Baths – closets – sinks – and spittoons – Tubs – Means for agitating or circulating water in a tub
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-08
2001-01-30
Walczak, David J. (Department: 3751)
Baths, closets, sinks, and spittoons
Tubs
Means for agitating or circulating water in a tub
C004S541100, C004S541300, C239S420000, C239S587400
Reexamination Certificate
active
06178570
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to rotary hydrotherapy jet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various hydrotherapy jets have been developed in the past, for use in spas, hot tubs and bath tubs, that discharge an aerated stream of water in a rotating pattern. Such jets have been found to produce a pleasing massaging effect for many users, and have become quite popular.
One prior approach utilizes a rotary plug having one or more fixed-in-place, angled discharge conduits that receive a jet flow from a venturi nozzle. The angular displacement of the conduits results in rotation of the rotary plug. For example, see Waterway “1997 Product Catalog”, page 2, Model Nos. 210-6750, 210-7750, 210-6070, 210-6170, 210-6370, and 210-6410. While these jets do provide an aerated stream of water in a rotating pattern, the direction of the flow is fixed and non-adjustable.
To overcome the drawbacks of the rotary plug design, jets were developed with an adjustable discharge tube. Example of this type of system are given in U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,447 and in Waterway “1997 Product Catalog”, page 2, Model Nos. 210-6080, 210-6090, 210-6180, 210-6190, 210-6390, and 210-6400. While these jets have some degree of adjustability, they offer limited flexibility to adjust the output flow stream.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention seeks to provide an adjustable multi-nozzle rotary hydrotherapy jet that is simple in design, can easily be fabricated using conventional molding techniques, has multiple degrees of adjustability, and provides easy operative control over the rotational speed, output flow angles and direction, plus a non-rotating option.
These goals are achieved with a new jet that includes a housing, a water inlet to the housing, a water nozzle within the housing that forms water flowing through the inlet into a jet, a series of adjustable outlet nozzles, and a support structure. The support structure holds the outlet nozzles downstream of the water nozzle to receive the jet flow and to discharge the flow through the nozzles. The support structure is rotatable along with the nozzles which it holds. When one or more of the nozzles are set at an off-axis angle, the water discharges causes the support structure and nozzles to rotate. The outlet nozzles are adjustable to vary their discharge angles, and thereby provide user control over the outlet flow angle, speed and direction of rotation. The angular adjustment preferably includes a setting at which the outlet nozzles axes are parallel to the rotation axis, and thus provide a non-rotational mode. In different implementations, the nozzles are adjustable independent of each other, or jointly.
Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, taken together with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4800046 (1989-01-01), Malek et al.
patent: 5014372 (1991-05-01), Thrasher et al.
patent: 5226601 (1993-07-01), Hinojosa, Jr. et al.
patent: 5353447 (1994-10-01), Gravatt
patent: 5462230 (1995-10-01), Van Ouwerkerk
patent: 5657496 (1997-08-01), Corb et al.
patent: 5810257 (1998-09-01), Ton
patent: 5915849 (1999-06-01), Dongo
patent: 5920925 (1999-07-01), Dongo
Waterway 1997 Product Catalog, 1997, 2 pages.
Denst Sheldon
Dongo Paul A.
B&S Plastics, Inc.
Koppel & Jacobs
Walczak David J.
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