ADHESIVE DISPENSER
The present invention relates to dispensers for the manual application of liquid adhesives to work pieces and work surfaces.
According to the present invention in one aspect there is provided an adhesive dispenser comprising:
a liquid adhesive reservoir, a applicatoc body having a unitary dispensing head havinq an adhesive spreading 6ueface and an opening in or neac the spreading sur~ace for dispensing adhesive, a reduced ~lexible neck between said head and shouldec portion said neck being ~lexible in any dicection with respect to said applicator body, and means foc connecting said applicator body to said reservoir.
Dispensers according to the invention enable rapid and controlled spreading of adhesive with the spreading surface maintaining good contact with the work-piece, due to flexing of the neck, despite variations in the angle at which the device is held.
Suitably the neck is designed such that it may be flexed in any direction. Preferably the neck is resiliently flexible and more preferably the neck is formed of a resilient material. The neck may also be longitudinally compressible. Most preferably the dispensing head and neck are integral parts of a moulded component, the neck being flexible by virtue of having thinner walls than is general for the rest of the component, the component being moulded from a synthetic rubber or thermoplastic.
According to a second aspect of the present i~vention, an adhesive dispenser is produced which comprises An adhe6ive di6pen6er compri~ing:
a liquid adhe6ive rese~voir, a applicator body having a unitary di6pen6ing head having an adhe6ive 6preading 6urface which ha6 at lea6t two non-parallel 6preading edge6 of unequal length6, and an opening in or near the 6preading 6urface for di6pen6ing adhe6ive, a ~educed flexible neck between 6aid head and applicator body said neck being flexible in any direction with re6pect to 6aid applicator body, and mean6 f or connecting 6aid applicator body to 6aid re6ervoir.
Dispensers having two or more spreading edges of different lengths can be used to spread wider and narrower bands of adhesive, thus, for instance, a wide band is spread by drawing the dispenser across the work-piece in a direction perpendicular to the wider spreading edge.
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. , ~,, i i225617 - 2a -Preferably the spreading edges are mutually perpendicular and most preferably the spreading surface is rectangular thus presenting two pairs of opposed spreading edges.
Suitably the opening for dispensing adhesive is situated in the centre of the spreading surface.
Preferably the opening is situated at the bottom of a recess in the spreading surace and most preerably it is in the centre of a substantially rectangular recess in a rectangular spreading surface.
1 Preferably the dispensers of the invention combine both the above aspects and have a dispensing head with two or more spreading edges the head being mounted on a flexible neck.
The invention will now be described by way of Example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Fig 1 is a front elevation of a dispenser of the invention.
0 Fig 2 is an enlarged and truncated side elevation of the dispenser, the upper part being sectioned on AA of Fig 1.
Fig 3 is a perspective view of the dispenser also showing a closure with partial sectioning to display interior detail.
Referring to the drawings, Fig 1 shows a dispenser of the invention comprising a reservoir 1, a flexible neck 2 and a dispensing head 3.
As shown in Fig. 2, the dispenser is a two component moulded construction, the upper component is the applicator or body 6 comprising the head, neck 2, shoulder 15 bearing a downwardly depending internal sealing ring 16, and a skirt 7 bearing an internal rib 8.
The lower component comprises the reservoir 1 and a mating and sealing formation 10 which engages the rib 8 in a snap-fit and is forced into sealing contact with the ring 16.
12Z~6~7 1 The neck 2 is flexible due to the upper component 6 being of thinner material in the region of the neck 2 than is general in the rest of the upper component 6.
Shoulder 15 limits the angle through which the neck 2 may be bent and limits the degree of longitudinal compression of the neck 2 by engaging the lower surface of the head 3.
The dispensing head 3, as shown in Fig 3 comprises a rectangular spreading surface 4 having long and short edges 12 and 13, and a dispensing hole 5 set in a recess 11 in the surface 4, The dispenser may be closed by a cap, such as that shown in Fig 3 having a skirt 9 for engaging the skirt 7 of the dispenser and a projection 14 for closing the hole 5.
In use adhesive is expelled from the reservoir (by gravity or by squeezing the reservoir), it flows through the neck 2 and out through the hole 5 into the recess 11. Adhesive is then applied by drawing the spreading surface 4 across the work-piece, When drawn perpendicular to the long edge 12, the dispenser leaves a wide band of adhesive. When drawn perpendicular to the short edge 13 it applies a narrow band. During these operations the neck 2 flexes to maintain good contact with the surface, shoulder 15 preventing the neck 2 being compressed or bent to such an angle that flow of adhesive through the neck 2 is restricted.