Many bathrooms have showers and the showerheads for those showers are held in place by fastening the water pipe leading to the showerhead to a cross-member extending between studs in the home or building containing the shower. The connection between the showerhead and the water pipe must be strong since users will sometimes pull on the showerhead. But providing a sufficiently strong connection results in vibrations from the water pipe being transmitted directly to the cross-member and building studs and that in turn can transmit or amplify vibrations and noise from the water pipe throughout the building. There is thus a need for an improved mounting mechanism that reduces this noise.
Further, current brackets are often difficult to accurate and easily locate at the same place as the water pipe leading to the showerhead. There is thus a need for an improved mechanism to hold the pipe leading to the showerhead while providing an adjustable position.
A first layer of sound absorbing material (an isolator) is placed around a support member which is preferably of adjustable length, with a stiff supporting shell placed around the outside of the first layer of sound absorbing material and clamped tightly to the support member so the shell does not move. The supporting shell and first layer are preferably configured to have interlocking portions to hold the shell and first layer together. Preferably, the first layer or isolator is of molded plastic with prongs or recesses located to mate with corresponding recesses or prongs in the shell to form one of several types of an interlocking connections that holds the isolator to the stiff shell. The shell fastens to the support member and preferably encircles and clamps around a portion of the support member with the isolator interposed between the shell and the support member. The shell is configured to support the pipe leading to the showerhead, typically by having a fastening portion adapted to mate with an eared fitting commonly used with shower heads and water pipes. The first layer or isolator absorbs and isolates vibrations in the water pipe so they are not transmitted to the support member and the shell provides a sturdy support for the water pipe and shower head, preferably reducing the transmitted vibrations by about 50% to as much as about 90% or more.
In one preferred embodiment there is provided a shower mounting bracket for connecting an eared fitting to an elongated support bar having a generally rectangular cross-section with a top and sides and extending between studs of a building. The eared fitting is configured to connect to a shower head and water pipe. The bracket includes a stiff outer shell having a body portion with sides long enough to extend around and along the top and sides of the support bar during use of the bracket. The shell has first and second ends at least one of which has first openings therein located in a mounting portion configured to fasten to the eared bracket during use. The first openings are further located to receive threaded fasteners extending through the eared fitting during use of the bracket. The bracket also has an isolator sized to fit between the body portion and the support bar during use where the isolator is made of a material that substantially reduces the transmission of sound. The bracket also has a mechanism fastening the shell ends together with the shell being sized slightly smaller than the adjacent support bar and intervening isolator so that when the ends are fastened together the isolator can be tightly clamped to the support.
In further variations of this embodiment the shell has sides generally parallel with each side of the support and the ends are generally parallel with each other during use. Further, the bracket can optionally include a releasable latch to hold the first and second ends together. The releasable latch advantageously includes a male portion of a snap lock located on one end and a female portion of a snap lock located on the other end, the male and female portions being located to align and releasably engage during use to loosely hold the bracket in position relative to the support. Moreover, the bracket optionally has the isolator fastened to the shell to restrain relative movement of the isolator and shell. Additionally the isolator and shell can have different mating parts of a snap lock comprising at least one projection and at least one recess engaging to hold the isolator in position relative to the shell. Advantageously there are a plurality of ribs on an inside surface of the isolator. Further, the first end of the shell optionally has a metal insert with at least one slot located to receive a threaded fastener passing through the eared fitting. The metal insert is preferably, but optionally over-molded with plastic with two spaced apart slots each located to receive a different threaded fastener passing through the eared fitting, and the second end also has two slots located to align with the slots in the first end. The mounting bracket also optionally uses a shell that is a substantially flat sheet of material containing the first end with the second end offset from but parallel to the sheet of material, with the sheet of material having a reduced thickness along at least two fold lines corresponding to the corners of the support during use.
A further embodiment of the bracket is also provided for connecting a water pipe fastened to an eared fitting to a support bar in a building. This further embodiment has an isolator made of a material selected to substantially reduce the transmission of noise and has a length sufficient to wrap around the support bar. This further embodiment has a stiff shell sized to wrap around a periphery of the support bar and has two ends. The shell is sized to clamp the isolator against the support bar during use as the ends are moved toward each other, the clamping occurring with sufficient force that there is a tight clamp resulting in little relative movement between the shell and the support during use. The shell has a mounting portion for the eared fitting and a fastening mechanism to hold the ends together and to also fasten the eared fitting to the mounting portion during use of the bracket.
This further embodiment preferably, but optionally has a support bar has four sides and the isolator has sides long enough to wrap around four sides of the support bar during use. The isolator also has outwardly extending flanges along at least a portion of each side, and the outer shell also has a body portion with sides sized to fit between opposing flanges of the isolator.
In further variations of this embodiment the shell has sides with hinges extending from side-to-side and spaced apart a distance sufficient to align with the corners of the support bar during use, with the first and second ends being parallel during use. The fastening mechanism optionally comprises at least one aligned slot in the first and second ends with a threaded fastener extending through the slots. Advantageously the bracket also has male and female portions of a snap-lock with each portion located on a different end. Preferably the shell and isolator are held together by a plurality of interlocking mechanisms located on the isolator and shell.
A still further embodiment of the mounting bracket has isolator means for surrounding a portion of the support bar with a sound deadening material during use and shell means for urging the isolator means against the support bar during use. This still further embodiment also has clamp means for tightly clamping the shell means and isolator means against the support bar during use to allow only a little movement of the shell means relative to the support bar during use.
Optionally, this still further embodiment includes a snap-lock for releasably and loosely holding the bracket on the support bar during use to allow movement along a length of the support bar. Means are also optionally provided for restraining relative movement between the isolator means and the shell means.
Each of the above embodiments is also optionally used with a support bar that is telescoping and has a plurality of apertures in the support bar. Use with this telescoping support bar is made easier by providing an adaptor having a U-shaped cross section and a thickness about that of a thickness of one wall of the support bar. The adaptor has projections extending toward an inside of the adaptor and located to engage the apertures in the support bar during use. The adaptor is interposed between the isolator means and the support bar during use.
These and other features and advantages of the various embodiments disclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the following description and drawings, in which like numbers refer to like parts throughout, and in which:
a and 2b are bottom and top perspective views, respectively, of the bracket of
a is a top plan view of the bracket of
b is a front plan view of the bracket of
c is a side plan view of the bracket of
d is a bottom plan view of the bracket of
a and 4b are top and bottom perspective views, respectively, of an isolator as used in
c is a top perspective view of the isolator of
d is a top perspective view of the isolator of
a and 5b are top and bottom perspective views, respectively, of the isolator used in
c is an end plan view of the isolator of
d is a right side plan view of the isolator of
e is a left side plan view of the isolator of
f is a top plan view of the isolator of
g is a bottom plan view of the isolator of
a and 6b are, respectively, top and bottom perspective views of the shell portion of the bracket of
c is a front plan view of the shell of
d is a right side plan view of the shell of
e is a left side plan view of the shell of
f is a top plan view of the shell of
g is a bottom plan view of the shell of
a is a perspective view of a strengthening insert used in the shell of
b is a front plan view of the insert of
c is a top plan view of the insert of
d is a left side plan view of the insert of
a and 8b are top and bottom views, respectively, of an adaptor for use with the support bar of
c is an end plan view of the adaptor of
d is a top plan view of the adaptor of
e and 8f are left and right side plan views, respectively, of the adaptor of
g is a bottom plan view of the adaptor of
a is a perspective view of the adaptor of
b is a perspective view of the bracket of
c is a plan view of the bracket and support of
Referring to
Referring to
The isolator 22 preferably has a generally square or rectangular shape with fasteners such as prongs 32 on a first, outer side of the isolator. A plurality of ridges 34 and grooves 36 are formed on an opposing second side which forms the inside of the isolator during use. The ribs 34 can be of uniform height or variable height. The isolator has four larger corner grooves 36a, 36b, 36c, 36d located to correspond with the corners of the isolator 20 and the corners of the support member 26. The corner grooves 36a-36d define fold lines or weakened lines forming hinges about which the isolator more readily bends to wrap around the support bar 26. The first groove 36a is formed adjacent one end 38 of the isolator. The ribs 34 and grooves 36 preferably run the entire distance between opposing sides of the isolator 22. Preferably, but optionally, there are five ribs 34 between each of the adjacent corner grooves 36a-36b, 36b-36c, 36c-36d. Optionally, the thickness of the isolator between groove 36d and an adjacent end 40 is of uniform thickness and about the same as the thickness at ridges 34.
The surface of the isolator 22 opposite the ribs 34 contains the fasteners 32. A flange 42 extends outward from the sides of the isolator along the edges extending between ends 38 and 40. The flange 42 can be continuous or intermittent and is shown as having four segments located to correspond with each of the flat sides of support 26, so that there are eight flanges 42.
The fasteners or prongs 36 can take various shapes but preferably take the form of elongated prongs having a tapered end with a retainer or latch 44. The depicted prongs 32 are circular in cross-section with conical ends, but the shape could vary, including rectangular cross-sections with barbs for latches 44. The prongs 32 are preferably located by the flanges 44, and the illustrated embodiment shows six prongs 32.
In use, the isolator 22 wraps around the support 26 with the ribs 34 abutting the optionally flat sides of the support and with grooves 36a, 36b, 36c and 36d helping the isolator to fold at the corners of the support bar 26. The prongs 32 are located so two prongs are on the top of the support 26 and two prongs on each of the sides of the support.
Referring to
The shell 24 is of stiff material that is sufficiently strong to transmit forces from the shower to the support 26 without substantial movement or deformation that would cause a user to question the security of the support for the shower 31 and water pipe 28. A shell made of polyethylene, high density polyethylene, polyvinylchloride or Nylon is believed suitable. The shell 24 clamps to the support 26 and thus has a generally U-shaped cross-section with a top and two legs, with the legs being urged together to clamp the shell 24 to the support 26. The shell 24 can take various shapes and still fit over the support 26 and have its opposing legs clamped together. Preferably, the shell 24 conforms to the shape of the support 26, and preferably the support 26 has a rectangular (e.g., square) cross-sectional shape. The preferred shell 24 will be described for the preferred shape of support 26, but the invention is not limited to the described shapes.
Two grooves 48 extend across the width of the shell 24, with the grooves located to correspond with the top corners of the support 26 as the shell wraps around the support. The grooves 48 define weakened lines or flexure lines or hinges along which the shell 24 folds or bends or hinges to wrap around the support 26. The grooves 48 are thus spaced apart a distance corresponding to the width of the support 26 or slightly greater to accommodate for the thickness of the isolator 22. The grooves 48 are preferably located in the exterior side of the shell 24 so the grooves open during use, but this is optional. Depending on the cross-sectional shape of the support 26 the number of grooves 48 will vary. The shell 24 may have stiffening ribs, preferably on the exterior surface. Any ribs or other features on the interior surface of the shell 24 preferably mate with corresponding recesses or mating features on the outer, abutting surface of the isolator 22 to further ensure there is little or no relative movement between the more flexible isolator 22 and the stiffer shell 24.
At a first end of the shell 24 is a fastener plate 50 which is preferably, but optionally, in the same general plane as the portion of the shell containing the recesses 46. Elongated slots 52 are formed the fastener plate 50 and extend along a ling across the width W of the shell. Additional apertures 54 can be formed in the fastener plate 50 as desired.
The opposing end of the shell 24 has an end 56 which is urged toward end 50 to clamp the shell 24 onto the support 26. The end 56 could be adjacent a groove 48 located to allow the shell to bend around the bottom of the support 26. But preferably the end 56 is offset by flange 58 from the plane of the shell containing the recesses 46 ands fastener plate 50. The end 56 thus extends generally perpendicular to the adjacent portion of the shell 24. The offset end 56 is generally parallel to the plane of the shell containing the recesses 46 and fastener plate 50 when the shell is flat. The offset flange 58 is selected to place the end 56 adjacent the fastening plate 50 when the shell is wrapped around the support 26. The offset flange 58 could be omitted. Slots 52 and apertures 54 are optionally formed in the offset end 56 and are preferably, but optionally located to align with the slots ands apertures in the fastener plate 50. An optional alignment projection, such as peg 59 (
As seen in
Referring to
When the isolator 22 wraps around the support 26, the grooves 36a, 36b, 36c and 36d face the corners of the support 26 and define a weakened line for folding or flexing of the stiff shell 24. The ribs 34 abut the support 26 and allow resilient contact with the support as the ribs can deform or bend because of the grooves along the ribs. The ribs and grooves are optional, but are preferred because they are believed to increase the damping of vibrations transmitted to the support 26.
When the isolator 22 and shell 24 wrap around the support 26, the fastener plate 50 aligns with the offset end 56 and preferably those parts are abutting each other or very close to each other. Alignment peg 59 is provided and mates with a corresponding aperture 54 to align the parts. Of course, the alignment peg 59 and latch 60 are optional, but preferred because they make assembly more reliable and easy.
The amount of offset provided by flange 58 can adjust the closeness of the fit between fastening plate 50 and offset end 56 and thus vary the clamping force. The end 56 and plate 50 are preferably sufficiently close so that the male projection 60 engages the recess 62 to temporarily latch the parts together, thus freeing the user's hands to further adjust and fasten the bracket to the water pipe. Threaded fasteners 30 can pass through the eared fitting 27 connected to the water pipe 28 and further pass through the aligned slots 52 to fasten the water pipe 28 to the fastener plate 50 and or offset end 56. One or more of the fasteners 30 thus provide a means and mechanism for holding the plate 50 and end 56 together and for clamping the shell 24 onto the support 26. Alternately, because the plate 50 is on an end of the shell, the fasteners 30 fasten the opposing ends of the shell together to clamp the shell against the isolator 22 and support bar 26. Further, by connecting the fastener plate 50 and offset end 56 using threaded fasteners 30, the shell 24 is more securely fastened around the support 26 and effectively clamped around the support as the plate 50 and end 56 are brought together. The stiff shell 24 is tightened or clamped around the isolator 22 to provide a suitably tight connection as described above.
While threaded fasteners 30 engage apertures 54 or slots 52 in the ends 50, 56 to draw the ends toward each other and clamp the shell 24 onto the support 26, other fastening mechanisms could be used, including various clamps to hold the ends 50, 56 together. The shell 24 is sized so it clamps onto the support 24 and compresses the isolator 22 to restrict relative movement, and that requires the parts between the fastening mechanisms be sized relative to the adjacent portions of the support 26 and isolator 22 to provide that tight, clamp connection. The size of the shell 24 will vary with the thickness of the isolator 24 and the amount of compression to which the isolator 24 can be subjected. The size of the shell 24 will also vary depending on the type of fastening mechanism used to connect ends 50, 56, especially as the offset 58 can be omitted. In its simplest form, a shell 24 having a U-shaped cross-section sized to fit over the support bar 26 and isolator 22 could be used with the legs of the shell being clamped together. But that would not engage the bottom part of the support 26 and may not enclose the bottom of the support 26, so preferably the shell 24 has offset 58 or has an additional fold line 48 so the shell 24 has a portion substantially parallel with each of the sides of the support 26. For the depicted support 26 with a rectangular cross-section the shell 24 has a top, opposing sides and a bottom aligned with the corresponding parts of the support 26. One portion of the shell 24 is longer than the adjacent side of the support 26 to form an end 50 extending beyond the adjacent side of the support 26 and the opposing end of the shell has an end 56 oriented to face the end 50 and allow them to clamp together. But other fastening mechanisms could be used.
As seen best in
As water passes through the pipe 28 any vibration through the fasteners 30 or other connection with the shell 24 is isolated from the support 26 by the isolator 22. The wrap-around and clamping construction of the shell 24 and isolator 22 allow the bracket 20 to be readily positioned along the length of the support 26, with the fastening of the pipe to the fastener plate 50 and offset end 56 clamping the shell to the support 26 to fix the position. The slots 52 are preferably about the same size as or slightly smaller than the root diameter of threaded fastener 30 so the fastener 30 screws into the slots 32. In this way a nut is not necessary on the end of the threaded fastener 30—but a nut is still preferred.
Referring to
In use, the flat isolator 22 is fastened to the shell 24 to form bracket 20. The bracket 20 is positioned over the desired portion of support bar 26 and bent at the fold lines to wrap around the support bar. The latch 60 engages the mating recess 62 to loosely hold the bracket in place while allowing the user to use both hands and while allowing the bracket to be slid along the length of the support bar to adjust the position. Screws or bolts 30 move the spaced-apart fastener plate 50 and end 56 together to squeezes isolator against the support bar and thus clamp the parts in place. Preferably, but optionally, the fasteners 30 also pass through eared fitting 27 so the showerhead 31 is effectively fastened to the bracket 20 while the bracket 20 is clamped to the support bar 26 sufficiently tight to substantially reduce relative movement of the shell 24 and support bar 26 and to substantially reduce transmission of noise and/or vibrations from the water pipe 28 to the support bar 26. Alternatively, the isolator 22 could be wrapped around the support bar 20 and the shell wrapped around the isolator with the ends 50, 56 held together to clamp the shell and isolator against the support bar 26.
There is thus provided a method and mechanism for adjustably positioning a clamping bracket 20 along a support 26 to fasten a water pipe 28 to the support. There is further provided a method and mechanism for reducing the transmission of vibrations from the water pipe 28 to the support by fastening the water pipe to a shell 24 while interposing an isolator 22 between the shell and the support 26 to reduce transmission of vibrations to the support and the building.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 8-11, an adaptor 76 is shown for use when the support 26 has an inner segment 78 (
The adaptor 76 is an elongated segment with a U-shaped cross section formed by two legs or side panels 82a, 82b joined along a top portion 84. The adaptor 76 is sized to fit over the inner segment 78 and preferably to snugly fit over the inner segment. One or more strips of friction material 86 is placed on the inside of the adaptor 76, between the adaptor 76 and the support 26. The friction material 86 preferably comprises a roughened surface extending across both sides 82a, 82b and the top 84 on the inside of the adaptor 76. A series of ridges or randomly roughened material are believed suitable for friction material 86. A strip of rubber or elastomer could also be provided to form the friction material 86.
The adaptor 76 could be adhesively fastened to the support 26, but preferably mechanical fasteners are used with or instead of the adhesive. The support 26 has a series of holes 88 (
In use, the adaptor 76 is placed on the inner support 78, the bracket 20 is positioned over some or all of the adaptor, and the bracket is fastened to the support. Clamping the fastener plate 50 to the offset end 56 will squeeze the adaptor 76 against the inner support 78 while providing an outer surface on the support 26 having a substantially uniform size—at least on three sides. There is thus advantageously provided a mechanism and method for providing a uniform engaging surface on the support 26 for uniformly supporting the isolator 22 of the bracket 20.
The shell 24 is preferably, but optionally about 3-4 inches long and about ⅛-¼ inch thick for use with water pipes of ½-1 inch diameter. For that application, the isolator 22 is about 1/32 to ⅛ inch thick, preferably about 1/16 inch thick, and made of thermo plastic resin or elastomer with a hardness of about 40-60 shore, and more preferably a hardness of about 50-60 shore. As the hardness increases the transmission of higher frequency noise increases. If low frequencies dominate then the material hardness can be higher, even exceeding 60 shore. As the hardness decreases the material is more likely to degrade under pressure applied by the weight transmitted through the isolator 22. The dimensions of the shell 24 and isolator 22 will vary according to the size of the pipes involved and according to the amount of vibration anticipated. The thickness of the isolator 22 and or the height of the ribs 34 can be varied to accommodate different diameter water pipes 28, but preferably a different sized isolator and shell are provided for standard sized water pipes which vary from about ⅜ inch to 5/4 inch or larger.
The above description is given by way of example, and not limitation. Given the above disclosure, one skilled in the art could devise variations that are within the scope and spirit of the invention disclosed herein, including various ways of using the bracket 20 with various water pipes other than shower heads 31 or using the bracket to reduce the transmission of vibrations from other conduits fastened to the bracket 20. Moreover, while various specific fasteners such as prongs 32 and recesses 46 are described, any fastener could be used, including various snap-lock mechanisms—both releasable and permanent. Further, the various features of the embodiments disclosed herein can be used alone, or in varying combinations with each other and are not intended to be limited to the specific combination described herein. Thus, the scope of the claims is not to be limited by the illustrated embodiments.
The present application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application No. 60/961,923 which was filed on Jul. 25, 2007.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60961923 | Jul 2007 | US |