Patent Application
20110114756
The present disclosure relates to an adjustable nozzle tip for a paint sprayer and more specifically relates to a guard member of the adjustable nozzle tip that can be rotated without disturbing a threaded connection.
This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Typically, the pattern of a paint sprayer is adjusted by rotating the spray nozzle. In this arrangement, however, rotation of the spray nozzle has a propensity of loosening the spray nozzle from the reservoir that contains the paint.
This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.
The present teachings generally include a sprayer that dispenses paint stored in a reservoir body. The sprayer generally includes a housing and a channel member having an outer periphery with a threaded portion and an inner periphery defining an aperture. The channel member extends from the housing. A spray nozzle is connected to the inner periphery in the channel member. A collar member has an inner periphery with a threaded portion that is operable to engage to the threaded portion on the outer periphery of the channel member. A guard member is rotatably engaged with the spray nozzle and movable between an extended condition and a retracted condition. The guard member in the retracted condition is engaged for rotation with the collar member and is operable to rotate the threaded portion of the collar member over the threaded portion of the channel member. The guard member in the extended condition is rotatable relative to the collar member.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.
With reference to
With reference to
The spray nozzle 62 can be secured to the spring member 60 that is found inside the channel member 40 to bias the atomizer head portion 64 against the orifice portion 66. The spray nozzle 62 can be seated in an inner periphery 70 of and engaged for rotation with a nozzle carrier 72. The nozzle carrier 72 has an outer periphery 74. The outer periphery 74 can have a flange 76, a first peripheral zone 78, and a second peripheral zone 80, and a third peripheral zone 82. The first peripheral zone 78 can include a flat surface 84. In one example, the first peripheral zone 78 can include multiple flat surfaces 84 equally spaced from one another. The second peripheral zone 80 can include an annular groove 86 that can accept a fastener 88. In this example, the fastener 88 is a snap-ring. The third peripheral zone 82 can also include flat surfaces 90 that can be similarly configured to the flat surfaces 84.
The outer periphery 74 of the nozzle carrier 72 can be seated in an inner periphery 100 of a collar member 102. The nozzle carrier 72 can rotate relative to the collar member 102. The collar member 102 has an outer periphery 104 that includes a flange 106, a first peripheral zone 108, and a second peripheral zone 110. The first peripheral zone 108 can include a flat surface 112. In this example, the first peripheral zone 108 can include four flat surfaces 112 equally spaced from one another. The flat surfaces 112 can interrupt a circular contour 114. The second peripheral zone 110 can include an uninterrupted circular contour 116. The collar member 102 has an inner periphery 100 that can include a threaded portion 120. The threaded portion 120 on the inner periphery 100 of the collar member 104 can threadably engage the threaded portion 42 of the channel member 40 to connect the spray nozzle assembly 44 to the housing 20 of the sprayer 10.
The collar member 102 can fit into a guard member 130 and hold an elastic member 132, which is shown as a spring, between the guard member 130 and the collar member 102. The guard member 130 has an inner periphery 134. The inner periphery 134 includes a first peripheral zone 140, a second peripheral zone 142, and a third peripheral zone 144. The first peripheral zone 140 includes a protrusion 150 that can interrupt a circular contour 152. In this example, the inner periphery 134 of the guard member 130 can include four protrusions 150 that can interrupt the circular contour 152. The four protrusions 150 can be configured to interact with the four flat surfaces 112 on the collar member 102.
The second peripheral zone 142 can be configured with a reduced diameter portion 154 that can have an uninterrupted circular contour 156. The reduced diameter portion 154 of the inner periphery 134 can rotatably receive the second peripheral zone 110 of the outer periphery 104 on the collar member 102. The third peripheral zone 144 can have a flat surface 160 that can interrupt a circular contour 162. In this example, the third peripheral zone 144 can have two flat surfaces 160 that interrupt the circular contour 162.
The guard member 130 has an outer periphery 170. The outer periphery 170 has multiple finger depressions 172 that can be operable to assist the user in rotating the guard member 130. The elastic member 132 can be seated against the reduced diameter portion 154 of the second peripheral zone 142 in the guard member 130 and the flange 106 on the collar member 102.
A connection member 180 can have an outer periphery 182. The outer periphery 182 can have a flat surface 184 that can interrupt a circular contour 186. In this example, the outer periphery 182 can have two flat surfaces 184 that interrupt the circular contour 186 and are equally spaced from one another. The flat surfaces 184 can interact with the flat surfaces 160 in the third peripheral zone 144 on the guard member 130. The connection member 180 can have an inner periphery 190 that can have a flat surface 192 that interrupts a circular contour 194. There can be two flat surfaces 192 that interrupt the circular contour 194 and interact with the flat surfaces 84 on the nozzle carrier 72.
The nozzle carrier 72, when seated in the collar member 102, can extend (at least partially) from the collar member 102 so that the connection member 18 can be placed over the second peripheral zone 80 of the nozzle carrier 72. In this arrangement, the fastener 88 can be inserted into the annular groove 86 formed in the nozzle carrier 72 to lock the connection member 180 in the first peripheral zone 78. The nozzle carrier 72 is then secured to the connection member 180 and the spray nozzle assembly 44 is assembled to the housing 20 of the sprayer 10.
In operation, the guard member 130 can be moved between an extended condition (
With reference to
The foregoing description of the many aspects of the present teachings have been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the teachings. Individual elements or features of particular aspects are generally not limited to that particular aspect, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in selected aspects, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the teachings, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an,” and “the” may be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “including,” and “having,” are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The method steps, processes, and operations described herein are not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance in the particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specifically identified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed.
When an element or layer is referred to as being “on”, “engaged to”, “connected to,” or “coupled to” another element or layer, it may be directly on, engaged, connected or coupled to the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly engaged to”, “directly connected to” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, there may be no intervening elements or layers present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.). As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
Although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms may be only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another region, layer or section. Terms such as “first,” “second,” and other numerical terms when used herein do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the example embodiments.
Spatially relative terms, such as “inner,” “outer,” “beneath”, “below”, “lower”, “above”, “upper,” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. Spatially relative terms may be intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over, elements described as “below” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “above” the other elements or features. Thus, the example term “below” can encompass both an orientation of above and below. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/261,953, filed on Nov. 17, 2009. The entire disclosure of the above application is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61261953 | Nov 2009 | US |
