The present invention relates to the technical field of building, specifically to the finishing steps: it provides a system to deliver pain to a brush or a roller.
Brushes painting is still done in a traditional manner: the brush is immersed in a paint can, the excess paint is removed, and then a few brush strokes are applied on the wall or on the surface to be painted. When there is no more paint on the brush, the process of immersing the brush in the paint can is repeated. Consequently, a lot of time is wasted and there is an impending risk of getting soiled.
For that reason, a variety of systems that supply paint to a paintbrush or a roller brush have been developed in order to minimize the aforementioned problems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,389,772 describes a fountain paintbrush, which includes a paint container with a strap on the top to hang it to the shoulders of the user, and a bottom strap to attach it to the waist of the user.
On each side of the container is disposed a plate, which holds the mechanisms supplying paint to the brush, where said mechanisms are pivotally connected to the plates and are provided with coils which arch over the upper end of the paint container and form vertical arms external to the container.
The paint is forced to flow from the container through a control valve and a flexible tube to the handle of the paintbrush, so that the paintbrush is provided with an opening positioned longitudinally, which terminates in branches that are between the bristles. To provide paint to the top end branches and to do the same with a flexible material, it is observed that they will conduct the paint to an adjacent point to the end of the bristles and at the same time that they will be flexible enough so as to not interfere with the painting operation. A lever is pivotally secured to one side of the brush handle, which is provided with an L-shaped arm disposed in a transverse slot of the handle.
The arm of the L-shaped lever normally compresses the flexible tube so that paint will not be fed to the bristles; this compression is caused by the paint supplying coiled spring which is interposed between the lever's button operated by the user's thumb and the recess in the handle of the brush. During the painting operation, when it is desired to feed additional paint to the bristles, the user presses the button with his/her thumb and the paint is forced to flow into the bristles by means of the pressure mechanisms placed in the container.
The disadvantages that can be observed in this system are that two mechanisms are required to supply paint to the brush: the pressure mechanisms placed within the container, and those that are like stopcocks placed in the handle of the brush. Said mechanisms are constituted by many parts; moreover the stopcock mechanism can easily get obstructed if the brush is not clean enough.
The U.S. Pat. No. 1,425,959 describes a paintbrush with a handle having a portion of a channel or a tube extending inside and lengthwise the handle, the top part of the mentioned tube branches into three openings placed inside the paintbrush bristles, said tubes branches being attached to an essentially flat frame. A flexible tube connects the tube with a tank or bag containing the paint, and provided with a strap by which it may be supported by the shoulders of the user. The bristles are covered by a protective mechanism, which is comprised of telescopic members adjusted around the neck of the paintbrush, which are retractable, expandable and covers the paint bristles with a lid when is not in use.
The document does not mention how the paint flows to the openings of the tubes, it is deduced that it is done by means of gravity. Therefore the mentioned bag or tank must always be placed higher than the brush, which as a result is impractical for the user as it means that he has to be in a higher position himself than the paintbrush as otherwise the paint is unlikely to flow or it would only flow out from the tubes in very limited quantities.
Patent demand UK 2338178 A describes an applicator system and a storage bag for paint, which includes a sealed flexible bag where the paint is stored, said bag having in its bottom part an one-way valve, from where departs a flexible tube which is connected to a painting instrument, such as a paintbrush or a roller. To paint with this system, you have to exert a pressure on the bag to push the paint through the one-way valve.
The principal disadvantage of this invention is that it necessarily requires some pressure to be applied on the bag for the paint to flow out, so obviously it does not deliver an adequate amount of paint, therefore the paintbrush can saturate or delivers very limited quantities of paint; furthermore it is difficult to clean the bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,504,487 refers to a device composed by a paintbrush which has a hollow handle, said handle having a base portion with an internal bore, a flexible tube passes through said hollow handle and in one extremity of the said bore has a valve to control the flow inside the tube, a removable frame for said base is composed of a plate having a skirt flange, a wedge disposed in the center and secured by the frame and bristles that are secured in the frame. A tube that extends from the control valve which extends further than the said plate and wedge and has a paint spreader, said paint spreader has a removable neck which secures the flexible tube to the said spreader surrounded by said bristles.
The valve is mounted within a valve casing placed into the paintbrush between the handle and the bristles, and is operated by a button. It is preferred to have a gasket mounted on the outside end of the casing to surround the perforation and to have a plate secured to the base to clamp tightly against the gasket and therefore prevent any possible leakage of paint from the valve.
The disadvantage of this device is that it requires two mechanisms to supply paint to the paintbrush; the pressure mechanism in the tank and those that work as a stopcock placed in the paintbrush handle. Those mechanisms are constituted of an excessive number of elements; furthermore, the stopcock mechanism can easily be obstructed if the paintbrush is not cleaned well.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,603,694 describes a device to feed paint to a paintbrush, which consists of a pistol-type handle, on the end of which is placed a hollow cube to which is fixed the bristles of a paintbrush, in the hollow cube there is a mechanism that acts as a trigger to pump paint between the bristles.
The pumping mechanism works conjointly with the feeding mechanism pump to supply the paint to the injectors, in order to deliver the paint at the nearest point of the tips of the bristles and after each feeding the nozzles are withdrawn from the bristles into the hollow cube so they does not interfere with the flexing of the bristles.
The hollow handle and the pumping device are connected by a flexible tube to a portable paint container which can be carried on the shoulders or the back of the person using the device. The disadvantages of this device are that it is a very complex assembly constituted by many parts, as well as the impracticality of carrying the pistol type handles in addition to the weight of the paintbrush; moreover it is complicated to clean.
The patent demand US 2005/0226680 detail a device to continuously paint, utilizing a standard paintbrush. The device is capable of delivering a continuous or an intermittent flow of common paint or paint-like materials to a surface, which consists of a stationary platform mounted on the brush between the area of the brush handle and bristles, and securely held in place by a pair of lateral clamps, these are designed to accommodate a variety of brush sizes, and as an alternative, a broad band of flexible material having a series of central perforations longitudinally, and having at its end a rigid tube reusable, with self-adhesive material, mounted on the top of the stationary platform or alternately, held in a place centrally by the perforations in the flexible band. The tube acts as a conduit of paint, which is delivered from a remote source to the rigid tube via another flexible connecting tube, the paint being pumped or delivered to the rigid tube and then delivered onto the bristle portion, the paint flow being distributed on the bristles by an apron (part that distributes the paint to the bristles). It also has a paint container which inside has a paint siphon and an electric pump to deliver paint through the flexible tube as far as the apron.
The inconvenient of this device is that it is fixed and a power source close by is necessary for the pump, moreover, as the paint is applied externally, there is a very high probability of paint spillage.
The patent demand WO 02/15741 is a device that mentions a paintbrush that delivers a constant supply of paint, without stopping to paint. It consists in a sealed container with compressed air (as a fumigation device), connected by a flexible tube to a paintbrush, which has a hollow and bored axis in its cylindrical body, in order to supply paint externally to the inside even while painting. The paint is propelled from the container to the brush or roller brush by mean of compressed air. A paint flow control valve is necessary. It's important to consider that the most critical part of the device, the pressure pump, doesn't enter into contact with the paint, only with the air, so its cleaning is not so critical, though it is not easy.
The inconvenience of this device is that the quantity of paint to be injected is not easy regulated. In addition, with respect to the present invention, the device is expensive, complex, impractical and difficult to clean.
In order to eliminate all the disadvantages mentioned above, a new painting device has been developed, which supplies paint to a paintbrush or a roller, in a precise, controlled and continuously measured way. This invention allows painting with a controlled and easy flow of paint to the bristles of the brush or to the fabric of the roller, with the following features and advantages:
The detailed characteristics of the present paint supply system to a paintbrush or a roller brush, which are described below and illustrated by the drawings, are cited as an example and should not be considered as limitative.
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This system to supply paint to a brush or a roller brush, is constituted from: a paintbrush, which in turn is made up in two parts, a upper piece (
The upper piece has practically the same structure regarding to the channels and hollows of the lower piece, with the exception that instead of having a circular cavity 8, this one has a round perforation 16, located precisely in the place of the circular cavity 8 of the lower piece, also it has the same dimension as said cavity 8, so that when the frontal surface of the lower piece (
One of the variants of the present invention is that the elastic membrane 19 is substituted by a preformed convex membrane (giving it the appearance of a dome) formed of a flexible material resistant to deformation, with which we can obtain a larger suction chamber, and consequently a larger quantify of paint can be expulsed to the bristles 17.
In the hollows 6 and 9 are positioned respectively the entry valve 7 and the exit valve 10, which are made up of, in this case, a hollow tube 22, where said tube has in one extremity a narrow exit 24 and in the other extremity a large exit 25; a spring 26 goes there vertically through the hollow tube 22; the spring 26 is attached in one of its extremities to an insert 27, said insert 27 is placed in the large exit 25, and works as a lid for said exit, whereas in the opposite extremity of the spring 26 is localized a ball 28, which regulates the passage of paint through the narrow exit 24 of the valves. The valves are hermetically sealed with a seal or a “O ring” gasket 41, which fits firmly on the channel of the hollows 6 and 9 on every sides, to prevent the entrance of air or paint into the hollows 6 and 9 or into the valves 7 and 10, and also to secure the valves and prevents them from moving or shifting out of place. It is important to mention that the preferred valve material is a rust-proof material such as plastic, among others, in such a way to allow easy cleaning of the parts without having mould or oxidation inside of the valves. The valves are placed in the hollows 6 and 9 in the following way: the entry valve 7 should be placed upright, with the narrow exit 24 facing the first channel 5 and the insert 27 facing toward the suction chamber; The exit chamber 10 is placed at 45 degree °, but in a reverse position compared to the entry valve 7, consequently the narrow exit 24 remains in contact with the suction chamber and the insert 27 facing toward the channel 11 which delivers the paint to the bristles 17. In such a way that when pressure is applied on the elastic membrane 19 by the thumb of a user, the ball 28 of the exit valve 10 moves into the tube 22, thus allowing the passage of paint to the channels 11 and 12 which then feed the paint to the bristles 17, while at the same time in the entry valve 7 the ball 28 closes the narrow entry 24 therefore avoiding the backflow of the paint from the suction chamber toward the channel 5. On the other hand, when removing the thumb pressure on the elastic membrane 19, the valves act in a reverse way and in this way the suction chamber is provided of paint that is stored in the container 23. It is worth mentioning that the valves may vary in their construction or form, as it is possible to adapt to the brush diaphragm valves, ball valves, or other types of valves to operate the pump, but in this case, the type of valve that is described is the one that gives the best result.
With the junction of the lower piece and upper piece are also formed in the lower part two small ducts 14 and 15 separated by a thin slot 29, where the duct with the larger diameter 15 serves to connect and disconnect the flexible tube 4 of the brush, because it has a slightly larger diameter than the flexible tube 4, In the other hand, the narrowest hole serves to fix the flexible tube 4 to the cannula 3 of the brush, thus avoiding accidents that could be caused by the loosening of the flexible tube 4 in the cannula 3; finally the thin slot 29 is used for passing the flexible tube 4 from one duct to the other; furthermore it makes a choke point in the flexible tube 4 when it is not desired to have paint flowing to the brush or returning to the container 23 (See
The system also includes the container 23 that stores the paint, which can be a can or a closed container, with a perforation in the top central part, where said perforation shall have an appropriate diameter to receive in tightly the flexible tube 4, which transports the paint to the brush; a conventional gasket 30 is used to seal the junction between the flexible tube and the perforation of the container 23; and finally a harness 31 is added to the container, used to fasten or to suspend the container 23 to the user, the way that he prefers.
It is important to mention that a first version of the brush has fixed bristles, just like any conventional brush; and that in a second version the bristles 17 are removable, for which purpose a base 37 is set up where the bristles 17 are affixed, said base 37 contains some central perforations 38 to have the channels 12 pass through it and, at least, a couple of locks 39 located at the opposite ends to secure said base 37 to a canal 42 formed by a slight extension of the upper piece and lower piece, so that in said extension are fitted into their extremities the perforations 40 that will retain the locks 39 of the base 37 (see
Another variant of this system is to have the brush described above replaced by a conventional roller (see
Another variant of the system in question is to add a connector (not shown) to the flexible tube 4 to connect it to a faucet or water tap to clean the flexible tube 4 and the inside of the brush.
Another embodiment of the present invention is to place the entry valve 7 on the other extremity of the flexible tube, at the opposite end of the brush, said valve being immersed in the paint inside the container 23, as shown in
It is noticeable that the present demand also includes a “kit”, which is made up of at least: one brush with fixed bristles, as described above; a handle 4, a paint container 23; an elastic membrane 19; a ring 20 to attach the elastic membrane; and a connector not shown that connects, on the opposite end of the brush, to the flexible tube 4 to connect it to a faucet or water tap in order to clean the internal part of the brush when it is desired.
A second “kit” is also included in this demand, which in this case is constituted by, at least: one brush without bristles; a removable base with bristles; a flexible tube 4; a paint container 23; an elastic membrane 19; a ring 20 to attach the elastic membrane; and a connector not shown that connect, on the opposite end of the brush, to the flexible tube 4 to connect it to a faucet or water tap in order to clean the internal part of the brush when it is desired.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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JL/A/2006/000019 | Apr 2006 | MX | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/MX2006/000076 | 7/26/2006 | WO | 00 | 9/17/2008 |