US2921579A

US2921579A - Hydro-massage appliance

Info

Publication number: US2921579A
Application number: US718230A
Authority: US
Inventors: Clarence R Munroe
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1958-02-28
Filing date: 1958-02-28
Publication date: 1960-01-19
Anticipated expiration: 1977-01-19

Description

Jan. 19, 1960 c. MUNROE 2,921,579

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United States Patent HYDRO-MASSAGE APPLIANCE Clarence R. Munroe, Roseburg, Oreg.

Application February 28, 1958, Serial No. 718,230

Claims. (Cl. 128-66) This invention relates to a hydro-massage home appliance for use in bath tubs and the like and adapted to be supplied with air under pressure by a domestic vacuum cleaner.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a light-weight, practical, and elficient device of this kind which is composed of separable sections which are adapted to be separated and made into a relatively small, compact package, so that the device is suitable for use in home bath tubs and the like and presents no problems of storage in the bath rooms or elsewhere in homes and small apartments, and so that the device can be economically shipped and merchandised.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of the character indicated above which, apart from its light weight and small bulk when collapsed, provides means for more elfectively treating, for stimulation or sedation, the spinal area of a person reclining on the device in a bath tub, which prevents closing of air holes in the device which, in other such devices, are usually partially or wholly occluded or closed by the pressure of the body of the person thereon.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of the character indicated which has a filter-equipped valve fitting for connection to the air output of a domestic vacuum cleaner, which serves to purify the air as it is fed to the device and to provide easy means for regulating the amount of air introduced into the device for predetermining the hydrotherapeutic effects of the device.

Other important objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, wherein, for purposes of illustration only, a specific form of the invention is set forth in detail.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a contracted top plan view of a device of the invention, showing the sections thereof separated;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal section taken through a bath tub, showing said device installed and supporting a person in water therein;

Figure 4 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary vertical longitudinal section, taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical transverse section taken on the line 6-6 of Figure 3; and

Figure 7 is a horizontal section taken on the line 7-7 of Figure 6.

Referring in detail to the drawings, wherein like numerals designate like parts throughout the several views, the illustrated devices, generally designated 10, comprises an elongated substantially rectangular form composed of a center section 12, and

end sections

14 and 16, respectively.

The center section 12 is of flat tubular form and comprises spaced coincinding top and

bottom webs

18 and 20 of sheet material, such as rubber or plastic of sufiicient rigidity to maintain the transversely and upwardly bowed contour seen in Figure 4, when a person is reclining upon the device. The section 12 has closed at its ends by

end walls

22 and 24, and has substantially threequarter side walls 26 which have lower portions 28 depending below the bottom web 20 to serve as feet for engaging the bottom 30 of a bath tub 32 near the bath tub side walls 34.

The side walls 26 of the center section 12 define slots 36 Where they join the top and

bottom webs

18 and 20, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, which extend between the

end walls

22 and 24. Secured in the ends of the side walls 26 at and traversing and extending beyond the end wall 24 are rigid coupling nipples 38.

As shown in Figure 4, the lower web 20 of the section 12 is continuous from side to side of the section, but the top web 18 is discontinuous along the longitudinal center line of the section so as to present free longitudinal inner edges 40 which are transversely spaced from each other at an appropriate distance, such as two inches. Longitudinal walls 42 are secured to the bottom web 20 and to the longitudinal edges 40 to form sides of a longitudinal central channel 44 in the section 12, which has a bottom web portion 46 extending between the walls 42/ The Walls 42 have therein longitudinally spaced air holes 48 and the top Web 18 has therein one or more rows of longitudinal spaced air holes 50, spaced laterally outwardly from the channel 44.

The end section 14 is similar to the center section 12, except that the outer end thereof is closed by a threequarter circular end wall 51 like the side wall 26 and in communication therewith, the joining of the side walls 26 with the outer end Wall 51 being curved to provide rounded corners 52. Secured in the inner ends of the side walls 26 are inwardly projecting coupling nipples 54 arranged to be telescoped into the-open ends 56 of the side walls 26 of the center section 12, so as to abut the related end walls of the

sections

12 and 14, as shown in Figure 5.

The end section 16 is generally similar to the end section 14, except that the inner ends 56 of its side walls are open to telescopically receive the nipples 38 of the center section 12, and there extends between the outer ends of its side walls a rigid transverse tube 58 which are curved corner ends 60 joined to and communicating with the end walls. The tube 58 is spaced outwardly from the outer end wall of the section 16, and has rising from its center a vertical air tube 62, having a downturned goose neck 64 on its upper end.

The goose neck 64 has a lower end 66 which is telescoped onto an upstanding coupling tube 68 on the upper end of an enlarged diameter, vertical cylindrical housing 70 which 'has on its lower end a depending coupling tube 72, to which is connected a hose 74 leading from the air 4 discharge of a domestic vacuum cleaner (not shown).

The housing 70, serving both as an air filter and as an air regulating valve, for the device 10, comprises an upper section 76 rotatably telescoped onto a lower section 78. An air disinfecting disc 80 is secured across the interior of the lower section 78, and an air filtering disc 82 is secured across the interior of the upper section 76.

The side wall 84 of the upper housing section 76 is discontinuous, as indicated at 86, for exposing or uncovering at one time, one or more of a circumferential row of air-valving holes 88 provided in the side wall 90 of the lower housing section 78 by rotating the upper section, and thereby regulating the amount and pressure of outside and vacuum cleaner air introduced into the device 10 through the air tube 62, with the

sections

12, 14 and 16 assembled.

Air coming out of the air holes 48 in the channel side Walls 42 reaches the spinal area of a person reclining upon the device 10, in an unobstructed and undiminished manner, since the body is supported on the upper section web out of contact with the interior of the channel.

With the upwardly bowed arrangement of the device, the central part thereof is spaced above a tub bottom 30, and the central part of the device can flex downwardly so as to be more comfortable for a person reclining thereon. Further, where the width of the device is dimensioned so that the side walls 26 of the sections are close to opposed walls of such as a bath tub 32, so that downward flexion of the devicespreads the section side walls 26 away from each other and into engagement with such opposed tub walls, so as to secure the device in position in the tub.

While there has been shown and described herein a preferred form of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily confined thereto, and that any change or changes in the structure of and in the relative arrangement of components thereof are contemplated as being within the scope of the invention as defined by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A hydro-massage appliance comprising an elongated rectangular form composed of separably connected center and end sections, said sections being flat closed tubular bodies comprising spaced upper and lower webs, side walls, and end walls, the upper walls being perforated, coupling nipples on ends of sections at the opposite sides thereof engaged in openings provided in end walls of sections, an air tube on an end of a section and communicating with the interior of such section.

2. A hydro-massage appliance comprising an elongated closed flat hollow form having a bottom web, a top web, and side walls, said side walls being arcuate in cross section and larger in diameter than the thickness of said form so as to define air slots along the sides of and opening from the side walls into the form at the sides thereof, a single longitudinal and centered channel formed insaid top web having sides having air holes therein fed by air crossing the interior of said form from said related arcuate side walls, a transverse air tube at one end of the form, said air tube being connected at its ends to the related ends of arcuate side Walls.

3. A hydro-massage appliance according to claim 2, wherein said arcuate side walls project below said form to serve as feet for spacing the form on and above a supporting surface.

4. A hydro-massage appliance according to claim 2, wherein said arcuate side walls project below said form to serve as feet for spacing the form on and above a supporting surface, said form being flexible and being upwardly bowed so as to be downwardly flexible at its center relative to a supporting surface on which the form rests.

5. A hydro-massage appliance comprising first and second end sections and a center section, each of said sections being flat hollow closed forms having top and bottom web, end walls, and sidewalls, the side walls being arcuate in cross section and larger'in cross section than the thickness of the forms and having slots opening into the interior of the sections at opposite sides of the sections, a transverse air tube extending across the end of said second section remote from the center section and connected at its ends to the arcuate side walls of said first section through the related end wall, means for supplying air under pressure to said air tube, the other end'wall of the first section having openings in line with related end Walls, said center section having coupling nipples in line with its side Walls and extending through one end Wall thereof and removably engaged in the openings of the first section, the other end wall of the center section'having openings therein in line with related side walls thereof, and the end Wall of said second section having coupling nipples in line with its side walls and removably engaged in the'openings of the center section, and air outlet means on said top web including air holes.

961,365 McCall June 14, 1910 Schwartz May 28, 1957'