The present invention relates to a faucet, and more particularly to a pull-out faucet which contains a shower assembly to illuminate lights.
A conventional pull-out faucet contains a shower head for flowing or spraying water, but the shower head cannot illuminate lights.
A conventional illuminative faucet is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,467,874 and contains a shower head, wherein the shower head has an outlet pipe to flow water and guide lights, the shower head also has plural LED elements to illuminate the lights via the outlet pipe.
The conventional illuminative faucet also contains an electric wire electrically connected with a power supply and extending to the shower head from an inlet segment of the pull-out faucet along a flexible pipe. However, the electric wire is mounted on an outer wall of an internal tube of the flexible pipe, and a fitting casing or a woven cloth covers on the internal tube, such that the electric wire is mounted between the internal tube and the fitting casing or the woven cloth to cause complicated assembly. In addition, the electric wire is broken easily as rotating the shower head and a rotation angle of the shower head is limited.
A conventional pull-out faucet contains a shower head, and the shower head has a conduit member connected with an outlet segment of a flexible pipe by using its connector, such that the shower head is rotated. The pull-out faucet also contains a guiding member disposed on a bottom end of the conduit member, and the guiding member has a central channel and a peripheral channel; an internal sleeve fitted with the conduit member and the guiding member; an external sleeve fitted on the internal sleeve; a switch device having a button, a valve core driven by the button to move, such that the valve core guides water to flow out of the central channel or the peripheral channel from the conduit member. The pull-out faucet further contains a resilient element for pushing the valve core to move back to an original position.
The outlet segment of the flexible pipe is configured in the shower head so that the electric wire extends out of the outlet segment of the flexible pipe, but the outlet segment is located on an outer wall of the shower head, so the electric wire exposes outside the shower head.
As desiring to affix the switch device in the pull-out faucet, the circuit board (such as a PCB) is arranged in the shower head difficultly because of a narrow space of the shower head. Furthermore, the electric wire is broken as rotating the shower head.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a pull-out faucet which is assembled easily and quickly, decreases its production cost, avoids damage an electric wire in the pull-out faucet, and illuminates lights from a shower assembly.
To obtain the above objective, a pull-out faucet provided by the present invention contains: a body and a shower assembly mounted on the body; the shower assembly including a flexible pipe inserted into the body, an inflow member connected with an inlet segment of the flexible pipe to flow water, a spray head coupled with an outlet segment of the flexible pipe and retracted back to an outlet of the body after being pulled outwardly, a plurality of LED elements arranged in the spray head, a circuit board electrically connected with the plurality of LED elements, and an electric wire inserted into the flexible pipe and electrically connected with the circuit board to supply power.
The electric wire is inserted into the flexible pipe along a tunnel of the flexible pipe.
The spray head includes a light conductor, a conduit member above the light conductor, an internal sleeve fitted onto an outer wall of the conduit member, and an external sleeve fitted onto an outer wall of the internal sleeve.
A first stopper is disposed in the conduit member and has a first orifice to extend out of the electric wire from the outlet segment of the flexible pipe to electrically connect with the circuit board.
A second stopper is fixed on the inflow member and has a second orifice so as to insert the electric wire from the inlet segment of the flexible pipe.
The first stopper is made of rubber.
The second stopper is made of rubber.
The conduit member has an inlet chamber formed on an upper side thereof, an outlet chamber arranged on a lower side thereof, at least one passage communicating with the inlet chamber and the outlet chamber, a piston portion defined between the inlet chamber and the outlet chamber and matingly contacting with an inner wall of the internal sleeve, a receiving chamber defined between the inlet chamber and the piston portion; the inlet chamber has a first aperture formed on an inner wall thereof to contact with the first stopper.
The light conductor is a guiding member, and the guiding member has a peripheral fence and a horizontal fence coupling with the peripheral fence; the horizontal fence has a central channel passing therethrough; the peripheral fence has plural peripheral channels passing therethrough; the spray head further includes a switch device operated manually to control the water to flow out of the central channel or the plural peripheral channels of the light conductor via the conduit member.
The light conductor has plural input faces for inputting the lights, a light transmission portion for transmitting the lights, and an output face for outputting the lights; the circuit board is a flexible printed circuit and includes a longitudinal sheet, a C-shaped ring joining with the longitudinal sheet, and plural extensions extending toward the central axis X of the spray head; wherein the longitudinal sheet longitudinally extends between the internal sleeve and the external sleeve; the C-shaped ring surrounds around an inner wall of the light conductor and is defined between the light conductor and the internal sleeve; each extension is located above each input face, and a bottom face of each extension electrically connects with each LED element and faces to each input face.
The peripheral fence also has plural slots defined thereon to accommodate the plural extensions of the circuit board, wherein bottom surfaces of the plural slots form the plural input faces, and a bottom end of the light conductor forms the output face, among the plural input faces and the output face forms the light transmission portion.
The inflow member includes a connector, a tube, a seat, a U-shaped bolt, and the second stopper; a first end of the connector is inserted into the inlet segment of the flexible pipe; and the tube is screwed with a second end of the connector and has a passageway defined therein, a holder extending outwardly from an outer wall thereof, a trench formed on the holder, and two second apertures communicating with the trench; wherein the holder is cylindrical and retains with the trench, and the holder does not remove from the trench by inserting the U-shaped bolt through the two second apertures; the second stopper retains in the holder, wherein the electric wire inserts into the tube and then extends into the conduit member of the spray head along the connector and a tunnel of the flexible pipe.
The shower assembly further includes a coupling member for coupling the spray head with the outlet segment of the flexible pipe, the shower assembly further includes an angle limiter fixed between the spray head and the coupling member to limit a rotation of the spray head within a first angle range relative to the flexible pipe.
The spray head further includes a guiding member retained with a lower side of the conduit member, and the guiding member has a peripheral fence and a horizontal fence coupling with the peripheral fence; the horizontal fence has a central channel passing therethrough; the light conductor is disposed on a peripheral side of the guiding member and has at least one input face for inputting lights, at least one light transmission portion for transmitting the lights, and at least one output face for outputting the lights.
The light conductor has a circular rib and plural light columns extending upwardly from an inner wall of the circular rib, wherein each light column has an input face formed on a top end thereof, and bottom ends of the plural light columns and a bottom end of the circular rib define the at least one output face, the plural light columns form the at least one light transmission portion.
The light conductor is formed in a sleeve shape to retain with the guiding member, wherein the light conductor has an outer cliff, and the outer cliff has plural indentations arranged around a middle section thereof, wherein each indentation has an input face formed on a bottom end thereof, and the outer cliff also has an output face defined on a bottom end thereof, the outer cliff among input faces of the plural indentations and the output face forms the light transmission portion.
The circuit board is a flexible printed circuit and includes a longitudinal sheet and a C-shaped ring joining with the longitudinal sheet; wherein the longitudinal sheet longitudinally extends between the internal sleeve and the external sleeve; the plurality of LED elements are arranged on an inner wall of the C-shaped ring and retain in the plural indentations to illuminate the input faces of the plural indentations.
Accordingly, the pull-out faucet of the present invention contains the flexible printed circuit to replace a conventional circuit board, and the electric wire is fixed into the flexible pipe by ways of the inflow member, the first stopper and the second stopper of the conduit member to avoid damage as rotating the spray head of the shower assembly.
With reference to
An improvement of the pull-out faucet is described in below disclosure.
The spray head 30 includes a light conductor 31 made of translucent material to guide lights, as shown in
The circuit board 50, as illustrated in
The light conductor 31 is a guiding member, and the guiding member has a peripheral fence 314 and a horizontal fence 315 coupling with the peripheral fence 314; the horizontal fence 315 has a central channel 316 passing therethrough, wherein the central channel 316 are defined by four through holes; the peripheral fence 314 has plural peripheral channels 317 passing therethrough; the peripheral fence 314 also has plural slots 318 defined thereon to accommodate the plural extensions 53 of the circuit board 50, wherein bottom surfaces of the plural slots 318 form the plural input faces 311, and a bottom end of the light conductor 31 forms the output face 313; wherein between the horizontal fence 315 and the peripheral fence 314 is defined an accommodating cavity 319 which is in communication with the central channel 316, and the accommodating cavity 319 accommodates a faucet aerator 35, as shown in
With reference to
The internal sleeve 33 has a first receiving portion 331 for inserting the electric wire 60 and a second receiving portion 332; the circuit board 50 further includes a connecting sheet 54 connecting with a bottom end of the longitudinal sheet 51 and the C-shaped ring 52, as shown in
Referring to
The switch device 301 has a button 30a pressed manually by the user, a valve core 30b mounted on the conduit member 32 and pushed by the button 30a to move between a first closing position and a second closing position, a resilient element 30c fixed between a top end of the light conductor 31 and a bottom end of the valve core 30b to elastically abut against the valve core 30b to move back to the first closing position. When the spray head 30 is in a water stop state, the valve core 30b is pushed by the resilient element 30c to maintain at the first closing position, such that after turning on the pull-out faucet, the water is guided to flow out of the central channel 316 through the conduit member 32, and the button 30a is pressed by the user to push the valve core 30b to move toward the second closing position, thereafter the water is guided to flow out of the plural peripheral channels 317 via the conduit member 32. Since the switch device 301 is a well-known art, further remarks are omitted.
With reference to
With reference to
Referring further to
As shown in
As illustrated in
The coupling member 70 includes a first joining portion 71, a limiting loop 72, a bushing 73, and a second joining portion 74; the first joining portion 71 has a first inner segment 711, an first outer segment 712, and an opening 713 passing through the first inner segment 711 and the first outer segment 712; the first inner segment 711 is inserted into the outlet segment 12 of the flexible pipe 10, and the first outer segment 712 has a first spherical face 714 formed on an outer wall thereof, the opening 713 has a locking notch 715, as illustrated in
With reference to
To fix a top end of the first limitation element 81 in the locking notch 715 of the first joining portion 71, the locking notch 715 is formed in a polygon shape, such as a hexagon, and a bolt head 812 is formed in a polygon shape on the top end of the first limitation element 81, thus fixing the first limitation element 81 in the locking notch 715.
To position the second limitation element 82 on the upper side of the conduit member 32, the inlet chamber 321 of the conduit member 32 has plural recesses 32b formed on the inner wall thereof, as illustrated in
Referring to
Preferably, a contact zone of each confining block 813 and each trough 823 is an arcuate surface, hence the first limitation element 81 and the second limitation element 83 revolve with the spray head 30, and the spray head 30 rotates smoothly with the second joining portion 74 to avoid being interfered by the angle limiter 80.
Before assembling the pull-out faucet completely, the circuit board 50, the plurality of LED elements 40, and the electric wire 60 are electrically connected together. In other words, the C-shaped ring 52 and the plural extensions 53 of the circuit board 50 and the plurality of LED elements 40 are mounted on the light conductor 31, and then the connecting sheet 54 and the longitudinal sheet 51 are fixed between the internal sleeve 33 and the external sleeve 34, thereafter the electric wire 60 is inserted through the first receiving portion 331 of the internal sleeve 33, the first aperture 329 of the conduit member 32 and the inlet chamber 321, and the first stopper 320 is installed on the first aperture 329 of the conduit member 32, thus connecting the spray head 30 completely. Further, the electric wire 60 is inserted through the angle limiter 80 and the coupling member 70 on the outlet segment 12 of the flexible pipe 10 and extends out of the holder 23 of the inflow member 20 via the flexible pipe 10. Finally, the conduit member 32, the angle limiter 80 and the coupling member 70 are coupled together, and then the tube 22 is screwed with the connector 21 which is fixed on the inlet segment 11 of the flexible pipe 10, the second stopper 25 is pushed into the holder 23, thus assembling the shower assembly 3 quickly.
Preferably, most components of the pull-out faucet of the present invention are well-known art, such as the internal sleeve 33, the external sleeve 34, and the switch device 301 of the spray head 30, the coupling member 70, and the flexible pipe 10, except for the light conductor 31, the conduit member 32, and the inflow member 20, and other additional components, thus reducing design and production costs and maintaining original appearance and size of the pull-out faucet.
With reference to
Referring further to
To fix the light conductor 37, a peripheral fence 361 of the guiding member 36 has a plurality of slits 362 extending upwardly from a bottom end of the peripheral fence 361 to insert the plural light columns 372 of the light conductor 37, and the peripheral fence 361 has a first gap 363 and a second gap 364 which both communicate with the plurality of slits 362, such that a C-shaped ring 52 of a circuit board 50 is fixed around the plural light columns 372 via the first gap 363, and each of a plurality of LED elements 40 on each of the plural extensions 53 of the circuit board 50 faces to the input face 311 of each light column 372.
Each light column 372 is fixed in each slit 362 in an engagement manner or an adhesion manner.
The peripheral fence 361 of the guiding member 36 has a first stopping portion 365 disposed above the first gap 363 thereof, and the peripheral fence 361 also has a second stopping portion 366 defined between the first gap 363 and the second gap 364 of the peripheral fence 361, such that the first stopping portion 365 and the second stopping portion 366 contact with an inner wall of an internal sleeve 33, thus stopping water flowing into an outer room 327 of the conduit member 32 and penetrating to the plurality of LED elements 40 and the circuit board 50 between the first stopping portion 365 and the second stopping portion 366. A top end of the circular rib 371 of the light conductor 37 is opposite to a bottom end of the second stopping portion 366, a bottom end of the internal sleeve 33, and a bottom end of an external sleeve 34, such that the circular rib 371 exposes outside to enhance light transmission and illumination.
A difference of the assembly of the pull-out faucet of the second embodiment from that of the first embodiment comprises: the light conductor 37 being inserted onto the guiding member 36 to connect with the circuit board 50 and the plurality of LED elements 40 further, thus assembling the pull-out faucet easily.
With reference to
a light conductor 38 formed in a sleeve shape to retain with a guiding member 39, wherein the light conductor 38 has an outer cliff 381, and the outer cliff 381 has plural indentations 382 arranged around a middle section thereof, wherein each indentation 382 has an input face 311 formed on a bottom end thereof, and the outer cliff 381 also has an output face 313 defined on a bottom end thereof. In addition, the outer cliff 381 among input faces 311 of the plural indentations 382 and the output face 313 forms a light transmission portion 312.
To enhance light transmission, the outer cliff 381 of the light conductor 38 has an annular protrusion 383 extending outwardly adjacent to the bottom end thereof to contact with a bottom end of an external sleeve 34.
To increase configuration space of the light conductor 38, an area of a bottom end of the internal sleeve 33 is diminished upwardly, such that the light conductor 38 is accommodated among a lower side of the internal sleeve 33, an outer wall of the guiding member 39 and an inner wall of the external sleeve 34.
Accordingly, the guiding member 39 of the third embodiment allows replacing the second stopping portion 366, the plurality of slits 362, the first gap 363 and the second gap 364 of the second embodiment.
In this embodiment, a circuit board 501 includes a longitudinal sheet 51 and a C-shaped ring 52 and does not pass across the internal sleeve 33, so a bottom end of the longitudinal sheet 51 is directly in connection with the C-shaped ring 52, thus eliminating the connecting sheet 54 of the first embodiment and the second embodiment. Preferably, the C-shaped ring 52 directly contacts with the outer cliff 381 of the light conductor 38 to eliminate the plural extensions 53 of the first embodiment and the second embodiment, such that a plurality of LED elements 40 are arranged on an inner wall of the C-shaped ring 52 and retain in the plural indentations 382 to illuminate the input faces 311 of the plural indentations 382. The C-shaped ring 52 has a plurality of tabs 522 extending outwardly from a bottom end thereof to fix the plurality of LED elements 40 on the plurality of tabs 522. Thereby, the C-shaped ring 5 is defined between an outer wall of the outer cliff 381 and the inner wall of the internal sleeve 34.
Accordingly, the pull-out faucet of the present invention has advantages as follows:
1. The spray head 30 has brilliant illumination as being fixed on or pulled away from the pull-out faucet 1.
2. The shower assembly 3 allows switching water supply modes and illumination.
3. The pull-out faucet 1 has illumination function by using the shower assembly 3.
4. The pull-out faucet is manufactured easily and quickly at a low cost by improving its few conventional components and providing some extra components. Preferably, the pull-out faucet has the same size and appearance as the conventional one.
5. The electric wire 60 is inserted in the tunnel 13 of the flexible pipe 10, so it is not broken easily. Preferably, the electric wire 60 is mounted in the flexible pipe 10 conveniently and securely.
6. The circuit board 50 is a flexible printed circuit which is fixed in a narrow space easily. In other words, the circuit board 50 is fixed in the spray head 30 easily.
7. The angle limiter 80 is mounted between the coupling member 70 and the spray head 30 to limit the rotation of the spray head 30 smoothly within the first angle range, such as 110 degrees. Preferably, the electric wire 60 is not damaged as rotating the spray head 30.
8. The inflow member 20 includes the second stopper 25 for inserting the electric wire 60 to prevent a leakage of the water from the inflow member 29. Likewise, the conduit member 32 has the first stopper 320 installed thereon, thus avoiding the water penetrating into the internal sleeve 33 and the external sleeve 34 from the conduit member 32 to contact the circuit board 50. Furthermore, the first stopper 320 and the second stopper 25 affix the electric wire 60 fixedly.
While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiments of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. The scope of the claims should not be limited by the preferred embodiments set forth in the examples, but should be given the broadest interpretation consistent with the description as a whole.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201410249258.5 | Jun 2014 | CN | national |