Posted by David Sherman on Monday, June 11, 2007 at 14:10:49 :
In Reply to: I remember an antique DeVilbiss sprayer. posted by chriscase on Monday, June 11, 2007 at 10:39:14 :
That makes sense. I used to have one of those bug sprayers. It basically blew air across the top of a small tube that stuck down into the can of poison, and the force of the air would both suck up the spray and atomize it more or less. It didn't work very well even with something as runny as bug spray. I would think you'd really have to dilute the paint down to make it work.
Disposable aerosol cans were a WWII invention, first used for spraying DDT in jungle camps. After the war, they figured out how to make them much cheaper, with lower pressure propellant, thinner cans, and a simpler valve. Somewhere in the dusty boneyard of my memory, I remember hearing that the inventor of the modern spray can valve was a member of Nixon's cabinet. I can't remember who it was, though, but he'd made a large fortune off his spray can valve patent.
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