DESC:Field of the invention

The present invention relates to an insect repellent machine and particularly to a mosquito repellent machine. More particularly, the invention is concerned about a lock-in mechanism provided in the repellent machine which prevents assembling of competitor’s refill bottles and other non desirable refill bottles. This would also effectively help maintaining the machine and the repellent performance.

Background of the invention

Mosquitoes have always been a big problem to people living in urban and rural areas. These creatures are carriers of deadly diseases like malaria, dengue and chikungunya posing a serious health threat to humans. Among the several toxic and non toxic methods that have been devised to keep the mosquitoes away, mosquito repellents are one of the most economic and widely used. Mosquito liquid repellant generally contained in a plastic container or the like are normally assembled with a liquid repellent machine using a simple electrical heater. The plastic container is known as a refill pack and is known to be assembled with the repellent machine in a replaceable manner so that when the liquid/fluid contained in container has exhausted, the empty container can be replaced by the new refill to be assembled with the machine. This has become a general practice to people in their day-to-day life to get relieved from these small creatures within minutes and taking preventive measures against the above-said deadly diseases.

It is to be noted that with the developments in this particular field of technology of mosquito repellents and machines for dispensing mosquito repellents, many companies have come with new repellent machines with different designs and constructions. However, with the availability of various repellent machines in the market, it is observed that users have been able to assemble repellent liquid refill of one make with a repellent machine of another make and vice versa.

It has been noted by the inventors that most of times when a liquid refill of one make is assembled with a repellent machine of another make, the repellent liquid dispense is not effective and therefore, the system fails to dispense sufficient liquid repellent to drive away the mosquitoes. Besides functional effectiveness of the system, it has been found that such permutation and combination of refill packs and liquid repellent machines adversely affects a brand.

IN view of the aforesaid disadvantages, the present inventors while conducting research works have found that there is still enough space for improvements in the repellant machine design which would provide a mechanism to avoid assembling refill bottles manufactured by other companies with the repellant machine of the present invention. Further such mechanism provided in the repellent machine would facilitate authenticity of the liquid repellent and the repellent machine.

Objects of the invention

First and foremost object of the present invention is to overcome at least some of the drawbacks of the prior art.

A basic object of the present invention is to provide a mosquito repellent machine comprising a lock-in mechanism which prevents assembling of competitor’s refill bottles and other non desirable refill bottles.

These and other advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Summary of the invention

The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the present invention. It is not intended to identify the key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concept of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description of the invention presented later.
In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an insect repellent machine comprising:
a front panel means;
a back panel means screwably engaged with said front panel means or optionally said back panel means is snap or click fitted to said front panel means providing a housing for a repellent bottle holder means, a heating means, a circuit arrangement for operating said heating means
wherein said holder means comprising an adaptor having a lock-in profile with air-vent facilitating evaporation of liquid repellent and avoiding spillage from plug holding the wick of the repellent bottle; and wherein
said lock-in profile is adapted to be substantially concentrically inserted into the refill bottle plug with the wick being disposed through the said lock-in profile.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an insect repellent machine comprising:
a front panel means;
a back panel means screwably engaged with said front panel means or optionally said back panel means is snap or click fitted to said front panel means providing a housing for a repellent bottle holder means, a heating means, a circuit arrangement for operating said heating means, wherein
said holder means comprising an adaptor having a lock-in profile with air-vent facilitating evaporation of liquid repellent and avoiding spillage from plug holding the wick of the repellent bottle; wherein
said lock-in profile is adapted to be substantially concentrically inserted into the refill bottle plug with the wick being disposed through the protruded lock-in profile; and wherein
said lock-in profile being made of a material so as to withstand high temperatures.
Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

Brief description of the accompanying drawings
The following drawings are illustrative of particular examples for enabling methods of the present invention, are descriptive of some of the methods, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The drawings are not to scale (unless so stated) and are intended for use in conjunction with the explanations in the following detailed description.

Fig. 1 illustrates an exploded view of the repellent machine of the present invention;

Figure 2 illustrates an isometric view of the repellent machine of the present invention;

Figure 3 illustrates a cross sectional view of the repellent machine of the present invention;

Figure 4 illustrates the front panel of the repellent machine of the present invention;

Figure 5 illustrates the back panel of the repellent machine of the present invention;

Figure 6 illustrates the vent used in the repellent machine of the present invention;

Figure 7(a) illustrates the bottle holder of the repellent machine of the present invention;

Figures 7(b) and 7(c) illustrate the adaptor of the bottle holder of the repellent machine of the present invention;

Figure 8 illustrates the button of the repellent machine of the present invention;

Figure 9 illustrates the heating means of the repellent machine of the present invention;

Figure 10 illustrates the button along with the circuit of the repellent machine of the present invention;

Figure 11 illustrates the plug of the repellent machine of the present invention;

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may have not been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features, and structures.

Detailed description of the invention

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted for clarity and conciseness.
The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
By the term “substantially” it is meant that the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to provide.

Referring to figure 1, most of the components used in the mosquito repellent machine of the present invention are shown. The machine comprises a front panel/cover means (2) having a unique tusk contour (2a) which adds to the integrity, look and aestheticism of the machine. The front panel (2) along with a back panel/cover means (3) forms a housing which accommodates other components/parts of the machine. The back panel means is screwably engaged with the front panel means or optionally, one can make it snap or click fitted to the front panel means. Such arrangements of engagement of two panels to provide a housing in between can be in any other way and the same is not discussed herein as a person skilled in the art could contemplate such engagements. The components like a repellent bottle holder means (1), a heating means (5), a circuit arrangement (4) for operating said heating means are provided the said housing. The holder means comprises an adaptor (5a) having a lock-in profile (5b) with air-vent (5c) facilitating evaporation of liquid repellent and avoiding spillage from plug holding the wick of the repellent bottle. The lock-in profile (5b) is a protrusion which is adapted to be substantially concentrically inserted into the refill bottle plug with the wick being disposed through it. In the present embodiment the profile of the protrusions is circular in geometry with height between 2mm to 10 mm from the base of the holder means. The internal diameter of the profile ranges from 3 mm to 10 mm and the outer diameter ranges from 4 mm to 12 mm. It is to be noted that though the present embodiment describes a circular protrusion, protrusions of any other polygonal shape like a triangle, a quadrilateral, a pentagon, a hexagon, a heptagon, an octagon, a nanogon, a decagon and so on with any number of edges possible.
The material of construction of the bottle holder and eventually the lock-in profile is glass filled polypropylene. The glass filled polypropylene helps to withstand the high temperature which the bottle holder experiences during operation of the machine. Any other material which has the property of withstanding high temperature and is light weight and suitable for constructing the holder means and eventually the lock-in profile can be used. Such variations are considered to be within the scope of knowledge of a person skilled in the art and not elaborated herein.
,CLAIMS:1. An insect repellent machine comprising:
a front panel means;
a back panel means screwably engaged with said front panel means or optionally said back panel means is snap or click fitted to said front panel means providing a housing for a repellent bottle holder means, a heating means, a circuit arrangement for operating said heating means
wherein said holder means comprising an adaptor having a lock-in profile with air-vent facilitating evaporation of liquid repellent and avoiding spillage from plug holding the wick of the repellent bottle; and wherein
said lock-in profile is adapted to be substantially concentrically inserted into the refill bottle plug with the wick being disposed through the said lock-in profile.
2. An insect repellent machine comprising:
a front panel means;
a back panel means screwably engaged with said front panel means or optionally said back panel means is snap or click fitted to said front panel means providing a housing for a repellent bottle holder means, a heating means, a circuit arrangement for operating said heating means, wherein
said holder means comprising an adaptor having a lock-in profile with air-vent facilitating evaporation of liquid repellent and avoiding spillage from plug holding the wick of the repellent bottle; wherein
said lock-in profile is adapted to be substantially concentrically inserted into the refill bottle plug with the wick being disposed through the protruded lock-in profile; and wherein
said lock-in profile being made of a material so as to withstand high temperatures.
3. The machine as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein said lock-in profile is a protrusion.
4. The machine as claimed in claim 3, wherein said protrusion is essentially circular.
5. The machine as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein said holder means is made of glass filled polypropylene.
6. The machine as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein said lock-in profile is made of glass filled polypropylene.
7. The machine as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein said front panel is substantially tusk contoured.