Wide area coating applicator

摘要

An applicator has reservoir for fluid and a supply passage. A valve in the passage has a seat and a member movable between closed and open positions. A spring biases the member toward its closed position. An elongated nib is mounted in the supply passage and has an end extending from the passage, the nib engaging the member so that the member moves to its open position. An adapter has a portion for holding a pad that has at least one dimension elongated transversely to the nib. The adapter includes an engagement portion with a cavity for detachably receiving an end of the reservoir, the cavity having a depth so that it engages the nib when the end of the reservoir is detachably received in the cavity to apply pressure on the nib to move the member to its open position.

主权项

1. A wide area applicator (10) for applying a coating fluid, comprising:
a base applicator (25) comprising a reservoir (12) adapted to contain a supply of coating fluid, the reservoir connecting to a supply passage (14) for supplying a flow of the coating fluid to an end portion (24); a valve assembly (30) in the supply passage (14), the valve assembly having a valve seat (16) for passing coating fluid and a valve member (18) movable between a closed position engaging the valve seat (16) so as to block the flow of fluid, and an open position allowing coating fluid to pass through the valve seat, the valve assembly (30) comprising a resilient means for biasing the valve member (18) toward the closed position; an elongated porous nib (40) mounted for movement in the supply passage (14) with an end (42) of the nib (40) extending out of the end portion (24) of the base applicator (25), the nib being engaged with the valve assembly (30) so that when a pressure is exerted on the end (42) of the nib, in a direction toward the reservoir (12), the valve assembly is moved to its open position to allow fluid to pass through the valve seat (16) and the supply passage (14); and a wide area adapter (50) having a holder portion (54) for holding a porous pad (60) that has at least one dimension that is elongated transverse to the elongated porous nib (40), with a porous pad (60) held in the holding portion (54), the wide area adapter (50) including an engagement portion (52) with a cavity (56) for detachably receiving the end portion of the base applicator, the cavity (56) having a depth selected so that an inner surface of the cavity engages the end (42) of the nib to apply a pressure on the end of the nib to move the valve assembly (30) to its open position when the end portion (24) of the base applicator (25) is detachably received in the cavity (56); the wide area adapter (50) having a porous pad chamber (64) for receiving and holding the porous pad (60), a fluid distribution chamber (62) extending along and communicating with the porous pad chamber (64), and a housing passage (68) communicating between the cavity (56) and the fluid distribution chamber (62), so that fluid from the reservoir (12) passes through the supply passage (14), the cavity (56), and the a fluid distribution chamber (62), to enter the porous pad chamber (64) to soak the porous pad (60) for applying the fluid along a wide area, using the porous pad.