US5993A - Shower-bath - Google Patents

Description

EPHRAIM LARRABEE, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

SHOWER-BATH.

Specification of Letters Patent No'. 5,993, dated January 2,k 1849.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, EPHRAIM LAKE/AREE, of the city of Baltimore, in t-he State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in p the Construction of Shower-Baths, which Improved Bath is Styled by Me The Niagara Bath; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the construction and operation thereof, reference being had to the annexed dra-wings, making a part of this specification, in which l Figure 1, is a perspective view ofthe apparatus tted up in a case resembling a wardrobe, being the forni usually adopted for the casing of shower baths. Fig. Q, is a vertical cross section through the front and back of the case. Fig. 3, is a front elevation -of the apparatus, drawn to a scale of one quarter of an inch to the inch, and Fig. 4, is the plan or ground view of the same.

The same letters are used to designate the same parts in all the figures.

a is a reservoir for holding the water for the bath, beneath which Ithere is another smaller chamber Z) with which'it communi- Cates by the valve c which valve opens upward and closes downward and is operated by the lever d on pulling the wire or cord f.

Proceeding downward from the sub1-eservoir or chamber o, are four tubes g, g, g, g, which are furnished with stop cocks an connect with the horizontal discharging tubes h, L, L, h, these discharging tubes are connected together by short pieces at their ends so as to form an oblong octagon as shown in Fig. Ll, but they are stopped up at the place of joining so as to prevent the water passing from one tube to the others. These discharging pipes have a row of holes along their inner sides and directed slightly upward, the water passing through there is of course conveyed or thrown directly toward the center of the bath. The space in the clear of the said pipes being suiiiciently large to admit the head of the bather, the water can be directed so as to strike about the top of the shoulders and leave the head dry, but if it be desirable to shower on the ,head all that is necessary in that case is to raise the apparatus about nine inches higher and the object will be attained. Again, when it is desirable that the water shall not fall on the back, the breast or on either sid-e of the bather, it can be `turned oi from the dischargingpipe on that particular side by the stop Vcock which belongs to it. i Y l L,

To enable the water to pass freely throughl the valve yc without interruption from the air which the subchamber b previously contained escaping through the same opening I have introducedy the air tube 7c which comsoy municates freely with the upper part of the subchamber b and reaches to the top of the upper reservoir (Z and through this tube the air escapes on the water being admitted through the valve c into the subchamber Z).- yThe apparatus'is made to bey movable in the case in which it is set up by means of 'the two guide rods m m, m m, which rods are firmly secured kto the top and bottom parts of the case and are parallel and' out of winding with each other. Theapparatus is suspended by cords attached to the hooks 0,0, Fig. 3, and passing over the sheaves p 79 Fig. 2, thence downward to the hooks or pins g, r, s, t, if the pin or hook g is used, i

the apparatus will be in its highest position and will discharge the water on the top of the head in much the same manner as a common shower bathbut if the pin or hook r, is used the water will be discharged upon the shoulders and downward, permitting the head to remain dry. The pins or hooks r, s, &c., are put into th-e same case so as to suit the various heights'of different indi viduals. These loo-ps Von the cords serve also another important purpose, for by stopping against the obstacle o, placed near one of the sheaves p, Fig. 2, the apparatus descends to and is retained at a convenient place fo-r pouring the water intended for the bath into the reservoir 2. Attached to` the loops on the said cords are two small weights sokk one of nwhich is seen at w Fig. 2, whichto i gether about equal the weight lof the appav reason also warm water can be used, which would be altogether inadmissible if it fell directly on the head; it can therefore be ein-v ployed in many cases as a desirable remedial m Y v agent Where the common bath could not apconsidered suficient to enableany competent person to construct or use shower baths on this principle.

Having thus described the nature, construction and operation of the shower bath as improved by me, I will novv point out what I consider and claim as my invention p therein and desire to secure by LettersPatent.

I do riot Claim the jet bath, neither do i claim the movable reservoir, both having 20 been used separately before, but

VI do claim and desire to secure- The combination cfa, movable reservoir With a jet bath constructed as herein clelscribed.V This combination I believe to be 25 new and useful and tohave been made for the first time by myself.V

v EPI-IM.` LARRABEE.

IVitnesses: I. M. LARRABEE,

W. M. OLDHAiM.

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