Patent ID: 8453596

Claim:
An apparatus for applying fluids such as adhesive, in particular hot melt adhesive, to a substrate movable relative to the apparatus, comprising: a main body having a feed passage connectable to a fluid source, an application valve for selectively interrupting or enabling the flow of fluid in the feed passage, a nozzle arrangement having a distributor passage connectable to the feed passage, at least one outlet passage communicating with the distributor passage, and at least one nozzle opening communicating with the distributor passage via the at least one outlet passage for delivery of the fluid, and a hollow body which is rotatable in the distributor passage about a longitudinal axis, the hollow body including an outer peripheral surface and a plurality of radially arranged through passages which can be associated with the at least one nozzle opening by rotating the hollow body in such a way that fluid is passed out of the distributor passage into the at least one nozzle opening through at least one through passage and through the at least one outlet passage, the plurality of through passages extending through the outer peripheral surface and being arranged in rows oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis of the hollow body, with each of the rows of through passages respectively including a different number of through passages and/or respectively including a different spacing between the through passages, to modify an application pattern of the fluid by rotating the hollow body to align a different row of through passages with the at least one outlet passage and maintaining the hollow body in that alignment to dispense the modified application pattern, and each of the outlet passages defining an inlet having a width equal to a width of the through passages which can be associated to communicate with that outlet passage.