Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6712498
-
Patent Number
6,712,498
-
Date Filed
Tuesday, September 3, 200222 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, March 30, 200420 years ago
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Inventors
-
-
Examiners
Agents
- Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch, LLP
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
-
International Classifications
-
Abstract
A straddle mixer includes a motor driving a spindle, a base dock located below the motor having sleeves located on a bottom side thereof to couple with rods, and a clamp apparatus mounted onto the rods. The clamp apparatus includes a stationary plank connected to one end of the rods and a movable plank movably coupled with another end of the rods, and an anchor block fastened to another end of the rods on an outer side of the movable plank. A screw rod runs through the anchor block and may be turned to move the movable plank to enable the clamp apparatus to clamp a paint drum for positioning and anchoring. The spindle has a lower end coupled with a chuck to connect a blender. The blender is detachable for cleaning.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for blending coating materials and particularly a straddle mixer that is adjustable to suit paint drums of different sizes and fastenable to the paint drum, and has a detachable blender to facilitate washing and cleaning.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A conventional paint or coating material mixer such as the one shown in
FIG. 1
mainly includes a small driving motor
1
which has a spindle extended to form a center stem
2
. The center stem
2
has a lower end coupled with one or more blades
3
which may be driven to rotate by the motor
1
. The top end and one side of the motor
1
have respectively a handle ring
4
and a handgrip
5
to enable an user to grasp with two hands for placing the lower end of the center stem
2
into a paint drum to mix the paint contained therein with the rotating blades
3
when the motor
1
is activated. In practical use, paints and coating materials usually have a relatively high viscosity, and a painter usually has to estimate in advance the required paint for a given painting area, and blends the required paint of a desired color in one batch to avoid blending in different batches and result in different painting color hues. However, the conventional paint mixer mentioned above is suitable only for blending a small amount of paint. This is mainly caused by the constraints of human labor and the sizes of the handle ring and handgrip. As the motor is made from metal and is quite heavy, and the paint has a great viscosity, it is difficult for a painter to grasp and hold the paint mixer for a long period of time or to blend a large amount of paint. This is a problem pending to be resolved.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore the primary object of the invention is to provide a straddle mixer that has a larger driving motor mounted onto a horizontal base dock. There is a clamp apparatus with an adjustable clamping width located beneath the base dock for fastening to the upper rim of a paint drum. The clamp apparatus also enables a blender to move to thoroughly blend the paint.
Another object of the invention is to provide a chuck below the motor that is movable to grip or detach the blender so that the paint drum may be cleaned easily and the blender may be detached or replaced conveniently.
The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of a conventional mixer.
FIG. 2
is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention in use.
FIG. 3
is an exploded view of an embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 4
is a cross section taken along line
4
—
4
in FIG.
2
.
FIG. 5
is a fragmentary cross section of an embodiment of a chuck of the invention.
FIG. 6A
is a schematic view of an embodiment of the invention in an operating condition.
FIG. 6B
is a schematic view of an embodiment of the invention in another operating condition.
FIG. 7
a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to
FIGS. 2 and 3
, the straddle mixer of the invention includes a vertical air motor
10
and a speed reducer
11
connecting to a lower end of the motor
10
. Below the speed reducer
11
, there is a hollow coupling barrel
12
housed in an opening formed on a horizontal base dock
13
. The hollow coupling barrel
12
has a peripheral flange fastened to the base dock
13
around the opening. The upper end of the coupling barrel
12
has a cavity
121
directing downwards to house the lower section of the speed reducer
11
. The coupling barrel
12
has a center hole to allow a spindle
111
that fastened to the lower end of the speed reducer
11
to pass through. There is a bearing
112
located between the spindle
111
and the coupling barrel
12
. The spindle
111
has a lower end fastened to a round chuck
14
. Referring to
FIG. 5
, the chuck
14
has three jaws
141
located at the lower end. The jaws
141
are retractable synchronously towards the center to grip the stem
151
of a blender
15
.
The stem
151
of the blender
15
has two blade units
152
mounted onto a lower end thereof for blending paint or coating materials.
The horizontal base dock
13
has two sleeves
16
located respectively at a front side and a rear side on a lower section thereof to couple with a rod
161
. Each sleeve
16
is engaged with a set screw
162
from the outer wall for fastening the rod
161
securely in the sleeve
16
. There is a clamp apparatus mounting onto the two rods
161
. The clamp apparatus includes a stationary plank
163
located at one end of the rods
161
that has a first groove
164
formed on an inner wall surface to engage with a top peripheral rim
21
of a paint drum
20
. The clamp apparatus has a movable plank
165
movably run through by another end of the rods
161
. Referring to
FIG. 4
, the movable plank
165
includes a front plank
165
A and a rear plank
165
B that are fastened together by screws. The front plank
165
A has an inner wall surface with a second groove
166
formed thereon. The rear plank
165
B has a fish eye cavity
167
formed in the axial direction. There is an anchor block
17
fastened to anther end of the rods
161
. There is a screw rod
18
coupling with a middle screw hole
171
formed on the anchor block
17
. The screw rod
18
has one end formed a retain flange
181
which is greater than the outer diameter of the screw rod
18
and another end running through the fish eye cavity
167
of the rear plank
165
B to fasten to a wheel
182
. Turning the wheel
182
, the screw rod
18
may be driven to rotate. Then the retain flange
181
at one end of the screw rod
18
may push the front plank
165
A moving towards the stationary plank
163
or drive the rear plank
165
B moving the entire movable plank
165
towards the anchor block
17
as shown in
FIGS. 6A and 6B
.
By means of the construction set forth above, when in use, first select a suitable blender
15
to be gripped by jaws
141
of the chuck
14
. Fasten the jaws
141
tightly to enable the stem
151
of the blender
15
be fastened securely below the horizontal base dock
13
. The movable plank
165
of the invention may be adjusted to the left or right side to suit the size of the paint drum
20
. For operation, place the invention on the top of the paint drum
20
in a straddle manner with the first groove
164
of the stationary plank
163
located at one end of the base dock
13
to wedge and engage with the top peripheral rim
21
of the paint drum
20
, then turn the wheel
182
to move the movable plank
165
towards the top peripheral rim
21
at another side of the paint drum
20
to enable the second groove
166
on the movable plank
165
to engage tightly with the top peripheral rim
21
at another side. Then move the blade units
152
at the lower end of the blender
15
into the paint drum
20
. The set screw
162
on the sleeve
16
may be loosened to adjust the left and right position of the horizontal base dock
13
, and be fastened again to station the blender
15
at a desired location in the paint drum
20
. Then the motor of a greater power may be activated to blend a large amount of paint or coating materials. Thus the invention can save human labor and overcome the problem of hand gripping limitation that occurs to conventional mixers. The invention also can blend a large amount of paint and resolve the problem of blending paint in multiple batches that result in different color hues.
In addition, the three jaws
141
of the chuck
14
can grip or loosen the blender. Therefore different types of blenders
15
with different number and size of stems
153
and blade units
152
(referring to
FIG. 7
) may be selected and coupled with the chuck
14
to meet various blending requirements effectively. This is especially useful for blending a large amount of paint or coating materials.
When there is a need to wash or clean the blender
15
or the paint drum
20
, the jaws
141
of the chuck
14
may be loosened to remove the blender
15
. The wheel
182
may also be turned to move the movable plank
165
outwards so that clamp apparatus may be removed from the paint drum
20
. All this makes washing and cleaning of the blender
15
and the paint drum
20
much easier.
Claims
- 1. A straddle mixer, comprising:a motor driving a blender located thereunder; a base dock located below the motor having at least one sleeve located respectively at a front side and a rear side on a lower section thereof to couple with a rod; a clamp apparatus mounted onto the two rods having a stationary plank connected to one end of the rods and a movable plank movably coupled with another end of the rods, and an anchor block fastened to another end of the rods on an outer side of the movable plank; a screw rod transversely running through the anchor block having an inner end engaged with the movable plank and an outer end engaged with a wheel; and a paint drum having a top end to support the rods, the base dock and the clamp apparatus in a straddle manner.
- 2. The straddle mixer of claim 1 further having a speed reducer connected to a lower end of the motor, the speed reducer having an output spindle coupled with a hollow coupling barrel, the coupling barrel running through an opening formed on the base dock and being fastened to the base dock, the coupling barrel and the spindle being interposed by a bearing, the spindle having a lower end connected to a chuck which has three jaws.
- 3. The straddle mixer of claim 1, wherein the stationary plank and a front plank of the movable plank have respectively an inner side with a groove formed thereon to clamp a top peripheral rim of the paint drum.
- 4. The straddle mixer of claim 1, wherein the movable plank has a front plank and a rear plank coupled together, the rear plank having a transverse fish eye cavity, the inner end of the screw rod running through the fish eye cavity to form a retain flange located in the rear plank and the outer end of the screw rod running through the anchor block to engage with the wheel.
US Referenced Citations (4)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
3704371 |
Aug 1987 |
DE |