Baths – closets – sinks – and spittoons – Vapor or heat in bath
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-06
2001-01-09
Recla, Henry J. (Department: 3751)
Baths, closets, sinks, and spittoons
Vapor or heat in bath
C004S527000, C004S526000, C607S081000, C607S083000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06170097
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a sauna cabinet, and more particularly to a foldable sauna cabinet that is collapsible to occupy largely reduced space when the sauna cabinet is not in use and is absolutely safe for use without the risk of burning a user.
The currently available household and commercial sauna cabinets can be divided into two major types, namely, oven type and steam type, based on the heat source generators equipped with the sauna cabinets. The oven-type sauna cabinet is equipped with a hot-air generator that supplies hot air while the steam-type sauna cabinet is equipped with a steam generator that supplies hot water vapor.
A conventional oven-type sauna cabinet is in the form of a steam cabinet in which a user may sit or lounge. A hot-air generator is mounted to a bottom of the steam cabinet to supply hot air into the whole cabinet. Hot air in the sauna cabinet sweats the user and is therefore beneficial to the user's metabolism and fitness. A disadvantage of such conventional oven-type sauna cabinet is that the hot-air generator, which is an electronic apparatus and mounted at the bottom of the cabinet, tends to become failed under the high-temperature working environment. And, it is not easy to repair the failed hot-air generator when it is mounted in the sauna cabinet.
A conventional steam-type sauna cabinet, such as that shown in
FIG. 1
, is also a steam cabinet
1
suitable for a user to sit or lounge therein. A pipe
11
extends from one side of the sauna cabinet
1
to a steam generator
2
. An end of the pipe
11
inside the sauna cabinet
1
forms a spray nozzle
12
as shown in FIG.
2
. The spray nozzle
12
is in the shape of a sector with a number of radially arranged steam spray holes
13
. The steam generator
2
supplies hot water vapors into the sauna cabinet
1
via the pipe
11
and the steam spray holes
13
, so that the sauna cabinet
1
is fully filled with hot steam to sweats the user. The hot steam also keeps an interior of the sauna cabinet
1
at a high humidity to help the user's metabolism and fitness. A disadvantage of the steam-type sauna cabinet
1
is that hot water vapors produced by the steam generator
2
are directly sent into the sauna cabinet
1
via the spray holes
13
on the spray nozzle
12
. That is, there is not any shield between the spray nozzle
12
and the user in the sauna cabinet
1
. Since the spray nozzle
12
is located at one side of the sauna cabinet
1
generally pointing toward the user's waist, the hot water vapors that are collectively and directly blown against the user's waist are prevented from diffusing quickly in the sauna cabinet
1
and tend to dangerously burn the user.
FIG. 3
shows an internal supporting frame
14
of the conventional sauna cabinet
1
that is covered with an outer cover
15
. The supporting frame
14
is usually made of metal pipes that are not only expensive and difficult to machine and assemble but also bulky and heavy to cause difficulties in transport and storage of the sauna cabinet when the same is not in use. Moreover, the metal supporting frame
14
is a good thermal conductor. When the sauna cabinet
1
is in use, the supporting frame
14
tends to absorb heat and produces high temperature at its surface and would therefore possibly burn the user. In the event of an electric leakage, the supporting frame
14
would even very possibly cause a dangerous electric shock.
It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop a foldable sauna cabinet that occupies only very small space after being folded and is provided with means to eliminate the danger of burning a user.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a foldable sauna cabinet that occupies only a very small space after being folded and is therefore convenient for transport and storage when the sauna cabinet is not in use.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a foldable sauna cabinet that is provided at one side with a spray nozzle that allows a heat source supplied into the sauna cabinet to quickly diffuse through the cabinet without the risk of burning a user.
To achieve the above and other objects, the sauna cabinet of the present invention mainly includes an outer cover and an inner supporting frame, the outer cover is provided at one lateral side with an opening via which a heat source is guided into the sauna cabinet, at a front side with a closable slit via which a user enters or leaves the sauna cabinet, and at a rear side with a door leaf that may be turned open for mounting or removing the supporting frame into or from the outer cover.
The foldable sauna cabinet is characterized in that two lateral sides of the outer cover are made of two spaced layers to provide a narrow space at each lateral side; that the supporting frame includes two pivotally connected back plates that maybe folded toward each other, and two side plates separately pivotally connected to outer ends of the two back plates for folding toward the back plates when necessary, one of the two side plates is provided with an opening corresponding to the opening at one side of the outer cover; that the two side plates of the supporting frame may be separately inserted into the narrow spaces at two sides of the outer cover; and that the two back plates of the supporting frame are fixed in an aligned position by connecting two fixtures to upper and lower ends of a joint between the two back plates. By removing the fixtures from the joint of the two back plates, the latter may be easily folded to each other and the two side plates may also be folded to overlap the back plates.
The foldable sauna cabinet of the present invention further includes a spray nozzle that is mounted in the openings provided at one side of the outer cover and the supporting frame and includes a front spray head and a rear connector. The spray head has a closed front face and a rear opening, and a collar provided around a middle area of an outer surface of the spray head and located in the sauna cabinet. A portion of the spray head in front of the collar is located in the sauna cabinet and provided at a top with a plurality of small air/steam spray holes and at a bottom with large openings. A portion of the spray head behind the collar forms a connecting end that is located outside the sauna cabinet and has multiple turns of brier teeth provided around an outer surface thereof to provide good surface friction. The rear connector is a hollow member for frictionally connecting to outer surface of the connecting end of the spray head and has a pipe axially connected to an inner bottom center of the rear connector with two ends of the pipe projected from front and rear sides of the connector.
REFERENCES:
patent: 655956 (1900-08-01), Cahoon
patent: 2539710 (1951-01-01), Sziklay
patent: 3092843 (1963-06-01), Wright
patent: 3649971 (1972-03-01), Basa
patent: 5950254 (1999-09-01), Yasue
patent: 6055684 (2000-05-01), Azuma
Bednarek Michael D.
Le Huyen
Pittman Shaw
Recla Henry J.
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