Action photo of nasal spray on a black background

A spray bottle is a

bottle A bottle is a narrow-necked container made of an impermeable material (such as glass, plastic or aluminium) in various shapes and sizes that stores and transports liquids. Its mouth, at the bottling line, can be sealed with an internal stopp ...

that can squirt, spray or mist fluids.

History

While spray bottles existed long before the middle of the 20th century, they used a

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

bulb which was squeezed to produce the spray; the quickly-moving air siphoned fluid from the bottle. The rapid improvement in

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

s after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

increased the range of fluids that could be dispensed, and reduced the cost of the sprayers because assembly could be fully automated. The Drackett company, manufacturers of

Windex Windex is an American brand of glass and hard-surface cleaner that was invented by the Drackett Company in 1933 and has been marketed throughout the intervening decades—originally in glass containers, later in plastic ones. Drackett sold the W ...

glass cleaner, was a leader in promoting spray bottles. Roger Drackett raised soybeans, converted the soybeans to plastic using technology purchased from

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that mi ...

, and was an investor in the Seaquist company, an early manufacturer of sprayers and closures. Initially, the brittle nature of early plastics required that sprayers be packaged in a cardboard box, and the sprayer inserted in the glass Windex bottle by the consumer. The cost in the manufacturing sprayers was also a factor; consumers would reuse the sprayers with bottle after bottle of glass cleaner. As plastics improved and the cost of sprayers dropped, manufacturers were able to ship products with the sprayer already in the bottle. In the late 1960s, spray bottles with trigger-style actuators appeared and quickly became popular, as this design was less fatiguing to use. The original pump-style bottle remained more popular for applications like non-aerosol deodorants, where size was a factor and repeated pumps were not required.

Modern spray bottles

Unlike the rubber bulb dispenser which primarily moved air with a small amount of fluid, modern spray bottles use a

positive displacement pump A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic energy. Pumps can be classified into three major groups according to the method they u ...

that acts directly on the fluid. The pump draws liquid up a

siphon A siphon (from grc, σίφων, síphōn, "pipe, tube", also spelled nonetymologically syphon) is any of a wide variety of devices that involve the flow of liquids through tubes. In a narrower sense, the word refers particularly to a tube in a ...

tube from the bottom of the bottle and forces it through a

nozzle A nozzle is a device designed to control the direction or characteristics of a fluid flow (specially to increase velocity) as it exits (or enters) an enclosed chamber or pipe. A nozzle is often a pipe or tube of varying cross sectional area, a ...

. Depending on the sprayer, the nozzle may or may not be adjustable, so as to select between squirting a stream,

aerosol An aerosol is a suspension (chemistry), suspension of fine solid particles or liquid Drop (liquid), droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be natural or Human impact on the environment, anthropogenic. Examples of natural aerosols are fog o ...

izing a mist, or dispensing a spray. In a spray bottle, the dispensing is powered by the user's efforts, as opposed to the

spray can Aerosol spray is a type of dispensing system which creates an aerosol mist of liquid particles. It comprises a can or bottle that contains a payload, and a propellant under pressure. When the container's valve is opened, the payload is forced out ...

, in which the user simply actuates a valve and product is dispensed under pressure. Several designs have been developed. Some of the pumping mechanisms of spray bottles are similar to those of

pump dispenser A pump dispenser is used on containers of liquids to help dispensing. They might be used on bottles, jars, or tubes. Often the contents are viscous liquids such as creams and lotions. Some are metered to provide uniform usage. Some mix conte ...

s which are used for more viscous products.

Examples

File:My dna fragrance exclusive perfume-2.jpg, An

aluminum bottle Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

with spray attachment File:PakTechTK.jpg, Two spray bottles clipped together File:Dry Season (6195644129).jpg, water spray File:Plastic bottle with hose spray attachment.jpg, lawn spray bottle with hose attachment BECONASE nasal spray.JPG, Nasal spray Perfume set from Sovjetunio cca 1965.jpg, Perfume atomizer

References

* Yam, K. L., "Encyclopedia of Packaging Technology", John Wiley & Sons, pp 275–276, 2009, * Soroka, W, "Fundamentals of Packaging Technology", IoPP, 2002,

Standards, ASTM International

*D3890 Standard Test Method for Number of Strokes to Prime a Mechanical Pump Dispenser *D4041 Standard Practice for Determining Spray Patterns of Mechanical Pump Dispensers *D4333 Test Method for the Compatibility of Mechanical Pump Dispenser Components *D4334 Standard Test Method for the Determination of the Dip Tube Retention of a Mechanical Pump Dispenser *D4335 Standard Test Method for Determination of Component Retention of a Mechanical Pump Dispenser *D4336 Standard Test Methods for Determination of the Output Per Stroke of a Mechanical Pump Dispenser *D6534 Standard Test Method for Determining the Peak Force-to-Actuate a Mechanical Pump Dispenser *D6535 Standard Test Method for Determining the Dip Tube Length of a Mechanical Pump Dispenser *D6536 Standard Test Method for Measuring the Dip Tube Length of a Mechanical Pump Dispenser *D6633 Standard Test Method for Basic Functional Stability of a Mechanical Pump Dispenser *D6654 Standard Test Method for Basic Storage Stability of a Mechanical Pump Dispenser

External links