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As shown in a packing case 10 in
As shown schematically in
The faucet 11 has a tap 22 that extends axially beneath the sink's flange 18 (See
The opposite end of the turnbuckle 21 is connected to a threaded axially extending portion of the spreader body 20. The end of the threaded axially extending portion of the spreader body 20 has two openings 28, 29 and two posts 30. Each post 30 is configured to be received within one of the blind holes 23 in the end of the tap 22. Each opening 28, 29 of the spreader body 20 is configured to line up with one of the two remaining holes 24, 25 respectively, in the tap so that a passage will be formed for the flow of water. The installer rotates the spreader body 20 until the posts 30 align with the proper blind holes 23 in the tap so that the opening 28 in the fixture fitting 20 that is connected to the hot water line 16 will align with the hole 24 in the tap 22 that leads to the valve 26 controlling the flow of hot water from the faucet 11 and the opening 29 in the fixture fitting 20 that is connected to the cold water line 17 will align with the hole 25 in the tap 22 that leads to the valve 27 controlling the flow of cold water from the faucet. Tightening of the turnbuckle 21 pulls the end of the tap 22 into contact with the end of the spreader body 20 and places hole 24 opposite opening 28 and hole 25 opposite opening 29. Because of the limited space available for the installer to work when attaching the spreader body 20 to the underside of the faucet 11, such installation can become both tedious and unduly time consuming for the installer.
The tap 22 is formed of cast brass. Accordingly, the dimensional tolerances concerning the shapes of the holes 23, 24, 25 are rather loose, and the holes 23, 24, 25 can be less than perfectly circular. If the installer is not careful, the installation can become less than satisfactory. For example, if the turnbuckle 21 is not properly tightened, leaks can result. If the posts 30 are not properly aligned with the blind holes 23, then sometimes the passage to the hot water valve 26 or the cold water valve 27 is blocked by one of the posts 30. Sometimes the installer mistakenly may try to force one of the posts 30 into one of the tap's holes 24 or 25 for the hot water or the cold water, resulting in damage to the hole 24 or 25. Such damage can cause leaks. For example, sometimes such damage will enable the hot water leaving the opening 28 of the spreader body 20 to bleed into the cold water hole 25 of the tap 22. Sometimes the cold water leaving the cold water opening 29 in the spreader body 20 will bleed into the hot water hole 24 of the tap 22 due to such damage or due to the less than perfect circularity or location of the holes 24, 25 in the tap 22.
A wall bracket 31 is typically included to provide support for the riser 12 by connecting the riser to the wall. The distance between the kitchen wall and the riser will vary depending upon the location of the faucet 11 relative to the kitchen wall. Accordingly, the length of any bracket 31 that extends between the kitchen wall and the riser 12 must lend itself to being cut to size for any given installation.
The exterior finish of the fixture fittings that are visible to the user when they have been installed, is highly polished. Accordingly, during shipment of these fixture fittings to the job site, care must be taken to avoid nicks and scratches to this finish. If the fittings are permitted to touch one another during shipment, such nicks and scratches will result. One method of packing and shipment that avoids nicking and scratching the finish requires the fixture fittings to be fixed to an underlying cardboard substrate 32 by the application under vacuum of a heated plastic material 33 that is shrink-wrapped around the fittings and adhered to the underlying cardboard substrate 32. However, this method has its drawbacks. The heated plastic 33 tends to adhere to the surfaces of the fittings. This requires time consuming removal of the plastic, since care must be taken to avoid nicking and scratching the surfaces of the fixture fittings during the removal process.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide plumbing fixture fittings for commercial sinks with a pre-rinse unit wherein the fittings are configured so that either a solid spreader body or flexible connector hoses can be attached when installing the unit and connecting it to the water supply from beneath the sink.
It is also a principal object of the present invention to provide plumbing fixture fittings for commercial sinks with a pre-rinse unit wherein the connections to the hot and cold water supplies can be effected more reliably and with a reduction in the time and effort that the installer expends to complete these connections.
It is another principal object of the present invention to provide plumbing fixture fittings for commercial sinks with a pre-rinse unit wherein the unit is supplied in a package that protects the fittings from nicks and scratches while reducing the effort required of the installer to unpack the fittings and install them with less effort and time than conventionally packed fittings.
It is an additional principal object of the present invention to provide plumbing fixture fittings for commercial sinks with a pre-rinse unit wherein many of the fittings are packaged in a pre-assembled way that still protects the fittings from nicks and scratches while reducing the effort required of the installer to unpack the fittings and install them with less effort and time than conventionally packed fittings.
It is a further principal object of the present invention to provide plumbing fixture fittings for commercial sinks with a pre-rinse unit wherein a variable length riser support is provided with a configuration that reduces the time and effort of installation.
To achieve the objects and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the faucet can include a universal tap. The universal tap is provided with a pair of blind holes so that the tap can be used to receive the conventional spreader body that is used to connect each of the hot water lines and cold water lines to the faucet from beneath the sink or the counter in which the sink is installed. The universal tap is desirably formed of forged brass and provided with a pair of threaded holes. Each threaded hole is used to connect to the threaded male end of one of the hot water line and the cold water line that provide water service to the faucet. Each of the threaded holes of the universal tap leads to one of the hot and cold water passages of the faucet.
However, because of these threaded holes in the universal tap, the installer need not use the conventional spreader body that has openings brought into alignment with the holes in the conventional tap of the faucet provided for hot and cold water. Instead of the conventional spreader body, the installer can use two flexible stainless steel hoses that are provided. Each such flexible stainless steel hose has a threaded male end that can be threaded into one of the threaded holes of the universal tap. An O-ring or sealing gasket can be provided at the threaded end of each of the flexible stainless steel hoses to form a water tight seal when the threaded end of the flexible stainless steel hose is screwed into the appropriate threaded hole of the universal tap. In this way, the installer can rotate the flexible stainless steel hose from beneath the sink at the remote end of the flexible steel hose. This convenience eliminates the need for the installer to work with an awkward spreader body and turnbuckle in the narrow space between the kitchen wall and the wall of the sink's basin in order to attach the water supply hoses to the conventional spreader body. This apparatus of the present invention also provides for a more reliable connection to the water service and a connection that is more easily maintained.
The pre-rinse assembly can include a unique riser support that is designed to facilitate installation of the pre-rinse assembly. The riser support includes a stand-off having opposed ends. The riser support includes a wall bracket that is selectively, detachably fixed to one end of the stand-off. This one end of the stand-off can be permanently or detachably fixed to the base of the wall bracket. The opposite end of the stand-off can be cut to any desired length by the installer to accommodate different sink installations. The riser support can include a clamp that selectively, detachably attaches the opposite end (the cut off end) of the stand-off to the riser. The clamp is formed desirably as a clam-shell arrangement that requires only a pair of threaded fasteners in order to attach the stand-off to the riser.
A faucet with pre-rinse assembly can be provided in a shipping package that facilitates quick and easy removal and installation of the packaged fittings by the installer. Such a product includes a first rigid substrate that has been rendered porous to the passage of air therethrough. The tension spring of the pre-rinse assembly rests on the substrate. A flexible steel hose is connected to a connection fitting and is disposed through the spring until the fitting is received within the spring and protrudes from one end thereof in a position that is ready for connection to the riser. A polyurethane inner sleeve lines the inside of the stainless steel flexible hose. A rigid shell is configured and disposed to cover the spring and the hose and rest against the substrate. The shell is desirably composed of clear polyvinychloride having a basis weight of about 0.105 kg/cubic meter. A sheet of flexible material is heated and shrink-wrapped over the shell and the substrate and holds the shell against the substrate. The sheet of flexible material desirably comprises a polyethylene film having a basis weight in the range of 920 kilograms per cubic meter to 950 kilograms per cubic meter. The sheet of flexible material is heated to a temperature in the range of 70 to 110 degrees Centigrade before being shrink-wrapped. Thus, the rigid shell is disposed between the underlying rigid substrate and the shrink-wrapped plastic sheet so that both the spring and the hose are protected from entanglement with the heated sheet of flexible material.
In some embodiments of the packaged fittings, a finger hook is already connected to the riser of the pre-rinse assembly that is mounted on the substrate covered with the shrink-wrapped sheet of flexible material. In some embodiments of the packaged fittings, the riser support with the stand-off and the wall bracket are pre-assembled and resting against the substrate that is covered with the shrink-wrapped sheet of flexible material.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate at least one presently preferred embodiment of the invention as well as some alternative embodiments. These drawings, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention but by no means are intended to be exhaustive of all of the possible manifestations of the invention.
Reference now will be made in detail to the presently preferred embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, which is not restricted to the specifics of the examples. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment, can be used on another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. The same numerals are assigned to the same components throughout the drawings and description.
A presently preferred embodiment of the installation fittings of a faucet assembly is shown in
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a pair of flexible steel conduits is provided. As shown in
As shown in
Another fitting of the present invention can include a variable length, riser support. The riser support is provided with a configuration that reduces the time and effort needed for installation of same. As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
First mating member 75 defines a pair of first holes 77. Second mating member 76 defines a pair of second holes 78. Each of the second holes 78 of the second mating member 76 is threaded to receive a threaded screw 79. Each of the first holes 77 of the first mating member 76 is countersunk to receive the head of the corresponding threaded screw 79 so that the head would be flush with the surface of the first mating member 75 when screwed into the second hole 78 of the second mating member 76. Each of the first holes 77 of the first mating member 75 is configured to be aligned with a respective second hole 78 of the second mating member 76 when the riser clamp 70 grips the riser 12 and the stand-off 61. A threaded screw 79 is inserted through each of the first holes 77 of the first mating member 75 and screwed into the corresponding aligned second hole 78 of the second mating member 76. Upon tightening of the two threaded screws 79, the riser clamp 60 is configured to selectively grip the riser 12 and the stand-off 61.
As shown in
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, a method of preparing a faucet with pre-rinse assembly for shipping is provided. As shown in
According to one aspect of the invention, certain of the fittings are pre-assembled and packed in their pre-assembled form in order to reduce the time needed for the installer to connect these parts prior to installation once they are removed from the shipping packages. In accordance with the present invention, plumbing fixtures for commercial sinks with a pre-rinse unit are supplied in a package that protects the fittings from nicks and scratches while reducing the effort required of the installer to unpack the fittings and install them with less effort and time than conventionally packed fittings. Two examples of this aspect of the invention are schematically illustrated in
Accordingly, as shown schematically in
As shown schematically in
As schematically shown in
In this manner, as shown schematically in
Referring to
While at least one presently preferred embodiment of the invention has been described using specific terms, such description is for illustrative purposes only, and it is to be understood that changes and variations may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 10726152 | Dec 2003 | US |
Child | 11367153 | Mar 2006 | US |