GB2222521A - Shower head - Google Patents

Abstract

A shower head 10 is provided with separate inlets 19, 20 for hot and cold water supplies via hoses H, C. The head may have a star-shaped lobed inner compartment 14 which may be supplied with hot water via tube 18. A baffle 21 may be located within the compartment to improve flow to the lobes. Cold water is supplied to the interior of casing 11. Both hot and cold water are discharged through apertures 13 in plate 12. A lobular shutter 22 may be rotatably mounted on plate 12 to obturate some of the apertures and it may be provided with an extension 24 for manual operation purposes. In one position it may shut off the hot water supply and in another position it may cut off half the apertures in hot and cold zones to enable a spray of appropriate temperature to be produced. <IMAGE>

Description

Title: "Shower Appliances" Description of the Invention This invention relates to shower appliances, and more particularly shower heads for the supply of water in domestic or other shower installations.

Shower attachments which are coupled to separate hot and cold water taps by means of suitable nozzles are intended physically to mix water from hot and cold supplies in a flexible pipe leading to a conventional shower head.

However, in practice it is difficult to obtain the correct balance of the two supplies since relatively small variations in supply pressure result in the higher pressure source totally holding back the supply from the lower pressure source, so that very small changes in supply pressure (for example caused by other uses) induce unacceptably wide variations in the temperature of water delivered at the shower head, and the need for constant manual correction.

Mixer controls for the supply of water to a shower head take water from a cold water source and from a hot water source, and water from the two sources is mixed in a control device which regulates at least the relative flow rates and mixes water from the two sources in appropriate proportions to provide a supply of water at the desired temperature at an outlet which is connected to a shower head by means of a flexible hose or in some cases through a permanently plumbed-in pipe. Such devices may incorporate thermostatic means for maintaining the temperature of the out-going water within a narrow range of temperatures despite variations in the temperature of the incoming supplies or variations in flow rate from one or other of the sources.

Such devices, especially if incorporating thermostatic control, are expensive and prone to malfunction particularly when used with hard water supplies.

Even showers which operate by heating, usually electrically, water drawn from a cold water supply cannot reliably maintain the output temperature at a chosen level due to fluctuations in supply pressure.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple arrangement which mitigates the disadvantage of such known shower appliances without requiring complex and expensive devices such as known mixer controls.

According to the invention I provide shower apparatus in which water from respective hot and cold supplies is carried to a shower head in separate pipes or hoses.

More specifically, according to the invention I provide a shower head comprising a body defining a water distribution chamber having an outlet comprising an array of fine apertures in an outlet plate, wherein said body is provided with two water inlets for connection to hot and cold water supplies respectively and said chamber is divided by an internal wall into two compartments each associated with a respective one of said inlets and a respective group of said apertures in said outlet plate.

Preferably, the internal wall is of re-entrant form so as to define a plurality of spaced lobes whereby the outlet plate presents a series of adjacent zones alternately in register with parts of each of said compartments.

One or more baffles may be arranged in either or both of such compartments to direct water from the respective inlet away from a direct line of flow from the respective inlet to the outlet plate.

The outlet plate may have associated therewith a shutter plate arranged to obturate part of the area of the outlet plate whereby the relative proportions of water delivered from the respective compartments can be varied by the user.

Whilst the two compartments are preferably totally separate, so as to prevent any mixing of the two streams of water within the head, in an alternative arrangement, the internal wall may be apertured to allow some mixing.

In a further embodiment the internal wall may be omitted entirely so that the two streams of water mix substantially within the head, and if desired baffles may be provided to promote such mixing.

According to a further feature of the invention, the shower head is connected to a composite flexible hose which comprises two conduits. The two conduits may be physically separate and preferably inter-twined.

Alternatively, the two conduits may be formed as a unitary structure affording, for example respective laterally spaced conduits, although one conduit could be arranged within the other if desired. Nevertheless, preferably, the two conduits are thermally isolated so as to reduce equalisation of the temperature of the two streams of water along the length of the hose, especially when the shower head is provided with the shutter plate so that the user can manually cause the effective temperature of the spray delivered by the head to be cycled between relatively cold and relatively hot temperatures so as to produce a stimulating thermal impulse.

For the this purpose, the head could include a flow-operated mechanism for rotating or oscillating the shutter plate automatically.

These and other features of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: FIGURE I shows a shower head in accordance with the invention, in longitudinal cross-section; FIGURE 2 shows a section on the line ll-ll of Figure l; and FIGURE 3 shows an underneath plan view of the head of Figure I with a modification.

As can be seen, externally the shower head 10 illustrated in Figure I is of substantially conventional design, comprising a hollow casing 10 which is shaped to serve as a handle, and with a water outlet plate 12 at one end, which is formed with an array of apertures 13 distributed across the plate in a predetermined pattern. However, instead of having a single inlet for connection to a single flexible hose, at the end remote from the outlet plate 12, the head II is provided with two separate inlets 19 and 20 respectively for connection to a hot water hose H and a cold water hose C. Inlet 20 opens directly into the casing II, whereas inlet 19 is connected to a tube 18 which runs along the length of the body to a water distribution chamber which is constituted by an offset end portion Ila of the casing adjacent to the outlet plate 12. The end portion I la is open internally so as to allow inflow of cold water delivered through inlet 20.

Disposed centrally within the end portion I la there is an internal wall 15 which is of re-entrant form so as to define a star-shaped or lobed inner compartment 14. A correspondingly star-shaped end wall 16 closes off the inner compartment 14 from the cold water supply, and the tube 18 leads to a central aperture 17 in the end wall 16 so thot hot water from inlet 20 is supplied direct to the interior of the compartment 14.

In this way, the supplies of hot and cold water are kept separate within the distribution chamber I Ia.

The re-entrant side wall 15 is secured to the outlet plate 12 and divides the latter into separate hot water and cold water areas. As will be evident from Figure 2, the inner, or hot water area is of lobed form and comprises, in the illustrated embodiment, six generally radially outwardly extending zones A which are inter-leaved with six generally inwardly extending zones B of the outer, or cold water area.

Thus, the hot and cold water supplies are kept entirely separate so that there can be no feed back of pressure from one supply to the other, and yet an intimate mixture of hot and cold water sprays is produced so as to provide the same effect as a conventional shower head in which hot and cold supplies are mixed upstream of the shower head.

Instead of the tube 18 and separate compartment 14 as described above, it would alternatively be possible for the inlet 19 to be connected to a tubular member of lobed cross-section throughout its length which leads directly to the outlet plate 12, thereby maximising the area for heat exchange between the separate water flows.

In the illustrated embodiment, it will be observed that the apertures 13 are not evenly divided between the inner and outer areas, but that there are twice as many apertures in the inner zones A as compared with the outer zones B. Such an arrangement is particularly appropriate since domestic cold water supplies are generally available at a higher pressure than hot water supplies. However, other arrangements may be adopted where appropriate and/or the hot and cold hoses may be inter-changed.

Desirably, the casing II is made of a thermally insulating material, or includes an insulating hand grip (not shown).

In the illustrated embodiment the outlet plate 12 includes a central region which is free of apertures, and a baffle plate 21 is secured within the inner compartment 14, between the inner ends of the lobes of the side wall 15, at a position in register with, but spaced from, the aperture 17 in the end wall 16 so as to deflect water from the tube 18 laterally so as to maximise flow in the lobes.

However, if required, the central region of the plate 13 may be formed with additional apertures.

It will be appreciated that instead of leading directly to the re-entrant inner compartment of lobed form, the pipe 18 could lead to a distribution chamber adjacent to the offset end portion of the casing II, such chamber having a plurality of outlet ducts leading up to the separate zones A of the outlet plate 12.

A further feature of the present invention is illustrated in the modification shown in Figure 3, where a generally star-shaped shutter 22 is rotatably mounted on the outer face of the outlet plate 12 so as to obturate a proportion of the apertures 13. The shutter 22 includes six arms 23 of a size and shape corresponding to the lobes of the inner compartment 14, and one of the arms 23 is formed with an extension 24 which protrudes through a recess in the end of the casing II to serve as a manual operating member. The recess serves to limit movement of the shutter 22 between two predetermined positions. As illustrated, in one position the arms 23 register with the zones A through which hot water is delivered, so as substantially to shut off the hot water supply.In the alternative position, the shutter 22 may be arranged so as to close off approximately half the apertures in each of these zones so as to produce a mixed spray of the desired temperature. In this way, the user can manually alternate the temperature of the spray to provide a stimulating thermal impulse.

In a further embodiment, not illustrated, a similar shutter, without the extension 24, may be pivoted for rotational movement about the centre of the outlet plate, the shutter being connected to a small impeller disposed within the casing 14 so that the plate is rotated by water flow with the result that the temperature of the delivered spray varies cyclically.

Alternatively, instead of positively closing some of the apertures 13 in the outlet plate 12 by means of a star-shaped obturating plate, it would be possible to arrange a second apertured plate in face-to-face relation with the outlet-plate 12, each with apertures arranged in respective patterns so that in different relative positions different sets of apertures are in register.

Thus in one setting the apertures in the lobed area may be in register so as to deliver a mixed supply at the required temperature, which in another setting only apertures in the central area are in register so as to deliver a substantially cold supply.

Whilst in the preferred embodiment described above, the hot and cold water supplies are kept entirely separate up to the outlet plate 12, it will be appreciated that, if desired, the wall 15 could be formed with apertures to allow a limited degree of mixing in the distribution chamber I la upstream of the outlet plate 12.

Moreover, it is believed that even if the tube 18 and inner compartment 14 are omitted entirely, so that the hot and cold water supplies mix freely within the casing II, such an arrangement would continue to be advantageous in that there would be minimum feed back of pressure from one inlet hose to the other.

In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the two hoses H and C are preferably structurally separate hoses which are inter-twined with one another so as to provide for maximum flexibility of the composit hose.

However, the two hoses may be formed as separate, parallel hoses or they may be formed as a unitary structure in which for example the two hoses are intergrally united by means of a transverse web, or a single hose is divided internally by a medial partition, or two hoses of differing diameters are nested one within the other. The latter arrangements would facilitate heat exchange between the two water supplies, where there is desired, but preferably the two supplies are insulated from one another where the thermal impulse effect is required.

Claims (10)

CLAIMS:

1. Shower apparatus comprising a shower head and distinct conduits for conveying water from respective hot and cold supplies to the shower head.

2. A shower head comprising a body defining a water distribution chamber wherein said chamber has an outlet comprising an array of fine apertures in an outlet plate and wherein said body is provided with two inlets for connection to hot and cold water supplies respectively.

3. A shower head according to Claim 2 wherein said chamber is at least partly divided by an internal wall into two compartments, each of which communicates with a respective one of the inlets and with a respective croup of the apertures in the plate.

4 A shower head according to Claim 2 wherein the body is arranged for mixing of hot and cold water within the chamber.

5. A shower head according to Claim 3 wherein said wall is of re-entrant form to define a plurality of spaced lobes, wherein the outlet plate presents a series of adjacent zones alternately in register with parts of each of said compartments.

6. A shower head according to any one of Claims 2 to 5 wherein one or more baffles is provided in the distribution chamber to divert water away from a direct line of flow from an inlet to the outlet plate.

7. A shower head according to any one of Claims 2 to 6 further comprising an adjustable shutter arranged to obturate a part of the area of the outlet plate.

8. A shower head according to Claim 7 further comprising a flow-operated mechanism for moving the shutter relative to the body.

9. Apparatus according to Claim I wherein the shower head is a head according to any one of Claims 2 to 8.

10. Any novel feature or novel combination of features disclosed herein or in the accompanying drawing.

II. A shower head substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.