Spray head attachment for metering gear head

Claim 2

Apparatus for spraying hot melt adhesive onto the backing sheet of a hygienic article, compris­ing: a flow metering device formed with adhesive outlets, said flow metering device having means for pumping a metered quantity of hot melt adhesive through each of said adhesive outlets; a manifold mounted to said flow metering device for receiving hot melt adhesive from each of said adhesive outlets of said flow metering device; said manifold having means for discharging the hot melt adhesive in a plurality of separate adhesive beads, and means for impacting each of said adhesive beads with jets of pressurized air directed substantially tangent to the outer periphery of said adhesive beads to form elongated adhesive fibers and to impart a twisting motion to said elongated adhesive fibers for deposition in a spiral spray pattern onto the backing sheet of a hygienic article.

Claim 3

A spray head attachment adapted for use with a flow metering device for spraying hot melt adhesive onto the backing sheet of a hygienic article, compris­ing: a manifold mounted to the flow metering device, said manifold being formed with adhesive connector passageways adapted to connect to adhesive discharge outlets formed in the flow metering device, air connector passageways adapted to connect to a source of pressurized air and recirculation passage­ways, each of said adhesive connector passageways and said air connector passageways having an outlet formed on a discharge surface of said manifold and each of said recirculation passageways having an inlet formed on said discharge surface of said manifold, said outlets and inlets being arranged in arrays wherein an outlet of one adhesive connector passageway, an outlet of one air connector passageway and an inlet of one recirculation passageway are located proximate one another; a nozzle mounted to said discharge surface of said manifold over one of said arrays of an adhe­sive connector passageway outlet, an air connector passageway outlet and a recirculation passageway inlet, said nozzle being formed with an adhesive discharge passageway connected to said outlet of said adhesive connector passageway and an air discharge passageway connected to said outlet of said air connector passageway; a nozzle attachment mounted to said nozzle, said nozzle attachment being formed with a throughbore connected to said adhesive discharge passageway of said nozzle for ejecting a bead of adhesive, said nozzle attachment being formed with air jet bores connected to said air discharge passageway of said nozzle for directing pressurized air substantially tangent to the outer periphery of said bead of adhe­sive to form elongated adhesive fibers and to impart a twisting motion to said elongated adhesive fibers for deposition in a spiral spray pattern on the backing sheet of a hygienic article.

Claim 4

A spray head attachment adapted for use with a flow metering device for spraying hot melt adhesive onto the backing sheet of a hygienic article, compris­ing: a manifold mounted to the flow metering device, said manifold being formed with adhesive connector passageways adapted to connect to adhesive discharge outlets formed in the flow metering device, air connector passageways adapted to connect to a source of pressurized air and recirculation passage­ways, each of said adhesive connector passageways and said air connector passageways having an outlet formed on a discharge surface of said manifold and each of said recirculation passageways having an inlet formed on said discharge surface of said manifold, said outlets and inlets being arranged in arrays wherein an outlet of one adhesive connector passageway, an outlet of one air connector passageway and an inlet of one recirculation passageway are located proximate one another; a nozzle mounted to said discharge surface of said manifold over one of said arrays of an adhe­sive connector passageway outlet, an air connector passageway outlet and a recirculation passageway inlet, said nozzle being formed with an adhesive discharge passageway connected to said outlet of said adhesive connector passageway and an air discharge passageway connected to said outlet of said air connector passageway; a nozzle attachment mounted to said nozzle, said nozzle attachment being formed with a throughbore connected to said adhesive discharge passageway of said nozzle for ejecting a bead of adhesive, said nozzle attachment being formed with air jet bores connected to said air discharge passageway of said nozzle for directing pressurized air substantially tangent to the outer periphery of said bead of adhe­sive to form elongated adhesive fibers and to impart a twisting motion to said elongated adhesive fibers for deposition in a spiral spray pattern on the backing sheet of a hygienic article.

Claim 5

The spray head attachment of claim 2 in which said manifold is formed with an air channel communicating with a source of pressurized air, said air channel being formed with opposed sides extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of said manifold, each of said air connector passageways having an inlet at one of said opposed sides of said air channel and an outlet at said discharge surface of said manifold.

Claim 6

The spray head attachment of claim 2 in which said manifold is formed with a recirculation channel adapted to communicate with a metering gear head, said recirculation channel being formed with opposed sides extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of said manifold, each of said recirculation passageways having an inlet at one of said opposed sides of said recirculation channel and an outlet at said discharge surface of said manifold.

Claim 7

The spray head attachment of claim 2 in which said nozzle is formed with a recess in alignment with said outlet of a recirculation passageway in said manifold, said recess mounting a seal for sealing said recirculation passageway.

Claim 8

The spray head attachment of claim 2 further including a blocking plate having an inner surface mounted to said discharge surface of said manifold over one of said arrays of an adhesive connector passageway outlet, an air connector passageway outlet and a recirculation passageway inlet, said blocking plate being formed with an internal passageway having an inlet connected to said outlet of said adhesive connector passageway and an outlet connected to said inlet of said recirculation passageway for trans­mitting adhesive therebetween, said blocking plate sealing the flow of pressurized air from said air connector passageway in said manifold and recirculat­ing the flow of adhesive from said adhesive connector passageway in said manifold.

Claim 15

The method of claim 9 further comprising: blocking the flow of adhesive from at least one adhesive outlet in said manifold through a third nozzle mounted to said discharge surface of said manifold; and discharging pressurized air from one of said air outlets in said manifold through said third nozzle toward the backing sheet of a hygienic article.