Patent Application
20060278271
The present invention relates to a vacuum breaker for plumbing fixtures, and particularly to a vacuum breaker having a check plugger, and the check plugger automatically falls down by gravity in an event of pressure drop in the clean water supply to provide a back flow protection for the plumbing fixtures.
Plumbing codes typically require back flow protection when a plumbing outlet is likely to be adjacent contaminated water. Vacuum breakers provide the back flow protection for plumbing fixtures especially fixtures such as pull out sprayers for kitchen sinks and hand held showers for bathroom use. The vacuum breakers prevent the sprayers and showers from drawing contaminated water into the clean water supply in an event of pressure drop in the clean water supply. When water supply is suddenly stopped, the event of pressure drop of water occurs in the pipe of the plumbing fixtures. If the sprayers or the showers are simultaneously adjacent contaminated water, the contaminated water may be sucked into the pipe through the sprayers or showers without the back flow protection, and then pollutes the clean water supply.
To overcome the above problem, many of the plumbing fixtures are equipped with the conventional vacuum breakers to provide the back flow protection.
A conventional vacuum breaker includes a check plugger and a resilient member, such as a resilient plate or a compression spring and is mounted in a plumbing fixture, such as a tap faucet. The check plugger is movably disposed in an air intake of the tap. The air intake communicates simultaneously with the atmosphere and the inside of the tap.
The resilient member is disposed in the tap with an end abutting against the check plugger to force the check plugger outward. In a normal operation state, the resilient member provides a resilient force to push the check plugger to close the air intake thereby preventing water from discharging out of the tap through the air intake. When the event of pressure drop in the water supply is occurred, the atmosphere pushes the check plugger inward to open the air intake because of pressure difference. The movement of the check plugger compresses simultaneously the resilient member. Thus, air can enter the inside of the tap faucet through the air intake to break the vacuum state in the tap to provide the back flow protection.
However, since the check plugger needs to compress initially the resilient member to open the air intake, the vacuum breaker needs an initial pressure to move the check plugger. The atmosphere outside the tap needs to overcome the initial pressure and then to move the spring-loaded check plugger. Therefore, the resilient member should be made in a precise manner to accommodate with the atmosphere, which is complicated and high cost. Furthermore, the resilient member is positioned at a moist condition, which affects unfavorably the operation of the resilient member to control opening or closing of the air intake. Therefore, the conventional vacuum breaker cannot provide a reliable back flow protection for the plumbing fixture. The contaminated water may still be sucked into the plumbing fixtures and pollutes the clean water supply.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum breaker which has a check plugger to control outside air entering a plumbing fixture, and the check plugger will automatically fall down by gravity in an event of pressure drop.
To achieve the above object, a vacuum breaker of in accordance with the present invention includes a hollow bushing with an end in fluid communication with the atmosphere and the other end in fluid communication with at least one water outlet, a check plugger moveably disposed in the bushing, and a sealing sleeve disposed in the bushing adjacent to the upper end of the check plugger. The check plugger is mounted in a vertical manner and will automatically fall down by gravity when an event of water pressure drop is occurred. Therefore, the vacuum breaker provides a reliable back flow protection for plumbing fixture. Moreover, the structure of the vacuum breaker is simple and inexpensive for assembly and manufacture.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will be drawn from the following detailed embodiment of the present invention with the drawings.
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The diverter valve further includes a housing 6 and a central shaft 3 disposed in the housing 6. The housing 6 is connected with the pipe connector 2. The central shaft 3 is partially held in and by the pipe connector 2 and is hollow with two end openings. One of the end openings of the central shaft 3 is connected with a bushing 11, and the other end opening is connected with a check valve 5. The bushing 11 is connected with a handle shaft 4. The handle shaft 4 can switch water flow to exit the diverter valve through either the first water outlet 21 or the second water outlet 22 and can be coupled to a tap handle. The central shaft 3 has multiple through holes 30. The through holes 30 are defined in fluid communication with the water outlets 21, 22. The handle shaft 4 has a plurality of air intakes 41 defined outside the housing 6. The air intakes 41 communicate with the through holes 30 through the hollow handle shaft 4, the bushing 11 and the central shaft 3.
The vacuum breaker 1 is disposed in the bushing 11 and includes a check plugger 10 and a sealing sleeve 12. The check plugger 10 is movably disposed in the bushing 11 in a vertical manner and has an upper end 101. The upper end 101 is tapered or conical and has a closing surface 102. The check plugger 10 further has a plurality of protrusions 103 formed adjacent to the closing surface 102. The protrusions 103 provide a gap between the check plugger 10 and the bushing 11 for allowing passage of air. Furthermore, the protrusions 103 will guide the movement of the check plugger 10 in the busing 11 in a smooth manner.
The sealing sleeve 12 is mounted in the bushing 11 at a position adjacent to the upper end 101 of the check plugger 10 and has a central hole 121. The central hole 121 has an inner wall. The inner wall has an inner conical surface 122 corresponding to the closing surface 102. The inner conical surface 122 is closely abutted against by the closing surface 102 in a normal operation.
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While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiment of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention.
