LIQUID SPRAYER

Abstract: A pressurized liquid sprayer capable of spraying liquid by being operated in the same manner as an aerosol type sprayer, without using pressurized gas. The invention aims at avoiding nozzle clogging and liquid dripping by, for example, releasing the residual pressure in a pressurized chamber into a container or leasing the residual liquid into a small chamber.

Description: This invention relates to a pressurized liquid jet blower according to the pre-characterized part of claim 1. The blower operates as an aerosol sprayer without using any pressurized gas. The present invention relates not only to a sprayer-type blower but also to a jet blower that discharges its content in the form of liquid or foam without reducing it into fine particles. It can be used for perfume, detergents or pesticides. Japanese Patent Disclosure, or Tokkou Shou No. 57-20024 teaches a pressurized liquid jet blower of a type comprising a container, a main tube arranged in said container, a sliding tube arranged within said main tube and a tubular cap fitted to the upper portion of the outer periphery of said tube, wherein the liquid in the container is taken into a pressure chamber by way of liquid intake paths defined by the lower portion of the tube and that of the sliding tube and pressurized in the chamber by rotating the tubular cap to push up said sliding tube against the force applied to it and urging it downward and thereafter said pressurized liquid is blown out of a nozzle in a jet stream by pushing downward an actuator running through the top of said tubular cap and projecting out of it to open a discharge valve disposed at the bottom of said actuator in a valve box that is located below the upper surface of the tubular cap and communicates with the pressure chamber. While a liquid jet blower as described above is advantageous in that the liquid contained in it can be discharged simply by pushing down the actuator with a finger tip as the liquid in the container is partly introduced into the pressure chamber in advance and stored there under pressure, the liquid agent remaining in the discharge path of the actuator can be dried to become solid particles that can eventually clog the discharge path. Besides, while the known pressurized liquid jet blower is provided with a number of means for preventing the liquid from unintentionally coming out under pressure from the pressure chamber and falling along the outer surface of the blower particularly after the actuator is released, they leave room for improvement. Particularly, since the above described known pressurized liquid jet blower is so devised that any excessive pressure remaining in the jet blower is relieved through a through bore provided at the top of the tube, some of the liquid in the main tube can come out under pressure through the bore during the operation of relieving the excessive pressure to adhere the inner surface of the barrel of the container above the liquid contained in it. The mechanism of relieving excessive pressure of the blower is not aesthetically recommendable, and, the customer can easily become uncomfortable with the blower once he or she experiences such a trouble with it. Also, since the mechanism of relieving excessive pressure of the blower is arranged independently from its air inlet valve, the tube has a rather complicated configuration. FR-A-2 433 982 discloses a liquid jet blower having a cylinder forming a pressure chamber between a large diameter piston and a small diameter piston, the latter being coupled to the former during downward stroke, and being biased toward the former in upward direction by a coil spring. The small diameter piston has an axial passageway connected to a suction pipe extending into a container. Liquid can be accumulated within the pressure chamber by pressing down the large diameter piston, which is hollow and carries an actuating head. When the pressure chamber is filled and the large diameter piston is pressed down, the increasing pressure of the liquid within the pressure chamber overcomes the biasing force of the coil spring what causes the small diameter piston to move downwardly and thereby be separated from the large diameter piston. Thereby liquid can escape from the pressure chamber via a valve formed between said two pistons through the hollow large diameter piston toward a nozzle provide within the actuating head. FR-A-2 181 347 discloses a liquid jet blower having a pressure chamber, which is connected to a liquid container via a check valve. When a piston, which constitutes one end wall of the chamber, is lifted by means of a pumping mechanism, liquid is drawn into the chamber and pressurized by means of a compression spring acting on the piston. The pressurized liquid is fed to a nozzle through the hollow piston when the passageway between the chamber and the nozzle is opened. When, after a certain time, the piston reaches a position near the bottom of the chamber, pressure therein is relieved via a valve, so as to avoid operation of the jet blower under low pressure condition, which would lead to undesirable dropplet generation. It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide an improved liquid jet blower which has a simple configuration while nevertheless substantially avoiding the above described problems. According to the present invention, the above object of the invention is achieved in accordance with the features of claim 1. A seen from Fig. 1, when the tubular plunger (21) is urged downward to its lowest position where the first sealing flange (26) arranged on the outer peripheral surface of said tubular plunger near the lower end thereof is received in the first groove (24) arranged on the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder (4) near the lower end thereof, any excessive pressure existing in the pressure chamber of the cylinder is relieved out of the container (1) through the space defined by the first groove, the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder and the outer peripheral surface of the tubular plunger, and the anti-negative pressure valve (12). As seen from Fig. 2, when the actuator cylinder (20) having the tubular plunger (21) is raised to its uppermost position by the cam mechanism, the portion of the second sealing flange (13) located above the bore (10) goes into the second groove (27) on the outer peripheral surface of the tubular plunger near the lower end thereof so that the anti-negative pressure valve (12) may be opened to allow ambient air to flow into the container (1) to compensate the negative pressure existing, if any, in the container. When the container (1) has no liquid in it and the actuator cylinder (20) is lowered, it might seem that the actuator cylinder moves downward very fast as it is urged by a spring (50) and is not resisted by the inner pressure. However, as seen from Fig. 5, since the elastic disc (29) is also lowered with its outer periphery kept in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the upper tube of the main tube, the air contained in the space defined by said bored elastic disc, the inner surface of the upper tube below said bored elastic disc and the outer surface of the tubular plunger (21) functions as a shock absorber and the air is only gradually let out of the space through a notch (30) formed on the outer periphery of the elastic disc so that the actuator cylinder (20) goes down only slowly and would not fall with a crash. Since the outer tubular member (40) has no component which is screwed into the upper tube (5), any of the components of the outer tubular member would not be made loose by the rotary movement of the outer tubular member which is an action necessary to operate the cam mechanism, and the outer tubular member can rotate surely. Now the present invention will be described in greater detail by referring to the accompanying drawings that illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention. Figs. 1 through 7 illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention; Fig. 1 is a half sectional view of the embodiment, Fig. 2 is a half sectional view of the embodiment showing a condition where the actuator tube is set to an upper position, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a principal area of the actuator showing it is partly torn off, Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the elastic disc, Fig. 5 is a sectional view of a part of the embodiment showing a condition where the elastic disc is being lowered, Fig. 6 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 5 showing a condition where the elastic disc is being raised and Fig. 7 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 5 showing a condition where the elastic disc is set to its lowermost position. Reference numeral 1 denotes a container and reference numeral 2 denotes a main tube having a cylinder 4 projecting downward and provided at its lower end with a suction valve 3. An upper tube 5 is standing upward from an outward flange arranged on the upper end of the cylinder. A threaded tube 6 which is fitted to the neck portion of the liquid jet blower is suspending from the middle of said upper tube with said outward flange interposed therebetween. A large engaging disc 7 is arranged slightly above the threaded tube 6 and a number of first engaging ridges 8 are circularly arranged thereabove, while a number of longitudinal grooves 9 are arranged on the inner peripheral surface of the upper portion of the upper tube and spaced apart regularly from adjacent ones. A through bore 10 is formed through the top of the cylinder 4 and resiliently closed at its top by an elastic valve plate 11, said through bore 10 and said elastic valve plate 11 constituting an anti-negative pressure valve 12. The bottom of the upper tube located above the through bore is provided along the peripheral area of its inner surface with a first sealing ridge 13 which, when covered by a rubber packing ring, comes to airtightly contact with the outer peripheral surface of a tubular plunger, which will be described later, whereas the bottom of the cylinder is provided along the periphery area of its inner surface with a first groove 14. Said first groove may be alternatively arranged on the outer peripheral surface of the lower portion of the cylinder. Still alternatively, the groove may be replaced by a number of grooves spaced apart from adjacent ones. A suction pipe 15 projects downward from the bottom of the cylinder. Reference numeral 20 denotes an actuator tube provided at its lower portion with a tubular plunger 21. A cam tube 23 is standing from the tubular plunger by way of an outward flange arranged on the upper end of the plunger and provided with cam grooves 22 each including an inclined groove section 22a and a vertical groove section 22b, which is continuously extended from the inclined groove section as seen from Fig. 3. Said cam tube is provided on its inner surface with a first group of longitudinal grooves and ridges 24. The upper half of a ball 23a is fitted into the lower end of each of the longitudinal grooves 9, while the lower half of the ball 23a is fitted into the corresponding one of the cam grooves 22. A plunger ring 25 carries on its O-shaped bottom plate an inner tube and an outer tube respectively standing upward from its inner periphery and its outer periphery and is fitted into the lower end of the tubular plunger 21, which lower end is provided with a second sealing ridge 26 arranged around it. The tubular plunger and the cylinder are so designed that the outer peripheral surface of the former and the inner peripheral surface of the latter are slightly spaced apart from each other while the outer periphery of the second sealing ridge airtightly contacts with the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder. It should be noted that, when the second sealing ridge 26 is placed within the first groove 14 as illustrated in Fig. 1, the pressure chamber of the cylinder and the through bore 10 are in communication with each other by way of the first groove 14 and said small space between the tubular plunger and the cylinder as described above so that any excessive pressure in the pressure chamber may be relieved out of the container 1 by way of the anti-negative pressure valve 12. It should also be noted that the tubular plunger 21 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of its lower portion with a second groove 27 so that, when the tubular plunger is raised until said first sealing ridge 13 is received by the second groove 27, ambient air may enter the container by way of the space between the cam tube 23 and the upper tube 5, the second groove 27 and the anti-negative pressure valve 12. The cylinder 4 and the tubular plunger 21 constitute a pressure device to be used for sucking liquid. As shown in Figs. 5 through 7, said tubular plunger 21 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of its upper portion with a third groove 28, which receives the inner periphery of a bored elastic disc 29 in such a manner that said bored elastic disc 29 is vertically movable within the groove and its outer periphery contacts with the inner surface of the upper tube 5. Said bore elastic disc 29 is also provided with a notch 30 at the outer periphery and a continuous small groove is formed on the upright wall section and the lower flat wall section of the third groove. The elastic disc 29 is so arranged that its upper surface is kept in contact with the lower surface of the outward flange 20a except the outer periphery of said elastic disc when the actuator tube 20 is being lowered and therefore the air contained in a space defined by the elastic disc 29, the inner surface of the upper tube located below the disc 29 and the outer surface of the tubular plunger provides an air cushion having an air outlet when the tubular plunger is lowered. The air outlet is defined by said notch 30 and said small groove. The outer tube 40 is rotatively fitted to the outer periphery of the upper portion of said upper tube 5. Said outer tube is constituted by an inner tubular member and an outer tubular member, the inner tubular member 40a comprises a first engaging tube 41 and a second engaging tube 42 projecting downward respectively from the outer periphery and the inner periphery of its top having the shape of a bored disc. The first engaging tube has on its inner peripheral wall a second circumferential ridge 43 which abuts the lower surface of the first circumferential ridge 8 arranged on the outer peripheral wall of the upper tube. The second engaging tube has on its outer peripheral surface a second group of vertical grooves and ridges 44, which are engaged with the first group of vertical grooves and ridges 24 arranged on the inner surface of the cam tube 23 so that the second engaging tube and the cam tube may not rotate relative to each other. The outer tube further comprises a third engaging tube 45 standing upright from the upper surface of its bored disc-shaped top. Said third engaging tube 45 is engaged with the outer tubular member and has a group of vertical grooves arranged on its outer peripheral wall. The outer tubular member 40b has on its inner peripheral surface a circumferential groove that rotatively receives the outer periphery of the engaging disc 7. The top of the outer tubular member 40b is rounded. A fourth engaging tube 47 is suspending from the inner periphery of the top in such a manner that its lower portion is fitted to the outer peripheral surface of said third engaging tube 45, while a fifth engaging tube having a plurality of ribs arranged on its inner peripheral surface is standing upward from the top of the outer tubular member in such a manner that the outer periphery of the valve box 56 of a valve assembly, which is described later, is held between the lower ends of said ribs and the top of the third engaging tube 45. A spring 50 is disposed between the lower surface of the bored disc-shaped top of said inner tubular member 40a and the upper surface of the outward flange 20a of the actuator tube 20 so that the actuator tube 20 is constantly urged downward. The valve assembly 55 comprises, besides said valve box 56, a discharge pipe 57 projecting downward from said valve box 56 and airtightly connecting said valve box and the pressure chamber in the cylinder through the tubular plunger 21, a stem 58 standing upward from the valve box 56 and a head 60 having a nozzle 59 and fitted to the top of the stem 58. The discharge valve of the valve box 56 may have a configuration as shown in Fig. 18 or Fig. 19. When the head 60 is depressed while the inside of the pressure chamber is under pressure, the stem 58 is lowered into the valve box to open the discharge valve in the valve box so that the liquid in the pressure chamber is blown out of the nozzle 59 under pressure. In order to take liquid into the pressure chamber, the outer tube 40 is rotated clockwise relative to the container 1 so that the actuator tube 20 is raised by the cam mechanism against the biasing force applied to it to reduce the pressure of the inside of the pressure chamber under negative pressure and let the liquid goes into the container through the suction pipe 15 and the suction valve 3. Under this condition, the balls 23a move to the lower ends of the respective inclined groove sections 22a of the cam grooves 22, which correspond to the related vertical groove sections 22b as illustrated in Fig. 3. Thus, since the actuator tube 20 is lowered gradually as a function of the decrease of the volume of the liquid in the pressure chamber caused by liquid injection, the liquid in the pressure chamber is kept constantly under high pressure so that it may blow out each time the discharge valve is opened. While it may seem that the liquid loses its energy to blow out because of the reduction of pressure in the pressure chamber when the actuator is lowered close to its lowest position, such a condition is prevented from occurring by the second sealing ridge 26 located in the second groove 14 that moves any remaining pressure into the container and, therefore, the discharge of liquid immediately stops. The negative pressure in the pressure chamber caused by the reduction of the volume of the liquid there is compensated by the ambient air that comes into the chamber through the space between the outer peripheral surface of the actuator tube above the second groove and the inner peripheral surface of the main tube, the second groove and the negative pressure rod valve 12 as the actuator is raised and the second groove 27 is moved toward the inside of the first sealing ridge 13. With the embodiment having a configuration as described above, where an anti-negative pressure valve 12 and a first grove 14 are arranged respectively on the top of the cylinder and on the inner peripheral surface near the bottom of the cylinder and a second sealing ridge 26 is arranged at the bottom of the tubular plunger 21 so that any pressure remaining in the pressure chamber is relieved out of the container through the first groove, the space between the inner peripheral wall of the cylinder and the tubular plunger and the anti-negative pressure valve 12 once the second sealing ridge 26 is placed in the first groove 14, no liquid will accidentally flow out of the container after use and the discharge pipe 57 does not need to be taken out of the plunger ring 25 fitted to the bottom of the tubular plunger as in the case of a known liquid jet blower, which makes the inner surface of the plunger ring free from damage and defective sealing due to friction and collision between the bottom of the discharge pipe and the inner surface of the plunger that may occur each time when the discharge pipe is taken out of the plunger ring. As described later in claim 2, if a first sealing ridge 13 is arranged on the inner surface and near the bottom of the upper tube 5 above the through bore 10 in such a manner that it airtightly contacts the outer surface of the tubular plunger and a second groove 27 is arranged on the outer surface near the bottom of the tubular plunger in such a manner that ambient air is allowed to enter the container 1 by way of the second groove 27 and the anti-negative pressure valve 12 when the tubular plunger 21 is brought to its uppermost position, the overall anti-negative pressure mechanism of the container can be simplified without degrading its function and, at the same time, it may be used for both prevention of negative pressure and relief of the remaining pressure. Furthermore, as described later in claim 3, if a third groove 28 is horizontally arranged on the outer peripheral surface of the upper portion of the tubular plunger to receive the inner peripheral edge of a bored elastic disc 29, whose outer peripheral edge is brought to contact with the inner surface of the upper tube to form an air cushion having an air outlet and defined by the inner surface of the upper tube 5 located below said bored elastic disc and the outer surface of the tubular plunger, any fall of the main tube 2 to be effected when no liquid is introduced into the pressure chamber will take place without crash noise. Finally, as described later in claim 4, if the outer tube 40 is constituted by an inner tubular member 40a and an outer tubular member 40b fitted to said inner tubular member and having a second groove 43 horizontally arranged on the inner peripheral surface and near the bottom of the first engaging tube 41 of the inner tubular member and rotatively engaged with the lower surface of the first groove 8 of the upper tube 5, while the second group of grooves and ridges 44 vertically arranged on the outer surface of the second engaging tube 42 of the inner tubular member are respectively engaged with the second group of grooves and ridges 24 of the cam tube 23 standing from the top of the cylinder in such a manner that the second engaging tube 42 and the cam tube are vertically slidable relative to each other, the engagement of the cam tube and the outer tube will not become loose unlike the case where the cam tube is screwed to a part of the outer tube and therefore liable to be unscrewed from the latter and the outer periphery of the valve box 56 of the valve assembly may be held between the top of the inner tubular member 40a and the inner surface of the upper portion of the outer tubular member 40b to simplify the overall configuration of the valve assembly.

Claims: A liquid jet blower comprising a container (1), a cylinder (4) projecting downward in said container (1), a pressure vessel in the form of a tubular plunger (21) fitted within said cylinder (4) and urged downward for suctioning the liquid in the container (1), said cylinder (4) being constituted by a lower portion of a main tube (2) arranged on said container (1), an outer tube (40) arranged around and engaged with an upper portion of said main tube (2) or an upper tube (5), a cam mechanism (22,23) capable of rotatively raising and lowering an actuator tube (20) provided with said tubular plunger (21) against the biasing force applied to it by rotating said outer tube (40) relative to the main tube (2), a valve assembly (55) having a valve box (56) fitted to the inner surface of said upper tube (5), a discharge pipe (57) projecting downward from said valve box (56) into a pressure chamber in the cylinder (4) through an air-tight bore arranged in said tubular plunger (21) and a head (60) standing from said valve box (56), the liquid in said pressure chamber being discharged in a jet stream from a nozzle (59) of the head (60) as the head (60) is pushed downward to open a discharge valve arranged in the valve box (56), characterized in that a through bore (16) is formed through the top of said cylinder (4), an elastic valve plate (11) being arranged on the top of the cylinder (4) as an anti-negative pressure valve (12) to resiliently close the through bore (10), a first groove (14) and a second sealing flange (26) being formed respectively on the inner peripheral surface of said cylinder (4) near the lower end thereof and on the outer peripheral surface of said tubular plunger (21) near the lower end thereof to airtightly seal the space between the cylinder (4) and the plunger (21) so that any excessive pressure in the pressure chamber may be relieved out of the container (1) through the space between the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder (4) and the outer peripheral surface of the tubular plunger (21) and the anti-negative pressure valve (12) when said second sealing flange (26) is received in the first groove (14). A liquid jet blower according to claim 1, characterized in that it additionally comprises a first sealing flange (13) formed on the inner peripheral surface of the lower end of the upper tube (5) above the through bore to airtightly contact with the outer surface of the tubular plunger (21), and a second groove (27) formed on the outer peripheral surface of the tubular plunger (21) near the lower end thereof, so that ambient air may flow into the container (1) through the second groove (27) and the anti-negative pressure valve (12) when the tubular plunger (21) is brought to its uppermost position. A liquid jet blower according to claim 1, characterized in that it additionally comprises a third groove formed on the outer peripheral surface of the tubular plunger (21) near the upper end thereof and a bored elastic disc (29) arranged around said third groove with its inner periphery fitted into said third groove and its outer periphery abutting the inner peripheral surface of the upper tube (5), the air contained in the space defined by said bored elastic disc (29), the inner surface of the upper tube (5) below said bored elastic disc (29) and the outer surface of the tubular plunger (21) functioning as an air cushion having an air outlet when the tubular plunger (21) is urged downward. A liquid jet blower according to claim 1, characterized in that said outer tube (40) is constituted by an inner tubular member (40a) comprising first and second engaging tubes (41,42) and projecting downward respectively from the outer periphery and the inner periphery of the bored top of the inner tubular member (40a) and an outer tubular member (40b) having a lower tubular portion fitted to the outer surface of said inner tubular member (40a), a second flange (43) formed on the inner peripheral wall of said first engaging tube (41) near the lower end thereof and rotatively abutting the lower surface of a first flange (8) formed on the outer peripheral surface of the upper tube (5) near the upper end thereof and a second group of longitudinal grooves and ridges (44) being formed on the outer peripheral surface of the second engaging tube (42), said second longitudinal grooves and ridges (44) being engaged with a first group of longitudinal grooves and ridges (24) formed on the inner peripheral surface of a cam cylinder (23) standing upward from the top of the tubular plunger (21) so that said second engaging cylinder (42) and said cam cylinder (23) may be longitudinally slidable relative to each other.

Inventors: KAKUTA YOSHIYUKI, KISHI TAKAO, TUBAKI TATSUO, KAKUTA, YOSHIYUKI, KISHI, TAKAO, TUBAKI, TATSUO, KAKUTA, Yoshiyuki, c/o Yoshino Kogyosho Co., Ltd., KISHI, Takao, c/o Yoshino Kogyosho Co., Ltd., TUBAKI, Tatsuo, c/o Yoshino Kogyosho Co., Ltd.
Applicants: YOSHINO KOGYOSHO CO LTD, YOSHINO KOGYOSHO CO., LTD.
Application year: 1990
Main classification: B05B11
IPC codes: B05B9