Patent Application
20170080451
The present invention relates to an applicator device for spreading a film of a liquid compound onto a target substrate from a liquid supply container removably attached to the applicator device.
Conventional liquid application techniques, such as used in painting, employ devices commonly referred to as “paint rollers.” Such techniques require the frequent saturation of a cylindrical paint roller pad with liquid paint from a separate paint reservoir, basin, or paint tray containing a supply of the paint. For “touch-up” purposes, a smaller version of the traditional paint roller is sometimes used. In such applications, the roller mechanism and the paint tray or reservoir is significantly smaller in dimension than the standard or typical paint tray or reservoir. Otherwise, the operation of these smaller versions is very similar to the operation of the standard or typical paint rollers.
Many common paint touch-up applicators include a bottle or reservoir for holding liquid paint and typically have a threaded neck portion or other locking mechanism that allows a roller applicator to be attached. A single and centrally located fluid port extends between the bottle opening and a surface adjacent to a roller pad. In such applicators it is likely that the fluid port may be off-center with respect to the roller axis alignment with the bottle or reservoir.
Common application processes in which one skilled in the trade may paint a vertical wall, such devices require specific orientation for which the device needs to be aligned in vertical position, with respect to vertical alignment, in which the fluid port is in the upper position to the central roller axis origin. Further, should the orientation be inverted, and the fluid port is in the lower position to the central roller axis, with respect to vertical alignment, the paint will often drip from the roller and fluid port and on to the floor.
Another deficiency in common touch-up roller devices is the lack of even paint distribution across the surface of the roller pad. Embodiments that contain a fluid port that enables paint to be transferred from a bottle, through a roller housing, and onto a roller surface, typically contain a single fluid port which delivers paint to a central location on the roller pad surface. The paint is most likely concentrated centrally to the pad surface and inhibits paint saturation across the width of roller pad. An operator of such device cannot apply paint upon a surface for which the deposition of paint upon that surface is not uniform because the application device fails to deliver paint uniformly upon the roller surface. Such devices result in the delivery of paint from the single port onto the central circumference of the roller surface, leaving large portions on either side of the central circumference of the roller surface deficient in paint saturation.
Yet another shortcoming found in conventional touch-up roller devices is the lack of versatility. The utility of such device requires the user to disassemble the roller device to gain access to the paint reservoir. In such devices, the roller applicator assembly and the reservoir are of a specific size and dimension as to allow proper mating or assembly.
For example, many craft stores commonly sell small pre-filled bottles of paint, and bottles of glue, and bottles of other liquids that may be applied to a surface. As such, a consumer of these products must also purchase a hand-held application device whereas such device may be a paintbrush, or a paint roller, or a painting sponge, or paint knife, or other paint application device. Within this example, the application device cannot be attached to the pre-filled paint bottle. The small pre-filled bottles of paint or other liquid have a narrow diameter bottle opening which prevent the consumer from dipping a paintbrush directly into the bottle, thus requires the acquisition of a reservoir to pour the paint or other liquid into and also requires frequent re-saturation, or dipping, of the application device within the now liquid-containing reservoir.
One popular application device, the SHUR-LINE Touch Up Painter model #1859464, is supplied with a reservoir bottle that is properly mated to, and affixes directly to the SHUR-LINE Touch Up Painter roller housing. As such, the affixing mechanism, or threads, of the roller housing are not universally mated to other readily available pre-filled bottles of paint, or bottles of glue, or bottles of other liquids that may be applied to a surface, such as craft paints, thus cannot be directly affixed to such pre-filled bottles of paint.
What is needed is a small self-contained paint transfer device that: (i) does not require a separate paint tray for saturation or re-saturation of paint or other liquid compound onto the roller surface; (ii) mitigates the dripping of paint from the device; (iii) does not require specific device orientation during the process of use; (iv) supplies sufficient distribution of liquid compound or paint to the surface of the paint roller pad to enable desired consistency of liquid compound or paint deposition upon a substrate; (v) contains an internal reservoir within the body of the roller housing to aid in the liquid reclaim from the roller due to roller over-saturation as well as supplying a distribution of paint to the roller surface, and (vi) such device that contains a common screw-on thread design as to allow attachment to prefilled paint bottles supplied and distributed through common retail establishments, such as Michael's Stores, AC Moore Stores, Walmart, and Jo Ann stores, and to enable the user to fill bottles with liquid paint.
As such, there is continuous and direct application from the manufactures' pre-filled liquid compound bottle onto a transfer surface and subsequently continuous and direct transference onto a desired application substrate, thus eliminating otherwise required steps of transferring such liquid compound into a reservoir, or a cup, or a tray, and further dipping or saturating an application device into such liquid filled reservoir, or cup, or tray, and further subsequent transference of liquid compound to a desired substrate by means of the application device, and further multiple repetition of such steps for continued application to the target substrate.
In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a roller liquid compound applicator configured to attach to the threaded neck of a liquid supply container for applying a coating of a liquid compound to a target surface, comprises: a U-shaped roller support frame including a substantially cylindrical dispenser coupling cap and a drip guard attached to the dispenser coupling cap, the dispenser coupling cap having a threaded cavity configured for mating with the threaded neck of the liquid supply container; and a liquid compound roller sleeve secured to the roller support frame.
In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a roller liquid compound applicator suitable for conveying a predetermined amount of a liquid compound from a liquid supply container to a target surface, said roller liquid compound applicator comprising: a U-shaped roller support frame including a substantially cylindrical dispenser coupling cap, said dispenser coupling cap having a threaded cavity configured to mate with the threaded neck of the liquid supply container; a drip guard with a concave surface disposed on said dispenser coupling cap; a liquid compound roller sleeve secured to said roller support frame, said liquid compound roller sleeve having a convex surface such that said liquid compound roller sleeve is partially enclosed by said drip guard concave surface; a liquid compound conveyance path extending from the liquid supply container to said liquid compound roller sleeve, said liquid compound conveyance path including, a liquid reservoir disposed at a base end of said dispenser coupling cap for holding a predetermined quantity of the liquid compound; a liquid conduit disposed between said threaded cavity and said liquid reservoir for conveying said predetermined quantity of the liquid compound from the liquid supply container to said liquid reservoir; two liquid compound flow ports extending from said liquid reservoir to said concave surface; and two liquid compound flow ports extending from said liquid reservoir to said concave surface; and a liquid compound distribution channel disposed in said concave surface, said liquid compound distribution channel extending between said liquid compound flow ports such that said liquid compound distribution channel functions to distribute the liquid compound received from said liquid compound flow ports across said convex surface of said roller liquid compound applicator.
The additional features and advantage of the disclosed invention is set forth in the detailed description which follows, and will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the description or recognized by practicing the invention as described, together with the claims and appended drawings.
The foregoing aspects, uses, and advantages of the present invention will be more fully appreciated as the same becomes better understood from the following detailed description of the present invention when viewed in conjunction with the accompanying figures, in which:
The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplated modes of carrying out the invention. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention. The present invention relates to an applicator device for applying a layer of a liquid compound onto a target substrate without requiring a separate tray or an open container for supplying the liquid compound to the applicator device.
The present invention is a roller liquid compound applicator that can be affixed onto a liquid supply container having a threaded neck, preferably a flexible walled plastic bottle. The liquid compound is transferred to a rotatable cylindrical form that has been affixed to a free-moving axle that is further affixed to a dispenser coupling cap, or housing, that supports the axle. The liquid compound is further transferred to a surface or substrate by direct contact of the cylindrical form to the surface or substrate. Greater areas of paint coverage upon such surface are typically achieved by means of traversing the surface with the liquid compound paint-saturated rotatable surface, commonly referred to as “rolling” the paint upon such surface.
The roller liquid compound applicator includes at least two fluid port openings, and at least one distribution channel forming a shallow cavity in the paint roller fixture joining each fluid port opening. The one or more distribution channels intersect the fluid port openings to physically contain liquid compound pooling between the fluid port openings. A liquid compound reservoir is contained within the dispenser coupling cap of the roller assembly; and includes a drip guard for the determent of liquid compound paint drippage from the roller fixture. The present invention also includes a roller axle for use with the paint roller fixture.
The roller liquid compound applicator may be attached to a threaded bottle of compatible thread size which has been previously filled with paint or other liquid. Such paint supply bottles may be manufactured or distributed by, for example: (i) Fabrique' Par Fabricado Por under the commercial name ILOVETOCREATE located at 5673 Ease Shields Avenue; Fresno, Calif. 93727, (ii) Michaels Stores, Inc. located at 8000 Bent Branch Drive; Irving, Tex. 75063, and (iii) Plaid Enterprises, Inc. with the mailing address of PO Box 7600; Norcross, Ga. 30091. In such commercially available products, the disclosed roller liquid compound applicator is screwed onto, or otherwise securely affixed onto, the neck of the bottle of paint.
In an exemplary embodiment, the roller liquid compound applicator may contain systematic beveled protrusions or angular segments about the circumference of the inner wall of the threaded portion, or dispenser coupling cap, that create primary and secondary seals, respectively, about the outer edge of the upper rim of the neck of the bottle, and about the inner edge of the upper rim of the neck of the bottle respectively. The angular beveled protrusions or angular segments located in the base of the dispenser coupling cap function to create liquid-tight seals both about the outside edge of the affixed bottle neck and about the inside edge of the affixed bottle neck.
An additional aspect of the present invention is the transfer, or transmission, of liquid compound from a bottle that contains the liquid compound, via a liquid compound conveyance path. In an exemplary embodiment, the liquid compound conveyance path comprises: (i) a liquid conduit contained within the base of a dispenser coupling cap, (ii) a liquid reservoir in fluid communication with the liquid conduit, (iii) at least two liquid compound flow ports in fluid communication with the liquid reservoir, and (iv) a liquid compound distribution channel in fluid communication with the liquid compound flow ports and with the roller liquid compound applicator. The reservoir accumulates liquid compound paint that was transferred from the bottle, and further allows the liquid compound to enter into the fluid ports that extend from the liquid reservoir and to a surface adjacent the roller pad surface. This liquid compound distribution channel aids in the even distribution of paint across the roller liquid compound applicator. In the event that a port becomes clogged, and does not function to bring the liquid compound to the concave surface, the distribution channel will allow excess paint to travel to the clogged side of the roller promoting an even dispersal of paint to the roller form.
The present invention contains anti-drip guards beginning near the exit ports and continuing upward and outward as to come within close proximity to, but not interfering with the roller form. The purpose of the anti-drip guards is to prevent the liquid compound from dripping from the ports, by ensuring that the ports directly contact the absorbing material of the roller form. The close proximity of the anti-drip guards also ensures that large quantities of excess paint do not accumulate on a portion of the roller form at a single time by limiting the volume of space the excess paint may occupy.
There is shown in
The liquid compound roller sleeve 14 is installed in the liquid transfer roller assembly 12 by sliding onto a roller axle 16. The liquid compound roller sleeve 14 may comprise a sponge or a similar type of porous, absorbent, or wicking material to aid in retaining liquid compound on the roller assembly 12 for subsequent transfer to a target surface. The roller axle 16 has opposed ends configured to fit into respective axle retaining holes 22 in the L-shaped support frame arms 23, 24. The roller support frame 20 may be fabricated from a rigid but flexible material, such as a plastic, e.g., polypropylene, so as to allow installation and removal of the liquid transfer roller assembly 12 by flexing apart the support frame arms 23, 24 to allow removal from the axle retaining holes 22.
It can be seen that liquid compound flow ports 37, 38 extend from the upper guard surface 33 to a liquid reservoir 52. A liquid conduit 54 provides a liquid compound flow path from the threaded cavity 42 to the liquid reservoir 52 such that liquid compound in any attached liquid supply container (not shown) can be conveyed to the liquid compound distribution channel 39 via the reservoir 52. A conical wall 46 encloses the liquid conduit 54 to provide a seal for mitigating leakage of liquid compound from the threaded cavity 42.
The conical wall 46 is sized and configured to fit into the opening of an attached liquid supply container such that: (i) at least a portion of the conical wall 46 projects into the opening of the attached liquid supply container, and (ii) an oblique surface 48 of the conical wall 46 bears against the inside rim of the container neck opening. In an exemplary embodiment, an O-ring 58 (shown only partially for clarity of illustration) may further be included to improve sealing between the liquid supply container and the roller support frame 20. When the dispenser coupling cap 26 is screwed onto the threaded neck of the liquid supply container, the end of the container neck bears down against the O-ring 58. The roller support frame 20 may also include a plurality of recesses 36a, 36b, 36c, and 36d formed in the roller support frame 20 to reduce the amount of material needed for fabrication of the roller support frame 20.
During operation of the roller liquid compound applicator 10, liquid compound flows from the liquid supply container (not shown), when screwed into the threaded cavity 42, into the liquid conduit 54, into the liquid reservoir 52, through the liquid compound flow ports 37, 38 (not shown for clarity of illustration), and fills the liquid compound distribution channel 39. The liquid compound in the liquid compound distribution channel 39 is then picked up or absorbed by the liquid compound roller sleeve 14, as best seen in
It is to be understood that the description herein is only exemplary of the invention, and is intended to provide an overview for the understanding of the nature and character of the roller cap applicator devices. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of various features and embodiments of the method and devices of the invention which, together with their description serve to explain the principles and operation of the invention.
