Nozzle cap, spring valve and body assembly

Claim 1

A nozzle cap, spring valve and body assembly comprising: a nose bushing portion of the body which is adapted to be mounted to, or integral with a dispensing end of a liquid dispenser, which has an outer threaded portion and which has a cavity therein opening onto a front end of said nose bushing portion of the body, a spring valve received in said cavity, and a cup shaped nozzle cap which has a front wall with an outlet orifice therein and a rearwardly extending generally cylindrical sleeve, said sleeve having internal threads therein for threadably mounting said cap on said threaded portion of said nose bushing portion of the body, said spring valve including a front face disc having a front face, an outer annular periphery and two circumferentially spaced apart angular, spin causing grooves in said annular periphery, means coupled to said face disc for mounting said spring valve in said cavity, a sinuous spring which is received in said cavity and which extends rearwardly from said mounting means, and a movable valve seat at the rear end of said spring; said nose bushing portion of the body having passage means communicating at one end with liquid outlet means in the liquid dispensing device and at another end with said cavity and having a stationary valve seat in said cavity on which said movable valve seat is seated; and said nozzle cap having specially contoured surfaces on the back side of said front wall including an inner wall surface within said nozzle cap constructed and configured to cooperate with and mate with portions of said face disc; said nozzle cap being rotatable and axially moveable relative to said nose bushing portion of the body between three positions, the first position being defined by the nozzle cap being threaded onto said nose bushing portion of the body to a point where portions of said front face and said annular periphery of said face disc mate with portions of said specially configured surfaces of said nozzle cap to close off and seal said outlet orifice, the second position being defined by said nozzle cap being partially unthreaded from said nose bushing portion of the body to unseat said front face of said face disc from said inner wall surface but with said annular periphery still in sealing engagement with a portion of said specially contoured surface within said nozzle cap so that a swirl chamber is established between said inner wall surface and said front face of said face disc and so that liquid pumped past said movable valve seat is channeled through said two angular spin causing grooves to travel in a swirl in said swirl chamber and exit said outlet orifice in a conical spray pattern, and said third position being defined by a further partially unthreaded position of said nozzle cap off of said nose bushing portion of the body where said face disc is completely unseated from said specially contoured surface within said nozzle cap so that liquid can now flow over said outer annular periphery of said face disc and radially inwardly to and out said outlet orifice in a stream pattern.