A soap dispenser is a device that, when manipulated or triggered appropriately, dispenses

soap Soap is a salt (chemistry), salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually u ...

(usually in small, single-use quantities). Soap dispensers typically dispense

liquid soap Soap is a salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually used for washing, b ...

or foam soap. They can be automatic or manually operated by a

handle A handle is a part of, or an attachment to, an object that allows it to be grasped and object manipulation, manipulated by hand. The design of each type of handle involves substantial ergonomics, ergonomic issues, even where these are dealt wi ...

and are often found in public toilets or private

bathrooms A bathroom is a room in which people wash their bodies or parts thereof. It can contain one or more of the following plumbing fixtures: a shower, a bathtub, a bidet, and a sink (also known as a wash basin in the United Kingdom). A toilet is al ...

Manual

The design of a manual soap dispenser is generally determined by whether the soap comes in liquid, powder or foam form.

Liquid soap

When soap is dispensed in liquid form, it is generally in a

squeeze bottle A squeeze bottle is a type of container such as a plastic bottle for dispensing a fluid, that is powered by compression (physical), squeezing the container by exerting pressure with the user's hand. Its fundamental characteristic is that manual ...

pump A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes Slurry, slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic or pneumatic energy. Mechanical pumps serve in a wide range of application ...

. The most popular soap dispensers of this type are plastic pump bottles, many of which are

disposable A disposable (also called disposable product) is a product designed for a single use after which it is recycled or is disposed as solid waste. The term is also sometimes used for products that may last several months (e.g. disposable air filt ...

. William Quick patented

on August 22, 1865. Minnetonka Corporation introduced the first modern liquid soap in 1980 and bought up the entire supply of plastic pumps used in their dispensers to delay competition entering the market.

Parts

Actuator An actuator is a machine element, component of a machine that produces force, torque, or Displacement (geometry), displacement, when an electrical, Pneumatics, pneumatic or Hydraulic fluid, hydraulic input is supplied to it in a system (called an ...

– This is the top of the pump from which is pressed down to get the liquid out * Closure – Closure is the bottle that is fastened to the bottle's neck. it has a smooth or ribbed surface * Outer

gasket Some seals and gaskets A gasket is a mechanical seal which fills the space between two or more mating surfaces, generally to prevent leakage from or into the joined objects while under compression. It is a deformable material that is used to c ...

– Made up of plastic or rubber, it is fit inside the closure and prevents leakage * Housing – The main pump that keeps the other components in the right place and sends liquid to the actuator from the dip tube * Dip tube – This is the visible tube that carries liquid from the bottom of the bottle up to the housing * Interior components – A spring, ball,

piston A piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors, hydraulic cylinders and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder (engine), cylinder a ...

or stem that helps move the liquid to the actuator

Operation

The handwash bottle acts much like an air suction device that draws liquid upwards to the user’s hands against the force of

gravity In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...

. When the user presses down the actuator, the piston compresses the spring and upward air pressure pulls the ball upward, along with the liquid product into the dip tube and then reaches the housing. When the user releases the actuator, the spring returns the piston and actuator to the normal position and the ball returns to its earlier position to stop the backflow of the liquid back to the bottle. This process is called ‘priming' and is only used when the handwash is put in the bottle. When the user presses the bottle again, the liquid in the housing is drawn from there and is released out of the actuator. The housing is again filled up with the handwash from the bottle, and the process goes on.

Dry soap

Some soap dispensers grate, plane or grind solid soap bars to flakes or powder as they are dispensed. About fresh weight of soap is equivalent to of liquid soap, providing soap for up to 400 handwashings. Soap mills are common in public washrooms in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Soap graters made specifically for home use can be wall-mounted or free-standing (like a pepper grinder) and waterproof for use in a shower. Some graters take specially dimensioned soap bars, others will take a range of ordinary soap bar sizes. Dispensers of pre-powdered soaps, such as

borax The BORAX Experiments were a series of safety experiments on boiling water nuclear reactors conducted by Argonne National Laboratory in the 1950s and 1960s at the National Reactor Testing Station in eastern Idaho.

, often take the form of a metal box with a weighted lever; when the lever is pressed, a handful of soap is released. Ground soap is also used to wash laundry.

Foam soap

Foam soap dispensers have dual foam pumps that when used, move both air and soap, injecting both together through small openings to create a lather. They can be found in both manual and automatic varieties. Manual dispensers of foam soap often consist of a large

button A button is a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or by sliding through a buttonhole. In modern clothing and fashion design, buttons are commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, or ...

that squeezes the foam out of a tube. Many liquid soap dispensers operate in this way as well. A few dispensers operate with a lever that pulls forward and squeezes the soap out. The majority of manual foam soap dispensers have the soap in a bladder in the dispenser in liquid form, as the pump is pressed the liquid soap is pushed through a small foaming nozzle which foams the soap.

Automatic

An automatic soap dispenser is specifically a hands-free dispenser of liquid or foam soap, and generally can be used for other liquids such as

hand sanitizer Hand sanitizer (also known as hand antiseptic, hand disinfectant, hand rub, or handrub) is a liquid, gel, or foam used to kill viruses, bacteria, and other microorganisms on the hands. It can also come in the form of a cream, spray, or wipe. W ...

shampoo Shampoo () is a hair care product, typically in the form of a viscous liquid, that is formulated to be used for cleaning (scalp) hair. Less commonly, it is available in solid bar format. (" Dry shampoo" is a separate product.) Shampoo is use ...

s or hand lotions. They are often battery-powered-powered. Hands-free dispensers for water and soap/hand sanitizer have particular virtues for operating theatres and treatment rooms.

Mechanism

The touch-free design dispenses the liquid when a sensor detects motion under the nozzle. The electronic components of an automatic soap dispenser allow for a timing device or signal (sound, lights, etc.) which can indicate to the user whether they have washed their hands for the correct amount of time or not.

References

{{commonscat, Soap dispensers Kitchenware Bathroom equipment Toilets dispenser Dispensers Detergents