Caulking gun and cartridge

A caulking gun with the open supporting framework that has a forwardly disposed ring member and a rearwardly disposed trigger actuating mechanism that is cooperative with a rod member with teeth thereon to advance the piston on the one end of the rod member which in turn operates on a moveable member in a disposable cartridge that is received by the supporting framework. A nozzle is removably connectable with the cartridge and is also removably connectable with the ring member of the gun to provide selective detachment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a portable caulking guns and more particularly to 
a new and improved caulking gun that employs a disposable cartridge, a new 
and improved disposable caulking cartridge; and a new combination of gun 
and cartridge. 
One of the problems with the dispensing of caulking compounds is that they 
are thixotropic in nature and are generally extruded from a caulking 
cartridge with the aid of a caulking gun through the nozzle of the 
cartridge under substantial pressure. Caulking compounds are often spoken 
of as viscous in nature, however, because of additives, the additional 
property of resistance to flow must be considered. Thixotropic is the 
resistance to flow and sag. Additives are mixed into some caulking 
compound to provide this property of resistance to prevent their flow and 
sag after application, however, such property also contributes to a 
problem of interfering with the free flow of the caulking material through 
the caulking cartridge and nozzle. In the case of caulking compounds for 
use in the construction industry, the additives added are those such as 
fumed silica, Thixatrol.RTM., asbestos and Thixatrol-R.RTM.. These 
additives make the caulking compound desirable for use in caulking 
overhead seams or vertical spaces between joining elements since there is 
no propensity for the caulking seam to flow or sag from the site of its 
application. Due to the nature of the thixotropic type caulking material 
which is plastic and somewhat elastic, there is considerable compressing 
of the material under the actuating pressure, and when the operator 
interrupts the operation of dispensing a bead of the caulking compound, 
the caulking material continues to flow and ooze out of the caulking gun 
because of the compression, which action is wasteful of the material, 
untidy and very time consuming as where such sticky caulking material must 
be cleaned up. 
Where only a single tube is used, there may be no great problem, but on 
construction sites where extensive caulking must be done, the problem of 
using thixotropic compounds where continued flow occurs presents a serious 
problem. 
A further consideration that must be recognized is the type of caulking gun 
used or is being referred to. The first type to be considered is a B-D gun 
or a bulk dispensing gun which is a complete unit unto itself, containing 
a closed cylindrical chamber or shell with nozzle and actuating means. The 
second type of caulking gun used is one that has an open framed supporting 
structure with an actuating mechanism plus a separate disposable cartridge 
that has its own nozzle. The latter type of open framed cartridge gun 
(C-gun) is essentially a two separate unit type of caulking gun, with the 
cartridge and its nozzle being the second separate and disposable element 
of the gun. 
In the case of the C-gun or cartridge gun, the opening of the nozzle in the 
cartridge is not consistent in its diameter opening even though a cut on 
the nozzle is made at the same reference point (i.e., as one inch from the 
tip) because the nature of the materials used allows an inconsistent 
growth in size of the product nozzle after release from the mold. A 
further problem of the C-gun is the clean up and health hazard created by 
the numerous continuing flow after release of the actuating mechanism. 
Hazardous solvents must be used for clean up of the work affected area and 
the operator's skin. In both the C-gun and the B-D gun, changing colors is 
difficult and particularly time consuming in the case of the bulk 
disposing (B-D) gun. Some type of tool must be used in the case of the 
cartridge type gun to puncture the cartridge seal to initiate the flow of 
the caulking material. Applicant's invention requires no tool to puncture 
a seal to effect flow, thereby eliminating the need to carry such tool 
which in all instances, has the caulking compound on it for exposure to 
contact by the operator. In applicant's invention, no human contact with 
the caulking material or the adhesive material is required. The adhesive 
material referred to is that used on the foil to bond it to the metal end 
cap of the cartridge prior to the affixing of the nozzle to the cartridge. 
In the case of the bulk dispensing gun, the loading generally relies on 
the use of vacuum to load the cylindrical shell whereas the invention 
provides for a faster means to load and use, which is particularly 
advantageously in view of the thixotropic and viscous properties of the 
caulking compound. Where the B-D gun uses a transfer device, such as a 
pressure driven ram to the gunning head, additional heavy duty equipment 
must be employed, taking up space, which is in sharp contrast to the 
invention that employs disposable caulking compound containers. 
The present invention provides a new and improved dispensing gun, cartridge 
and system, which more accurately controls the dispensing of the caulking 
material, allowing for flow interruption without the need for cleanup. In 
addition, the caulking disposable cartridge of the present invention is 
useable with the cartridge, caulking guns having a new and improved 
construction that facilitates the even flow of the caulking material and 
prevents the build up of pressure within the cartridge itself. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention is directed to a caulking gun with an open framework 
that has a forwardly disposed rim member and a rearwardly disposed trigger 
actuating mechanism operative on a piston. A nozzle is removably mounted 
on the rim member of the gun and is also operatively connectable to a 
disposable cartridge which is removably connected to the gun and 
cooperative with the piston to dispense mastic compound through the 
nozzle. The nozzle has a cone-shaped configuration whose base is of the 
same dimension as the cartridge.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate like 
or corresponding parts throughout the several views, there is shown in 
FIG. 1 a caulking gun 10 comprising a stock 11 and a cartridge holder or 
open structured supporting framework to be described. The cartridge holder 
supports a cartridge 15 having a cylindrical body 16 containing a viscous 
caulking mastic such as a thixotropic caulking material or compound 17. 
The one end of such cylindrical body 16 has a removable zip top lid 18 
(FIG. 4) with a tab 19 suitably attached thereto to facilitate the removal 
of the lid. The other end of the cylindrical cartridge body 16 contains a 
freely movable cup-shaped movable member or piston 20, which piston 20 is 
slidable along the tubular length of such body. 
The open structured supporting framework or open framework of the gun 10 
comprises a forwardly disposed rim or ring member 22 (or) which can be 
cup-shaped (ring 22) and (that) has the one end of longitudinally 
extending rods or metal strips 23--23 secured thereto. The inner periphery 
of ring 22 presents an annular lip or edge 24 (FIGS. 2, 4 & 6) for a 
purpose to be described. The other ends of such rods 23--23 are secured to 
a cup-shaped support or support member 25 which in turn is suitably 
secured to the stock 11 with a handle 26 depending therefrom. The 
cup-shaped support 25 has a closed end wall with a central bore or slot 
therethrough which receives for unobstructed passage therethrough a 
longitudinally extending rod or stem 27. The one side of the operating rod 
27 has a set of ratchet teeth 28 thereon to facilitate the controlled 
advancement of such rod and a piston 29 that is rotatably connected to one 
end of such rod 27. 
The operating mechanism for the caulking gun 10 comprises a trigger-like 
lever 30 pivoted as at 31 on the handle 26 and has a spring-pressed pawl 
32 at its upper end to engage the teeth 28 for moving the piston 29 on the 
counter-clockwise movement of the lever 30, with a spring biased pawl 33 
also pivoted to handle 26 to retain the forward movement of the rod 27 and 
piston 29. A roller 34 is mounted on the handle 26 above the operating rod 
27 to maintain the rod 26 in contact with the pawls 32 and 33. The trigger 
like lever 30 has a spring suitably attached to it to bias it away from 
handle 26, to hold it in its position shown in FIG. 1 for operation. 
As the piston 29 and its operating rod 27 are moved in its stepped 
operating condition by the pawl 32, such rod 27 may be retracted after the 
caulking cartridge 15 has been emptied, by providing an operating handle 
35 on the free end of the operating rod 26. Such handle 35 facilitates the 
rotation of the operating rod 27 to disengage the pawls 32 and 33 from 
ratchet teeth 28 so that the operating rod 27 and piston 29 may be moved 
linearly away from and out of the caulking cartridge 15 so that such 
cartridge 15 can be removed from the caulking gun 10. 
A replaceable nozzle 40 with an annular ring or base 41 (FIG. 2) is snapped 
into the forwardly disposed cup-shaped ring or rim 22 in gun 10. The 
nozzle 40 has a double cone-shaped dispensing end portion with a 
rearwardly disposed tapered cone portion 42 and a forwardly disposed 
tapered cone portion 43 that terminates into an apex or tip portion. 
Tapered cone portion 42 is adjacent to the annular ring 41 and has a 
steeper taper than the forwardly disposed cone portion 43. Tapered cone 
portion 42 has a plurality of circumferentially spaced longitudinally 
extending camming strips 44 that lie along line that are contained by 
planes passing through the axis of the cone where such planes intersect 
the surfaces of the cone. The camming strips adjacent to the juncture with 
the forwardly disposed cone portion 43 are of the same thickness as the 
adjacent cone portion 42 but increase in height or thickness as they 
extend towards the edge 24 to define a plurality of circumferentially 
spaced grooves or recesses 36 in cooperation with the annular ring 41. As 
seen in FIG. 2, the annular edge 24 of the ring 22 is seated in the 
respective recesses or grooves 36. Without the cartridge 15 in the 
caulking gun 10, the nozzle 40 can be introduced into the gun 10 by moving 
the nozzle 40 towards the ring 22 from the right as viewed in FIG. 1. 
Further leftward movement of the nozzle 40 will have the camming strip 44 
engages the inner periphery of the annular edge 24 of ring 22 until the 
annular edge 24 moves over the cams 44 and drops into the grooves 36 to 
lock the nozzle 40 onto the ring 22 of gun 10. Ring 41 on nozzle 40 has a 
rearwardly disposed annular tapered portion 45 which cooperates with an 
extension 46 which has an annular flanged portion 47 to define a 
circumferentially extending groove 50 that cooperates with the forward 
most portion of the cartridge 15 to lock such nozzle 40 onto cartridge 15. 
Such groove 50 in effect sealingly engages the one end of the cylindrical 
body 16 after the zip top lid -8 has been removed from the cartridge body 
16. 
A modification of the nozzle is shown in FIG. 5, wherein the nozzle 40' is 
affixed to the end of the caulking cartridge 55, having a forwardly 
disposed tapered end snout 56 and a rearwardly disposed tapered cone 57 
whose end portion 58 is crimped over the end of such cartridge 55. A foil 
59 is positioned between the snout 56 and the tapered cone 57. The taper 
on the end snout 56 and cone 57 are substantially the same presenting a 
one-piece continuous nozzle whose base is substantially the same diameter 
as that of the cartridge 55 to insure a smooth flow of mastic upon 
pressurization of the end portion of the cartridge, such as the equivalent 
of the cup-shaped piston 20 in FIG. 1. The cartridge 55 and nozzle 40' is 
a complete unit in itself and presents a nozzle that is not reusable as in 
the first described embodiment. 
As an example of the dimensions of such a cartridge, the outside diameter 
of cartridge 55 is between 2 and 3 inches with an overall length of nozzle 
as measured along the vertex is between 4 to 6 inches. Preferably, the 
diameter at the juncture between snout 56 and cone 57 is three-fourth of 
an inch. 
A further modification of the invention is shown in FIG. 6 wherein a nozzle 
60 has a forwardly disposed tapered end snout 61 and a rearwardly disposed 
tapered cone portion 62 terminating into an annular ring 63 with screw 
threads 64 that are adapted to mate with the screw threads 65 on the 
recessed end portion of an annular ring 66 of the caulking gun. The 
annular ring 63 has an inner projecting annular abutment 67 that 
cooperates with the threaded portion 64 to define an annular recess 68 to 
receive the end portion of a caulking cartridge 69 to seal such cartridge 
and direct the mastic through the nozzle 60. As seen in FIG. 6, the 
annular abutment 67 has an annular outwardly projecting lip 70 to 
facilitate its sealing engagement with the end lip portion 71 of cartridge 
69. In this embodiment, the cartridge 69 has a zip top removable end which 
upon removal presents such end lip portion 71. 
A further modification of the invention is shown in FIG. 8 wherein the 
nozzle 75 is very similar to that disclosed in FIG. 5 except that the 
nozzle is composed of two separate pieces, namely: a forwardly disposed 
snout 76 and a rearwardly disposed cone portion 77. The base of the snout 
76 has an outwardly projecting flanged portion 78 about which the 
forwardly disposed portion of cone portion 77 is crimped with a seal 79 
positioned at the juncture of snout 76 and cone portion 77. The base of 
cone portion 77 is crimped about the outer end portion of cartridge 80 to 
present a one-piece disposable cartridge with its own complete nozzle 75 
to facilitate the flow of the mastic material. 
Another modification of the invention is shown in FIG. 9 wherein the nozzle 
85 has a cone-shaped continuous taper which measures in FIG. 9 
approximately 39.degree.. Such nozzle 85 is short in its length along the 
central axis of the cone. As an example of the dimension, in a cartridge 
having an outside diameter of 3 inches, the nozzle would have an axial 
length of 31/2 inches as measured along a line C. The nozzle of the 
instant example provides the unique advantage of accurately controlling 
the starting and stopping of the flow of the thixotropic mastic compound 
in response to the immediate pressure of the caulking control gun without 
the oozing or afterflow and the preventing of the buildup of pressure 
within the cartridge itself. Such nozzle 85 has an annular ring 86 at the 
base of the cone with an annular recess 87 extending thereinto along the 
same general direction as the central axis of the cone- shaped nozzle 85. 
Such inner wall of recess 87 of ring 86 has a pair of inwardly projecting 
lips 88 and 89 to sealingly and frictionly engage a rim or end portion 90 
of a cartridge 91 as depicted by FIG. 9 to ensure sealing engagement 
therebetween. In this instance, the nozzle 85 is replaceable relative to 
the cartridge 91 and can therefore be used with zip top removable cap from 
the cartridge itself as illustrated in FIG. 4. 
Another modification of the cartridge and nozzle combination is shown in 
FIG. 11, wherein the cartridge 92 has integral therewith a cone-shaped 
nozzle 93 of the same configuration as described above with respect to 
FIG. 9 wherein the nozzle's base is substantially the same diameter as 
that of the cartridge 92. In addition, the base of such nozzle 93 has an 
annular rib 94 which abuttingly engages a ring 95 (similar to ring 22 in 
FIG. 2) on the forward portion of a caulking gun. 
Another modification of the invention is shown in FIG. 12 wherein the 
forwarding disposed ring 98 on the caulking gun is of the identical 
configuration as that shown in FIG. 1. The cartridge 99 is identical to 
that described above with respect to FIG. 9 wherein the cartridge has a 
forwardly disposed rim 100. A nozzle 101 with a sharp tapering cone has a 
flange 102 at the base thereof. Such flange 102 has a recess 103 on one 
side and an annular groove 104 on the reverse side, which groove 105 will 
snap into the caulking gun ring 98. The flange 102 adjacent to recess 103 
has an annular lip 105 to sealingly engage the outer wall surface of 
cartridge 99. The nozzle 101 and cartridge 99 are considered integrally 
connected, however, after the first use of such integral cartridge 99 and 
nozzle 101 and the mastic has been completely emptied from the cartridge, 
such used cartridge can be removed from the nozzle 101 which is retained 
in its position on the ring 98 of the caulking gun. 
A further modification of the invention is shown in FIG. 14 wherein the 
nozzle 110 and cartridge 111 are identical to that described above with 
respect to FIG. 12 except that the interconnection between nozzle 110 and 
cartridge 111, wherein the recess on the flange has a female threaded 
connection to mate with the male threaded connection on the forward rim 
portion of the cartridge. 
A further modification of the invention is shown in FIG. 15 wherein the 
nozzle 120 has a base flange 121 with external threads 122 and internal 
threads 123 which are received by complimentary threads in a recess in a 
forwardly disposed ring portion 125 of a caulking gun (which ring portion 
125 is the equivalent in location on the caulking gun as cup-shaped ring 
22 in FIG. 1). 
It will be apparent that, although a specific embodiment and certain 
modifications of the invention have been described in detail, the 
invention is not limited to the specifically illustrated and described 
constructions since variations may be made without departing from the 
principles of the invention.