Fluid spray pump

An improved fluid spray pump is disclosed for spraying a fluid from a fluid container through a terminal orifice comprising a housing having an internal cylinder with a first and a second end. A collar with an internal collar aperture is mounted adjacent the first end of the housing internal cylinder. A pump barrel is slidably received in the internal collar aperture and includes a barrel internal bore communicating with a terminal orifice in the pump barrel. A piston comprising a piston stem is received in the barrel internal bore of the piston barrel and with a piston head received within the housing internal cylinder. Channels are provided along the piston stem for communicating the housing internal cylinder with the terminal orifice. An annular seal is slidably mounted relative to the piston and the pump barrel for sealing the channel means when the annular seal abuts a shoulder formed between the piston head and the piston stem. The annular seal enables fluid flow through the channel means to the terminal orifice when the annular seal is displaced from the piston shoulder by movement of the pump barrel toward the second end of the housing internal cylinder.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The invention relates to fluid spray pumps and more particularly to finger 
operated fluid spray pumps. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Hand operated pumps have been widely used in the prior art for a variety of 
substances and applications. A segment of this prior art comprises hand or 
trigger action pumps wherein the pump motion is supplied by the index or 
"trigger" finger of the operator. Accordingly, these pumps are generally 
referred to in the trade as trigger action pumps. The term trigger action 
pump as set forth herein includes both linear and pivotal movement of a 
trigger actuator in addition to vertical angular or horizontal piston 
movement. 
The prior art trigger action pumps have been used for dispensing and 
pumping a large variety of fluids, generally liquids. Many products were 
sold within a container having a trigger action pump for dispensing the 
product by the consumer. Cleaning preparations and the like were one of 
the most popular products sold in containers having a trigger action pump. 
Most other products for example, sprayed deodorant, paints, insecticides 
and the like were normally sold in aerosol containers having a freon 
propellant. With the increased investigation of the environmental impact 
of freon propellants, these industries have again looked toward the 
trigger action pump as a possible solution for providing the consumer with 
the convenience of an aerosol product while complying with environmental 
regulations. 
Unfortunately, the trigger action pumps of the prior art were not capable 
of replacing aerosol containers. The prior art trigger action pumps either 
lacked proper performance or lacked the reliability demanded by the 
consumer and the manufacturer of the fluid product. The trigger action 
pumps in the prior art that were able to provide proper performance were 
generally difficult to manufacture thus substantially raising the cost of 
the product. 
There is a need in the art for a trigger action pump which is suitable for 
replacing many of the applications heretofor satisfied by aerosol 
containers having freon propellants. 
Therefore it is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus which 
overcomes the aforementioned inadequancies of the prior art devices and 
provides an improvement which is a significant contribution to the 
advancement of the pump art. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a trigger action pump for 
pumping a fluid from a fluid container which has spraying characteristics 
equivalent to aerosol containers with a minimal amount of drip at the 
beginning and termination of the trigger stroke. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a trigger action pump for 
pumping a fluid from a fluid container which is easy to operate with a 
minimum amount of finger pressure and is capable of pumping a variety of 
fluids without manufacturing change. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a trigger action pump for 
pumping a fluid from a container which pump may be readily assembled from 
easily molded plastic parts resulting in a reliable and rugged pump at 
relatively low cost. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a trigger action pump for 
pumping a fluid from a container having an annular seal slidably mounted 
for sealing channels in a piston stem when the annular seal abuts a piston 
shoulder and for enabling fluid to flow through the channels when the 
annular seal is displaced from the piston shoulder. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a trigger action pump for 
pumping a fluid from a fluid container comprising a housing, a collar, a 
pump barrel, a piston and an annular seal with a spring coacting between 
the piston and the housing for abutting the annular seal between the 
collar and the piston for sealing the container, to prevent accidental 
dispensing of the fluid during shipment. 
Other objects and a fuller understanding of this invention may be had by 
referring to the summary of the invention, the description and the claims, 
taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The invention may be incorporated into a pump primarily adapted for pumping 
a fluid from a fluid container comprising a housing having a housing 
internal cylinder with a first and a second end. A collar is established 
adjacent the first end of the housing internal cylinder for providing a 
collar internal aperture. A one way valve connects the fluid container to 
the housing internal cylinder. A pump barrel is slidably received in the 
internal collar aperture and includes a terminal orifice. A piston 
comprising a piston head is receivable in the housing internal cylinder 
with the piston having channel means for communicating the housing 
internal cylinder with the terminal orifice. An annular seal is slidably 
mounted between a first and a second position for sealing the channels 
when the annular seal is in the first position and for enabling fluid flow 
through the channels when the annular seal is in the second position. 
More specifically, without restricting the scope of the invention, the pump 
may include a collar shoulder in proximity to the first end of the housing 
internal cylinder formed by the internal collar aperture having a 
cross-sectional area less than the cross sectional area of the housing 
internal cylinder. The pump barrel includes a barrel internal bore 
communicating with the terminal orifice of the pump barrel. The piston 
comprises a piston stem and an enlarged piston head with the piston stem 
being receivable in the barrel internal bore of the piston barrel and with 
the pump head being receivable in the housing internal cylinder. The 
piston head forms a piston shoulder in proximity to the junction of the 
piston head and the piston stem. The channel means may comprise a 
plurality of grooves extending into the outer surface of the piston stem 
and equally distributed thereabout. The annular seal is slidably mounted 
for sealing the channel when the annular seal abuts the piston shoulder. 
The annular seal enables fluid to flow through the channels when the 
annular seal is displaced from the piston shoulder. Bias means which may 
include a spring coacting between the piston and the second end of the 
housing internal cylinder, biases the piston toward the first end of the 
housing internal cylinder to abut the annular seal means between the 
collar shoulder and the piston shoulder. A cylindrical recess may be 
established at the second end of the housing with the piston head having a 
substantially cylindrical recess facing the second end of the housing 
internal cylinder. The spring is receivable within the recesses for 
biasing the piston toward the first end of the housing internal cylinder. 
It should be understood that either of the recesses may be replaced by a 
flat surface or a projection extending within the central part of a coil 
spring for positioning the spring between the piston and the housing. 
Trigger means is mounted relative to the pump barrel for sliding the pump 
barrel toward the second end of the housing internal cylinder thereby 
displacing the annular seal from the piston shoulder to pump the fluid 
through the terminal orifice. The trigger may be mounted for linear 
movement in accordance with the linear movement of the pump barrel or may 
be pivotably mounted relative to the housing for providing substantially 
linear movement to the pump barrel upon pivotable movement of the trigger. 
The annular seal in one embodiment appears in the form of a sleeve with a 
sealing member extending radially outwardly at one end thereof with the 
sleeve being at least partially received within an annular seal bore of 
the pump barrel. Stop means establishes the position of the piston 
relative to the pump barrel for movement in unison upon action of the 
trigger. The annular seal bore of the pump barrel enables the annular seal 
means to slide relative to the pump barrel and the piston to provide fluid 
communication between the housing internal cylinder and the terminal 
orifice only upon movement of the pump barrel in the direction toward the 
second end of the housing internal cylinder. The annular seal seals the 
channels upon movement of the pump barrel in the direction toward the 
first end of the housing internal cylinder. During this movement, the 
annular seal abuts the piston shoulder for sealing the channel means. 
Alternatively, the annular seal may comprise an O-ring slidably mounted 
relative to the pump barrel in the piston for providing fluid 
communication between the housing internal cylinder and the terminal 
orifice when the O-ring is displaced from the piston shoulder for sealing 
the channel means upon the O-ring abutting the piston shoulder formed at 
the junction of the piston head and the piston stem. 
This invention accordingly comprises an apparatus possessing the features, 
properties and the relation of elements which will be exemplified in the 
apparatus hereinafter described, and the scope of the invention will be 
indicated in the claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
FIGS. 1-6 show various views of a trigger action pump 10 for pumping a 
fluid such as liquid from a fluid container 11. The pump 10 is connected 
through a flange 14 having a tail piece 16 for receiving a dip tube 18 
secured by friction or other means. The dip tube 18 extends to the bottom 
of the container 11 for drawing the fluid therein. The container 11 may 
have a screw cap 12 for securing the base 20 to the mouth of the container 
11. A vent aperture 22 communicates with aperture 24 to vent the container 
11 through collar internal aperture 50 of a collar 48, as will be 
hereinafter explained. 
The internal housing cylinder 26 extends through housing 28 and has a first 
and a second end 31 and 32. A base 34 of housing 28 receives the waist 
diameter 36 of the flange 14 with a housing valve projection 38 being 
received in the internal diameter of an upper annular ring 40 of flange 
14. A check ball 42 is contained between the housing valve projection 38 
and flange 14 to provide communication from dip tube 18 to the internal 
housing cylinder 26 through aperture 44 when check ball 42 is raised as 
shown in FIG. 4. 
The housing 28 comprises a recess 46 located in proximity to the second end 
32 of the housing internal cylinder 26. The first end 31 of cylinder 26 is 
shown substantially open for receiving the collar 48 having the collar 
internal aperture 50 with a cross-sectional area less than the 
cross-sectional area of the housing internal cylinder 26. The collar 48 
forms a collar shoulder 52 when collar insert 54 is received within an 
annular slot 56 formed in the housing 28. The collar 48 also comprises 
ribs 58 rigidily extending out from the collar 48 to pivot a trigger 60 by 
an integral plastic hinge 62. The collar 48, ribs 58, trigger 60 and the 
integral plastic hinge 62 may be an integral structure formed from a 
single plastic part. 
A pump barrel 64 is slidably received in the internal collar aperture 50 
with a pump barrel tip 66 extending through an elongated aperture 68 in 
trigger 60. The pump barrel 64 includes an internal barrel bore 70 having 
a plurality of grooves 72 which define lands 73 more clearly shown in FIG. 
6. The internal bore 70 communicates through a feed aperture 74 to a 
terminal orifice 76. A plurality of stops 78 extend from an end 80 of the 
pump barrel 64 to position a piston 82 as will be hereinafter described. 
The piston 82 comprises a piston stem 84 and an enlarged piston head 86 
having a cylindrical recess 88 for receiving bias means shown as a spring 
90 interposed between recess 46 of the housing 28 and recess 88 of piston 
82. Spring 90 urges the piston toward the left in FIG. 1 to the shown 
unattended position. The piston 82 includes a piston shoulder 92 
established at the junction between the piston stem 84 and the enlarged 
piston head 86. The piston shoulder 92 has a radially extending portion 94 
and a tapered portion 95. The piston stem 84 includes channel means shown 
as a plurality of channels or grooves 96 disposed about the piston stem 84 
and extending along the length thereof. 
The piston stem 84 is insertable within the internal barrel bore 70 of the 
pump barrel 64 with the stem 84 contacting lands 73 and with the end 98 of 
the piston stem 84 engaging the stops 78 of the pump barrel 64. The 
grooves 96 of piston 82 are shown aligned with the grooves 72 of the pump 
barrel 64 but it should be understood that the pump may operate with the 
grooves 72 and 96 adjacent or nonadjacent one another. The grooves 72 
define lands 73 which position the piston stem 84 within the internal 
barrel bore 70. 
Annular sealing means 100 preferably made of a rubber compound is slidably 
mounted relative to the pump barrel 64 and the piston 82 to seal the 
piston grooves 96 when the annular seal 100 is in a first position 
abutting the piston shoulder 92. The seal 100 enables fluid flow through 
the piston grooves 96 when the annular seal 100 is in a second position 
displaced from the piston shoulder 92. In this embodiment, the annular 
seal 100 comprises a sleeve portion 102 and a sealing member 104 with the 
sealing member having portions 106 and 108 for respectively abutting the 
portions 94 and 95 of the piston shoulder 92. Portion 110 seals against 
the internal diameter of the internal housing cylinder 26, whereas a rear 
portion 112 abuts the collar shoulder 52 when spring 90 urges the piston 
82 to the left as shown in FIG. 1. Accordingly, the annular seal portions 
106 and 108 abut piston shoulder portions 94 and 95 to seal fluid 
communication between the internal housing cylinder 26 and internal 
orifice 76. 
The pump 10 as heretofore described may be fashioned from eight parts 
including flange 14, housing 28, collar assembly 48, pump barrel 64, 
piston 82, annular seal 100 and a hood 114. Annular projections 124 
integrally extending from insert 54 of collar 48 are received in annular 
recesses 126 of slot 56 to secure the pump together against the urging of 
spring 90. The pump 10 shown in FIG. 1 is sealed to prevent spillage of 
the contents of the container 11 during shipment. 
FIG. 2 shows the result of initial pressure applied to the trigger 60 
causing movement toward the right of the barrel 64 and piston 82. The 
annular seal 100 remains stationary with the sleeve portion 102 sliding 
into an annular seal bore 116. The displacement of the annular seal 100 
from the piston shoulder 92 causes fluid communication between the 
internal housing cylinder 26 and the terminal orifice 76. Movement of 
piston 82 also pressurizes the internal housing cylinder 26 for providing 
pressure to dispense the fluid contained in the internal housing cylinder 
26. 
FIG. 3 illustrates the position of the pump barrel 64, piston 82 and 
annular seal 100 at substantially the maximum stroke of the trigger 60. 
The annular seal 100 is still displaced from the piston shoulder 92 
enabling continued dispensing of the fluid contained in the internal 
housing cylinder 26. It should be appreciated that vent aperture 22 
communicates through aperture 24 and aperture 50 to vent container 11. 
FIG. 4 illustrates the return of the pump barrel 64, piston 82 and annular 
seal 100 by action of spring 90. Initially, the piston 82 pushes pump 
barrel 64 toward the left in FIG. 4 with the annular seal 100 remaining 
stationary until sealing member 104 abuts piston shoulder 92 to seal 
piston grooves 96. Further return of the piston 82 raises check ball 42 
for drawing fluid into the internal housing cylinder 26 from the container 
11. 
FIG. 7 is a modification of the invention as shown in FIG. 1 with similar 
parts being labeled with similar reference numerals followed by an A. In 
this embodiment, the trigger 60A is integrally formed with and moves 
linearly with the piston barrel 64A in the collar internal aperture 50A of 
collar 48A. The piston head 86A comprises a protrusion 88A instead of the 
recess 88 for positioning spring 90A in the housing 28A. The pump 10A 
operates substantially the same as the pump 10 shown in FIGS. 1-6. 
FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate a variation 100B of the annular seals 100 and 100A 
shown in FIGS. 1-7 and which may be incorporated into either of the 
embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 and 7. Similar parts are labeled with similar 
reference numerals followed by a B. In this embodiment, the annular seal 
100B is an O-ring disposed between the end 118B of the pump barrel 64B and 
a piston shoulder 92B of a piston 82B. The O-ring 100B simultaneously 
abuts collar shoulder 52B and piston shoulder 92B for sealing the piston 
grooves 96B. 
FIG. 9 illustrates movement of the pump barrel 64B and piston 82B toward 
the right displacing O-ring 100B from the piston shoulder allowing fluid 
communication between the internal housing cylinder and the terminal 
orifice as heretofore described. 
FIGS. 10-12 show a modification of the invention shown in FIG. 1 with 
similar parts labeled with similar reference numerals followed by a C. The 
annular seal means 100C is made of a rubber compound which is deformable 
when subjected to fluid pressure. In this embodiment, the annular seal 
comprises a sleeve portion 102C and a sealing member 104C, with the 
sealing member 104C having portions 106C and 108C for respectively 
abutting portions 94C and 95C of the piston shoulder 92C. Portion 110C 
seals against the internal diameter of the internal housing 26C whereas a 
rear portion 112C abuts the collar shoulder 52C when spring 90C urges the 
piston 82C to the left as shown in FIG. 10. The annular seal portions 106C 
and 108C abut piston shoulder portions 94C and 95C to seal fluid 
communication between the internal housing cylinder 26C and the terminal 
orifice (not shown). FIGS. 10-12 differ from FIG. 1 in that the annular 
seal bore 116C is commensurate in length with the sleeve portion 102C of 
the annular seal 100C. Accordingly, the annular seal 100C moves in 
accordance with the pump barrel 64C and the piston 82C. 
FIG. 11 shows the results of initial pressure applied to the pump barrel 
64C by a trigger or other means which causes movement toward the right of 
the barrel 64C, piston 82C and annular seal 100C. The annular seal 100C 
remains in contact with the piston 82C and more particularly, sealing 
member portions 106C and 108C respectively abut piston portions 94C and 
95C. Concomitantly with the movement of pump barrel 64C, the fluid 
pressure builds within the housing cylinder 26C by virtue of the reduced 
volume therein. The pressure is exerted on surfaces 120C of the annular 
seal 100C to cause deformation of the sealing member 104C as shown in FIG. 
12. Accordingly, the fluid pressure causes displacement of the annular 
seal 100C from the piston shoulder 92C to cause fluid communication 
between the internal housing cylinder 26C and the terminal orifice (not 
shown). Continued movement of pump barrel 64C further pressurizes the 
internal housing cylinder 26C for providing pressure to dispense the fluid 
contained in the internal housing cylinder 26C. If the fluid pressure 
within the housing 26C falls below the level required to deform the 
annular seal 100C, the seal returns to abut piston shoulder 92C, thereby 
terminating fluid communication between the internal housing cylinder 26C 
and the terminal orifice. 
This modification ensures that a build-up of fluid pressure is present 
before fluid communication is established between the internal housing 
cylinder and the terminal orifice. Accordingly, fluid spray is eliminated 
during the weak pressure sections of a pump stroke, namely the initial 
section and the final section of the pump stroke. The pump produces a 
substantially uniform spray irrespective of the pump stroke. It should be 
understood that the invention shown in FIGS. 10-12 may be modified to 
incorporate a deformable O-ring seal in a manner similar to the invention 
shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. 
Although the invention has been shown as a horizontal pump having either a 
pivoting or a linear trigger, it should be appreciated that the pump may 
be embodied in a vertical pump or otherwise. It should also be appreciated 
that the pumping action need not necessarily be associated with a trigger 
actuating element or the like. 
The present disclosure includes that contained in the appended claims, as 
well as that of the foregoing description. Although this invention has 
been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of 
particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the 
preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous 
changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement 
of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the 
scope of the invention. 
Now that the invention has been described: