WO2008107868A1

WO2008107868A1 - Three phase bubble vial

Info

Publication number: WO2008107868A1
Application number: PCT/IL2008/000251
Authority: WO
Inventors: Shahar Harari; Moshe Frenkel
Original assignee: Kapro Industries Ltd
Priority date: 2007-03-05
Filing date: 2008-02-28
Publication date: 2008-09-12
Also published as: IL181719A0

Abstract

Three phase bubble vials employing color contrasting for assisting users to accurately interpret a bubble's position for leveling purposes for use in a wide range of leveling equipment and other equipment. The three phase bubble vials (10) are nearly filled with a two phase filling liquid to leave a small clear gas bubble (22) displaceable relative to reference markings (23). The two phase filling liquid includes two immiscible filling liquid components (24, 26) one of which is non-aqueous filling liquid component and the other is either aqueous or non-aqueous.

Description

THREE PHASE BUBBLE VIAL

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to bubble vials employing color contrasting for assisting users to accurately interpret a bubble's position for leveling purposes for use in a wide range of leveling instruments and other equipment.

Background of the Invention

Leveling instruments employing one or more bubble vials for indicating level in horizontal and vertical planes include a wide range of measuring and layout tools, for example, spirit levels, tapes, laser tools, squares, and the like, and other equipment such as tripods, equipment platforms, and the like. Two phase bubble vials employing color contrasting for assisting users to accurately interpret a bubble's position are known in the prior art: US Patent No. 5,704,130 to Augustin et al. illustrates and describes a measuring instrument including an at least partially transparent measuring chamber containing two immiscible media of different specific gravity wherein one of the media is at least partially transparent or translucent and at least the other is a fluid medium, and wherein the relative position or angular position of an object with respect to the horizontal plane is determined on the basis of the position of the at least partially transparent or translucent medium in the measuring chamber. The two immiscible media can be two liquids or a liquid and gas including air, noble gas, and the like.

US Patent Application Publication No. US 2006/0037204 to Gruetzmacher illustrates and describes a two phase bubble vial including a colored gas bubble. The colors of the filling liquid and the reference markings on the bubble vial's exterior surface can be selected to further enhance the contrast between the gas bubble and the filling liquid and/or the reference markings. PCT International Application No. PCT/IB2003/004391 entitled High

Contrast Spirit Level Vial and published under PCT International Publication No. WO 2004/044524 describes a two phase bubble vial including a liquid globule floating on a liquid medium. The colors of the liquid globule and the liquid medium are selected for enhanced color contrasting.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention is directed towards three phase bubble vials employing color contrasting for assisting users to accurately interpret a bubble's position for leveling purposes for use in a wide range of leveling instruments and other equipment. The three phase bubble vials are nearly entirely filled with a two phase filling liquid to leave a small clear gas bubble displaceable relative to at least one reference marking for leveling purposes.

The two phase filling liquids include two immiscible filling liquid components with specific gravities sufficiently different such that their low specific gravity filling liquid components float on their high specific gravity filling liquid components. The low specific gravity filling liquid components are colored and the high specific gravity filling liquid components are optionally colored.

The two phase filling liquids include a non-aqueous filling liquid component and either an aqueous filling component or a second non-aqueous filling liquid component. The two phase filling liquids can include different constitutions ranging from a minor low specific gravity liquid filling component and a major high specific gravity filling liquid component to a major low specific gravity liquid filling component and a minor high specific gravity filling liquid component. A user viewing a three phase bubble vial in a top view perceives a gas bubble color contrasted to a liquid surround thereby assisting the user to accurately interpret the gas bubble's position relative to the bubble vial's one or more reference marking. The perceived colors of the gas bubble and its liquid surround depend on the colors of filling liquid components and their respective ratios. The present invention can be readily applied to bubble vials with different shaped cavities. Brief Description of Drawings

In order to understand the invention and to see how it can be carried out in practice, preferred embodiments will now be described, by way of non- limiting examples only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which similar parts are likewise numbered, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of a three phase bubble vial including a two phase filling liquid having a minor low specific gravity colored filling liquid component and a major high specific gravity clear filling liquid component;

Fig. 2 is a front view of Figure l's bubble vial; Fig. 3 is a top view of Figure l's bubble vial;

Fig. 4 is a front view of Figure l's bubble vial including a two phase filling liquid having a major low specific gravity colored filling liquid component and a minor high specific gravity colored filling liquid component differently colored from the low specific gravity colored filling liquid component;

Fig. 5 is a top view of Figure 4's bubble vial;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a second preferred embodiment of a three phase bubble vial in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a third preferred embodiment of a three phase bubble vial in accordance with the present invention; and

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a fourth preferred embodiment of a three phase bubble vial in accordance with the present invention.

Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments of the Invention

Figures 1 to 3 show a three phase bubble vial 10 including an injection molded cylindrical thin walled vial body 11 with an internal barrel shaped cavity 12 having a sealed end 13 and an open end 14. The cavity 12 has an uppermost cavity surface 16 and a lowermost cavity surface 17 on placement of the vial body 11 on a horizontal surface 18. The cavity surfaces 16 and 17 define a cavity height Hl midway along the uppermost cavity surface 16. The cavity 12 is nearly entirely filled with a two phase filling liquid 19 and hermetically sealed with a plug 21 in a conventional manner, for example, gluing, ultrasonic welding, and the like. The filling liquid 19 leaves a clear gas bubble 22 which spreads itself over the cavity's uppermost cavity surface 16 to assume an elongated elliptical type shape. The clear gas bubble 22 is preferably air, a noble gas, and the like. The bubble vial 10 is provided with a pair of reference markings 23 either on its cavity's inside surface or the vial's outside surface by means of which a user interprets whether a surface is level or plumb.

The filling liquid 19 includes a minor low specific gravity filling liquid component 24 and a major high specific gravity filling liquid component 26. The filling liquid components 24 and 26 are immiscible. The filling liquid component 24 is colored, say, a royal blue denoted by asterisks, and the filling liquid component 26 is clear denoted by squares. The filling liquid component 24 occupies only the uppermost region of the bubble vial 10 such that a user views a clear gas bubble 22 framed by a light bluish surround 27 in a top view of the bubble vial 10 (see Figure 3). The proportion of filling liquid component 24 in the filling liquid can progressively increase such that the gas bubble 22 appears embedded in a correspondingly deeper blue surround 27 in a top view of the bubble vial 10. The filling liquid component 24 can occupy a major portion of the cavity 12 so as to underlie the gas bubble 22 which assumes a lighter blue color than its blue surround 27 as perceived by a user in a top view of the bubble vial 10. The greater the proportion of filling liquid component 24 in the filling liquid 19, the gas bubble's color closer matches its surround in a top view thereby reducing the desired color contrasting between the gas bubble 22 and its surround 27. Thus, the filling liquid component 24 and the filling liquid 19 can have a volume ratio between about 1:10 to about 7:10 such that its height H2 midway along the uppermost cavity surface 16 correspondingly varies from a minor proportion of the cavity's height Hl as shown in Figure 1 's bubble vial 10 to a major proportion as shown in Figure 4's bubble vial 30. The filling liquid component 26 can also be colored in a different color, say, red, denoted by triangles in Figures 4 and 5, than the filling liquid component 24. In the case of Figure l's bubble vial 10 having a red filling liquid component 26, a user perceives a red gas bubble embedded in a slightly bluish red surround 27 in Figure 3. Against that, a user perceives a purple gas bubble embedded in a slightly redish blue surround 27 in Figure 5.

The filling liquid 19 includes a non-aqueous filling liquid component and either an aqueous filling liquid component or a second non-aqueous filling liquid component. The aqueous filling liquid component can have a lower or higher specific gravity than its counterpart non-aqueous filling liquid component such that it can respectively constitute either the colored filling liquid component 24 or the optionally colored filling liquid component 26. The aqueous filling liquid component preferably includes soluble materials, for example, salts, glycols, and the like, for reducing its freezing point below 0⁰C. Such a water based filling liquid component typically has a specific gravity from about 1.0 to about 1.7 g/cm³. The aqueous filling liquid component can optionally include a surfactant to lower its surface tension to enable a near straight line interface with its adjacent non-aqueous filling liquid component. Suitable surfactants include, for example, BYK silicone-based surfactants; DuPont's Zonyl fluoro-surfactants, and the like. Suitable non-aqueous filling liquid components are described in the aforesaid WO 2004/044524, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Specific examples of suitable two phase filling liquids are as follows: Example 1: Water including Ethylene Glycol which has a similar specific gravity as water, and a carbon-tetra-chloride solvent having a specific gravity of 1.58, thereby constituting the filling liquid component 24 and the filling liquid component 26, respectively. The aqueous filling liquid component 24 preferably includes 0.02% of Du Pont's Zonyl FSO-100 fluoro- surfactant. Example 2: Isopar hydrocarbon solvent, for example, Isopar G, having a specific gravity of 0.75 and water containing 21% sodium chloride having a specific gravity higher than 1, thereby constituting the filling liquid component

24 and the filling liquid component 26, respectively. The aqueous filling liquid component 26 preferably includes 0.02% of Du Pont's Zonyl FSO-IOO fluoro- surfactant. Example 3: Ethylene glycol having a specific gravity of 1.1 and carbon- tetra-chloride solvent having a specific gravity of 1.58, thereby constituting the filling liquid component 24 and the filling liquid component 26, respectively.

The bubble vial 10 preferably includes Ultra Violet (UV) protection for inhibiting fading of its filling liquid 19. UV protection can be afforded by one or more of the following implementations: adding a UV protecting agent to the acrylic material, applying an external UV coating to the bubble vial 10, adding a UV protecting agent to one or both of the low and high specific gravity filling liquid components. The filling liquid 19 can also include an anti-foaming agent. Figure 6 shows a so-called solid bubble vial 40 with a barrel shaped cavity 41 nearly entirely filled with a two phase filling liquid 42 to leave a gas bubble 43 color contrasted to its liquid surround 44.

Figure 7 shows a bubble vial 50 with a spherical cap shaped cavity 51 usually used for surface leveling. The bubble vial 50 can have a circular reference marking 52 or two concentric reference markings. The cavity 51 is nearly entirely filled with a two phase filling liquid 53 to leave a small gas bubble 54 color contrasted to its liquid surround 56.

Figure 8 shows a bubble vial 60 with an arcuate shaped cavity 61 nearly entirely filled with a two phase filling liquid 62 to leave a small gas bubble 63 color contrasted to its liquid surround 64.

While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, it will be appreciated that many variations, modifications, and other applications of the invention can be made within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A bubble vial comprising:

(a) a vial body having a cavity with an uppermost cavity surface on placement of said vial body on a horizontal surface, and at least one reference marking; and

(b) a two phase filling liquid for nearly entirely filling said cavity to leave a small clear gas bubble spread over said uppermost cavity surface on placement of said vial body on the horizontal surface, said two phase filling liquid including a low specific gravity colored filling liquid component for floating on a high specific gravity filling liquid component immiscible therewith, whereby a user viewing the bubble vial in a top view perceives said gas bubble colored contrasted with respect to a liquid surround thereby assisting the user to accurately interpret the position of said gas bubble relative to said at least one reference marking.

2. The vial according to Claim 1 wherein said low specific gravity colored filling liquid component and said filling liquid have a volume ratio of between about 1:10 to about 7:10.

3. The vial according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein said high specific gravity filling liquid component is colored differently from said low specific gravity filling liquid component.

4. The vial according to any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein said two phase filling liquid includes an aqueous filling liquid component and a non-aqueous filling liquid component.

5. The vial according to Claim 4 wherein said aqueous filling liquid component includes a surfactant for lowering its surface tension to enable a near straight line interface with its adjacent non-aqueous filling liquid component.

6. The vial according to Claim 4 wherein said aqueous filling liquid component includes a freezing point reducing agent for lowering its freezing point.

7. The vial according to any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein said two phase filling liquid includes two non-aqueous filling liquid components.

8. A leveling instrument including at least one bubble vial according to any one of Claims 1 to 7.