This claims the benefit of German Patent Application DE 10 2011 004 967.3, filed Mar. 2, 2011 and hereby incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a dispenser for dispensing the contents of cartridges, comprising an advancing mechanism for a piston rod, a housing on which a transmission lever for actuating the advancing mechanism is attached so as to swivel, and a handle, which is affixed to the housing and to which an actuation lever is attached so as to swivel.
Such dispensers are used, for example, in the construction sector to dispense the contents of cartridges that are filled with silicon or other liquid or viscous construction materials. These cartridges normally have a cylindrical body with a dispensing opening in one of the end walls. The opposite end wall is formed by a plunger that can be moved in the cylindrical body, meaning that moving this end wall changes the volume of the cartridge so that the contents of the cartridge can be expelled out of the dispensing opening. The dispenser allows a precise dosing as well as a precise application of the construction material in question. Normally, the dispenser has a piston that is arranged on a piston rod and that can engage with the plunger and force it against the dispensing opening in order to dispense the contents of cartridge. The piston rod is driven by means of an advancing mechanism that is actuated, for example, by a transmission lever that is attached to a housing so as to swivel. This transmission lever is normally coupled to an actuation lever that is attached to a handle, which is affixed to a housing, so as to swivel.
In the case of conventional dispensers, with each stroke of the actuation lever, an essentially constant volume of construction material is dispensed. In this process, in order to dispense the construction material, the operator has to exert a force that is a function of the viscosity of the construction material. With fairly high-viscosity construction materials, this can cause the operator to quickly become fatigued or he might not even be able to exert the requisite dispensing force. In the case of fairly low-viscosity construction materials, however, the requisite dispensing force is low, and many users have expressed the wish to be able to increase the volume of construction material dispensed per stroke.
In order to overcome this drawback of conventional dispensers, European patent specification EP 0 854 760 B1 discloses a generic dispenser with which the operator can use a knob to continuously adjust the transmission ratio between a stroke of the actuation lever and the volume of construction material dispensed. The continuous setting of the transmission ratio by means of a thread, however, is very time-consuming, especially if a switch-over from one end position (e.g. very high-viscosity construction material) to the other end position (e.g. very low-viscosity construction material) has to be carried out. Moreover, such a continuous fine adjustment of the transmission ratio is usually neither desired nor necessary. As a rule, a two-stage (small/large transmission) or three-stage (small/medium/large transmission) setting would be perfectly satisfactory. Furthermore, the devices employed, especially in the construction sector, are often highly stressed, so that the thread soon becomes difficult to adjust due to dirt or corrosion, or in extreme cases, no longer allows any adjustment at all.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a durable and sturdy dispenser with which the volume of construction material dispensed per stroke of the actuation lever can be changed simply and quickly.
The present invention provides a dispenser of the above-mentioned type, in which the transmission lever and the actuation lever are connected to each other in an articulated manner by means of a sliding block guide. The coupling of the two levers via a sliding block guide is very well-suited for providing an at least two-stage, sturdy and fast setting possibility of the transmission ratio between the stroke of the actuation lever and the volume of construction material dispensed.
In one embodiment, the sliding block guide comprises a sliding block in the transmission lever, a sliding block in the actuation lever, and a slide block peg, whereby the slide block peg engages with the sliding block of the transmission lever as well as with the sliding block of the actuation lever.
In this embodiment, the slide block peg can be configured as a guide pin and the sliding blocks can be configured as slots. For production-related reasons, such a construction is easy to achieve, it allows a quick manual setting, and moreover, it is extremely sturdy.
Preferably, the sliding block of the swiveling actuation lever, relative to its swivel bearing which is affixed to the housing, extends along the actuation lever essentially in the radial direction.
Analogously, the sliding block of the swiveling transmission lever, relative to its swivel bearing which is affixed to the housing, can extend essentially in the radial direction along the transmission lever.
In another embodiment, the swiveling actuation lever has an adjusting slide that, relative to the swivel bearing of the actuation lever which is affixed to the housing, can be moved between a radially inner, first adjustment position and a radially outer, second adjustment position. Thanks to this adjusting slide, the transmission ratio between the stroke of the actuation lever and the volume of construction material dispensed can vary quite simply, namely, by means of just one operation.
The adjusting slide preferably comprises a slide block peg of the sliding block guide.
Moreover, the adjusting slide can be locked in at least one adjustment position.
For this purpose, the sliding block of the actuation lever preferably has an undercut with which the slide block peg can engage, especially by latching. Due to the undercut, the adjusting slide can be affixed and thus a desired transmission ratio can be established in a simple manner. Such an undercut is normally provided in the radially inner, first adjustment position and/or in the radially outer, second adjustment position of the adjusting slide. Furthermore, however, it is also conceivable for such an undercut to be provided in a middle position between the first and second adjustment positions, for example, in order to provide a three-stage adjustability.
In particular, the actuation lever can be coupled to the transmission lever via the sliding block guide in such a way that, when the adjusting slide is moved from its first adjustment position into its second adjustment position, the slide block peg moves closer to the swiveling bearing of the transmission lever, which is affixed to the housing.
In an embodiment of the dispenser, the advancing mechanism has a clamping disc, whereby the transmission lever can engage with the clamping disc.
In an alternative embodiment of the dispenser, the advancing mechanism is a ratchet mechanism, whereby the transmission lever can engage with a drive wheel of the ratchet mechanism.
Additional features and advantages of the invention can be gleaned from the description of a preferred embodiment given below and making reference to the drawings. These show the following:
In the schematic sectional views of
The actuation lever 24 can be swiveled around a swivel bearing S1, which is affixed to the housing, relative to the handle 22, which is affixed to the housing. Here, a spring 34 is provided on the swivel bearing S1, and this spring acts on the actuation lever 24 in such a way that the lever is swiveled away from the handle 22. In order to dispense the construction material 36 from the cartridge 12 (see
The advancing mechanism 14 provided on the housing 18 engages with the piston rod 16, which is movably mounted in the housing 18 in the advancing direction R, and said advancing mechanism 14 forces the piston rod 16 in the advancing direction R. On the piston rod 16, there is a piston 38 that can be moved against a plunger of the cartridge 12 in order to dispense the construction material 36 contained in the cartridge 12 through a cartridge opening 39.
In the present case, the advancing mechanism 14 is a conventional ratchet mechanism, whereby the transmission lever 20 engages with a drive wheel 40 of the ratchet mechanism.
As an alternative, the advancing mechanism 14 can also comprise a clamping disc in a known manner, whereby the transmission lever 20 can engage with this clamping disc 140, which is shown solely schematically in dotted form and extends around piston rod 16. Since the configuration of the advancing mechanism 14 is largely immaterial for the present invention, the precise construction of the advancing mechanism 14 is not elaborated upon in greater detail here.
Relative to the swivel bearing S1, which is affixed to the housing, the sliding block or the slot 30 of the swiveling actuation lever 24 extends along the actuation lever 24 essentially in the radial direction.
Analogously, relative to the swivel bearing S2, which is affixed to the housing, the sliding block or the slot 28 of the swiveling transmission lever 20 extends essentially in the radial direction along the transmission lever 20.
In the two views of the dispenser 10 according to
According to the sectional views of
As a result, a lever arm x on the transmission lever 20 lengthens from a value x1 to a value x2.
If the same construction material 36 is used, then the larger lever arm x2 according to
Thus, the radially outer, first adjustment position of the adjusting slide 42 according to
In contrast, the radially inner, second adjustment position of the adjusting slide 42 according to
In
Due to such an undercut 44, the adjusting slide 42 can be locked in an adjustment position. In the present case, the adjusting slide 42 can be affixed in its radially outer, first adjustment position by the undercut 44. Of course, it is also conceivable for the sliding block of the actuation lever 24, which is configured as a slot 30, to have additional undercuts, for example, so that the adjusting slide 42 can be locked, for example, in its radially inner, second adjustment position or in an intermediate position.
Due to the sliding block guide 26, the volume of construction material dispensed per stroke can be varied simply and quickly by manually actuating the adjusting slide 42. At the same time, the construction comprising the sliding block guide 26 and the adjusting slide 42 is very sturdy, so that the dispenser 10 has a very durable functionality and a long service life, provided that it is operated properly.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10 2011 004 967 | Mar 2011 | DE | national |
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