Centerfill of lubricant reservoir
AssigneeGraco Minnesota Inc.
InventorsJohn C. Holman, Benjamin J. Paar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A centerfill assembly for a lubricant reservoir includes a hollow tube for receiving lubricant from the top of the reservoir and loading the lubricant into the reservoir near the bottom of the reservoir. Loading the lubricant near the bottom of the reservoir introduces lubricant near where the stirring paddles mix the lubricant and near where the lubricant is loaded to the lubricant pump. Adding the lubricant near where the pumps load and near the stirring paddles helps to eliminate air pockets in the lubricant. In addition, having the centerfill rod minimizes exterior plumbing and allows for the mounting of valves on the fill line
Claims20
A lubricant reservoir comprising:
- a housing defining a reservoir;
- a fill port extending through a top of the housing;
- an actuator movably disposed within the housing and dividing the reservoir into an upper portion and a lower portion, wherein the lower portion is configured to be filled with lubricant;
- a centerfill tube extending from the fill port, through the actuator, to the lower portion of the reservoir, wherein the centerfill tube receives lubricant from the fill port and provides lubricant to the lower portion;
- and
- a stirring assembly rotatably disposed within the lower portion of the reservoir and configured to mix the lubricant within the lower portion;
- wherein the centerfill tube provides lubricant to the reservoir proximate the stirring assembly.
A lubricant pump comprising:
- a pump base comprising a wet section and a dry section;
- a housing extending from the pump base and defining a lubricant reservoir;
- a fill port extending through a top of the housing;
- an actuator movably disposed within the housing and dividing the lubricant reservoir into an upper portion and a lower portion, wherein the lower portion is configured to be filled with lubricant;
- a drive shaft extending from the dry section and into the lubricant reservoir;
- and
- a centerfill tube disposed within the lubricant reservoir and extending between the fill port and the drive shaft, wherein a load port extends into the centerfill tube proximate the drive shaft, and wherein the load port is configured to provide lubricant to the lubricant reservoir from the centerfill tube proximate a connection between the lubricant reservoir and the wet section.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.