GB2317108A - Sealed hinge bath screen - Google Patents

Abstract

A bath screen comprising a glass or plastics panel (10) is secured along one edge to a support member (11) via a hinge. Said hinge is a continuous strip of flexible plastic and as such may bend to allow hinging action whilst maintaining a watertight seal.

Description

Title: Bath Screen Description of Invention This invention relates to a bath screen.

A bath screen commonly is usually used in association with a bath with the object of preventing splashes of water from reaching the floor beyond the bath. In particular, one is typically installed when the bath has a shower attachment, and characteristically it extends approximately to head height and to about one third the length of the bath. In many bathrooms, baths are installed with their length extending parallel to one wall and one end of the bath adjacent a further wall substantially perpendicular to the first wall. In this case, the bath screen typically extends from the further wall substantially parallel to the first said wall. However, such a screen hinders access to the bath for a person using the bath and also hinders cleaning of the end part of the bath at which the screen is provided. Accordingly, such screens have been pivotally mounted to the wall, to perrnit them to be moved pivotally about a substantially vertical axis so that they do not inhibit access to the end part of the bath.

Such pivotal mounting has been conventionally carried out by the use of pivot formations or hinges at top and bottom of the screen. However, this allows a gap to exist between the edge of the screen and the wall, in the region between the top and bottom pivotal mountings. Splashed water can penetrate such a gap. The use of seals has been proposed to prevent such water penetration, but this substantially increases the complexity of the mounting arrangement for the screen.

It is broadly the object of the present invention to provide a bath screen having a pivotal mounting of simple design and wherein the abovedescribed problem of water penetration is overcome or reduced.

It is to be appreciated that, although we refer herein to a bath screen and describe the use of a screen in accordance with the invention in relation to a bath, a screen constructed in accordance with the invention is, in practice, usable in other situations whether or not similar or analogous requirements exist.

Thus, a screen constructed as defined herein is to be regarded as within the scope of the invention, whatever its intended use may be.

According to the present invention, we provide a bath screen comprising a panel and a mounting member adapted to be connected to a surface and connected to the panel by a continuous hinge element of flexible material extending along an edge of the panel.

Preferably, the hinge element is of a plastics material, and is of the kind which is sometimes referred to as a "living hinge".

The hinge element and mounting member may form respective portions of an elongate support member which further comprises a panel-engaging portion.

Such a support member conveniently is an extrusion of a plastics material and preferably it is a co-extrusion of a first plastics material which constitutes the mounting portion and panel-engaging portion of the support member, and a second material which constitutes the hinge portion of the support member.

It will be appreciated that certain types of plastics material are highly flexible and able, when utilised as "living hinges", to withstand a large number of cycles of hinging without suffering damage. Preferably such a material is used for the hinge portion.

By way of example, a suitable material to form the hinge portion may be "Hytrel" (Trade Mark) or PVC Nitrile.

The mounting portion and panel-engaging portion of the support member may comprise a substantially rigid PVC (poly vinyl chloride) material.

The mounting portion may be adapted to be secured to a surface such as a wall surface by any suitable means, eg by the use of an adhesive or by the use of fasteners such as screws.

The panel-engaging portion may be shaped so as to embrace an edge region of a panel of, for example, toughened glass or a rigid plastics material, thereby to support the panel.

In a bath screen in accordance with the invention, the use of the "living hinge" element of flexible material inherently provides a barrier against penetration of water as well as providing the necessary pivotal mounting of the screen. Both the pivoting and sealing functions are provided in simple and economical manner.

A further advantage is that, although the hinge portion is flexible, it is also to some extent resilient and will, when not subject to any external forces, return to the configuration in which it has been manufactured by extrusion. This characteristic may cause the panel of the screen to be biased to one position relative to the surface to which it is mounted. Preferably such position is that in which the panel extends substantially perpendicular to such surface, which in most installations will mean it extends lengthwise of the bath.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a bath screen in accordance with the invention; FIGURE 2 is a cross-section on the line II-II of Figure 1.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged cross-section of part of the screen.

Referring to the drawings, a bath screen comprises a panel 10 and a support member 11 therefor. The support member is provided at a verticallyextending edge of the panel 10 and extends for substantially the entire height of the panel and slightly below the lower edge thereof. The panel 10 may be of transparent or translucent material, eg toughened glass or an appropriate rigid plastics material. Typically, the screen will be installed at the head or foot of a bath with the support member 11 connected to a wall at such head or foot end.

The lower edge of the panel 10 is provided with a trim strip or the like 12, which may be provided with a portion intended to engage the rim of a bath in such a manner as to resist penetration of water.

The support member 11, which is seen in section in Figure 2 and on an enlarged scale in Figure 3, comprises a portion indicated generally at 14 constituting a mounting member, a portion 15 which forms a flexible hinge element, and a portion 16 which is a panel-engaging portion. The portion 14 is generally T-shaped comprising a base portion 17 which is flat and is arranged to be attached to a wall surface either by the use of fasteners such as screws, shown at 18 in Figure 2, extending through the base portion 17 and into the wall, or alternatively, by the use of an adhesive. A limb 19 extends perpendicularly outwardly from the base portion 7.

The panel-engaging portion 16 is generally U-shaped so as to embrace an edge portion of the panel 10 and has opposed inwardly facing projections 21.

An adhesive or sealant, or mechanical fastening means, may be used to secure the panel therein. The portions 14 and 16 are preferably of a relatively rigid plastics material, eg rigid PVC. It will be appreciated that they could be of configurations other than those illustrated, if required for particular types of installation.

The portion 15 extending between the portions 14, 16 of the support member 11 is of a more flexible plastics material than the portions 14, 16 and preferably is one which is particularly suitable for resisting damage under repeated flexing. By way of example, such a material may be a thermo-plastic elastomer, eg "Hytrel" (Trade Mark), or PVC Nitrile. The portion 15 incorporates a part 20 of reduced cross-sectional area enabling pivoting of the portion 16 relative to the portion 14 readily to take place. Such pivoting may be through an angle of approximately 180 , ie approximately 900 in either direction from the position illustrated in Figure 3.

The support member 11 preferably is manufactured as a co-extrusion, with the different materials forming the portions 14, 16 and 15 being extruded The support member 11 preferably is manufactured as a co-extrusion, with the different materials forming the portions 14, 16 and 15 being extruded together through a single die. Thus the portion 15 remains securely attached to the portions 14, 16 and as acts a "living hinge" between such portions. It would be within the scope of the invention, however, for the hinge portion 15 to be manufactured separately from the mounting and panel-engaging portions, and secured thereto by adhesive or mechanical fastening, for example.

The invention thus provides for pivotal mounting of a screen such as a bath screen in a simple manner which inherently resists water penetration.

The features disclosed in the foregoing description, or the accompanying drawings, expressed in their specific forms or in terms of a means for performing the disclosed function, or a method or process for attaining the disclosed result, or a class or group of substances or compositions, as appropriate, may, separately or in any combination of such features, be utilised for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.

Claims (11)

1. A bath screen comprising a panel and a mounting member adapted to be connected to a surface and connected to the panel by a continuous hinge element of flexible material extending along an edge of the panel.

2. A screen according to Claim 1 wherein the hinge element is of plastics material.

3. A screen according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the hinge element and mounting member form respective portions of an elongate support member further comprising a panel-engaging portion.

4. A screen according to Claim 3 wherein the support member is an extrusion of a plastics material.

5. A screen according to Claim 4 wherein said support member is a coextrusion of a first plastics material which constitutes the mounting portion and panel engaging portion of the support member, and a second material which constitutes the hinge portion of the support member.

6. A screen according to Claim 5 wherein said hinge portion is of "Hytrel" (Trade Mark) or PVC Nitrile material.

7. A screen according to Claim 5 or Claim 6 wherein said mounting portion and panel-engaging portion of the support member comprise a substantially rigid PVC material.

8. A screen according to any one of Claims 3 to 7 wherein the mounting portion is adapted to be secured to a surface such as a wall surface by an adhesive or by fasteners.

9. A screen according to any one of Claims 3 to 8 wherein the panelengaging portion is shaped to embrace an edge region of a panel to support the panel.

10. A screen substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

11. Any novel feature or novel combination of features described herein and/or in the accompanying drawings.