FR2701842A1 - Balneotherapy bath - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a balneotherapy bath for implementing a treatment which consists, for a patient, in taking a bath in which the water is illuminated by sequences of different and successive colours. It is provided, on its walls (3, 4), with a plurality of light terminals (7) mounted so that their incident beams point towards the inside of the bath and are located at a level below the normal level of the water in the bath but above the body of the patient. Each of the terminals (7) is connected by at least one optical fibre (8) to a cold light box (9) placed outside the bath. The light box (9) is intended to deliver to the end of the optical fibres (8) light signals arranged in different and successive colour ranges.

Description

 The present invention relates to a balneotherapy bath that can be used in a fitness or relaxation treatment. In addition to the conventional treatments by water jets, the bathtub of the invention allows the combined implementation of a relaxation treatment by creating a colored anti-stress medium and a treatment with sounds.

 The treatment envisaged here is carried out in several sessions during each of which the patient, lying in the bathtub for a bath, is subjected to two periods of colored lights and sounds. During each period, the bath water is illuminated according to a predetermined sequence of a number of light ranges of different colors while a corresponding sequence of sounds of determined frequencies is emitted. Each range of color light is synchronous with a corresponding range in the sequence of sounds. The duration of each color range and corresponding sounds is predetermined. Advantageously, the sequence of colors and sounds of the second period repeats that of the first period but in reverse order.

 The implementation of such a treatment poses various technical problems, of which the most important is that of the electrical insulation of the water contained in the bathtub, taking into account the electrical installations used.

 The object of the invention is therefore to propose a bathtub which makes it possible to implement the treatment explained above and to solve the technical problems mentioned above, in particular that of electrical insulation.

 To this end, a balneotherapy bath according to the invention is remarkable in that it is provided, on its walls, with a plurality of light terminals mounted so that their incident beams are directed towards the interior of the bath. and are at a level below the normal level of the water in the bathtub but above the patient's body, each of said terminals being connected, by optical fibers, to a cold light box placed outside the bathtub, said light box delivering at the end of said optical fibers light signals arranged in different and successive color ranges.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, said light box comprises a support for a plurality of optical filters moved step by step to scroll, one after the other at each step, said filters between a white light source and the output of the light box to which the ends of said optical fibers are connected.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, said support is a disc moved in rotation by a stepping motor, said filters being mounted regularly spaced on a circle concentric with said disc.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, said white light source consists of a lamp supplied with low voltage voltage and in that said drive motor of said support is also of the low voltage supply type.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, a control system controls said motor so that it rotates step by step, one revolution in one direction and the next revolution in the other direction.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, it comprises acoustic means for emitting sound waves into the bath water.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, it comprises an elongated boss in its longitudinal axis provided for being normally between the two legs of the patient, said acoustic means being at the end of the boss which is turned towards the patient's body.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, a gutter is provided in the bottom of the bath to start from the front end of said boss and to go up along the rear wall of the bath in a part of it against which rests normally the patient's spine.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, said acoustic means are connected to an audio media player on which sound sequences are recorded comprising a plurality of sound tracks and, in synchronism with said sound tracks, control pulses, said pulses being supplied to a control unit which controls the drive motor of the disc so that the light box emits a track of a new color each time a new sound track is emitted.

The characteristics of the invention mentioned above, as well as others, will appear more clearly on reading the following description of an exemplary embodiment, said description being made in relation to the accompanying drawings, among which:
Fig. 1 is a sectional view along a longitudinal median plane of a bathtub according to the invention, an insert in FIG. 1 showing part of the bathtub seen from above,
Fig. 2 schematically shows a cold light box with which a bathtub according to the invention is provided, and
Fig. 3 is a view of a control system for the cold light box with which a bathtub according to the invention is provided.

 The bathtub shown in Fig. 1 is a conventional bathtub, for example of the type which is normally used in balneotherapy. It comprises a basin 1 consisting of a rear wall 2, a front wall 3 and two side walls of which only one 4 is visible in FIG. 1. It includes a tap 5 connected to a water source to fill it with water before a bath and two bungs 6 for discharging the water after this bath.

 It is provided, on the side walls 4 and on the front wall 3, with a plurality of light terminals 7 mounted so that their incident beams are directed towards the interior of the bathtub.

For example, each side wall 4 is provided with two terminals 7 and the front wall 3 also with two terminals 7. In order to ensure a relatively uniform distribution of the light, the terminals 7 of the side walls 4 are arranged in staggered rows (see insert of the
Fig. 1)
All the light terminals 7 are at a level below the normal level of the water in the bathtub but above the patient's body, as can be seen in FIG. 1.

 Each of said light terminals 7 is connected, by at least one optical fiber 8, to a cold light box 9 which is placed outside the bathtub, for example under the basin 1. In one embodiment, there is several optical fibers are provided per light terminal 7, for example seven, so that each terminal 7 gives a cross-section of the incident beam sufficient for uniform diffusion of the light.

 The light box 9 is designed to deliver, at the end of each of the optical fibers 8, light signals arranged in ranges of different and successive colors.

 It can be seen that the groups of optical fibers 8 respectively connecting the light box 9 to the terminals 7 transmit the same color simultaneously and change color at the same time.

 It can also be seen that the electrical insulation of the bath water with respect to the light box 9 is provided by the optical fibers 8 themselves.

 In Fig. 2, the light box 9 is shown in thin dashed lines. It comprises an outlet 10 to which the ends of the optical fibers 8 connected to the terminals 7 are connected. It further comprises a support 11, which is, according to one embodiment of the invention, in the form of a disc and on which is mounted a plurality of optical filters 12. As can be seen in FIG. 3 where the disc 11 is shown from the front, said filters 12 consist of circular pads mounted regularly spaced on a circle concentric with said disc 11. The pads 12 could also have another shape.

 We see, Fig. 2, that the disc 11 is rotated by a motor 13 which is controlled by a control unit 14 to operate step by step.

 The light box 9 also comprises a white light source 15 which is placed so as to transmit the light emitted on the outlet 10 of the box 9.

 Thus, the disc II is moved step by step to scroll, one after the other at each step, the light filters 12 between the white light source 15 and the output 10 of the light box 9.

 Advantageously, for reasons of electrical safety, the white light source 15 consists of a lamp supplied with low voltage. The drive motor 13 of said support 11 is also of the low voltage supply type. the same can be said of the motor of a fan (not shown) which may be necessary for the evacuation of the heat given off by the light source 15.

 Acoustic means 16 have also been provided (see also FIG. 1) for emitting sound waves into the bath water. These means 16 consist of a loudspeaker connected to a sound source 17 consisting of an audio medium player, for example of the tape recorder type.

 The bathtub shown in Fig. 1 comprises a boss 18 elongated in its longitudinal axis provided for being normally between the two legs of the patient.

The loudspeaker 16 is advantageously mounted, in leaktight manner, behind the boss 18, that is to say at the end of the boss 18 facing the patient's body.

 The bathtub shown is provided with a gutter 19 provided in the bottom of the bathtub to start from the rear end of the boss 18 and to go up along the rear wall 2 of the bathtub in a part of the latter against which rests normally the patient's spine. The width of this gutter 19 is therefore limited to at most ten centimeters.

 Thus the waves emitted by the speaker 16 are guided in the gutter 19 to pass under the patient's buttocks and then to go up along his spine.

 As shown in FIG. 2, the audio player 17 has two outputs 17a and 17b, one 17a for the sound signals which are supplied to the loudspeaker 16, and the other 17b for synchronization signals which are supplied to the control unit 14 of the light box 9.

 For example, the player 17 is a two-track tape recorder, one of which is assigned to sound signals and the other to synchronization pulses.

 On the recording medium read by the reader 17, sound sequences are recorded comprising a plurality of sound tracks of predetermined frequencies included in the band of so-called low frequency signals. For example, this band is between 250 and 1500 Hz. At the same time as a sound sequence is emitted, the light box 9 emits its sequence of colored lights. Each phase of a sound sequence corresponds to a phase of emitting a light of predetermined color.

 Thus, each time the sound phase changes, the reader 17 delivers a pulse to the control unit 14, which has the effect of turning the motor 13, and therefore the disc 11, by one step. A new color filter 12 is therefore presented between the light source 15 and the output 10 to which the optical fibers 8 are connected.

 According to a given treatment, a session is divided into two periods during each of which a sequence of eight sound tracks is emitted. The first sequence corresponds to a sequence of eight light ranges of different colors, in a first order. The second sequence corresponds to the same sequence of light ranges, but in reverse order.

 There is shown in FIG. 3 a control system ensuring the synchronism of the sound areas and light areas of different colors for the implementation of this treatment.

 In this Fig. 3, we see the motor 13 which is intended to drive the disc 11 which carries the optical filters 12. The motor 13 is of the type which comprises two windings 13a and 13b connected in series to present a common point 13c. When one of the windings 13a or 13b is supplied, the motor 13 rotates in a first direction, and when it is the other 13b or 13a which is supplied, it rotates in the other direction.

 Regularly spaced around its periphery, the disc 11 has grooves 11a in number equal to the number of filters 12. A contactor 20 includes a control lever 21 which is provided so that its end 22 comes to be housed in the grooves 11a. When the end of the lever 22 is in one of the grooves 11a, the contact 20c of the contactor 20 is open while it is closed otherwise.

 The two terminals of the contactor 20 are respectively connected in parallel on the two terminals of the contact 23c of a relay 23 whose coil 23b receives the control pulses from the output 17b of the sound source 17 (see also Fig. 2). One of the terminals of the contact 23c is connected to the positive terminal of a power source while the other terminal is connected, on the one hand to the non-common terminal of one of the two windings 13b of the motor 13 and, d on the other hand, to a first working terminal of the inverter 24i of a relay 24. The non-common terminal of the other winding 13a is connected to the negative terminal of the power source. The other working terminal of the inverter 24i is also connected to the negative terminal of the power supply while the common terminal 24c of the inverter 24i is connected to the common point 13c of the windings 13a and 13b by a capacitor 30.

 The coil 24b of the change-over relay 24 is connected to a control unit 25 which is controlled by a contactor 26, the contact of which is activated by a lever 27. The lever 27 is controlled by a cam 28 mounted on the disc 11. When the lever 27 is in contact with the cam 28, it delivers a pulse to the control unit 25 which then reverses the operation of the relay 24 and consequently modifies the active working terminal of the inverter 24i. Thus, at each revolution of the disc 11, the position of the contact of the inverter 24i is modified.

 The operation of the control system described in relation to FIG. 3 is as follows. When a pulse is delivered by the sound reader 17, the relay 23 activates its contact 23c for the duration of the pulse.

 Suppose that the inverter 24i of relay 24 is in the position shown in Fig. 3. The winding 13b is short-circuited by the capacitor 30, and it is therefore the winding 13a which is supplied. The motor 13 then rotates in a first direction. By turning, the lever 21 of the contactor 20 disengages from the groove 11a in which it was hitherto and its contact 20c closes. After a relatively short time, the pulse from the reader 17 is no longer emitted. The coil 23b of the relay 23 is therefore no longer supplied and the contact 23c is open, but this does not prevent the winding 13a from being supplied and the motor 13 from continuing to rotate, due to the fact that the contact 20c is still closed. When the end 22 of the lever 21 can be housed in the groove 11a which follows the groove 11a which it has just left, the contact 20c opens.

The winding 13a is no longer supplied and the motor 13 stops.

 Thus, the motor 13 has turned one step so that a new filter 12 is located in front of the light source 15.

 After a complete revolution, the cam 28 lifts the lever 27 of the contactor 26, which delivers a pulse to the unit 25 which then controls the reversing relay 24.

The inverter now short-circuits, by the capacitor 30, the other winding 13a of the motor 13 so that the latter can then rotate in the other direction.

 The process of passing the filters 12 one after the other can continue, but in the reverse order compared to the previous turn of the disc 11.

Claims (9)

 1) Balneotherapy bath for the implementation of a treatment consisting, for a patient, in taking a bath whose water is lit by sequences of different and successive colors, characterized in that it is provided, on its walls (3, 4), of a plurality of light terminals (7) mounted so that their incident beams are directed towards the interior of the bath and are at a level below the normal level of water in the bath but above the patient's body, each of said terminals (7) being connected, by at least one optical fiber (8), to a cold light box (9) placed outside the bathtub, said light box (9) being provided for delivering at the end of said optical fibers (8) light signals arranged in different and successive color ranges.  2) Bathtub according to claim 1, characterized in that said light box (9) comprises a support (11) for a plurality of color optical filters (12) moved step by step to scroll, one after the another at each step, said filters (12) between a white light source (15) and the outlet (10) of the light box (9) on which the ends of said optical fibers (12) are connected.  3) Bathtub according to claim 2, characterized in that said support is a disc (11) rotated by a motor (13) operating step by step, said filters (12) being mounted regularly spaced on a circle concentric with said disc ( 11).  4) Bathtub according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that said white light source (15) consists of a lamp supplied with low voltage voltage and in that said drive motor (13) of said support (11 ) is also of the low voltage supply type.  5) Bathtub according to one of claims 2, 3 or 4, characterized in that a control system (20 to 27) controls said motor (13) so that it rotates step by step, one turn in one direction and the turn following the other way.  6) Bathtub according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises acoustic means (16) for emitting sound waves into the water of the bath.  7) Bathtub according to claim 6, characterized in that it comprises a boss (18) elongated in its longitudinal axis provided to be normally between the two legs of the patient, said acoustic means (16) being at the end of the boss (18) which faces the patient's body.  8) Bathtub according to claim 7, characterized in that a gutter (19) is provided in the bottom of the bathtub from the front end of said boss (18) and to go up along the rear wall (2) part of the tub against which the patient's spine normally rests.  9) Bathtub according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said acoustic means (16) are connected to an audio medium player (17) on which sound sequences are recorded comprising a plurality of sound tracks and, in synchronism with said tracks sound, control pulses, said pulses being supplied to a control unit (14) which controls the motor (13) so that the light box (9) emits a range of a new color each time a new emission is made sound range.