Baths – closets – sinks – and spittoons – Shower – Plural spray heads
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-07
2001-03-06
Fetsuga, Robert M. (Department: 3751)
Baths, closets, sinks, and spittoons
Shower
Plural spray heads
C004S611000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06195814
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a shower bath apparatus having a spray nozzle for jetting fluid to a user, and more particularly to a shower bath apparatus capable of warming the whole body simultaneously same as bathing in a bath tub, and bringing about an excellent warming effect.
BACKGROUND ART
Shower bath is becoming popular as simple bathing means owing to its ease in preparation for bathing and saving of space, but shower bathing is hard to get warmth and obtain relaxed feeling, and there is a gap from the bath tub bathing practice based on the traditional bath culture in Japan. To eliminate this gap, various shower bath apparatuses have been proposed. For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 61-94616 proposes a shower box as shown in
FIG. 43
, in which a ring-shaped reciprocating shower head is disposed around a chair having a mesh back rest and a seat, so that the user sits on the seat to have shower automatically. More specifically, a chair A
6
comprising a back rest A
3
and a seat A
4
made of mesh A
5
is disposed in a box A
1
, and an all-direction shower head A
7
has a plurality of shower nozzles A
8
disposed at the inner side of a ring-shaped pipe, covering the chair A
6
from back and forth, right and left, while allowing a sufficient space for accommodating the body of the user between the chair A
6
and the front portion Aa of the all-direction shower head A
7
, and reciprocates between the upper end Ab and lower end Ac of the chair A
6
. In a seated position on the chair, the all-direction shower reciprocates between the back rest and the seat while jetting showering from around the whole body, so that showering is very easy.
However, in this conventional shower bath apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 61-94616, the hot water from the all-direction shower head A
7
having a plurality of shower nozzles A
8
disposed at the inner side of the ring-shaped pipe is applied only in part of the body at once, and only part of the body provided with hot water from the shower head A
7
when the shower head A
7
passes can be warmed, which is far from the bath tub bathing for warming the whole body simultaneously.
Incidentally, a nozzle for jetting fluid was proposed, for example, as shown in FIG.
44
.
In
FIG. 44
, a nozzle main body
1
has a flow inlet
2
in which fluid flows, a swirl unit
3
in which the incoming fluid swirls, a swirl chamber
4
in which the fluid swirls sufficiently, and an injection hole
5
from which the swirling fluid is injected. The fluid flowing in from the flow inlet
2
flows into two swirl passages
6
in the swirl unit
3
as shown in
FIG. 45
, and flows at an angle determined by the swirl passages
6
, and reaches the swirl chamber
4
from swirl holes
7
opened at specified angle in the swirl chamber
4
. The fluid flowing out of two swirl holes
7
swirls in the swirl chamber
4
, and is injected from the injection hole
5
. At this time, the fluid is a swirl flow, which has an angular momentum different from the jet flow of fluid without swirl flow, and therefore when injected from the injection hole
5
, it spreads in the radial direction. Therefore, the spray angle of the nozzle is wider, and the jet flow is atomized.
In such conventional spray nozzle, however, since only two swirl holes
7
are provided in the swirl unit
3
, sufficient swirl force of fluid is not obtained, and the spay angle is narrow and mist particles are rough in size. In particular, when used at low pressure as in general household, the swirl force of fluid is much smaller, and mist particles are small in the conventional nozzle, and it is hard to realize a nozzle with a large spray angle.
To solve this problem, by reducing the size of the injection hole of the nozzle, a nozzle reduced in mist particle size and widened in spray angle has been proposed, but since the pressure loss is large, sufficient fluid flow rate is not obtained, and hence the application is limited to spraying of agricultural chemicals or the like.
Incidentally, concerning showering in seated position, since the floor is wet and slippery, in shower bathing, hand rails are often provided in the bath room to assist elderly users, in particular, for showring in standing position or when moving. For example, as proposed in Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 7-207869, as shown in
FIG. 46
, a hand rail A
5
is provided on the wall of the bath room as an aid for standing and sitting of the user bathing in seated position, and a hand rail A
4
is provided at the entrance of the bath room so as to rotate in the horizontal direction indoors and outdoors as an aid for entering or leaving the room.
Besides, showering in standing position is difficult for elderly users weak in physical strength, and showering in seated position is preferred, and such inventions are proposed recently. For example, according to Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 8-38377, as shown in
FIG. 47
, plural upward spray nozzles B
15
for jetting hot water upward are disposed along the peripheral edge of a circular floor B
11
of a floor panel B
10
. A shower unit B
30
is provided in a wall panel B
20
disposed in vertical state to the floor panel B
10
. The shower unit B
30
comprises a handy shower nozzle B
36
, a faucet B
32
, an overhead shower nozzle B
34
for spraying hot water in natural fall, and plural horizontal spray nozzles B
35
disposed in the vertical direction to spray hot water in horizontal direction. The user sits on the floor panel B
10
, facing the shower unit B
30
, and is showered in a relaxed state by receiving hot water sprayed upward from the plural upward spray nozzles B
15
by using the faucet B
32
and handy shower nozzle B
36
.
Meanwhile, an integrated structure of hand rail and shower nozzle has been also proposed. For example, according to Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 6-335415, as shown in
FIG. 48
, a hand rail C
6
is provided around the surface of a bath mirror main body C
5
, and a hand rail C
8
of larger diameter incorporating a shower nozzle C
7
is provided on this hand rail C
6
. Therefore, an elderly user can be bathed with shower while sitting opposite to the mirror, and can stand up easily by using the hand rail which also supports the shower nozzle C
7
.
In the prior art disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 7-207869, however, the hand rail A
5
provided on the wall in the bath room as an aid for standing and sitting of the user in the seated position is fixed on the wall, and therefore the seated user must move closer to the hand rail A
5
, and holds this hand rail when standing and sitting, and therefore the user is required to move the body according to the hand rail.
In Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 8-38377 allowing an elderly user weak in physical strength to have shower in seated position, not in standing position very large in burden, there is no aid for standing or sitting, and the burden due to standing or sitting before and after bathing occurs. It is also a problem that the nozzle provided on the floor is an obstacle when moving within the bath room.
In Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 6-335415 in which the shower nozzle for seated position and the hand rail are assembled in one body, it is necessary to stretch hand up to the hand rail when standing up from the seated position, and depending on the seated position, it is a burden for the shoulder joint of the user to stretch the hand, and it is far from the shower apparatus allowing the user to bathe in a relaxed state to warm the whole body simultaneously.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention comprises a shower bath apparatus main body, a spray nozzle for jetting fluid to a user, and nozzle support means having at least one spray nozzle.
A shower bath apparatus in a first aspect of the invention comprises a shower bath apparatus main body, a spray nozzle for jetting fluid to a user, and nozzle support means having at least one spray nozzle, whereby the spreading angle of fluid to be jetted to the user can be expanded by the spray nozzle, and the fluid can be sprayed to a wide ra
Gyokusen Hirofumi
Inagi Masaaki
Kawaguri Masaaki
Kawahara Kazushige
Shirai Shigeru
Fetsuga Robert M.
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Ratner & Prestia
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