Aerosol valve with metering passage

Claim 1

In an aerosol valve of the type characterized by a sealing gasket having a central aperture, a valve member beneath the gasket having an upwardly opening socket, a wall surrounding the socket and having an annular sealing rim around its upper edge and a spring normally urging said valve member upwardly to hold said annular rim in sealing engagement with said gasket, the invention comprising a. a post on said valve member projecting from the bottom of said socket in spaced relation to said surrounding wall upwardly through and beyond said gasket; b. a removable spray head having a depending hollow stem extending downwardly through said aperture in peripherally sealed engagement with said gasket, said stem having its lower portion removably seated in said socket, the wall of said stem above said seated lower portion being spaced from said post to provide a vertical free flow channel, the stem wall having at least one opening therethrough below said gasket large enough to provide free flow communication between the upper portion of said socket and said vertical flow channel; c. an internal downwardly facing shoulder in said hollow stem which abuts against the upper end surface of said post; and d. said post being formed with a metering groove in its end, the groove opening outwardly to said vertical flow channel and upwardly into said hollow stem above said shoulder, so that said groove in combination with said shoulder meters the flow to the upper portion of the sPray head.