispensing head ( 20 ) and the outlet aperture ( 22 ) is positioned external to the chamber of the container ( 10 ), to dispense to the outside one article at a time, and a closed position in which the outlet aperture ( 22 ) is enclosed in the interior of the container ( 10 ).  
     
     
         5 . A dispenser pack as claimed in  claim 4 , characterized in that said dispensing element ( 30 ) is able to rotate about a hinge ( 36 ) to assume said open and closed positions.  
     
     
         6 . A dispenser pack as claimed in  claim 5 , characterized by comprising an elastic flat spring ( 28 ) which undergoes elastic deformation following rotation of the dispensing element ( 30 ), to maintain the element ( 30 ) in its closed or alternatively open position.  
     
     
         7 . A dispenser pack as claimed in  claim 3 , characterized in that at the passage section of the insertion corridor ( 23 ), on the same side as the outlet aperture ( 22 ), there is provided a projection ( 39 ) which projects slightly towards the interior of the section ( 39 ), to halt the travel, towards the dispensing cavity ( 31 ), of an article resting on that surface of the insertion corridor ( 23 ) which is coplanar with the wall ( 33 ) where the outlet aperture ( 22 ) is positioned, whereas it enables the same article to pass if resting on the opposite surface of the insertion corridor ( 23 ).