| 摘要 |
A lubricant dispenser is disclosed for automatically dispensing a fluid lubricant. The dispenser includes a lubricant container adapted to hold the supply of a fluent lubricant, a lubricant displacing piston fittingly inserted into an open end of the container and movable therein for pressurizing the lubricant in and expelling lubricant from the container, and a gas generating cell consisting of an end wall which closes the open end of the container and has a cartridge seat, and a cartridge insertable into the seat. The end wall forms with the piston a substantially closed compartment holding a supply of reactive liquid and the seat opens into the compartment. A frangible partition is provided for removably closing the cartridge seat and segregating it from the reactive liquid-holding compartment. The cartridge which is insertable into the cartridge seat releasably contains a reactive element capable of reacting with the reactive liquid to form a gas for displacement of the piston. The cartridge has a unitary body of plastic material with a cylindrical collar received in the cartridge seat and moveable therein between a partially inserted position and a fully inserted position. The collar has a front end for engaging and breaking the partition of the cartridge seat when the cartridge body is moved to the fully inserted position. The collar further has a pair of diametrically opposite cutouts and a pair of reactive element retaining levers respectively pivotally mounted in one of the cutouts and pivotable between a reactive element holding position and a reactive element releasing position. The retaining levers each have a hook-shaped forward end directed toward the partition for engaging the reactive element and holding it in the cartridge in the holding position of the retaining arms, a rear end for engaging the seat, and a pivot intermediate the forward and the rear ends. The rear ends are shaped such that engagement thereof with the seat upon movement of the cartridge to the fully inserted position pivots the levers, thereby moving the respectively associated forward end into the reactive element releasing position. Thus, when the cartridge body is moved from the partially to the fully inserted position, the forward end of the collar breaks out the partition and the retaining levers pivot to release the reactive element thereby permitting contact of the reactive element with the reactive liquid for the generation of gas in the compartment to force the piston into the container for forcibly expelling the lubricant from the lubricant outlet. Thus, the functions of releasing the reactive element and breaking the frangible partition off the seat are separate which greatly simplifies the structure of the device. This makes it possible to form the cartridge body, the levers and their pivot of a single unitary piece of plastic, thereby greatly reducing manufacturing costs.
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