a. Field of Invention
The invention relates generally to a trigger actuated pump sprayer, and more particularly to such a sprayer having a trigger lock rendering the sprayer child-resistant.
b. Description of Related Art
The trigger actuated sprayer of known variety typically has a spray nozzle rotatable about its central axis between discharge open and closed positions. There may be two open and two intervening closed positions such that from a given closed position, the nozzle is capable of being rotated 90° in either direction to an open position and vice-versa.
When the nozzle is in the discharge closed or OFF positions, although the sprayer is designed such that product is not intended to discharge from the nozzle under these circumstances, the trigger lever is nevertheless capable of being actuated to a certain extent. For some residual quantity of liquid remaining within the nozzle, even in the discharge closed position, actuation of the trigger lever could produce a minor amount of unwanted discharge or leakage.
From a child safety viewpoint, for toxic or poisonous liquids, this minor discharge or leakage nevertheless remains an unacceptable feature of many of the trigger sprayers presently on the market. Moreover, from a child safety viewpoint, as recognized in the industry, a minimum two-step process for operating a device is required to render a device “child resistant”.
To address the aforementioned concerns with current trigger sprayer designs, some manufacturers have provided trigger covers including surface undulations which discourage a child from squeezing the trigger. To actuate the trigger having a trigger cover thereon, the cover may be rotated in a predetermined direction away from the trigger to expose the trigger. The cover may also include a stop bearing against the trigger to prevent rotation thereof in more than one direction. However, this design has drawbacks in that a simple one-step process of rotating the cover to expose the trigger is required to render the trigger operational.
The prior art also teaches the provision of a lock bar connected to the nozzle cap and overlying the trigger lever to prevent trigger actuation until the bar and nozzle are rotated to an open position. As with the aforementioned trigger cover design, for the lock bar design, a simple one-step process of rotating the nozzle to an ON position would render the trigger operational.
It would therefore be of benefit to provide a child-resistant trigger lever requiring a minimum two-step process before operating the trigger. There also remains a need for a child-resistant trigger sprayer, which is robust in design, efficient to operate, simple to assemble and disassemble, and which is economically feasible to manufacture.