Figure 1: is a schematic perspective view of an apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention,
Figure 2: is a schematic perspective view of the apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment ofFig. 1 from a rear perspective, and
Figure 3: is a schematic perspective view of the apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment ofFig. 1 where one of the first dispenser units is partly removed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Figure 1 shows a schematic perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention is formed as a modular mouth spray system for delivery of a nicotine/caffeine based solution allowing a user to easily carry multiple flavors/solutions in one connected apparatus. The apparatus comprises a firstaerosol dispenser unit 101, a secondaerosol dispenser unit 102 and a thirdaerosol dispenser unit 103. Each of the

aerosol dispenser units

101, 102, 103 comprises a liquid storage container (not shown) adapted to store a liquid, an activator (not shown) and a

spray nozzle

51, 52, 53.

The activator may be arranged to initiate the activation of a

spray nozzle

51, 52, 53 when a user moves the apparatus in close proximity to an open mouth which may be detected by an appropriate sensor, however, in some embodiments such activator could be replaced by a push button and a user could cause the

spray nozzle

51, 52, 53 to activate by pressing on the button. In other embodiments other means for activating the device could be provided.

Upon acting on the activator, liquid from the liquid storage container is dispensed to the

spray nozzle

51, 52, 53 which transforms the dispensed liquid into the aerosol. Thereby the aerosol is sprayed in a spray direction. The liquid may be dispensed from the liquid storage container to the

spray nozzles

51, 52, 53 by using a dispensing unit.

The liquid storage container may be a capsule filled with a liquid. However, the liquid storage container may also be any other kind of receptacle such as a tank system that can have an arbitrary form or shape and also be located in an arbitrary position inside a housing of each of the

aerosol dispenser units

101, 102, 103. The liquid may be flavored or flavorless and may include glycerol. However, the liquid may also include propylene glycol, triethylene glycol, polyhydric alcohol, tetraethylene glycol, aliphatic ester of carboxylic acid, such as methyl stearate, dimethyl dodecanedioate, dimethyl tetradecanedioate, water and the like.

Each of the liquid storage containers may carry a flavoured material respectively. Each of the

aerosol dispenser units

101, 102, 103 may carry different flavoured materials (contained in the liquid), for example where a first flavoured material contained in the liquid of the liquid storage container of the firstaerosol dispenser unit 101 is a menthol extract, a second flavoured material contained in the liquid of the liquid storage container of the secondaerosol dispenser unit 102 is a vanilla extract while a third flavoured material contained in the liquid of the liquid storage container of the thirdaerosol dispenser unit 103 is a combination of nicotine and caffeine. However, any kinds of flavoured materials may be carried by the liquid storage containers of the

aerosol dispenser units

101, 102, 103.

These other materials may include esters, such as isoamyl acetate, linalyl acetate, isoamyl propionate, linalyl butyrate and the like; natural essential oils as plant essential oils, such as spearmint, peppermint, cassia, jasmine and the like; animal essential oils, such as musk, amber, civet, castor and the like; simple flavouring materials, such as anethole, limonene, linalool, eugenol and the like; hydrophilic flavour components such as a leaf tobacco extract or natural plant flavouring materials such as licorice, St. John's wort, a plum extract, a peach extract and the like; acids such as a malic acid, tartaric acid, citric acid and the like; sugars such as glucose, fructose, isomerized sugar and the like; and polyhydric alcohols such as propylene glycol, glycerol, sorbitol and the like. Furthermore, it is also possible to combine several different flavored materials from those mentioned above in order to make new flavored materials. Moreover, it is possible to adsorb any flavour onto a solid material and to use this material as flavoured material within any of the

aerosol dispenser units

101, 102, 103.

The activator may comprise a pump for pumping air into the liquid storage container thereby expelling the liquid. Alternatively or additionally the activator may comprise a valve and the liquid is contained in the liquid storage container under pressure.

The

aerosol dispenser units

101, 102, 103 share a common modular arrangement. In the exemplary embodiment depicted inFigures 1 to 3, each of the

aerosol dispenser units

101, 102, 103 comprises, on one of two opposing sides, a

coupling element

201, 202, 203 and, on the other of the two opposing sides, a

counter-coupling element

301, 302, 303. In the depicted example, the opposing sides are parallel to the spray direction and each other, but the invention is not limited thereto.

The

coupling elements

201, 202, 203 are formed as tongues or as keys in the form of protrusions which extend in an extension direction. The

counter-coupling elements

301, 302, 303 are formed as corresponding grooves or slots which extend in said extension direction. In the depicted example, the extension direction is perpendicular to the spray direction, but the invention is not limited thereto.

In the depicted example, the

coupling elements

201, 202, 203 are undercut thereby having a protrusion. Hence, sections perpendicular to the extension direction through the

coupling elements

201, 202, 203 reveal dovetail-profiles, or dovetail-forms, of the

coupling elements

201, 202, 203. Furthermore, sections perpendicular to the extension direction through the

counter-coupling elements

301, 302, 303 reveal corresponding grooves formed as dovetail-profiles, or dovetail-forms, of the

counter-coupling elements

301, 302, 303.

Other exemplary embodiments of the present invention comprise other undercut profiles, for example a T-profile.

The grooves of the

counter-coupling elements

301, 302, 303 are formed as an elongated slot and the protrusion of the

coupling elements

201, 202, 203 are formed as a corresponding key that can be forcibly inserted into the respective groove and forcibly removed from the respective groove. The size and shape of

coupling elements

201, 202, 203 and

counter-coupling elements

301, 302, 303 is selected such to assure that pairs of corresponding coupling elements/counter-coupling elements are firmly fixed to each other to be in a locked state but can be conveniently removed or released from each other by a user to be in an unlocked state. According to an exemplary embodiment, the size of the protrusions of the

coupling elements

201, 202, 203 is slightly smaller than the size of the grooves of the

counter-coupling elements

301, 302, 303. A clearance of the protrusions inside the grooves may be less than 1 mm, more preferably less than 0.5 mm and still more preferably less than 0.1 mm along a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the protrusions/grooves.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the

coupling elements

201, 202, 203 and

counter-coupling elements

301, 302, 303 completely extend along a side of each of the

aerosol dispenser units

101, 102, 103 which allows improved characteristics of coupling the

coupling elements

201, 202, 203 and

counter-coupling elements

301, 302, 303 in and out along upper or lower edges of the side surfaces of the

aerosol dispenser units

101, 102, 103. That is, a user is able to easily fix two

aerosol dispenser units

101, 102, 103 to one another by contacting respective edges and aligning longitudinal axes of two

aerosol dispenser units

101, 102, 103 thereby engaging respective coupling and counter-coupling elements. In this sense, upper and lower terminal portions of the

coupling elements

201, 202, 203 and the

counter-coupling elements

301, 302, 303 are flushed with the upper and lower surfaces of the housing of at least one (preferably each) of the

aerosol dispenser units

101, 102, 103 which results in improved coupling characteristics while simultaneously achieving a compact design and preventing additional coupling means.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the housing of the at least one (preferably each)

aerosol dispenser unit

101, 102, 103 is formed of the same material as the

respective coupling element

201, 202, 203/ the

respective counter-coupling element

301, 302, 303. According to an exemplary embodiment, the

respective coupling element

201, 202, 203/ the

respective counter-coupling element

301, 302, 303 are integrally formed with the housing of the at least one (preferably each)

aerosol dispenser unit

101, 102, 103. According to an exemplary embodiment, at least one (preferably the whole) side surface of the housing, the

respective coupling element

201, 202, 203, and the

respective counter-coupling element

301, 302, 303 are formed as one piece thereby providing a compact design.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the

dispenser units

101, 102, 103 have a uniform shape and/or a uniform size. According to an exemplary embodiment, the

dispenser units

101, 102, 103 are formed to by symmetric with respect to a longitudinal axis. However, the present invention is not limited to such

uniform dispenser units

101, 102, 103 and it is possible to realize other embodiments in which differently sized and/or differently shaped dispenser units are used.

However, the present invention is not limited to such shapes of the the

coupling elements

201, 202, 203 and the

counter-coupling elements

301, 302, 303 and it is possible to realize other embodiments in which the coupling elements and the counter-coupling elements have a different shape that allows that at least two of the

aerosol dispenser units

101, 102, 103 are fixed in a releasably locked manner by a pair of coupling element and counter-coupling element.

As depicted inFigure 3, thecoupling element 201 of thedispenser unit 101 can be inserted into thecounter-coupling element 302 of one of the remaining

dispensers

102, 103 and moved by a user in the extension direction until a distance between the spray nozzles of the

dispensers

101, 102 is minimized. Thereby dispensers 101, 102 are attached to each other and a common compound dispenser apparatus is realized which allows a user to easily vary the combination of flavors in the aerosol generated by the entirety of the

aerosol dispenser units

101, 102, 103 forming the apparatus of the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The

dispenser units

101, 102, 103 may contain liquids of a same active ingredient (such as nicotine) with different flavors (such as vanilla and menthol), different active ingredients (such as nicotine and caffeine) with a same flavor (such as vanilla) or different active ingredients (such as nicotine and caffeine) with different flavors (such as vanilla and menthol). Then, by activating one, both or all of the connected and

stacked dispenser units

101, 102, 103, the user is able to select and/or combine the different flavors and/or active ingredients.

However, the present invention is not limited to such a combination of two or three different active ingredients and two or three different flavors and it is possible to realize other embodiments in which more than three different active ingredients and/or more than three different flavors are combined. The exemplary embodiment discloses three

stacked dispenser units

101, 102, 103, however, the present invention is not limited to such a combination of three dispenser units and it is possible to realize other embodiments in which two or more than three dispenser units are utilized.

Hence, a complex compound dispenser apparatus is realized. The modular design allows for attaching an arbitrary number of dispenser units in which each dispenser unit is formed as a self-contained unit allowing users to use each flavor individually if desired. If users want to make use of more than one flavor as contained in one of the separate self-contained units, they can assemble individual units to create a modular structure. This allows users easy access to multiple flavors when on the go.

While this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the scope of the appended claims.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

51, 52, 53: spray nozzle
101, 102, 103: aerosol dispenser unit
201, 202, 203: coupling element (protrusion)
301, 302, 303: counter-coupling element (groove)