Manually operated pump using hollow flexible member as pumping chamber

Claim 1

A pump adapted for connection to a container having liquid therein for discharging liquid therefrom, said pump comprising: a hollow housing having the general shape of a pistol with a vertical handle having a first opening in the bottom thereof and a barrel extending outward from the top of the handle with a free end having a second opening therein, the barrel having a lower surface with a third opening therein disposed between the free end of the barrel and the handle, the housing containing hollow curved guide means therein extending between a starting position in the handle adjacent the first opening and an ending position adjacent the second opening, the means being essentially horizontal in the region adjacent the ending position and having a fourth opening adjacent the third opening, the first opening being adapted to receive the upper open end of a vertical dip tube; a hollow tubular member having a flexible wall defining a variable volume pump chamber adapted to assume a fully distended position of maximum volume and a collapsed position of lesser volume, said member being disposed in the housing between said guides, the member having a vertical open end extending below the starting position adjacent the first opening and having a horizontal open end extending past the ending position; a manually operable trigger pivotally secured to the barrel, said trigger having a rest position at which it is disposed within the third opening and is spaced from the fourth opening and the member, whereby said member is fully distended, said trigger having an operative position at which it extends through the third and fourth opening to engage the flexible wall and collapse said member; a horizontally elongated poppet element having a front end with an off-center fifth opening and a rear end, said element having a horizontally elongated longitudinal groove extending from the fifth opening to a point intermediate the ends of the element but adjacent its rear end, the element being disposed in the horizontal end of the member with the fifth opening disposed adjacent but out of alignment with the second opening, said second and fifth openings being interconnected by a channel, said member being sealed to the rear end of said element when the member is fully distended whereby passage of liquid from said member to said groove is blocked, said member being spaced from the rear end of the element when the member is collapsed whereby liquid in the member flows along said groove through the off-center fifth opening, channel and second opening to be discharged therefrom as a spray; and valve means in the housing cooperating with the first opening and the vertical end of the member to block downward passage of liquid from the member into the handle through the first opening when the member is contracting and to allow said downward passage when the member is expanding.