Sprayer

Abstract

The sprayer comprises a piston capable of being reciprocatingly moved in a cylindrical chamber, a lever for operating said piston, a valve for guiding a spray liquid from a container to said chamber, and a locking member for fixing said lever in a prescribed position and simultaneously allowing said piston to close said valve when the sprayer is out of use.

Description

This invention relates to a manually operable sprayer for spraying a spray liquid.

In this type of sprayer, at the time of using the same, the piston is reciprocatingly moved within the cylindrical chamber by the actions of the manually operable lever and compression spring, thereby to effect the sucking and spraying of the liquid. And when out of use, this sprayer is allowed to stand with the piston urged up to the outermost position of the chamber by the spring. For this reason, when the lever is moved or the sprayer is carelessly turned upside down, the spray liquid is caused to leak out from a nozzle hole provided at the tip end portion of the piston to make a stain upon the environment.

Accordingly, the object of the invention is to provide a manually operable sprayer, when out of use, capable of preventing leakage of spray liquid even where a careless touch is made on the lever or the sprayer is reversed.

The sprayer according to the invention comprises a lever for reciprocatingly moving a piston in a cylindrical chamber, valve means for guiding a spray liquid from a liquid container to said chamber, and a locking member for fixedly retaining said lever and simultaneously allowing the piston to close said valve means when the sprayer is out of use. In the foregoing construction, when the lever is locked by the locking member, the lever is disabled from being moved and simultaneously the chamber is isolated from the container, preventing leakage of the spray liquid through the nozzle hole of the piston. These two functions can be achieved simply by provision of a single locking member.

The invention will hereinafter be described in more detail by reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a manually operable sprayer according to the invention, illustrating the condition of the sprayer in operation;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1, illustrating the condition in which the lever is locked by the locking member; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a valve member provided for the cylinder bottom section of the sprayer.

In the illustration, a sprayer according to the invention is formed of a suitable material such as plastic, and comprises a sprayer body 100 including a container 10 for receiving spray liquid therein and a sprayer head 11 having a cylindrical chamber or cylinder 12. A piston 13 is slidably inserted into the opening portion 14 of said cylinder, and a lever 15 for operating said piston is engaged therewith.

The neck portion 16 of the sprayer head 11 is firmly liquid-tightly coupled to the mouth portion 17 of the container 10 in a manner hereinafter described. The neck portion 16 is formed at its lower surface with a slightly tapered depression 18 and formed in its wall with a plurality of notches 19 upwardly extending from the lower end of the neck portion. Said notches serve to give a radial flexibility to the neck portion. The outer wall of the lower part of the neck portion and the inner wall of the depression thereof are formed with ring like grooves 20 and 21, respectively. A clamping ring 23 having a ring like projection 22 on its inner wall rotatably fitted over the neck portion 16 and said projection 22 is engaged with the groove 20. Further, the inner wall of the lower part of the clamping ring is threaded to form a female screw 24. A fittingly insertable tapered member 25, which has a ring like projection 26 on its outer wall and several flexible, concentric projections 27 on its bottom, is inserted into the depression 18 of the neck portion by engagement of the projection 26 with the groove 21. Further, the outer wall of the mouth portion 17 is formed with a male screw portion 28. When it is desired to fix the neck portion 16 to the mouth portion 17, the female screw 24 of the clamping ring 23 is fitted over the male screw 28 of the mouth portion 17 by screw engagement. As the ring is deeply fitted over the mouth portion by its rotation, the projection 22 of the ring urges the neck portion 16 toward the mouth portion. For this reason, the concentric projections 27 are bent to press the upper surface of the mouth portion in a liquid-tight condition, and simultaneously the member 25 is inserted more deeply and more liquid-tightly into the depression 18.

Rockably pivoted to the upper end portion of the sprayer head 11 via a pivot 29 is said lever 15, which is formed in the intermediate portion with a hole 30 and formed in the rear wall with semicircular notches 31. The lever is further provided in the lower part with a hole 32 for allowing the passage of a later-described locking member 33 and a projection 34 for being engaged with the locking member 33.

Said piston 13 is penetrated through the hole 30 of the lever 15, and pins 35 protruded transversely of the piston are engaged with said notches 31. From the outer wall of the piston is radially exteriorly projected an annular spring seat 36. The sprayer head 11 is formed around the cylinder 12 with an annular spring hole 37. A compression coil spring 38 received in the spring hole 37 abuts against the spring seat 36 at one end to urge the piston 13 forwardly or exteriorly of the cylinder. For this reason, when the lever 15 is pulled in a direction indicated by an arrow A, the piston is moved via the pins 35 interiorly of the cylinder, whereas when the external force applied to the lever is removed, the piston is moved exteriorly of the cylinder jointly with the lever by means of the spring 38. The outward movement of the piston is limited by engagement of a portion 39 of the lever 15 with a portion 40 of the sprayer head 11.

The piston 13 comprises a cylindrical piston body 41 having said spring seat 36 and a slidable member 42 firmly fitted into the rear or inner end portion of a large diameter hole 43 formed in said piston body. The large diameter hole 43 communicates with the cylindrical chamber 12 via a through hole 44 formed in the slidable member and simultaneously is open to the atmosphere via a small diameter hole 45 and a nozzle hole 46 formed in the piston body 41. Disposed within the piston body is a rod 47 having at one end a swirl portion 47a whose cross section is polygonal and at the other end a disk shaped valve portion 47b. The swirl portion has radial grooves 48 at the tip end portion and is made to abut against the inner wall of the small diameter hole 45 in the customary manner, whereby when the lever 15 is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow A, the spray liquid is ejected from the nozzle 46 via the large diameter hole 43, small diameter hole 45 and grooves 48. The disk-shaped valve 47b normally closes the through hole 44 of the slidable member due to the action of a compression spring 49 disposed between said valve and the end wall 43a of the large diameter hole. The slidable member 42 is formed on the outer periphery of its rear or inner end portion with a flexible flaring skirt portion 50, which slides along the inner wall of the cylinder in a liquid-tight condition. The slidable member is formed in the center of its inner end with a circle-shaped recess 51 whose diameter is larger than that of through hole 44 and which forms an annular surface 52. Between the skirt portion 50 and the recess 51 is formed an annular groove 53 for rendering the skirt portion more flexible.

Open to the cylinder 12 through the bottom wall thereof is an opening 54 located at one end portion of a passage 55, into the other end portion of which is inserted a pipe 56 for conducting spray liquid from the container 10. In the bottom of the cylinder is disposed a valve 57, which comprises a ring-shaped fixing section 57a firmly fixed to the cylinder bottom wall, a plurality of extremely flexible supporting arms 57b radially inwardly extending from said fixing section and a frust-conical valve element 57c retained at the center of the fixing section by said supporting arms (See FIG. 3). When the inner pressure of the cylinder is increased, the element 57c abuts against the cylinder bottom wall to close the opening 54 while when said inner pressure is decreased, the element 57c opens the opening 54. Further, the upper surface and lower surface of the element 57c are larger in diameter than the through hole 44 of the slidable member and the opening 54 of the passage 55, respectively, and the height of the element 57c is slightly larger than the depth of the recess 51. Accordingly, when the piston 13 presses the element 57c against the cylinder bottom via the annular surface 52, the element 57c closes both the through hole 44 and the opening 54.

The neck portion 16 of the sprayer body 11 is formed at the upper part with an air port 58 for allowing the depression 18 of the neck portion to communicate with the open air so as to prevent generation of a negative pressure within the container 10. The previously described locking member 33 is attached below the air port to the neck portion 16 in a manner integral therewith and is made rockable about the supporting section 33a. A retaining piece 59 is projected from the neck portion 16 in a position below the supporting section 33a, and the locking member 33 is formed with a notch 33b engageable with the retaining piece 59. While the sprayer is in operation, the locking member is retained at a rest position shown in FIG. 1 by engagement of the retaining piece 59 with the notch 33b so as not to obstruct the operation of the lever. From the locking member there branch a closing portion 33c for closing said air hole 58 and an engagement portion 33d for being engaged with the projection 34 of the lever 15 to retain the lever at a position illustrated in FIG. 2.

The operation of the sprayer will now be described.

Suppose that the lever 15 is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow A of FIG. 1 with an operator's fingers, then the piston 13 is pushed inwardly of the cylinder 12 against the force of the spring 38. At this time, the resultant increasing pressure in the cylinder causes the valve 57 to be closed and simultaneously the disk-shaped valve 47b to be opened against the force of the compression springs 49. Thus, the liquid is flowed through the through hole 44, valve 47b, large diameter hole 43, swirl portion 47a and a small diameter hole 45 until it is sprayed from the nozzle hole 46. When the force acting on the lever 15 is released therefrom, the piston 13 is pushed outwardly of the cylinder by the spring 38 and simultaneously the lever 15 is moved in a direction indicated by an arrow B. At this time, the valve 47b is closed due to the action of the spring 49 whereas the valve 57 is opened by the negative pressure generated within the cylinder 12. For this reason, the liquid within the container is sucked into the cylinder 12 via the pipe 56, passage 55 and valve 57, and the air is entered into the container from the air port 58 so as to prevent generation of a negative pressure within the container. Thereafter, this procedure is repeated thereby effecting a continuous ejection of a spray liquid. While the sprayer is in operation, said locking member 33 is retained in the position of FIG. 1 by the retaining piece 59 to keep the air port 58 open.

Upon completion of the sprayer operation, the lever 15 is moved jointly with the piston 13 in the direction shown by the arrow A up to the maximum limit, and subsequently the locking member 33 is disengaged from the retaining piece 59 and upwardly rocked about the supporting section 33a. The engagement portion 33d of the locking member 33 is engaged with the projection 34 by passing through the hole 32 of the lever to lock the lever and piston at the respective positions shown in FIG. 2. At this time, the annular surface 52 at the inner end of the piston presses the valve 57 against the cylinder bottom surface to separate the cylinder 12 from the passage 55 and from the through hole 44, respectively. For this reason, even when the sprayer is turned upside down, the liquid within the container 10 will not flow out from the nozzle hole 46. At the same time the closing portion 33c closes the air port 58 to prevent evaporation or leakage of the liquid within the container when the sprayer is reversed.

When it is desired to use the sprayer once again the sprayer can be made ready for the coming operation by a mere disengagement of the locking member 33 from the lever 15.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A sprayer comprising a sprayer head having a cylindrical chamber opened at one end, passage means communicating with said chamber through the bottom thereof, for introducing a spray liquid into the chamber, valve means for permitting only the flow of the liquid from said passage means to the chamber, a piston member slidably inserted into the chamber from said opened portion thereof and having at its outer end portion a nozzle for ejecting the liquid, a lever for moving said piston member toward the bottom portion of the chamber, and a locking member for locking, when the sprayer is out of use, the lever with the piston member placed in the innermost position of the chamber to cause the inner end of the piston member to close said valve means, said locking member being rockably mounted on the sprayer head and having an engagement portion for being engaged with the lever, said sprayer further comprising a container for receiving a spray liquid therein, and wherein said sprayer head is provided with an air port for preventing generation of a negative pressure within said container, and said locking member includes a closing portion for closing, when the lever is locked, said port simultaneously with the locking of the lever.

2. A sprayer according to claim 1 wherein said piston member includes a through hole connecting said nozzle to the chamber; and said valve means is so provided that when the lever is locked, it separates the chamber from said passage means and from said through hole, respectively.

3. A sprayer according to claim 2 wherein said valve means comprises a ring-shaped fixing section fixed to the bottom section of the chamber, a plurality of supporting arms radially inwardly extending from said fixing section and a valve element retained at the center of the fixing section by said supporting pieces.

4. A sprayer according to claim 1 wherein said sprayer head is provided with a retaining piece for retaining the locking member at a rest position when the sprayer is operated.

5. A sprayer according to claim 1 further comprising spring means for urging said piston member outwardly of the chamber, said locking member being made to retain the lever against the force of said spring means when locking the lever.