EP1095608A2 - Ecran de douche - Google Patents

Ecran de douche Download PDF

Info

Publication number
EP1095608A2
EP1095608A2 EP00123056A EP00123056A EP1095608A2 EP 1095608 A2 EP1095608 A2 EP 1095608A2 EP 00123056 A EP00123056 A EP 00123056A EP 00123056 A EP00123056 A EP 00123056A EP 1095608 A2 EP1095608 A2 EP 1095608A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
panels
screen
bath
screen according
another
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
EP00123056A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP1095608A3 (fr
EP1095608B1 (fr
Inventor
Matthew Robert Caffrey
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Coram Showers Ltd
Original Assignee
Coram (UK) Ltd
CORAM UK Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Coram (UK) Ltd, CORAM UK Ltd filed Critical Coram (UK) Ltd
Publication of EP1095608A2 publication Critical patent/EP1095608A2/fr
Publication of EP1095608A3 publication Critical patent/EP1095608A3/fr
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP1095608B1 publication Critical patent/EP1095608B1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
    • A47K—SANITARY EQUIPMENT NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; TOILET ACCESSORIES
    • A47K3/00—Baths; Douches; Appurtenances therefor
    • A47K3/28—Showers or bathing douches
    • A47K3/30—Screens or collapsible cabinets for showers or baths
    • A47K3/36—Articulated screens
    • A47K3/362—Articulated screens comprising sliding and articulated panels

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a bath screen.
  • a bath screen may be used in association with a bath which is provided with a shower attachment, with the object of preventing splashed water from the bath or shower from reaching the floor beyond the bath.
  • a bath screen extends approximately to head height and to about 1/3 the length of the bath.
  • screens are known which comprise a number of panels which are pivotally connected to one another so as to be able to be folded in zigzag fashion to occupy a small space. If the screen extends from the wall, when folded the panels overlie one another substantially parallel to the wall.
  • Such multiple panel folding bath screens as known hitherto have disadvantages. They tend to leak, due to the large number of parts involved and the inevitable gaps which exist between them, and this is an increasing problem especially with the wide spread use of pump-fed "power showers" in which water is discharged from a shower head with considerable force. Further, when such screens are deployed for use they rarely stay in the intended position, tending to rest in a shallow zigzag shape along the rim of the bath rather than extending straight therealong. When not in use, they tend to unfold themselves from the fully folded condition. Aesthetically, the large number of parts involved in previously known screens has given them a "cluttered” appearance, with the frames relatively thick compared with the width of the glass or transparent plastic panels held thereby. This also makes them difficult to clean.
  • a bath screen comprising a plurality of panels and means pivotally connecting said panels to one another for folding in zigzag fashion and deployment in alignment with one another, wherein said means pivotally connecting the panels is provided with detent means operable for holding said panels in aligned deployment.
  • the connecting means between each adjacent pair of said panels comprises respective mounting portions connected to said panels along adjacent edges thereof and hinge means and seal means operative therebetween.
  • both said hinge means and seal means are afforded by a "living hinge" element of flexible material joining the mounting portions to one another.
  • the mounting portions preferably are extrusions of a plastics material and preferably the connecting means is a coextrusion of a first plastics material which constitutes the mounting portions and a second material which constitutes the hinge element.
  • the hinge element may be of "Hytrel" (trade mark).
  • the detent means comprises co-operative formations provided on the two mounting portions of each connecting means, said formations being engageable with one another when the connected panels are in alignment with one another.
  • the formations may comprise, respectively, undercut recess means and projection means able to engage the recess means and resiliently deform while entering and leaving the recess means.
  • the projection means may comprise a projecting limb having an enlarged head which is able to deflect by resilient deformation of the limb as it passes a lip at the entrance to a recess.
  • There may be two spaced generally parallel such limbs, with respective heads cooperable with opposed lips at the entrance to a recess.
  • a free end of an end one of the panels of the screen may be provided with a fixing means which comprises a mounting portion and living hinge element as for one of the connecting means, but having, instead of the other mounting portion, a fixing portion adapted to be connected to the fixing surface.
  • Detent means may be operable between the mounting portion and the fixing portion of the fixing means, as between the mounting portions of a connecting means between adjacent panels.
  • One or more of the living hinge elements provided in the screen may be extruded in the configuration it adopts when the screen is folded, so that the screen tends to stay in the folded condition naturally.
  • the detent means resists the natural tendency for it to return to the folded condition.
  • a lower edge of the screen may carry a seal element engageable with the rim of a bath with which the screen is to be used.
  • a seal element may comprise an extrusion of a flexible material, connected along the lower edge of the panels at a number of spaced positions so that folding of the screen is accommodated.
  • a bath screen comprising a plurality of panels and means pivotally connecting the panels to one another for folding in zigzag fashion and deployment in alignment with one another, is provided along its lower edge with a seal element engageable with the rim of a bath with which the screen is to be used, the seal element being offset outwardly from the centre line of the screen panels, when deployed, with a gap therebetween sufficient to prevent capillary transmission of water outwardly of the screen between the seal element and panels.
  • a bath screen comprises three panels indicated generally at 10, 11, 12.
  • the panels 10 and 11 are connected to one another along adjacent vertically extending edges by a connecting means indicated generally at 13, while the panels 11 and 12 are similarly connected to one another by a connecting means 14.
  • the connecting means 13, 14 are the same as one another in section, but are oppositely oriented to one another to permit the screen to fold in zigzag fashion as shown in Figure 3.
  • the panel 10 is fixed, in use, to a vertical surface, e.g. a wall surface, adjacent the head of a bath by a fixing means indicated generally at 15.
  • Each of the panels 10, 11, 12 comprises a pane of transparent or translucent sheet material, e.g. toughened glass or a suitably strong plastics material.
  • the connecting means 13 which joins such panes 16, 17 in the panels 10, 11 comprises two mounting portions 18, 19 which are extrusions of a material such as PVC.
  • the mounting portion 18 comprises a base 20 affording a recess 21 in which the extreme edge of the pane 16 is received, and walls 22 which extend away from the base 20 and converge to hold the pane 16 between them at a small distance from the base.
  • the mounting portion 19 comprises a base 23 affording a recess 24 and walls 25 extending therefrom to grip the pane 17 therebetween at a distance from its edge.
  • the mounting portions 18, 19 are joined to one another by a "living hinge" element 26 of flexible material extending between the base parts 20, 23 of the mounting portions.
  • the living hinge element 26 is co-extruded with the mounting portions 19, 18 so that it is firmly bonded thereto, and is, for example, of a material such as "Hytrel” (trade mark) which has the necessary flexibility and permits a large number of cycles of pivoting between the mounting portions without failure. It will also be appreciated that it provides an effective seal between the mounting portions, preventing water from passing from one side to the other of the screen therebetween when in use.
  • Detent means are provided for holding the panels 10, 11 in alignment with one another when the bath screen is deployed.
  • the base 20 of the mounting portion 18 is provided with two spaced projecting generally parallel limbs 27 which at their free ends have enlarged heads with opposite outwardly directed nose portions 28.
  • the base 23 of the mounting portion 19 is provided, adjacent its recess 24, with an undercut recess 29 which at its entrance has opposed inwardly facing lips 30. The dimensions are such that the projections 27 are able to enter the recess 29, deforming slightly towards one another as the nose portions at their ends 28 pass the lips 30 as the panels of the screen approach their aligned fully deployed condition.
  • the screen is held in such condition until sufficient force is applied thereto to disengage the projections 27 from the recess 29 when the screen is to be folded.
  • the hinge 26 is moulded in the condition in which it is shown in Figure 3, i.e. with the screen folded so that when set in its folded condition the screen will tend to stay there.
  • the connecting means 14 is identical to the connecting means 13, but is assembled to the panes forming the screen in the opposite orientation so that the screen folds in zigzag fashion as shown in Figure 3.
  • the fixing means 15 For fixing the screen to a surface such as a wall surface at the head of a bath, the fixing means 15 comprises a mounting portion 32 whose configuration is analogous to that of the mounting portion 19 of the connecting means 13, and which holds the pane 16 of the panel 10.
  • the mounting portion 32 is of a slightly elongated shape in cross-section compared with the mounting portion 18, so that the pane 16 is spaced somewhat from a base part 33 of the fixing means.
  • the fixing means further comprises a fixing portion 34 which is flat for fixing to a wall surface by fasteners 35 as seen in Figures 1 and 2.
  • the base 33 of the mounting portion 32 and the fixing portion 34 are joined by a co-extruded living hinge element 36.
  • the fixing portion 34 and mounting portion 32 of the fixing means have cooperating detent means, constituted by headed projections 37 on the fixing portion 34 engageable, with some resilient deflection, in an undercut recess 38 defined by a pair of projections 39 from the base 33, the projections 39 having opposed inwardly facing lips at their free ends.
  • the cooperating detent means in the fixing means 15 ensures the panel 10 is normally held in a deployed orientation at right angles to the wall surface to which the fixing means 15 is secured, but if required the panel 10 may be pivoted to lie parallel to such wall surface.
  • Figures 4 and 5 of the drawings show in detail the configuration of a seal 40 provided along the lower edge of the bath screen, for engaging the rim indicated at 41 of the bath when the screen is deployed.
  • a flexible hollow rubber extrusion 42 having a T-section rib 43 on its upper surface is held by respective lugs 45 on lengths 44 of a rigid plastics extrusion which are held at the bottom edges of the glass panes of the panels 10 to 12.
  • the extrusion 44 affords a recess in which the panes are received, and in this recess there are small deformable lugs 46 which grip the glass but which allow the bottom seal assembly to be adjusted vertically relative to the pane. This ability to adjust the seal is necessary to ensure that the extrusion 42 satisfactorily engages the bath rim: in practice the wall to which the screen is fixed is unlikely to be exactly perpendicular to the rim of the bath.
  • Figure 5 is a vertical section through the middle of one of the connecting means 13, 14, with details of the connecting means omitted for clarity.
  • Extrusion 44 which has of course ended at the connecting means, is also omitted.
  • a gap 47 is defined between the extrusion 42 and the pane 16 (or 17, etc, as the case may be).
  • the "living hinges" incorporated in the connecting means provide a permanent barrier to the passage of water.
  • the sealing extrusion 42 must move relative to the vertical extrusions while the screen is being folded, and hence the seal cannot be rigidly fixed to the bottom of these extrusions, giving rise to a potential gap for leakage of water.
  • seal extrusion 42 is offset from the centre line of the screen, away from the "wet" side thereof. This substantially reduces leakage.
  • FIGS. 6 and 7 of the drawings show, in horizontal sections analogous to those appearing in figures 2 and 3, a modified embodiment of bath screen in accordance with the invention.
  • the connecting means as 13 is different in that, instead of the two spaced generally parallel limbs 27 with oppositely outwardly directed nose portions 28 adjacent their three ends, there is only a single limb 127 with an enlarged head 128.
  • the limb 127 is able to deform as the head 128 passes lip 30 at the entrance to recess 29, to provide a detent action for holding the adjacent panels of the screen in their aligned fully deployed condition.
  • This arrangement provides a somewhat “easier" detent action than when there are two such limbs.
  • the fixing means indicated generally at 115 is also different from the fixing means 15 described above. It comprises a panel-mounting portion 132 which holds the edge of the first pane of the screen, and a fixing portion 134 which is generally T shaped in cross-section, comprising a part 134 a for lying against a wall surface and a part 134 b extending at right angles therefrom. The part 134 b and mounting portion 132 are joined by a co-extruded living hinge element 136.
  • the outer edges of the base part 134 a thereof are provided with relatively thin cover parts 150 joined to the part 134 a by thin hinge sections.
  • the free edges of the cover parts 150 are provided with retaining formations 151 engagable with lugs 152behind the end of the part 134 b where the hinge extrusion 136 is attached.
  • the invention provides a bath screen which is simple in construction, utilising a minimal number of separate parts. At the same time, it achieves a high degree of effective sealing against water leakage when in use, while maintaining a "clean" and attractive appearance.

Landscapes

  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Public Health (AREA)
  • Epidemiology (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Devices For Medical Bathing And Washing (AREA)
  • Bathtub Accessories (AREA)
  • Residential Or Office Buildings (AREA)
EP20000123056 1999-10-27 2000-10-24 Ecran de douche Expired - Lifetime EP1095608B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB9925247 1999-10-27
GBGB9925247.0A GB9925247D0 (en) 1999-10-27 1999-10-27 Bath screen

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1095608A2 true EP1095608A2 (fr) 2001-05-02
EP1095608A3 EP1095608A3 (fr) 2001-10-17
EP1095608B1 EP1095608B1 (fr) 2005-03-16

Family

ID=10863352

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP20000123056 Expired - Lifetime EP1095608B1 (fr) 1999-10-27 2000-10-24 Ecran de douche

Country Status (3)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1095608B1 (fr)
DE (2) DE60018674T2 (fr)
GB (2) GB9925247D0 (fr)

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE7735882U1 (de) * 1977-11-24 1978-04-27 Reichel, Guenter, 3563 Dautphetal Faltbare spritzschutzwand fuer brausen
FR2615091A1 (fr) * 1987-05-11 1988-11-18 Motte Sa Ateliers Ecran pour baignoire ou bac de douche
FR2617034A2 (fr) * 1987-05-11 1988-12-30 Motte Sa Ateliers Ecran pour baignoire, bac a douche ou analogue
GB2317108A (en) * 1996-09-12 1998-03-18 Coram Sealed hinge bath screen

Family Cites Families (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE8714788U1 (fr) * 1987-02-18 1988-01-07 Schulte Duschkabinenbau Gmbh & Co Kg, 5768 Sundern, De
DE9304138U1 (fr) * 1993-03-19 1993-06-03 Altura Leiden Holding B.V., Maastricht, Nl
GB9607997D0 (en) * 1996-04-18 1996-06-19 Daryl Ind Ltd Improvements in or relating to screens

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE7735882U1 (de) * 1977-11-24 1978-04-27 Reichel, Guenter, 3563 Dautphetal Faltbare spritzschutzwand fuer brausen
FR2615091A1 (fr) * 1987-05-11 1988-11-18 Motte Sa Ateliers Ecran pour baignoire ou bac de douche
FR2617034A2 (fr) * 1987-05-11 1988-12-30 Motte Sa Ateliers Ecran pour baignoire, bac a douche ou analogue
GB2317108A (en) * 1996-09-12 1998-03-18 Coram Sealed hinge bath screen

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB2356807B (en) 2004-03-31
GB0025943D0 (en) 2000-12-13
DE60018674D1 (de) 2005-04-21
DE60018674T2 (de) 2005-08-04
EP1095608A3 (fr) 2001-10-17
EP1095608B1 (fr) 2005-03-16
GB2356807A (en) 2001-06-06
DE1095608T1 (de) 2001-08-23
GB9925247D0 (en) 1999-12-29

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