Improved Means of Applying Paints and Varnishes to Surfaces.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 20th May, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 20th Feb., 1894-Accepted, 19th May, 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means of Applying Paints and Varnishes to Surfaces.
I, HOWARD CRUNDEN CLEAVER of 3, Eden Street, Hampstead Road, London,
N.W., Furniture Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows:-
My invention relates to a method of applying paints and varnishes to surfaces
with greater rapidity, uniformity, and smoothness, than is possible by means of a
brush and whereby a second coat may be applied without waiting for the first
to dry.
The invention is particularly designed for applying paints and varnishes which on
account of their semi-liquid condition and adhesive nature are less easy of application
than more mobile liquids such as stains.
The paint or other liquid is applied to the surface to be coated in an atomised
condition by the action of an air-blast the paint or other liquid being for this purpose
contained in a closed vessel adapted to be held in the hand and into which air is
pumped by means of an elastic bulb or other contrivance whereby the paint is
forced up a tube at a rate dependent on the pressure of the air supplied to the
vessel.
At the orifice of this tube the stream of paint is met by a blast of air issuing from
a nozzle, the blast being supplied through a flexible tube and directed immediately
across the mouth of said tube whereby the stream of paint is pulverized and
projected in the form of spray, the blast being produced by a single or double
acting bellows or pump worked by the foot and provided with an elastic air reservoir
in order to render the blast continuous.
By this means the paint is projected so lightly upon the surface that a second
coat may be applied as soon as the previous one becomes tacky and without waiting
for it to become dry as is usually necessary to avoid disturbing the previously
applied coat, a uniformly smooth surface being quickly obtained without any of
the care necessary to avoid the marks left by a brush when one is used in the
ordinary way.
Dated this 20th day of May 1802
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means of Applying Paints and Varnishes to Surfaces.
I, HOWARD CRUNDEN CLEAVER of 3, Eden Street, Hampstead Road, London,
N.W., Furniture Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :—
My invention has for its object to enable oil paint, flatting paint, and varnish, to
be applied to the surfaces of structures, whether for external or internal protection,
or decoration, with greater rapidity, uniformity, smoothness, and lightness, than is
possible by means of a brush.
.
The invention consists in the adaptation, for applying oil paints and varnishes, of

page_text: means for atomizing the paint or varnish and projecting it in the form of spray upon
the surface to be covered.
Similar means have heretofore been proposed for mobile liquids, such as distemper
colors and the like, but oil paints and varnishes, by reason of their viscous and
adhesive nature, require special means for their successful application by this method,
as will be bereinafter more fully described.
The paint or varnish is atomized by the action of an air blast as fast as it is
expressed through one or more exit orifices, where it is met by the blast of air
directed immediately across the said orifice or orifices, whereby it becomes
pulverized and projected in the form of spray upon the surface to be coated.
The blast may conveniently be produced by a power-operated pump or other
blowing apparatus provided with an air reservoir to render the blast continuous, the
same air pressure being applied to force the paint or varnish through the said orifice
or orifices.
By this means the paint or varnish is projected so lightly upon the surface that a
second coat may be applied as soon as the previous one becomes tacky, a uniformly-
smooth surface being thus quickly obtained without any of the skill necessary to
avoid the marks left by the brush, when one is used in the ordinary way.
When my apparatus is employed, the operation of rubbing down the painted
surface, technically known as "papering ог felting down," before applying
another coat, particularly in coach-building and fine decorative work, is rendered
unnecessary.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this
Specification, wherein I have represented in Figure 1 a longitudinal sectional eleva-
tion of the apparatus and in Figures 2 and 3 detail views of the atomizing nozzles
which are an essential feature of my invention.
A is the paint-holding vessel, B the pipe through which compressed air is supplied
from an air reservoir (not shown) charged by a pump or other air compressor, C is
a branch pipe leading down through a stuffing box in the screw-stopper of the vessel,
or otherwise, into the upper part of the vessel for the supply of air thereto to apply
pressure to the surface of the paint therein and force it out through the paint-exit
pipe D which is connected to the lower part of the vessel A.
The continuation B' of the air-supply pipe terminates in the air-blast nozzle
pipe and the paint pipe D terminates in the paint nozzle pipe d, the pipes B' and D
being flexible tubing and the pipes 6 and d rigid and connected together by cross-
bars b¹ b³ so as to preserve the proper relative positions of the paint and air-blast
nozzles constituting the atomizer proper, whilst permitting of the atomizer being
moved freely over the surface to be painted.
It is important that the pipe D be made of material not liable to be acted on by
the oil and 1 find that the well known flexible metallic tubing is suitable for the
purpose.
In the pipe d is interposed a chamber e divided by a wire gauze strainer f
preferably of the concave form shewn, for the purpose of arresting any pellicles of
paint or other solid matters which would be liable to clog the spraying orifices.
To enable this strainer to be readily cleaned, the one half of the casing is screwed
to the other half, the edges of the gauze being clamped between the two and the
portion of the tube d attached to the rear most half of the chamber sliding through
a socket on the cross-bar .
The pipe terminates in a longitudinally-adjustable cap nozzle 9 having an
aperture g' in the end and the pipe d terminates in one or more tubular paint
nozzles h standing at about right angles to the direction of the blast issuing from
the nozzle g, their open ends being preferably A shaped and situated directly in
the path of the blast. I do not, however, limit myself to this particular form
of the nozzle g, nor to that of the aperture g¹ shewn.
th
I find that the orifice or orifices at which the paint issues, should be of about
of an inch bore and that by bevelling the end of each nozzle h in planes parallel
to the direction of the blast and at angles of about 45° to the axis of the bore of

page_text: the nozzle h, the orifice of the nozzle is of more extended area and the paint
issuing therefrom is blown off by the blast, in a thinner film and is therefore
atomized to a finer degree than would be the case if the end of the nozzle h were
at right angles to the nozzle. With nozzles of the above mentioned diameter, the
air pressure which I find suitable is about 5 lbs. to the square inch.
It will be observed that the nozzles h are partly received within the blast
orifice g of the blast nozzle as shown in Figure 3, so as to prevent the divergence
of the blast before it meets the paint and cause the blast to be directed with its
full force on the film of paint exuding from the said orifice. It is also to be
observed that the edges of the paint nozzles are quite separate from the edges of
the blast nozzle, there being no point of contact between the two at which the
paint issuing from the one can cling to the other.
The operation is as follows: The paint or other substance to be sprayed is
forced by the air pressure in the vessel A through the strainer f, by which all
pellicles of paint are retained, and caused to issue from the openings at the bevelled
or A shaped terminations of the paint nozzles whence the paint is blown off in
a finely divided state and projected by the air blast on to the surface to be
painted.
i is a cock on the pipe d, to regulate the flow of the paint; ; is a stop-cock to
be turned off when the gauze strainer is to be cleaned, and k is another stop cock
for shutting off the air pipe C when the apparatus is not in use, to prevent the
formation of a film by the surface drying of the paint in vessel A.
It is to be observed that, owing to the viscosity of the paint, the outlet pipe does
not rise through the stopper cf the vessel, as in ordinary atomizers or spray
diffusers used for spraying volatile liquids, but leads directly from the bottom of
vessel A and, for the same reason, the vessel A should be supported at a higher
level than the surface to be painted, when the apparatus is in use. Moreover, the
paint outlet nozzle does not terminate within the blast nozzle as in ordinary
atomizers in which the liquid is forced out of the vessel by air pressure on its
surface, but the air and paint nozzles are quite distinct and are at right angles to
one another as in atomizers in which the liquid is raised to the atomizing nozzle by
the inductive action of the blast passing across it.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I would observe that I
lay no broad claim to the principle of the apparatus, but I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The herein described means or apparatus for applying oil paints and varnishes
to surfaces by spraying, consisting in the combination of a blowing apparatus, a
closed paint container provided with an air-inlet at top connected with the blowing
apparatus and a paint outlet pipe at bottom, a strainer for the paint, and nozzles in
which the air and paint pipes respectively terminate combined and arranged for
operation, substantially as specified.
2. In the herein described apparatus, the particular form of the terminal A shaped
end of the paint-exit nozzle, in combination with an apertured blast nozzle applied
in connection therewith, as specified.
3. In the herein described apparatus, the combination of two or more paint-exit
nozzles of the form described with a single apertured blast-nozzle applied in
connection therewith, substantially as specified.
4. The herein described means or apparatus for applying paints and varnishes
to surfaces, constructed substantially as specified.
001 1
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H. C. CLEAVER,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.