Aerosol spray texture apparatus and method for a particulate containing material

An aerosol spray texture apparatus to dispense a spray texture material having particulate matter therein against a ceiling or other surface. There is a container having a spray texture material in the lower portion thereof, and inert compressed gas in the upper part of the container. A dispensing valve at the top of the container is depressed to cause the spray texture material to travel upwardly through a dispensing tube and from the valve onto the ceiling surface.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a texture spraying apparatus to discharge 
a texture material onto a surface, and more particularly to an aerosol 
spray texture apparatus particularly adapted for discharging a texture 
material having particulate matter contained therein. 
2. Background Art 
There are in the prior art various devices to spray a texture material onto 
a wall surface or a ceiling. Depending upon the nature of the composition 
and other factors, the material that is sprayed onto the surface as a 
coating can have varying degrees of "roughness". 
In some instances, the somewhat roughened texture is achieved by utilizing 
a textured composition that forms into droplets when it is dispensed, with 
the material then hardening with these droplets providing the textured 
surface. In other instances, solid particulate material is mixed with the 
liquid texture material so that with the particulate material being 
deposited with the hardenable liquid material on the wall surface, these 
particles provide the textured surface. 
There are in the prior art spray texture devices using an aerosol container 
which contains the texture material under pressure and from which the 
textured material is discharged onto a surface. Such aerosol dispensers 
are commonly used when there is a relatively small surface area to be 
covered with the spray texture material. Two such spray texture devices 
are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,011, issued Aug. 6, 1991, and more 
recently U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,263, issued Feb. 23, 1993 with John R. Woods 
being named inventor of both of these patents. 
However, such prior art aerosol spray texture devices have not been 
properly adapted to deliver a texture having particulate matter therein to 
provide the rougher texture. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention comprises an aerosol dispensing apparatus 
particularly adapted to dispense a spray texture coating material against 
a surface, where the material comprises a mixture of a carrier fluid 
component and a particulate material distributed throughout the fluid 
component. 
This apparatus comprises an aerosol container having a main containing 
chamber adapted to contain said material in one part of said chamber and a 
propellant at a predetermined pressure level greater than ambient pressure 
in another part of said chamber. There is a valve assembly mounted to the 
container. This valve assembly comprises a valve housing means mounted to 
the container, and a valve element moveably mounted to the valve housing 
for movement between a closed and an open position. The valve assembly 
defines a discharge passageway means having an intake opening means 
communicating with the material containing part of said main chamber to 
receive the material therefrom, and an exit opening to discharge the 
material from the chamber. 
The propellant either remains in a gaseous state, or remains in mostly a 
liquid state at the predetermined pressure level in the container, so that 
it can vaporize and expand to discharge the texture material. The 
particulate material comprises a plurality of particles having a 
predetermined maximum particle size, and having compressibility from the 
maximum particle size. 
The intake opening means of the valve is sized and arranged relative to the 
maximum particle size and compressibility of the particles, so that with 
the valve element in the open position, when the particles are at the 
intake opening means and exposed to pressure in the container and to a 
lower pressure in the discharge passageway, and with the valve assembly in 
the open position, the particles in the mixture are able to pass through 
the intake opening means and out the discharge opening means. 
In the preferred form, the valve assembly comprises entry chamber means 
defining an entry chamber having an intake opening connecting to the main 
chamber of the container, and also opening to the valve passageway in the 
valve assembly. 
The valve passageway leads to an expanded passageway region, which in turn 
leads to a valve outlet of a smaller cross sectional area. The outlet 
nozzle desirably has an elongate, laterally extending nozzle opening. 
In the embodiment where compressed gas is used as the propellant, the gas 
is in direct contact with the material. In a second embodiment where a 
vorizable liquid is used as the propellant, the material is contained in a 
flexible bag-like container to be separated from the propellant.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
FIG. 1 illustrates the apparatus 10 of the first embodiment of the present 
invention which is particularly adapted to apply an acoustic texture 
material to the surface of a ceiling. This apparatus 10 comprises a 
container 12 and a discharge assembly 14. The container 12 defines a 
chamber 16 having a texture material containing portion 18 and a 
propellant containing portion 20. In this first embodiment, the texture 
material containing portion 18 is located in the bottom part of the 
chamber 16 since the apparatus 10 is normally operated in a vertically 
aligned position so that the texture material 22 is positioned by gravity 
in the lower part of the chamber 16. The propellant containing portion 20 
is in the upper part of the chamber 16, and the propellant 24 is a gaseous 
substance which is substantially inert, such as nitrogen or atmospheric 
air, relative to the texture material 22. There is a pressure interface 26 
between the upper surface 28 of the texture material 22 and the gaseous 
propellant 24 that is immediately above, with the propellant 24 being (in 
this first embodiment) in direct contact with the texture material 22. 
The container 12 comprises a cylindrical side wall 30, having an upper 
frusto-conical wall section 32, and a bottom wall 34. The discharge 
assembly 14 comprises an infeed section 36 and a valve section 38. 
The infeed section 36 comprises a feed tube 40 having a lower open end 42 
positioned adjacent to and just above the bottom wall 34, and an upper end 
44 which fits within a downwardly extending stub 46 that is part of an 
entry chamber housing 48 that defines an entry chamber 50. To describe 
briefly the function of this infeed section 36, in operation the texture 
material 22 is forced by pressure from the propellant 24 to flow into the 
lower open end 42 of the tube 40 and into the entry chamber 50. From this 
chamber 50, the texture material flows into the valve section 38. 
The valve section 38 comprises a mounting collar 52 (sometimes referred to 
as a "cup"), a flexible valve seal and mounting member 54, a valve stem 
56, a valve handle portion 58, a positioning spring 59, and an end nozzle 
section 60. 
With reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, the valve mounting collar 52 has a 
perimeter portion 62 which extends upwardly from the collar side wall 63 
to curve upwardly and outwardly and then downwardly in approximately a 
180.degree. curve. This perimeter portion 62 is positioned over a 
circumferential lip 64 that is formed from an inner circumferential edge 
of the upper wall 32 and extends in a circle around the inside edge of the 
frusto-conical upper wall 32. This lip 64 at its inner edge is curved (as 
seen in cross section) upwardly, outwardly and then downwardly in a curved 
configuration so as to fit within the curved perimeter portion 62 of the 
mounting collar 52. 
A significant feature of the present invention is the manner in which this 
mounting collar 52 forms a seal with the upper container wall 32 and also 
forms a seal with the aforementioned entry chamber housing 48. More 
particularly, the entry chamber housing 48 comprises a bottom wall 66 and 
a cylindrical side wall 68. The walls 66 and 68 are made integrally of a 
semi-rigid plastic material which is able to yield moderately. 
As can be seen in FIG. 4, the upper edge 70 of the side wall 68 has its 
thickness dimension reduced to a very small thickness so as to be 
reasonably flexible. Then the upper edge portion is formed in a curve 70 
that extends upwardly and inwardly, and then outwardly in a somewhat 
downward curve, this curved portion being indicated at 74, so that this 
upper curved portion 74 of the chamber member side wall 68 fits snugly 
between the collar perimeter portion 62 of the collar 52 and the circular 
lip 64 of the upper container wall 32. 
In addition, by initially forming the edge portion 74 of quite thin 
material (which then can be formed in a circular curve), stresses that 
might be created in thus attaching the upper edge portion 74 to the 
container lip 64 are not transmitted into the side wall 68 of the entry 
chamber housing 48. 
This connection of the perimeter portion 62, circular lip 64 and the curved 
section 74 can conveniently be provided as follows. The inner edge of the 
container upper wall 32 is preformed to form the circular lip 64, and the 
collar 52 is also preformed with its semi-circular perimeter portion 62. 
The upper curved section of the entry housing 48 can either be preformed 
with its upper curved section 74, or this curve 74 can be made at the time 
of assembly. 
Initially, the entry housing 48 with the tube 40 already mounted therein is 
positioned within the container 12 with the upper edge portion 74 of the 
housing sidewall 68 overlying the container lip 64. Then the mounting 
collar 52, with the seal and mounting member 54 and the valve stem 56 
already mounted thereto is positioned in the opening at the upper end of 
the container 12, with the collar perimeter portion 62 overlying the 
curved portion 74. After this, an expanding tool is positioned within the 
collar 52 and is operated to push radially outwardly against the sidewall 
63 of the collar 52 at approximately the location 75 to expand the collar 
sidewall at the location outwardly a short distance so that it forms a 
slanted wall section that engages part of the underside of the container 
lip 64. This secures the collar 52 in place. Also, this makes a tight fit 
between the collar perimeter portion 62, the container lip 64 and the 
curved portion 74 so that a proper seal is formed. This seal is formed not 
only with respect to the chamber 16, but also this forms a seal within the 
entry chamber 50. 
The valve seal and mounting member 54 in terms of function has two 
portions, namely a lower seal portion 78, and second a mounting portion 
80. The mounting portion 80 has a center opening 81 and fits within the 
inner circular edge of a lower wall 82 of the mounting collar 52. The 
mounting portion 80 has a lip or shoulder 83 that extends over the inner 
edge of the wall 82, and the seal portion 78 fits against the lower 
surface of the wall 82. 
In this manner, the mounting portion 80 serves to support the valve stem 56 
in the opening 81, with the valve stem supporting the valve handle portion 
58 and the end nozzle section 60. The seal portion 78 forms a seal not 
only for the inlets of the valve stem 56, but also forms a seal with the 
lower collar wall 82. 
To describe the valve stem 56, there is a vertical tubular portion 84 that 
has as its lower end a closure disk or plate 86 which in the closed 
position abuts against the lower circular edge 88 of the seal portion 78. 
The lower part of the tubular portion 84 of the stem 56 has two laterally 
extending openings 89. In the closed position of FIG. 1, the seal portion 
78 closes these two openings 88. The upper end portion 90 of the tubular 
stem portion 84 has external threads so that it can be connected to the 
handle portion 58. 
The valve handle portion 58 has a lower cylindrical mounting portion 92 
which is internally threaded and fits in threaded engagement onto the 
upper end 90 of the valve stem tubular portion 84. This handle portion 58 
has two outwardly extending actuating members or handle members 94 
extending in opposite directions from one another, each of these members 
94 having an upwardly concavely curved surface 96 to be engaged by the 
fingers of the person. 
A circumferential shoulder 98 on the valve stem 56 engages the upper end of 
the positioning spring 59, and the lower end of the positioning spring 59 
bears against the upper surface of the collar wall 82. Thus, when the 
handle portion 58 is depressed downwardly, the spring 59 is deformed 
downwardly so as to provide a restoring force to move the handle portion 
58 upwardly when the handle portion 58 is released. The upper part of the 
handle portion 58 comprises a tubular extension 100 that is connected to 
the end nozzle section 60. 
The tubular portion 84 of the valve stem 56 defines an upwardly extending 
through passageway 102 which lead into an expanded passageway section 
(generally designated 104) formed in the upper end portion 100 of the 
handle portion 58 in conjunction with the upper nozzle section 60. With 
reference to FIG. 3, the valve handle portion 58 is formed so that 
immediately above the threaded mounting portion 92, there is an initial 
lower passageway portion 106 which receives the very upper end of the 
valve stem 76, and defines an upper passage entry portion 108. This 
passageway portion 108 lead into an upwardly and outwardly expanding 
passageway portion 110 which in turn leads into an inside surface portion 
112 of a greater diameter, the surface portion 112 in effect defining an 
expansion chamber 114 which is part of the expanded passageway portion 
104. From the chamber 114, the passageway portion 104 diminishes in 
cross-sectional area in an upward direction, and this uppermost converging 
passageway section is formed by the nozzle section 60. 
This nozzle section 60 is made of two molded parts which are half sections 
which fit within the valve handle upper portion 100 and are joined to one 
another along a vertical center plane as two side by side sections. There 
is a lowermost circular portion 116 having its diameter smaller than the 
diameter of the chamber surface portion 112. Immediately above the section 
116 there is a further necked down section 118, and this connects to an 
upwardly and inwardly slanted portion 119 to a further upward portion 120 
which defines a yet smaller cylindrical passageway section 122 that leads 
into an end nozzle portion 124. 
This end nozzle section 124 comprises two plate sections or flanges 126 
which define therebetween an elongate laterally extending slot 128. These 
two plate sections 126 converge toward one another to form the end slot 
128. In addition, as can be seen in FIG. 1, at opposite ends of the two 
flanges 126 there are laterally and outwardly extending connecting 
portions 130 which have outwardly slanting upwardly facing surface 
portions 132. Thus, it can be seen that this passageway at 122 is 
transformed in an upward direction from a cylindrical passageway to a 
passageway which converges in one direction (caused by the plates 126 
slanting toward one another), and expands in a direction 90.degree. from 
the first direction (caused by the outward slant of the surfaces 132 of 
the connecting portions 130). 
The texture material 22 within the container 12 is a mixture that comprises 
a carrier fluid component and a particulate material having particles 
which are mixed throughout the carrier fluid. The gaseous propellant 24 in 
the upper chamber portion 20 is at a predetermined pressure level which is 
above ambient pressure (e.g. 100 PSI). 
The particulate material is made from an expanded polystyrene having a 
predetermined maximum particle size (e.g. the larger particles averaging 
about 1/8 of an inch across), with each particle being compressible to a 
smaller particle size dimension. (A compression test of a preferred form 
of the material indicates that under 100 PSI pressure, the volume is 
decreased from 100% down to 25% of the original volume). Commonly, the 
particles of the mixture has a variety of sizes to provide a texture 
surface having different particle sizes. While this polystyrene material 
is the preferred material, within the broader scope of the present 
invention other materials (desirably compressible materials) could be 
used. 
To describe the operation of the present invention, the apparatus 10 is 
provided to the end user with the texture material mixture contained 
within the container, and with the particulate material distributed 
throughout the fluid component. The texture material 22 occupies at least 
approximately one half of the volume of the chamber 16 or possibly 
somewhat more than half the volume of the chamber 16. Since the apparatus 
10 is commonly operated in a vertical position to apply the spray texture 
material upwardly to a ceiling, the texture material 22 is normally 
positioned in the bottom of the container 12. In use, the apparatus 10 is 
grasped in a person's hand, with two of the person's fingers engaging the 
upper surfaces 96 of the handle members 94 to depress the handle portion 
58 and the valve stem 56 against the urging of the spring 59. This moves 
the closure disk or plate 86 downwardly to expose the openings 88. The 
pressurized gas 24 pushes the texture material 22 upwardly through the 
tube 40 into the entry chamber 50. It has been found that the particular 
arrangement as shown herein functions to reliably pass the particles in 
the mixture through the lateral valve openings 88 and into the passageway 
102 defined by the valve stem 56. 
The texture material 24 flows through the passageway 102 of the valve stem 
56 into the expansion chamber 104, and thence upwardly through the 
converging passageway portion defined by the nozzle portion 60. As the 
texture material flows into the upper nozzle portion, the texture material 
expands laterally in the end nozzle portion 124 in one direction, while 
the passageway is diminished in the direction 90.degree. to the first 
direction. The material exiting from this elongate nozzle opening 128 is 
disbursed upwardly and somewhat laterally to be applied to the surface 
(which, as indicated previously, would usually be a ceiling to which an 
acoustic texture material is applied. 
In the preferred form, the texture mixture comprises the following 
ingredients: 
a. A thickener that controls the film integrity of the composition; 
b. a surfactant; 
c. a defoamer to facilitate the processing and minimize bubbles when 
spraying; 
d. an anti-microbial component; 
e. a pigment component (often a whitener); 
f. a commercially available ceiling texture material with the particles 
distributed therein; 
g. water. 
When deposited on the surface, the texture material hardens for the 
finished textured surface. 
A second embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 
7. Components of this second embodiment which are similar to components of 
the first embodiment will be given like numerical designations, with an 
"a" suffix distinguishing those of the second embodiment. 
In this second embodiment, the apparatus 10a comprises a container 12a and 
a discharge assembly 14a. However, the discharge assembly 14a does not 
have the feed tube 40 and the entry chamber housing 48 that are present in 
the first embodiment 10, shown in FIGS. 1 through 5. 
Another difference in this first embodiment is that the texture material 
22a, instead of being positioned by gravity in the bottom of the container 
12a, is contained in a flexible sack-like container 140 that forms the 
texture material chamber 18a immediately adjacent to the valve section 38. 
Further, the propellant 24a is separated from the texture material 22a by 
the flexible container 140, and this propellant 24a is a vaporizable 
liquid which when under pressure in the container remains liquid, but with 
a small pressure reduction vaporizes to form a gas which pushes against 
the texture material 22a. 
In order to prevent the flexible sack-like container 140 from deforming in 
a manner to close off the intake openings to the valve, there is provided 
an elongate spring 142a which is positioned vertically in the texture 
material chamber 18a. The upper edge of the flexible container 140 is 
placed in a curve over the inner rounded edge 64a of the container upper 
wall 32a, and beneath the curved perimeter portion 62a of the collar 52a, 
in the same manner as the rounded portion 74 of the entry chamber ousing 
of the first embodiment. 
As in the first embodiment, there is the valve section 38a which comprises 
a mounting collar 52a, the seal and mounting member 54a, the valve stem 
56a, the valve handle portion 58a, and the end nozzle section 60a. All of 
these components 52a through 60a are substantially the same as in the 
first embodiment, except that the positioning spring 59 of the first 
embodiment is omitted. In its place, the seal and mounting member 54 is 
provided with an upwardly extending resilient tube portion 144 that is 
made integral with the seal and mounting member 54. When the handle 
portion 58a is depressed, this deforms this resilient tubular portion 144 
outwardly so as to be axially compressed. 
In operation, when the valve section 38a is moved to the open position, the 
propellant 24a pushes the texture material 18a into the valve openings 88a 
and out and upwardly through the passageway 102a, to exit out the nozzle 
opening 128a. The manner in which this occurs is believed to be evident 
from the description in the first embodiment, so this will not be repeated 
in connection with this second embodiment. 
As indicated above, as the volume of the texture material 22a decreases, 
the flexible container 140 collapses, with the propellant 24a expanding in 
the propellant chamber 20a. 
It is apparent that various modifications could be made the present 
invention without departing from the basic teachings thereof.