Abstract:
A battery operated spray pump includes a piston pump wherein the axis of the pump is arranged at an angle relative to the axis of the spray discharge and the fluid inlet. In addition the batteries lie substantially on top of the pump rather than behind it. This allows the spray head to assume an overall size which is almost completely within the foot print of the bottle to which it is attached and also provides the spay head with better balance.

Description:
[0001]     This application is related to co-owned co-pending applications Ser. No. 11/034,600 filed Jan. 13, 2005 and Ser. No. 60/624,647 filed Nov. 3, 2004, the complete disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     This invention relates broadly to battery operated fluid pumps. More particularly, this invention relates to a compact battery operated fluid pump contained in a spray head which fits onto existing pump spray containers and which exhibits improved balance.  
         [0004]     2. State of the Art  
         [0005]     Many household and industrial products are sold in containers that include a sprayer. These products include cleansers, insecticides, polishes, waxes, etc. There are several kinds of sprayers used with these products. Perhaps the most common is the manual push button or trigger operated pump which is seen most frequently on liquid cleansers. It has the advantage of being environmentally friendly (i.e. it does not require a propellant) but the disadvantage of requiring the user to repeatedly pump the button or trigger in order to effect spraying. Another well known sprayer is the aerosol can which is sealed and charged with a gas propellant. This sprayer has the advantage that it dispenses fluid in a continuous spray so long as the user holds the button down, but has several disadvantages. One disadvantage is that the can cannot be refilled. Another disadvantage is that depending on the gas used to charge the container, the propellant can be environmentally unfriendly. While environmentally friendly propellants do exist, generally, they do not charge as well as the unfriendly gases. Still another popular sprayer is the air pump sprayer seen most frequently with insecticides and liquid garden products. The air pump sprayer includes a hand operated air pump which is used to charge the container with compressed air. After it is charged, it operates much like an aerosol can. The pump sprayer is environmentally friendly but requires considerable effort to keep charged because air is not as efficient a propellant as environmentally unfriendly gases such as FREON or hydrocarbon gasses.  
         [0006]     In recent years there has been some experimentation with battery powered pump sprayers. Most of these devices include a spray mechanism which is similar to the ubiquitous push button (or trigger) pump sprayer but which is coupled to a battery powered electric motor by some type of linkage which converts the rotary action of the motor into an oscillatory motion to drive the pump piston. Many of these battery operated pump sprayers are designed to work only with a specially constructed bottle, i.e. they are not retrofittable to existing pump spray bottles. Many also have weight distribution problems, i.e. they are too heavy on one side and cause the bottle to which they are attached to tip over. This is partially do to the fact that the electrically driven piston pump is relatively long, extending beyond the footprint of the bottle to which it is attached. It is also partially due to the location of the batteries. Some battery operated pump sprayers use small ineffective diaphragm pumps or arrange a piston pump so that it extends down into the spray bottle. While these designs may provide better balance, they give rise to new disadvantages. The diaphragm pumps do not work as well as piston pumps. Arranging the pump inside the bottle displaces liquid in the bottle and subjects pump elements to submersion which requires additional design considerations.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a battery operated spray pump.  
         [0008]     It is another object of the invention to provide a battery operated spray pump that is retrofittable to an existing spray bottle.  
         [0009]     It is an additional object of the invention to provide a battery operated spray pump which is compact and does not extend much beyond the foot print of the spray bottle.  
         [0010]     It is another object of the invention to provide a battery operated spray pump which is well balanced and less likely to cause the bottle to tip over.  
         [0011]     In accord with these objects, which will be discussed in detail below, a battery operated spray pump according to the invention includes a pump having an inlet and an outlet, the outlet defining a pump axis coaxial with the outlet. The pump is mounted inside a spray head having a nozzle, the nozzle defining a discharge axis which is coaxial with the nozzle. According to one aspect of the invention, the pump axis and the discharge axis are neither collinear nor parallel nor perpendicular but are arranged at an angle of 30-60 degrees relative to each other. More particularly, the pump axis is angled up relative to the discharge axis with the pump outlet angled up from and lying above the discharge axis. The pump outlet is therefore coupled to the nozzle by a flexible tube or an elbow. According to another aspect of the invention, the batteries are located on top of the pump. These aspects of the invention allow the spray head to assume an overall size which is almost completely within the foot print of a typical bottle to which it will be attached and also provides the spay head with better balance.  
         [0012]     The pump may be substantially the same as either of those disclosed in the previously incorporated applications but modified to allow the pump axis to be arranged at an angle relative to the discharge axis.  
         [0013]     Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the detailed description taken in conjunction with the provided figures.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]      FIG. 1  is a side elevational view of a spray head according to the invention coupled to a conventional bottle;  
         [0015]      FIG. 2  is a broken perspective view showing a front side of the spray head;  
         [0016]      FIG. 3  is a broken perspective view showing a rear side of the spray head;  
         [0017]      FIG. 4  is a broken, partially transparent and partially cut-away view showing a first side of the spray head;  
         [0018]      FIG. 5  is a broken, partially transparent and partially cut-away view showing a second side of the spray head; and  
         [0019]      FIG. 6  is an exploded perspective view of the components of the spray head.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0020]     Turning now to  FIGS. 1-3 , a battery operated spray head  10  according to the invention includes an ergonomic housing  12  coupled to a threaded bottle coupling  14  and including an adjustable nozzle  16  and a trigger  18 . The rear upper portion of the housing  12  includes a battery compartment door  21 . The coupling  14  is designed to fit on a standard bottle  1  having a 28 mm threaded opening  2 . These are the bottles most typically used with conventional spray heads for household products such as cleaners, fabric sprays, etc.  
         [0021]     Referring now to  FIGS. 4-6 , inside the housing  12 , there are several subsystems, including the power source (batteries)  22 , an electric motor  24 , a transmission  26 , and a piston pump  28 . Although the illustrated embodiment shows the piston pump which is described in detail in previously incorporated Ser. No. 11/034,600, the pump described in previously incorporated 60/624,647 could be used. Moreover, any electric pump of suitable size could be used. The trigger  18  is arranged so that when it is squeezed, it operates a valve  30  and an electrical switch  32 . The illustrated switch is a standard microswitch, but other types of switches could be used. Unlike the double valve arrangement of the previously incorporated application, in this arrangement, the inlet of the pump  28  is always fluidly coupled to the interior of the bottle  1  via a tube  34  which is coupled to another longer tube (not shown) which extends deep into the bottle. The valve  30  opens an air path from the atmosphere to the interior of the bottle  1 . It will be appreciated, however, that the double valve arrangement could be used in this spray head.  
         [0022]     As seen best in  FIG. 6 , the housing  12  has an upper part  12   a  and a lower part  12   b . A battery compartment  20  is located inside the door  21 . The door is removable so that the batteries  22  may be replaced as needed. The illustrated batteries are two AA alkaline batteries and the design is optimized for batteries having the mass of two AA batteries. Other batteries of the same or similar mass could be used or the design could be modified if needed to accommodate a battery or batteries of different mass. The battery compartment  20  also includes contacts  23  which couple opposite poles of two batteries  22  in series with each other and contacts  25  which couple opposite poles of batteries  22  to the motor ( 24  in  FIG. 5 ) via the switch  32  using wires (not shown). The nozzle  16  includes spin mechanics  16   a  and nozzle adapter  16   b . Those skilled in the art will appreciate that rotation of the nozzle  16  causes interaction of the spin mechanics  16   a  and the nozzle adapter such that the discharge from the nozzle is either a spray, a stream, a foam, or off. The valve  30  includes a piston  30   a  and a spring  30   b.    
         [0023]     Referring once again to  FIGS. 4-6 , it will be appreciated that the axis of the pump  28  is not collinear with or parallel to the axis of the nozzle assembly  16 ,  16   a ,  16   b  which assumes a substantially horizontal orientation (±10 degrees). More particularly, the outlet of the pump is raised up from the normal position of facing directly at the nozzle. This can be described as having an outlet vector with a horizontal component facing in the same direction as the horizontal component of the nozzle outlet vector. The angle between the pump axis and the nozzle assembly axis is preferably between 30 degrees and 60 degrees. The pump inlet  28   a  (which contains the ball valve described in the previously incorporated application) is arranged to be vertical and therefore assumes an angle relative to the pump axis and is not collinear with the center of the coupling  14 . Thus, flexible tubes  34  and  35  are used to couple the inlet  28   a  to the bottle coupling  14  and the outlet  28   b  to the nozzle  16 . In lieu of flexible tubes  34 ,  35  elbows could be used. The batteries  22  are arranged on top of the pump assembly and substantially parallel (±10 degrees) to the pump axis. By arranging the pump, motor, transmission assembly and batteries at an angle relative to the nozzle assembly, the front to back dimension of the spray head is substantially shortened and the center of gravity of the spray head is moved closer to the vertical axis of the bottle. This allows the substantially the entire spray head (i.e., at least 90% of the spray head) to lie within the footprint of the bottle (i.e., within the projection of the bottle to a horizontal surface on which the bottle stands) and provides better balance. It will be appreciated from  FIGS. 4 and 5  that the lower rear portion of the housing  12  is larger than it needs to be to enclose the internal components. This is to provide an ergonomic form factor wherein the lower rear portion of the housing can rest comfortably on the user&#39;s hand when the trigger is squeezed.  
         [0024]     There have been described and illustrated herein a battery operated spray head retrofittable to existing pump spray containers. While particular embodiments of the invention have been described, it is not intended that the invention be limited thereto, as it is intended that the invention be as broad in scope as the art will allow and that the specification be read likewise. Thus, while two battery powered pumps have been disclosed by incorporation, it will be appreciated that other types of battery powered pumps can be used. It will therefore be appreciated by those skilled in the art that yet other modifications could be made to the provided invention without deviating from its spirit and scope as claimed.