US784746A - Bath-tub and method of attaching feet thereto. - Google Patents

Description

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J. A. LEFFERTS. BATH TUB AND METHOD OF ATTAGHING FEET THERETO.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 20, 1904.

PATENTED MAR. 14, 1905.

fizyazzz an' 77 iifsigf UNITED STATES Patented March 14, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

BATH-TUB AND METHOD OF IATTACHING FEET THERETO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 784,746, dated March 14, 1905.

Application filed May 20, 1904- Serial No. 208,842.

T0 (ZZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN A. LEFFERTs,a citizen of the United States, residing in Elizabeth, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bath-Tubs and Methods of Attaching Feet Thereto, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is directed to bath-tubs, their manufacture, and method of attaching feet to the same; and while preferably directed primarily to bath-tubs the invention comprehends all such analogous devices as sinks, washstands, &c.

Bath-tubs and the like are usually provided with detachable feet or legs, and for this purpose the body of the article is usuallyprovided with a plurality of lugs 0r bosses, which according to the presentpreferred mode of manufacture are preferably cast integral with such body. Some of these lugs provide a point of attachment for the leg, while others operate as stops for determining the positioning of the detachable member. These articles, usually cast from iron, are intended to be enameled, and for this purpose the said article is subjected to heating and cooling processes.

If, therefore, these aforementioned lugs are numerous and contain in themselves a greater thickness of material than the wall of the body,

it is highly difficult to cool off the body with any degree of uniformity, the result being that when one portion of that body cools off faster than another, the active contraction of the rapidly-cooling part against the less active contraction of the slower-cooling part causes the enamel to check or crack at the provided with removable legs of such construction as regards the formation of that portion of the tub to which the legs are applied and as to the construction of the leg itself and the way in which it is combined with the tub as to provide for the proper and successful enameling of the inner surface of the tub and a smooth and acceptable finish in appearance of the exterior of the tub with the legs thereon when the tub is completed and ready for the market.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a specially-arranged boss on the body and a specially-devised lug on the leg whereby in combination they will effect rigid securement of said leg to said body.

An embodiment of the present invention is set forth on the accompanying sheet of drawings, whereonf Figure 1 illustrates a perspective view of a bath-tub with its legs or feet attached. Fig. 2 illustrates a perspective view of the legs. Fig. 3 is an elevation in section, illustrating how the leg may be attached to the body. Fig. 4 is an inverted perspective view showing a form of boss on the body, and Fig. 5 illustrates in section the. leg attached to the body and also is the fleXure of the body at the point of attachment, illustrated diagrammatically.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the various views.

It will be remembered thatin the manufacture of. bath-tubs made of cast-iron, for which class of bath-tubs my present improvements are especially applicable, it is important that all parts of the tub shall be as nearly as possible of one uniform thickness throughout, so that on the heating and cooling of the tub in the process of manufacture, and especially in the process of enameling, theheating and cooling of all portions of the enameled'surfaces shall be uniform and equal. In practice it is found that thickened portions or projections, such as hubs or bosses projecting therefrom. if these extend over any considerable area of the wall of the tub, receive and distribute heat differently from the plate-like portions of the tub which adjoin such projection. These variations result in defects difficult to eliminate,

that in the preferred form of my present improvement the thickness of the transverselydisposed wall 1 of the leg-retaining projection 3 is of the same thickness as the wall 1 of the tub itself, so that the heating and cooling will be effected with a high degree of uniformity throughout that entire portion of the bath-tub. The leg 5 of the tub is also formed with an extended and relatively thin edge 6, which is arranged to bear upon the surface 7 of the tub out of contact with any thickened portion or projection thereon. For holding the leg in place a projection or arm 8, having therein a bolt-receiving hole, as 9, extends inwardly from the said leg 5, and said arm 8 extends from a broad and flaring portion 10 of the wall 11 of the leg 5, by which arrangement the upper portion 12 of said leg 5 is broadened to give a firm and stable support thereto, said retaining-arm 8 of the leg 5 being connected with the inclined portion at 13 of the forward or outer part of the leg and is well disposed in the general combination for receiving a ,very high degree of stress without liability of breakage.

It will be observed that, as shown in the sectional view Fig. 3, the leg 5 is prevented from movement toward the righthand in said figure by the wall of the leg coming directly in front of the said retaining projection 3 of the tub. This projection is formed with a bifurcated channel or slot 1 1 for receiving the bolt-head 15, which is adapted to come close to the rearward end 16 of said slot, so that the leg is positively located in a fixed position on the tub, since said projection 8 on the top surface has a stop device 17 for locking the tub in one direction, and the bolt in said slot 14 affords a stop device against movement in the opposite direction. Thus by a peculiar construction and combination of these details the leg is positively located in both directions. by the retaining device, by which saidleg is held in place on the tub, and by this new and peculiar feature the location of said leg is determined without the employment of any other or supplemental guides or locating-stops.

A further feature of my present improvements relates to'means in connection with the foregoing features of construction whereby the leg is prevented from rotary movement or displacement on the tub, and. for this purpose the said arm of the leg is provided with flanges or guides 18 and 19, respectively, which are shown provided with inclined inner faces 20 and 21, arranged to bear upon correspondingly-inclined outer faces 22 and 23 of the aforesaid projection or boss 3 on the tub.

When the nut 24 is tightened upon the bolt 25 passing through the arm 8, it. will cause the inner inclined faces 20 and 21 of the legarm 8 to bind rigidly upon the outer inclined walls 22 and 23 of the bosses 3, whereby there is rigid securement of the leg to the body and the liability of the coming off of the nut 24 is lessened. In this connection it will be obvious that by the curved wall at the leg-attaching portions of the body a slight flexibility (indicated by dotted lines 30 in Fig. 5) may be had without injury to the enamel and that the strain of the attaching-bolt 24 on the arm of the leg for holding this arm firmly onto the projection 8 said projectionv will naturally be drawn downward until its engaging surfaces bear firmly on the guide- surfaces 22 and 23 of theleg-arm. By this meansthe-leg may be rigidly held onto and: definitely located on the tub. Furthermore, the stress of the bolt applied in the manner setforth naturally operates to slightly flex the wall of the bath-tub in that portion thereof to which the leg is attached, thereby bringing the outer edges of the leg firmly into contact with the bottom wall of the bath-tub and at the same time bringing the several bearing-surfaces already referred to into correspondingly firm engagement with the outer portion of the leg itself.

By means of my present improvements it is made practicable toprovide a bath-tub with legs firmly secured thereto and without requiring the bath-tub to be made with any portion of greater thickness than the general thickness of the wall throughout the tub. By this means the heating and cooling of all portions of the tub in the process of manufacture is made uniform, and the interference of unequal heating and cooling and unequal expansion and contraction by reason of varying thicknesses is prevented from impairing the success of the enameling operation.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. A bath-tub having detachable feet, bosses thereon comprising three walls inclined one toward the other, and a base provided with a bifurcation, and said feet each having arms provided with two inclined walls adapted to bind upon the outside of two of the first-mentioned inclined walls, and clamping means adapted to take in said bifurcation, which means bind upon the upper side of each boss and on the under side of each arm.

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2. Abath-tubhavingdetachablefeet, bosses bolt binds upon the upper side of each boss thereon comprising three Walls inclined one and on the under side of each arm. IO toward the other, and a base provided with a Signed at Nos. 9 to 15 Murray street, New bifurcation, and said feet each having arms York, N. Y., this 18th day of May, 1904.

5 provided with two inclined walls adapted to JOHN A. LEFFERTS. bind upon the outside of two of the first-men- \Vitnesses: A tioned inclined walls, and a, clamping-bolt FRED. W. BARNACLO,

adapted to take in said bifurcation, which JOHN O. SEIFERT.

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