Patents by Inventor Donald D. Foster

Donald D. Foster has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7017833
    Abstract: An indexing nozzle assembly for a trigger sprayer has a manually rotatable cap mounted for rotation on a liquid spinner of the nozzle assembly. Rotation of a cap changes the nozzle assembly between an off condition, a spray condition, a second off condition, and a stream condition of the liquid discharged from the nozzle assembly. The cap can be rotated from the off position directly to either of the spray or stream positions by rotating the cap one-quarter turn in opposite directions. A spatial relationship between an end surface of the liquid spinner and an interior surface of the cap end wall that surrounds the assembly discharge orifice improves the stream configuration of liquid discharged by the nozzle assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2006
    Assignee: Continental AFA Dispensing Company
    Inventor: Donald D. Foster
  • Patent number: 6923346
    Abstract: A manually operated liquid foaming dispenser is attached to the top of a container of liquid and is manually vertically reciprocated to dispense the liquid from the container as a foam. The dispenser includes a liquid pump chamber and an air pump chamber that respectively pump liquid and air to a discharge passage of the pump where the liquid and air are mixed, generating the foam dispensed from the dispenser. The liquid dispenser is constructed with three biased closed valves that prevent leakage from a liquid container attached to the dispenser should the dispenser and container be positioned on their sides or be inverted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2005
    Assignee: Continental AFA Dispensing Company
    Inventors: Donald D. Foster, Philip L. Nelson
  • Patent number: 6886718
    Abstract: A liquid dispensing, manually operated trigger sprayer has a trigger with an ergonomic finger engagement surface. The trigger finger engagement surface extends longitudinally across the front of the trigger and has a protrusion at the top of the surface. The protrusion has a finger engagement surface portion that rests on the top of a finger of a user's hand while the user's hand manipulates the trigger of the trigger sprayer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2005
    Assignee: Continental AFA Dispensing Company
    Inventors: Donald D. Foster, Jeffrey P. Stark
  • Patent number: 6869027
    Abstract: The present invention pertains to a trigger sprayer which is connectable to two container volumes containing separate liquids. The sprayer has a trigger that is manipulated to draw the separate liquids into two separate pump chambers and then supply the two separate liquids from the pump chambers through two separate discharge passages and check valves to a mixing chamber of the sprayer. In the mixing chamber the two separate liquids are mixed together prior to their being dispensed from the trigger spray.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2005
    Assignee: Continental AFA Dispensing Company
    Inventors: Donald D. Foster, Philip L. Nelson
  • Patent number: 6840408
    Abstract: A manually operated liquid foaming dispenser is attached to a bottle of liquid and pumps and mixes both the liquid and air to create a foam from the liquid and to dispense the foam. The dispenser includes a pump housing containing an air pump chamber and a liquid pump chamber, and a pump plunger that is manually reciprocated in both the air pump chamber and the liquid pump chamber. An air piston and a liquid piston are mounted on the plunger and are reciprocated by the plunger in the respective air pump chamber and liquid pump chamber. The air piston is mounted on the pump plunger for relative movement of the air piston on the plunger that enables an interior volume of the air pump chamber to be vented to an exterior environment of the dispenser on manual reciprocation of the pump plunger.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2005
    Assignee: Continental AFA Dispensing Company
    Inventors: Donald D. Foster, Philip L. Nelson
  • Patent number: 6820769
    Abstract: A liquid dispensing assembly includes a hand-operated trigger sprayer that is removably attached to a bottle container and communicates with the bottle container through a length of conduit. The trigger sprayer can be securely attached to the bottle container by a child proof connection with the length of conduit stored in an interior volume of the handle of the trigger sprayer or with the length of conduit positioned on the exterior of the trigger sprayer handle and the bottle container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2004
    Assignee: Continental AFA Dispensing Company
    Inventors: Donald D. Foster, Philip L. Nelson
  • Patent number: 6814259
    Abstract: A child resistant closure apparatus between a container and a cap comprises a separate safety lock ring. The lock ring is mounted over the container neck and the cap is mounted on the container neck and engages with a pair of lock clasps on opposite sides of the lock ring. Finger pads on opposite sides of the lock ring are squeezed and compressed by one hand of the user while the cap is rotated on the container neck by the other hand of the user to separate the cap from the container. The lock ring is designed to be employed with container and cap closure assemblies of at least two different sizes, reducing their manufacturing costs. Additionally, the lock ring may be removed from the container if it is desired that the container and cap not have a child resistant closure apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2004
    Assignee: Continental AFA Dispensing Company
    Inventors: Donald D. Foster, Philip L. Nelson
  • Publication number: 20040217134
    Abstract: A liquid dispensing, manually operated trigger sprayer has a trigger with an ergonomic finger engagement surface. The trigger finger engagement surface extends longitudinally across the front of the trigger and has a protrusion at the top of the surface. The protrusion has a finger engagement surface portion that rests on the top of a finger of a user's hand while the user's hand manipulates the trigger of the trigger sprayer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 16, 2003
    Publication date: November 4, 2004
    Inventors: Donald D. Foster, Jeffrey P. Stark
  • Publication number: 20040206779
    Abstract: A child resistant closure apparatus between a container and a cap comprises a separate safety lock ring. The lock ring is mounted over the container neck and the cap is mounted on the container neck and engages with a pair of lock clasps on opposite sides of the lock ring. Finger pads on opposite sides of the lock ring are squeezed and compressed by one hand of the user while the cap is rotated on the container neck by the other hand of the user to separate the cap from the container. The lock ring is designed to be employed with container and cap closure assemblies of at least two different sizes, reducing their manufacturing costs. Additionally, the lock ring may be removed from the container if it is desired that the container and cap not have a child resistant closure apparatus.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 15, 2003
    Publication date: October 21, 2004
    Inventors: Donald D. Foster, Philip L. Nelson
  • Publication number: 20040178223
    Abstract: A liquid dispensing assembly includes a hand-operated trigger sprayer that is removably attached to a bottle container and communicates with the bottle container through a length of conduit. The trigger sprayer can be securely attached to the bottle container by a child proof connection with the length of conduit stored in an interior volume of the handle of the trigger sprayer or with the length of conduit positioned on the exterior of the trigger sprayer handle and the bottle container.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 12, 2003
    Publication date: September 16, 2004
    Inventors: Donald D. Foster, Philip L. Nelson
  • Patent number: 6772966
    Abstract: An adjustable nozzle is attachable to the end of a garden hose and is also attachable to a separate product container, for example, a bottle containing a garden fertilizer or a bottle containing a cleaning soap concentrate. The adjustable nozzle receives a flow of water from the garden hose and dispenses a product from the container attached to the nozzle. The nozzle has a simplified construction with a reduced number of component parts and the operation of the nozzle is simplified yet enables a user to selectively discharge a flow of water or a mixture of water and product from the nozzle, to control the ratio of water to product when the nozzle is employed in dispensing the mixture of water and product, and to direct the discharge as a stream or disperse the discharge in an upwardly or downwardly directed fanned spray pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2004
    Assignee: Continental AFA Dispensing Company
    Inventors: Donald D. Foster, Philip L. Nelson, Jeffrey P. Stark
  • Publication number: 20040149837
    Abstract: An indexing nozzle assembly for a trigger sprayer has a manually rotatable cap mounted for rotation on a liquid spinner of the nozzle assembly. Rotation of a cap changes the nozzle assembly between an off condition, a spray condition, a second off condition, and a stream condition of the liquid discharged from the nozzle assembly. The cap can be rotated from the off position directly to either of the spray or stream positions by rotating the cap one-quarter turn in opposite directions. A spatial relationship between an end surface of the liquid spinner and an interior surface of the cap end wall that surrounds the assembly discharge orifice improves the stream configuration of liquid discharged by the nozzle assembly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 4, 2003
    Publication date: August 5, 2004
    Inventor: Donald D. Foster
  • Publication number: 20040129727
    Abstract: A manually operated vertically reciprocated pump dispenser has a simplified construction with two separate pumps that pump two separate liquids from a container and keep the two separate liquids separated from each other as they are pumped through the dispenser, mixing the liquids for the first time in a discharge passage of the dispenser just prior to the mixed liquids being discharged from the dispenser.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 8, 2003
    Publication date: July 8, 2004
    Inventors: Donald D. Foster, Philip L. Nelson
  • Publication number: 20040118873
    Abstract: A telescoping closure is removably attached to a flexible container that can be manually squeezed to dispense contents of the container through the closure when the closure is moved to an opened position. The closure comprises a cap and a dispensing tip that are both mounted for rotation on a container connector that attaches the closure to the container. On rotation of the cap relative to the container connector the dispensing tip rotates with the cap and moves axially relative to the cap to project the dispensing tip axially outwardly from the cap and open an orifice in a distal end of the dispensing tip. With the orifice opened the contents of the container can be dispensed by inverting the container and cap and manually squeezing the container. The cap is rotated in an opposite direction to cause the dispensing tip to move axially back into the cap closing the orifice at the distal end.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 23, 2002
    Publication date: June 24, 2004
    Inventors: Donald D. Foster, Philip L. Nelson
  • Publication number: 20040084481
    Abstract: A manually operated liquid foaming dispenser is attached to the top of a container of liquid and is manually vertically reciprocated to dispense the liquid from the container as a foam. The dispenser includes a liquid pump chamber and an air pump chamber that respectively pump liquid and air to a discharge passage of the pump where the liquid and air are mixed, generating the foam dispensed from the dispenser. The liquid dispenser is constructed with three biased closed valves that prevent leakage from a liquid container attached to the dispenser should the dispenser and container be positioned on their sides or be inverted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2003
    Publication date: May 6, 2004
    Inventors: Donald D. Foster, Philip L. Nelson
  • Patent number: 6729560
    Abstract: The present invention pertains to a trigger sprayer which is connectable to two container volumes containing separate liquids. The sprayer has a trigger that is manipulated to draw the separate liquids into two separate pump chambers and then supply the two separate liquids from the pump chambers to a discharge passage of the sprayer. In the discharge passage the two separate liquids are mixed together prior to their being dispensed from the discharge passage as a spray.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2004
    Assignee: Continental Sprayers International, Inc.
    Inventors: Donald D. Foster, Martin S. Laffey, John A. Zurcher
  • Patent number: 6715698
    Abstract: A trigger sprayer valve assembly that has a conical flange that controls the flow of liquid in a downstream direction through a liquid passage of the trigger sprayer. The valve is constructed with an elongate stem or shaft that facilities the assembly of the valve into the trigger sprayer and a positioning plug that solely holds the valve in a centered position in the liquid passage of the trigger sprayer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2004
    Assignee: Continental AFA Dispensing Company
    Inventors: Donald D. Foster, Philip L. Nelson
  • Patent number: D506134
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2005
    Assignee: Continental AFA Dispensing Company
    Inventors: Donald D. Foster, Dale L. Picolet
  • Patent number: D488535
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2004
    Assignee: Continental AFA Dispensing Company
    Inventors: Donald D. Foster, Jeffrey P. Stark
  • Patent number: D492598
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2004
    Assignee: Continental AFA Dispensing Co., Inc.
    Inventors: Donald D. Foster, Philipp L. Nelson, Jeffrey P. Stark