Spray nozzle

• US 4,629,125 A
• Filed: 08/27/1984
• Issued: 12/16/1986
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/1984
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fuyi Liu
• Original Assignee: Fuyi Liu
• Inventors: Liu, Fuyi
• Primary Examiner(s): Peters, Jr., Joseph F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Application Number:
  US06/644,431
• Time in Patent Office: 841 Days
• Field of Search: 239/380, 239/381, 239/383, 239/443-444
• US Class Current: 239/443
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 1/1636 by relative rotative movement of the valve elements B05B1/1672 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 1/18 Roses; Shower heads with means for adding soap or the like E03C1/046; jet regulators E03C1/08
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 3/04 driven by the liquid or other fluent material discharged, e.g. the liquid actuating a motor before passing to the outlet B05B3/023 takes precedence

Abstract

The instant invention relates to a spray nozzle or showerhead which is operable to selectively discharge a continuously coarse spray, a pulsating spray, a variable combination of the coarse spray and pulsating spray, a continuously fine spray and a variable combination of the fine spray and pulsating spray. The nozzle housing is formed with three separate groups of discharge orifices. A flow directing plate is designed to direct flow through three set of passages to discharge said five types of sprays.

Claims

1. A spray nozzle for selectively producing five kinds of sprays including a steady coarse spray, a fine spray, a pulsating spray, a combination of a coarse spray and a pulsating spray, and a combination of a fine spray and a pulsating spray, comprising:

a hollow housing having an inlet portion and an outlet portion;

directing means, disposed between said inlet portion and said outlet portion of said housing, for defining a first path for said coarse spray, a second path for said fine spray, and a third path for said pulsating spray;

control means, operably provided on said housing with five resting positions each corresponding to one of said five sprays for selectively causing one of the five sprays, for controlling the selection of said sprays;

characterized in that said directing means comprises two slotted plates, including a fixed plate fixed in said housing and a movable plate rotatably mounted in said housing;

said fixed plate having three slots including a first slot, a second slot, and a third slot substantially located at the respective circumferences of three concentric circles and extending a length along the circumferences;

the center of the three circles being substantially at the geometrical center of said fixed plate;

said fixed plate being sealingly mounted in said housing so that a fluid from the inlet portion can pass through said fixed plate to the outlet portion only through said slots;

the position of said slots on said fixed plate being relatively close to one another so that the connecting lines connecting the middle point of each slot and the common center of the circles intersect with one another at one angle from 0 degree to a small sharp angle;

said movable plate being provided with a fourth slot, a fifth slot and a sixth slot, being sealingly mounted in said housing in close contact with said fixed plate, and being allowed to rotate in a plane closely attached to said fixed plate so that a fluid from the inlet portion can pass only through said fixed and movable plates to the outlet portion of the housing through the overlapping zones of the slots on the fixed plate and the slots on the movable plate;

said movable plate being a flat round plate with its three slots located at the circumferences of three concentric circles corresponding to the first-mentioned three circles;

all of said circles having centers located on the same vertical line perpendicular to the two plates, the common center of the second-mentioned three circles being the geometrical center of the movable plate;

the sizes and shapes of the three slots of said movable plate being respectively correspondent to one each of the three slots of said fixed plate;

the three slots of said movable plate being circumferentially spaced relatively far away from one another so that the connecting lines interconnecting the middle point of each slot and the common center of the second-mentioned circles intersect with one another at a relatively large angle;

said fourth, fifth, and sixth slots of said movable plate being respectively in communication with flows passing through said first, second and third slots of said fixed plate, said movable plate being in mechanical connection with said control means so that when the control means is in its first, second, third, fourth and fifth resting positions, respectively, the corresponding overlapping of the slots of the plates is as follows;

(a) only the first slot of the fixed plate and the fourth slot of the movable plate are substantially overlapping;

(b) only the fourth slot of the movable plate is partially overlapping with the first slot of the fixed plate, and the sixth slot of the movable plate is partially overlapping with the third slot of the fixed plate;

(c) only the third slot of the fixed plate and the sixth slot of the movable plate are substantially overlapping;

(d) only the fifth slot of the movable plate is partially overlapping with the second slot of the fixed plate, and the sixth slot of the movable plate is partially overlapping with the third slot of the fixed plate;

(e) only the second slot of the fixed plate and the fifth slot of the movable plate are substantially overlapping.