Invalidity dossier
US 4606776
Air brush cleaning unit
Current assignee: SALIS INTERNATIONAL Inc A CORP OF FL
Added 9/23/2026, 8:48:18 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US4606776A
Title: Air brush cleaning unit
Patent number: US4606776A
Application number: US06/655,589
Inventor: Lawrence R. Salis
Original assignee / current assignee (as listed): Salis International, Inc., a corporation of Florida
Priority/filing date: 1984-09-28
Publication (grant) date: 1986-08-19
Legal status as listed: Expired – Lifetime (anticipated expiration 2004-09-28). The source notes legal status is an assumption, not a legal conclusion.
Classification: B05B15/00 and B05B15/55 — details/accessories of spraying apparatus, specifically arrangements for cleaning, preventing deposits, drying-out or blockage, using cleaning fluids.
Purpose: The invention addresses pollution of ambient atmosphere when cleaning airbrushes (including spray guns). Pigment-carrying passageways and components require frequent cleaning, commonly by spraying water, aqueous cleaning solution, or organic solvent through the airbrush. This cleaning spray is generally released into the ambient atmosphere, polluting it with particulate pigment and potentially carcinogenic or toxic contaminants.
Plain-language scope (from the supplied text): A method and apparatus in which the cleaning-fluid mist spray is directed from the airbrush nozzle into a substantially closed small precipitating/condensing chamber that communicates with the ambient atmosphere through a porous first filter. The spray diffuses and expands in the chamber; entrained particulate material deposits on chamber faces while residual liquid evaporates. The spray may enter through a porous second filter that separates some particulate matter and promotes diffusion. Apparatus includes a chamber with a front inlet opening shaped/dimensioned to engage the airbrush tip, a relatively large rear exhaust opening, and a porous filter between them. A plurality of replaceable filters may be spaced along and extend transversely across the chamber, preferably successively finer front-to-rear, delineating successive compartments. A hinged lid/door provides access for filter replacement and cleaning.
Not established by this excerpt: The full claim set; the complete specification and omitted text (including the description following "the bottoms of…"); any measured performance data; whether the listed assignee information is accurate; and any prior-art analysis.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US4606776](/patent/US4606776)/en (fetched 2026-09-23)
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:41:10 PM
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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PTAB challenges
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Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.