Baths – closets – sinks – and spittoons – Shower – Convenience accessories
Patent
1991-10-03
1993-06-29
Phillips, Charles E.
Baths, closets, sinks, and spittoons
Shower
Convenience accessories
4609, A47K 314, E04B 274
Patent
active
052222616
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a folding shower screen, particularly but not exclusively for attachment to a bath.
Conventional shower screens for baths comprise curtains or rigid panels. Shower curtains are inconvenient when in the stowed position either occupying bath space or dripping over the side of the bath. Sliding panels, to be secure, require installation of permanent track upon the side of the bath and/or along the ceiling, which can be uncomfortable or dangerous to the user. A hinged panel is a permanent incumberance to the bather.
However, it is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,386,106 for a folding shower screen to comprise an attachment member adapted to be secured to a wall, a hinge disposed at a lower end of the attachment member, a movable member secured to the hinge and pivotable between a stowed position alongside the attachment member and a deployed position, and a generally quadrant shaped collapsible screen element with folds radiating from the hinge and secured between the attachment member and the movable member.
With the attachment member secured to a bathroom wall in general co-planar alignment with the outer side of the bath and with the hinge adjacent the top of the bath, the movable member rests in its deployed position along the bath lip at the outer side and the collapsible screen element is disposed in extended condition between the attachment member and the movable member.
The present invention provides for greater lateral rigidity yet easier collapsibility as compared with the screen of U.S. Pat. No. 3,386,106.
According to the present invention, a folding shower screen having an attachment member, a hinge, a movable member, and a screen element as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,386,106 is characterised in that the collapsible screen element is formed by a generally rectangular plastics sheet incorporating parallel alternating folds, the two end folds being attached respectively to the attachment member and the movable member, whereby, when the collapsible screen element is in extended condition it exhibits the generally quadrant shape, and in that the radial width of the screen element is progressively reduced from the attachment member to the movable member.
The width of the folds of the screen element and rigidity of the material from which it is composed may be selected to enhance the lateral rigidity of the screen element, avoiding any need for reinforcing members. Alternatively, or in addition, reinforcing members may be provided, for example, in the manner of a sail with battens or other supporting struts. However easy collapsibility is ensured by the progressive reduction of the radial width of the screen element from the attachment member to the movable member.
Use of alternating or zig-zag parallel folds not only provides a collapsible screen element having lateral rigidity and which folds easily into a small volume, but also affords the advantage that water may be squeezed from the screen element and collected at the hinge as the screen is folded into the vertical stowed position. The hinge is preferably incorporated in an assembly above a sump with a conduit for collecting water draining from the screen element and directing it towards the bath. The sump is preferably removable for easy cleaning.
A drainage channel is preferably provided along the movable member for water draining directly from the screen element towards the bath, one side of the drainage channel being provided with apertures (e.g., holes or slots) for water to drain into the bath. Thus the movable member is preferably formed by a channel member with apertures (e.g., holes or slots) provided in one side for collecting water draining directly from the screen element towards the bath and directing it into the bath. The disposition of the hinge above the sump has the advantageous effect that in the deployed position the drainage channel has a slight downward inclination away from the hinge, thus assisting in distributing collected water towards apertures farther away from the hinge. The hinge end of the drainage ch
REFERENCES:
patent: 1443753 (1923-01-01), McClure
patent: 3386106 (1968-06-01), Clemens
patent: 4675923 (1987-06-01), Ashley
Marshall Stephen K.
Tooze Peter J.
Heatons Bathrooms Limited
Phillips Charles E.
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