Spray applicator for spraying coatings and other fluids in space

Claim 1

A totally self-contained spray gun for one handed use in a vacuum zero-gravity environment application of a coating material, comprising: (a) an accumulator means including a rigid outer shell and a flexible bladder contained therein having an outlet port, pressurized propellant contained within the outer shell exteriorly of the bladder, whereby the constricting force exerted by the propellant on the bladder and the liquid coating material contained therein induces the coating material to be extruded through said outlet port under zero-gravity conditions; (b) a conduit (passageway) having a first end connected to the outlet port of the accumulator, said conduit including an externally controllable shut off plug mounted therewithin for allowing or preventing the outflow of coating material, said conduit further including a removable strainer means sealed and mounted therewithin for filtering out large coagulated particles of coating material; (c) spray gun means for controlling the explosion of coating material including a housing connected to a second end of the conduit, a handle for gripping and supporting the spray gun and accumulator, and a spring loaded self-locking trigger means having an open and closed position, so arranged with respect to the handle as to permit simultaneous one-hand gripping of the handle and operation of the trigger means; (d) said trigger means including a lever having a first end pivotally mounted on the spray gun handle assembly, said lever being substantially parallel to the handle of the spray gun housing when the trigger means is in a closed position, and whereby the pivoting of the level toward the handle places the trigger means in an open position; (e) said trigger means further including simultaneous locking and unlocking means for preventing accidental movement of the trigger means, the locking means including: (i) a spindle mounted in the spray gun housing; (ii) a trigger lock annularly mounted on the spindle; (iii) a spring mounted on the spindle whereby said spring is torsionally resistant to rotational movement of the lock with respect to the spindle; (iv) a recess formed in the lever so as to receive and engage the lock, said lock being capable of one-handed rotational movement with respect to the spindle, whereby pivotal movement of the lever towards the handle is only permitted when the lock is rotationally oriented so as to engage the recess; (f) valve means mounted within the spray gun housing responsive to the position of the trigger means for controlling the outflow of the coating material from the accumulator; (g) support means for rigidly connecting the spray gun handle and the accumulator; and (h) spray shield means mounted on the spray gun means for restricting back spray of the liquid coating.