Shower head

• US 7,364,097 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2005
• Issued: 04/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Yoji Okuma
• Original Assignee: Yoji Okuma
• Inventors: Okuma, Yoji
• Primary Examiner(s): Shaver; Kevin
• Assistant Examiner(s): BOECKMANN, JASON J
• Application Number:
  US11/281,705
• Publication Number:
  US 20060219821A1
• Time in Patent Office: 893 Days
• Field of Search: 239/390, 239/396, 239/533.12, 239/548, 239/456, 239/525, 239/558, 239/589, 239592-594, 239/428.5, 239/518, 239/521, 239/523, 239/461, 239/530, 239/556, 239/562, 239/590, 239/393, 239442-445, 222/190
• US Class Current: 239/530
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 1/18 Roses; Shower heads with means for adding soap or the like E03C1/046; jet regulators E03C1/08
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 7/2462 using a carrying liquid flowing through the container for dissolving a block of solid material

Abstract

A water-saving type shower head operable to reduce flow volume while maintaining a high discharge pressure. A diameter-reduced water passage 19 of a flow control member 20 disposed in a head portion 22 of a shower head body 12 has a first and a second water passage portions 40 and 41 provided on an entry side and an exit side thereof, respectively. The first water passage portion 40 has a small diameter, and the second water passage portion 41 has an inside diameter which is 1.5 to 3 times that of the first water passage portion 40. On an upstream side of the first water passage portion 40, a tapered diameter-reduced portion 43 reduced in diameter in a flow direction is formed, and on a downstream side of the second water passage portion 41, a diameter-increased portion 45 increased in diameter in the flow direction is formed.

Claims

1. A shower head comprising:

a shower head body having a cylindrical water passage and an inflected water passage connected to the cylindrical water passage, the passages being provided inside the shower head body from a proximal portion thereof having a water inlet through a head portion thereof;

a sprinkler cap having a ring-shaped cap body and a sprinkler plate, the cap body having a fitting opening formed in a central portion of the cap body and being fixed to the head portion of the shower head body via a screw mechanism, the sprinkler plate having a plurality of sprinkler holes and being secured to the fitting opening; and

a flow control member having a diameter-reduced water passage and being placed on an upstream side of the sprinkler plate;

wherein a partition plate having only one through-hole is disposed between the flow control member and the sprinkler plate to divide space therebetween into a first chamber and a second chamber, and said one through-hole is eccentrically disposed in the partition plate,

wherein the sprinkler plate is made of a circular plate having an outer wall gradually increased in diameter in the flow direction and conforming to an inner wall of the cap body, and the sprinkler holes include a plurality of inner sprinkler holes and a plurality of outer sprinkler holes, the inner sprinkler holes being formed in an inner portion of the sprinkler plate except a periphery thereof and extending in parallel to an axis of the sprinkler cap, the outer sprinkler holes being formed by a plurality of grooves and the inner wall of the cap body, each of the grooves having an arc-shaped or a U-shaped cross section with an outer side thereof opened and being provided in the outer wall of the sprinkler plate.

2. The shower head according to claim 1, wherein a silver ion generating material in a solid form is disposed in the first chamber, and silver ions from the silver ion generating material dissolve in water discharged from the diameter-reduced water passage with the water flowing in the first chamber to be discharged from said one through-hole of the partition plate, thereby promoting sterilization of the water.

3. The shower head according to claim 1, wherein each of the inner sprinkler holes has a water entry portion and a water exit portion, the water entry portion being gradually reduced in diameter in the flow direction to be in a truncated conical shape, the water exit portion being gradually increased in diameter in the flow direction to be in a truncated conical shape.

4. The shower head according to claim 3, wherein each of the inner sprinkler holes has a straight portion having a length which is 0.6 to 1.2 times larger than a diameter of the straight portion.

5. The shower head according to claim 4, wherein the straight portion has an inside diameter of 0.35 to 0.8 mm.

6. The shower head according to claim 3, wherein the water exit portion has a taper angle of 30 to 45 degrees.

7. A shower head comprising:

a shower head body having a cylindrical water passage and an inflected water passage connected to the cylindrical water passage, the passages being provided inside the shower head body from a proximal portion thereof having a water inlet through a head portion thereof;

a sprinkler cap having a ring-shaped cap body and a sprinkler plate, the cap body having a fitting opening formed in a central portion of the cap body and being fixed to the head portion of the shower head body via a screw mechanism, the sprinkler plate having a plurality of sprinkler holes and being secured to the fitting opening; and

a flow control member having a diameter-reduced water passage and being placed on an upstream side of the sprinkler plate;

wherein a partition plate having only one through-hole is disposed between the flow control member and the sprinkler plate to divide space therebetween into a first chamber and a second chamber, and said one through-hole is eccentrically disposed in the partition plate,

wherein the diameter-reduced water passage has a first water passage portion and a second water passage portion respectively provided on an entry side and an exit side of the diameter-reduced water passage, the first water passage portion having a cross-sectional area smaller than those of the cylindrical water passage and the inflected water passage of the shower head body, the second water passage portion having an inside diameter which is 1.5 to 3 times larger than that of the first water passage portion; and

a tapered diameter-reduced portion, reduced in diameter in a flow direction and communicated with the inflected water passage, is formed on an upstream side of the first water passage portion, and a diameter-increased portion increased in diameter in the flow direction is formed on a downstream side of the second water passage portion.

8. The shower head according to claim 7, wherein the first water passage portion has a length which is 1.3 to 2 times larger than the inside diameter of the first water passage portion.

9. The shower head according to claim 7, wherein a truncated conical connecting portion gradually increased in diameter in the flow direction is disposed between the first and the second water passage portions.