US3826580A

US3826580A - Adhesive dispenser

Info

Publication number: US3826580A
Application number: US00180086A
Authority: US
Inventors: W Bohli
Original assignee: US Department of Navy
Current assignee: US Department of Navy
Priority date: 1971-09-13
Filing date: 1971-09-13
Publication date: 1974-07-30
Anticipated expiration: 1991-07-30

Abstract

A dispenser for applying an adhesive mixture, the constituents of which are contained within the dispenser in the form of small capsules, including a hollow cylindrical housing having a piston member slidably positioned therein and sealingly closing one end thereof. The other end of the housing includes a closure portion having a plurality of bores formed therein, the bores having a diameter of a size smaller than the capsules. Means for moving the piston member are provided which enable the piston member to crush the capsules, mix the adhesive constituent and force the mixture through the bores provided in the closure portion.

Description

Bohli United States Patent 1191 [111 3,826,580 1451 July 30, 1974 ADHESIVE DISPENSER lnventor:

Assignee:

William H. Bohli, Catonsville, Md. The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC.

Filed:

Appl. No.:

US. Cl

Int. Cl.

Sept. 13, 1971 Field of Search 401/35, 132, 133, 150, 401/151, 172; 222/325, 326, 327, 389;

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Yoshida 222/325 Ailcs 222/325 Miller 222/389 X lsgriggs et a1. 222/326 X Baymiller eta]; 401/132 I FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,386,908 12/1964 France 401/132 265,579 7/1927 Great Britain 222/326 Primary Examiner-Samuel Feinberg Attorney, Agent, or Firm-R. S. Sciascia; .1. A. Cooke 5 7 ABSTRACT A dispenser for applying an adhesive mixture, the constituents of which are contained within the dispenser in the form of small capsules, including a hollow cylindrical housing having a piston member slidably positioned therein and sealingly closing one end thereof.

The other end of the housing includes a closure portion having a plurality of bores formed therein, the bores having a diameter of a size smaller than the capsules. Means for moving the piston member are provided which enable the piston member to crush the capsules, mix the adhesive constituent and force the mixture through the bores provided in the closure por- 1 tion.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures '1 1 ADHESIVE DISPENSER This invention relates generally to a dispensing device, and more particularly, to a device for housing and dispensing an adhesive composition.

It has become necessary, recently, to provide a means for securingvarious items of hardware to surfaces of objects situated underwater, on land, or in space. Very often, a bond capable of supporting loads up to 1,500 lbs. must be quickly attained within a short period of time, for example, about three minutes. Further, when the operator is in an adverse environment, such for example, as underwater, or in space, the amount of working area available to him to carrya device to achieve the abovementioned bonding is extremely limited. Thus, a small, lightweight device for dispensing an adhesive capable of providing sufficient bonding strength is desired.

A quick acting adhesive was recently developed by the National Cash Register-Company capable of providing the required bonding strength. The adhesive is provided in spherical capsules of relatively small size and includes two constituents eachcontained in separate micro" capsules. Initially a device was conceived wherein the adhesive capsules were cemented to the bonding surface thereof and fastening apparatus pro vided to attach hardwarethereto. The capsules were then crushed prior to attaching the hardware to the device. The bond strength obtained after three minutes varied between 50 and 200 psi for clean metal surfaces underwater, the capsule chaff and the limited degree of adhesive constituent mixing apparently adversely affecting the joint strengthAtternpts at using the adhesive constituents in an unencapsulated form withrapid mixing and application did not provide stronger bonds.

Apparently, the degree of mixing was not sufficient in the above described methods for the particular adhesive employed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, one object of this invention is to provide a new" and improved adhesive dispensing device.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved adhesive dispensing device which is both light and small.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide anew. and improved adhesive dispensing device which sufficiently mixes a two constituent adhesive prior to application thereof onto the bonding surface.

A further object of the instant invention is to provide a new and improved device for dispensing adhesive contained in micro capsules.

Briefly, in accordance with one embodiment of this invention, these and other objects are attained by pro- BRIEF DESCRIPTION or THE DRAWINGS DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference characters designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and more particularly to FIG. 1 thereof, the adhesive applicator, generally denoted as 10, includes a substantially cylindrical housing 12 having a first bore 14 formed therein which terminates a short distance above the lower surface of housing 12. Communicating with the upper surface of housing 12 is a partially threaded counterbore 18 whichv opens into bore 14 forming a shoulder 20. A piston member 22 includes a lower cylindrical portion 24 having a diameter adapted to fitsnugly within bore 14 and includes an O-ring 26 provided within an annular groove 28. A central cylindrical portion 30, of the piston includes a threaded flange 32 defining a shoulder 34, the threaded flange 32 adapted to threadedly mate with counterbore 18. An upper cylindrical portion 36 of the piston includes a pair of

cylindrical extensions

38 and 40 integrally formed adjacent the central cylindrical portion 30. A closure portion 42 having a plurality of openings 44 formed centrally therein extends over and closes bore 14. The piston member 22 is positioned within bore 14 and counterbore 18 with O-ring 26 sealingly cooperating with bore 14 and threaded flange 32 cooperating with threaded counterbore 18. When in its initial position, shown in FIG. 1, a chamber 46 is defined by the upper surface of closure portion 42, the lower surface of the lower cylindrical portion 24 and bore 14. A plurality of adhesive containing microcapsules are positioned within chamber 46 prior to assembling piston member 22 into housing 12. Each adhesive capsule contains one of two adhesive constituents, the ratio of the first to the second constituent depending on the particular adhesive, which when mixed together form an adhesive liquid which, upon drying, forms a high strength bond. The opening 44 formed in closure portion 42 are of a smaller diameter than the capsules thereby retaining the capsules within the chamber 46. An elongate handle 48 is fixedly secured to reduced cylindrical portion 38 and a ball 50 has its ends releasably positioned within a pair of openings 52 formed within housing 12. A cup-shaped cover 54 is provided to overlie the lower surface of housing 1.2. A cotter pin 56 is positioned within a bore formed within reduced cylindrical portion 40 and 'is of sufficient length so that it ends extend over the upper surface of housing 12. The cotter pin may be connected to the cover by a chain 57. Finally, a pin 58 is vertically fastened within a bore formed in the upper surface of housing 12.

In operation, the cotter pin 56 cooperates with pin 58 as a safety feature to prevent premature actuation of the adhesive applicator. Should the piston member in advertently be turned within housing 12, the end of cotter pin 56 would interfere with pin 58 thereby jamming the mechanism. Thus, to ready the device for use, the cover 54 is removed and, in the same motion, the cotter pin is extricated from the reduced cylindrical portion by pulling on chain 57, using the cover as a handle. The operator then proceeds by twisting handle 48 in an appropriate direction so as to cause the piston member to move in a downward direction, i.e., towards closure portion 42, thereby causing the lower surface of the piston member to crush the microcapsules thereby mixing together the contents thereof and forcing the resultantadhesive mixture through the openings 44 in closure portion 42 onto the lower surface of the circular disc. O-ring 26 prevents the adhesive mixture from moving upwardly and fouling the apparatus by bonding the piston member to the housing. The adhesive applicator is then pushed against a surface with a rotating motion and held in place approximately seconds after which it may be released. After about 3 minutes a load can be applied to the bail 50.

Referring to FIG. 2, an alternate embodiment is illustrated which has the capability of containing many more adhesive capsules than the device of FIG. 1. Such a device is employed as an adhesive dispenser for applying the adhesive directly to an object to be bonded when the area of the object to be coated with adhesive is quite large. A cylindrical housing 60 is provided having an integral closure portion 62 formed atone end thereof having a plurality of openings 64 formed therein. The upper opening of housing 60 has a flange 66 formed therearound which permits a closure member 68 to be bolted by conventional means thereto. The closure member 68 has a threadedbore 70 formed centrally therein through which an elongate threaded member 72 having a conventional handle assembly 74 fixed to its external end, i.e., the end not positioned within housing 60. A piston member 76, having an O- ring 78 held in an annular groove which sealingly cooperates with the'inner surface of housing 60, is coupled to the internal end, i.e., the end positioned within housing 60, of elongate threaded member 72. The internal end of elongate threaded member 72 includes a cylindrical member 80 having a flange 82 formed thereon. The piston member 76 includes a bore 84 formed therein having an annular recess 86 formed midway within the bore. An annular retaining ring 88 is positioned within the recess 86 and extends over flange 82 thereby attaching the piston member 76 to the lower end of the elongate threaded member 72. In operation, the operator turns crank 74 in the appropriate direction thereby lowering piston member 76 in housing 60. Adhesive containing microcapsules are provided within the housing in a similar manner as described hereinbefore. Again, openings 64 are of a size smaller than the microcapsules. The lowering piston crushes the capsules and mixes the resultant adhesive mixture thereby forcing the mixture through openings 64 and onto the object to be fastened.

Turning to FIG. 3, an adhesive dispenser of a similar type as shown in FIG. 2 is illustrated. A capsule housing 90 is substantially identical to housing 60 shown in FIG. 2 except an O-ring 92 is provided in a flange 94 formed at the upper end of the housing. An annular shoulder 96 is formed adjacent the flange 94 and provides a seat for a circular plate 98 which itself includes a plurality of openings 100 formed therein. A gas supply housing 102 is fixed to the upper end of housing 90 in a manner to be described hereinafter which encloses a pressurized gas container such, for example, as a C0 capsule 104. The lower portion of housing 102 includes a threaded portion 106. A cylindrical retaining member 110, having an inwardly extending flange 112 formed thereon and an internally threaded portion 114, is threaded onto housing 102 until the inwardly extending flange 112 abuts the lower surface of flange 94 formed on housing 90, thereby fixing housing 102 in position adjacent and above housing 90. A firing pin 116 is provided above CO capsule 104 in a bore 118 and is biased in an upward directon by spring 120 bearing against an annular flange 122 provided on the firing pin. The pin is prevented from leaving the bore 118 by a bell crank 124 pivoted on the outside of housing 102 at 126 and having a cam surface 127 formed at one end thereof. The firing pin is further provided with a cam follower 128 whose lower surface forms an annular groove with the flange 122 within which an O-ring 130 is positioned. A flexible line 132 is affixed to one end of bell crank 124. In operation, the operator pulls line 132 thereby pivoting bell crank 124 and forcing firing pin 116 through the upper wall of CO capsule 104. The escaping gas is prevented from exiting housing 102 due to O-

rings

92 and 130 and is forced to enter housing 90, thereby forcing a piston member 134 in a downward direction in a similar manner as described hereinbefore thereby crushing adhesive containing microcapsules.

Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An adhesive mixer and dispenser device comprismg:

a housing having a substantially cylindrical bore formed therethrough;

a piston slidably disposed in and sealably closing one end of said bore;

meansfor moving said piston axially in said bore;

end closure means at the other end of said bore having a plurality of small passages communicating from said housing to the outside; and

a plurality of frangible capsules larger in diameter than said. passages, each containing one or the other of the constituents of a two-part adhesive system contained in said housing, whereby the capsules are crushed, the contents mixed and dispensed and the crushed capsules are retained by said small passages.

2. A device as recited in claim 1 wherein said piston moving means includes an externally threaded cylindrical portion coupled to said piston cooperatively associated with an internally threaded portion formed on said housing, and wherein said device includes for holding and connection a bail member having a pair of ends releasably affixed to said housing.

3. A device as recited in claim 1 wherein said piston member moving means includes a selectively actuat- 3,826,580 y 6 able means for supplying pressurized gas into said housply means includes a second housing for a C0 ing whereby upon actuation said piston is caused to container and means for puncturing said container opmove toward said end closure means. eratively associated with said second housing.

4. A device as recited in claim 3 wherein said gas sup-

Claims

1. An adhesive mixer and dispenser device comprising: a housing having a substantially cylindrical bore formed therethrough; a piston slidably disposed in and sealably closing one end of said bore; means for moving said piston axially in said bore; end closure means at the other end of said bore having a plurality of small passages communicating from said housing to the outside; and a plurality of frangible capsules larger in diameter than said passages, each containing one or the other of the constituents of a two-part adhesive system contained in said housing, whereby the capsules are crushed, the contents mixed and dispensed and the crushed capsules are retained by said small passages.

3. A device as recited in claim 1 wherein said piston member moving means includes a selectively actuatable means for supplying pressurized gas into said housing whereby upon actuation said piston is caused to move toward said end closure means.

4. A device as recited in claim 3 wherein said gas supply means includes a second housing for a CO2 container and means for puncturing said container operatively associated with said second housing.