Fluid sprinkling – spraying – and diffusing – Including supply holder for material – Moving solid surface engages material to be sprayed
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-05
2001-03-27
Kashnikow, Andres (Department: 3752)
Fluid sprinkling, spraying, and diffusing
Including supply holder for material
Moving solid surface engages material to be sprayed
C239S337000, C222S321200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06206303
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a manually operated spray device to be secured to an opening at an upper end of a vessel, for spraying a liquid which is contained in the vessel.
BACKGROUND ART
For spraying a liquid within a vessel, heretofore, small-sized, manually operated spray devices have been widely used. Conventional spray device is typically arranged such that the liquid within the vessel is pressurized by an appropriate pressurizing means and discharged from a nozzle hole. In this case, it is a customary practice to provide a spinning mechanism within a nozzle hole, for rotating the liquid at high speed so that the liquid rotating at high speed is discharged from the nozzle hole and atomized as the discharged liquid comes into contact with ambient air. With such spray device, particularly when the liquid to be sprayed is a high viscosity liquid, such as oil, there may be instances wherein the atomization becomes unstable or even impossible as the case may be. Thus, there is need for a manually operated spray device which is capable of achieving a more positive and stable atomization, regardless of the type or physical property of the liquid to be sprayed.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a manually operated spray device which satisfies the above-mentioned need and which can be easily produced at a low cost.
To this end, according to the present invention, there is provided a manually operated spray device to be secured to an opening at an upper end of a vessel, for spraying a liquid contained in the vessel, comprising: a cylinder member including an upper air cylinder, a lower liquid cylinder, an air piston slidably fitted in said air cylinder, and suction pipe connected to said liquid cylinder and suspended within the vessel toward a bottom of the vessel; and an actuator member protruding upwards from the cylinder member and arranged so as to be urged upwards and vertically movable relative to the cylinder member. The actuator member includes a hollow stem having an intermediate portion where it is connected to the air piston, a press head fitted onto an upper portion of the stem, a nozzle hole opening at a side surface of the press head, and first and second passages merging with each other on an upstream side of the nozzle hole. The first passage is in communication with an air chamber on one side of the air piston, and the second passage is in communication with the liquid cylinder through inside of the stem. These passages are so arranged that air within the air chamber is discharged from the nozzle hole, through the first passage, by depressing the actuator member toward the vessel, thereby applying a vacuum within inside of the second passage such that the liquid within the vessel is mixed with air and discharged from the nozzle hole.
With the above-mentioned structure of the liquid spray device according to the present invention, when the actuator member is depressed to cause a downward displacement of the air piston, the air within the air chamber is discharged from the nozzle hole via the air passage, and the liquid within the vessel is positively sucked by the air discharged from the nozzle hole at a high speed, under the application of Bernoulli's theorem, and discharged with the air as mist. It is therefore possible to readily and positively atomize a liquid by increasing the air discharge pressure, even when the liquid is one for which atomization had been considered difficult in the past.
For carrying out the present invention, it is advantageous that the actuator member includes a transverse bore within the press head, which extends in a radial direction substantially in alignment with the nozzle hole, and an inner tube arranged within the transverse bore, one of the first and second passages being formed by a passage which extends through inside of the inner tube of the nozzle hole, and the other of the first and second passages being formed by a passage which extends along an outer surface of the inner tube to the nozzle hole.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the press head of the actuator member includes a peripheral wall surrounding an upper portion of the stem, and the air piston has a boss in its center portion, wherein the boss is fitted onto an outer surface of the stem and has an outer surface at its upper portion, which is fitted, in a liquid-tight manner, with an inner surface of the peripheral wall at its lower portion, such that the boss can be moved vertically, relative to the peripheral wall, within a predetermined small stroke, and the first passage is partly formed of a clearance between the inner surfaces of the peripheral wall and the boss and the outer surface of the stem. The stem has an intermediate portion which is provided with a seat having an upper surface with which a lower end surface of the boss can be brought into contact, with the lower surface of the boss and the upper surface of the seat forming an air discharge valve.
In this instance, it is particularly preferred that the frictional resistance of the inner surface of the boss relative to the outer surface of the stem is made smaller than the frictional resistance of an outer surface of the air piston relative to the inner surface of the air cylinder. This is because, when the actuator member is depressed, the stem is caused to displace downwards earlier than the air cylinder to open the air discharge valve, and, upon upward displacement of the actuator member, the stem is caused to move upwards earlier than the air cylinder to close the air discharge valve, thereby ensuring a proper opening and closing operations of the air discharge valve.
In the above-mentioned embodiment of the present invention, it is preferred that the air piston comprises a wall having at least one valve hole between said boss and an outer peripheral portion thereof, which slidably contacts the inner surface of the air cylinder, and a seal means for nonnally shielding the valve hole from the air chamber and opening the valve hole relative to the air chamber when a negative pressure is applied to inside of the air chamber. This is because provision of such an ambient air suction valve in association with the air piston ensures that ambient air can be positively supplied into the air chamber.
The above-mentioned seal means may comprise an annular resilient sheet which is supported by the lower portion of the boss, wherein the resilient sheet has an outer periphery which can be brought into contact, in air-tight manner, with the lower surface of said wall at a location which is on the radially outer side of the valve hole.
The spray device according to the present invention may further comprise a liquid check valve which is arranged in the upper portion of the stem.
According to the present invention, furthermore, there may be arranged a spinning mechanism in the form of volute channels, at the downstream end of the first passage (air passage) where it merges with the second passage (liquid passage). In this instance, the mist being discharged from the nozzle is caused by the spinning mechanism to rotate at a high speed, to further promote atomization of the liquid.
As explained above, the liquid spray device according to the present invention makes it possible to readily and positively atomize a liquid by increasing the air discharge pressure, even when the liquid is one for which atomization had been considered difficult in the past. Nevertheless, it is preferred in accordance with the present invention to arrange a relief valve within the air passage, which opens when the pressure exceeds a predetermined level. Provision of such a relief valve serves to prevent fluctuation of spraying volume or spraying pattern due to variation of the depression force of the press head or the like, thereby making it possible to achieve a further improved spraying of the liquid within the vessel. The opening pressure of the relief valve can be appropriately determined depending upon the physical prop
Chiku Masami
Iwata Risa
Kuwahara Katsuhito
Shinozaki Natsuo
Douglas Lisa Ann
Kashnikow Andres
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
Yoshino Kogyosho Co. Ltd.
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