The Dial Corporation

Deborah J Cowan

Gary L Berge

Judith A Wallis

Ronald Hedman

Elizabeth Polaski

Steven Carter

The present invention is a gel air freshener article of manufacture comprising a gel air freshener composition and a container that provides a method for unsealing and opening without undue exertion by the consumer. The article of manufacture according to the present invention includes the gel air freshener composition and a container comprising a base portion and axially displaceable cover in telescopic registry, wherein the cover is axially displaced away from the base portion by rotation. The unsealing of the container is achieved through the coordination of camming locks, which comprise an upper ramped surface, with spike-shaped locking wedges that comprise a beveled toe portion, elongated shaft portion and camming head portion. Rotation of the cover in a first direction relative to the base portion locks the toe end and shaft portions of the spike-shaped locking wedges beneath the camming locks. Rotation in a second opposite direction relative to the base portion backs the camming head portion of the spike-shaped wedges up the upper ramped surfaces of the camming locks such that the cover is axially distanced from the container, thus unsealing the cover from the base and breaking loose the gel air freshener composition bound inside surface of the cover. An optional pin-hole in the cover allows for pressure equalization of the momentary vacuum created when the cover is first unsealed and displaced.

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Scottsdale, AZ, United States of America

Deborah J Cowan