Manually operable, molded plastic dispensers, that are secured to containers for diverse products, such as hair care products, beauty aids, skin creams lotions, health care products, etc. are well known and have gained widespread acceptance. Such dispensers must be inexpensive to manufacture, and assemble, lend themselves to installation on containers by automated machinery operating at high throughput, and function satisfactorily over the life span of the product being dispensed. Also, such dispensers must be aesthetically pleasing, capable of being sealed to avoid leakage during shipment, and capable of being manipulated between an opened, and a closed, condition, without the accumulation of unsightly excess product on exposed surfaces. A representative dispenser that addresses some, if not all, of the concerns noted above, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,120 granted Dec. 5, 1995 to Stebick et al.
Stebick et al discloses a cap 10 for a container having three distinct positions, namely, a closed position shown in FIG. 1A, an intermediate spray position shown in FIG. 1B, and a fully open, pour position shown in FIG. 1C. The cap provides a fluid tight seal when in the closed position, as indicated by sealing areas A, B, C, and D, shown in FIGS. 1A and 4. The cap provides a fluid tight seal from pouring, when in the spray position, for plug 38 on stem 32 of chimney 24, fits snugly within central pouring aperture 54.
Cap 10 in Stebick et al includes a shell 12 defining a fluid passage 42 to the container, and a tip 14 with pouring aperture 54 and spray 56 apertures axially movable relative to the shell. The extent of the axial movement is governed by the engagement of annular rings 64 on the inner surface of sidewall 52 of tip 14, as shown in FIG. 3C, with the axially spaced grooves or indents 28 in the outer wall of chimney 24, as shown in FIG. 2A. Tip 14 is pulled up to select a dispensing position, which causes plug 38 to engage, or disengage, with aperture 54, depending on the selected dispensing option.