Fluid sprinkling – spraying – and diffusing – Terminal outlet formed between parts mounted for relative... – Axially movable outlet part
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-26
2002-04-30
Scherbel, David A. (Department: 3752)
Fluid sprinkling, spraying, and diffusing
Terminal outlet formed between parts mounted for relative...
Axially movable outlet part
C239S437000, C239S449000, C239S554000, C137S853000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06378790
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to shower heads, and, more particularly to a shower head having a rubber/plastic face plate that provides improved shower spray, and a diverter valve using rubber sleeve back-pressure activation.
B. Description of the Related Art
As shown in
FIG. 1
, a conventional shower head comprises a hollow body or shell
10
connected at its upper end to a source of water. Water discharges into a central body portion
12
of the shower head. A face plate
14
fits across the open bell end of body portion
10
and is held in watertight engagement therewith by means of an O-ring
16
. Face plate
14
is held in position by means of a screw bolt
18
that is received in and held by a lower threaded portion of a sleeve
20
. A tubular element
22
has a spider
24
integrally formed on a lower end thereof, and mounts around the outer circumference of sleeve
20
. Spider
24
has a plurality of open slots formed therein. Directly below each slot is a corresponding opening
26
formed in face plate
14
. Plungers
28
are engaged within in slots in spider
24
, and protrude through openings
26
in face plate
14
. Tubular element
22
is adjustable on sleeve
20
by means of a shaft
30
having an eccentric pin
32
on an end thereof. Pin
32
is received in and holds tubular element
22
and spider
24
together in a spaced relationship to face plate
14
. A handle
34
connects to and rotates shaft
30
, adjusting the relationship between face plate
14
and spider
24
and modifying the spray from the shower head.
As shown in
FIG. 2
, each plunger
28
comprises a body portion
36
having a plurality of grooves
38
in its sides and a shaft portion
40
. Plungers
28
are provided in openings
26
of face plate
14
. Shaft portion
40
attaches to spider
24
so that the location of plungers
28
may be adjusted with respect to openings
26
in face plate
14
. Conventional face plates are made from brass, solid plastic, or solid plastic having a decorative face. Attaining a desirable spray pattern for the shower head requires a close fit between the periphery of plungers
28
and openings
26
in face plate
14
. Thus, conventional face plate openings
26
need to be machined to precise dimensions, or, if plastic, molded to very close tolerances. Unfortunately, such machining is costly, time consuming, and inaccurate. Even precision molding is not always accurate enough, and is usually expensive.
One proposed solution to this problem is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,783 to Halsted et al. which discloses a shower head having an O-ring
73
located about the openings in the face plate, as shown in FIG.
1
A. Spray nozzles
22
,
23
, however, have triangular grooves
31
formed along their entire lengths. Thus, O-ring
73
prevents leakage of water past spray nozzles
22
,
23
, except through triangular grooves
31
. The shower head of Halsted et al., however, fails to provide a desirable spray pattern since the O-ring
73
does not provide a close, uniform fit between the periphery of spray nozzles
22
,
23
and the face plate opening.
Some conventional shower heads incorporate a pulsating outlet and a diverter valve for activating the pulsating outlet. For example, the shower head of Halsted et al. comprises three spray exit openings, two for normal spray patterns and a third for pulsating spray patterns. Incoming pressurized water is fed into a diverter which includes a slide valve that adjustably proportions the flow of water into two flow paths. The first flow path from the slide valve terminates in the two normal spray exit openings, while water flowing along the second flow path drives a turbine and exits via openings in the pulsating outlet. The rotating turbine includes a mask which sequentially covers and uncovers the spray outlet to provide a pulsating outlet. A problem with conventional pulsating shower heads, such as the one shown in Halsted et al., is that the pulsating outlet and diverter valve require mechanically complex designs which are difficult to manufacture and maintain.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to provide a shower head having an improved shower spray pattern and which overcomes the problems of related art shower heads.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a shower head face plate that provides a tight, uniform fit around the periphery of the plungers and overcomes the disadvantages of the related art.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a shower head face plate that is easy and inexpensive to manufacture and maintain, while maintaining very tight dimensional tolerances.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a diverter mechanism for a shower head that is simple in design, and easy and inexpensive to manufacture and maintain.
Another object of the present invention includes eliminating the need for an O-ring seal between a shower head housing and face plate.
Still another object of the present invention is to improve and simplify the assembly of the face plate into the shower head.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
To achieve the objects and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the invention comprises a shower head having: a hollow body connected at one end to a water source; a face plate connected at the other end of the hollow body, the face plate including a plastic substrate having a plurality of openings formed therein and a thermoplastic rubber layer formed on portions of the plastic substrate, including walls of plastic substrate openings, wherein the thermoplastic rubber layer includes ridge portions extending away from and circumferentially around the plastic substrate openings; and a plurality of plungers, wherein each plastic substrate opening receives a corresponding plunger and the ridge portions closely surrounding the plungers to form a close fit between the plungers and plastic substrate openings.
To further achieve the objects, the present invention comprises a diverter valve for a shower head having a hollow body with a face plate at one end thereof, a water source at the other end thereof, and plurality of plungers connected to a spider, the face plate having a plurality of circumferential openings provided therein and a central opening provided therein, wherein each face plate circumferential opening receives a corresponding plunger, the diverter valve comprising: a cylindrical insert communicating with the cental opening of the face plate, the cylindrical insert having a plurality of openings formed therein and connecting to the spider; and a deformable member arranged on the inside of the cylindrical insert and covering the plurality of openings formed in the insert, wherein when water flowing through plungers is stopped, the water pressure against the deformable member increases and forces the sleeve away from the cylindrical insert openings, allowing water to flow through the central opening of the face plate.
To still further achieve the objects, the present invention comprises a plunger for a shower head having a hollow body with a face plate at one end thereof with an opening therein, a water source at the other end thereof, the plunger being variably positioned in the face plate opening and comprising: a generally cylindrical shaft portion having an upper end, means for attaching the shaft portion to a means for adjusting the plunger within the opening, and a lower end having a collar thereon whose diameter corresponds to that of the upper end; and a body portion having a plurality of semicircular grooves provided therein to permit water to pass through the opening i
Denham Willard A.
Paterson Graham H.
Connolly Bove & Lodge & Hutz LLP
Nguyen Dinh Q.
Scherbel David A.
Speakman Company
LandOfFree
Shower head having a rubber/plastic face plate and a... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Shower head having a rubber/plastic face plate and a..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Shower head having a rubber/plastic face plate and a... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2922331