US3811783A

US3811783A - Paint applicator

Info

Publication number: US3811783A
Application number: US00284070A
Authority: US
Inventors: C Johnson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1972-08-28
Filing date: 1972-08-28
Publication date: 1974-05-21
Anticipated expiration: 1991-05-21

Abstract

An applicator for applying a liquid coating to a surface which abuts another surface which it is not desired to coat. The applicator is particularly adapted for painting various parts of window structures. The applicator comprises a reservoir having an outer wall, an inner wall spaced from the outer wall, side walls and end walls. The inner wall has apertures formed therein and the outer surfaces of the inner wall and the end walls are covered with an absorbent pad which becomes saturated with paint as the paint flows through the apertures in the inner wall. The portions of the pad which cover the end walls are made impenetrable by the paint by impregnating those portions with glue or a similar substance. The pad is of sufficient thickness to conform to minor convolutions of the surface. In the particular embodiments illustrated, the reservoir is of a generally L-shaped or inverted U-shaped cross section.

Description

United States-Patent 1191 Portchester, NY. 10573 [22 I Filed: Aug 28, 1972 21 Appl. No. 284,070

52 us. (:1 .L 401/9; 401/10, 401/196, 401/183; 511 mm A46b15/00 1 581 Field of Search ..401/9, 10, 183,48, 131, 401/196, 203, 204, 190; 15/230,11,;z10

561 References Cited UNlTEDSTATES PATENTS 8 1,003,050 9/1911 Redin .401/9 2,810,924 10/1957 Slingluff.... .'15/230.1l 2,919,455 l/l960 Turner 401/9 2,823,402 2/1958 Phillips 401/10 3,713,744 l/l973 Sims 401/183 X 2,662,269 12/1953 Nash 15/231011 Primary Examiner-Lawrence Charles Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Irons, Sears & Santorelli Johnson 1 5] M 21, 1974 I PAINT APPLICATOR [57] ABSTRACT Inventor: Charles Johnson, 126 Wesley A e-t An applicator for applying a liquid coating to a sur 1 face which abuts another surface which it is not dean inner wall spaced from the outer wall, side walls and end walls. The inner wall has apertures formed therein and the outer surfaces of the inner wall and the end walls are covered with an absorbent pad which becomes saturated with paint as the paint flows 'throughthe apertures in the inner wall. The portions of the pad which cover the end walls are made impenetrable by the paint by impregnating those portions with "glue or a similar substance. The pad is of sufficient thickness to conform to minor convolutions of the surface In the particular embodiments illustrated,

the reservoir is of a generally L-shaped orinverted U- shaped cross section.

6'Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PAINT APPLICATOR. BACKGROUND or THE INVENTION Field of the Invention I This invention relates to apparatus for. the application of paint or other liquid, and more particularly to apaint applicator for .applying paint .to structures such as molding strips, window mullions, window sashes, and

other structural surfaces to be painted which abut sur-- Thus to paint window members and the like neatly and in a manner that does not require extensive cleanup presently involves a very time-consuming process and a relatively highly skilled painter.- If the window frame is painted without due care, an extensive cleanup period of scraping and the like is required which often will consume more timethan more careful painting. Either alternative is very time consuming and therefore costly.

Various alternatives to the. usual procedure are known and have beenp'racticed which are either only partially successful or even more time consuming. Thus, the surfaces which are to' be painted may be masked withm'asking tape, or metalshields used to prevent the brush bristles from touching the. surfaces which should not be painted. The latter method, however, often results in the paint running under the shield and smearing on the surface which was not supposed to be painted. Furthermore, such shields require that the painter employ two hands in the process and this is not very practical when painting on ladders where safety requires that the painter hold the ladder or othersupport with one hand while painting withthe other. I

More'complex and generally impractical approaches 3,372,975 Johnson discloses a device designed for painting window sashes wherein a reservoir is rotatably and is clearly Iimited'to use on largesurface areas such as greenhouses and is completely unsuitable for painting sash windows. In fact, it is suitable only for substantially horizontally oriented strips.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a coating applicator, particularly a paint applicator, for

painting painting surfaces which adjoin surfaces which it is notin a manner'whichis easy and rapid without causing have been tried as indicated in the prior art to overcome. these problems. For example, U. S. Pat.'No.

attached to an applicatorhaving a triangular cross section and side walls with perforations therein. The side walls are covered'with'an absorbent material for conducting paint to the window sash or frame and the paint is revented from coming into contact with the windowpane by spacing the applicatorfrom the pane by a series of set 'screws'carried in threaded sleeves passing through the applicator structure. The device of Johnson is obviously not suitable for painting rnullions or various molding strips and even in the case of window sashes requires very close adjustment to prevent the applicator fromcontacting the pane or leaving an unpainted strip adjacent the pane.

In U. S. Pat. No. 2,247,622 Thompson, there is disclosed a device for applying paint to narrow strips separating glass panels in greenhouse structures. The device of Thompson comprises a reservoir communicating downwardly with a paint receptacle which has an opening through which brushes extend downwardly for applying paint as the device moves across the "bars. The device is complex, requires that it be wheeled about any paint to be applied to surfaces which are not desired to be painted, for example, the glass pane, and yet cover the sash or mullion surfaces very close to the pane of glass. The painting apparatus of the present in vention is very simple in construction and easy to utilize, requiring no fine adjustments to prevent unwanted coating of surfaces such as the pane of glass.

The applicator of the present invention which is utilized for applying a liquid coating to a substrate comprises a reservoir for the liquid coating material which reservoir has an outer wall, an inner wall spaced from the outer wall,.side walls and end walls The inner wall has apertures formed in it to permit the liquid coating material to flow through to an absorbent applicator pad which is secured to the outer surfaces of the inner wall and the end walls. Portions of the absorbent pad cover ing'the end walls are made impermeable by the liquidcoating materialby impregnating the areas with glue or other adhesive surface which dries in the .end portion of the pad so as to prevent the liquid coating material from penetrating that portion'of the pad. The reservoir BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the accompanying drawing which forms part of the specification:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view partly in section of the device according tothe present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view along line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side view of an alternate embodiment of I the apparatus of FIGS. 1, 2 and 6.

FIG. 4 is a side view partly in section of the applicator of FIG. 3 applying paint to a window mullion, the mullion and pane of glass being shown in section.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the applicator of FIG. 3 applying paint to another window structure of different cross section from that of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a side plan view of the applicator of FIGS.

1 and 2 showing the application of paint to a window sash, the sash and windowpane being shown in section.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The applicator of the present invention will be more clearly understood from'the following description of specific embodiments which will serve to better illustrate the nature of my invention.

In FIG. 1 of the drawing, an applicator of the present invention is shown generally at 2. It comprises a reservoir 4 having an outer wall 6 and an inner wall 12. The reservoir 4 has closed side walls 8 and 10. The inner wall 12 is provided with perforations 14 which allow the paint which is stored in the reservoir 4 to flow through to and saturate a feltlike material pad 30. The central portion of the reservoir 4 communicates with the necked portion 16 having internal threads 18 into which the threads 22 on the neck of a supply bottle 26 are threaded. The neck portion 16 is welded or brazed to the wall 6 of the reservoir 4 or can be formed integrally therewith. The supply bottle 26 is threaded into the neck of the reservoir in a conventional manner and sealed at the base of the neck 16 by means of gasket 20 or other suitable sealing means. As indicated, the inner wall 12 of the applicator 2 is covered with a paint absorbent felt material 30 which is secured to the outer surface of the inner wall 12 and ends of the reservoir 4 by adhesive or other suitable means.

As shown in the drawings in FIGS. 1, 2 and 6, a portion of the reservoir 28 extends from the main portion at an angle to form a generally L-shaped cross section. The applicator in these Figures is suitable for painting a window sash. The ends 32 of the felt covering the end walls of the reservoir 28 are impregnated with a glue or other substance which dries so as to render that portion of the felt impermeable to paint or whatever particular coating liquid is employed. The ends 32 of the flet 30 are impregnated to a depth sufficient to prevent the paint from flowing to the portions of the end 32' of the felt 30 thatordinarily would come into contact with the windowpane. Only an amount of glue or the like sufficient to prevent the paint from penetrating the end portion is employed. If excess is used it will tend to stiffen the felt 30 and prevent it from conforming to the contours of the surface coated. Any conventional glue which will impregnate the felt and dry so as to prevent penetration of paint in that region is suitable provided only that it not dissolve or soften in the presence of the paint or particular coating liquid being applied. The felt 30 on the inner wall 12 is sufficiently thick to allow it to readily conform to the surface painted as shown in FIGS. 4, and 6. In FIG. 6, the sash 34 may be painted rapidly without fear. of having paint smear onto the window pane 36 and cover the sash 34 to immediately adjacent the point at which the sash 34 and the pane 36 meet. The pane 36 is sealed in place by the glazing compound 38.

In FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 there is shown a further embodiment of an applicator according to the present invention which has different cross-sectional shape to the reservoir for utilization in painting the window mullions. In this case, the reservoir indicated at 44 comprises two

side portions

45 and 48 depending from a central portion 50 to form an inverted'U-shaped cross section. The felt 51 is impregnated with glue at the end portions 52 covering the end walls of the applicator to render the end portions 52 of the felt 51 impermeable to paint. The neck portion is indicated generally at 46 and is of the same construction as in the previous embodiment. The window mullion 54 is shown in FIG. 4 supporting glass pane 56 in conjunction with glazing compound 58. As shown, the felt 51 of the applicator conforms to the cross sectional shape of the mullion and the impenneable areas 52 prevent the paint from flowing onto the glass pane 56.

' voir 4 and through the apertures 14 in the inner wall 12 to saturate the felt material 30 except for those areas 32 which have been impregnated with the glue-like substance to render the area impermeable to the paint. The applicator 2 is-then pressed against the surface to be painted, the glue impregnated end areas 32 coming into contact with the surface which is not to be painted.

- In the foregoing embodiments, two general shapes of the reservoir portion of the applicator have been shown, however, it is readily apparent that many modifications are possible to adapt the applicator to the most generally encountered types of structures. It has been found that for most projects a selection of three or four different shapes is very adequate since the thickness of the felt applicator allows a single applicator shape to adapt to a variety of cross sectional shapes. When application of the paint or'other liquid coating is finished, the applicator is rinsed out with water in the case of latex paint or an appropriate solvent in the case of an oil-base paint, or other coating material such as lacquer, varnish, and the like.

While the invention has been explained by a detailed description of certain specific embodiments, it is understood that various modifications and substitutions can be made in any of them within the scope of the appended claims which are intended also to include equivalents of such embodiments.

What is claimed is: 1. An applicator for applying a liquid coating to a substrate, said applicator comprising a reservoir for a liquid coating material, said reservoir comprising an outer wall, an inner wall spaced from said outer wall, side walls, and end walls, said inner wall having apertures formed therein, a surface conformable liquid coating material felt absorbent pad secured to the outer surfaces of said inner wall and said end walls, the portions of said pad covering said end walls being made impenetrable by said liquid coating material by impregnating said portions with an amount of glue just sufficient that when it dries said glue renders said portions impervious to said liquid coating material and said end portions remain readily conformable to surface variations on said substrate, and means for placing said reservoir in communication with a supply container for said liquid coating material.

2. An applicator as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means for placing said reservoir in communication with said supply container comprises a neck opening at one end into said reservoir through said outer wall and having internal threads at the other end, and said supply container has an externally threaded neck adapted to be removeably attached to said neck opening into said reservoir.

3. An applicator as claimed in claim 2 wherein said reservoir is generally L-shaped in cross section.

4. An applicator as claimed in claim 2 wherein said reservoir is generally inverted U-shaped in cross section.

' 5. An applicator as claimed in claim 1 wherein said

Claims

1. An applicator for applying a liquid coating to a substrate, said applicator comprising a reservoir for a liquid coating material, said reservoir comprising an outer wall, an inner wall spaced from said outer wall, side walls, and end walls, said inner wall having apertures formed therein, a surface conformable liquid coating material felt absorbent pad secured to the outer surfaces of said inner wall and said end walls, the portions of said pad covering said end walls being made impenetrable by said liquid coating material by impregnating said portions with an amount of glue just sufficient that when it dries said glue renders said portions impervious to said liquid coating material and said end portions remain readily conformable to surface variations on said substrate, and means for placing said reservoir in communication with a supply container for said liquid coating material.

5. An applicator as claimed in claim 1 wherein said reservoir is generally L-shaped in cross section.

6. An applicator as claimed in claim 1 wherein said reservoir is generally inverted U-shaped in cross section.