Dispensing – Automatic control – Material level control
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-12
2001-04-03
Kaufman, Joseph A. (Department: 3754)
Dispensing
Automatic control
Material level control
C222S146100, C222S189090, C222S464300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06209753
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a water dispenser, and more particularly to a water dispenser for upright stand type water bottles which allows an easy installation of the water bottle. In addition, users may selectively purchase one from among those for cool water, hot water, or for both use.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, as the public's awareness of the impurities in the public water supply increases, bottled drinking water is widely used in offices and homes throughout the world. As a result, water dispensers which can rapidly heat or chill the water have been introduced to allow people to drink hot and cool water.
These conventional water dispensers are designed such that water bottles are inverted and placing them onto the top of the dispensers in such a manner that the open end of the water bottle contacts the top of the dispenser. Thus, the water contained in the water bottle falls down as users want.
However, since the bottle filled with water is too heavy to lift up to the top of the dispenser, many individuals, especially senior citizens are reluctant to make use of such a conventional type of water dispenser. In addition, since the water bottle must be placed on top of the cabinet with the bottle's open end down, it is inevitable that water will occasionally spill onto the dispenser and floor, which creates further inconvenience and risk of injury. This conventional design also does not provide any means for preventing the open end of the dispenser from being contaminated.
To overcome such a problem, there has been proposed a water dispenser in which a water bottle is installed in a lower portion of the main body of the dispenser. Thus, the water in the bottle is pumped to the reservoir which is provided at the upper portion of the dispenser.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, a dispenser
100
has faucets
102
,
103
which are provided at the upper portion of a front face of a main body
101
thereof. A tray
104
is provided under faucets
102
,
103
, and a cabinet
105
and a door
107
are provided in the lower portion of dispenser
100
.
A groove
106
for guiding the water bottle is formed at the bottom surface of cabinet
105
, and door
107
has a plurality of elongated holes
108
for checking the water bottle in cabinet
105
. Magnets
109
,
109
′ for closing door
107
are provided respectively at a predetermined portion of door
107
and at the corresponding portion of main body
101
. An operation switch
110
which is operated according to door
107
in order to control a suction tube carrying device which will be described later is provided at main body
101
.
As shown in
FIGS. 2A and 2B
, if a pulley
112
is driven by a motor, a suction tube
111
is wound around or off pulley
112
, to thereby elevate or descend suction tube
111
.
Suction tube
111
consists of a buffer unit
111
a
for preventing pulley
112
from being twisted to a pump, and a winding unit
111
b
connected to buffer unit
111
a
and which is wound around pulley
112
in accordance with the rotation of pulley
112
. A guiding groove
112
′ for allowing a smooth winding of suction tube
111
is formed along the periphery of pulley
112
. In addition, pulley
112
has a perforation
112
″ for connecting buffer unit
111
a
and winding unit
111
b
so as to allow a smooth operation of winding unit
111
b
. To prevent any damage onto suction tube
111
, buffer unit
111
a
is connected to winding unit
111
b
via tube
111
c
made up of a plastic or an aluminum having a high stiffness.
Reference numeral
113
denotes a band fastener for fixing suction tube
111
onto the front surface of pulley
112
.
Operation of the water dispenser will be explained with reference to
FIGS. 1
,
3
A, and
3
B.
The water contained in a bottle
140
in cabinet
105
is pumped into a cool water reservoir
116
via suction tube
111
and a conduit
115
. Subsequently, the water pumped into reservoir
116
flows into a hot water reservoir
118
via conduit
117
. The water in reservoirs
116
and
118
is chilled or heated by a cooling element
119
or by a die-casting heater
120
.
To minimize the transmittance of the heat from hot water reservoir
118
to cool water reservoir
116
, a connector
117
′ provided at the upper portion of cool water reservoir
116
is made up of a metal, for example, a brass. In addition, a connector
117
″ provided at the upper portion of hot water reservoir
118
is made up of a plastic, and conduit
117
for connecting both connectors
117
′ and
117
″ is made up of a silicon rubber.
Float sensors
121
,
122
for sensing the amount of water are provided inside of reservoirs
116
,
118
so as to control the operation of a pump
114
. If reservoirs
116
,
118
are filled with water, a sensor signal is transmitted from float sensors
121
,
122
to a control unit(not shown) so as to stop the operation of pump
114
. If reservoirs
116
,
118
are not filled with water, pump
114
is driven so as to pump the water from water bottle
140
.
When the user opens door
107
in order to change the water bottle, switch
110
is operated so as to rotate pulley
112
by a motor
123
. Thus, suction tube
111
elevates winding onto pulley
112
.
When the elevation of suction tube
111
completes, the empty water bottle is replaced by a new water bottle, and door
107
is closed, to thereby press switch
110
. Then, suction tube
111
descends towards the inside of the newly replaced water bottle.
At this time, armatures
126
,
127
fixed at pulley
112
are in contact with micro-switches
124
,
125
at the upper end portion of a pulley fixation bracket
128
. Thus, micro-switches
124
,
125
are operated so as to detect whether suction tube
111
has completed an elevation or a descending. Motor
123
is controlled by a control signal which is output from a control unit according to the operation of micro-switches
124
and
125
.
Reference numeral
129
denotes a sealing cap for preventing water bottle
140
from being contaminated, and reference numeral
130
denotes an intake block.
However, such a conventional water dispenser has problems as explained below.
First, it is difficult to replace water bottles because the cabinet for accommodating water bottles has a limited space.
In addition, a cool water reservoir, a hot water reservoir, and a means for chilling or heating the water have to be provided to the water dispenser, and a device for elevating or descending an suction tube is required, which increases a manufacturing cost. A person who intends to use only either hot or cool water has to purchase such a conventional dual-use water dispenser.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a water dispenser for upright stand type water bottles in which water bottles can be easily replaced.
It is another object of the present invention to allow users to selectively purchase a water dispenser for cool water, hot water, or for dual use.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a water dispenser for upright stand type water bottles with various design applied thereto.
To achieve the above objects and other advantages, there is provided a water dispenser for upright stand type water bottles including: a post; a base plate which rests on the ground and supports an end portion of the post; a water tank assembly having a housing, a cover for opening or closing the housing, a water tank installed in the housing, and a unit for chilling or heating the water in the water tank, and which is installed to be attachable or detachable onto or from a holder coupled to another end portion of the post; a faucet for controlling a flow of the heated or chilled water from the water tank assembly; a suction tube one end portion of which is inserted into a water bottle so as to provide a path for supplying the water in the bottle to the water tank assembly; a pump assembly which is connected to the suction tube so as to
Dann Dorfman Herrell and Skillman, P.C.
Kaufman Joseph A.
Skillman Henry H.
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