Paint strainer

Details Paint strainer Paint strainer

1999-11-04

2001-06-19

Walker, W. L. (Department: 1723)

Liquid purification or separation

Filter

Resting on supporting receiver, e.g., portable

C210S464000, C210S469000, C222S189060

Reexamination Certificate

active

06247600

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to strainers that are mountable on containers into which paint or other liquid materials are to be strained, and more particularly to strainers for use with storage containers that are accessed by sprayer intake hoses.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Paint strainers used in conjunction with paint containers are known in the art. Currently available to the paint industry are filter socks, filters affixed to cardboard, filters affixed to paper funnels, and strainers that embody the invention of my U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,036.
Filter socks, are considered cumbersome to work with because they need to be manually stretched over a receptacle, i.e., a can or bucket, into which paint is to be poured from another can or bucket of paint. Once the sock has been pulled over the receptacle, the paint is then poured out of the can or bucket through the sock into the receptacle. In the case of a 5 gallon can or bucket of paint, this requires the operator to use one hand to hold the sock on the receptacle, leaving only one hand to pour 5 gallons, or approximately 50 lbs., of paint into the receptacle. For most people it is an awkward or difficult task to hold the container so as to control the flow of paint into the waiting container, with the result that frequently the straining process is messy due to spilling.
The filters affixed to cardboard are designed to sit on top of an empty container and allow paint from another container to be poured through the filter unit. Although this design solves the handling problem with the aforementioned sock, it has its drawbacks as well. The use of cardboard as one of its major components raises serious contamination issues and also increases costs. Many painters do not want their paint coming in contact with cardboard for fear of dust and dirt related problems. Also, the filter material is often stapled to the cardboard which does not provide a very reliable bond and also does not create a uniform seal around the diameter of the cardboard box. This allows for the possibility that paint can be poured between the filter and the cardboard, thus by-passing the filtering.(straining) process altogether. Lastly, although the base of this type of filtering apparatus sits on the lip of a container, the cardboard box extends well up above the height of the container it is sitting on. This results in a potentially unstable position; it may tip over if not filled properly.
A paint strainer of the type that comprises a paper funnel combined with a filter material also has practical problems. For one thing, the unit is not self-supporting and, therefore, has to be hand-held to be used. This makes it difficult to simultaneously hold the filter and pour material. A further problem is that its capacity is necessarily limited, thereby limiting the rate and efficiency of the straining process and making it impractical for use where larger volumes of paint are to be strained.
While it is desirable for strainers to be reusable, in practice most strainers are used only for one paint color and then replaced rather than risk discoloration of a second color with left-over traces of the first color. Accordingly, to save storage and shipping space, it is desirable for be able to stack paint strainers one upon the other in a nesting relationship. Certain of the foregoing types of paint strainers are not well suited for stacking one inside the other.
My U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,036 discloses a paint strainer which is adapted to be mounted in the top end of a paint container so that both hands of a painter may be used to pour the paint through the strainer and into the paint container. When mounted on a paint container, my strainer does not form a top-heavy assembly like prior designs of paint strainer designs, thereby assuring position stability during a paint-pouring operation. My design is sturdy and also offers the advantages of being relatively easy to make and adapted for stacking one inside of the other.
I have determined that it would be advantageous to be able to access a paint container with a paint sprayer intake hose without having to remove the strainer and without interfering with the manner in which the strainer is suspended from the rim of the container. This allows for successive refilling of the container without having to remove the intake hose from the container, which inevitably results in dripping paint outside of the paint container. Keeping the strainer suspended in the paint container provides the added benefit of having residual paint drip down from the strainer into the paint container. Such an arrangement also offers the advantage of saving time because the user does not have to (a) remove the sprayer intake hose in order to reapply the strainer to the container in order to strain a new supply of paint into the container, and (b) subsequently remove the strainer in order to reinsert the intake hose for further paint spraying. Keeping the strainer on top of the paint container also prevents unwanted contaminants, such as insects, paint chips, dirt and so forth, from falling into the strained paint.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The primary object of this invention is to improve upon the strainer disclosed and claimed in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,036.
Another object of the invention is to provide a strainer which is not only readily stackable so as to permit space-efficient shipping and storage, but also which need not be removed from a container filled with a strained liquid such as paint in order to permit an intake hose for a sprayer or other apparatus to be inserted into the container.
The foregoing objects are achieved according to the present invention by providing a novel strainer which is adapted particularly for straining and depositing liquid paint in an open container, but useful also in straining other liquid material. In the illustrated preferred embodiment of the invention, the strainer comprises a side wall having first portion that is convex in cross-section and a second portion that is concave in cross-section, with the first and second portions being joined to one another so that said side wall is continuous in cross-section, an inwardly-extending flange attached to the bottom end of the side wall, a screen or mesh fixed to the inwardly extending flange so as to close off the bottom end of the space encompassed by the side wall, and an outwardly extending lip formed integral with the top end of the side wall for suspending the strainer from the open top end of a container into which paint or some other liquid material is to be strained. The lip extends along the top margin of the convex portion of the wall and terminates at the junctions of the top margins of the convex and concave portions, so as to permit the strainer to be suspended by its lip portion from the top end of a container. This new form of strainer improves upon the strainer shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,036 in that the concave portion leaves an opening between the strainer and the container on which it is suspended that is large enough to permit an intake hose for a spraying apparatus to be extended into the container without need to remove the strainer from the container. At the same time the strainers provided by this invention are shaped so as to permit them to be stacked one inside the other, so as to reduce storage and shipment space requirements. Preferably, the strainer side wall is made of a first thermoplastic material and the strainer mesh is made of a second thermoplastic material, with the first and second thermoplastic materials being joined together by fusion or other bonding means or methods.
The above and other features of the invention, including various novel details of construction, are described hereinafter.


REFERENCES:
patent: D. 107540 (1937-12-01), McHale
patent: D. 185399 (1959-06-01), Tupper
patent: D. 286268 (1986-10-01), Wolff
patent: D. 323296 (1992-01-01), Schoenthaler
patent: D. 359202 (1995-06-01), Cousins et al.
patent: D. 360929 (1995-08-01), Albertson
patent: D. 362804 (1995-10-01), Warren
patent: D. 379

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