Patent Application
20060226255
The present invention relates to a shower fixture, and more particularly to a showerhead assembly that fills and overflows to provide a waterfall effect.
Oversized luxury showers and accessories are becoming increasing desirable in new construction and bathroom renovations. Such showers typically include one or more multi-function showerheads that have a plurality of spray modes, including various standard sprays and pulsed sprays. Multi-function showerheads may also have flow control valves to allow the user to adjust the flow pressure to a desired level. Other conventional showerheads provide simulated rainfall or waterfall experiences.
Although somewhat effective in providing such simulated experiences conventional rainfall and waterfall showerheads may be lacking in simulating a significantly satisfactory flow of water to simulate being within a rain or waterfall.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a showerhead assembly which provides a significantly satisfactory flow of water to simulate being within a rain or water fall.
A showerhead assembly according to the present invention includes a vessel having an upper surface includes a concave area which may be at least partially filled with water from a water supply conduit. An edge includes a radius such that the overflowing water adheres thereto through surface tension. The water partially flows about the edge and onto a lower surface which is convex in shape. The convex shape generally focuses the water about the lower surface until the surface tension is overcome and the water falls or breaks from the edge and lower surface to provide a random release of the water onto the bather to provide a significant water fall effect with a relatively large quantity of water.
The present invention therefore provides a showerhead assembly which provides a significantly satisfactory flow of water to simulate being within a rain or waterfall.
The various features and advantages of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the currently preferred embodiment. The drawings that accompany the detailed description can be briefly described as follows:
The shower 10 includes a showerhead assembly 18 mounted to the ceiling 16. The showerhead assembly 18 is preferably an overhead fixture that at least partially fills with water and overflows to provide a waterfall effect to the bather.
Referring to
The upper surface 22 includes a concave area 28 which may be at least partially filled with water from a water supply conduit 30 located toward the center thereof. The concave area 28 is preferably generally annular and surrounds the water supply conduit 30. Notably, the water supply conduit 30 does not pass through the vessel 20 but communicates water thereto such that the concave area 28 fills with water prior to overflow about the edge 24.
“Annular” as used herein is not to be limited to only a circular shape, but is to defined as to generally surround the water supply conduit 30 such that water from the water supply conduit will fill the entire concave area 28. Likewise, the conduit need not be centrally located but need only supply water to the upper surface 22.
The edge 24 includes a radius such that the overflowing water adheres thereto through surface tension. The water partially flows about the edge and onto the lower surface 26 which is preferably convex in shape to form a generally dish or bowl-shaped vessel. The convex shape generally focuses the water about the lower surface 26 until the surface tension is overcome and the water falls or breaks from the edge 24 and lower surface 26. The showerhead assembly 18 provides a random release of the water onto the bather to provide a significant waterfall effect with a relatively large quantity of water.
It should be further understood that although the vessel 20 in the illustrative embodiment is generally circular in shape, other edge shapes, such as rectilinear, and or discontinuous shapes (
Referring to
Although particular step sequences are shown, described, and claimed, it should be understood that steps may be performed in any order, separated or combined unless otherwise indicated and will still benefit from the present invention.
The foregoing description is exemplary rather than defined by the limitations within. Many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. The preferred embodiments of this invention have been disclosed, however, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that certain modifications would come within the scope of this invention. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described. For that reason the following claims should be studied to determine the true scope and content of this invention.
