Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company

3m Innovative Properties Company

Robert M Petrie

Alan G McKown

Stephen C P Joseph

David C Roeker

Constantin I Ruta

Keith C Navis

Russell E Blette

Lowell W Holland

An assembly for feeding liquid to the inlet port of a gravity feed sprayer. The assembly includes (1) a mixing cup of a known type commonly used to mix paint with solvent that is of stiff polymeric material and bears indicia on its side wall indicating the levels to which a plurality of different liquids should be sequentially poured into the cup to achieve a predetermined ratio between the liquids; (2) a first adapter comprising a central portion having a through opening and a transverse portion including a peripheral part defining a groove along its inner surface adapted for sealing engagement with a top end of the mixing cup; and (3) a second adapter having a through opening, a first end portion of which second adapter is adapted to releasably engage the inlet port of a gravity feed paint sprayer. A second end portion of the second adapter and the central portion of the first adapter have connector parts adapted for releasable liquid tight engagement between the adapters with their through openings in communication.

Mixing cup adapting assembly

A spray assembly for mixing catalyst with a high viscosity material and applying thin coatings of that material to a substrate that is particularly useful for applying body putty to a surface. The spray assembly has first and second through air passageways between an inlet end portion and different portions of an outlet end. The through air passageways each have a straight central axis adjacent the outlet end, the extensions of which axes outside the spray nozzle intersect a short distance from the outlet end of the spray nozzle. A large suction tube for the larger first air passageway has an upper end positioned within a cylindrical portion of the first air passageway. Air streams propelled through the passageways draw high viscosity material through the larger suction tube and catalyst through a smaller suction tube into those air streams. Intersection of those air streams outside of the nozzle mixes the catalyst material with the high viscosity material. A manually operable valve in the larger suction tube can adjust the amount of catalyzed high viscosity material being sprayed.

Spray assembly for high viscosity materials

A spray assembly including a venturi type spray nozzle, a valve attached to the spray nozzle, a reservoir adapter that can engage a reservoir containing a liquid coating material to be sprayed, and a flexible hose between tile reservoir adapter and the valve. The outer surface texture of material being coated can be adjusted using the valve which is useful in matching the surface texture of chip resistant coatings and undercoatings on an automobile, and the hose allows the operator to spray material onto a substrate from any orientation of the spray nozzle which facilitates coating locations such as the lower portions of panels or in wheel wells and trunks. A valve passageways is shaped to facilitate fine adjustment of the air/coating material ratio when small amounts of material are being delivered, and the valve includes an air purge to remove material from the valve and nozzle when the valve is shut off.

Spray assembly

Co-spraying nozzle

Growing community of inventors

Plymouth, MN, United States of America

Robert M Petrie