AU638683B2 - Cartridge for a single control lever mixing faucet with connecting pipes reinforced by elastic means - Google Patents

Description

OPI DATE 28/04/91 APPLN- ID 44214 89 PCT AOJP PArE 13/06/91 PCT NUMBER PCT/US89/04410 INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION PUBLISHED UNDER THE PATENT COOPERATION TREATY (PCT) (51) International Patent Classification 4 (11) International Publication Number: WO 91/05191 F16K 11/065 Al (43) International Publication Date: 18 April 1991 (18.04.91) (21) International Application Number: PCT/US9/044-10 Published With international search report.

(22) International Filing Date: 5 October 1989 (05.10.89) (71) Applicant (for all designated States except US): MASCO 6 683 CORPORATION (US/US]; 21001 Van Born Road, Tay- 6 lor, MI 48180 (US).

(72) Inventor; and Inventor/Applicant (for US only) KNAPP, Alfons [DE/ DE]; Bleicherstrasse 3, D-7950 Biberach/Riss (DE).

(74) Agent: PERMUT, Steven, Masco Corporation, 21001 Van Born Road, Taylor, MI 48180 (US).

(81) Designated States: AU, CH, DE*, DK, FI, GB, JP, US.

(54) Title: CARTRIDGE FOR A SINGLE CONTROL LEVER MIXING FAUCET WITH CONNECTING PIPES REIN- FORCED BY ELASTIC MEANS (57) Abstract A cartridge for a mixing faucet having a control lever (30) mounted to a pivot ball (27) in which the compressive sealing force between the water conduits of the cartridge and the corresponding water conduits of the body of the faucet is provided by tubes (33) made from resilient material forming the seal and being positioned in counterbores (14, 15) of passages (11, 12) of water through the base (10) of the cartridge, and opens toward the external surface of the cartridge base.

The tubes (33) protrude from the counterbores of the cartridge to abut against the end of cavity in faucet body The counterbore (14, 15) also mountes a spring means (36) to provide the compressive force for the seals and cartridge. In addition, hydraulic pressure in the counterbores exerts a certain amount of force with respect to the bottom of the cartridge against the faucet body.

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See back of page WO 91/05191 PCT/US89/04410 CARTRIDGE FOR A SINGLE CONTROL LEVER MIXING FAUCET WITH CONNECTING PIPES REINFORCED BY ELASTIC MEANS Technical Field The present invention relates to a cartridge for a mixing faucet having a control lever moving about a single pivot point in which the sealing force between the water conduits of the cartridge and the corresponding water conduits from the body of the faucet is achieved by tubular members which are provided with a resilient spring element.

Background of the Invention In conventional single handle faucets that have cartridges housed in the body cavity, the delivery passages for hot and cold water through the metallic base of the faucet form an elongated counterbore for the passage of water toward the cavity that houses the cartridge. An elastomeric sealing tubular member and biasing spring is inserted in the counterbore. The ring can be elongated and resemble a tube. The tube exerts a radial force upon the walls of the counterbore containing it, and is biased by the spring to protrude out from the counterbore above the base wall surface of the cavity in the body. With this construction, when the cartridge containing the valve mechanism to control the flow is inserted into the cavity of the body of the faucet, the elastomeric tub9p protruding from the respective counterbores in the base of the body are held in place by a frontally abutting surface of the cartridge base about the inlets of the same cartridge. The amount of the allowable displacement of the rubber tubes biased by the spring is sufficient to compensate for the predicted variations of the distance between the base of the cartridge and the base of the body of the faucet due to either manufacturing tolerances or changes in the dimensions of the parts caused by thermal expansion.

Conventionally constructed mixing valves present some disadvantages. Firstly, the faucet requires accurate formation of the counterbores created in the base of the body to receive the rubber tubes for the placement of the cartridge thereupon. While the formation of the contour of that base is not diffi.cult, the cylindrical walls of the counterbores need to be precisely finished to insure the radial sealing of the rubber tubing. The precise finishing of the counterbores can be a technically difficult and costly operation. Secondly, the assembly of the respective rubber tubes and springs in the counterbores is a delicate and difficult operation because the counterbores are found at the base of the cavity of the faucet body and consequently there is poor accessibility to easily position the springs and rubber tubes. Later repair and replacement of the rubber tubes are also difficult.

What is needed is a mixing valve having a cartridge and eliminating the necessity of difficult and costly work, all difficulties of assembling, disassembling and seal member inspection operations of conventional cartridge mixing valves.

Summary of the Invention According to the present invention there is provided a cartridge for a mixing faucet having a body, said cartridge having a control lever moving about a pivot point in which the water passages within the cartridge and the corresponding water passages within the body of the faucet are aligned and are each sealed by connecting tubular member which is biased by resilient means, the improvement characterised by: said water passages within the cartridge each include a counterbore which opens up to the external surface of the base of 'the cartridge, and that each counterbore contains a connecting tubular member reinforced by resilient means in such a way as to protrude somewhat with respect to the cartridge and abut against the body, said tubular member being formed by resilient elastomeric material and defines a tubular body with a restricted end which defines a shoulder, said shoulder supporting an abutting helical spring inserted in the interior of the tubular body and comprising the resilient means which loads the tubular member against the body.

According to the present invention there is further provided a cartridge for a mi:xing faucet having a body, said cartridge having a control lever moving about a pivo point in which the water passages within the cartridge and the corresponding water passages within the body of the faucet are aligned and are each sealed by connecting tubular member which is biased by resilient means, the improvement characterised by: said water passages within the cartridge each include a counterbore which opens up to the external surface of the base of the cartridge, and that each counterbore contains a connecting tubular member reinforced by resilient means in such a way as to protrude somewhat with respect to the cartridge and abut against the body, said tubular member being made of resilient elastomeric material extending up the base of each S 25 counterbore and presenting by itself a sufficient resiliency to assure a resilient bias from which a compressive force is obtained, constituting in this way a resilient means of loading the tubular member.

According to the present invention there is still further provided a cartridge for a mixing faucet having a body, said cartridge having a control lav1r moving about a pivot point in which the water passages within the cartridge and the corresponding water passages within the body of the faucet are aligned and are each sealed by connecting tubular member which is biased by resilient mean6, the improvement characterised by: said water passages within the cartridge each include a counterbore which opens up to the external surface of the base of the cartridge, and that each counterbore contains a connecting tubular member reinforced by resilient means in such a way as to protrude somewhat with respect to the cartridge and abut against the body, said tubular member being made from a substantially rigid material with an elastomeric ring radially interposed between it and the counterbore and a second elastomeric ring at the protruding end of the tubular member and mounted so that it sealingly abuts against said body.

According to the invention, a passage of water in the base of the cartridge includes a counterbore which opens toward the external surface of the base of the Scartridge. An elastomeric tubular sealing member is located in the counterbore of the cartridge and is held in position in such a way as to protrude from the bottom of the cartridge to abut against said end of the cavity in the faucet body.

The base of the cavity formed by the metallic body of the faucet to house the cartridge requires only one S 25 smoothing operation that is easily executed. The tubular sealing member contained in the counterbore of the base of is the cartridge abuts frontally with the smooth surface of the base of the body of the faucet now that the cartridge is inserted in the preformed cavity in the body of the

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WO91/05191 PCT/US89/04410 3 faucet. Work performed on the counterbores for the tubing located in the base of the cartridge, does not present any difficulty because of the immediate accessibility of these counterbores. In addition, an extra work step is not generally even necessary because the cartridge is made of a plastic material and can be integrally molded with the needed counterbores. The counterbores are easily accessible at the end of the cartridge when its out of the cavity which makes any operation of insertion or disassembly of the elastomeric tubular sealing members afterward extremely easy. Also, every time the cartridge is removed from the body of the faucet, the tubular members protrude from the counterbores and can be easily inspected without even removing them from the counterbores.

In the application of this invention, elastomeric tubular sealing members commonly used in mixing valvfaucets can be used. The elastomeric sealing members have a tubular body with a restricted extremity which defines a shoulder for abutting the end of a helical spring inserted into the interior of the tubular body. It is also possible to use an elastomeric tubular body which provides its own biasing force sufficient to assure the resilience from which the compression is provided. In this case, the spring that loads the seals are constituted by the seals themselves. Furthermore, it is possible to shape the elastomeric sealing members such that the pressure of the water traveling within it tends to deform it and cause it to bias against the faucet body with adequate force to create an effective seal.

Alternatively, a tubular sealing member can be made of a substantially rigid material and be provided with additions of deformable 0-rings tendig to radially seal against the counterbores in the cartridge and frontally abut the base of the cavity of the body of the faucet.

The resilient biasing member for biasing the sealing member can be a helical spring or it can be made up of a WO 91/05191 PCT/US89/04410 4 resilient elastomeric coupling. In this last case, the coupling can be made in such a way that water pressure within it tends to deform it, advantageously increasing the biasing pressure that applies to the sealing member and provides the frontal compressive sealing force against the end of the cavity.

Brief Description of the Drawinqs Reference now is made to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 illustrates the segmented view of a faucet body housing a cartridge according to one embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of an elastomeric seal shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the fixed plate shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary and segmented view of the lower part of the faucet body showing a second embodiment of the invention; Fig. 5 is a fragmentary and segmented view of the lower part of the faucet body showing a third embodiment of the invention; Fig. 6 is a fragmentary and segmented view of the lower part of the faucet body showing a fourth embodiment of the invention; and Fig. 7 is a fragmentary and segmented view of the lower part of the faucet body showing a fifth embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment As shown in Fig. 1 the faucet has a metallic body 1 in whose interior is formed a cavity or chamber 2 for housing a cartridge. Supply passages 4 and 5 for hot and cold water are formed in body 1 and have ends in base 3 of chamber 2. An annular chamber 6 is positioned to receive the mixed water from the cartridge and guide it to a spout (not shown) in conventional fashion. The body 1 is closed WO 91/05191 PCT/US89/04410 by a screw cap 8 which abuts and seals the body 1 by means of a resilient O-ring seal 7.

The cartridge includes a caged housing 9 with a base with passages 11 and 12 for entry of hot and cold water. Passage 13 serves as an exit for the mixed water from housing 9 of the cartridge to the annular chamber 6 of body 1. A fixed plate 16 made from a hard material such as rigid plastic or ceramic is mounted into the interior of base 10 of the cartridge and is fixed by means of screw 21. A seal 22 lies under the plate 16 in compression. The fixed plate 16 has its lower level passages 17 and 19 for the entry of cold and hot water aligned with passages 11 and 12 of base 10. On its upper level, the passages 17 and 19 leads to cavities 18 and respectively, for the distribution of water in cooperation with a mobile plate 23 made of a hard material. The plate 23 is positioned above the fixed plate 16 and can be moved translationally and rotatably by means of a guide 24 in a rotatable driving ring 25 between certain limits defined by the housing 9. A lower half bearing 26 connected to the housing 9 is supported against cap 8 of body 1 of the faucet and forms a half seat for a pivot ball 27.

Extended from the ball 27 are an internal arm 28 which works against the slide 24 and an external arm 29 which is connected to control lever 30. The seat for the pivot ball 27 is completed by an upper half bearing 31 mounted in cap 8 of the body of the faucet and which exerts compressive force by means of a seal 32 that seals against the lower half bearing 26 and the pivot ball 27.

The bidirectional control lever 30 permits the displacement of the guide 24 that translationally and rotationally moves the mobile plate 23 which selectively opens the cavities 18 and 20 of the fixed plate 16 in different proportions thereby permitting the passage of various quantities and proportions of hot and cold water which is then mixed and exits the faucet. In this way, WO 91/05191 PCT/US89/04410 6 control over the flow of mixed water and the mixing proportion between hot and cold water is obtained.

The structure of the faucet and the cartridge described and illustrated should be considered only in terms of explaining the application of the invention which is not in any way limited to the form of faucet and cartridge described. To the contrary, the invention can apply generally to every cartridge for a mixing faucet of the type in which the compressive sealing force between the passage of the water conduits in the cartridge and the corresponding conduits in the body of the faucet is secured by seal elements and a spring biasing means.

In application of the invention, counterbores 14 and are located in base 10 of the housing 9 of the cartridge which correspond to entrance passageways 11 and 12 for hot and cold water when the cartridge is inserted in cavity 2 of faucet body 1 over supply passages 4 and of body 1. In the counterbores 14 and 15, a sealing member 33 is coupled with a metallic spiral spring 36.

The member 33 is made of an elastomeric material and has a tubular form which is constrained at lower extremity forming a shoulder. The spring 36 is compressed between shoulder 34 of member 33 and the upper base of the counterbores 14 and 15 and therefore biases member 33 toward the cavity surface 3. The counterbores 14 and spring 36 and member 33 are sized such that, at rest, the lower shoulder 34 of seal member 33 axially protrudes with respect to base 10 of the cartridge. As shown in Fig. 2, member 33 has a ringed relief 35 which in its mounted state represented in Fig. 1, becomes imperceptible as its compressed against the wall of counterbore 10, 11. The ringed relief 35 frictionally abuts against the side walls of counterbores 14 and 15 axd creates a seal therewith.

When the cartridge 9-26 is inserted into cavity 2 of body 1 of the faucet, member 33 has its lower shoulder end 34 sealingly abut against the lower end surface 3 of cavity 2 aligned about passages 4 and 5 and biased by the WO 91/o051s PCr/US89/0441 i 7 respective springs 36. In this manner, the passage 4 of body 1 is fluidly connected to passage 11 of base 10 of the cartridge, and passage 5 of body 1 is fluidly connected to passage 12 of base 10 of the cartridge with sealing members 33 preventing leakage laterally outside of passages 4, 5 and 10, 11. At the same time, the force of spring 36, in addition to hydraulic pressure acting in base 10 of counterbores 14 and 15, biases the whole cartridge against cover 8 maintaining compressive pressure on its components including fixed plate 16 and mobile plate 23.

It should be noted it is not required that spring 36 exert a great force, but simply that it should assure an adequate compressive force of sealing members 33 in the absence of pressure against bottom surface 3 of cavity 2.

When water pressure is supplied, it in part acts on sealing members 33 on precisely an area equal to the difference between the maximum area in cross section of the sealing member and the area of the opening through the shoulder 34. The resultant force is added to the biasing force on the spring in such a way that the compressive force increases on the base end 3 of cavity 2 on an equal basis with the increase in pressure and this causes the net total force to be adequate at all times.

It is immediately revealed from observation of Fig. 1 that the novel construction satisfies the stated problems of the prior art. In fact, base end 3 of chamber 2 of body 1 of the faucet does not require more than a simple smoothing operation. The counterbores 14 and 15 are easily formed and are immediately accessible when the cartridge is not inserted in the cavity of the faucet.

The assembly and disassembly of sealing members 33 and springs 34 in counterbores 14 and 15 of base 10 of the cartridge is extremely easy when the cartridge is removed from body 1 of the faucet. Furthermore, the sealing shoulder sections 34 of members 33 can be inspected when the cartridge is removed from cavity 2 and can be easily WO 91/05191 PCr/US89/04410 8 replaced when needed in the respective counterbores 14 and Fig. 4 discloses a sealing member 37 that is constructed to eliminate the need for spring 36 shown in Fig. 1 associated with pipe 33. Member 37 is made from resilient material and extends to the end of the respective counterbore located in base 10 of the cartridge. It has a sufficient elasticity to generate the biasing force necessary for the frontal compression against base end 3 of cavity 2 containing the cartridge.

The resilient member 37 extends to the end of the counterbore in the base of the cartridge, and when under compression, effects a real not only frontally against the base of the counterbore but also radially against the cylindrical walls of the same.

Fig. 4 illustrates how it is possible to have sealing member 37 penetrate the cavities presented by base 3 of chamber 2 to prevent the accidental rotation of the cartridge. The counterbore in base end 3 does not add significant expense because the counterbore in base 3 for receiving member 37 does not require any precision of measurement in its diameter or in its Interfaces, and does not require precision of measurement over its peripheral walls, but should only be smooth at its frontal base. In the case in which the stiffness of the members' resilient material is not sufficient to assure the cartridge against rotation, it is possible to form an extension of the cartridge from the collars surrounding members 37 to be received in part in the counterbores of base 3 of cavity 2.

According to Fig. 5, resilient members 38 act, in principle, like those in Pig. 4, with the added feature that their walls are curved toward their interior.

Hydraulic pressure which stabilizes in the interior of member 38 radially flex the arched portion of their walls, generating a force which tends to lengthen its distance from base 10 of the cartridge to base 3 of cavity 2 of WO 91/05191 PC/US89/04410 9 body 1 of the faucet. In this way, the resilient force is advantageously increased to stabilize the frontal compressive force between members 37, base 10, and base end 3 of body 1 Fig. 6 demonstrates how resilient members 33 of Fig.

1 can be substituted by tubes 43 of substantially rigid material provided with O-ring seals made out of resilient elastomeric material. An O-ring 44 is placed frontally to stabilize the tension with base 3 of chainber 2 containing the cartridge, and an O-ring 45 is placed peripherally to create a seal with respect to the cylindrical walls of counterbores 14 or 15. The biasing force to load the tube 43 is given by a metallic spiral spring 36, as seen In Fig. 1.

Cases such as those described here in which the tubular sealing members are made of substantially rigid materials are particularly adaptable to prevent the accidental rotation of the cartridge, penetrating into the counterbore in base end 3 of chamber 2 as shown in Fig. 4.

The metallic helical spring 36 of Fig. 6 can be replaced by a tube of a resilient elastomeric material which irks, from the point of view of its resiliency, analogously to member 37 of Fig. 4. The tube can have its walls curved inward, as illustrated at 46 in Fig. 7. and the hydraulic pressure which acts on the interior of tubes 46, flexes the inwardly arched portion of its walls radially outward which generates a force which tends to bias base 10 of the cartridge away from base 3 of cavity 2 in the body of the faucet. In this way, the resilient force is increased advantageously which assures the frontal comprescive force of the pipe to bias the cartridge and provide adequate sealing.

It has been mentioned that the hydraulic pressure, applied to the device according to the invention, exerts a useful push on :he cartridj to maintain the internal parts of the cai,.ridge in contact under adequate pressure.

Unlike previous embodiments that incorporate this WO 91/05191 PCT/US89/04410 principle, my invention obtains this effect without incurring the costly work necessary for finishing the cavity in the body.

If the forms of realization illustrated have foreseen only two passages of entry for hot and cold water within base 10 of the cartridge and base end 3 of the body of the faucet, while the mixed water leaves without returning to base 10 and cavity end 3, it should be understood that the invention is equally applicable to the case in which within the base there is also one or more return passages for the output of mixed water. Furthermore, in cases in which the tubular sealing members are predisposed to exert a frontal biasing force whether on the body of the faucet or on the cartridge (such as those shown in Figs. 4 and the counterbores formed in the base of the cartridge by the sealing members can extend through to the fixed plate, and the sealing members could then be made to directly push against the lower surface of the fixed plate, avoiding the necessity of inserting a seal between the fixed plate and the base of the cartridge.

Variations and modifications of the invention are contemplated without departing from its spirit as defined in the appended claims.

WO 91/05191 PCr/US89/04410 The embodiment in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed is defined as follows:

Claims (4)

1. 2. A cartridge for a mixing faucet having a body, said cartridge having a control lever moving about a pivot point in which the water passages within the cartridge and the corresponding water passages within the body of the faucet are aligned and are each sealed by connecting tubular member which is biased by resilient means, the improvement characterised by: said water passages within the cartridge each include a counterbore which opens up to the external surface of the base of the cartridge, and that each counterbore contains a connecting tubular member reinforced by resilient means in such a way as to protrude somewhat with respect to the cartridge and abut against the body, said tubular member being made of resilient elastomeric material extending up the base of each counterbore and presenting by itself a sufficient resiliency to assure a resilient bias from which a compressive force is obtained, constituting in this way a resilient means of loading the tubular member.
2. 3. A cartridge as defined in Claim 2 further characterised by: said resilient tubular member being made up of walls arched inward tcwrd themselves in such a way that the water pressure passing through flexes the walls radially outward and increasing the resilient force between the cartridge and mixing valve body.
3. 4. A cartridge for a mixing faucet having a body, said cartridge having a control lever moving about a pivot point in which the water passages within the cartridge and the corresponding water pasnages within the body of the 5 faucet are aligned and are each sealed by connecting tubular member which is biased by resilient means, the improvement characterised by: said water passages within the cartridge each include a counterbore which opens up to the external surface of the base of the cartridge, and that each S* counterbore contains a connecting tubular member reinforced by resilient means in such a way as to protrude somewhat with respect to the cartridge and abut against the body, said tubular member being made from a 15 substantially rigid material with an elastomeric ring radially interposed between it and the counterbore and a second elastomeric ring at the protruding end of the tubular member and mounted so that it sealingly abuts against said body. A cartridge as defined in Claim 4 further characterised by: said resilient means including a sleeve made from l i" 14 elastomeric material and axially interposed between an inner end of the tubular member and the inner end of the counterbore.
4. 6. A cartridge for a mixing faucet substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. DATED this 7th day of April 1993. MASCO CORPORATION By Its Patent Attorneys GRIFFITH HACK CO. Fellows Institute of Patent Attorneys of Australia i i i .;1 t f