Spray paint marking system with locating dispenser guard
View Patent ↗A marking wand includes a paint canister and a frame that receives the paint canister. The paint canister loads into a chamber provided at the bottom of the frame so that a dispenser of the paint canister faces downwardly toward the ground. Once the paint canister is loaded in the frame, a user can hold a handle at the top of the frame and pull a trigger included in the handle to actuate the dispenser by pushing the dispenser in a predetermined location thereby discharging paint from the paint canister and marking the ground.
1. A paint canister comprising
a downward-discharge spray can including a container formed to include an interior paint-storage region and an aperture opening into the interior paint-storage region and a dispenser coupled to the container and arranged to move from a closed position in which paint is blocked from being discharged from the interior paint-storage region through the dispenser to an opened position in which paint is discharged from the interior paint-storage region through the dispenser in response to a force being applied to a side of the dispenser, and
a dispenser guard including a shell mounted permanently to the container and arranged to extend around a portion of the dispenser to define an end-spray opening located in a plane spaced apart from the container and a side-actuation opening and dispenser-locator means for positioning the dispenser relative to an actuation finger included in a frame arranged to extend through the side-actuation opening to apply a finger force to a nozzle of the dispenser in response to pulling a trigger included in the frame so that the dispenser is contacted at a predetermined position by the actuation finger to move the dispenser from the closed position to the opened position thereby causing paint to discharge from the interior paint-storage region of the container to the surroundings,
wherein the dispenser is arranged to discharge paint from the interior paint-storage region to the surroundings through the end-spray opening, the shell includes a mount ring configured to couple the dispenser guard to the container such that the dispenser guard is spaced apart from the nozzle of the dispenser, an inner wall coupled to the mount ring and extending away from the container, a connection wall coupled to the inner wall and extending at least partially around a circumference of the inner wall, an access wall coupled to the inner wall and extending at least partially around the circumference of the inner wall, and an outer wall coupled to the connection wall and access wall and extending toward the container with a bottom edge of the outer wall spaced apart from the container, the dispenser-locator means includes a dispenser-locator shoulder arranged to extend outwardly in a radial direction from the bottom edge of the outer wall, the dispenser-locator shoulder is interrupted and includes a plurality of rim tabs arranged to extend around a portion of the outer wall forming an arcuate shape when viewed from above and each rim tab arranged to engage a single corresponding support tab of a plurality of support tabs included in the frame to block axial movement of the dispenser guard in at least on direction and allow rotation of the dispenser guard, at least a portion of the access wall is substantially axially aligned with the mount ring, and the actuation finger is configured to engage with portions of the shell defining the side-actuation opening to block disengagement of the rim tabs from the corresponding support tabs through rotation of the dispenser guard.
2. The paint canister of claim 1 , wherein the container is a monolithic component and includes a cylindrical wall and a dome wall with a convex outer surface extending from the cylindrical wall, and the dispenser-locator shoulder is arranged to extend around a portion of the dome wall.
3. The paint canister of claim 2 , wherein the dome wall is formed to include the aperture opening into the interior paint-storage region of the container and the dispenser-locator shoulder is located in the axial direction between the cylindrical wall and the aperture.
4. The paint canister of claim 2 , wherein the dispenser includes the nozzle located outside of the container and a stem with a first end coupled to the nozzle outside of the container and a second end located inside the interior paint-storage region.
5. The paint canister of claim 4 , wherein the second end of the stem is located inwardly in the radial direction from the dome wall of the container so that the dispenser is adapted to discharge paint from the interior paint-storage region of the container when the dome wall is positioned below the cylindrical wall and the level of paint in the interior paint-storage region is low.
6. The paint canister of claim 2 , wherein the dispenser-locator shoulder has a shoulder diameter, the cylindrical wall has a wall diameter, and the shoulder diameter is less than the wall diameter.
7. The paint canister of claim 6 , wherein the aperture has an aperture diameter and the aperture diameter is less than the shoulder diameter.
8. The paint canister of claim 1 , wherein the downward-discharge spray can includes a dispenser support coupled to the container along an edge of the aperture and arranged to cover the aperture, and the dispenser is coupled to the dispenser support.
9. The paint canister of claim 8 , wherein the inner wall is arranged to extend around the end-spray opening, the connection wall is arranged to extend from the inner wall to the outer wall, and the mount ring is arranged to extend inwardly in the radial direction from a bottom edge of the inner wall, the mount ring located between the dispenser support and the container to permanently mount the dispenser guard to the downward-discharge spray can.
10. The paint canister of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of rim tabs having a rectangular cross section.
11. The paint canister of claim 1 , wherein the downward-discharge spray can includes a dispenser support coupled to the container along an edge of the aperture and arranged to cover the aperture, and the dispenser is coupled to the dispenser support.
12. The paint canister of claim 11 , wherein the mount ring is arranged to extend inwardly in the radial direction from a bottom edge of the inner wall, the mount ring located between the dispenser support and the container to mount the shell to the downward-discharge spray can.
13. The paint canister of claim 1 , wherein the container is made from a metal and is a monolithic component, and the shell and the dispenser-locator shoulder are made from a plastics material and cooperate to form a monolithic dispenser guard.
14. A paint canister comprising
a downward-discharge spray can including a container formed to include an interior paint-storage region and an aperture opening into the interior paint-storage region and a dispenser coupled to the container and arranged to move from a closed position in which paint is blocked from being discharged from the interior paint-storage region through the dispenser to an opened position in which paint is discharged from the interior paint-storage region through the dispenser in response to a force being applied to a side of the dispenser,
a dispenser guard including a shell and a dispenser-locator shoulder, the shell including a guard mount coupled to the container such that the dispenser guard is spaced apart from a nozzle of the dispenser and an outer wall coupled to the guard mount, and the dispenser-locator shoulder arranged to extend outwardly in a radial direction from the outer wall,
wherein the dispenser-locator shoulder is configured to position the dispenser relative to an actuation finger included in a frame when the paint canister is received in the frame,
wherein the dispenser-locator shoulder includes a plurality of rim tabs each arranged to extend around a portion of the outer wall,
wherein the shell includes a mount ring configured to couple the dispenser guard to the container, an inner wall coupled to the mount ring and extending away from the container, a connection wall coupled to the inner wall and extending at least partially around a circumference of the inner wall, and an access wall coupled to the inner wall and extending at least partially around the circumference of the inner wall, the outer wall is coupled to the connecting wall and the access wall and extends towards the container, and
wherein at least a portion of the access wall is substantially axially aligned with the mount ring.
15. The paint canister of claim 14 , wherein each rim tab is arranged to contact a single corresponding support tab included in a canister holder when the paint canister is received in the canister holder.
16. A paint canister comprising
a downward-discharge spray can including a container formed to include an interior paint-storage region and an aperture opening into the interior paint-storage region and a dispenser coupled to the container and arranged to move from a closed position in which paint is blocked from being discharged from the interior paint-storage region through the dispenser to an opened position in which paint is discharged from the interior paint-storage region through the dispenser in response to a force being applied to a side of the dispenser, and
a dispenser guard including a shell and a dispenser-locator shoulder, the shell including a mount ring configured to couple the dispenser guard to the container such that the dispenser guard is spaced apart from the nozzle of the dispenser, an inner wall coupled to the mount ring and extending away from the container, a connection wall coupled to the inner wall and extending at least partially around a circumference of the inner wall, an access wall coupled to the inner wall and extending at least partially around the circumference of the inner wall, and an outer wall coupled to the connection wall and access wall and extending toward the container, and the dispenser-locator shoulder arranged to extend outwardly in a radial direction from the outer wall,
wherein the dispenser-locator shoulder is configured to position the dispenser relative to an actuation finger included in a frame when the paint canister is received in the frame and includes a plurality of rim tabs, the plurality of rim tabs are each arranged to extend around a portion of the outer wall, the plurality of rim tabs are each arranged to align with a single corresponding support tab of a plurality of support tabs included in the frame when the paint canister is received in the frame such that the paint canister is oriented in a predetermined orientation relative to the frame, and at least a portion of the access wall is substantially axially aligned with the mount ring.