Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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AEROSO~ VALVE
Back~round of the Invention
This invention relates to a valve for a pressurized package
commonly referred to as an aerosol package.
Aerosol pac~ages usually comprise a valve unit situated in
the neck of the container which is opened by finger pressure
against an actuator disposed at one terminus of a valve stem. The
valve unit has a movable valve body and associated hollow valve
stem which unseats from a gasket, thereby permitting flow of
product into a hollow valve stem ~product conduit).
With certain products, e.g. paints, it is desirable that the
valve stem be separable ~rom the valve body in order to clean the
product conduit should drying and resultant clogging occur. To
provide the aforem~ntioned valve stem removal capabi}ity, the
valve stem, at one end, i5 molded integral to the valve actuator
to thereby permit its separation from the ~alve body by pulling
on the actuator. At the other end the valve stem mates with a
movable valve body situated beneath a resilient gasket, the valve
stem being passed through a central opening in the resilient
gaske~. The gasket seals the product discharge orifice in the
~alve stem when the valve is in a closed position. By depressing
the valve stem, the product orifice in the stem is open to flow
of product from the container.
More particularly, the aforedescribed aerosol valve comprises
a container closure, commonly called a mounting cup, which is
clinched to the container bead. Within and crimped to an
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upstanding central portion of the mounting cup, commonly called a
pedestal, is a valve housing having a resilient gasket disposed
atop thereof, which gasket forms a seal b~tween the valve housing
and the mounting cup. Disposed within the housing is reciprocable
valve closingJopening member comprising a valve body and valve
stem, which body and ~tem have communicating passages for egress
of the pressurized product to a discharge ori.fice situated in a
finger depressible actuator.
The aerosol valve described above is co~monly referred to in
the aerosol industry as a ~female~ valve, in contrast to the so
called ~male~ valve wherein the valve stem is molded integral to
the valve body. United States Patent Nos. 3,033,473, 3,061,203,
3,074,601 and 3,209,960 describe aerosol valves of the ~female~
type and United States Patent 2,631,814 and aerosol valve of the
~male~ type.
F~rthermor~, in prior aerosol valves, the product orifice in
the valve ~tem is formed by a radial pin extending laterally
through the wall of the valve ~tem, a so-called ~side actionn
molding operation. The presence of the ~side action~ pin
necessitates the removal of the pin before ejection of the molded
part, with a consequent time delay in the molding operation.
Moreover, with orifice sizes commonly used in aerosol v~lves, the
~side actionn pin often breaks with consequent shutdown of the
molding operation.
Additionally, in prior aerosol valves, the central opening
of the gasket seal~ radially against the product orifice in the
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valve stem. This sealing of the valve stem orifice upon closure
of the valve forecloses gravitational return of the product in
the hollow valve stem from moving past the valve stem orifice
with the often consequent result that residual product in the
hollow valve stem dries and clogs the passage in the valve stem.
It is an objective of this invention to provide an aerosol
valve that obviates the aforementioned disadvantages of prior art
valves.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Broadly stated, the invention is an improvement in an
aerosol valve having a movable, gasketed valve body-valve stem
located within a valve housing, comprising a valve body having
at least one upstanding wall defining a recess in the valve body
and having a slot through said upstanding wall extending from the
top shoulder of the upstanding wall which slot communicates with
the interior of the container when the valve is actuated; a valve
stem having a longitudinal opening therethrough and a member that
frictionally and releasably engages within the valve body recess,
said valve stem further having an orifice aligned with the
longitudinal opening of the valve stem, which communicates at one
end with the slot in the recess of the valve body and at the
other end with the orifice in the valve stem; and the central
opening of the gasket sealiny the slot defined by the upstanding
wall of the valve body when the valve is in a closed position.
More specifically, and as a preferred embodiment, the
aerosol valve of this invention includes a recess in the valve
body beneath the valve stem orifice.
Referring to the drawings:
Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the valve of
this invention in closed position.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the valve of this
invention in open position.
Figure 3 is an enlarged longitudinal section of the valve
stem of Figures 1 and 2.
Figure 4 is a bottom plan view of Figure 3.
Figure 5 i5 an enlarged longitudinal partial section of the
valve body of Figures l and 2.
Figure 6 is a top plan view of Figure 5.
Figure 7 is an enlarged lonyitudinal partial section of the
valve stem and valve body of Figure 1.
Figure 8 i.s a perspective view of the valve body of Figures
1, 2, 5-7.
Referring to the drawings, the mounting cup is generally
designated as lO. Crimped to the mounting cup 10 is a valve
housing 12 and a gasket 14. Disposed within the housing 12 is
the valve body 16 having a recess 22, which valve body is biased
toward the gasket 14 by the spring 18. A conventional dip tube
46 is shown attached to the bottom of the housing 12. A valve
stem, generally designated as 20, is disposed within the recess
22 (shown in greater detail in Figure 5) in the top of the valve
body 16 through the friction fitment of the depending extension
24 of the valve stem 20. The recess 22 extends from a pair of
upstanding arcuate walls 26 ~shown in detail in Figure 8), which
form the upper portion of the recess 22 and define a pair of
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transverse slots 21. Beneath the slots 21, defined by the
upstanding arcuate walls 26, are grooves 32 in the side wall of
the valve body recess 22, which grooves 32 communicate with the
space or reservoir 34 situated in the valve body recess 22
beneath the valve stem 20. An annular recess 50 is disposed in
the top shoulder 40 of the valve body 16.
The valve stem 20 has an orifice 42 communicating with the
space 34, and the longitudinal opening 23. In the preferred
embodiment of the invention, the orifice acts as a product ~low
control orifice. A recess 30 is formed in the base of the valve
stem 20 haviny a shoulder 28 against which the arcuate walls 26
bottom when the valve body 16 and valve stem 20 are in assembled
relation. The outer wall 48 of the recess 30 in the valve stem
20 is tapered.
Actuator button 36 is mounted on the upper portion of the
valve stem 20. An annular rib or barb 38 is formed on the valve
stem 20, which rib 38 anchors the valve stem 20 to the actuator
button 36 and facilitates removal of the valve stem 20 from the
valve body 16.
In the closed position of the aerosol valve, shown in Figure
1, the gasket 1~ seals against the annular top shoulder 40 of the
valve body 16 and the upstanding arcuate walls 26 of the valve
body 16 to prevent passage o~ product through the slot 21.
In the open position of the valve, shown in Figure 2,
pressure on the actuator button 36 depresses the valve stem 20
and the valve body 16 to expose the slot 21 to the pressurized
contents of the container, thereby permitting passage of the
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container contents through the slot 21, the grooves 32, the space
34, the orifice 42, the longitudinal opening 23, and then to the
discharge orifice 44.
The product passages formed in the valvP-stem and valve body
of the subject invention require no "side actionl' molding pins.
Further disposing the orifice 42 on the discharge side of the
space 34 serves the function of permitting product in the valve
stem on the discharge side of orifice 42 to back flow into the
space 34 and thus not dry and clog the product passage in the
valve stem. Still further, disposing the orifice 42 on the
discharge side of the space 34 creates a residue of propellant
in space 34 upon closing of the aerosol valve, which residue will
assist in purging the valve stem and actuator product passages
of residual product to thereby avoid or reduce clogging.
In assembling the several valve components, a sub-assembly
comprising the valve stem, valve body, spring and gasket is
initially made. Such a sub-assembly properly orients and
maintains the position of the gasket relative to the valve
body,thereby enabling rapid assembly of the sub-assembly and
other valve components without risk of dislodging the orientation
of the gasket to the other components prior to permanent
positioning of the gasket through crimping of the valve to the
mounting cup.
The structure in the valve stem-valve body fitment portions
that facilitates disposition and positional stahilization of the
gaske.t onto the valve body is best shown in Figure 7. In assem-
bling the valve unit the gasket 14 is passed over the outside
surface of valve ætem 20 and ultimately seated on the shoulder 40
of the valve body 16. Movement of the gasket 14 to a seating
atop shoulder 40 of arcuate walls 26 is facilitated by the sloped
shoulder 48 the valve tem 20.
Moreover, the height of the upstanding arcuate walls 26 is
preferably greater than ~he gasket thickness, so as to avoid the
top shoulder of the arcuate walls 26 passing beneath the gasket
14 during pressure filling of the container with propellant body.
The ~tructure designation numbers used herein in the
description of Figures 1 and 2 likewise designate the same
structural components in Figures 3-8.
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