Abstract:
The present invention relates to a hand-operated spray pump, and more particularly the hand-operated spray pump with the modified configuration of a hollow rode, a piston and the like, which constitute a hand-operated spray pump, whereby the spray pump has a precompression function and a further lower defect rate in manufacturing.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to a hand-operated spray pump, and more particularly the hand-operated spray pump being formed by modifying the structure of a hollow rode, a piston and the like, which constitute a hand-operated spray pump, whereby the spray pump has a precompression function and a further lower defect rate in manufacturing.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Hand-operated spray pumps have been widely used for their convenience to eject liquids or emulsion contents in a fixed amount in the cosmetic field. Particularly, since the hand-operated spray pumps have charactistics of storing the contents in a vessel and easily spraying them in a fixed amount, they have been widely used and the relevant technologies have steadily been developed.  
           [0003]    The hand-opera spray pump generally comprises a housing forming the exterior of pump; a closure serving as fixing the housing to a pump vessel; a hollow rod providing an inner passage from an upper button including a spray nozzle to the interior space of the housing; a piston engaged with the hollow rod, the piston moving upward and downward along the inner wall of the housing; a spring being placed on the inner bottom of the housing; and a ball serving as opening and shutting an lower entrance of the housing.  
           [0004]    The technology associated with the hand-operated spray pump has been developed in connection with various modifications of constitutional elements, i.e., modifications of the configuration and function thereof. For example, the procedure that the liquid content compressed in the housing flows into the interior of the hollow rod, was carried out by the configuration of the rod itself in the early stage of development, however, in order to solve the problem thereof in a mass product, a stem was used as a separate element, the stem forming a plurality of small inflow slits when it is joined to the bottom of the cylindrical hollow rod.  
           [0005]    In addition to the technical development for solving the problem in a molding field as above, the configuration for solving so called “dropping phenomenon” was also been developed, in which the dropping phenomenon means the phenomenon that, on spraying the liquid content by pushing the button down, a part of the liquid content falls off the nozzle in not a spray form but a drop form Such developed pump is configured to precompress the liquid content in the housing, prior to inflow of the liquid content into the interior of the hollow rod. For instance, the space of a certain length exists on the adjoining portion of the piston and the rod so that, when the button is pushed down for ejection of the liquid content, the liquid content does not flow into the hollow rod in an initial descent step and instead is compressed in the housing. In another configuration, a separate slim ring is installed for precompression.  
           [0006]    As illustrated as above, a plurality of spray pump operated in the precompression manner have been known in the prior art and one representative example of them is U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,759. In FIG. 6, illustrated is the device disclosed in this patent, wherein a piston  750  comprises a cylindrical sleeve  760  and an outer seal lip  770  connected thereto, and the outer upper portion of a hollow rod  550  on which an inner top  762  of cylindrical sleeve  760  of the piston  750  adjoins is inclined outward. The portion of the piston  750 , on which a vertical extending part  860  of the stem  850  adjoins, is an outer bottom  764  of cylindrical sleeve  760 . In a resting mode, as the outer bottom  764  of cylindrical sleeve  760  of the piston  750  comes into contact with the vertical extending part  860  of stem  850 , a sealing takes place so that an inner passage is shut between a housing interior space (A) and the hollow rod  550 . In a compression mode, the hollow rod  550  descends in the state that the sealing between the outer bottom  764  of piston  750  and the vertical extending part  860  of stem  850  is maintained, so that the inner top  762  of cylindrical sleeve  760  ascends along the inclined plane  552  of hollow rod  550 . Accordingly, the housing interior space (A) is further compressed, and when the pressure reaches the fair extent, the liquid content flows into the interior passage of hollow rod  550  by opening the above sealed portion. As a result, the sealed portion and the inclined plane are key elements in the above U.S. patent. However, it is not easy to manufacture the piston  550  of such configuration in a massive product.  
           [0007]    Plastic parts are generally manufactured in the injection molding method of using a mold, in which the mold consisting of two mold units is generally used, and a melted plastic material is provided with the interior space that the mold units form Referring to FIGS. 7A to  7 C which illustrate the injection molding procedure using the piston mold  2000 , the problem associated with the above U.S. patent can be easily understood For manufacture of the piston  750 , a space  2750  is formed by interlock of a lower mold  2100  and an upper mold  2120  wherein a part of outer and inner shapes of the piston  750  are carved in the lower mold  2100  and the remaining outer and inner shapes are carved in the upper mold  2120 , and then a melt which has been in a runner  2130  flows into the space  2750  through a gate  2140 . Herein, the melt is filled in the cylindrical space starting from the bottom thereof and then is divided at the intersecting portion of a cylindrical sleeve  2760  and an outer seal lip  2770 . By the way, the air which has been in the space corresponding to the outer seal lip  2770  can exhaust through a parting line  2150  of the upper and lower molds  2100 ,  2120 , whereas the air which has been in the upper space corresponding to the cylindrical sleeve  2760  cannot exhaust Accordingly, it is difficult to manufacture a bottom  2762  of the cylindrical sleeve  2760  in a perfect form, the bottom  2762  being the portion where a sealing takes place for precompression as mentioned above, so that the defect rate in manufacturing is very high. As a result, the perfect precompression cannot be achieved in the above U.S. patent so that the dropping phenomenon occurs.  
           [0008]    In a spray pump which is operated by the combination of very fine parts, most of the parts being made of polyethylene or polypropylene in an error range according to the fine molding, the defect rate of manufacture is very important actor. In order to remove the air of the portion  2762 , and the configuration of molding apparatus requires the air-removing passage; however, such apparatus is a high price due to the characteristic of fine configuration so that a diversity of developments to solve this problem have been tried for a long time. Moreover, it is also difficult to ascertain whether a fine part manufactured has a defect, thereby raising a production cost.  
           [0009]    Therefore, the structure of spray pump capable of solving said problems is strongly required.  
         SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
         [0010]    An object of the present invention is to provide a finger-operated spray pump of simple configuration that the precompression can be achieved and the dropping phenomenon does not occur.  
           [0011]    Another object of the present invention is to provide a finger-operated spray pump of which the defect rate in a mass product is very low and the ascertainment of defect can be easily carried out.  
           [0012]    A hand-operated spray pump of the present invention to accomplish these objects comprises,  
           [0013]    a housing forming the exterior of pump;  
           [0014]    a closure joining the housing to a vessel containing a liquid content, the closure being engaged to the outer surface of the housing;  
           [0015]    a hollow rod providing an interconnecting passage between a button having a spray nozzle and the interior space of housing;  
           [0016]    a housing cap fixing the hollow rod in the housing and sealing the interior of housing from the exterior, the housing cap being inserted between the housing and the hollow rod;  
           [0017]    a piston moving upward and downward along the inner wall of housing, the piston being installed to the lower portion of hollow rod;  
           [0018]    a stem forming a plural of inflow slits in combination with the hollow rod, the stem being combined to the bottom of hollow rod;  
           [0019]    a spring supporting the stem, the spring being positioned in the lower interior space of housing; and  
           [0020]    a ball opening and closing a lower entrance of the housing;  
           [0021]    wherein the piston comprises an inner part in contact with the bottom of hollow rod and an outer part in contact with the inner wail of housing, the outer part extending downward from the bottom of inner part and being spread to be pressed a little about the inner wall of housing,  
           [0022]    the stem comprises an axial part being inserted to an inflow passage of the bottom of hollow rod, a horizontal part extending horizontally from the bottom of axial part, and a vertical part extending upward and downward from the horizontal part,  
           [0023]    whereby, in a resting or compression mode, the inner surface of the outer part of piston comes into contact with the outer top of the axial part of stem to make a sealing, whereas in an ejection mode, the outer part of piston is further spread and thereby the sealing portion with the axial part is separated to remove the sealing.  
           [0024]    The term “resting mode” in the present specification means the state that the pump is not in a non-operation, the term “compression mode” means the state that the pump is just prior to ejection of the liquid content by pushing the button down, and the term “ejection mode” means the state that the liquid contents is ejected after the compression mode.  
           [0025]    One of the features of the present invention is that the piston moves in integration with the hollow rod and, in the resting mode, the liquid content which is contained in the interior space of housing by the ball placed on the lower entrance of housing is sealed by combination of the outer part of piston and the vertical part of stem and, in the compression mode, the piston integrated with the hollow rod moves downward with maintaining the close contact with the stem so that the liquid content is compressed (recompressed) and, in the ejection mode, as the pressure reaches the fair extent, the outer part of piston is further spread so that the compressed liquid content flows into the inflow passage of hollow rod through the inflow slits which are formed between the hollow rod and the stem.  
           [0026]    Accordingly, the liquid content compressed in the interior space of housing removes a sealing by further spreading the cylindrical outer part of piston to accomplish the spraying procedure ultimately, whereby the instantaneous ejection can take place. Furthermore, since the liquid content is compressed as the vertical par of stem moves a little upward along the inclined inner surface of the outer part of piston, the effect of precompression is very high, and a small molding error in the stem and piston does not cause any problem on operation, whereby the dropping phenomenon does not occur.  
           [0027]    In another embodiment, in order to reinforce the joint of the housing and the closure, the upper portion of housing includes a top protruding part to be hung on the inner top of closure and a middle projection to support the inner bottom of closure. Moreover, the housing cap which works as fixing the hollow rod to the housing consists of an inner wall and an outer wall, in which a small projection is formed on the middle of the outer wall to reinforce the engagement with the housing. Therefore, the spray pump of the present invention can be easily manufactured and also assembled by a simple configuration thereof.  
           [0028]    Materials of the constitutional elements in the present invention are not particularly restricted but, in consideration of the easiness of molding and the price, polypropylene resin is desirable to most of constitutional elements and polyethylene resin is desirable to the piston needing a rather resilient property, wherein the polyethylene resin includes the high density polyethylene (HDPE), the low density polyethylene (LDPE), the linear low density polyethylene (LLPDE), etc. and the LLDPE is particularly preferable. The ball and spring are preferably made of stainless steel.  
           [0029]    As shown below, the description refers to the drawing in order to describe the present invention more in detail, thereby, the scope of the invention is however not to be interpreted as a limitation of the invention.  
         DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 1A shows a hand-operated spray pump according to an embodiment of the present invention being in the resting mode that a button is not pushed down. The hand-operated spray pump  100  comprises a closure  300  joining a housing  200  of the multistair type to a vessel (not shown), a button  400  including a nozzle  410 , a hollow rod  500  connecting the interior space of housing  200  to the button  400  by an interconnecting passage, a housing cap  600  guiding the upward-downward movement of hollow rod  500  and Ding it to the housing  200 , a piston  700  moving upward and downward along the inner wall of housing  200  wherein the piston  700  is installed on the lower portion of hollow rod  500 , a stem  800  being engaged to the bottom of hollow rod  500 , a spring  900  being positioned between the stem  800  and the lower portion of housing  200 , and a ball  1000  being placed on a lower entrance of housing  200 .  
           [0031]    [0031]FIG. 2 shows the detailed configuration of piston  700  and its neighbor elements being in the resting mode. The piston  700  comprises an inner part  710  being in contact with the lower portion  510  of hollow rod  500  and an outer part  720  being in contact with the inner wall of housing  200 , in which the outer part  720  is rather compressed. The outer part  720  is configured to extend laterally from the bottom of inner part  710  and then further downward than the inner part  710 . In particular, the outer part  720  is spread outward so that the lower diameter thereof is larger than the upper diameter. Accordingly, the outer portion  772  of the outer part  720  comes into contact with the inner wall of housing  200  in the rather compressed state. The piston  700  is engaged to the lower portion  510  of hollow rod  500  so that, in order to secure the engagement, a projection  712  is formed on an inner surface  710  of piston  700 .  
           [0032]    Meanwhile, the stem  800  comprises an axial part  810  being inserted into the bottom of hollow rod  500 , a horizontal part  820  extending horizontally from the bottom of axial part  810 , and a vertical part  830  extending upward and downward from the horizontal part  820 . In the state that the stem  800  joins to the hollow rod  500 , a plurality of inflow slits  812 ,  814 , through which the liquid content flows into the inflow passage  520  of hollow rod  500 , are formed on such joint portion.  
           [0033]    In the resting mode or compression mode, the outer top  832  of the vertical part  830  of stem  800  comes into contact with the inner surface  724  of the outer part  720  of piston  700  so that the interior space (A) of housing  200  is closed.  
           [0034]    [0034]FIG. 1B shows the state that the liquid content is ejected by pushing the pump of FIG. As a button  400  is pushed down, the hollow rod  500  moves downward, whereby the piston  700  and stem  800  which are integrated with the hollow rod  500  also move down The liquid content being in the housing interior space (A) is compressed by downward-movement of the piston  700 , but the sealing between the piston  700  and the stem  800  is continuously maintained. When the pressure reaches the fair extent, the outer part  720  of piston  700  is spread so as to reduce the excessive pressure, as illustrated in FIG. 3, whereby the sealing between the outer part  720  and the vertical part  830  is removed and thus the liquid content being in the housing interior space (A) flows through the inflow slits  812 ,  814 .  
           [0035]    Referring to FIG. 5, in a mold  2000  for molding the piston of the present invention, a melt (melted plastic resin) being in a runner  2130  flows through a gate  2140  to fill a space  2710  corresponding to the inner part  710  of piston  700  and, after a consecutive ascent, fill a space  2720  corresponding to the outer part  720 . Herein, the air which has remained in the interior space of mold  2000  can exhaust from the space  2720  through the parting line  2150  of mold  2000 . Accordingly, the problem mentioned in the above U.S. patent does not take place. Moreover, even when the bottom of outer part  720  is not manufactured in a perfect form, the problem associated with the operation of pump does not take place.  
           [0036]    [0036]FIG. 4 shows the joint configuration of the housing  200 , closure  300 , hollow rod  400  and housing cap  600  in detail.  
           [0037]    The upper portion of housing  200  includes atop protruding part  210 , which is hung on the top  312  of closure joint part  310 , and a small projection  220  which is engaged to the bottom  314  of closure joint part  310 , so that joint of the housing  200  and closure  300  is further reinforced. By such configuration for joint, an excessive force needs not be applied to the closure  300  for maintenance of the joint and thereby the closure  300  is not destroyed by stress in its fabrication and operation procedure. Meanwhile, a small projection  610  is formed on the inner surface of housing cap  600  so as to reinforce joint between the housing cap  600  and housing  200 , and the inner wall of housing  200  is recessed so as to fix the position that the housing cap  600  is inserted, as illustrated above.  
           [0038]    The present invention being thus descried, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention and all such modifications would be obvious to one skilled in the art.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0039]    [0039]FIG. 1A is a vertical cross-sectional view of a hand-operated spray pump being in the resting mode, according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 1B is a vertical cross-sectional view of the hand-operated spray pump being in the ejection mode.  
         [0041]    [0041]FIG. 2 is a partial magnified view of a piston and its surrounding elements of FIG. 1A.  
         [0042]    [0042]FIG. 3 is a partial magnified view of a piston and its surrounding elements of FIG. 1B.  
         [0043]    [0043]FIG. 4 is a partial magnified view of showing the joint configuration of a closure, housing, and housing cap of FIG. 1A.  
         [0044]    [0044]FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view of a mold for manufacturing a piston according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0045]    [0045]FIG. 6 is a partial magnified view of a piston and its surrounding elements in the prior art.  
         [0046]    [0046]FIGS. 7A to  7 C are vertical and horizontal cross-sectional views of a mold for manufacturing the piston of FIG. 6. 
     
    
     DESIGNATION OF THE REFERENCE NUMBERS  
       [0047]    [0047] 100 : hand-operated spray pump  
         [0048]    [0048] 200 : housing  
         [0049]    [0049] 300 : closure  
         [0050]    [0050] 400 : button  
         [0051]    [0051] 500 : hollow rod  
         [0052]    [0052] 600 : housing cap  
         [0053]    [0053] 700 : piston  
         [0054]    [0054] 800 : stem  
         [0055]    [0055] 900 : spring  
         [0056]    [0056] 1000 : ball  
         [0057]    [0057] 2000 : piston mold  
       INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY  
       [0058]    As described above, the hand-operated spray pump of the present invention has the precompression function despite a simple configuration and can be easily manufactured and assembled, whereby the defect rate in a massive product is very low. Furthermore, the hand-operated spray pump can be operated without any problem even when its constitutional elements are manufactured with a small molding error and it is easy to ascertain if the manufactured elements have a defect, so that the spray pump having a high performance can be manufactured in a low price.