Showering system
First Claim
1. In a showering system including a source of hot water and a showerhead fed from said source, a steam producer comprising:
- a conduit for delivering water from said source toward said showerhead;
an outlet defined in said conduit;
and means disposed in said conduit for selectively diverting the water from said source away from said showerhead and through said outlet in the form of a mist.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A showering system includes a source of hot water and a showerhead fed from that source. To produce steam, there is a conduit that delivers water from the source to a showerhead and in which is defined an outlet. Disposed within the conduit is a selectively controlled diverter of the water arriving from the source, so as to direct it away from the showerhead and through the outlet in the form of a mist. The preferred showerhead is of a turbine-valve kind in which the turbine is driven by nozzles. Apertures in a flow director plate, governed by a control plate, feed nozzles predetermined to vary the force of water delivered from outlet orifices in correspondence with the number of the nozzles open to communicate with the inlet through the apertures.
220 Citations
57 Claims
-
1. In a showering system including a source of hot water and a showerhead fed from said source, a steam producer comprising:
-
a conduit for delivering water from said source toward said showerhead; an outlet defined in said conduit; and means disposed in said conduit for selectively diverting the water from said source away from said showerhead and through said outlet in the form of a mist. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 11, 18, 36, 37)
-
-
5. In a showering system including a source of hot water and a showerhead fed from said source, a steam producer comprising:
-
a conduit for delivering water from said source toward said showerhead; an outlet defined in said conduit; means disposed in said conduit for selectively diverting the water from said source away from said showerhead and through said outlet in the form of a mist; said diverting means further including; a valve; a valve seat; means for opening said valve from said seat and directing water from said source to said showerhead and for closing said valve to said seat and directing water from said source through said outlet; and an orifice defined between said valve and valve seat for passage of said water from said source through said outlet when said valve is closed to said seat. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7)
-
-
9. In a showering system including a source of hot water and a showerhead fed from said source, a steam producer comprising:
-
a conduit for delivering water from said source toward said showerhead; an outlet defined in said conduit; means disposed in said conduit for selectively diverting the water from said source away from said showerhead and through said outlet in the form of a mist; said diverting means including a deflector disposed in the path of water flowing from said source toward said showerhead and oriented to direct said water through said outlet; said deflector being movable within said conduit, and which includes means for maintaining said deflector in an orientation facing said outlet when directing said water therethrough.
-
-
12. In a showering system including a source of hot water and a showerhead fed from said source, a steam producer comprising:
-
a conduit for delivering water from said source toward said showerhead; an outlet defined in said conduit; means disposed in said conduit for selectively diverting the water from said source away from said showerhead and through said outlet in the form of a mist; said diverting means including a deflector disposed in the path of water flowing from said source toward said showerhead and oriented to direct said water through said outlet. a valve; a valve seat; means for opening said valve from said seat and directing water from said source to said showerhead and for closing said valve to said seat and directing water from said source through said outlet; and in which said deflector is affixed to and projects away from said valve. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
19. In a showering system including a source of hot water and a showerhead fed from said source, a steam producer comprising:
-
a conduit for delivering water from said source toward said showerhead; an outlet defined in said conduit; means disposed in said conduit for selectively diverting the water from said source away from said showerhead and through said outlet in the form of a mist; a valve; a valve seat; means for opening said valve from said seat and directing water from said source to said showerhead and for closing said valve to said seat and directing water from said source through said outlet; a tube within which said valve and valve seat are disposed with said valve being movable therein and sized to accommodate flow therearound of water from said source to said showerhead when said valve is open from said valve seat; and means for mounting said valve for longitudinal but non-rotational movement within said tube. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
-
-
22. In a showering system including a source of hot water and a showerhead fed from said source, a steam producer comprising:
-
a conduit for delivering water from said source toward said showerhead; an outlet defined in said conduit; means disposed in said conduit for selectively diverting the water from said source away from said showerhead and through said outlet in the form of a mist; a sleeve in which said outlet is defined; a tube over and relative to which said sleeve is slidable between a first position in which said tube closes said outlet and a second position in which said outlet is exposed; and means effecting a seal between said sleeve and said tube when said sleeve is disposed in said first position. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
-
-
38. In a showering system including a source of hot water and a showerhead fed from said source, a steam producer comprising:
-
a conduit for delivering water from said source toward said showerhead; an outlet defined in said conduit; means disposed in said conduit for selectively diverting the water from said source away from said showerhead and through said outlet in the form of a mist; and said showerhead having an inlet, a series of circumferentially-spaced orifices, a turbine with a valve for sequentially opening successive ones of said orifices, a plurality of nozzles for driving said turbine, a multiple-apertured flow director plate for communicating water from said inlet to said nozzles, a control plate for selectively coupling water from said inlet to different ones of said apertures, and a control for moving said control plate relative to said director plate.
-
-
39. In a showerhead that has an inlet, a series of circumferentially-spaced orifices, a turbine with a valve for sequentially opening successive ones of said orifices, a plurality of nozzles for driving said turbine, a multiple-apertured flow director plate for communicating water from said inlet to said nozzles, a control plate for selectively coupling water from said inlet to different ones of said apertures, and a control for moving said control plate relative to said director plate, the improvement comprising:
-
at least first and second independent ones of said nozzles; at least first and second apertures associated with said director plate; and shutters associated with said control plate for selectively opening said apertures in different combination, the flow capacities of said nozzles being predetermined to vary the force of water delivered from said orifices in correspondence with the number of said nozzles opened to communication with said inlet through said apertures. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 47, 48, 49, 50, 52, 53)
-
-
45. In a showerhead that has an inlet, a series of circumferentially-spaced orifices, a turbine with a valve for sequentially opening successive ones of said orifices, a plurality of nozzles for driving said turbine, a multiple-apertured flow director plate for communicating water from said inlet to said nozzles, a control plate for selectively coupling water from said inlet to different ones of said apertures, and a control for moving said control plate relative to said director plate, the improvement comprising:
-
at least first and second independent ones of said nozzles; at least first and second apertures associated with said director plate; shutters associated with said control plate for selectively opening said apertures in different combination, the flow capacities of said nozzles being predetermined to vary the force of water delivered from said orifices in correspondence with the number of said nozzles opened to communication with said inlet through said apertures; a third one of said apertures associated with said director plate, and said shutters selectively opening all three of said apertures; two of said nozzles extending from a first plenum and a third one of said nozzles extending from a second plenum separate from said first plenum; said shutters and apertures being disposed to enable feeding water simultaneously to one of said two nozzles and said third nozzle; and said shutters and apertures being disposed to enable feeding the other of said two nozzles as said one is closed. - View Dependent Claims (46)
-
-
51. In a showerhead that has an inlet, a series of circumferentially-spaced orifices, a turbine with a valve for sequentially opening successive ones of said orifices, a plurality of nozzles for driving said turbine, a multiple-apertured flow director plate for communicating water from said inlet to said nozzles, a control plate for selectively coupling water from said inlet to different ones of said apertures, and a control for moving said control plate relative to said director plate, the improvement comprising:
-
at least first and second independent ones of said nozzles; at least first and second apertures associated with said director plates; shutters associated with said control plate for selectively opening said apertures in different combination, the flow capacities of said nozzles being predetermined to vary the force of water delivered from said orifices in correspondence with the number of said nozzles opened to communication with said inlet through said apertures; first means for discharging a continuous spray of water, said director plate including at least one additional aperture communicating with said first means, and said control plate including shutter elements disposed for opening of said additional aperture selectively in coordination with selective opening of said first and second apertures; and second means, disposed within said first means and said orifices, for emitting a continuous spray of water, said director plate including a further aperture communicating with said second means, and said control plate including shutter elements disposed for selective opening of said further aperture selectively in correspondence with selective opening of said first, second and additional openings.
-
-
54. In a showerhead that has an inlet, a series of circumferentially-spaced orifices, a turbine with a valve for sequentially opening successive ones of said orifices, a plurality of nozzles for driving said turbine, a multiple-apertured flow director plate for communicating water from said inlet to said nozzles, a control plate for selectively coupling water from said inlet to different ones of said apertures, and a control for moving said control plate relative to said director plate;
-
a cup in which said orifices are defined; at least one plenum chamber defined in said cup and from which said nozzles extend; a tube upstanding from said cup; and a boss projecting outwardly from said director plate toward said cup, the outer end portion of said tube being coupled into said boss. - View Dependent Claims (57)
-
-
55. In a showerhead that has an inlet, a series of circumferentially-spaced orifices, a turbine with a valve for sequentially opening successive ones of said orifices, a plurality of nozzles for driving said turbine, a multiple-apertured flow director plate for communicating water from said inlet to said nozzles, a control plate for selectively coupling water from said inlet to different ones of said apertures, and a control for moving said control plate relative to said director plate:
-
a cup in which said orifices are defined; at least one plenum chamber defined in said cup and from which said nozzles extend; a tube upstanding from said cup; a boss projecting outwardly from said director plate toward said cup, the outer end portion of said tube being coupled into said boss; and said cup including a centrally disposed means for emitting a spray of water, said tube communicating with said emitting means, and said director plate and said control plate including means for selectively feeding water into said tube. - View Dependent Claims (56)
-
Specification