Patent ID: 7976236

Claim:
An applicator including a valve mechanism disposed in a communication passage between a liquid storing space for storing an application liquid and an applying element, the valve mechanism being to permit and suspend a supply of the application liquid toward the applying element by moving a valve seat member and a valve rod member relatively to each other in an axial direction, wherein the valve seat member of the valve mechanism is an approximate cylinder that has openings at both ends with respect to the axial direction is formed on an interior side thereof with liquid-tight portions in a front part and in a rear part which the valve rod member comes into sliding contact with, and is arranged so that the rear-side opening faces the liquid storing space and the front-side opening faces an applying element side; a piston portion on a front side of the valve rod member that comes into liquid-tight contact with the front-side liquid-tight portion inside the valve seat member and a piston portion on a rear side of the valve rod member that comes into liquid-tight contact with the rear-side liquid-tight portion inside the valve seat member are provided on an outer peripheral part of the valve rod member while a space that allows the application liquid to flow is formed between the outer peripheral part and an inner wall of valve seat member; and, an distance between the piston portion on the front side of the valve rod member and the piston portion on the rear side of the valve rod member is set to be shorter than a distance between the front-side liquid-tight portion and the rear-side liquid-tight portion inside the valve seat member, and when the valve seat member and valve rod member move relatively to each other, the valve mechanism can take a first state in which the piston portion on the front side of the valve rod member comes into sliding contact with the front-side liquid-tight portion inside the valve seat member, a second state in which the piston portion on the front side of the valve rod member and the piston portion on rear side of the valve rod member do not come in sliding contact with the corresponding liquid-tight portions inside the valve seat member, and a third state in which the piston portion on the rear side of the valve rod member comes into sliding contact with the rear-side liquid-tight portion inside the valve seat member.