Continental Afa Dispensing Company

Meadwestvaco Calmar Gmbh

Meadwestvaco Clamar, Inc.

Worthington Torch LLC

Jeffrey P Stark

Donald D Foster

Philip L Nelson

Walter J Clynes

Gregory David Parker

Thomas Andrew Burdsall

Dale L Picolet

Chris S Leyden

Philipp L Nelson

A trigger sprayer is provided with a passive venting system of simplified and inexpensive construction. A gas permeable, liquid impermeable membrane is positioned over a vent opening in the trigger sprayer housing and prevents the leakage of liquid from a container attached to the trigger sprayer, while allowing the venting of air from the exterior of the trigger sprayer to the container interior. The membrane is secured to a vent opening surface of the sprayer housing that is surrounded by a vent side wall that protects the vent membrane.

Trigger sprayer with venting membrane in protective housing cavity

A hand operated liquid dispenser has a simplified, in-line construction that reduces the number of component parts of the dispenser and thereby reduces the dispenser's manufacturing costs. The in-line construction of the liquid dispenser coaxially aligns a liquid discharge orifice, a liquid discharge passage, and a pump chamber of the dispenser. The construction provides a compact liquid dispenser that can be easily held in one hand by a user and manipulated by the fingers of the user's hand to pump liquid from a bottle attached to the liquid dispenser and dispense the liquid in a variety of different discharge patterns.

In-line manually operated liquid dispenser with simplified construction

A manually operated trigger sprayer is constructed with a reduced number of parts and in a novel manner in which the conventional metal coil spring is replaced with a pair of plastic bowed springs that are integral with the piston rod and the pump piston is connected to the piston rod by a ball and socket connection.

Trigger sprayer piston rod with integral spring and ball and socket piston connection

Trigger for a trigger sprayer

A venting system of a manually operated trigger sprayer vents the interior of a liquid container connected to the trigger sprayer. The trigger sprayer is provided with a vent chamber that surrounds the pump chamber, and a vent piston that surrounds the pump piston. The vent piston is received in the vent chamber for reciprocating movements with the pump piston in the pump chamber. The reciprocating movement of the vent piston alternatively opens the vent chamber to the exterior environment of the trigger sprayer and thereby vents the interior of the liquid container connected to the trigger sprayer, and closes the vent chamber thereby sealing the interior of the liquid container from the exterior environment.

Trigger sprayer venting system

Lotion pump head

A liquid dispensing, manually operated trigger sprayer has a trigger with an ergonomic finger engagement surface. The trigger finger engagement surface extends longitudinally across the front of the trigger and has a protrusion at the top of the surface. The protrusion has a finger engagement surface portion that rests on the top of a finger of a user's hand while the user's hand manipulates the trigger of the trigger sprayer.

Ergonomic trigger for a trigger sprayer

An indexing nozzle assembly for a trigger sprayer has a manually rotatable cap mounted for rotation on a base of the nozzle assembly. Rotation of the cap relative to the base changes the nozzle assembly between an off condition where the nozzle assembly prevents liquid discharge from the trigger sprayer, and a combination of a spray condition, a stream condition, and/or a foam condition. The indexing nozzle assembly is provided with a child resistant feature in the form of a lock mechanism that prevents rotation of the nozzle cap relative to the nozzle base from the cap off condition position. The lock mechanism can be manually manipulated with one hand to disengage the lock mechanism, thereby permitting rotation of the nozzle cap from its off condition position relative to the base.

Child resistant indexing nozzle for a trigger sprayer

An adjustable nozzle is attachable to the end of a garden hose and is also attachable to a separate product container, for example, a bottle containing a garden fertilizer or a bottle containing a cleaning soap concentrate. The adjustable nozzle receives a flow of water from the garden hose and dispenses a product from the container attached to the nozzle. The nozzle has a simplified construction with a reduced number of component parts and the operation of the nozzle is simplified yet enables a user to selectively discharge a flow of water or a mixture of water and product from the nozzle, to control the ratio of water to product when the nozzle is employed in dispensing the mixture of water and product, and to direct the discharge as a stream or disperse the discharge in an upwardly or downwardly directed fanned spray pattern.

Growing community of inventors

Wentzville, MO, United States of America

Jeffrey P Stark