Dispersing fragrances

(54) DISPERSING FRAGRANCES

(76) Inventors: Richard P H Pankhurst, London

(GB); Brian D Smith, London (GB);
Michael J Evans, London (GB)

Correspondence Address:
STITES & HARBISON PLLC
1199 NORTH FAIRFAX STREET
SUITE 900

ALEXANDRIA, VA 22314 (US)

(21) Appl. No.: 10/491,718

(22) PCT Filed: Oct. 4, 2002
(86) PCT No.: PCT/GB02/04520

(30) Foreign Application Priority Data

Oct. 4, 2001 (GB) 0123851.8

Publication Classification (51) Int. CI.7 F02M 17/28

(52) U.S. CI 261/104; 239/326; 422/124;

422/125; 392/386; 392/395;

261/99

(57) ABSTRACT

A fragrance disperser (10) in one form includes a single fan (101) that passes air over a wicked single or double fragrance (102). A second form has the fan (11) reversible to provide two different airstreams (29a, 29b; 60a, 60b) that evaporate respective different fragrances one after the other. Where two fragrances are provided, the evaporation may be by respective electrical heaters. A fragrance source may be formed by two sheets (31, 40; 47, 48) joined together to form two chambers each receiving a respective wick (37a, 37b; 56a, 56b) and having respective exposed wick portions. The source may incorporate a source of electrical power (45). An alternative source (81a, 81fc) has a reservoir (82a, 82fc) for fragrance and a wick (87a, 87fc) located in an air passage (83a, 83fc) forming part of the source so that an air flow is guided through the passage past the wick to evaporate fragrance. Where two fragrances are provided, the fragrance sources may be located side-by-side and matching fragrances may have, for example, matching indicia (95, 96) on the sources so that the match can be easily determined visually.