Patent Publication Number: US-2010108782-A1

Title: Foam nozzle for assembly onto a trigger-type sprayer

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED U.S. APPLICATIONS 
     Not applicable. 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not applicable. 
     NAMES OF PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
     Not applicable. 
     REFERENCE TO AN APPENDIX SUBMITTED ON COMPACT DISC 
     Not applicable. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to a component of a trigger-type sprayer, and more particularly to an innovative foam nozzle which is exclusively assembled onto the trigger-type sprayer. 
     2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98 
     Currently, there are a variety of liquid cleansers on the market, for which the containers are generally designed with a trigger-type sprayer for easy spraying of liquid. 
     The trigger-type sprayer is mainly composed of a nozzle, a trigger, a suction valve and a suction tube. The nozzle is designed with columnar fog-like spray switching modes, in addition to opening/closing switching modes. 
     However, the aforementioned columnar fog-like spraying modes could not meet the continuously growing customer demands. For example, when an operator intends to wash cars, only a foaming spray could provide better adhesion and distribution effect for subsequent wiping with sponge. 
     It is difficult to modify the nozzle of the existing trigger-type sprayer into a foam spraying nozzle due to complexity of the structure. If a foam spraying nozzle is directly installed, it is not helpful to the trigger-type sprayer currently commercially available. Such a common trigger-type sprayer could not generate foam spraying effect. 
     Thus, to overcome the aforementioned problems of the prior art, it would be an advancement in the art to provide an improved structure that can significantly improve efficacy. 
     Therefore, the inventor has provided the present invention of practicability after deliberate design and evaluation based on years of experience in the production, development and design of related products. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The foam nozzle of the present invention can be assembled quickly onto the nozzle of an existing trigger-type sprayer to generate a foaming spray, thus improving the performance of existing trigger-type sprayer. Given a great number of commercially available nozzles of the same type, if the foam nozzle of the present invention is assembled onto an existing trigger-type sprayer, it is possible to realize excellent ease-of-operation without the need of disassembly or impairment of previous functions. 
     Based on the straight guiding structure of the orifice of the straight tube and the interval outlet of the mesh body  50 , the sprayed liquid is mixed with air during the foaming process, and then sprayed from a straight channel to generate the refined foaming effect for meeting optimum operating requirements. 
     Based on the structure of a pressure rib formed at inner side of the pin, more secure fixation is enabled when the pin is plugged into the groove of the nozzle of the trigger-type sprayer. 
     Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the foam nozzle of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  shows a front elevation view of a preferred embodiment of the foam nozzle of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  shows a rear elevation view of a preferred embodiment of the foam nozzle of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  shows a sectional view a preferred embodiment of the foam nozzle of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  shows an exploded perspective view of the assembly relationship of the foam nozzle and trigger-type sprayer of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  shows an assembled perspective view of the foam nozzle and trigger-type sprayer of the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  shows an assembled elevation view of the foam nozzle and trigger-type sprayer of the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  shows a perspective view of the operation of the foam nozzle of the present invention. 
         FIG. 9  shows a perspective view of another application of the mesh-type foam nozzle. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The features and the advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood upon a thoughtful deliberation of the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
       FIGS. 1-4  depict preferred embodiments of foam nozzle of the present invention. The embodiments are only provided for explanatory objectives with respect to the patent claims. 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , the foam nozzle  01  is exclusively assembled into a plurality of grooves  12  on the nozzle  11  of existing trigger-type sprayer  10  so as to generate foaming spray. The foam nozzle  01  comprises a base plate  20 , containing a front face  21  and a rear face  22 . 
     A plurality of pins  30  allow for vertical protrusion of the rear face  22  of the base plate  20 . The pins  30  are arranged at intervals and located properly for plugging into a plurality of grooves  12  of the nozzle  11  of the trigger-type sprayer  10 . Referring to  FIGS. 6 and 7 , the pins  30  are not fully plugged into the grooves  12 . Then, an air inlet space  31  is shaped at intervals between the rear face  22  of the base plate  20  and the nozzle  11  of the trigger-type sprayer  10 , making it possible to mix the laterally guided air (W) and liquid sprayed from the nozzle  11  of the trigger-type sprayer  10  and generate foaming spray. 
     A straight tube  40 , which is a hollow tube of predefined length, protrudes vertically from the front face  21  of the base plate  20 . An orifice  41  is defined within the straight tube  40 . The interior of the orifice  41  penetrates the base plate  20 , while an open-end nozzle orifice  42  is defined at the exterior of orifice  41 . 
     A mesh body  50  is arranged on the nozzle orifice  42  of the straight tube  40 . The mesh body  50  comprises at least a circular rib  51  and a plurality of radial ribs  52 . A convex rib  53  protruding from the interior of the circular rib  51  is contained within the radial ribs  52 . A central orifice  54  is formed between the convex ribs  53 , while a plurality of annular orifices  55  is formed between the circular rib  51  and the radial ribs  52 . 
     The nozzle  11  of the trigger-type sprayer  10  is generally of a square shape, and a plurality of grooves  12  in a triangular shape are arranged at four corners of the nozzle  11 , so that the base plate  20  of the foam nozzle  01  is correspondingly a square shape. The pins  30  are placed separately at four corners of the base plate  20 . The cross section of the pins  30  is of a triangular shape that matches the aforementioned triangular groove  12 . 
     The base plate  20 , pins  30 , straight tube  40  and mesh body  50  of the foam nozzle  01  are made of plastics from injection molding. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , a pressure rib  32  is formed at inner side of the pin  30 . The pressure rib  32  is arranged nearby the rear face  22  of the base plate  20 . This could provide more secure fixation effect when the pin  30  is plugged into the groove  12  of the nozzle  11  of the trigger-type sprayer  10 . 
     The convex ribs  53  of the mesh body  50  are arranged in isometric form (shown in  FIG. 2 ) or the convex ribs  53 ,  53 B,  53 C of the mesh body  50  are arranged in a non-isometric form (shown in  FIG. 9 ). The convex rib  53 B is designed into a top-to-down pulling shape, and the convex rib  53 C is designed into a shorter down-to-top protruding shape, thereby acquiring different types of water spray. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , an annular concave  23  is shaped between the inner end of orifice  41  of the straight tube  40  and rear face  22  of the base plate  20 . With the design of annular concave  23 , a stepped fault is formed between the rear face  22  of the base plate  20  and the orifice  41  of the straight tube  40 , making it possible to guide air smoothly from air inlet space  31 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 8 , the foam nozzle  01  is assembled on the nozzle  11  of the trigger-type sprayer  10 , such that the liquid spraying angle (L 1 ) of the nozzle  11  is directed towards ⅓-½ at inner side of orifice  41  of the straight tube  40  (shown in L 2  in  FIG. 8 ). With this design, the liquid sprayed from the nozzle  11  is mixed with air from orifice  41  of the straight tube  40 , and then sprayed from a straight channel to generate refined foaming effect. 
     Based on above-specified structures, the present invention is operated as follows: 
     Referring to  FIGS. 7 and 8 , the foam nozzle  01  is assembled on the nozzle  11  of the trigger-type sprayer  10 , where liquid is sprayed to generate suction action. In such a case, air inlet space  31  formed between the rear face  22  of base plate  20  and nozzle  11  of the trigger-type sprayer  10  will guide laterally external air (W) to mix with the liquid sprayed from the nozzle  11  of the trigger-type sprayer  10 , thus generating a foaming effect. Furthermore, with the straight guiding design of the orifice  41  of the straight tube  40  and the interval outlet design of the mesh body  50 , the foaming spray could be realized with optimized effect.