Water supply control for automatic hand washing and drying apparatus
First Claim
1. In a hand washing and drying device having a bowl defining a hand washing and drying space, a water supply including a shutoff valve operated by a water solenoid for delivering hand washing water to said space, and a forced air drying means for delivering hand drying air to said space, an improved control comprising:
- first manually operable control means adjacent said space and including a timer means for causing operation of said solenoid for a first preselected short period of time to deliver hand washing water to said space for said preselected period, said timer means being arranged to cause said first period of time to be preselected short period of time to preclude a complete washing and rinsing of the user'"'"'s hands during one such period thereby requiring a plurality of successive manipulations of the first manually operable means to effect sequentially a plurality of deliveries of hand washing water to effect a complete washing and rinsing of the user'"'"'s hands; and
second manually operable control means associated with said first control means adjacent said space and including a second timer means for causing operation of said forced air drying means for a second preselected longer period of time to deliver hand drying air to said space for said second preselected period.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An improved control for use in a hand washing and drying apparatus including a first manually operable control device for causing operation of a solenoid-operated valve causing delivery of hand washing water directly to a bowl of the device for a preselected period of time. A second manually operable control device is provided for causing operation of a forced air drying structure of the device to provide hand drying air to the bowl. The control is arranged to prevent concurrent operation of the solenoid and air moving device. The control is further arranged to prevent concurrent operation of the electric heater of the water supply and the blower motor. Still further, the control is arranged to prevent concurrent operation of the solenoid valve of the water supply and the blower motor. The control is arranged to limit usage of electrical power so that a single conventional branch circuit can provide sufficient power to operate the device. The control provides an improved short delivery of the washing water so as to effectively require a number of manipulations of the manually operable control to effect a complete hand washing operation while continually maintaining an adequate supply of warm water for subsequent users. The device is arranged to permit substantially continuous sequential use thereof by a number of users as in a public restroom in effecting a series of hand washing and drying operations while providing the hand washing water in sufficient volume at the desired hand washing temperature to accommodate a series of users.
61 Citations
22 Claims
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1. In a hand washing and drying device having a bowl defining a hand washing and drying space, a water supply including a shutoff valve operated by a water solenoid for delivering hand washing water to said space, and a forced air drying means for delivering hand drying air to said space, an improved control comprising:
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first manually operable control means adjacent said space and including a timer means for causing operation of said solenoid for a first preselected short period of time to deliver hand washing water to said space for said preselected period, said timer means being arranged to cause said first period of time to be preselected short period of time to preclude a complete washing and rinsing of the user'"'"'s hands during one such period thereby requiring a plurality of successive manipulations of the first manually operable means to effect sequentially a plurality of deliveries of hand washing water to effect a complete washing and rinsing of the user'"'"'s hands; and second manually operable control means associated with said first control means adjacent said space and including a second timer means for causing operation of said forced air drying means for a second preselected longer period of time to deliver hand drying air to said space for said second preselected period. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. In a hand washing and drying device having a bowl defining a hand washing and drying space, a water supply including a tank, heater means for heating water in said tank, and a shutoff valve operated by a water solenoid for controlling delivery of cold water to said tank for causing delivery of warm hand washing water from said tank to said space, and forced air drying means for deliverying hand drying air to said space, an improved control comprising:
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first manually operable control means adjacent said space and including a timer means for causing operation of said solenoid for a first preselected short period of time to cause delivery of warm hand washing water to said space for said preselected period, said timer means being arranged to cause said first period of time to be a preselected short period of time to preclude a complete washing and rinsing of the user'"'"'s hands during one such period thereby requiring a plurality of successive manipulations of the first manually operable means to effect sequentially a plurality of deliveries of hand washing water to effect a complete washing and rinsing of the user'"'"'s hands; and second manually operable control means associated with said first control means adjacent said space and including a second timer means for causing operation of said forced air drying means for a second preselected longer period of time to deliver hand drying air to said space for said second preselected period. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. In a hand washing and drying device having a bowl defining a hand washing space for use in a public restroom, a water supply including a tank, heater means for heating water in said tank, and a thermostat for controlling said heater means, an improved control for providing a supply of water to said space intermittently at a preselected rate and a desired warm temperature despite substantially continuously successive use of said device by a series of persons utilizing the device to wash and dry their hands comprising:
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control means including a solenoid valve for controlling delivery of cold water to said tank for causing delivery of warm hand washing water from said tank to said space; first manually actuatable means adjacent said space and including a timer means for causing operation of said solenoid valve for relatively short period of time preselected to preclude delivery of sufficient washing water to permit a complete washing and rinsing of the user'"'"'s hands during one such operation of said solenoid valve and thereby requiring a plurality of manual actuations to effect a complete washing and rinsing operation; and forced air drying means including second manually actuatable means associated with said first manually actuatable means adjacent said space for causing a drying of the washed hands in said space, said control means including means arranged to permit energization of the heating means under the control of said thermostat at all times other than during operation of the drying means to cause the delivery of the water from said tank to be at said desired warm temperature. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification