Baths – closets – sinks – and spittoons – Tubs – Convenience accessories
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-02
2001-08-21
Fetsuga, Robert M. (Department: 3751)
Baths, closets, sinks, and spittoons
Tubs
Convenience accessories
C004S615000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06276003
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to an adjustable support for a hand held shower, including a rod installed in a substantially vertical position, which allows a hand held shower supplied by a flexible hose to be mounted on the rod at an adjusted position.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Two basic types of shower heads are found in residential indoor bath and shower stalls. One is referred to as a fixed showerhead that is screwed onto the end of a rigid pipe at the top end of a shower riser. The second is usually called a hand held shower or manual shower which is attached to the end of a flexible hose. It usually has an elongated handle for manual grasping. While the hand held shower is popular because of the flexibility and manual grasping and freedom of position of the shower, there are many times when a person wants the hands free operation that is the feature of the fixed shower head. In order to have hands free for operation of the hand held shower, adjustable supports are mounted on the shower wall to mount the hand held shower.
In known adjustable supports, a rod is usually attached to a wall by means of brackets situated at the rod's two opposite ends. The rod usually has its bottom end close to the level of the flow adjustment handles and the rod extends upwardly therefrom. A single mounting bracket is slidably mounted along the rod and has a set screw or set knob that allows the securement of the mounting bracket. The mounting bracket has a clip or pin that mounts the hand held shower. Also known is an adjustable support for a shower where the rod is threaded into the body of a mixing valve assembly for vertical adjustment.
The valve assembly has a securement device for affixing the rod in a desired position. A shower head supplied through a flexible hose emanating from the mixer valve is mounted in a removable manner at the upper end of the rod. In this case, the adjustment of the height of the shower head is accomplished by running the rod in the body of the mixer. All of these adjustable supports for a hand-held shower make it possible to adjust the height at which the hand held shower is installed but only at relatively high levels close to the stature of a person. Naturally, there are cases where one wishes that a shower releases its jet at a lower level, for example, for washing confined to the feet or other lower parts of the body; or during a bath, one wishes to wash and rinse his/her hair. In these cases, the shower must be held manually during the washing operations with subsequent diminished comfort.
What is needed is an improved support for a hand held shower head that provides increased choice and range of position for hands free operation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, an adjustable shower support includes a support bracket mountable on a wall that mounts a substantially vertically oriented rod between its upper and lower ends. The rod has an upper shower holder and a lower shower holder mounted to the vertically oriented rod respectively above and below said support bracket. At least one of the shower holders is slidably mounted along the rod and equipped with a fastener for releasably affixing the slidably mounted shower holder in a desired position along the vertically oriented rod. Each shower holder is constructed to releasably hold a hand held shower that is connected to a flexible hose that is operably connectable to a water supply.
Preferably, the support bracket is mounted on the wall at approximately the same height as a wall mounted valve device that controls the water supply to the flexible hose and hand held shower. In one embodiment, the support bracket is integrally part of the valve device. The valve device may be a mixing valve, thermostatic mixing valve or a simple faucet tap.
It is desired that the rod is slidably mounted with respect to the support bracket and the support bracket has a fastener for releasably and longitudinally affixing the rod in a desired vertical height. In this embodiment, one of shower holders is slidably mounted along the rod and one of the shower holders is permanently affixed to the rod. The shower holder that is slidably mounted on the rod is provided with a fastener to releasably affix the slidably mounted shower holder at a desired position along the rod. Preferably, it is the upper shower holder that is slidably mounted along said rod and the lower shower holder that is permanently affixed to a lower end of the rod below the support bracket.
Alternatively, the rod is non-adjustably affixed to the support bracket. In this embodiment, both shower holders are slidably mounted along the rod and equipped with a fastener for releasably vertically affixing said slidably mounted shower holder in a desired position along the rod.
In one embodiment, a second support bracket is mountable to the wall and slidably mounts the rod at an upper section thereof.
In this fashion the shower holder, intended for receiving and retaining a base of a hand held shower, can be shifted independently along the direction of the rod and can be affixed at desired heights. The one that is on the upper branch of the rod is suitable for receiving the hand held shower when the user desires to spray the body from a traditional high shower position: The holder on the lower branch of the rod is suitable for receiving and retaining the hand held shower when the user wishes to spray the lower parts of the body without bathing the upper parts or wishes to rinse hair when taking a bath.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1327428 (1920-01-01), Gregory
patent: 2017396 (1935-10-01), Brown
patent: 5339469 (1994-08-01), Gilles
patent: 5632049 (1997-05-01), Chen
patent: 6038715 (2000-03-01), Flieger et al.
Fetsuga Robert M.
Masco Corporation of Indiana
Reising Ethington Barnes Kisselle Learman & McCulloch PC
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