US3145413A - Nozzles - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 25, 1964 s. ALSLEBEN 3,145,413

NOZZLES Filed Jan. 2, 1963 Inventor Gunther Alsleben. By his Attorney United States Patent '0 3,145,413 NOZZLES Giinther Alsleben, Wiesbaden, Germany, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N..I., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Jan. 2, 1963, Ser. No. 248,912 Claims priority, application Germany Ian. 17, 1962 6 Claims. (Cl. -595) This invention relates in general to the application of sealants or the like into grooves or cracks, as done in the building trade, and more particularly to extrusion nozzles for sealant-applying guns.

The nozzle of the present invention is herein described in connection with sealant-applying guns of the type used in the building industry, but it is to be understood that the invention may be applied to extrusion nozzles for other uses. The guns now used in the building trade for forcing sealant into grooves are commonly provided with nozzles corresponding generally to the widths of the grooves. Most of the present nozzles are made of rigid material such as metal or plastic; their rigid or substantially rigid nozzle ends are thus practically impossible to adapt to the varying widths of most grooves to be filled. In using these nozzles it is often the case that the opening is wider or smaller than the groove; so that either the groove is not filled satisfactorily or the adjacent building portions are smeared along their margins. Frequently the groove edges are not smooth but have brokenout sections, especially with synthetic materials. Moreover, in building blocks of stone or synthetic material the surfaces are frequently ribbed, granular, or grained. In such instances the present sealantapplying tools with rigid nozzles have the disadvantage that a supplementary smoothing operation after using such nozzles is required.

An object of the invention is to provide a nozzle which avoids the aforementioned disadvantages. This is accomplised in accordance with certain features of the invention by providing a nozzle with an extrusion opening in the form of an egg or a tear-drop by elongating the edge surrounding the opening in the direction of application, and by providing a flexible foot and slide member, the width of which is greater than the widest portion of the widest portion of the nozzle opening.

The novel slide member overcomes the disadvantages arising from roughness, broken out portions, joint edges, and nonuniform tolerances, because the flexible portion trailing the nozzle opening not only presses the sealant into the groove with a certain degree of concavity, but also, yielding elastically, wipes over the margins along thejoint.

In accordance with one feature of the invention, the slide member is guided or supported by a securing member provided at the nozzle opening arrayed to hold that part of the slide member extending in the direction of the already-applied sealant in the desired position.

In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the securing member consists of a plate surrounding the nozzle opening having tongue portions which hold the slide member in the plane of the opening, but maintain a slight convexity of the slide member transversely of the opening so that the filled groove presents a concave surface.

Failure completely to fill the joint by the use of conventional nozzles arises from the fact that the sealant in entering the joint or groove adheres to the margin of the joint and thus cannot enter deeply, since beginning with a certain depth the back pressure from the sealant adhering to the margins increases so greatly that the sealant swells from the tip of the joint and a convex surface results in place of the desired concave form. The present nozzle completely overcomes this disadvantage, since the sealant first enters the groove through a small portion of the nozzle opening and does not adhere tightly to the sides of the groove, after which the sealant, entering through the larger part of the opening, completely fills the groove. The slide member, with its width greater than that of the nozzle opening, effectively prevents a deviation of the sealant. Thus, the sealant cannot escape the groove and must enter to the desired depth, and increased pressure is created in the sealant, insuring that the porous sides of the grooves are completely filled, so that a complete contact is created between the sealant and the groove edges.

Since the rigid nozzle edges are easily damaged, thus rendering the nozzle useless, the nozzle of this invention has the further advantage that the sliding member and the supporting member can easily be replaced.

Other objects and features of this invention, and a fuller understanding thereof, may be had by referring to the following description and claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of an illustrative nozzle without a flexible slide foot attached;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the nozzle without its slide foot;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the nozzle with its slide foot attached;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the nozzle with its slide foot attached;

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the nozzle and its slide foot; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the nozzle applying sealant to a groove.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, it will be seen that the illustrative nozzle is made up of a narrowing tube 12 at the narrow end of which is a head 14. The head is composed of a securing member 16, a small lip 18 above the securing member, and an orifice 20 through which the sealant is forced into the groove (G in FIG. 6). The orifice consists of a wide portion 22, approximately the same width as the groove the nozzle is to be used upon, and a narrow portion 24. In the application of sealant along a groove the narrow portion leads the wide portion, thereby insuring that sealant penetrates to the depth of the groove before it begins to adhere to the upper sides of the groove as it will when it passes from the wide portion 22.

The securing member 16 may be soldered or welded to the nozzle and is formed of a plate bent at 26 so that the trailing edge 28 is substantially in the plane of the orifice 20. The securing member has a trailing edge tongue 30 and a leading edge tongue 32 for holding a flexible slide foot 34; the leading edge tongue 32 passes through a main center hole 36 of the slide foot, while.

the trailing edge tongue 30 passes through a mounting hole 38 of the slide foot. Thus, the two tongues of the securing member hold the slide foot, which is made of rubber or a synthetic elastic material, under tension in such a position that its main center hole 36 is above the orifice.

In the use of the illustrative nozzle, as shown in FIG. 6 to force sealant into a groove G, the nozzle is applied to the groove as shown, and moved forward in the direction shown by the arrow D. The sealant comes to the nozzle under pressure from the extruding gun. As has been pointed out above, the orifice 20 passes along the groove with its narrower end 24 in the lead; thus, the first sealant to enter the groove should be forced to the bottom of the groove and should not be caught along its sides. After the first sealant has been forced deeply into the groove, the sealant from the wide portion 22 of the orifice is deposited on top of it and aheres to the sides of the groove near the top. In this way, the

shape of the orifice insures that sealant will first penetrate to the extreme depth of the groove, before it can be impeded by sealant which has begun to adhere too strongly to the upper sides of the groove.

The flexible slide foot 34 is preferably an elongated member having a longitudinal width gradation generally corresponding to and in alinement with the width variation in the orifice 2i), i.e. when the foot is mounted in position on the securing member 16. Thus, the leading end portion of the slide foot 34 is of less width than the trailing end portion. The leading end portion is of such a width as to be accommodable in the groove to which sealant is applied thereby to aid in the distribution of sealant. The trailing end of the slide foot 34 has rounded portions 42' which extend over the surface adjacent the groove G of an article to which sealant is to be applied.

The trailing end of the flexible slide foot 34 is bowed outwardly in its center 40 (FIG. 3) by the tensioning action of the trailing end 28; this bowing effect causes the center 40 to enter yieldingly into the sealant-filled groove, so that the sealant is smoothed down below the level of the upper edges of the groove. The rounded out portions 42 at the trailing end of the slide foot 34 ride on top of the surfaces adjacent to the groove and thereby smooth off any sealant thereon. The slide member is preferably inclined at an angle of 30 to 45 relative to the axis of the nozzle. This range of angular relationships has been found to give the best distribution of the sealant and smoothing action immediately behind the orifice.

Although the invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularly, it is understood that the. present disclosure has been made only by way of example, and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

I claim as my invention:

1. A nozzle for applying sealants under pressure to a groove, said nozzle having an orifice, a wide portion of which is of approximately the width of the groove to be worked on and so placed as to be at the trailing end of said orifice as the nozzle is moved along the groove in the applying process, the leading end of said orifice being narrower than the trailing end, and a flexible slide foot mountable on said nozzle and extending laterally outwardly around said orifice and cooperative therewith to distribute sealant.

2. A nozzle for applying sealants under pressure to a groove, said nozzle having an orifice, a wide portion of which is of approximately the width of the groove to be worked on and so placed as to be at the trailing end of said orifice as the nozzle is moved along the groove in the applying process, the leading end of said orifice being norrower than the trailing end, a flexible slide foot mountable on said nozzle and extending laterally outwardly around said orific and cooperative therewith to distributte sealant, and means mounted on said nozzle removably securing said slide foot about the nozzle orifice, said securing means being so shaped that the trailing or rear end thereof, relative to the direction of application of said sealant, is substantially in the plane of the orifice.

3. A nozzle for applying sealants under pressure to a groove, said nozzle having an orifice, a wide portion of which is of approximately the width of the groove to be worked on and so placed as to be at the trailing end of said orifice as the nozzle is moved along the groove in the applying process, the leading end of said orifice being narrower than the trailing end, a flexible slide foot mountable on said nozzle and extending laterally outwardly around said orifice and cooperative therewith to distribute sealant, and securing means mounted on the nozzle about the orifice thereof for removably securing the slide foot in operative relation to said orifice, said securing means being so shaped that the trailing or rear end thereof, relative to the direction of application of said sealant, is substantially in the plane of the orifice and having projections thereon on which said slide foot is held under tension without other surface contact with said securing means whereby said slide foot is convexly curved transversely of said orifice.

4. A nozzle for applying sealants under pressure to a groove, said nozzle having an orifice, a Wide portion of which is approximately the width of the groove to be worked on and so placed as to be at the trailing end of said orifice as the nozzle is moved along the groove in the applying process, the leading end of said orifice being narrower than the trailing end, a flexible slide foot mountable on said nozzle and extending laterally outwardly around said orifice and cooperative therewith to distribute sealant, said slide foot having a work engaging surface disposed at an angle of between 30 and relative to the axis of the nozzle, and securing means mounted on the nozzle about the orifice thereof for removably securing the slide foot in operative relation to said orifice, said securing means being so shaped that the trailing or rear end thereof, relative to the direction of application of said sealant, is substantially in the plane of the orifice and having projections thereon on which said slide foot is held under tension without other surface contact with said securing means whereby said slide foot is convexly curved transversely of said orifice.

5. A nozzle for applying sealant under pressure to a groove comprising a tubular body member, an elongated orifice having a longitudinal width gradation at one end of said body member, and a flexible slide foot mountable on said body member in proximity to said orifice whereby said flexible slide foot and said orifice cooperate to distribute sealant, said flexible slide foot having a leading end accommodable in the groove and a trailing end of suflicient width to extend over the surfaces adjacent to the groove.

6. A nozzle for applying sealant under pressure to a groove comprising a tubular body member, an elongated orifice having a longitudinal width gradation at one end of said body member, a flexible slide foot mountable on said body member in proximity to said orifice whereby said flexible slide foot and said orifice cooperate to distribute sealant, said flexible slide foot having a leading end accommodable in the groove and a trailing end of suflicient width to extend over the surfaces adjacent to the groove, and securing means for removably mounting said flexible slide foot on said body member having projections thereon on which said flexible slide foot is mountable under tension, said tensioned slide foot being convexly curved transversely of the orifice in the vicinity of the leading end.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,836,333 Woodel May 27, 1958

Claims (1)

1. A NOZZLE FOR APPLYING SEALANTS UNDER PRESSURE TO A GROOVE, SAID NOZZLE HAVING AN ORIFICE, A WIDE PORTION OF WHICH IS OF APPROXIMATELY THE WIDTH OF THE GROOVE TO BE WORKED ON AND SO PLACED AS TO BE AT THE TRAILING END OF SAID ORIFICE AS THE NOZZLE IS MOVED ALONG THE GROOVE IN THE APPLYING PROCESS, THE LEADING END OF SAID ORIFICE BEING NARROWER THAN THE TRAILING END, AND A FLEXIBLE SLIDE FOOT MOUNTABLE ON SAID NOZZLE AND EXTENDING LATERALLY OUTWARDLY AROUND SAID ORIFICE AND COOPERATIVE THEREWITH TO DISTRIBUTE SEALANT.

Images