A nozzle of a dyestuff applicator has a cylindrical valve housing formed with an orifice obstructable by the tip of an electromagnetically displaceable needle which controls the outflow of dyestuff from a chamber in that housing.Needle & Gauge Valves The chamber is sealed by a rubber diaphragm which is penetrated by the needle whose shaft is engaged by a pair of parallel membranes of spring steel peripherally clamped in an extension of the housing.Ball Valves Each membrane comprises a narrow outer ring with an inwardly projecting tongue split into two diverging branches which are interconnected at their free ends, near the diametrically opposite side of the outer ring,CHECK VALVES by a re-entrant web extending radially between these branches and terminating in an inner, needle-supporting ring concentric with the outer ring. In a dyestuff applicator comprising a nozzle for spraying dyestuff onto a substrate to be patterned, the improvement wherein said nozzle comprises: a housing forming a dyestuff chamber with an end wall provided with a discharge orifice centered on an axis; a valve needle in said housing having a tip receivable in said orifice; actuating means operatively coupled with said valve needle for selectively blocking and unblocking said orifice by displacing said valve needle along said axis; and mounting means for movably supporting said valve needle on a generally cylindrical part of said housing centered on said axis, said mounting means including at least one membrane of resilient foil material comprising an outer ring centered on said axis and a tongue integral with said outer ring projecting radially inwardly from a sector thereof toward a diametrically opposite sector, said tongue being split into two slender branches which diverge at an acute angle and are interconnected near said opposite sector by an integral web with a re-entrant strip extending radially in a generally triangular gap between said branches and terminating in an inner ring centered on said axis, said valve needle being engaged by said inner ring. In accordance with our present invention, the needle mounting includes a membrane (or, preferably, two substantially identical membranes interconnected in the aforedescribed manner) of resilient foil material, such as spring steel, comprising an outer ring centered on the orifice axis and a tongue integral with that ring projecting radially inward from a sector thereof toward a diametrically opposite sector, the tongue being split into two diverging branches which are interconnected near that opposite sector by an integral web with a reentrant formation extending radially in a gap between the branches and terminating in an inner ring also centered on the orifice axis. The latter ring, which may be connected by a spacing sleeve with a corresponding ring of a substantially identical second membrane, is in firm engagement with the valve needle.

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