Sprayer

Abstract

A sprayer comprises a sprayer body and a container connected to said sprayer body by means of screw connection. Said screw connection is achieved by threadly engaging a connecting cylindrical member or a nut snapped on the lower end of the sprayer body with the male screwed neck of the container, and a truncated conical member is inserted into the lower end of the sprayer body after said snap fitting of the nut and to prevent the nut disengaged from said male threaded neck.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a sprayer comprising a sprayer body, a container for the spray liquid and a nut which is rotatably held on the lower end of said sprayer body and is used for connecting the container to the sprayer body.

In many sprayers the containers are threadly disconnected from and connected to the sprayer bodies every time the spray liquid is poured into or discharged from the container. In the prior art, a nut used for such screw connection between the sprayer body and container is fitted to the nut supporting member of the sprayer body in the following manner. First, said nut supporting member is inserted through the nut, and then fixed at its end with a nut stopper with a flange, which prevents the nut from falling therefrom. Such nut stopper is high-frequency welded, frictionally welded or glued by an adhesive agent to the nut supporting member. These weldings and adhesion are time consuming steps and require specific tools and devices, decreasing the output and increasing the production cost of the sprayers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide such a sprayer as manufactured without any specific steps and use of specific tools and devices for mounting the nut to the connecting cylindrical portion of the sprayer body, and consequently in a shorter time and with a lower cost than any sprayer hitherto known.

To achieve the above mentioned object, the sprayer according to the present invention comprises a container for containing the spray liquid provided with a male threaded neck, a sprayer body for spraying the spray liquid having a connecting cylindrical portion at its lower end and screw connected to said container, a nut rotatably mounted on said connecting cylindrical portion of said sprayer body and having a female thread to engage said male thread of the neck, and a truncated conical member into said connecting cylindrical portion to help to prevent the nut from disengaging from the connecting cylindrical portion.

Said connecting cylindrical portion has on its upper periphery a flange constituting a first engaging portion, which prevents the nut from further going upward, and its lower portion is divided by long U shaped notches or the other first engaging portion to be elastically bent outwardly and inwardly. The connecting cylindrical portion is further provided about its lower edge with another flange split by said long U-shaped notches. The inner wall of said nut is made up of a portion which is one of the second engaging portion slidably contacting with the lower portion of the connecting cylindrical portion between the upper and lower flanges, a stepped portion of the other second engaging portion to engage with the lower flange of the connecting cylindrical portion, and a threaded portion to engage with the male threaded neck of the container. Consequently, the nut, when snapped onto the connecting cylindrical portion, is rotatable on said portion.

When the nut is fitted on the connecting cylindrical portion, the split lower portion of the member bends inwardly to permit the lower flange to come into engagement with the stepped portion of the inner wall of the nut, whereby the nut is rotatably snap fitted on the connecting cylindrical portion. Once the nut is thus snapped on and the split lower portion of the connecting cylindrical portion bends back outwardly, the truncated conical member is inserted into the connecting cylindrical portion to prevent any further bending of the split lower portion of the connecting cylindrical portion, thereby to help to prevent the nut from disengaging from the connecting cylindrical portion.

All this done, the male threaded neck of the container is screwed into the nut, whereby the sprayer body and the container are firmly connected into a single sprayer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of the sprayer according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2 shows the part of the sprayer as shown in FIG. 1.

DETAILED EXPLANATION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a sprayer body 1 is provided at its lower end with a connecting cylindrical portion 3, within its upper portion with a cylinder 5 and through its lower portion a liquid passage 4 communicating with said cylinder 5. Inserted into said cylinder 5 is a piston 8, which is reciprocated in the cylinder 5 by a lever 6. The lever 6 is pivoted on a pin 9 and its side walls, when it is moved in the direction of arrow A, push protrusions 10 made on a spray sleeve 7 fitted into said piston 8, thereby pushing the piston 8 into the cylinder 5. Said spray sleeve 7 has a nozzle 11 at its front end and a spinner 12 within it.

There is biased onto the front end of the piston 8 a first check valve 13 by means of a spring 14 disposed between the piston 8 and the spinner 12. In the piston 8 there is made a recess 15 whose front end is opened or closed by the first check valve 13 and whose closed end is perforated with a hole 16 through which a rod 18 is penetrated into the recess 15. A ball is attached to the tip of said rod 18 and works as a ball valve 17 for the piston 8.

Another spring 20 is disposed in the cylinder 5 between a spring seat 19 fixed on the closed end of the cylinder 5 and another spring seat 21 mounted on the rear end of the piston 8, thereby to push the piston 8 away from the cylinder 5. Consequently, the piston 8, when the lever 6 is pulled and released alternately in the directions of arrows A and B, is reciprocated through the cylinder 5, whereby the liquid is sucked up from the container 2 and sprayed through the nozzle 11.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the connecting cylindrical portion has a flange 25 on its upper periphery, a recess 42 tapered toward its edge 43 and a plurality of, or more preferably, at least 3 long U shaped notches 23 extending from the edge 43 for about half the length of the portion 3. Thus, the lower half of the connecting cylindrical portion 3 is split by the notches 23 into a plurality of strips, each of which can elastically bend both inwardly and outwardly. To help the split lower portion of the connecting cylindrical portion 3 to more easily bend elastically, a thinner annular portion 24 is made on the periphery 47 of the connecting cylindrical portion 3 right below the flange 25. Near the edge of the connecting cylindrical portion there is formed another flange 26 split by said long U shaped notches 23. The periphery 26a of said split flange 26 is tapered toward the edge 43 so that a nut 27 can easily be fitted onto the connecting cylindrical portion 3. The connecting cylindrical portion 3 has an outer portion 3a so tapered to the flange 26 from the thinner annular portion 24 that the nut 27 is slidably fitted over the connecting cylindrical portion 3.

The inner wall of said nut 27 is made up of a tapered portion 27a to contact with the tapered portion 3a of the connecting cylindrical portion 3, a stepped portion 28 to engage with the split flange 26 of the connecting cylindrical portion 3 and a female thread 29 to screw-engage with a male thread on the neck 35 of the container 2.

A truncated member 30 is to be inserted into the recess 42 of the connecting cylindrical portion 3 the periphery of which contacts intimately the tapered inner wall 22 of the connecting cylindrical portion 3. The truncated conical member 30 has on its lower periphery an annular protrusion 31, which comes into engagement, when the truncated conical member 30 is fully inserted into the connecting cylindrical portion 3 with the annular groove 32 made in the tapered inner wall 22. Within the upper portion of the truncated conical member 30, there is disposed a second check valve 33 and an end of a pipe 34 through which the liquid is sucked up from the container 2 and which is connected to the truncated conical member 30 in such a manner that its end is opened or closed by said second valve 33. The truncated conical member 30 has about its lower edge a sealing flange 46. On the under surface of the flange 46, annular protrusions 36 are provided, which are pressed on the upper surface 40 of the neck 35 of the container 2, thereby to prevent any leak of liquid from between the truncated conical member 30 and the neck 35.

The neck 35 of the container 2 has a male-thread 37 and a neck hole 41 through which the liquid suck-up pipe 34 extends to the bottom of the container 2.

The nut 27 is pushed onto the periphery of the connecting cylindrical portion 3 against elastic force of the split lower portion until the stepped portion 28 of its inner wall comes into engagement with the lower flange 26 of the connecting cylindrical portion 3, and thus finally is snapped onto the connecting cylindrical portion 3. Then, the truncated conical member 30 is inserted into the recess 42 of the connecting cylindrical portion 3 until its annular protrusion 31 engages with the annular groove 32 of the connecting cylindrical portion 3. By all these operations, the nut 27 can be rotatably mounted on and is never disengaged from the connecting cylindrical portion 3.

In the aforementioned embodiment of the present invention, the second check valve 33 is disposed in the truncated conical member 30. The second check valve 33 may, however, be disposed in other places than in the truncated conical member 30.

Claims

What I claim is:

1. A sprayer comprising:

a container for receiving a spray liquid therein, the container having a cylindrical neck with a male thread formed on the periphery thereof;

a sprayer body for spraying the spray liquid sucked from the container having a connecting cylindrical portion and a first engaging means formed on the periphery; and

a connecting cylindrical member to connect the spray body to the container, the inner surface of which has a female thread formed on one side and a second engaging means on the opposite side, said second engaging means being engaged with the first engaging means for rotatably mounting and holding the connecting cylindrical member to the connecting portion of the sprayer body by snap fitting.

2. A sprayer comprising:

a container for receiving a spray liquid therein, the container having a cylindrical neck with a male thread formed on the periphery thereof;

a sprayer body for spraying the spray liquid sucked from the container having a connecting cylindrical portion and a first engaging means being formed on the periphery and including a flange and a plurality of notches for causing the cylindrical connecting portion to be elastically bent; and

a connecting cylindrical member to connect the sprayer body to the container, the inner face of which has a female thread formed on one side and a second engaging means on the opposite side, said second engaging means including an annular stepped portion and to be engaged by snap fitting with the first engaging means of the sprayer body.

3. A sprayer according to claim 2 wherein said notches are of U shape formed at the end of the connecting cylindrical portion.

4. A sprayer according to claim 2 wherein said flange is formed at one end of the connecting cylindrical portion and has a tapered periphery.

5. A sprayer according to claim 2 wherein the second engaging portion further includes a tapered inner surface between the stepped annular portion and the end portion of the connecting cylindrical member.

6. A sprayer according to claim 5 wherein the connecting cylindrical portion has a tapered periphery with the same tapered angle as said tapered inner surface of the connecting cylindrical member.

7. A sprayer according to claim 2 wherein said connecting cylindrical portion has near the tip of the notch a thinner annular portion than the other portion.

8. A sprayer according to claim 4 wherein the sprayer body further has an annular stopper protrusion formed at the other end of the connecting cylindrical portion to limit the axial movement of the connecting cylindrical member.

9. A sprayer according to claim 1 which includes an insert slidably inserted into the connecting cylindrical portion engaging the connecting cylindrical member to prevent the disengagement of them.

10. A sprayer according to claim 9 wherein the insert is a truncated conical member, and the connecting cylindrical portion has a truncated conical inner surface to be fitted in the truncated conical surface of the insert.

11. A sprayer according to claim 10 wherein said connecting cylindrical portion includes an annular groove provided on the inner surface thereof and the truncated conical member has an annular protrusion on the outer periphery thereof to engage said annular groove.

12. A sprayer according to claim 9 wherein the truncated conical member has a sealing flange at the expanded end disposed between the connecting cylindrical portion and the neck of the container.

13. A sprayer according to claim 12 wherein the flange has at least one protrusion formed on the side facing the neck of the container.