EP0506734B1

EP0506734B1 - Unit comprising bathtub and shower cubicle

Info

Publication number: EP0506734B1
Application number: EP91900909A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Franco Bertoli
Original assignee: Ideal Standard SpA
Current assignee: Ideal Standard SpA
Priority date: 1989-12-20
Filing date: 1990-12-18
Publication date: 1994-08-10
Anticipated expiration: 2010-12-18
Also published as: WO1991008699A1; IT8934907V0; DE69011533T2; DE69011533D1; AU6953591A; IT222526Z2; EP0506734A1; IT8934907U1

Abstract

The tub-shower unit consists in a block (1, 2) having a rectangular or square plan profile and comprising a bathtub (3) having its longitudinal axis which is substantially parallel to a diagonal of said plan profile, a tray (8) for the shower cubicle (9) occupying a block corner (7) intersected by the other diagonal, and a surface (4) designed to receive the taps and occupying the block corner opposite the one where said tray is placed.

Description

The equipping of increasingly smaller bathrooms gives rise to new problems in the design of sanitary appliances, which have to be fitted into smaller spaces without however losing their functionality.
This is particularly the case with bathtubs and shower cubicles which, being of large dimensions and very different from each other, are difficult to coordinate one with the other without wasting space or using totally irrational arrangements, particularly with regard to the waste layout.
DE-U-8702390 discloses a bath tub whose opposite shorter sides, correspond to the head position and to the feet position, have an angular shape, preferably with an angle of 90 degrees.
The shape of the said shorter sides consents the location of the bath tub with one of said shorter sides adjacent to the angle between two walls of the bathroom.
This location renders available, adjacent to one of the longer sides of the bathtub, a triangular region in which a shower cubicle could be positioned.
Nevertheless the solution above presents functional and practical drawbacks, due to the completely separate construction of the bathtub and shower cubicle, the shower tray thereof being furthermore formed by the same floor of the bathroom.
The above drawbacks are overcome, according to the invention, by a unit according to the independent claim, whose preamble is based on the features of DE-U-8702390.
The unit according to the invention is substantially formed from shell structures of synthetic material, such as methacrylate, which are fitted together and partly superposed to form both the bathtub and the shower tray, the axis of the bathtub lacing substantially parallel to a diagonal of the unit.
The merits and characteristics of the invention will be more apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the invention;
Figure 2 is a plan view of the invention;
Figure 3 is a partial section on the line III-III of figure 2;
Figure 4 is a partial section on the line IV-IV of figure 2;
Figure 5 is a partial section on the line V-V of figure 2;
Figure 6 is a partial section on the line VI-VI of figure 2.

The invention comprises a unit of substantially rectangular or square plan, composed of a lower base 1 on which an upper shell structure 2 is superposed.
In the upper shell structure 2 there is provided a bathtub 3 which lies substantially with its axis parallel to a plan diagonal of the lower base 1 and from the upper edge of which there extends a horizontal surface.
This surface comprises a first angular region 4 occupying a corner through which the other diagonal passes.
The first angular region 4 receives a feed tap 5 and its operating levers 6.
A second angular region 7 opposite the first angular region 4 receives the shower tray 8.
Both said regions 4 and 7 are adjacent to the long sides of the bathtub 3.
The upper shell structure 2 is depressed close to the side of the bathtub in the second angular region 7 to form the shower tray 8 of a shower cubicle 9.
The shower tray 8 when viewed in plan is substantially of triangular, trapezoidal or circular sector shape or of composite shape.
On side of the shower cubicle 9 is defined by a tiled wall 10 of the room in which the unit of the invention is installed.
Other walls 11 and 12 of the cubicle are defined by perspex sheets supported by a usual frame 13.
One of these walls, namely the wall 11, comprises the access door to the cubicle.
At the edge of the bathtub in the second angular region 7 there are provided usual seal means along the joining lines between the upper shell structure 2 and the usual frame 13 supporting the walls 11 and 12.
In the illustrated example the unit of the invention occupies a plan space of about 180cm x 150cm and can be installed between two or three walls of the bathroom.
Shape modifications can obviously be made to the invention, for exaple some corners of the shell structures 1 and 2 can be rounded in plan view, or other corners can be made more acute, without for this reason leaving the scope of the inventive idea as hereinafter claimed.

Claims

A unit comprising a bathtub having at least one of the short sides shaped as an angle, which when is mounted in a corner of the unit defines, adjacent to the long sides, two triangular regions, intended to receive a shower cubicle and the taps, characterized in that said unit consists of a lower base 1 of substantially rectangular or square plan, on which an upper shell structure 2 is superposed, said shell structure comprising a bathtub 3 having its longitudinal axis parallel to a plan diagonal of the base 1, a first angular region 4 at the level of the bathtub edge adjacent to a long side of the bathtub for receiving taps and operating levers thereof, and a second angular depressed region 7 adjacent the other long sideof the bathtub, which forms the shower tray 8.
Unit according to claim 1 characterized in that at least one side of the shower tray 8 is adjacent to a wall of the bath room, which realizes one wall of a shower cubicle 9, whose other walls 11 and 12 consist of perspex sheets supported by a usual frame 13, and resting on the edge of the long side of the bathtub 3 and on the edge of the shower tray 8.