Spray nozzle

A nozzle assembly has a body with an axially closed end, and a radially apertured cup-like discharge chamber on the outside of the closed end, and a nozzle cap carried on the outside of the body, and having an annular seat surrounding its discharge opening, the seat being engageable with the body around the discharge chamber. The assembly is adapted to be non-threadedly secured to a source of liquid pressure, there being an extension which can be disposed between such source of liquid pressure and the body. The spray nozzle and spray nozzle extension are adapted to be connected to the discharge of a pump by which the pump is converted into a sprayer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Field of the Invention 
This invention pertains to a spray nozzle, and more specifically to means 
by which a pump can be converted into a pump-sprayer. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention is directed to a nozzle assembly which includes a 
body having a bore leading to a closed end which has radial apertures, the 
body having a cup-like discharge chamber on the outside of the closed end, 
which chamber is also radially apertured, and a nozzle cap carried on the 
outside of the body, and having an annular seat surrounding a discharge 
opening, the seat being selectably engageable with the body around the 
discharge chamber. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention 
to provide a particularly effective adjustable spray nozzle. 
A further object of the present invention is to provide a nozzle assembly 
by which a pump may be readily converted into a sprayer. 
Many other advantages, features and additional objects of the present 
invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making 
reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheet of 
drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the 
principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative 
example.

AS SHOWN ON THE DRAWINGS 
The principles of the present invention are particularly useful when 
embodied in a nozzle assembly as shown in FIG. 1. The nozzle assembly is 
illustrated as being mounted on the discharge portion of a housing 12 of a 
pump, there being an opening 50 in the housing 12 which is non-circular, 
and adjacent thereto, there are a pair of rearwardly facing shoulders 
51,51. For further details of the pump, reference is made to our U.S. 
patent identified in the heading. 
A nozzle body 52 has a stepped bore 53 therein which, at its larger 
diameter is internally grooved to receive a sealing ring 54 for engaging a 
projecting portion 55 of the outlet fitting 27. The body 52 has a pair of 
oppositely facing pivot seats 56,56 a nose portion 57 of non-circular 
external configuration receivable in the opening 50, and a pair of 
laterally opening slots 58 which lead to corresponding notches 59 which 
slots and notches receive an O-ring 60 tensionably carried thereon as a 
resilient spring. The notches 59 form part of a pair of pivoted clamping 
levers 61,62 that can be manually brought together at one end 63 to 
disengage a hook 64 from the shoulder 51. The distal end of each of the 
hooks 64 is tapered, as is the adjacent forward surface of the housing 12, 
to enable the body 52 with the clamping means thereon to be snapped onto 
the pump. The body 52 with the clamping means carried thereon forms a 
separable portion of the nozzle assembly, such portion being adapted to be 
used as a part of various components to be secured to the pump housing 12, 
such as an extension described below. To that end, the body 52 is provided 
with a set of external threads 64 for being associated with structure next 
to be described, or for being associated with structure shown in FIG. 4. 
In FIG. 1, the body 52 is part of the nozzle assembly wherein the bore 53 
is open at one end to communicate with the outlet of the pump housing 12, 
and is closed at its other end 65. The body 52 has a number of radial 
apertures 66 adjacent to the closed end 65 which communicate with the bore 
53. Between the radial apertures 66 and the threads 34, the body 52 has 
sealing means 67 which prevent leakage past the threads 64. The body 52 
has a cup-like discharge chamber 68 outside of the closed end 65, the 
chamber being forwardly open and of square configuration thus leaving an 
annular forwardly facing flange on the body, the same being radially 
apertured in a direction which is more specifically substantially parallel 
to the walls of the square discharge chamber 68, the apertures being shown 
at 69. The nozzle assembly further includes a nozzle cap 70 disposed 
between the clamping levers 61,62 and threaded onto the body threads 64 
and engaging the seal 67, and having an annular seat 71 surrounding an 
opening 72, the annular seat 71 being engagable with the distal end of the 
body 52 at the apertured annular portion which encircles and defines the 
cuplike discharge chamber 68. The nozzle cap 70 limits travel of the 
gripping ends 63 of the clamping levers 61,62. As best seen in FIG. 3, the 
nozzle cap 70 is provided with gripping means 73 to facilitate adjustment 
thereof. The adjustment is maintained by full tightening of the nozzle cap 
70 to get maximum spraying and maximum dispersion, and the adjustment in 
non-fully tightened positions is maintained by the compression seal 67. 
Liquid typically containing desirable chemicals for vegetation enters the 
bore 53 and passes through the radial apertures 66 and then flows to an 
annular chamber 74 which communicates with the discharge opening 72 
directly when the annular seat 71 is disengaged. This provides as sharply 
a focused stream as is possible to direct the liquid a maximum distance. 
As the annular seat 71 is brought toward the radially apertured discharge 
chamber 68, progressively less water can pass across the annular seat 71 
and more passes into the openings 69, the liquid being caused to swirl 
within the discharge chamber 68 before it passes through the discharge 
opening 72. As the liquid emerges from the discharge opening 72, it is in 
the form of a fine spray. 
It is not always convenient to have a nozzle assembly discharge within an 
inch or so of the device to which it is attached. To overcome this 
problem, there is provided an extension tube 75 of a desired length to 
enable the user to discharge spray near the ground, to discharge spray on 
surfaces located beyond the upward reach of the user, and the like. The 
extension tube 75 is inserted on the structure of FIG. 1 between the body 
52 and the nozzle cap 70. To that end, the left end in FIG. 4 of the 
extension tube 75 has a construction which is internally identical to the 
nozzle cap 70 except that a discharge opening 76, corresponding to the 
discharge opening 72 is made larger, and the step in the bore is made 
deeper so that even if the fitting is turned on the threads 64 to produce 
engagement as at 77, there will still be a substantial clearance at the 
space 78 so that there can be no seating as is done by the annular seat 
71. The other end of the extension tube 75 is provided with an angle 
fitting 79 or body constructed downstream of such bend identically to the 
corresponding portion of the body 52 and receives the nozzle cap 70. The 
O-ring 67 acts on the left end of the extension tube 75 to provide both a 
seal and to hold the extension tube 75 against rotation when it is rotated 
to a position that would direct the nozzle cap 70 in a direction other 
than that shown, about the longitudinal axis of the extension tube 75. 
Although various minor modifications might be suggested by those versed in 
the art, it should be understood that we wish to embody within the scope 
of the patent warranted hereon, all such embodiments as reasonably and 
properly come within the scope of our contribution to the art.