Paint color change system

Claim 1

A paint color change system for supplying paint to an applicator means comprising, individual sources for at least two paints, a cleaning fluid, high pressure air and low pressure air, manifold means having a common passage for connecting said individual fluid sources to a paint supply line adapted to feed paint to said applicator means, said sources of at least two paints being connected to said common passage downstream of the connections of said source of cleaning fluid and said source of low pressure air to said common passage, said source of high pressure air being connected to said common passage upstream of the connection of said source of cleaning fluid with said common passage, valve means for selectively coupling said individual sources to said manifold, and a controller connected to said valve means and controlling operation thereof so that, after one of said sources of two paints is connected to said applicator means, the low pressure air is connected to the common passage and said supply line to remove essentially all of said one of said two paints followed by the simultaneous introduction into said supply line and said common passage of a metered flow of said cleaning fluid and said high pressure air so when the high pressure air flows by the connection of said common passage with said source of cleaning fluid the cleaning fluid is atomized into fine droplets which are propelled by the high velocity flow of said high pressure air against the residue paint coating the interior walls of said common passage and said supply line to effect removal of said residue paint.