US3547316A - Proportional dispensing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

United States Patent lll113,547,316

[ 56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS [72] Inventor Raymond .Heiskell 30 Laurel l'lill Court, San Mateo, Calif. 94402 e .L d m m o e n B g 0 mk Ml ok ...m YN WN d l5 n 46 a 99 Ur. HH .n|o. 07 ly l ma MN uw E 6,7, wv.. 85 am 59 m0 2,1,.nn 23 PA Feb. 28, 1969 Dec l5, 1970 2 7 2 3 0 8 o. d N n ld Wem a AFP .lll 1125 224 [ll [54] PROPORTIONAL DlSPENSlNG APPARATUS 2 Claims,4 Drawing Figs. [52] [5l] [50] FleldofSearch..... 82, 83, 108, 137, |45, 159, 181,

PATENTED nim 519m 3547.316

'i IENOR PROPORTIONAL DISPENSING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a liquid dispensing apparatus, and particularly to a proportioning apparatus for delivering quantities of a plurality of liquid ingredients in predetermined proportion to each other. This invention is specifically suited for dispensing the resin and hardener components of a chemically reactive system which must be mixed prior to use. When these two components are mixed together in a predetermined proportion, the mixture will react to produce a final state. The attainment of uniformity from batch to batch of the curved mixture requires accurate proportioning of the constituents. Furthermore, due to its short reaction time, or pot life, the mixed material must be used almost irnmediately after it is mixed, and therefore the components must be mixed either in small batches that can be used in a short period of' time or mixed continuously at a rate approximating the rate of use.

These characteristic problems have led to the development of a variety of proportioning and mixing devices intended to facilitate the wide commercial use which these materials have had. In some of these devices the raw ingredients are stored in a plurality of containers which have to be filled from the bulk containers in which the resin and hardener are originally packaged. This filling is both slow and messy. In addition, a few devices which heat the materials for dispensing heat the entire contents of the containers, thus resulting in temperature loss and considerable delay each time the containers require refilling.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is an improved dispensing apparatus employing heating elements in conjunction with small secondary reservoirs and positive displacement proportioning pumps which are gravity fed or pressure fed from the reservoirs and are concurrently actuated to deliver fixed quantities of resin and hardener. Handling of the raw ingredients and container filling from bulk containers is eliminated by employing the bulk containers in which the raw ingredients are packaged to directly feed the reservoirs o'f the apparatus. To accomplish this, the bulk containers are attached above the reservoirs in gravity-feed fluid communication therewith or a supply line is connected to remotely located bulk containers or tanks which supply the components to the reservoirs by forcing the components through the lines by pressure being applied to the bulk containers.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view ofthe apparatus. FIG. 2 is a view in section taken along the lines 2-2 of FIG.

' Fic. 3 is a sectio'miview taken along lines 3 3 ofFro. 2k.

FIG. 4 is afview partlyI in elevation and partly in section of another embodimnft of the apparatus.

DEscRuTroN or THE EMBODIMENTS eln FIGS. 1-3, the dispensing apparatus 10 comprises a frame l2 having rriounting posts 13, pumps 14 fixedly connected to said posts, and secondary reservoirs 16 fixedly connected to said pun'ipsA Each reservoir 16 comprises an upper adapter body I8 and afower cup body 20, said bodies being adapted for sealing interconnection by mating threaded portions 22 and 24km the respective bodies. The adapter bodies I8 have relativelvypnrrow passages 26 which are threaded to receive the thre"ad necks I28 of inverted ingredient containers 30. f

A cavity 32 formid thin each of the cup bodies 20 contains one or more ce ic capsulated wire-wound resistors 34 which serve to heat-` egli-items ofthe cavity 32, the value of the resistance being predctefmined to provide the desired temperature, For this purpo,l the resistors 34 are electrically connected in parallel to a filament transformer 36 mounted on frame 12. When the transformer 36 is energized by electrically connecting it to the appropriate source of alternating currents, not shown, the resistors 34 heat the contents of the reservoir cavities 32. The relatively narrow passages 26 through which the contents of containers 30 flow serve to restrict thermal communication between the cavities 32 and the containers 30.

The cup bodies 20 are provided with outlets 33 through which the liquid ingredients flow out of the reservoirs I6 under the influence of gravity.

In the embodiment shown in FIG; 4, inverted bottle-shaped screw-on housings 4f) are formed with sharpened hollow tubes 42 which extend inwardly from the necks 28a and are adapted to puncture ingredient containers 30a to thereby establish fluid communication between them and passages 26.

Immediately beneath the reservoirs 16 are two positive displacement pumps 14, each pump I4 comprising a cylinder block 44 in which a cylinder 45 opens on one end is formed to receive a rodlike piston 48. The open end of the cylinder block 44 is adapted to receive a packing nut 5) which ensures that a sliding seal is made between each respective piston 48 and cylinder block 44. The cylinders may bc of different size or diameter to provide dispensing of the two ingredients in other than equal volume proportions.

Aligned with outlets 38 are inlets 52 in the cylinder blocks 44. The passages thus formed between the cavities 32 and cylinders 46 permits the liquid ingredients to be drawn into to cylinders 46 by the vacuum created when the pistons 48 are partially removed from them, as indicated by the flow arrows in FIG. 2. Near the closed ends of the cylinders 46, outlets 54 are provided which are in flow communication with check valves S6. The vales 56 are oriented to'allow fluid passage from the cylinders 46 only as indicated by arrow 58 in FIG. 2. Valves 56 are in flow communication with conduits 60 which are adapted to bring the ingredients to a common point of discharge.

To actuate the pistons 48 in unison, a lever mechanism 62 is attached to the ends of the pistons 48. The mechanism 62 comprises a pair of links 64, an actuator plate 66, and an actuator rod 68 with a knob 70 on the end. These elements are adapted for pivotal movement around pins 72, 74 and 76 (FIG. 4) thereby adapting the mechanism 62 to move both pistons 48 in unison by the movement of actuator rod 68. The movement of the mechanism 62 is depicted in FIG. 2 which illustrates the position of the mechanism, rod 68 being shown in solid outline in its highest position and being shown in phantom outline in its lowest position.

OPERATION Filling the apparatus l0 with the ingredients is accomplished by uncapping the bottles 30 in which they are packaged and threadably connecting the bottles with adapter bodies 18. Due to the molasses like consistency of these ingredients, an open container 40 can be inverted over a passage 26 and attached thereto without spillage and before overfilling the reservoir 16 can take place.

In the embodiment of FIG. 4, housings 40 are uncovered by removing lids 78. Closed containers 30a containing the appropriate ingredients are then placed into the housing 40 and forced down and over tubes 42 which puncture containers 30a and create a sealed fluid communication therewith.

In both embodiments, once the resin and hardener have been brought into flow communication with the balance of the apparatus, air breather apertures 79 are punched through the upper ends of the containers.

Once the containers 30 or 30a are so attached, the resin and hardener flow into their reservoirs 16 through passages 26. Heating elements 34 elevate the temperature of the resin and/or hardener to reduce viscosity. When the actuator rod 68 is moved to its highest position, the pistons 48 are withdrawn from the cylinders 46 to thereby fill the cylinders 46 with resin and hardener. As the actuator rod 68 is moved downwardly to its lowest position by manual pressure on knob 70, the pistons 48 are forced inwardly of the cylinders to dispense fixed amounts of resin and hardener through valves 56 and conduits 60.

ln order to ensure that a hardener container will not be connected to the resin reservoir and that the resin container will not be connected to the hardener reservoir, various means may be employed, including: color coding of containers and reservoirs; different neck diameters for the hardener and resin containers and correspondingly different diameters for the adapter body passages which receive the container necks; dif'- ferent threading as between the two sets of adapter body passages and container necks.

I claim'.

1. Apparatus for dispensing in a predetermined proportion of components of a resinous material admixture comprising a plurality of reservoirs, one for each of said components, a plurality of containers, one for each of said reservoirs, in fluid flow communication therewith, each of said reservoirs having an inlet through which its associated component may flow into the reservoir under the influence of gravity from its container and having an outlet through which its associated component may flow out of the reservoir under the influence of gravity, a

plurality of pumps, one for each reservoir, each of said pumps having a piston slidably disposed within a complementary shaped cylinder within a cylinder block, each of said cylinders having a cross-sectional area which is in predetermined proportional relationship to the total cross-sectional area of the cylinders of all the pumps, each cylinder being in communication with the outlet of its associated reservoir whereby its associated component may enter the cylinder under the influence of gravity and atmospheric pressure when the piston is withdrawn from said cylinder to a predetermined degree, each of said cylinders having an outlet and outlet control means therefor which is adapted to permit the outward flow of fluid from said cylinder when its piston is moved inwardly thereof and to prevent the flow of fluid into said cylinder through the outlet of said cylinder when the piston is moved outwardly in said cylinder, and actuator means for each of said pistons to move the pistons outwardly of the cylinders and inwardly of the cylinders.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising heating means in thermal communication with said reservoirs for elevating the temperature of the respective components contained therein before the passage of the same into said pumps.

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