US2775774A - Wash fountain - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 1, 1957 H. H. LOGAN 2,775,774

WASH FOUNTAIN Filed May 18, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

#0014 A. Loan/v H. H. LOGAN WASH FOUNTAIN Jan. 1, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 18, 1953 INVENTOR. l/l/GH H. L 064M United States Patent 2,775,774 WASH FOUNTAIN Hugh H. Logan, Pasadena, Calif.

Application May 18, 1953, Serial No. 355,701

Claims. (Cl. 4-166) This invention relates to wash fountains and more particularly to wash fountains of a type to be employed in industrial laboratories for washing acids, chemicals, dust and the like from the face of a person accidentally exposed to such contaminating materials.

It is a primary object of the invention to provide a novel wash bowl and spray head means which is capable of thoroughly wetting the face of an individual in order to lessen the chance of loss of eyesight and disfiguration caused, for example, by acids, explosions, fumes, heat, chemicals and so forth.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a wash fountain of this type in which the spray is so directed that it will not exert any appreciable pressure directly into the face of the user thereby eliminating the possibility of contaminating material being driven further into the persons features.

Another object is to provide a bowl for such a fountain shaped in a manner whereby water spray which would normally be splattered in different directions on striking a persons face is substantially prevented from splashing out of the bowl or from splashing back onto the spray heads thereby preventing contamination of the spray heads and other parts of the person outside the bowl.

Still another object is to provide a bowl of such shape that should the drain for the bowl become plugged, contaminated water collecting in the bowl will overflow before reaching the spray heads.

Other objects of the invention are to provide novel spray head means capable of issuing copious amounts of water over a considerable area to provide a wide Water path, the water throughout the whole path being ejected under substantially the same pressure.

These and further objects of the invention are attained by providing a bowl shaped member having elevated opposite sides which are inwardly directed towards each other with their upper edge portions spaced a sufficient distance to receive a persons head. Nestled within each inwardly turned elevated side is a suitable spray head comprising an elongated element having spray holes distributed along its length. Each of the spray heads is individually supported under its corresponding elevated side portion and is suitably spaced from such side portion so as not to be contaminated by water splashing off such areas. The elevated side portions however are adapted to overlie the spray heads and thus protect them from dirt or dust falling vertically towards the bowl. The

edge portions of the bowl between the elevated curved side portions are :cut to a level lower than the level of the spray heads whereby should the drain for the bowl become plugged water will flow out of the bowl before reaching the level of the spray heads.

A better understanding of the invention will be had by referring to the accompanying drawings in which:

. Fig. 1 shows in perspective a preferred form of wash fountain designed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a front view of the bowl and supply pipes of the wash fountain shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the spray head;

Fig. 4 is a View partly in section of a longitudinal portion of the spray head;

Fig. 5 is a detailed view partly in section of the bowl and spray head portions of the fountain;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention; and

Fig. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the piping arrangement in the base pedestal of the fountain shown in Fig. 6.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the wash fountain is shown as comprising a bowl 10 having a lower outlet drain 11 and suitable supporting brackets 12 for securing the fountain to a side wall. Bowl 10 contains two spray heads 13 and 14 supplied with water under pressure through a suitable supply pipe 15 passing through a control valve 16, connecting pipe 17, and to branch pipes 18 and 19 connected to the spray heads, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. Valve 16, being mounted in the supply pipe 15, will control water fiow to both spray heads simultaneously. This valve is operable by rotational movement about a horizontal axis of a bat-wing like actuating handle 20. This large bat-wing handle 20 enables the user to find it easily and rapidly notwithstanding that he may be temporarily blinded by the accident which he has suffered.

In Figs. 3 and 4 there are shown detailed views of the spray head 14. Since the spray heads are identical, description of one will sufiice for both.

As will become clear as the description proceeds, it is desirable that each spray head eject a wide path of water at substantially uniform pressure throughout. In order to accomplish this, the spray head 14 is constructed in the form of an elongated cylindrical tube including a plurality of diagonally arranged openings 30. As shown best in Fig. 4, these openings 30 are arranged in three parallel oifset rows along the whole length of the tube 14 but are confined within a cylindrical segment of perhaps 30 degrees facing upwardly and outwardly to provide a spray path of given depth.

This spray is caused to be ejected at substantially the same velocity at the end portions of the tube 14 as at the center portions, by providing within the tube a baflie plate 31 in the form of an arcuate segment of a cylinder positioned parallel to the axis of tube 14 and over the opening 32 from the supply conduit pipe. This arcuate baffle plate has a radius of curvature such that a crescent-shaped cavity 33 is formed between the outer surface of the bafiie plate and the inner surface of the cylindrical tube 14. The bafiie plate is provided with a plurality of openings 34.

When liquid enters the tube 14 through the conduit opening 32 under a given pressure, it will first fill the crescent-shaped cavity 33 before any appreciable amount can escape through the openings 30 in tube 14. A good. portion of the liquid will also enter the main portion of the tube through the openings 34 in the baffle plate. The openings 34 are of such size however as to constrict the liquid flow by breaking up its velocity and preventing it from directly passing out through the openings 30 in the immediate vicinity of the conduit opening 32. The flow is thus channeled towards the ends of the tube 14. Under these circumstances, once the tube 14 is completely filled with liquid the pressure ejecting the liquid from the openings 30 at the extreme longitudinal end portions will be substantially the same as the pressure ejecting the liquid from the central openings thereby insuring a uniform pressure along the entire length of the spray head.

Referring now to Fig. 5, it will be seen that the bowl 10 includes two opposite, upwardly and inwardly extending sides 50 terminating in upward edge portions which hitting the heads.

the spray heads in the position shown places them at a are flared back to provide smooth curved surfaces 51. These elevated inwardly extending sides together with the intermediate edge portions of the bowl, define undercut cavities in which are disposed the spray heads 13 and 14 respectively. In this connection, a feature of the present invention is the shaping of the elevated side portions 50 in a manner to extend inwardly towards each other a sufficient distance to overlie the top of the spray heads 13 and 14 whereby dust or dirt falling vertically on the wash fountain does not strike the spray heads themselves but will be caught by the upper edge portions 51.

A supporting means 52 serves as a conduit connection to the pipes 18 and 19 respectively for admitting water to the spray head and also serves to support the spray heads in spaced relation to the inwardly curved wall portions of the elevated sides. Supporting the spray heads in this spaced relation will prevent water which may splash off the inside surfaces of the sides 50 from It is also to be noted that supporting level above the intermediate edge portion 53 of the remaining side portions of the bowl whereby should the drain 11 for the bowl become clogged, the bowl will overflow before the water level reaches the spray head. This unique construction eliminates the danger of any back siphonage or cross-connection and thus provides a fountain that fully meets all known industrial hygiene recontamination regulations, plumbing, and sanitary standards.

As described in connection with Figs. 3 and 4, each spray head will eject a path of water of uniform width and at uniform pressure. The heads are so positioned that the spray of liquid ejected therefrom following a parabolic path, reaches its highest point at a location lower than the upper edge portions 51 of the bowl, yet higher than the level of the spray heads themselves.

The positioning of the head and the pressure of the water is controlled so that the vertical velocity of spray ejected from the fountain is substantially zero at a lo cation within the bowl where the eye of a person would normally be positioned when his face is placed in the bowl for washing purposes. Thus, the spray head 13, for example, will eject spray which will have neutral or zero vertical velocity at the point X as shown in Fig. 5, while the spray head 14, ejecting spray in the opposite direction, will provide for a substantially neutral or zero vertical velocity at the point Y, the points X and Y corresponding to the location of a persons eyes when his head is disposed over the fountain. This feature eliminates the possibility of the ejected spray pushing any acids or other chemicals into the face or eyes of the person. In other words, the spray will hit the eyes and other regions of the front part of the face substantially tangentially thereby washing out the chemicals.

The spray heads 13 and 14 and the unique shape of the elevated side walls 50 are also arranged so that water splashing off a persons face will not strike the spray heads, unless directed exactly in their direction, but rather such splash will more likely strike the elevated side walls 50 and adhere to the inside walls subsequently running down said walls into the drain. The inwardly curving feature of the walls 50 presents a steeply slanting surface such as to minimize the resplashing of water off these walls onto the spray heads, thereby preventing contamination of the spray heads.

In Figs. 6 and 7 the wash fountain is in all respects identical to the wash fountain shown in Fig. 1, with the exception of the various supply piping and actuating handles. In Fig. 6 the wash fountain is arranged to stand on a pedestal 60 rather than be secured to a side wall. In this embodiment the water supply is controlled by two independently operating valves 61 and 62 the latter valve being shown in the exploded view of Fig. 7. Vertically disposed actuating rods 63 and 64 are rotatable about their vertical axes by bat-wing handles 65 and 66 respectively. Either one of the valves 61 or 62 may be opened by rotating the appropriate bat-Wing to the phantom line position as shown in Fig. 6. The provision of tWo such handles oppositely disposed permits the fountain to be readily used when approached from either end.

As shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the two spray heads are supplied by a conduit 67 coupled to the spray head 68 through a coupling pipe 69 and a conduit 70 similarly coupled to the spray head 71 through a similar coupling pipe (not shown). The valves and various supply piping are housed in the lower portion of the fountain by a base covering 72. As shown in detail in the exploded view at Fig. 7 the main supply source of water enters a pipe 73 branching off by means of a T-coupling 74 to the valves 61 and 62 by connecting conduits 75 and 76 respectively. The two actuating valves 61 and 62 are thus in parallel. The outlet sides of these valves come together in a T-coupling 77 connecting to a branch conduit 78 intermediate to the supply pipe 70 supplying the spray head 71 and to the supply pipe 67 for supplying spray head 68. It will be clear immediately that operating either of the valves 61 or 62 will supply liquid to both of the spray heads 68 and 71 simultaneously and under equalized pressure.

By means of the present invention it will be seen that there is provided a greatly improved wash fountain which is designed to gently spray a large volume of Water in what amounts to a neutral pressure in a vertical direction thereby thoroughly wetting the face and forestalling a loss of eyesight and disfiguration caused by acids, explosions, fumes, and other similar accidents.

1 claim:

1. An eyewas'h fountain comprising, in combination: a bowl having at opposite sides two walls inclining upwardly and inwardly towards one another and merging into opposed lip portions spaced from one another to accommodate the face of a user therebetween, a pair of water spray heads mounted in said bowl underneath said upwardly and inwardly inclined Walls in spaced relation to said walls and to the sides of the bowl so as to avoid contamination by fall-out from the atmosphere and by water running down the inner and under sides of said walls to the sides of said bowl, said spray heads being adapted to eject a multiplicity of individual water streams toward the central region of the bowl in upwardly and inwardly directed arcs.

2. An eyewash fountain comprising, in combination: a bowl having at opposite sides two horizontally elongated upwardly projecting walls having portions inclined upwardly and inwardly to one another to upper lip portions spaced from one another by a distance to accomrno date the face of a user, said walls forming two gen erally semi-cylindrical cavities facing horizontally toward one another, a pair of elongated hollow water spray heads located in said semi-cylindric cavities in parallelism therewith, and in positions spaced from said side walls and beneath said inclined portions of said walls to avoid contamination by fall-out from the atmosphere, valve controlled water supply piping connected to said spray heads, and a plurality of water spray orifices distributed lengthwise along said elongated spray heads along the upper, inner regions thereof, in such arrangement as to discharge from each head a multiplicity of streams in inwardly and upwardly directed arcs.

3. The subject matter of claim 2, wherein the means supplying water to the heads is adjusted relative to available water pressure such that the water streams from the two heads attain the uppermost points of their respetr tive arcs at points spaced substantially eye-distance apart, whereby the water streams impinge on the eyes substantially tangentially and with substantially zero vertical velocity.

4. An eyewash fountain comprising, in combination: a bowl having at opposite sides two walls inclining upwardly and inwardly towards one another and merging into opposed lip portionss paced from one another to accommodate the face of a user therebetween, and a pair of water spray heads mounted in said bowl underneath said upwardly and inwardly inclined walls in spaced relation to said walls and to the sides of the bowl so as to avoid contamination by fall-out from the atmosphere and by water running down the inner and under sides of said walls to the sides of said bowl, said spray heads being adapted to eject water streams toward the central region of the bowl in upwardly and inwardly directed arcs.

5. An eyewash fountain as defined in claim 4 in which the bowl has an end wall including an upper edge portion disposed at a level below that of the spray heads so that the water in the bowl will overflow before the water level therein can reach said spray heads, whereby to prevent back-siphoning of water through said spray heads.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 366,780 Love et al July 19, 1887 1,121,667 Ross Dec. 22 1914 2,482,960 Benson Sept. 27, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 100,258 Germany 1898

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