Pipe joints or couplings – End to side or plate – Screw
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-23
2002-04-30
Dayoan, B. (Department: 3627)
Pipe joints or couplings
End to side or plate
Screw
C285S046000, C285S039000, C285S331000, C285S332000, C285S340000, C239S273000, C239S282000, C239S283000, C239S548000, C004S596000, C004S597000, C004S605000, C004S615000, C004S676000, C004S678000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06378912
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a system and method for installing wall mounted spouts, such as shower heads and tub spouts, and, more particularly, to such a system in which a specialized adapter is slid over a protruding length of 1 inch (⅝″ O.D.) “nominal” water supply tubing or stub out which extends out of a finished wall for connection of a tub or shower spout or the like thereto. The adapter includes an integral molded ferrule and a female threaded receiver sized to permit the adapter to be slid over the stub out with a slight friction fit between the ferrule and the stub out. The threaded receiver is also sized to receive a threaded nipple of a spout water supply tube, such as a brass shower arm, such that threading the nipple of the spout water supply tube into the female threaded receiver of the adapter urges or presses the ferrule against the stub out creating a compression seal thereagainst. The adapter permits easy installation of a tub or shower spout or the like to the water supply with all of the threaded connections being accessible outside of the wall. For a more positive seal, an optional O-ring, which seals against the stub out, and an integral one way gripper ring, which prevents the adapter from being blown off or pulled off of the stub out, can be added to the adapter.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Shower installations have traditionally been accomplished by extending a vertical pipe or tube upward from a shower tap to shower height where it is connected to a drop ear 90 degree elbow fitting with ½ inch female N.P.T. (“National Pipe Thread”) threads which faces toward the shower room ready to receive a male threaded shower arm in the final stage of construction, connecting the elbow to a shower head. The elbow is nailed or screwed securely to a plate positioned within a stud wall which will be closed off with the finished wall. A length of threaded test pipe is then threaded into the elbow. The material used for the test pipe is often the most inexpensive, such as uncoated, black steel pipe. Test pipes made of such material are commonly discarded after one use. Uncoated pipe can rust, which causes further problems, as detailed below. The test pipe is then capped and the system is pressure tested. After the plumbing system is pressure tested, a finish wall covering material, such as wallboard, is applied with a hole cut to accommodate the test pipe and the wall is finished with tile, paint, wall paper, etc. Once the pressure test is complete and the finished wall is in place, the test pipe is removed and a shower arm (i.e. commonly a 6″ to 8″ length of pipe threaded ½″ N.P.T. at both ends and bent roughly 45 degrees in the middle) is installed by threading it into the 90 degree elbow which is now hidden inside of the finished wall. It is important that the joint between the shower arm and the supply line does not leak yet the joint cannot be readily tested without cutting into the wall. An escutcheon plate is slid over the shower arm to cover the hole through which the shower arm extends. A shower head can then be installed onto the shower arm.
Tub spout installations are typically accomplished using one of two standard methods. The first is similar to the above-mentioned traditional method for shower head installation where a drop of 90 degree elbow fitting is securely fastened behind the finished wall at the precise level for the tub spout connection. Black iron test nipples are stubbed out, then extracted and a precise length of a supply line with male threaded nipples on each end is installed blindly onto the elbow fitting enclosed in the finished wall. The tub spout is then threaded directly onto the open end of the supply line. In another, more recently developed tub spout installation method, copper or other rigid tubing (⅝″ O.D.) is stubbed out of the wall and specially designed and compression type tub spouts, which are expensive, are slid over the tube and secured by means of an integral clamp or set screw built into the spout's housing.
The traditional shower installation method presents a number of potential problems. The drop-ear elbows are fairly expensive and, often, will be inadequately secured to the plate behind the wall. As the threaded test pipe must be extracted and a threaded shower arm be reinstalled into the elbow, the elbow undergoes several occurrences of significant leverage and torque. First, the threads of the test pipe often become seized or rusted after a water pressure test is performed, causing excessive stress on the mounting anchors of the elbow as the test pipe is unthreaded. Secondly, additional stress is applied to the anchors of the elbow as the shower arm is often over tightened in order to orient it in an exact downward direction on the finished or shower head end. It, therefore, becomes extremely important to secure the elbow as solidly as possible. Craftsmen often go to great length to assure the solid security of the elbow, using one or more wood or metal brackets and braces and screws and nails of significant quantity and size. If the elbow is improperly secured, a variety of problems can ensue, ranging from misalignment of the female threads relative to the hole in the wall, making the shower arm installation difficult or impossible, or kinking and possibly severing the supply pipe. Even when the 90 degree elbow is properly installed and properly located behind the hole, the test pipe may have been cross threaded or over tightened into the elbow, thus damaging the female threads of the elbow. The test pipe may then pass the pressure test, but, when it is removed and the shower arm installed into the damaged threads of the elbow, a slow leak can result. Since the elbow is totally hidden within the wall, the leak can continue for years without being detected, often causing rot and mildew to occur within the wall and/or in the wall bottom plate, with consequent odor and hidden damage. Also, as there may be rusty, residual water in the test pipe, it may spill onto finished tub/shower surfaces when the test pipe is extracted, permanently staining such surfaces and only remedied by total replacement, with the attendant labor and material expense and delays. Also, since the shower arm must be positioned at a predetermined orientation to accommodate the shower head, it must be threaded into the elbow until it reaches that orientation. This can result in under tightening or over tightening of the arm to achieve that orientation, which can also result in leaks. Finally, after a shower arm has been in place for a number of years, it may corrode behind the finished wall and leak or even break off, leaving a threaded portion in the elbow. Repair of any of these problems necessitates cutting into the finished wall either on the shower side or from behind the shower wall, with the attendant labor, expense and down time associated therewith.
It is clear, then, that a need exists for a more convenient, efficient and cost effective system and method of installing shower heads and tub spouts. Such a system and method should avoid the above listed problems of the prior art by eliminating threaded elbows within the shower wall so that the supply piping is stubbed through the wall once, never having to be removed through all stages of testing, wall surface installation and finishing and finished plumbing fixture and trim installation, so that repairs or finish trim changes can be effected outside the finished wall material.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a system and method for installing wall mounted spouts including shower heads and tub spouts. A length of supply pipe or tubing is installed from a shower/tub tap up to and through a wall at shower height and/or down and through the wall at the tub spout location. The supply tubing terminates in a length of ½ inch nominal (⅝″ O.D.) tubing or stub out protruding out of the wall (the protruding portion is hereafter referred to as the stub out). The
Condon Duane R.
Ismert Joseph P.
Julian Frank D.
Lugo Carlos
Shughart Thomson & Kilroy P.C.
Sioux Chief Manufacturing Co., Inc.
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