Break-Away Spring and Piston Rod for a Trigger Sprayer

A manually operated trigger sprayer comprising:

• a sprayer housing having a pump chamber in the sprayer housing, a liquid inlet opening on the sprayer housing, a liquid supply passage extending through the sprayer housing and communicating the liquid inlet opening with the pump chamber, a liquid outlet opening on the sprayer housing, and a liquid discharge passage extending through the sprayer housing and communicating the liquid outlet opening with the pump chamber;
• a pump piston mounted in the pump chamber for reciprocating movement between charge and discharge positions of the pump piston in the pump chamber;
• a trigger mounted on the sprayer housing for movement of the trigger relative to the sprayer housing;
• a spring mounted between the sprayer housing and the trigger, the spring having a pair of spaced spring arms having equal lengths and opposite first and second ends, the first ends of the spring arms engaging with the trigger and the second ends of the spring arms engaging against the sprayer housing;
• a piston rod projecting from the pump piston to a distal end of the piston rod, the piston rod distal end extending between the pair of spring arms toward the trigger;
• and,
• at least one breakable connection between the distal end of the piston rod and the pair of spring arms.

A manually operated trigger sprayer comprising:

• a sprayer housing having a pump chamber in the sprayer housing, a liquid inlet opening on the sprayer housing, a liquid supply passage extending through the sprayer housing and communicating the liquid inlet opening with the pump chamber, a liquid outlet opening on the sprayer housing, and a liquid discharge passage extending through the sprayer housing and communicating the liquid outlet opening with the pump chamber;
• a pump piston mounted in the pump chamber for reciprocating movement between charge and discharge positions of the pump piston in the pump chamber;
• a trigger mounted on the sprayer housing for movement of the trigger relative to the sprayer housing;
• a spring mounted between the sprayer housing and the trigger, the spring having a pair of spring arms, the pair of spring arms being spaced from each other and having equal lengths that extend between first and second ends of the spring arms;
• a piston rod projecting from the pump piston between the pair of spring arms toward the trigger, the piston rod being connected by a pivoting connection to the trigger;
• and,
• a pair of breakable connections between the piston rod and the pair of spring arms, the pair of breakable connections being positioned on opposite sides of the piston rod.