US20100252143A1

US20100252143A1 - Filling structure of a painting device

Info

Publication number: US20100252143A1
Application number: US12/488,545
Authority: US
Inventors: Chung-Tsuen Juo
Original assignee: Victor Air Tools Co Ltd
Current assignee: Victor Air Tools Co Ltd
Priority date: 2009-04-01
Filing date: 2009-06-20
Publication date: 2010-10-07
Also published as: DE202009008368U1; TWI350206B; TW201036707A

Abstract

A filling structure of a painting device includes a combining base and an urging element. The top surface of the combining base has a combining tank, the bottom of which is formed with a through hole for the disposition of an urging element. The bottom of the combining base has a combining part for connecting to a painting device. The urging element has a guiding channel inside. One end of the guiding channel is inside the combining tank, and the other end is inside the painting device.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a filling structure of a painting device and, in particular, to a filling structure that can conveniently connect to a liquid storage container that supplies paint.
2. Related Art
FIG. 7 shows a paint can 71 that stores art paint 72. Its top has a lid (not shown). To use it, one opens the lid and tilts the paint can 71 for the paint 72 to be poured into the liquid storage tank 741 in the upper portion of the paint pen 74.
However, this filling method would pollute the paint all over the liquid storage tank 741. After the paint job, the leftover paint in the liquid storage tank 741 has to be poured back into the paint can 71. However, due to its adhesive property, there is still some leftover paint stuck on the walls of the liquid storage tank 741, as shown in FIG. 8. Therefore, the prior art has the problem of incomplete recycling, causing some waste. The recycling process has to be done with care to avoid spills. Moreover, after the recycling, the paint adhered on a large area of the liquid storage tank 741 makes it very time consuming to clean the paint pen. This is very inconvenient.
To overcome the above-mentioned inconvenience in refilling paint into the liquid storage tank 741 of the paint pen 74, there is another paint can (not shown) whose top has a conic injection opening. It is thus more convenient to refilling paint into the liquid storage tank.
However, although it is convenient to fill the paint, one still needs to be slow and careful when refilling the paint in the liquid storage tank into the paint can so as not to spill the paint. In other words, such a design still cannot effectively solve the above-motioned paint refilling problems.
Of course, sometime one also uses a nozzle 75 to paint large areas. As shown in FIG. 9, there is a larger liquid storage bucket 751 above the nozzle 75. The top of the liquid storage bucket 751 has a lid 752. One can simply open the lid 752 to fill the paint into the liquid storage bucket 751.
However, after the paint job is finished, the user has to open the lid 752 again and pour the leftover paint in the liquid storage bucket 751 back to an external paint liquid storage bucket (not shown). In addition to the time-consuming problem, such a scheme also has the problems of spilling, wasting, and cleaning the paint.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An objective of the invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and provide a filling structure of a painting device. The painting device is provided with a combining base for the connection with a liquid storage container. An urging element in the combining base urges against a steel ball at the lid of the liquid storage container, so that the paint can flow into the painting device. To remove the liquid storage container, one simply unplugs it. Therefore, the invention has the advantages of easy paint filling and recycling.
Another objective of the invention is to use the disclosed designs to facilitate paint filling, recycling without wasting it. Moreover, it is easy to clean the device.
To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the invention includes: a combining base, which is provided on the painting device and has a combining tank inside; and a urging element, which is disposed in the combining tank and has a through channel; wherein the combining tank is in fluid communications with a filling pipeline inside the painting device via the channel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below illustration only, and thus is not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional exploded view of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a three-dimensional perspective view of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the invention in use;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the combining base in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the part for the nozzle according to the invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a conventional liquid storage container when the paint is being filled:

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional paint pen; and

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of part of a conventional nozzle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same references relate to the same elements.
In the following description of an embodiment of the disclosed filling structure of a painting device, the orientations referred herein are according to the normal uses of the painting device and the liquid storage container. Please refer to FIGS. 1 to 3. The filling structure includes: a combining base 1 and an urging element 3.
The combining base 1 is provided on the painting device. It has a combining tank 11 inside. The urging element 3 is disposed inside the combining tank 11, with a guiding channel 31 going through it. The combining tank 11 is in fluid communications with a filling pipeline in the painting device via the channel 31.
In this embodiment, the painting device is a paint pen 2A. The paint pen 2A has a body 21, in which there is a filling pipeline 24 and an air channel 25. The surface of the body 21 has a filling opening 22 in communications with the filling pipeline 24. The combining base 1 is connected to the filling opening 22. One end of the filling pipeline 24 is formed with an outlet 241 at the front end of the paint pen 2A. The filling pipeline 24 accommodates a long needle 26, whose tip 261 is right at the outlet 241. The long needle 26 can guide the flow of paint. Besides, the paint pen 2A has a control element 27 to control the forward and backward motion of the long needle 26, thereby adjusting the paint ejection from the outlet 241. One end of the air channel 25 leads to the outlet 241, and its other end to an air control valve 271. The air control valve 271 is controlled by the control element 27 to regulate the air flowing into the air channel 25. The air then drives and ejects the paint out of the outlet 241.
The bottom of the combining base 1 is protruded with a combining part 13 for the connection with the filling opening 22 of the body 21. The end surface of the combining part 13 is formed with an urging surface 14. The center at the bottom of the combining tank 11 of the combining base 1 is penetrated with a through hole 12. In this embodiment, the outer edge of the combining part 13 of the combining base 1 has an outer thread. Correspondingly, the inner wall of the filling opening 22 is formed with an inner thread. The combining base 1 is thus screw-locked at the filling opening 22. The urging element 3 is a hollow tube to form the guiding channel 31. Both ends of the guiding channel 31 on the urging element 3 are formed with openings 311, 312, respectively. One end of the urging element 3 protrudes from the through hole 12 into the combining tank 11. Its other end is located in the filling opening 2 of the body 1. Thus, the openings 311, 312 on both ends of the guiding channel 31 connect the combining tank 11 and the filling opening 2, respectively. Besides, the urging surface 14 of the urging element 3 at the combining base 1 is provided with a stopping plate 33 around it. The filling opening 22 of the body 21 is formed with a protruding edge 23 corresponding to the stopping plate 33. The urging surface 14 of the combining base 1 and the protruding edge 23 hold the stopping plate 33, thereby positioning the urging element 3 between the combining tank 11 and the filling opening 2.
At least one guiding notch 313 is formed around the opening 311 of the guiding channel 31 at the combining tank 11. The wall of the urging element 3 in the combining tank 11 is penetrated with more than one guiding hole 314. Each of the guiding holes 314 is in communications with the guiding channel 31.
The above-mentioned embodiment and drawing illustrate that the urging element 3 and the combining base 1 are separate parts. However, they can be integrally formed as well.
Please refer to FIGS. 4 and 5. During the painting job, the combining tank 11 in the combining base 1 of the paint pen 2A can be connected with a liquid storage container 4. In practice, the top of the lid 41 of the liquid storage container 4 has a connecting part 42. The connecting part 42 is aligned with the combining tank 11 of the combining base 1 so that they are tightly connected. In this embodiment, this is implemented by tight fit. Moreover, the center on the top surface of the connecting part 42 has a hole 421 in communications with the liquid storage container 4. A steel ball 43 is disposed in the hole 421. When it is not pushed by the urging element 3, the steel ball 43 urges against the hole 421 and closes it. Moreover, the steel ball 43 is also urged by a spring 44 inside the lid 41. When in use, the connecting part 42 on the lid 41 of the liquid storage container 4 is inserted into the combining tank 11 of the combining base 1. The urging element 3 inside the combining tank 11 goes into the hole 421, pushing the steel ball 43 to open the hole 421. Thus, the paint 45 is allowed to flow from the inside of the liquid storage container 4 to the guiding channel 31, then to the filling pipeline 24 via the filling opening 22. This mechanism supplies the paint 45 required by the paint pen 2A.
In addition, during the above-mentioned painting job, the urging element 3 has to push the steel ball 43. The steel ball may block the opening 311 on one end of the guiding channel 31, so that the paint 45 cannot flow into the guiding channel 31 through the opening 311. In this case, the guiding notch 313 and the guiding hole 314 enable the paint 45 to flow into the guiding channel 31 in the urging element 3.
After the painting job is completed, one only needs to invert the paint pen 2A before recycling the paint therein. The paint automatically flows back into the liquid storage container 4. Afterwards, the liquid storage container 4 is unplugged from the combining tank 11 directly. The steel ball 43 is then pushed by the spring 44 back to its original position, sealing the hole 421 again.
According to the above description, the design of using the combining base and the urging element in the filling structure facilitates painting. It has advantages such as directly having a tight fit between the liquid storage container and the combining base. Therefore, the paint does not adhere on the wall of the entire combining tank and is not wasted. After the painting job is completed, it takes less time to clean the paint pen.
Besides, after each use, the pain pen is simply put up side down for the paint to flow back to the liquid storage container. Afterwards, the liquid storage container is directly unplugged from the combining tank for recycling the paint. This is different from the prior art, in which one needs to carefully refilling the paint in the liquid storage tank of the paint pen to the paint can. In addition to convenience, it also saves the cost because less paint adheres on the wall of the liquid storage tank.
Moreover, one does not need to worry about spilling and cleaning the paint while filling and recycling.
Of course, the invention still has many other embodiments that only differ in details. Please refer to FIG. 6 for a second embodiment. The design of the combining base and urging element of the filling structure is also applicable to a paint nozzle 2B. The original filling opening 22B of the paint nozzle 2B is disposed with the combining base 1B. One end of the urging element 3B is inside the combining tank 11B. Its other end is inside the filling opening 22B of the paint nozzle 2B. Thus, both ends of the guiding channel 31B connect to the combining tank 11B and the filling opening 22B, respectively. The paint can readily flow via the guiding channel 31B into the filling opening 22B of the paint nozzle 2B. It achieves the same objective and advantages as the first embodiment.
Although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments, will be apparent to people skilled in the art. Therefore, it is contemplated that the appended claims will cover all modifications that fall within the true scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A filling structure of a painting device, comprising:

a combining base, which is disposed on the painting device and has a combining tank therein; and

an urging element, which is disposed in the combining tank and has a guiding channel therein;

wherein the combining tank is in fluid communications with a filling pipeline in the painting device via the guiding channel.

2. The filling structure of a painting device according to claim 1, wherein the painting device has a body with the filling pipeline and at least one air channel, the surface of the body has a filling opening in connection with the filling pipeline, the combining base is connected to the filling opening, one end of the filling pipeline is formed with an outlet at the front end of the body, the filling pipeline accommodates a long needle whose tip is at the outlet, the body has a control element therein for controlling the forward and backward movement of the long needle, one end of the air channel connects to the outlet and its other end connects to an air control valve, and the air control valve is controlled by the control element to regulate the air flow into the air channel.

3. The filling structure of a painting device according to claim 2, wherein the bottom of the combining base is protruded with a combining part whose outer edge is formed with an outer thread, the inner wall of the filling opening of the body is formed with an inner thread, and the combining base is screw-locked at the filling opening.

4. The filling structure of a painting device according to claim 3, wherein the center at the bottom of the combining tank of the combining base has a through hole for the disposition of the urging element, the urging element is a hollow tube for forming the guiding channel, the guiding channel have an opening on both ends of the urging element, one end of the urging element protrudes from the through hole into the combining tank, and the other end thereof is inside the filling opening of the body, so that the openings on both ends of the guiding channel connect to the combining tank and the filling opening, respectively.

5. The filling structure of a painting device according to claim 4, wherein the end surface of the combining part of the combining base forms an urging surface, the urging element is provided with a stopping plate around the urging surface of the combining base, the filling opening of the body has a protruding edge corresponding to the stopping plate, and the urging surface of the combining base and the protruding edge holds the stopping plate to position the urging element between the combining tank and the filling opening.

6. The filling structure of a painting device according to claim 4, wherein the guiding channel of the urging element is provided with at least one guiding notch along the opening on one end of the combining tank, the wall of the urging element in the combining tank is formed with more than one guiding holes, and each of the guiding holes is in fluid communications with the guiding channel.