Combined shower splash guard and shower curtain holder

• US 4,944,050 A
• Filed: 05/26/1989
• Issued: 07/31/1990
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/1989
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Melard Acquisition, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Harold Shames, Sidney J. Shames
• Inventors: Shames, Sidney J., Shames, Harold
• Primary Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Application Number:
  US07/357,125
• Time in Patent Office: 431 Days
• Field of Search: 4/609-610, 4/608, 4/607, 4/605, 4/558, 4/661, 4/559, 160/349.1, 160/349.2, 160/DIG. 6, D23/303-307
• US Class Current: 4/609
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 3/281 Accessories for showers or bathing douches, e.g. cleaning devices for walls or floors of showers A47K3/30, A47K3/38, A47K3/40 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 3/30 Screens or collapsible cabinets for showers or baths A47K3/283 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 3/302 splash guards

Abstract

A combined shower splash guard member with a shower curtain holder is provided by a molded, generally triangularly-shaped, and modified, one piece body having two straight legs that intersect at a vertex of the triangle, and a third, web-like leg that extends between the free ends of said first two legs of the splash guard. Means for holding the one piece body to a mounting for the body is provided by an adhesive strip of a length to be secured to the entire outer surface of the two straight legs of the splash guard. To accommodate the departure from the desired perpendicularity of the legs of the splash guard, a gusset means is provided in the web of the splash guard which permits the web of the one-piece body to be varied from its normally intended size and shape.

A shower curtain holding structure is provided in the molded web of the shower splash guard, by providing an aperture means that is formed through said web, and providing a selectively, manually movable, cantilevered, curtain-tensioning member to be located within said through-aperture formed in the web of the shower splash guard, so that manual movement of the tensioning member to a curtain-tensioning position may be used to effect friction holding of the shower curtain by said curtain-tensioning member and by the aperture means defined in the web of the shower splash guard member.

Claims

1. For use with the existing combination of a shower-equipped tub for a bathroom, in which a person who is showering stands while showering, and where one end of said tub is located adjacent to a generally upright end wall that at least partially bounds the region above the tub;

the tub providing a horizontal upper edge positioned in a substantially vertical plane, and with a flexible shower curtain being provided, suspended from a support spaced above the tub, with said curtain'"'"'s lowermost end extending downwardly to enter into the confines of the tub, and functioning to limit water splash within the tub from migrating to a region outwardly of the tub;

the improvement of providing a shower splash guard member for limiting water splash from migrating outwardly of the tub to be deposited onto a bathroom floor surface that is located adjacent the tub;

said splash guard member comprising, in combination, a unitary shower splash guard member, that is molded of plastic and is constructed to provide a pair of orthogonally arranged mounting legs that are joined together by a web which is formed integral with, and which extends between, said mounting legs;

a first of said mounting legs being adapted to overlie a portion of a horizontal upper edge of the tub wall that is spaced above a bathroom'"'"'s floor;

said splash guard member providing a second mounting leg that projects upwardly relative to said first mounting leg and which is positioned to lie adjacent to, and being adapted to be secured to, said upright end wall;

an opening being provided extending through said web, and being located adjacent to said second mounting leg;

a tongue extending from said second mounting leg in a direction away from the second mounting leg and projecting into said opening that extends through said web, said tongue and said opening into which the tongue projects cooperating to provide a means for gripping a portion of a shower curtain, by friction developed between the tongue and the shower curtain and between the web and shower curtain and being operative to hold the shower curtain in a selected position against the web of the splash guard member and against the tongue of the splash guard member.

2. A construction as in claim 1 wherein said pair of mounting legs of the splash guard member are joined at a vertex of said splash guard member defined by the junction of adjacent ends of said mounting legs.

3. A construction as in claim 2 wherein the web of the splash guard member is shaped to provide a molded gusset section that extends from said vertex of the splash guard member to a portion of the free edge of the web that is closest to and opposite from said vertex, whereby to provide an expansion joint means which accommodates variations in the angular attitude of the upright wall to which a portion of the splash guard member attaches.

4. A construction as in claim 1 wherein an elongated adhesive strip is secured along substantially the entire aggregate length of the two mounting legs of the splash guard member, so as to provide means for adhesively securing each mounting leg to a member to which the mounting leg is to attach.

5. A construction as in claim 3 wherein the molded gusset section includes a set of grooves extending radially of the vertex of the splash guard member to provide fold lines to accommodate accordion-like folding, or unfolding, of radially extending segments of the web of the splash guard member, as is required by the included angle subtended between the pair of mounting legs of the splash guard member.