Patent ID: 8584898

Claim:
A method of dispensing sprayable material in a desired spray pattern, comprising the steps of: providing an aerosol container defining an aerosol chamber adapted to contain sprayable material; mounting a valve assembly on the aerosol container to form an aerosol assembly, where the valve assembly is normally in a closed configuration in which sprayable material is substantially prevented from flowing out of the aerosol assembly through the valve assembly, and when the valve assembly is arranged in an open configuration, sprayable material is allowed to flow out of the aerosol assembly through the valve assembly; providing an actuator member comprising a plurality of resilient finger projections; arranging a resilient outlet member at least partly between the plurality of finger projections; supporting a movable member on the actuator member to define an actuator assembly; arranging the sprayable material and propellant material within the aerosol assembly; supporting the actuator assembly on the valve assembly to define a dispensing path extending from an interior of the aerosol chamber to an exterior of the aerosol chamber through the valve assembly, the actuator member, and the outlet member; displacing the movable member in a first direction such that the movable member acts on the outlet member to deform the plurality of finger projections towards each other from an undeformed position to alter an effective cross-sectional area of at least a portion of a dispensing path to control fluid flow along the dispensing path and thereby cause the sprayable material to be dispensed in the desired spray pattern, and displacing the actuator member to place the valve assembly in the open configuration to allow the propellant to force the sprayable material out of the container assembly along the dispensing path.