Self-closing, press-to-open, dispensing closure

Claim 1

A self-closing, press-to-open, dispensing closure for a container for flowable material, said closure comprising: a closure body for the top of said container and a nozzle assembly carried by said closed body; said closure body having means for mounting said closure body on said container and a deck for extending across at least a portion of the container top, said closure body further having a discharge tube projecting upwardly from said deck, said tube communicating through said deck with said container interior and having an upper end defining a discharge opening, and said closure body further having a pivot support means for pivotably supporting said nozzle assembly about a pivot axis above said deck; said nozzle assembly including (1) a forwardly projecting nozzle adjacent said discharge tube opening, (2) a rearwardly projecting actuating member above said deck, and (3) engaging pivot means for engaging said pivot support means to accommodate pivoting movement of said nozzle assembly about said pivot axis between a closed position occluding said discharge tube opening and an open position permitting flow of said material out of said discharge tube opening and through said nozzle, said nozzle assembly actuating member including a pair of spaced-apart downwardly depending bearing members, each said bearing member having a downwardly facing flat face defining a bearing surface; and a resilient biasing member projecting from said deck, said biasing member including a stem portion extending upwardly from said deck and two branch portions diverging from said stem portion, each said branch portion defining a distal free end, each said actuating member bearing surface being engaged with one of distal free ends of said biasing member when said nozzle assembly is in said closed position as well as in said open position whereby said biasing member urges said nozzle assembly toward said closed position.