The present application discloses liquid dispensers, refill units for liquid dispensers, liquid pumps, lost motion devices, and methods for installing a refill unit and lost motion device. In certain embodiments, a liquid dispenser of the present application comprises a container for holding a liquid, a pump housing connected to the container, a liquid or air chamber, and a piston movable in the liquid or air chamber. A connector is linked to the piston. The connector has a flexible portion for connecting to the piston and an attachment portion for attaching to an actuator of the dispenser. A restrictor is positioned between the flexible portion of the connector and the piston. Movement of the connector a first distance in a first direction results in lost motion between the actuator and the piston and continued movement of the connector a second distance in the first direction moves the piston with the actuator.

A liquid dispenser has a bay surrounded by a shaped frame that is sized to receive a shaped refill inserted at an acute angle of 75 degrees or less in relation to the dispenser's lateral central axis. This unique arrangement is designed to maintain consistent quality of liquids dispensed by preventing the substitution of product refills having different shapes whose contents are of uncertain quality. Refills may be readily manufactured and at low cost. Mechanical and motorized dispensers with optional proximity detection of a user's hand may be used with the inventive dispenser and refill arrangement. Liquid or foam may be dispensed depending on the design of the dispenser pump.

A piston pump with an improved arrangement by which a piston-forming element is movable relative to a piston chamber-forming element between locked and unlocked positions. The piston chamber-forming body has a collar member having an inner guide tube coaxially about an axis with a lug member extending radially inwardly therefrom and the piston-forming element has a slide tube coaxially radially inwardly of the collar member with the slide tube carrying motion control features for interaction and engagement with the lug member whereby relative axial and rotational movement of the piston-forming element relative to the piston chamber-forming body provides for the adoption of positions in which the pump is operable to dispense fluid and positions in which the pump is inoperative.

A foam dispenser has a foam-generating pump (1) mounted on a container (100) to hold liquid. The pump (1) has a liquid intake conduit with a ball valve (27) and an air intake conduit (45) provided partly by a jacket component (4) fitting around the pump body (2) with clearance. The pump has structure defining a mixing zone (50) for mixing air and liquid, a foam chamber (28) for holding foam received from the mixing zone, and a discharge conduit leading from, the foam chamber to a discharge outlet (36). The mixed air and liquid pass through a permeable foam, regulator mesh (54), One or more air inlets (47) lead into the mixing zone (50) from the air intake conduit (45). A liquid inlet in the form of a restricted jet orifice (89) leads into the mixing zone (50) from the liquid intake conduit, upstream of the inlet ball valve (27). A regulator mesh (53) is also provided between the liquid inlet and mixing zone.

Disclosed in the present invention is a pump type dispenser which includes a pump held by a mouth portion of a container and configured to suction and pressure-feed a content liquid in the container, and a nozzle head having an internal passage through which the pressure-fed content liquid passes and driving the pump by being repeatedly pushed down and restored. The internal passage includes a vertical passage, a lateral passage, and a protrusion protruding toward an inner side in a joining portion between the vertical passage and the lateral passage, and a dispensing member disposed in the lateral passage includes a recessed portion which engages with the protrusion to prevent separation from the lateral passage.

A foam-dispensing pump includes an actuator, a collar, a housing, an air piston, a liquid piston, a mesh element and an air valve structure. The collar is constructed and arranged for attachment to a liquid storage container and a portion of the actuator is received by the collar. The air piston is constructed and arranged to be moveable within the housing. The liquid piston is constructed and arranged to be moveable within the housing. The mesh element is constructed and arranged to receive air and liquid for the production of foam. The air valve structure includes an annular sleeve component which is assembled onto the liquid piston and a cooperating annular valve element which is received by the air piston.

In an apparatus for automatically filling a pipette according to the present invention, only a predetermined air is supplied to a pipette assembly to which a substance is discharged, even if an excessive operation force is applied by a user, so it is possible to prevent a waste of the substance being unnecessarily discharged.

A dispenser for generating ozone containing fluid comprising: drawing atmospheric air into an air compartment, generating ozone within the air compartment from air in the air compartment by conversion within the compartment of oxygen in the air within the compartment into ozone to form ozonated air, discharging the ozonated air from the air compartment, mixing the ozonated discharged air with a flowable fluid to form an ozonated fluid-air mixture, and passing the ozonated fluid-air mixture out a discharge outlet. Preferably, the method is carried out in a dispenser utilizing a piston pump to draw air through a corona discharge ozone generator and to draw liquid from a liquid reservoir and simultaneously pass both the ozonated air and liquid through a foam generator to generate foam.

Exemplary embodiments of vented refill units and dispensers having vented refill units are disclosed herein. An exemplary refill unit includes a non-collapsing inverted container. The container has a neck located at the bottom of the container. A pump is secured to the neck. The pump has a housing that has a cylindrical outside surface. In addition, the housing has an attachment mechanism for attaching the pump to a venting insert. The venting insert has a cylindrical inside surface and a cylindrical outside surface. At least a portion of the venting insert is located within the neck. An air passage is located between the pump housing and the cylindrical inside surface of the venting insert. One or more apertures are located through the venting insert. A one-way air inlet valve is located proximate the one or more apertures.

Disclosed is a single-material all-plastic lotion pump, including a main body, a pressing head, a barrel body, a one-way liquid outlet mechanism and a tubular spring; a guide hole communicates the inside of the main body from two opposite ports thereof; the press head is in an inserted connection with one port of the main body in a pressable manner, and is provided with a liquid outlet channel; the barrel body is in an inserted connection with the other port of the main body, and has a liquid inlet channel in a bottom wall; the one-way liquid outlet mechanism passes through the guide hole, and has an import channel and an export channel; and the tubular spring is compressed between the one-way liquid outlet mechanism and the bottom wall of the barrel body, and is connected and communicated with the import and liquid inlet channels at both ends, respectively.