US3048851A - Movable shower head - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 14, 1962 w. s. BxcKFoRD 3,048,851

MovABLE: SHOWER HEAD Filed Aug. 17. 1961 B ./55 :EIIEI- Z 56 :EIS- 1 '32 ATTORNEYS nite Stte This invention relates to a movable shower head which is adaptable for movement along horizontal tracks and relates specifically to a shower head of the type as shown in my copending United States patent application Serial No. 857,197, iled December 3, 1959 for Shower Head Adapter now Patent No. 3,005,995 granted Oct. 31, 1961.

Various devices have been constructed in the past for raising and lowering shower heads. One of the types of devices as shown in my copending patent application Serial No. 857,197 now Patent No. 3,005,995 employs a device Iwhich comprises a face plate formed with a vertical groove providing two horizontal rails on the side walls of the groove. A shower head connecting fitting is slidably mounted on the two tracks for vertical movement. The shower head is connected by a liexible hose to a source of water so that the shower head fitting can be raised or lowered on the tracks to appropriate levels for use.

Various fittings which have been used previously with this type of device have been proven to have certain difficulties such as being unadjustable in tension so that when the operator of the shower applies a heavy shower head the weight of the head might be too great and cause the fitting to fall to its bottom position. If the unadjustable tension is too strong it is too difficult for an operator to move the head from position to position. In addition many fittings suitable for this type of application have a tendency to nick or mar the face plate upon which the movable fitting is mounted. yOthers are bulky, cumbersome or involve a great number of parts.

It is a principal object of this invention to provide a simple fitting adapted to ride Within the two vertical tracks and which is readily mountable and demountable on the tracks. r[he novel tting also has the feature of means to obtain uniform adjustment of the pressure applied against the tracks so that the fitting can accom.- modate shower heads of varying weights with equal effectiveness.

Another object of this invention is to form the shower head tracks in a circular bead configuration and to form the head or fitting in two pieces which are spring urged together against a wide area of beaded tracks.

A feature and advantage of this invention is the provision of a guide extension on the fitting which prevents any metallic portion of the fitting from making contact with the face and thus prevents the fitting from marring or otherwise impairing the appearance of the face plate.

A further object of this invention is to provide a shower head fitting which is adaptable to ride between two vertical semi-circular vertical tracks in which the fitting has a front and rear face spring urged together between the two tracks. The side edges of the front and rear faces are complementary in configuration to the tracks so that they tightly nest against all walls of the semi-circular tracks and are formed of a plastic material which allows two pieces to ride smoothly in up and down reciprocal movement relative to the track.

Another feature and advantage of this invention is the provision of a plate which can be adj-usted relative to the back `piece of the yfitting in such a Way as to adjustably control the spring pressure urging the front and rear pieces of the fitting together.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following specication and referring to the accompanying drawings in which similar fice characters of reference represent corresponding parts in each of the several views.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the fitting of this invention showing the front plate fragmentarily upon which the fitting is mounted.

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the shower head fitting of this invention.

FlG. 3 is a side elevational view of FIG. 2 taken at line 3 3.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the fitting taken at line 4 4.

FIG. 5 is another cross-sectional view taken at line 5 5.

Referring now to the drawings in the principal embodiment of this invention there is provided a face plate A being vertically apertured to provide two spaced apart parallel vertical tracks `15 on which the shower head fitting B is arranged to be vertically carried.

Each track is formed by curving the inner walls of the track inwardly in a semi-circular bead configuration as best seenin the cross-sectional views of FIGS. 4 and 5. It is desirable to have the outer face of the beads on a substantially uniform curvature.

Fitting B is formed by a front piece 20 and a rear piece 21 which are spring urged together by two spaced apart spring mechanisms 25. The side walls of the front and rear pieces when mounted together form concave side wall recesses generally indicated at Z6 which are complementary in configuration to the outer curvature of tracks 15. The spacing of the two side walls 26 are spaced a distance substantially equal to the spacing between the two tracks 15.

By this means the side walls of the front and rear pieces 20 and y21 form guides which ride in tightly nested contact with all faces of the circular tracks 15. By virtue of this tightly nested contact the fitting is restrained against forward, rearward and side to side motion and in addition provides a large bearing surface between the fitting and the tracks to allow the shower head to be raised and lowered in a smooth manner.

Front piece 20 is formed of metallic material on its out-er face and provides on its bottom portion a shower fitting nozzle 30 threaded at its end to receive a conventional shower head 31 and apertured through the threaded portion to a rearwardly extending pipe 32. The rearward extension 32 is of a diameter `sufficiently smaller than the spacing between the tracks 15 so that the rearward extension 32 can project rearwardly to the rear of plate A between Ithe tracks without making any contact with the track. The end of rearward extension 32 is threaded to receive a conventional fitting 35 by which a flexible hose 36 can be connected to the rearward extension.

The metallic face plate 38 of the front section of the fitting is provided with two internally threaded bosses 40.

A plastic liner 44 such as nylon or other similar material is mounted on the inside wall of metallic face plate 38. The liner forms the front sections side walls 26 and extends outwardly to a position closely adjacent the outer edge of the extremities by virtue of ia flange 48. Plastic liner `44 extends from the top of metallic face plate 38 to a position 'approximating the bottom of the rearward extension 32. Plastic liner 44 is apertured in conformity With bosses 40.

vFront piece 20 and rear piece 21 are urged together by spring mechanisms 25.

The Itwo spring mechanisms 25 each comprise a wide headed screw 50 threadably engaged With the threads of boss 40.

A cylindrical sleeve 51 is mounted on screw 50 and is tightly fitted against the end of the boss. The upper end of sleeve 51 is formed with a fiange 55. Springs 56 are biased against fiange 55 and urged against the rear wall of rear piece 21.

A plate member 58 is interposed between the two springs 56 and the back wall of rear piece 21. Plate 58 engages both of the spring '56 and is formed with an aperture between the two springs `at 60.

A screw 61 is mounted within yaperture 60 and engages the rear wall of rear piece 21. Screw 61 can therefore control Ithe position of displacement of plate 58 relative to the back wall of rear piece 21. This accomplishes 4the greater tension of the springs 56 which creates .a tighter biasing of the front and rear pieces together. -Loosening of screw 61 creates the reverse effect.

Tracks are of a radius in retalion lto the concave recesses formed by the front and lrear pieces so that the front and rear pieces will be spaced apart. Thus the tension effected by spring mechanisms will effectively change the biasing force of the front and rear pieces against tracks 15.

It can readily be seen .that the device can be disassembled by unscrewing the two screws 50 wherein the front and rear pieces .are readily removable. Assembly i-s eected by revers-ing the process.

Adjustment of tension is then effected by screwing screws 61 to a proper placement so that the head fitting will have the requisite amount of frictional impedance against the tracks to prevent it from falling inadvertently.

The Itensioning should be such that it would not unnecessarily restrict the smooth sliding action of the fitting when it is desired to change its elevation or position on the track.

Liners 44 and rear pieces 21 are formed of plastic material so that they can engage the tracks without endangering scratching of the tracks. It can thus be seen that `the device can easily slide from its uppermost to its lowermost position within the track.

In operation hose 36 would be flexible so that the water communication can be had through shower head 31 regard-less of the position of the fitting relative to the track.

The extension of plastic liner 44 with its flange 48 provides means for preventing the metallic frontal portion of the fitting from making contact with face plate A.

Although the foregoing invention has been :described in some detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity of understanding, it is understood that certain changes and modifications may be practiced within the spirit of the invention as limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

In the claims:

rl. In a shower head Ian-d track combination of the type having a shower head fitting being vertically movable between two spaced apart parallel rails formed by a front face piece and having a flexible hose connected to the shower fitting on the rear thereof and a shower nozzle on the front of the fitting the improvement comprising said fitting having a front member mounted on the front of said face piece land a rear member mounted on the rear of said face piece, means on said front member to mount the hose and the shower head fitting on the respective front and the `rear of the front member, bearing surfaces carried by the rear of said front member engaging thefront and side walls of the two spaced apart rails, bearing surfaces carried by the front of said rear member engaging the rear and side walls of the rails, said rails being of sufficient thickness Ito maintain said front and rear members in spaced apart relation, a pair of shafts mounted on said front member and projecting rearwardly between said tracks through apertures formed in said rear member, and a compression spring mounted about each said shaft and engaged with the rear lwall of said rearmember to force said front and rear i members together -to tension the bearing surfaces against the rails.

2. A shower head and track combination according to claim l and wherein said rails are formed in the shape `of two oppositely facing beads running longitudinally of said front face piece, and said bearing surfaces are formed of elongated surfaces complementary in contour to the face of said beads.

3. In a shower head and track combination of the type having a shower head fitting being vertically movable between two spaced apart parallel rails formed by a front face piece and having a flexible h-ose connected to the shower fitting on the rear thereof and a shower nozzle on the front of the fitting the improvement comprising said tting having a front member mounted on the front of said `face piece and a rear member mounted on the rear of said face piece, means on said front member to mount the hose and the shower head fitting on the respective front and the rear of the front member, bearing surfaces carried 4by the rear of said front member engaging the front and side walls of the two spaced apart rails, bearing surfaces carried lby the -front of said rear member engaging the rear and side walls of the rails, said rails being of sufficient thickness to maintain said front and rear members in spaced apart relation, a pair of shafts mounted on said front member and projecting rearwardly between said tracks through apertures formed in said rear member, a Vplate mounted over the rear face of said rear member, a pair of shafts mounted on said front face and extending rearwardly through apertures formed by 4said rear member and said plates, compression springs carried by said shafts and compressed against said plate, and means to adjust the spacing between said plate and said rear member to vary the spring tension of said springs urging said yfront `and rear members together.

4. A shower head and track combination according to claim 3 and wherein said means to adjust the spacing between said plate and rear member comprises -a screw threadably engaged with said plate midway between said shafts in which the end of the screw is adapted to engage the rear face of said rear member.

5. ln a shower head and track combination of the type having a shower head fitting vbeing vertically movable between two spaced yapart parallel rails formed by a front face piece and having a flexible hose lconnected to the shower fitting on the rear thereof and a shower nozzle on the front of the fitting the improvement comprising said spaced apart rails being formed by oppositely facing circular beads extending rearwardly from the face piece, said fitting being formed by front and rear members, each front and rear member having elongated bearing surfaces spaced apart a distance equal to the spacing of the parallel rails and contoured complementary with said rails, the beads forming said rails being of sufficient thickness to maintain the front and rear members of said fitting in yspaced apart relation when said members are mounted in engagement with said rails, and means to spring urge said front and rear pieces together to cause a tensioning of the bearing surfaces against said rails.

6. A shower head Iand track combination according to claim 5 and wherein said bearing surfaces are formed of a material substantially softer than the material forming the front face piece.

7. A shower head and track combination according to claim 5 and wherein said lbearing surfaces are formed of a material substantially softer than the material forming the front -face piece, the front member of said tting having a front face plate mounted over the bearing surface and extending beyond the rail members, and means in-tegral of said face plate to mount a shower head fitting on the front of the face plate and to carry a flexible hose on the rear of the face plate.

No references cited.

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