Spray Characteristics 4: Flat Spray: As the name implies, the spray pattern appears as a flat sheet of liquid. The pattern is formed by an elliptical or a round orifice on a deflective surface that is tangent to the exit orifice. The orifice has an external groove with a contoured internal cylindrical radius, or "cat's eye" shape. In the elliptical orifice design, the pattern sprays out of the orifice in line with the pipe. In the deflector design, the spray pattern is perpendicular to the pipe. There are two categories of flat spray, tapered and even, depending on the uniformity of the spray over the spray pattern. Flat spray patterns with tapering edges are produced by straight-through elliptical spray nozzles. This spray pattern is useful for overlapping patterns between multiple nozzle headers. The result is uniform distribution across the entire sprayed surface. Non-tapered flat spray nozzles are used in cleaning applications that require a uniform spray pattern without any overlap in spray area