Realex Corporation

Wallace F Magers

Donald D Foster

John M Ford

John J Palmisano

James P Workman

Larry Lee Hudson

James M Jegen

Dispensing head

The plunger of the pump has a hollow, depending projection at its lower end which engages the ball valve when the plunger is locked down in a fully depressed position for shipment, the projection thereby holding the ball firmly seated against the inlet to the interior of the body so as to prevent leakage should the container be laid on its side or inverted during shipment. During the down stroke of the plunger for normal operation, the product enters the tubular plunger through orifices in the ball hold-down projection, and such orifices are located on the side of the projection, separated by slender, axially extending legs so that as the product enters the projection, it is split into a plurality of turbulent streams by the legs and recombined internally of the projection, thereby imparting a mixing action to the product to aid in keeping the constituents in a homogeneous condition. One form of the projection has a closed tip at its lower end so that all product enters the plunger via the side orifices, while a second form has an opening across the tip to permit a portion of the product to enter at that location. The legs separating the side orifices are yieldably resilient so as to bow outwardly to a certain extent when the plunger is locked down against the ball valve, thereby accommodating dimensional variations that may occur in the length of the plunger and its related components during manufacturing.

Down-locking dispensing pump with side-orificed, product-mixing ball

The collar of the pump clamps the top wall of a closure against an underlying, external flange on the pump body, and although the collar is always a fixed, predetermined distance from the flange, a variety of closures with differing top wall thicknesses may be accommodated by the collar because of the yieldable nature of an integrally depending element at a lower periphery of the collar that makes the actual clamping engagement of the collar with the closure. Such element may be defined by an annular series of separate, deflectable segments around the periphery of the collar or by a continuous annular surface capable of deflecting away from the lip but maintaining forcible engagement with the top wall of the closure at all times.

Size-compensating collar in a pump dispenser

When the plunger is fully depressed, radially projecting lugs carried by the plunger adjacent its normally upper end may be received within corresponding notches in a collar through which the plunger reciprocates, whereupon rotation of the plunger in a clockwise direction moves the lugs under overhanging shoulders of the collar so as to prevent extension of the plunger until it is intentionally unlocked from the collar. A total of three lugs are utilized so as to provide three-point, stabilized retention of the plunger in its locked-down condition, and one of the lugs and its corresponding notch is smaller than the other two so that the plunger can be locked only when it is in a certain, predetermined rotative position relative to the collar aligning the down-sized lug and notch. Each of the shoulders is provided with a lower, lug-engaging, inclined surface which bears against its corresponding lug with progressively increasing force for fluid-tight sealing purposes as the plunger is rotated into a fully locked condition, there being abutments associated with the shoulders blocking movement of the lugs beyond positions corresponding to the fully locked and rotated position of the plunger.

Down-locking pump

The hand-operated pump has a piston which is reciprocated within the hollow pump body by a plunger which itself is reciprocated through an opening in a collar at one end of the pump body. When the plunger is in a fully extended condition at one end of a stroke, a direct seal is obtained between an annular projection on the plunger and an annular groove on the collar which receives said projection. Thus, leakage is prevented along the interface between the plunger and the collar through the opening during shipment or accidental inversion of the pump at other times.

Pump dispenser with sealing plunger

The plunger may be locked down after a full depression stroke so that the overall height of the pump assembly and the container with which it is associated can be significantly reduced. A special valve component loosely encircling the plunger and slidable with friction along the interior surface of the barrel is initially positioned during factory assembly in a closed position covering vents in the sidewall of the barrel, thereby blocking the undesirable ingress of liquid into the barrel above the piston should the container be laid on its side during shipment or other handling. Upon the first unlocking upstroke of the plunger to its extended position, a shoulder on the plunger lifts the valve to an open position so the vents can function properly to introduce ambient air into the container replacing pumped-out product. The valve remains stored in its open position until such time as the plunger is once again locked down beyond the limit of its normal depression stroke, this action causing a second shoulder on the plunger to push the valve back down to its closed position.

Vent-sealing, down-locked pump dispenser

The plunger may be releasably locked in a fully extended condition against depression by an annular locking disc which receives the plunger and has a series of radially inwardly projecting, circumferentially spaced, plunger-engaging teeth snapped into a notch on the plunger. The teeth are slightly outwardly inclined in the direction of plunger extension, and stationary structure on the pump adjacent the plunger cooperates with the teeth to prevent them from being reversely flexed when depression of the plunger is attempted, thereby securely locking the same in its upwardly extended position. By gripping a tab on the disc and flexing it upwardly so as to reversely flex at least certain of the teeth, attempted depression of the plunger while the teeth are in that condition will release the plunger so that full depression may continue. The disc becomes stored on the plunger on the first lock-releasing stroke and remains snugly against the underside of the dispensing head unless the disc is once again intentionally slid downwardly from its unlocked position along the plunger into locking engagement with the notch.

Uplocking dispensing pump

The discharge orifice on a fine mist sprayer has a hole through which streams of liquid particles are swirled at high speeds so as to fully atomize the liquid by the time it reaches the exit end of the hole. At that location an annular launching surface for the liquid particles flares outwardly from the hole wall through a curve extending at least 90.degree. from a tangent point on the wall. As a result of this construction, the swirling streams progressively increase in diameter as they approach the exit and encounter the flared launching surface and depart at random locations from the surface to thereby produce a spray pattern of substantially circular configuration and uniform particle distribution throughout. In the preferred embodiment, the launching surface projects outwardly beyond the face of the spray head in the nature of a rim around the orifice hole, such rim being uniformly smooth, flawless and devoid of any lines of demarcation or intersection with the wall or the outside face through a curve of at least 90.degree..

Spray pattern control structure and method

The reciprocable plunger of the pump has a valve sleeve which circumscribes the plunger and shifts relative to the latter between port opening and port closing positions in response to telescopic depression and extension of the plunger within its receiving barrel. That portion of the plunger circumscribed by the sleeve is necked down and provided with the port that communicates the discharge passage of the plunger with liquid in the barrel. The sleeve is generally hyperbolic in longitudinal cross-section, having an inner surface which is generally complimentally received within the neck of the plunger. A pair of radially outwardly extending, annular steps in such inner surface on opposite sides of the port define a pair of corresponding shoulders on the inner surface that are disposed to engage oppositely tapering sections of the plunger neck during movement of the sleeve between its port opening and port closing positions, thereby to effect such opening and closing of the port. The plunger is of two part construction at its neck, having a detachable tip that serves as a retainer for the sleeve and which is symmetrically constructed so that it may be inverted end-for-end during assembly without adversely affecting the operation of the pump.

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Leawood, KS, United States of America

Wallace F Magers