Fluid sprinkling – spraying – and diffusing – Including supply holder for material – Moving solid surface engages material to be sprayed
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-02
2001-05-22
Scherbel, David A. (Department: 3752)
Fluid sprinkling, spraying, and diffusing
Including supply holder for material
Moving solid surface engages material to be sprayed
C239S493000, C239S491000, C222S321800, C222S383100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06234412
ABSTRACT:
SUMMARY
The invention relates to a hand lever-operated spray pump (
3
), particularly for attaching to bottles (
2
) or similar, having a pump plunger (
6
) which moves linear in a pump chamber (
7
) on the housing and which is connected with the hand lever (
5
) at the rear of a mouth piece opening (
9
) and which returns to its starting position as a result of a spring loading, and proposes, for the purpose of achieving a structurally simple, functionally reliable solution, to allocate two hinge points (I, II) to the hand lever (
5
) one of which (I) is movable in a linear guide on the housing side and the other (II) is arranged on the housing on the side opposite to the mouth piece (
9
) in such a way that both hinge points (I, II) are connected by means of two buckling bridge sections (a, b).
The invention relates to a hand lever-operated spray pump, particularly for the purpose of attaching to bottles or similar, having a pump plunger that moves linear in a pump chamber of the housing. The pump plunger is connected with the hand lever at the rear of a mouth piece opening and the pump plunger returns to the starting position as a result of a spring loading.
A spray pump of this type is specified in U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,511, where the hand lever is a trigger lever which is rigidly connected with the pump plunger. This causes a tendency for the pump plunger-pump chamber unit to tilt.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,442 specifies a hand lever-operated spray pump whose hand lever is arranged on a pivoting bearing by means of a fork recess/peg engagement on the housing. Separated by a space thereto, it acts via a living hinge in conjunction with a transmitting part provided on the upper pump side and acting upon the pump chamber, which is of a bellows-type in this case. The transmitting part is connected to the housing on the side opposite to the mouth piece by means of an additional living hinge. A finger on the transmitting piece closes/opens a venting opening.
It is the object of the invention to provide a hand lever-operated spray pump of the above type which is functionally reliable and structurally simple.
This problem is solved substantially with a hand lever-operated spray pump having the characteristics of claim
1
. The hand lever is provided with two joints one of which is moving in a linear guide provided on the housing, and the other is attached to the housing on the side opposite to the mouth piece in such a way that both joints are connected via two bridge sections that buckle with respect to each other. This construction prevents the pump plunger from tilting. The hand lever performs a superposing movement: pivoting plus shifting. The respective linear guide is defined by the guide on the housing. There is approaching between both joints which is compensated simply in that the bridge sections buckle or fold. This movement can even produce a force for restoring the pump plunger to its starting position when the hand lever is connected to such bridge sections. The bridge sections' buckling movement may further be utilized for an additional function in that one bridge section supports a closure part for a ventilation aperture which leaves its sealing position with respect to the ventilation aperture during the buckling process. This solves the problem of air ventilation by the easiest possible method. As the buckling process takes place only when the pump is activated, this provides for a space-saving outline in non-operating position, offering both storage and packaging advantages. According to the subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,442, the overall size of the spray pump decreases only when it is activated. In addition, the invention proposes to provide a living hinge between the two bridge sections, thereby eliminating the need for classic axes. The second bridge section is then further developed such that it represents the web of a U-profiled part that encompasses the housing in a U-shape. This provides a strong fixing construction for the bridge.
In addition, the design is characterized by a locking connection from the U-profiled part toward the housing. Whereas this locking connection can be used to achieving the required flexibility for the respective bridge section, the joint which is located on the side of the spray pump opposite to the mouth piece, is a living hinge adjacent to the place of the locking connection. This also prevents any movements caused by the bridge sections' movement to be transferred to said place. In addition, a further development, which has its own significance, consists in that the pump plunger extends with a continues tapering member approximately up to the mouth piece where it is in form-fit connection with a mouth piece cap and that, between the two parts, a discharge valve is provided in the form of a deformable rubber part. This represents a structural simplification, allows easy assembly and requires fewer parts. The rubber part is of the type which remains closed until a certain high pressure response threshold is reached at which time it opens abruptly. This results in a powerful spray jet, especially if the rubber piece is mounted on the front end of the pump plunger and is equipped with a collar which expands as a result of the pressure caused by the fluid, and if it has axial flow-through cross sections in a disk-shaped part. These cross sections are connected with the mouth piece opening in that the mouth piece cap is rotated. This rotation is eccentric in order to close off the spray pump with respect to content losses as well. It is advantageous if the spray pump housing is attached to the bottleneck by means of a plug-in/clip connection substituting the normally used swivel or coupling nut. With the attachment of a collar, the plug-in connection is able to simultaneously function as a sealing connection.
In addition, the spray pump as per the invention is characterized by a disk-shaped inlet valve having a valve shutting member which is supported by webs. The pump plunger restoring spring is supported by said webs. The opposite end of the spring moves against a cross section-decreasing shoulder in the interior of the hollow pump plunger which trails on the wall of the pump chamber with the edge of the larger cross section opening. This edge is preferably a sleeve-like lip. It is also advantageous to equip the pump plunger with lateral pockets for the joint on the hand lever. The hand lever has trunnions which pass through the linear guide engage in the bearing pockets. An advantageous variant of an air ventilating system is the utilization of the pump plunger. According to this variant, the housing wall of the pump chamber is provided with a ventilation aperture extending into the interior of the bottle. When the pump is in its starting position, the aperture, which is located directly behind the edge of the pump plunger, is closed by the pump plunger, and opens when the pump plunger is activated. This provides for an additional pump plunger function. It acts as a valve slide. This does not even require that the plunger casing wall is continuously leading. It suffices to equip the pump plunger with two piston rings which, in the pump plunger starting position, are located on either side of the ventilation aperture. This decreases the friction against the pump plunger and favors the desired easy activation of the trigger pump. There is an added advantage in that, as a result of creating the ring space, the piston ring, positioned in the direction of discharge, acts as a seal with relation to the pump chamber, for example in the event of excess pressure in the bottle which may be generated by heat.
An advantageous further development should be noted with respect to the inlet valve. This development is achieved by a disk-shaped inlet valve body which is symmetrical with relation to the disk center plane. The respective mirror symmetrical form permits the use of either side of the inlet valve body, thereby preventing any assembly mistakes or rework requiring that a side inverted inlet valve be reversed. Regardless of it
Nguyen Dinh Q.
Scherbel David A.
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