Adjustable spray nozzle

Claim 1

An adjustable spray nozzle for providing a relatively narrow, elongate, and substantially uniform resulting spray pattern for materials issuing therefrom, with the length of the resulting spray pattern being controllable, the nozzle comprising: (a) an elongate cylindrical tubular housing having a transversely extending end wall near one end thereof with the end wall having an exterior face and an interior face, and means defining a discharge opening therefrom formed through the end wall from the interior face thereof to the exterior face thereof, and the housing having structure which defines an elongate delivery passage for ducting material to be sprayed along a path extending longitudinally through the housing to the interior face for discharge through the discharge opening; (b) the means defining the discharge opening including an elongate, substantially linear groove formed in the exterior face of the end wall, the groove being continuous along its length and extending from one edge of the exterior face to an opposite edge thereof and having opposed ends which open through the one and opposite edges, and a converging passage formed in the interior face of the end wall, with the groove and the converging passage intersecting and cooperating to define the discharge opening for discharging sprayed materials in a relatively narrow, elongate, but non-uniform type of discharge spray pattern which extends in planes that align with the linear groove, with the discharging materials tending to be concentrated toward opposed end regions of the discharge spray pattern, and with relatively lesser amounts of the discharging materials being present in central portions of the discharge spray pattern; (c) band-like cylindrical spray deflector means carried by the housing for closely surrounding and closing the opposed ends of the linear groove where the opposed ends of the groove open through the one and opposite edges of the exterior face, and for extending beyond the end wall at locations near the opposed ends of the linear groove to intercept additionally end portions of the discharge spray pattern and to deflect intercepted discharging materials back into central portions of the discharge spray pattern such that a resulting spray pattern of material issuing from the nozzle is caused to be substantially uniform along its length from one end portion thereof through central portions thereof to the other end portion thereof; and, (d) connection means adjustably mounting the spray deflector means on the housing for axial movement between positions wherein the spray deflector means intercepts end portions of the discharge spray pattern to differing degrees, whereby the length of the resulting spray pattern may be controlled by controlling the extent to which the spray deflector means intercepts end portions of the discharge spray pattern.