Patent Publication Number: US-2007119876-A1

Title: Easy grout

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to applicators, specifically to grout applicators for tiling.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      U.S. Pat. No. 6,484,782 discloses a grout slurry pumping system, and a grout slurry control box and associated tools. Methods of using the pumping system and control box are also described. The pumping system and control box may be used separately or together. The pumping system maintains a grout slurry of desired consistency and can provide it through a hose to remote locations. The control box operates to apply grout to a work surface in desired quantities and in desired amounts according to a control valve.  
      U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,921 discloses a grout delivery apparatus and method for delivering grout through a flexible conduit from a bulk supply of grout to a hand tool. The bulk supply of grout is held in a hopper which feeds the grout under gravity to a pump. The pump is driven by an electric motor which receives its electrical energy through a controller. The controller is adjustably preset to control the electric motor as a function of the individual settings on a multifunction switch operable by the worker. The switch can either be mounted on the hand tool and directly wired to the controller or incorporated into a remote transmitter which transmits the particular switch position to a receiver on the controller.  
      U.S. Patent Application No. 2004/0069817 discloses a hand-operated, portable sprayer to selectively produce a foamy effluent spray, rather than only the purely liquid spray provided by conventional sprayers. The sprayer includes segregated air and liquid delivery systems that separately supply air and liquid from the pressurized tank reservoir to a mixing chamber. Foaming may be facilitated by incorporating a mixing medium in or downstream from the mixing chamber. A flow controller is provided to control the flow of output from the sprayer. The flow controller and the mixing chamber may be incorporated into a single component. A valve may be included in the air delivery line to allow the users to attenuate the air flow rate to the mixing chamber, thereby permitting the user to select the consistency of the effluent foam according to the particular application.  
      What is needed is an applicator that solves one or more of the problems described herein and/or one or more problems that may come to the attention of one skilled in the art upon becoming familiar with this specification.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention has been developed in response to the present state of the art, and in particular, in response to the problems and needs in the art that have not yet been fully solved by currently available grout applicators. Accordingly, the present invention has been developed to provide an improved grout applicator.  
      In one embodiment there is a grout applicator. The grout applicator may include a chamber, a lid, a hose or hose assembly and/or a stop. The chamber may include a top, bottom, side wall, mixing aperture, and/or an extrusion aperture. The mixing aperture may be through the top. The extrusion aperture may be through the side wall and/or closer to the bottom than the top.  
      The lid may be coupleable to the top of the chamber such that the mixing aperture may thereby be sealed. The lid may include a cover, a shaft, a plunger, and/or an actuator. The cover may be configured to cover the mixing aperture. The shaft may be through the cover. The plunger may be coupled to the shaft such that the plunger moves vertically in association with vertical movement of the shaft. The plunger may be shaped to conform to a horizontal cross-sectional shape of the side wall of the chamber. The actuator may be coupled to the shaft and/or the cover and/or configured to cause the shaft to move vertically when the actuator is actuated.  
      The hose and/or hose assembly may be flexible and/or transparent. The hose and/or hose assembly may be coupleable to the extrusion aperture and/or configured to fluidly couple to the chamber when coupled thereto and/or may include a nozzle coupled and/or coupleable to the hose and configured to direct fluid flow therefrom. There may also be a stop that may be coupleable to the extrusion aperture and/or configured to form a fluid tight seal when coupled thereto, thereby preventing escape of fluid from the chamber.  
      Reference throughout this specification to features, advantages, or similar language does not imply that all of the features and advantages that may be realized with the present invention should be or are in any single embodiment of the invention. Rather, language referring to the features and advantages is understood to mean that a specific feature, advantage, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, discussion of the features and advantages, and similar language, throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, refer to the same embodiment.  
      Furthermore, the described features, advantages, and characteristics of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific features or advantages of a particular embodiment. In other instances, additional features and advantages may be recognized in certain embodiments that may not be present in all embodiments of the invention.  
      These features and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      In order for the advantages of the invention to be readily understood, a more particular description of the invention briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments that are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings, in which:  
       FIG. 1  illustrates a grout applicator in a mixing mode according to one embodiment of the invention;  
       FIG. 2  illustrates a grout applicator in an application mode according to one embodiment of the invention; and  
       FIG. 3  illustrates an exploded view of a grout applicator according to one embodiment of the invention.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawings, and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended. Any alterations and further modifications of the inventive features illustrated herein, and any additional applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated herein, which would occur to one skilled in the relevant art and having possession of this disclosure, are to be considered within the scope of the invention.  
      Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment, different embodiments, or component parts of the same or different illustrated invention. Additionally, reference to the wording “an embodiment,” or the like, for two or more features, elements, etc. does not mean that the features are related, dissimilar, the same, etc. The use of the term “an embodiment,” or similar wording, is merely a convenient phrase to indicate optional features, which may or may not be part of the invention as claimed.  
      Each statement of an embodiment is to be considered independent of any other statement of an embodiment despite any use of similar or identical language characterizing each embodiment. Therefore, where one embodiment is identified as “another embodiment,” the identified embodiment is independent of any other embodiments characterized by the language “another embodiment.” The independent embodiments are considered to be able to be combined in whole or in part one with another as the claims and/or art may direct, either directly or indirectly, implicitly or explicitly.  
      Finally, the fact that the wording “an embodiment,” or the like, does not appear at the beginning of every sentence in the specification, such as is the practice of some practitioners, is merely a convenience for the reader&#39;s clarity. However, it is the intention of this application to incorporate by reference the phrasing “an embodiment,” and the like, at the beginning of every sentence herein where logically possible and appropriate.  
       FIGS. 1-3  illustrate a grout applicator according to one embodiment of the invention. There is shown a grout applicator in a mixing mode  100 , a grout applicator in an application mode  200 , and an exploded view of a grout applicator  300 . The grout applicator illustrated includes a chamber, pot, or container  110  of a material substantially impermeable to fluids, such as but not limited to plastic. The pot  110  includes a top  112 , a bottom  114 , and a side wall  116 . The pot  110  includes a mixing aperture  120  through the top  112 . The pot  110  may be a cylindrical member having a solid and substantially planar bottom  114 . There is also an extrusion aperture  140  and  142  through the side wall and closer to the bottom  114  than the top  112 . The extrusion aperture  140  and  142  may include an aperture housing  140  and an extension tube  142 . The extrusion aperture  140  and  142  may extend from the chamber  110  substantially perpendicular from the side wall  116  and/or substantially planar to the bottom  114  and/or substantially perpendicular to a motion of the plunger  310  when in operation.  
      There is also shown a lid  210  coupleable to the top  112  of the chamber  110  such that the mixing aperture may thereby be sealed. There is illustrated a set of threads  118  that may couple to associated threads (not shown) internal the lid  210 . The illustrated lid  210  includes a cover  220  configured to cover the mixing aperture  120 , a shaft  212  through the cover  220 , a plunger  310  coupled to the shaft  212  such that the plunger  310  moves vertically in association with vertical movement of the shaft  212 , the plunger  310  shaped to conform to a horizontal cross-sectional shape of the side wall  116  of the chamber  110 , and an actuator  211  coupled to the shaft  212  and the cover  220  and configured to cause the shaft  212  to move vertically when the actuator  211  is actuated.  
      The cover  220  may be a substantially planar solid member configured to couple to the top  112  of the chamber  110 . The shaft  212  is preferably a metal rod. The plunger  310  is preferably an elastic material such as but not limited to soft plastic or rubber. The actuator  211  is preferably a ratcheting-type actuator whereby actuation of the actuator  211  such as by applying a force to handles  218  the shaft  212  may be advanced in a direction from a first position to a second position and prevented from moving back to the first position. There may be a stop plate  214  coupled to the shaft  212  to prevent the shaft from being positioned too far through the lid  210 .  
      There is shown a hose assembly  230  including a hose  234  that may be a substantially transparent and/or flexible hose coupleable to the extrusion aperture  140  and/or  142  by means of the aperture coupler  232  and configured to fluidly couple to the chamber  10  when coupled thereto. There is also shown a nozzle  238  coupled to the hose  234  through a coupler  236  that is inserted into each of the hose  234  and the nozzle  238 . The nozzle  238  is configured to direct fluid flow from the hose  234  to a surface. There is also shown a stop  150  coupleable to the extrusion aperture  140  and/or  142  and configured to form a fluid tight seal when coupled thereto, thereby preventing escape of fluid from the chamber  110 .  
      In operation, a user may remove the lid  210  from the chamber  110 . The user may also attach the stop  150  to the extrusion aperture  140  and/or  142 . Preferably the extrusion aperture  140  and  142  is a click fit male connector. Preferably the stop  150  is a click fit stop end configured to couple to the extrusion aperture, thereby enabling a user to quickly and easily attach/detach the stop to/from the extrusion aperture  140  and  142 . The user may insert grout materials such as but not limited to powder and water and may mix such materials in the chamber  110  without concern of material escaping the chamber through the extrusion aperture  140  and  142 .  
      The user may remove the stop  150  and attach the hose assembly  230  to the extrusion aperture  140  and  142 . Preferably the aperture coupler  232  is a click fit coupler, thereby permitting a user to quickly and easily couple the hose assembly  230  to the extrusion aperture  140  and  142 . The user may also couple the lid  210  to the chamber  110 . In one example, the user may screw the lid  210  to the chamber  110 . The user may actuate the actuator  211  to force the shaft  212  downward towards the bottom  114  of the chamber  110 , thereby causing the plunger  310  to move downward towards the bottom  114  of the chamber  110 . Such may apply pressure to a mixture contained within the chamber  110 . Such pressure may be used by the user to control a flow of the mixture through the extrusion aperture  140  and  142  and the hose assembly  230 . Advantageously the hose may be flexible and/or substantially transparent, thereby enabling a user to direct the nozzle  238  to a desired disposition and/or orientation and/or enabling a user to be aware of the presence or lack thereof of a mixture within the hose  234 .  
      It is understood that the above-described preferred embodiments are only illustrative of the application of the principles of the present invention. The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiment is to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claim rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.  
      For example, it is envisioned that an embodiment of the invention may be useful for all types of tiling.  
      Finally, it is envisioned that the components of the device may be constructed of a variety of materials. While certain material may be preferred over others, each of the listed parts of an embodiment may be constructed of plastic, metal, ceramic, wood, fiber, composite, etc.  
      Thus, while the present invention has been fully described above with particularity and detail in connection with what is presently deemed to be the most practical and preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications, including, but not limited to, variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use may be made, without departing from the principles and concepts of the invention as set forth in the claims. What is claimed is: