GB1562386A

GB1562386A - Wash basin

Info

Publication number: GB1562386A
Application number: GB3430175A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1976-08-18
Filing date: 1976-08-18
Publication date: 1980-03-12

Description

(54) WASH BASIN (71) I, GEOFFREY HARRISON, a British subject, of Brymar, Manley Road, Ilkley, West Yorkshire, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement This invention relates to a wash basin.

The present invention has been developed in relation to the production of wash basins of plastics material and, in the moulding of wash basins, it would greatly simplify the moulding procedure if the wash basin proper, and an overflow arrangement therefor, could be moulded as separate components which are subsequently assembled. Indeed, to date, it is believed that it has not been possible to mould, in a single operation, a composite wash basin incorporating an overflow arrangement. Wash basins in plastics material have been made having an overflow aperture, but the overflow arrangement merely comprised the application of a flexible discharge pipe to such aperture, which pipe hangs loosely from the wash basin and is not connected to the normal outflow from the basin.

Such wash basins have found use in caravans and the like, but would not be acceptable in permanent installations e.g. in homes and offices.

According to the invention, there is provided a wash basin made of plastics material and provided with an overflow outlet in one wall of the basin, and a discharge outlet in a base of the basin, in which said one wall of the basin is coupled with a pre-formed overflow arrangement which provides an overflow passage communicating with said overflow outlet and with said discharge outlet, the overflow arrangement being coupled with said one wall by flanges fitting in channels.

Preferably, the channels are provided by ribs projecting outwardly of said one wall, and flanges of the overflow arrangement fit in the channels in order to form a water-tight seal between said one wall and the overflow arrangement when a, sealant is employed to seal the engagement between the basin and overflow arrangement.

However, it should be understood that the coupling together of the wash basin and the overflow arrangement could readily be reversed if required, whereby the channels are provided by the overflow arrangement and receive flange or edge parts of said one wall.

Correspondingly co-operative parts may be provided in the base of the basin and corresponding parts of the overflow arrangement.

Also, although it is preferred that the ribs of said one wall project outwardly, said one wall could also be formed with channels in the surface of the wall in which respective edge or flange parts of the overflow arrangement could be received. Conveniently, the overflow arrangement defines the overflow passage in conjunction with an outer surface portion of said wall, usually the back wall of the basin, though this invention does not exclude the case in which the overflow arrangement solely defines the overflow passage.

It is preferred that the overflow arrangement constitutes, when assembled with the basin, a support therefor. To this end,- the overflow arrangement may include a support bracket securable to a wall or other upright support. Additional support for the basin may be provided by means of a strip-like support securable to the wall, the support defining a channel in which a support edge of the basin can be received. Conveniently, the support edge comprises a downwardly extending edge provided on a splash-back tray of the basin.

In addition to securement of the overflow arrangement to the basin by means of a sealant, additional securement may be provided by means of mechanical connections.

To this end, screw threaded fasteners may be employed to secure the overflow arrangement to said one wall of the basin. This securement may be carried out at a location adjacent to the overflow outlet of the basin, and a mask plate may be attached by the same fasteners.

It is preferred that the overflow arrangement also has a mechanical connection with the base of the wash basin. The mechanical connection can supplement the securement of the overflow arrangement which may be provided by means of cooperative parts provided by the base and by corresponding parts of the overflow arrangement. In the preferred arrangement, concentric, part annular flanges project downwardly from the base of the basin, and a single, part annular upwardly extending flange of the overflow arrangement is received, or receivable, in the space defined between said flanges.Additionally, the overflow arrangement may be formed as a socket portion, which is adapted to receive an outlet pipe of the basin communicating with the discharge outlet, and the mechanical connection of this socket portion may be provided by means of a nut in engagement with a threaded portion of the outlet pipe, tightening of the nut effecting rigid coupling of the socket portion to the base of the basin.

As referred to above, it is preferred that at least a substantial proportion of the vertical support for the wash basin be provided by a bracket of the overflow arrangement, and an elongate strip. Therefore, a pedestal may be provided for the wash basin and overflow arrangement which need not be constructed in such manner as to be capable of providing substantial vertical support for the wash basin, as is often the case with clay-ware basins. Conveniently, the pedestal may be made of plastics material, and in the manufacture of the pedestal it is only necessary to consider that the pedestal will be required mainly for masking purposes, that is to say to conceal from view pipework leading to and from the basin.

Preferably, the pedestal is generally Ushaped in cross-section, and, to achieve simple fitting of the pedestal, it may be provided with a suitable cooperative formation to enable a snap-fit. To this end, adjacent the upper end of the pedestal there may be provided a key-hole aperture shaped to permit the upper end of the pedestal to be snapped-on and around the socket portion of the overflow arrangement in a substantially horizontal direction.

The invention will now be described in more detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section, of a wash hand basin provided with a pedestal and an overflow arrangement; Figure 2 is an under plan view of the wash hand basin taken in the direction of the arrow A in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line X-X in Figure 1; Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view of the overflow arrangement for the wash hand basin; Figure 5 is an end view of the overflow arrangement; Figure 6 is a plan view of the overflow arrangement; and Figure 7 is an opposite end view showing part of the overflow arrangement.

Referring now to Figures 1 to 3 of the drawings, there is shown a wash hand basin 10 moulded from plastics material, and a pedestal 11 cooperating with basin 10. The pedestal 11 also is made of plastics material, and serves to conceal from view a waste pipe from the basin and also supply pipes (not shown) leading to the taps for the basin (also not shown). In the illustrated arrangement, the pedestal 11 is intended to provide only minimal vertical load support for the basin 10, the major support for the basin 10 being provided by a support arrangement which will be described in more detail later.

The wash hand basin is also provided with an overflow arrangement generally designated by reference numeral 12 and comprising an overflow "box" which is moulded separately from plastics material and is subsequently secured to the basin 10 in water tight manner. The overflow arrangement 12 is formed by a generally channel shaped member which is contoured to correspond with the shape of the back face 13 of the basin 10, and is provided with an integral support bracket 14 which forms part of a support arrangement for the basin 10. The channel shaped member is designated by reference numeral 15, and member 15 and bracket 14 are shown to an enlarged scale in Figures 4 to 7, and will be described in more detail below.

The channel member 15 cooperates with the back face 13 of the basin 10 in order to define an overflow passage by means of which excess water in the basin 10 can by-pass the normal drain outlet 16 by feeding into waste pipe 17 downstream of outlet 16.

As mentioned above the overflow arrangement is moulded in plastics material, separately from the moulding of the basin 10, and then the overflow arrangement is subsequently secured to the basin 10 by the use of a suitable adhesive, as well as mechanical connections. In order to receive the edges of the channel member 15, the basin 10 is provided with spaced ribs which define a number of channels in which the respective edges of the channel member 15 can be received. Thus, as shown in Figure 1, basin 10 has a splash-back tray 18 and, on the underside of tray 18, a pair of downwardly extending, spaced ribs 19 receive a horizontal upper edge of channel member 15. Further, the underside of basin 10 adjacent outlet 16 is provided with a pair of downwardly extending part annular ribs 20 which also define a channel into which a part annular flange 37 of the channel member 15 can be received. In addition, the back face 13 of basin 10 is provided with two pairs of spaced outwardly projecting ribs, one of which is shown at 21 in Figure 1. These ribs 21 merge at their upper ends into the ribs 19, and at their lower end into the part annular ribs 20. The respective edges of the channel member 15, which are each received in a respective channel formed by ribs 19 to 21, will be described in more detail below with reference to Figures 4 to 7.

For the present, it should be mentioned that appropriate adhesive sealant will be intro duced into the various channels in order to provide a water tight securement of the overflow arrangement to the basin.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the channel member 15 merges at its lower end into a socket portion designated generally by reference numeral 22 through which outlet pipe 17 is taken. Further, the socket portion 22 is mechanically secured to the basin 10 by means of a locking nut 23 which is fitted on a threaded portion of outlet pipe 17 and, upon tightening with interpositioning of a sealing washer 24, rigidly couples socket portion 22 to the basin 10. A further mechanical connection of the overflow arrangement to basin 10 is provided by means of screws which are taken through laterally projecting lugs 25 (see Figure 5), provided on channel member 15, through holes in the back face 13 of the basin 10, and into threaded sockets provided in an overflow name plate 26.The name plate 26 serves, in addition to providing a vehicle on which a name can be carried, also as a mask concealing an overflow slot 26a provided in the back face 13.

As mentioned above, pedestal 11 is provided primarily for the purposes of masking pipework for the basin, and does not provide any substantial vertical support for the basin 10. The major portion of the support for the basin 10 is provided by means of integral bracket 14 of the overflow arrangement 12, acting in conjunction with a transverse support 27 which, as shown in Figure 1, defines a horizontal channel in which a down turned edge 28 of tray 18 can be received. The support 27 is in the form of an elongate strip of stepped construction in vertical section, and support 27 will be secured by screws or the like taken through apertures provided therealong, at any suitable height and position on a wall ina ccordance with the required positioning of the basin 10.' Bracket 14 also can be secured to a wall, as indicated at 29 in Figure 1.However, it should be understood that the positioning of support 27 will determine the positioning of the basin 10, in that the basin 10 will first be positioned to be supported by support 27 (overflow arrangement 12 will already be secured to basin 10), and then bracket 14 will be secured to the wall so as to complete the support for the basin 10.

As soon as the wash hand basin has been supported against a wall, pedestal 11 can be presented to the basin, and it should be appreciated that the positioning of support 27 will take into account the height of pedestal 11. Pedestal 11 is generally U-shaped in cross-section, and the upper edge of pedestal 11 will be contoured in accordance with the shaping provided adjacent the outlet 16.

Although not shown in detail in Figures 1 and 3, it should be appreciated that the upper, outer edge of pedestal 11 will at least partly surround outlet 16. Further, closely spaced downwardly from the upper edge of pedestal 11, there is provided a part annular flange 30 which defines a "key hole" and which partly surrounds socket portion 22 in snap-fit manner, whereby the pedestal 11 is coupled with the basin 10. The lower end 31 of pedestal 11 can then be secured to the floor by screws if required. It will be evident from Figures 1 and 3 that the length of socket portion 22 in a vertical sense is sufficient to permit minor vertical adjustment movement of pedestal 11 thereon.

Referring now to Figures 4 to 7 of the drawings, the features of the overflow arrangement 12 are shown to an enlarged scale, and will now be described in more detail.

The channel shaped member 15 comprises a base 32, a back 33 and a pair of laterally spaced side flanges 34. The edge 35 of each flange 34 is contoured to correspond with the shape of the portion of the back face 13 of the basin 10 with which the overflow arrangement cooperates to define an outflow passage.

As seen particularly in Figure 6, the side flanges 34 merge at the top of the back 33 into a horizontal edge 36, whereas the flanges 34 merge at their bottom ends into a part annular flange 37. It should be understood that edges 35 of flanges 34, the upper edge 36 and the upper edge of flange 37 will be received within respective channels provided by flanges 21, 19 and 20 provided by basin 10.

To assist in locating outlet pipe 17, base 32 also has an upstanding part annular flange 38, and the drain outlet 16 (see Figure 1) will be located close to the upper edge of flange 38, whereas outlet pipe 17 will extend within, and project below, flange 38. As described above, tightening of nut 23 will achieve a direct mechanical coupling of the overflow arrangement to the bottom of the basin.

Although not shown, outlet pipe 17 will have one or more apertures formed in the wall thereof in order to communicate with the outflow passage defined between the back face and bottom side of the basin and the channel member 15. As shown in Figure 6, flange 38 does not extend completely throughout a circle, but defines a gap between its ends 39 whereby communication between the outflow passage and the slot or slots in the outlet pipe 17 can be established.

As mentioned above, bracket 14 is integrally formed with the channel member 15, whereby a base 40 of the bracket 14 forms a continuation of base 32. Base 40 is also connected to member 15 by means of a vertical web 41, and an end plate 42 is provided at one end of base 40 and also is secured to web 41.

Also, as seen particularly in Figures 4 and 6, an oval cross-section passage is provided in bracket 14 and extends therethrough, the passage being provided by an oval wall 43 formed integrally with flange 41. The oval passage is an optional feature, the purpose of which will be described in more detail below.

As described earlier with reference to Figures 1 to 3, the overflow arrangement 12 also forms part of a support mounting for the basin 10 and, for this purpose, securing screws or the like can be taken through apertures 44 provided in end plate 42. While further support for the basin is provided, as described above, by the engagement of the tray 18 in a channel formed in support 27, bracket 14 also provides support for the basin 10, this support being located substantially midway along the back face 13 of the basin 10, and fastening to a wall being achieved in simple manner. This represents a distinct improvement over known methods of securing wash hand basins to walls as em- ployed with porcelain wash hand basins.

The preferred materials employed in the manufacture of the basin 10, and the overflow arrangement 12, is acetal copolymer plastics material, though any other suitable plastics material may be employed. The basin 10 and the overflow arrangement 12 are moulded separately, and are subsequently assembled in the factory in fairly simple manner so as to provide a water tight joint therebetween prior to dispatch of the assembled product.

Although not shown, apertures will be pierced in the surface of tray 18 at any desired location in order to accommodate tap fittings.

Furthermore if it is desired to provide the wash hand basin with an automatic rodoperated drain opener, such as is often provided in hotels and public conveniences, an appropriate aperture and mounting will be provided in tray 18, and conventional linkage may then pass downwardly through the passage defined by oval wall 43, in order to operate an outlet closure (not shown) in known manner.

WHAT I CLAIM IS: 1. A wash basin made of plastics material and provided with an overflow outlet in one wall of the basin, and a discharge outlet in a base of the basin, in which said one wall ofthe basin is coupled with a pre-formed overflow arrangement which provides an overflow passage communicating with said overflow outlet and with said discharge outlet, the overflow arrangement being coupled with said one wall by flanges fitting in channels.

2. A wash basin according to claim 1, in which the channels are provided by ribs projecting outwardly of said one wall.

3. A wash basin according to claim 1 or 2, in which the overflow passage is defined between the outer surface of said one wall and a wall of said overflow arrangement.

4. A wash basin according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the overflow arrangement incorporates a support bracket securable to an upright support surface in order to support the basin therefrom.

5. A wash basin according to claim 4, including a splash-back tray having a downwardly extending edge, and a support securable horizontally to the upright support surface and defining a channel in which said edge is receivable to provide additional support for the basin.

6. A wash basin according to any one of the preceding claims, including a mask plate concealing said overflow outlet and secured to said one wall by fasteners which also couple the overflow arrangement to said one wall.

7. A wash basin according to any one of the preceding claims, including a pair of partannular downwardly projecting flanges on the underside of the basin defining a channel in which an upstanding part-annular edge of the overflow arrangement is received.

8. A wash basin according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the overflow arrangement forms a socket which receives an outlet pipe communicating with the overflow passage and with the discharge outlet in the base of the basin.

9. A wash basin according to claim 8, including a pedestal of plastics material having a part-annular upper flange for snapfitting with the external surface of the socket of the overflow arrangement.

10. A wash basin according to claim 1 and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. Also, as seen particularly in Figures 4 and 6, an oval cross-section passage is provided in bracket 14 and extends therethrough, the passage being provided by an oval wall 43 formed integrally with flange 41. The oval passage is an optional feature, the purpose of which will be described in more detail below. As described earlier with reference to Figures 1 to 3, the overflow arrangement 12 also forms part of a support mounting for the basin 10 and, for this purpose, securing screws or the like can be taken through apertures 44 provided in end plate 42. While further support for the basin is provided, as described above, by the engagement of the tray 18 in a channel formed in support 27, bracket 14 also provides support for the basin 10, this support being located substantially midway along the back face 13 of the basin 10, and fastening to a wall being achieved in simple manner. This represents a distinct improvement over known methods of securing wash hand basins to walls as em- ployed with porcelain wash hand basins. The preferred materials employed in the manufacture of the basin 10, and the overflow arrangement 12, is acetal copolymer plastics material, though any other suitable plastics material may be employed. The basin 10 and the overflow arrangement 12 are moulded separately, and are subsequently assembled in the factory in fairly simple manner so as to provide a water tight joint therebetween prior to dispatch of the assembled product. Although not shown, apertures will be pierced in the surface of tray 18 at any desired location in order to accommodate tap fittings. Furthermore if it is desired to provide the wash hand basin with an automatic rodoperated drain opener, such as is often provided in hotels and public conveniences, an appropriate aperture and mounting will be provided in tray 18, and conventional linkage may then pass downwardly through the passage defined by oval wall 43, in order to operate an outlet closure (not shown) in known manner. WHAT I CLAIM IS:

1. A wash basin made of plastics material and provided with an overflow outlet in one wall of the basin, and a discharge outlet in a base of the basin, in which said one wall ofthe basin is coupled with a pre-formed overflow arrangement which provides an overflow passage communicating with said overflow outlet and with said discharge outlet, the overflow arrangement being coupled with said one wall by flanges fitting in channels.