Water heating appliance with tipover and float switches

Details Water heating appliance with tipover and float switches Water heating appliance with tipover and float switches

1996-08-22

2002-08-06

Jeffery, John A. (Department: 3742)

Electric resistance heating devices

Heating devices

Tank or container type liquid heater

C004S447000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06430366

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART STATEMENT
The present invention relates to a water heating appliance for heating water stored in a water tank to make hot or warm water, such as a buttocks washer disposed on a water closet for washing the buttocks with warm water and an electric calorifier disposed on a vanity cabinet. More particularly, the present invention relates to a water heating appliance which is designed to cut off the supply of electricity when the tank is tilted or turned over.
A conventional buttocks washer disposed on a water closet for washing the buttocks with warm water is shown in FIG.
3
. The buttocks washer has a water tank
3
integrally provided with a spray nozzle
2
within a casing
1
disposed on the top surface of a rear portion of the stool or water closet. The water tank
3
heats water supplied from an outside water supply pipe by a heater
4
to a predetermined temperature.
For keeping water in the water tank
3
at a predetermined temperature and for preventing undesirably increasing its temperature, the water tank
3
is provided with a thermostat
5
for controlling the water temperature upon turning on or off the heater
4
according to the water temperature, and a thermal fuse
6
for preventing overheating the water upon shutting off the circuit when the water temperature exceeds a predetermined degree, which are disposed on an outer wall surface of the water tank
3
.
The water tank
3
is also provided with a float switch
7
therein for allowing the supply of electricity to the heater
4
when the water level exceeds a predetermined level. As the water level is lowered below the predetermined level during the supply of electricity to the heater
4
, the contact of the float switch
7
is opened to cut off the supply of electricity to the heater
4
.
As for the buttocks washer as shown in
FIG. 3
, even when the water tank
3
has no water stored therein, the float switch
7
is forcibly turned on when the washing fixture is tilted or turned over. Then, a water heating appliance which has a mechanism for cutting off the supply of electricity to the heater when the tank is tilted or turned over (Japanese patent application No. H6-341090, filed Dec. 28, 1994, hereinafter, referred to as “the prior application”) has been proposed by the applicants of the present invention.
The water heating appliance of the prior application is provided with a tipover switch on a main circuit (for example, a 100V line) for supplying electricity from a commercial power source to the heater. The contact of the tipover switch is designed to be opened when the tank is tilted or turned over, thereby cutting off the supply of electricity to the heater.
However, the water heating appliance of the prior application needs the tipover switch having great current carrying capacity in order to open and close the 100V line.
OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a water heating appliance in which a tipover switch with smaller current carrying capacity is employed.
A water heating appliance of the present invention comprises: a tank, a heater disposed on the tank, a main circuit for connecting the heater to a commercial power source an electricity supply controlling element disposed on the main circuit, a controller for outputting a control signal for controlling the electricity supply controlling element, a signal line for transmitting the control signal of the controller to the electricity supply controlling element and a tipover switch disposed on the signal line to open a contact thereof when the tank is tilted or turned over.
According to the present invention, the tipover switch is disposed on the signal line for transmitting the control signal from the controller to the electricity supply controlling element so that the electricity supply controlling element may stop supplying the heater with electricity since the tipover switch opens its contact when the tank is tilted or turned over.
Since the current conducted through the signal line is small (20 mA) and further its voltage is low (5V), the tipover switch with smaller capacity can be employed.
Since the current is very small and the voltage is low, the tipover switch is reduced its capacity remarkably.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4835365 (1989-05-01), Etheridge
patent: 5271104 (1993-12-01), LaTora
patent: 5911516 (1999-06-01), Chang
patent: 6359 (1933-03-01), None
patent: 457486 (1928-03-01), None
patent: 1254265 (1967-11-01), None
patent: 679921 (1952-09-01), None
patent: 5-21222 (1993-08-01), None
patent: 6-201195 (1994-07-01), None
patent: 6-201196 (1994-07-01), None

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