Aquavision fountains pot

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6505782
  • Patent Number
    6,505,782
  • Date Filed
    Friday, December 7, 2001
    23 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, January 14, 2003
    22 years ago
  • Inventors
  • Examiners
    • Douglas; Lisa A.
    Agents
    • Rosenberg, Klein & Lee
Abstract
An aquavision fountain pot is constructed to include a pot body holding an amount of water, a face panel mounted in the pot body, the face panel having separated waterways and top jet nozzles respectively disposed in communication with the waterways, a plurality of motor pumps installed in a watertight chamber defined in the pot body and controlled by a function controller to pump water from the pot body to the waterways and the jet nozzles to show a water dance, and dashboards provided around the jet nozzles to buffer fallen water.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




1. Field of the Invention




The present invention relates to an aquarium motion indoor decorative item and, more specifically, to an aquavision fountains pot, which produces music and, ejects jets of water to show a water dance subject to the rhythms of the music.




2. Description of the Related Art




Various aquarium motion indoor decorative items are commercially available. These aquarium motion indoor decorative items commonly use a water pump to pump water from a water chamber at a low place to a water outlet at a high place, enabling outputted water to fall to the water chamber. This watering action is monotonous.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is one object of the present invention to provide an aquavision fountains pot, which shows a water dance subject to the rhythms of a music outputted through a speaker installed therein. It is another object of the present invention to provide an aquavision fountains pot, which is compact and portable. It is still another object of the present invention to provide an aquavision fountains pot, which prevents fallen water from splashing over the surroundings. According to one aspect of the present invention, the aquavision fountains pot comprises a pot body holding an amount of water, a face panel mounted in the pot body, the face panel having separated waterways and top jet nozzles respectively disposed in communication with the waterways, and a plurality of motor pumps installed in a watertight chamber defined in the pot body and separately controlled by a function controller to pump water from the pot body to the waterways and the jet nozzles to show a water dance. According to another aspect of the present invention, dashboards are provided around the jet nozzles to buffer fallen water.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is an exploded view of an aquavision fountains pot constructed according to the present invention.





FIG. 2

is an elevational view of the aquavision fountains pot according to the present invention.





FIG. 3

is a sectional view of the present invention showing jets of water driven out of the jet holes.





FIG. 4

is a schematic drawing of a part of the present invention showing fallen water dropped to the dashboards.





FIG. 5

is a sectional view of an alternate form of the aquavision fountains pot according to the present invention.





FIG. 6

is an elevational view of another alternate form of the aquavision fountains pot according to the present invention.





FIG. 7

is an elevational view of still another alternate form of the aquavision fountains pot according to the present invention.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT




Referring to FIGS. from


1


through


3


, an aquavision fountains pot in accordance with the present invention is generally comprised of a pot body


10


, a face panel


30


, an upper seal plate


40


, a bottom sealing plate


20


, a function controller


24


, and a plurality of motor pumps MP.




The pot body


10


comprises a bottom wire hole


11


, which is sealed with a sealing glue H after insertion of a power cord, and a side through hole


12


, which is mounted with a speaker holder


13


and a seal ring


15


to support a speaker


14


.




The face panel


30


comprises an annular flange


32


downwardly protruded from the bottom sidewall thereof, an annular step


34


protruded from the bottom sidewall within the annular flange


32


, a plurality of annular ribs


31


of different diameters provided at the bottom sidewall and concentrically disposed within the annular step


34


, a plurality of annular waterways


310


respectively defined in between the annular ribs


31


, a plurality of jet holes


33


cut through the bottom sidewall in communication with the annular waterways


310


respectively, a plurality of jet nozzles


330


respectively upwardly extended from the top sidewall thereof and connected to the jet holes


33


to receive water from the jet holes


33


, a plurality water return holes


37


disposed around the periphery outside the annular flange


32


, a plurality of dashboards


38


respectively disposed around the jet nozzles


330


and adapted for buffering fallen water, and a plurality of female screws


36


for mounting.




The upper sealing plate


40


is fixedly fastened to the annular step


34


within the annular flange


32


of the face panel


30


to seal the waterways


310


. Further, a gasket ring


35


is sandwiched in between the upper sealing plate


40


and the annular step


34


to seal the gap. The upper sealing plate


40


comprises a plurality of bottom tubes


41


mounted with respective rubber rings


42


and respectively connected to the motor pumps MP through respective hoses


26


and adapted for guiding forced water to the waterways


310


.




The bottom sealing plate


20


is covered on the annular flange


32


of the face panel


30


and sealed with a gasket ring


25


, comprising a plurality of a plurality of female screws


23


respectively connected to the female screws


36


of the face panel


30


by screws, a plurality of through holes


21


, which receive the bottom tubes


41


and the rubber rings


42


, and a wire hole


22


through which the power cord of the function controller


24


extends to the outside. After insertion of the power cord of the function controller


24


through the wire hole


22


, the wire hole


22


is sealed with a sealing glue H. The bottom sealing plate


20


, the annular flange


32


of the face panel


30


, and the upper sealing plate


40


define a watertight chamber W in which the function controller


24


is installed.




The motor pumps MP are respectively mounted in the pot body


10


below the bottom sealing plate


20


and respectively connected to the hoses


26


.




The function controller


24


controls the pumping operation of the motor pumps MP, and has a music IC (not shown) adapted for output music through the speaker


14


.




Referring to

FIGS. 2 and 3

again, when started the motor pumps MP, the motor pumps MP pumps accumulated water from the pot body


10


into the hoses


26


, thereby causing forced water to be forced out of the jet nozzles


330


through the jet holes


33


to show a water dance. Fallen water is buffered by the dashboards


38


, and then returned to the inside of the pot body


10


through the return holes


37


for further circulation.




As stated above, the invention achieves the following functions and advantages:




1. The function controller


24


controls the operation of the motor pumps MP following the rhythms of the music outputted through the speaker


14


, showing an aquavision of water dance.




2. Because the function controller


24


is mounted in the watertight chamber W surrounded by the bottom sealing plate


20


, the annular flange


32


of the face panel


30


, and the upper sealing plate


40


, it is well protected against water.




3. The upper sealing plate


40


seals the waterways


310


, enabling water to be separately pumped out of the jet nozzles


330


through the jet holes


33


to produce different jets of water, performing an aquavision.




4. The dashboards


38


buffer fallen water (see FIG.


4


), enabling fallen water to be smoothly guided to the return holes


37


.




5. The whole assembly of the aquavision fountains pot is compact and portable, and the user can place the aquavision fountains pot on any desired place.





FIG. 5

shows an alternate form of the present invention. According to this alternate form, the pot body


10


has a hollow base


201


defining an airtight chamber W adapted for holding the function controller


24


and the speaker


14


. The watertight chamber W can be made having a bottom open side, which is sealed after installation of the function controller


24


and the speaker


14


.





FIG. 6

shows another alternate form of the present invention. According to this embodiment, a sponge


380


is covered on the top sidewall of the face panel


30


to buffer and absorb fallen water.





FIG. 7

shows still another alternate form of the present invention. According to this embodiment, the dashboards


381


are made of flexible material and shaped like the leaves of a plant.




A prototype of aquavision fountains pot has been constructed with the features of the annexed drawings of FIGS.


1


˜


7


. The aquavision fountains pot functions smoothly to provide all of the features discussed earlier.




Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.



Claims
  • 1. An aquavision fountain pot comprising:a pot body holding an amount of water, said pot body comprising a watertight chamber; a face panel mounted in said pot body, said face panel comprising a plurality of jet nozzles for output of water from said pot body, a plurality of return holes for guiding outputted water back to said pot body, a plurality of waterways defined in a bottom sidewall thereof and sealed from one another by water sealing means; a plurality of motor pumps installed in said watertight chamber and adapted for pumping water from said pot body to said waterways and said jet nozzles respectively; a function controller installed in said watertight chamber and adapted for controlling the operation of said motor pumps; and a plurality of dashboards respectively disposed around said jet nozzles and adapted for buffering fallen water and guiding fallen water to said return holes.
  • 2. The aquavision fountain pot as claimed in claim 1, wherein said face panel comprises an annular flange protruded from the bottom sidewall outside said waterways, and sealing plates fixedly sealed to said annular flange and defining with said annular flange said watertight chamber for holding said function controller and said motor pumps.
  • 3. The aquavision fountains pot as claimed in claim 1, wherein said dashboards are made of sponge.
  • 4. The aquavision fountains pot as claimed in claim 1, wherein said dashboards are made of flexible material and shaped like the leaves of a plant.
  • 5. The aquavision fountains pot as claimed in claim 1, wherein said face panel comprises an annular step protruded from the bottom sidewall, a plurality of annular ribs of different diameters concentrically provided at the bottom sidewall within said annular step and defining said waterways, and a sealing plate fixedly fastened to said annular step and sealed with a gasket ring to separate said waterways from one another, said sealing plate having a plurality of connecting tubes respectively disposed in communication with said waterways and respectively connected to said motor pumps by a respective hose.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Number Name Date Kind
D213692 Hibben Apr 1969 S
3820715 Hamilton Jun 1974 A
5127366 Kim Jul 1992 A
6149070 Hones Nov 2000 A
6209797 Jenney Apr 2001 B1