Dispensing cap for discharging liquid into flush tank from a bottle during a flushing cycle

Claim 1

An integrally molded fitment for use with a bottle of predetermined volume containing a liquid whose characteristics make it desirable to introduce a small quantity into the flush tank of a toilet during a flushing cycle, said bottle having a neck in which is supported a fitment, said fitment being cup shaped and having a concave bottom cup wall provided with a centrally located nozzle structure extending inwardly of the cup, said nozzle structure containing a fine nozzle or passageway having a diameter of between about 0.010 inches and about 0.020 inches, and a length of about 1/16 inch to about 1/8 inch, depending upon the quantity of liquid to be discharged per cycle, a specific diameter dimension being maintained to a tolerance of less than 10% in production, said liquid in said bottle normally having a viscosity and surface tension of the same general order as that of water, said fitment having a well at each end of the passageway, the well at the liquid discharge end within said fitment being conical and having a suitable cone angle, the well at the liquid entrance end of the passageway having a flat bottom surrounding the end of said fine passageway, said fitment being adapted to be secured in an air-tight fit to said bottle and having the bottle and fitment inverted with the open ended cup chamber of the fitment extending downwardly from the bottle, said chamber defining a volume of the order of at least about one-two hundredths of the volume of the bottle interior, the water in the flush tank being adapted to cover the open end of said fitment chamber and rise therein and extend outside of said fitment above said open end for a distance of from about 1/2 inch to about 4 inches when said flush tank attains normal full condition in stand-by for a flushing operation, the water in said tank during flushing being adapted to drain from said tank so that the wateR level in said flush tank is below the bottom of said fitment with the open ended cup chamber being exposed to atmosphere, the fitment and bottle being adapted to cooperate with rising flush tank water level to force some air from said chamber through said fine passageway and into said bottle, said flush tank when water therein has drained so that the water level is below the level of said fitment permitting air in said bottle to expand and discharge a quantity of liquid from said bottle, the amount of said liquid discharged being dependent upon the dimensions of said passageway, the depth of immersion of said fitment in said tank water and the relative volumes of said fitment chamber and the bottle volume cooperating with the depth of immersion of said fitmentn below the surface of said water when said tank is in stand-by condition determining in part the amount of liquid discharged, the fitment dimensions and mounting being such that the tank water level within the fitment chamber is always below the nozzle structure.