Hose-On Spray

Abstract

A sprayer for attachment to a hose, the sprayer including an inlet for introducing fluid into the sprayer, an outlet for discharging fluid from the sprayer, a first controller to control the flow of fluid from the inlet to the outlet, a first fluid path located between the first controller and the outlet, a second fluid path located between the first controller and the outlet, the second fluid path fluidly connectable to a container having an active liquid, and a second controller to control the flow of fluid in the second fluid path, wherein in use, when fluid is flowing in the second fluid path, the fluid flow causes the active liquid to enter the second fluid path and exit the sprayer via the outlet.

Claims

1. A sprayer for attachment to a hose, the sprayer comprising an inlet for introducing fluid into the sprayer; an outlet for discharging fluid from the sprayer; a first controller to control the flow of fluid from the inlet to the outlet; a first fluid path located between the first controller and the outlet; a second fluid path located between the first controller and the outlet, the second fluid path fluidly connectable to a container having an active liquid; and a second controller to control the flow of fluid in the second fluid path, wherein in use, when fluid is flowing in the second fluid path, the fluid flow causes the active liquid to enter the second fluid path and exit the sprayer via the outlet.

2. A sprayer comprising an inlet for introducing fluid into the sprayer; an outlet for discharging fluid from the sprayer; a first controller to control the flow of fluid from the inlet to the outlet; a first fluid path located between the first controller and the outlet; a second fluid path located between the first controller and the outlet, the second fluid path fluidly connectable to a container having an active liquid; and a second controller to control the flow of fluid in the second fluid path, wherein in use, when fluid is flowing in the second fluid path, the fluid flow in the second fluid path causes the active liquid to exit the sprayer via the outlet.

3. The sprayer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the inlet includes a hose coupling attachable to a garden hose.

4. The sprayer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the outlet includes a nozzle to discharge the fluid.

5. The sprayer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the outlet includes a plurality of nozzles, and a desired nozzle is selectable from the plurality of nozzles.

6. The sprayer as claimed in claim 5, wherein the outlet includes a selector ring to select the desired nozzle from the plurality of nozzles.

7. The sprayer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first controller includes a valve and a trigger, when actuated, the trigger opens the first controller valve.

8. The sprayer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second controller includes a valve and a switch, when actuated, the switch opens the second controller valve.

9. The sprayer as claimed in claim 1, including the container.

10. The sprayer as claimed in claim 9, wherein the container is a rigid container.

11. The sprayer as claimed in claim 9, wherein the container is a collapsible bladder.

12. The sprayer as claimed in claim 1, including a flow controller to control the rate of flow of active liquid from the container.

13. The sprayer as claimed in claim 12, wherein the flow controller has a plurality of distinct flow settings.

14. The sprayer as claimed in claim 12, wherein the container operatively engages with the flow controller to control the flow of active liquid from the container.

15. The sprayer as claimed in claim 1, including a flow indicator to indicate the flow of active liquid from the container.

16. The sprayer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second fluid path has a venturi arrangement, and wherein when fluid is flowing in the second fluid path, the fluid flow and the venturi arrangement causes a reduction in fluid pressure, drawing the active liquid from the container, the active liquid from the container is drawn into the fluid flow in the second fluid path and is discharged from the outlet.

17. The sprayer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fluid is water.

18. The method of spraying an active liquid using a sprayer as claimed in claim 1, the method the steps of introducing fluid into the sprayer via the inlet; actuating the first controller to allow at least a portion of the fluid to flow through the first fluid path; actuating the second controller to allow a portion of the fluid to flow through the second fluid path; and using the fluid flow in the second fluid path to move active liquid from the container and discharge the active liquid from the outlet.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18 further including the step of using a flow controller to control the rate of flow of active liquid from the container.

20. The method as claimed in claim 18 further including the step of indicating the flow of active liquid from the container using a flow indicator.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0045] In order that the present invention can be more readily understood reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention and wherein:

[0046] FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a sprayer according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0047] FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the sprayer of FIG. 1 with a container attached;

[0048] FIG. 3 is a top view of the sprayer of FIG. 3;

[0049] FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of a sprayer according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

[0050] FIG. 5 is a top view of the sprayer of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0051] With reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, there is shown a sprayer 10 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The sprayer 10 has an inlet in the form of a hose coupling 12 and an outlet in the form of a nozzle 14. The sprayer has a first controller in the form of a trigger 16, which controls the flow of water from the hose coupling 12 to the nozzle 14. The trigger 16 is located on a handle 18 of the sprayer 10. The hose coupling 12 is attachable to a hose connector 50 of a garden hose 52 which provides flowing water.

[0052] The sprayer 10 has a first fluid path in the form of a tube (not shown) located between the trigger 16 and the nozzle 14. When the trigger 16 is actuated, at least a portion of the water can flow from the hose coupling 12 to the nozzle 14.

[0053] The sprayer 10 has a second fluid path in the form of a tube (not shown) located between the trigger 16 and the nozzle 14. A second controller in the form of a thumb switch 20 controls the flow of water in the second fluid path.

[0054] The sprayer 10 has a container 22 which is attachable to the sprayer via a connector 24. When the container 24 is connected to the sprayer 10 (as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3), the container 24 is fluidly connected to the second fluid path (not shown). The container 24 contains an active liquid such as a fertiliser or weedkiller.

[0055] When the trigger 16 is actuated and the thumb switch 20 is actuated, water flows in the second fluid path (not shown) and through a venturi arrangement (not shown) draws the active liquid from the container 24 into the second fluid path and the water flow in the second fluid path discharges the active liquid from the nozzle 14.

[0056] When the trigger 16 is actuated but the thumb switch 20 is not actuated, water only flows through the first fluid path and discharges from the nozzle 14. In this manner, a user (not shown) can choose between discharging just water or discharging water mixed with active liquid.

[0057] The sprayer 10 has a flow controller in the form of a selector dial 26. The selector dial 26 has six distinct settings, allowing a user to choose between six different flow rates of active liquid from the container 22.

[0058] With reference to FIGS. 4 and 5 there is shown a sprayer 100 according to a second preferred embodiment of the invention. The sprayer 100 is similar to the sprayer 10 shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and the same numbering has been adopted for the similar parts. The difference between the sprayer 100 and the sprayer 10 is that the sprayer 100 does not have a selector dial 26 (as seen in FIGS. 1 to 3). The sprayer 100 additionally has a flow indicator in the form of a ball flow indicator 28 which indicates the flow of active liquid from the container 22.

Advantages

[0059] An advantage of the preferred embodiment of the sprayer includes an easier way to control the discharge of active liquid from the sprayer. Another advantage of the preferred embodiment of the sprayer includes the ability to spray water without the addition of active liquid. A further advantage of the preferred embodiment of the sprayer includes the ability to switch to different types of active liquids.

VARIATIONS

[0060] It will of course be realised that while the foregoing has been given by way of illustrative example of this invention, all such and other modifications and variations thereto as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of this invention as is herein set forth.

[0061] Throughout the description and claims of this specification the word comprise and variations of that word such as comprises and comprising, are not intended to exclude other additives, components, integers or steps.