Water Gun

Abstract

The invention relates to a water gun, in particular to a toy water gun comprising a supply line, which is adapted to supply a pressurized liquid from a source, a nozzle arrangement for ejecting the liquid to the environment as well as a valve for controlling a flow of the liquid in a direction from the supply line to the nozzle arrangement. The water gun additionally includes a flow-smoothing device, with the valve arranged behind the flow-smoothing device with respect to the flow direction.

Claims

1. A water gun comprising: a pressurized liquid source, a supply line, a valve, and a nozzle arrangement, wherein: the supply line fluidly connects the pressurized liquid source with the valve, the nozzle arrangement is configured to eject liquid from the pressurized liquid source to an environment, the valve is positioned in between the supply line and the nozzle arrangement and configured to control a flow of the liquid from the pressurized liquid source in a flow direction from the supply line to the nozzle arrangement, the valve includes a valve seat and a movably-supported valve body, the valve body having a first position, in which the valve body attaches to the valve seat in a sealing manner, and the valve body is displaceable substantially parallel to the flow direction via an electromechanical actuator into a second position.

2. The water gun of claim 1, wherein the valve body has a first dimension along the flow direction, a second dimension perpendicularly to the flow direction, and wherein the first dimension exceeds second dimension.

3. The water gun of claim 2, wherein the valve body has an ellipsoidal shape or a torpedo-like shape.

4. The water gun of claim 1, further comprising an actuator coupled with the valve body, wherein the actuator is configured to effectuate a displacement of the valve body.

5. The water gun of claim 4, wherein the actuator comprises a solenoid and an armature positioned to be moved by a magnetic field generated by an electrical current when said current flows through the solenoid, from an initial position along a direction opposite to the flow direction, wherein the armature is coupled with the valve body and thereby configured to displace the valve body in the direction opposite to the flow direction.

6. The water gun of claim 5, wherein the actuator comprises a return spring positioned to be loaded by a movement of the armature in the direction opposite to the flow direction.

7. The water gun of claim 5, further comprising a first rod attached to the valve body, a locking mechanism configured to releasably block the first rod in a first rod's initial position such as to prevent a movement of the first rod, an auxiliary spring attached to the first rod and connected to the armature via a second rod, an unlocking member connected to the second rod and configured to release the locking mechanism when the potential energy stored in the auxiliary springs exceeds a threshold value.

8. The water gun according to claim 4, further comprising a trigger device configured to control the actuator.

9. The water gun of claim 8, wherein the trigger device includes at least one of an electrical trigger, an electrical push-button, and a magnet that is operably connected to a Hall-effect sensor.

10. The water gun of claim 9, configured to eject, upon a single occurrence of operation of the electrical trigger, either a predetermined plural number of spatially-separated laminar jets of liquid independently from a duration of said single occurrence of operation or a single laminar jet of said liquid having a jet duration that is independent from the duration of said single occurrence.

11. The water gun of claim 10, wherein the actuator is configured to open and close the valve for a number of additional times after an initial operation of the trigger device, when the trigger device is no longer operated by the user.

12. The water gun of claim 8 further comprising an indicator, configured to indicate a number of triggering procedures of the valve.

13. The water gun according to claim 12, wherein the indicated number is associated with the volume of liquid present in the pressurized liquid source.

14. The water gun according to claim 1, wherein the pressurized liquid source includes a sensor, which sensor means preferably includes at least one of feeler and a light barrier, and wherein the sensor means is configured to determine the volume of liquid present in the pressurized liquid source.

15. The water gun of claim 1, further comprising a handle portion configured to grip the water gun, a nozzle portion disposed to faced away from the handle portion and including the nozzle arrangement, and a pump device that has a pump inlet in fluid communication with a liquid inlet of the water gun and a pump outlet in fluid communication with the pressurized liquid source, wherein the liquid inlet is arranged in the nozzle portion or adjacent to the nozzle portion.

16. The water gun of claim 15, further comprising: a liquid sensor arranged in the nozzle portion, which is configured to detect an activation condition of the pump device and to subsequently activate the pump device to fill the pressurized liquid source.

17. A method for operating the water gun of claim 1, comprising at least one of: opening the valve, to change a status of the valve to an opened state and to eject liquid from the water gun, with an opening movement time that is either shorter than 60 ms or shorter than 30 ms, and maintaining the valve is in the opened state for a period of time shorter than 100 ms or shorter than 50 ms.

18. The method of claim 17, comprising closing the valve with a closing movement time that is either shorter than 80 ms or shorter than 40 ms.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0036] In the following, the invention will be described by way of examples, without limitation of the general inventive concept, of embodiments and with reference to the drawings. Referring to the drawings, further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will be described as follows.

[0037] FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

[0038] While the invention may be variously modified and assume alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and related detailed description are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but to the contrary, the intention is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] As shown in FIG. 1 a water gun 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention may include a flow smoothing device 10 arranged within a housing 11, adapted for smoothing a flow of pressurized liquid (not illustrated), which flows through the flow smoothing device 10 in a shot direction S. Said shot direction S describes the flight direction of liquid which is ejected out of the water gun 1. The flow smoothing device 10 may be supplied with pressurized liquid from a source, which may be for example a storage device 60, described later, via a supply line 77. The flow smoothing device 10 may include one or more rectifiers 12 having a plurality of channels being parallel to the shot direction S. Upstream to or between these rectifiers 12 the flow smoothing device 10 may include calming zones 14, which may be empty spaces, for calming the flow of pressurized liquid before flowing into the rectifiers 12. The flow smoothing device 10 may further include a filtering foam 16 or/and a baffle plate 18, which are arranged upstream to the calming zones 14 and the rectifiers 12. In addition, the flow smoothing device 10 may include a wire mesh 20 having a plurality of small openings through which the pressurized liquid will be pressed as well as a guiding structure 22 described later.

[0040] According to the present embodiment the water gun 1 further includes a valve 24 including a valve body 28 and a valve seat 26, where the valve seat 26 and the valve body 28 are attachable in a sealing manner such that the flow of pressurized liquid ejected out of the water gun through a nozzle arrangement 29 can be controlled (that is, the valve can be opened or closed). The valve body 28 is linked with a rod 30, preferably extending parallel to the shot direction S. The rod 30 is extends centralized along the main axis of the flow smoothing device 10 and is guided by said guiding structure 22 so as to be displaceable in a translational manner along the shot direction S. The rod 30 may be further linked with a locking mechanism 32, described later, and additionally with a spring 34, which is linked with an electromechanical actuator 38 via a second rod 36. Said actuator 38 may include a solenoid 40 with an armature 42 as well as preferably a return spring 44. A movement of the actuator 38 in particular a movement of the armature 42 from an initial position along a direction opposite to the shot direction S (as indicated in FIG. 1 by an arrow in vicinity of said armature 42 will cause an equivalent movement of an unlocking member 35 being linked with the second rod 36. As a result, the spring 34 will be tensioned since the movement of the rod 30 is suppressed due to the locking mechanism 32. (A locking mechanism is, therefore, configured to releasably block the rod in its initial position to prevent the rod from moving.) At the same time as the unlocking member 35 moves further along said direction opposite to the shot direction S, the unlocking member 35 will cause a rotation of the locking mechanism 32 such that the locking mechanism of the rod 30 will be unlocked and subsequently the spring 34 relaxes in a jerky, sudden, abrupt manner. As a result said rod 30 and the valve body 28 will be displaced in a translational direction, i.e. shifted opposite to the shot direction S, thereby opening the valve 24. The liquid will be ejected out of the water gun 1 along the shot direction S. Subsequently, after the force due to the current through the solenoid 40 decreases, the return spring 44 will shift the armature 42 back into its initial position. Thereby the valve body 28 is moved back in the position blocking the valve seat 26 in a sealing manner, again. At the same time the ejection of liquid into the environment will be stopped.

[0041] Said actuator 38 may be supplied by an electrical energy storage 46, which may be also arranged within the housing 11. Additionally, the electrical energy storage 46 may include an electrical connector 48 which is adapted to link the electrical energy storage 46 with an electrical energy source (not illustrated) for charging.

[0042] As shown in FIG. 1 the water gun 1 may include a trigger device 50, which is adapted to control the valve 24 for ejecting a quantity of liquid, preferably a shot of a laminar jet of liquid. In addition, the trigger device 50 may include an electrical trigger 52 which is connected to an electrical control unit 58 (hereinafter ECU). According to the present embodiment, the trigger device 50 includes an additional trigger 54, which is adapted to be operated by a user. This trigger 54 may be any type of, preferably liquid-proofed, triggers such as touch sensitive or force sensitive triggers.

[0043] Upon operation of the trigger 54 the ECU 58 will cause the actuator 38 to actuate respectively to open the valve for ejecting the liquid to the environment. Herein the water gun 1 may further include a switch 56, which is adapted to change an operating state of the water gun 1. In more detail the water gun 1 may have operating states like a single or burst shot mode, which can be selected by the user for example via operating the switch 56. In addition, the water gun 1 may have an operating state like an auto fire mode, which can be also selected with said switch 56 being mounted at the housing of the water gun 1. Alternatively, it is also possible to select the operating state of the water gun 1 by an external electronic device (not illustrated) which is connected with the ECU 58 in a communicating manner.

[0044] The water gun 1 may further include the storage device 60 for storing pressurized liquid. Herein the storage device 60 may include a flexible bladder 62 which is adapted to contain pressurized liquid. The storage device 60 is a preferred embodiment of a pressurized liquid source. Said flexible bladder 62 may be enclosed by a rigid housing 64. At one end of the flexible bladder 62 there may be provided a plug 66 which is adapted to seal this end of the flexible bladder 62. Last-mentioned plug 66 may further include a valve 68, which is provided to allow air being inside the flexible bladder 62 to escape when filling the flexible bladder 62 with liquid. The one end of the flexible bladder 62 is further fixed on a guiding unit 70, which allows said end to move in a translational manner along the guiding walls of the rigid housing 64.

[0045] According to the present embodiment of the invention the water gun 1 may further include a handle portion 72, which is adapted for gripping the water gun 1 by a user and a nozzle portion 74 facing away from the handle portion 72 with the nozzle arrangement 29 for ejecting the liquid. In addition, the water gun 1 includes a liquid inlet 76, which is arranged within the nozzle portion 74 and a pump device 78 for supplying liquid from outside the water gun 1 via the liquid inlet 76 into the storage device 60. Herein the water gun 1 may further include a sensor 80 arranged in the nozzle portion 74 or adjacent the nozzle portion 74, which is adapted to detect whether or not the nozzle portion 74 is in contact with a liquid and to subsequently activate the pump device 78 via the ECU 58 for filling the storage device 60. Herein the liquid inlet 76 may be connected with the storage device 60 via the supply line 77. In addition, said liquid inlet 76 may include a filter, preferably a sieve, to prevent foreign matter to be suctioned into the water gun 1 by the pump device 78. Additionally, the storage device 60 may include a sensor 82, which is adapted to detect whether the flexible bladder 62 is completely extended such that the storage device 60 is fully filled and subsequently causes to deactivate the pump device 78 by the ECU 58.

[0046] As further shown in FIG. 1, the water gun 1 may include an indicator 84, which is adapted to indicate a number of triggering procedures of the valve 24. In more detail, a number of single shots of liquid is indicated such that the user receives information about a number of shots which could be ejected or an information about a number of shots already ejected out of the water gun 1. Upon an operation of the trigger device 50 the number of triggering procedures of the valve being indicated by the indicator 84 may increase or decrease by an integer value.

[0047] Preferably, the indicator 84 may further include an electronic display. By the use of said electronic display it is possible to indicate additional information being associated with the water gun 1 which can be received by the user, for example a current loading state of the electrical energy storage 46 or the current operating state of the water gun 1 etc. The electronic display may also include an illuminating means, e.g. a light source, to ensure clear readability even under disadvantageous lighting conditions, for example during a use of said water gun at night or in dark buildings or rooms etc.

[0048] According to a preferred embodiment, the sensor 82 is adapted to determine the volume of liquid present in the storage device 60. It is herein preferable for the sensor 82 to include a feeler (a sensor) or/and preferably a light barrier. It is thereby possible that the volume of liquid present in the storage device 60 can be exactly indicated by the indicator 84 even if the storage device is not filled up completely during the filling process. This effect is achieved since the number of remaining shots is calculated by the ECU 58 depending on the volume being present in the storage device 60.

[0049] It is preferable for the sensor 82 to include a feeler or/and preferably a light barrier. With said feeler and/or said light barrier it can be achieved to measure an extension of for example a flexible bladder being arranged within the storage device and containing the pressurized liquid. Due to the fact that the extension of the flexible bladder relates to the volume of pressurized liquid being present in the storage device said volume of pressurized liquid can be calculated.

[0050] According to a second not shown embodiment of the water gun it is suggested that the flow smoothing device is arranged behind the valve with respect to the shot direction S of the water gun.

[0051] It will be appreciated to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that this invention is believed to provide a water gun. Further modifications and alternative embodiments of various aspects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of this description. Accordingly, this description is to be construed as illustrative only and is provided for the purpose of teaching those skilled in the art the general manner of carrying out the invention. It is to be understood that the forms of the invention shown and described herein are to be taken as the presently preferred embodiments. Elements and materials may be substituted for those illustrated and described herein, parts and processes may be reversed, and certain features of the invention may be utilized independently, all as would be apparent to one skilled in the art after having the benefit of this description of the invention. Changes may be made in the elements described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described in the following claims.

[0052] The claims are not intended to include, and should not be interpreted to include, means-plus- or step-plus-function limitations, unless such a limitation is explicitly recited in a given claim using the phrase(s) means for or step for, respectively.