Patent ID: 6386399
Filing Date: 2002-05-14
Classification: B05B

Abstract:
A vessel assembly that can be used in an upside-down position, the vessel assembly comprising:a vessel for containing a liquid; a manual pump attached to a mouth of the vessel with an attaching cylinder, the manual pump being manually operable to draw the liquid through an intake pipe portion and to discharge the liquid forcibly from the vessel; a cap unit attached to the attaching cylinder from beneath, the cap unit having a liquid-flowing conduit cylinder linked to the manual pump; a change-over valve unit fitted into the cap unit from beneath, the change-over valve unit comprising; a base pipe portion, the intake pipe portion being connected to a lower end of the base pipe portion; a conduit pipe portion disposed on the base pipe portion and linked to the conduit cylinder, the conduit pipe portion being tilted forward and downward in the vessel and a lower part of the conduit pipe portion being parallel with a bypass pipe portion; and the bypass pipe portion tilted forward and downward in the vessel, the bypass pipe portion including a bypass wall, a pair of liquid intake slits in the bypass wall, and a check valve provided inside the bypass pipe portion, the bypass pipe being closed at an upper end; wherein: when the vessel is in an upright position, the check valve is closed and the liquid is prevented from flowing between the conduit pipe portion and the bypass pipe portion; and when the vessel is in the upside-down position, the check valve is open and the liquid can flow between the conduit pipe portion and the bypass pipe portion; and a vacuum control air channel in the attaching cylinder for supplying air to the inside of the vessel, the vacuum control air channel including a first opening in a cylinder of the manual pump that communicates with an exterior of the vessel when a piston of the manual pump has moved to the inside of the cylinder and a second opening disposed at a rear portion of the cap unit, the second opening communicating with an interior of the vessel; and wherein when the vessel is used in the upside-down position, air entering through the vacuum control air channel does not communicate with the liquid intake slits as the air passes through the liquid.