This invention is directed to a shower attachment that can rotate and pivot about a user to deliver a shower. The invention also relates to a system that attaches to an existing shower enclosure for purposes of delivering an automated shower.
Traditional shower systems used over the past 50 years have primarily included a showerhead and a series of valves for regulating the temperature of the shower (as well as control the follow of water to the showerhead). Most advances have been in the field showerhead design including various showerheads that variate flow of pressurized water to effectuate a massage. Other advances have included placement of multiple showerheads in series to create an envelope or cascade of water around a user. These additional showerheads are placed along the shower enclosure wall, or event on the ceiling of the shower. All of these advances have focused on the same fundamental shower system of a showerhead and regulating valves.
Review of patents dealing with shower systems highlights these limited advances. U.S. Pat. No. 4,563,780 entitled “Automated Bathroom” is directed to a system for regulating bathroom activities such as showering. However, the invention primarily relates to introducing bath additives and cleaning solutions to maintain the cleanliness of the bathroom.
Showering remains a fundamental regiment to ensure cleanliness as well as reduce the spread of disease. This is especially true and important in hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities. It is often the case that individuals being treated at these facilities have infirmities that prevent them from showering without assistance. However, assistance when showering is not only uncomfortable and embarrassing for the informed individual—but also requires a significant level of time and patience on the part of the professional assisting.
Very little has been done to create shower systems to assist infirmed individuals who cannot stand upright to take a shower.
Apart from shower systems for assisting infirmed individuals, there have also been very little advances in the field of automated shower systems for domestic use for effectuating a spa like experience. Current shower systems can optionally include a hand wand that is attached to the regulating valves. A flexible tube attaches the hand wand to the regulating valves such that the user can have greater freedom to provide direct water pressure to various parts of the user's torso. Optionally, these hand wands can include settings to allow changes in pressure. By engaging the hand wand, water is diverted from the showerhead (typically located above the wand) thus allowing for a more spa like feel.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art of shower system design for a robust attachment to an existing shower system to allow an infirmed individual to shower without need of assistance. Moreover, such attachment should provide a complete shower to those infirmed individuals with limited motor skills. In addition, there is a need in the art of domestic shower systems for an attachment that provides a spa like massage. Preferably, such device can be interchangeably used for both domestic and assisted living facilities in order to be mass-produced in a cost effective manner.
The current invention solves many of the limitations and shortcomings found in the art of shower systems. The invention is directed to a shower attachment capable of affixing to a standard residential or commercial shower enclosure. The shower attachment uses the existing plumbing to supply pressurized water to a water intake, which in turn feeds a vertical assembly. The vertical assembly includes a stabilizing bar having a top end and corresponding bottom end. A pivot arm having a first portion and corresponding second portion perpendicularly connects to the stabilizing bar. A detachable shower wand is positioned at the second portion of the pivot arm, which is capable of receiving pressurized water from the water intake. In addition, a horizontal assembly connects to the bottom end of the shower attachment to secure the device to the shower enclosure.
The vertical assembly can also include a vertical positioning member, which can be a chain drive, to orient the shower wand at a desired vertical height. This chain drive may include a top gear rotator, a corresponding bottom gear rotator, a linked chain and a first motor. The top gear rotator is positioned at the top end of the stabilizing bar and can include a first gear having threads of a sufficient size and dimension to engage the linked chain. The chain drive further includes a bottom gear rotator having a second gear having threads of a sufficient size and dimension to engage the linked chain. The bottom gear rotator is positioned proximate to the bottom end of the stabilizing bar. The first motor drives the linked chain in either of two vertical directions (up and/or down).
The first portion of the pivot arm can include a sleeve of sufficient size and dimension to engage a portion of the stabilizing bar to help vertically position the shower wand. This first portion can also engage the linked chain of the chain drive to assist in this vertical positioning.
The shower wand attached to the second portion of the pivot arm includes a head having a plurality of jets and a selector (which determines a preferred group of jets to engage). In addition, the shower wand can also have a handle, which can optionally include a hand grip. A cradle can be positioned at the distal end of the second portion of the pivot arm. This cradle has a first side and corresponding second side, which forms a clip to hold and maintain the handle of the shower wand. This cradle may include a second motor to rotate the shower wand when stationed within the clip.
The horizontal assembly includes a track system having a first and second track in parallel to one another, as well as a tram having both a third and forth motor. The tram has a recess to secure the bottom end of the stabilizing bar of the vertical assembly. The third motor helps horizontally move the vertical assembly, while the forth motor helps rotate the bottom end of the stabilizing bar. A controller (positioned on the vertical assembly), having a power supply, communicates with the four above-identified motors to mechanically position and orient the shower wand about a user. Optionally, the controller can include a memory device and a processor to store and perform various programs.
The invention is further directed to a method of using the shower attachment to provide an improved shower. The method first comprises the step of vertically positioning a shower wand to a desired height. The shower wand is connected to a vertical assembly by a pivot arm having a first portion and a corresponding second portion, where the vertical assembly includes a stabilizing bar having a top end and a corresponding bottom end.
The second step is to horizontally position the shower wand to a desired horizontal position within a shower enclosure through use of a horizontal assembly. Here, the horizontal assembly includes a tram connected to a track system. The tram has a recess of a sufficient size and dimension to receive the bottom end of the stabilizing bar. The third step of the method is to turn the shower wand about the horizontal assembly. The fourth step is to rotate the pivot arm to a desired orientation through turning the stabilizing bar about the tram.
For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is made to the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings illustrating various embodiments of the present invention, in which:
The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.
With reference initially to
In a second contemplated use, the shower attachment 100 can be use in a medical facility such as a hospital, nursing home or assisted care facility to allow the elderly or infirmed to shower in privacy with a reduced need for assistance and supervision by a medical professional. Such application ensures not only privacy but decreases the spread of disease within such facilities—as it will increase the frequency of the infirmed to seek and receive a total body cleansing. Other applications of the shower attachment 100 shall be known and understood by those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of the figures and disclosure contained herein.
As further illustrated, the shower attachment 100 is self-contained, designed to fit within a traditional shower enclosure 110, and can use the existing plumbing to supply the requisite pressurized water. Accordingly, there is no need to re-plumb an existing shower enclosure 110 to use the apparatus. This saves not only money but allows for ready assembly and use of the shower attachment 100.
A manifold 120 attached to the shower enclosure 110 helps employ the existing plumbing. Positioned where the pre-existing showerhead was located, the manifold 120 creates two different streams of pressurized water 130: a first stream 131 and a corresponding second stream 132. The first stream 131 of pressurized water 130 feeds into a conduit 133, which in turn connects with the fixed showerhead 200. The fixed showerhead 200 provides a constant vertical shower of pressurized water 130 onto the user. This fixed showerhead 200 can be of a similar design, orientation and function of traditional showerheads.
As is further shown in
Regardless of its size or position, the water intake 300 feeds into the vertical assembly 400, which in turn supplies pressurized water 130 to the shower wand 500.
The pivot arm 600 represents an important component of the shower attachment 100. As illustrated in
The shower wand 500 connected to the second portion 620 of the pivot arm 600 provides a second source of pressurized water 130. This shower wand 500 is in communication with the water intake 300 through a series of conduits or tubes housed within the vertical assembly 400. The shower wand 500 can be coupled to the second portion 620 of the pivot arm 600. Accordingly, a user can optionally remove the shower wand 500 for manual use—which can later be returned to the pivot arm 600. When positioned on the pivot arm 600, the shower wand 500 is capable of rotating at least 90 degrees about the pivot arm 600—in addition to the degree of rotation capable by the vertical assembly 400.
Positioned below the vertical assembly 400 is the horizontal assembly 700. Although the horizontal assembly 600 can take on various shapes and configurations, its primary role is to transport the vertical assembly 400 from one end of the shower enclosure 110 to the other. Put another way, the horizontal assembly 700 functions to guide and control the vertical assembly throughout the length of the shower enclosure 110. While this can be accomplished through several mechanisms known to those of ordinary skill the art, the preferred embodiment includes use of a series of tracks affixed to the base or side wall of the shower enclosure 110. Moreover, the horizontal assembly 700 can include use of mechanical pulleys, motors, hydraulics or combination thereof to supply sufficient energy to move the vertical assembly 400.
While
The stabilizing bar 420 functions as the primary support structure of the vertical assembly 400. As shown in
As shown in
The chain drive 431 includes at four primary components: a top gear rotator 432, a corresponding bottom gear rotator 433, a first motor 434 and a linked chain 435. Although
The top gear rotator 432 includes a first gear 436, while the corresponding bottom gear rotator 433 includes a second gear 437. Both the first gear 436 and second gear 437 have threads of sufficient size and dimension so as to engage the linked chain 435. Positioned within either the top gear rotator 432 or the bottom gear rotator 433 is a first motor 434. The first motor 434 is preferably electric driven—and is supplied energy from either an external power source or through a battery system. Regardless of position, the first motor 434 drives the chain 435, which then rotates about both gears (436 and 437).
Attached at a desired link within the chain 435 is a coupler 440. As shown in greater detail in
The shower wand 500 further includes a head 520, which includes a plurality of jets 515 to provide pressurized water 110 in the form of a shower. Attached to the head 520 is a selector 530. The selector 530 allows various settings to select which type of jets 515 to be used. Such settings allow various types of jets 515 to be engaged and disengaged to provide different orientations of pressurized water 120 onto the user. Thus, the selector 530 can create different types of massage such that the user can have a spa like experience.
Positioned within the tram 770 is a recess 775 capable of receiving and maintaining the stability rod 410. Accordingly, the tram 770 helps hold and position the vertical assembly 400. Positioned in communication with the recess 775 is the fourth motor 790. This fourth motor 790 can communicate with a second friction wheel 795 that allows the stability rod 410 to pivot and rotate within the recess 775.
As shown in
Optionally, the controller 470 can include a processor 473 and a memory device 474 capable of storing one or more sets of programs 475. These programs 475 can include a timer and/or several routines in which the vertical assembly 400, pivot arm 600 and shower wand 500 can rotate about the user. These programs can include changing the selector 530 on the hand wand 500—for a selected type of jet 515. These programs 475 can be pre-set or manually created through use of the controller 470.
The invention is further directed to a method of using the shower attachment 100 to provide an improved shower to a user. The method first includes the step of vertically positioning a shower wand 500 to a desired height about the shower enclosure 110. As shown in
The second step of the preferred method is to horizontally position the shower wand 500 to a desired horizontal position within the shower enclosure 110 through use of a horizontal assembly 700. As shown in
The third step contemplated by the method is to turn the shower wand 500 about the horizontal assembly 700. As shown in
Yet another optional step is to rotate the pivot arm 600 to a desired orientation through turning the stabilizing bar 420 about the tram 770. A fourth motor 790 located within the tram 770 (shown in
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