Abstract:
The invention provides a fluid delivery assembly for use with a water discharge fixture, such as a faucet. The fluid delivery assembly includes a tube assembly, a housing and a retaining assembly. The fluid delivery assembly provides for water flow from hot and cold water inlets to the faucet. The fluid delivery assembly may be assembled by hand without the need for tools, allowing for easy replacement of the fluid delivery assembly without the need to disassemble the faucet assembly, or to replace the entire faucet assembly.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    The present Application for Patent claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Provisional Application No. 61/589,096 entitled “FLUID DELIVERY ASSEMBLY” filed Jan. 20, 2012 (“the Provisional Application”). The Provisional Application is assigned to the assignee of the present application, and is hereby expressly incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    The invention relates to a fluid delivery assembly that is installed in a water discharging fixture, such as a faucet. The fluid delivery assembly includes a tube assembly defining a fluid flow path, a housing, and a retaining assembly that enables the fluid delivery assembly to be easily removed or replaced. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Fluid delivery assemblies are known, and can be found in both residential and commercial settings. In either setting, the fluid delivery assembly provides fluid flow from hot and cold water sources. The fluid is dispensed through a discharge fixture, such as a kitchen or lavatory faucet. While such fluid delivery assemblies provide some benefits, they nevertheless have certain limitations. For example, the water delivery lines attached between the water source lines and the faucet typically require tools for installation of the faucet assembly. Also, conventional fluid delivery assemblies typically have inlet lines molded together or pre-formed with a cartridge housing, such that replacing the inlet lines requires replacing the entire faucet assembly. Examples of fluid delivery assemblies having these and other limitations are found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,032,260 to Hwang and U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,106 to Benstead. 
         [0004]    The present invention is intended to solve the limitations of conventional fluid delivery assemblies discussed above and other problems, and to provide advantages and aspects not provided by prior fluid delivery assemblies. Some of the features and advantages of the present invention are described in the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    The present invention is directed to a fluid delivery assembly that includes a number of components that interact to define a replaceable fluid flow path from a fluid source (such as a hot and cold water source) to a fluid discharge assembly (such as a faucet). These interacting components may include a tube assembly (e.g., a plastic tube assembly), a housing (e.g., a cartridge housing), and a retaining assembly (e.g., a threaded mounting shank and a cooperatively threaded housing). These components enable the fluid delivery assembly to be easily attached to or detached from a faucet assembly by hand, that is, without the use of tools. These components may be separate and distinct such that an individual component may be removed and/or replaced. 
         [0006]    An important feature of the invention is that its fluid delivery assembly is mounted completely below its related countertop or deck. It follows that the installation or removal of the fluid delivery assembly occurs completely below the countertop or deck. This permits such installation or removal of the fluid delivery assembly without removing or replacing portions of the faucet assembly above the deck. 
         [0007]    According to one aspect of the invention, the fluid delivery assembly includes a tube assembly, a housing and a retaining assembly. The tube assembly includes a tube defining a fluid pathway. The tube is configured at one end to connect with a fluid source, such as an angle valve of a hot or cold water supply line. The other end of the tube is configured to connect with the housing. The housing is sized and shaped to receive at least one tube assembly. For example, the housing may include two end bodies. The first end body is connected to a first tube assembly, and the second end body connected to a second tube assembly. One tube assembly provides hot water to the housing and the faucet from the hot water source. The other tube assembly provides cold water to the housing and the faucet from the cold water source. 
         [0008]    The retaining assembly includes a securing member that has a threaded portion. The securing member is movable up and down a portion of the length of the tube, and rotationally around the circumference of the tube. The retaining assembly also includes a mounting member that is a threaded portion on the end body. When the securing member is rotated by hand, the threaded portions of the securing member and the mounting member cooperatively engage with each other to secure the tube assembly to the housing. The securing member and the mounting member include sufficient threading to ensure a precise and well-sealed connection between the tube assembly and the end body. Preferably, the securing member is externally threaded and the end body is internally threaded. Alternatively, the securing member may be internally threaded and the end body may be externally threaded. The housing also has a center body, which may receive a cartridge housing. Alternatively, the center body may be a cartridge housing. The housing and the mounting member are one component, while the tube assembly that includes the securing member are another component. As a result, either component may be removed and/or replaced, while leaving the other component installed within the faucet assembly. 
         [0009]    The retaining assembly includes a securing member that has a threaded portion. The securing member is movable up and down a portion of the length of the tube assembly, and is also rotationally movable around the circumference of the tube assembly. The retaining assembly also includes a mounting member that has a threaded portion. As the securing member is rotated by hand, the threaded portions of the securing member and the mounting member cooperatively engage with each other to secure the tube assembly to the housing. The securing member and the mounting member include sufficient threading to ensure a precise and well-sealed connection between the tube assembly and the end body. Preferably, the securing member is externally threaded and the end body is internally threaded. Alternatively, the securing member may be internally threaded and the end body may be externally threaded. The housing and the tube assembly are separate components that are not integrally formed together, such as by over-molding or adhesively bonding. Therefore, any component may be removed and/or replaced while keeping the other components as part of the faucet assembly. 
         [0010]    Other features and advantages of an aspect of the invention will be apparent from the following specification, taken in conjunction with the following drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]    To understand the present invention, it will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: 
           [0012]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the invention, connected to a faucet, to form an assembly; 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of the assembly of  FIG. 1 , with two fluid delivery assemblies shown positioned for assembly with the faucet; 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of a housing; 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  is an exploded perspective view of the housing of  FIG. 3  and an embodiment of a mounting base; 
           [0016]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of an assembly of the components of  FIG. 4  ; 
           [0017]      FIG. 6  is an exploded perspective view of the assembly of  FIG. 5  and an embodiment of an escutcheon; 
           [0018]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of an assembly of the components of  FIG. 6 ; 
           [0019]      FIG. 8  is an exploded perspective view of the assembly of  FIG. 7  and an embodiment of two fluid flow cartridge assemblies; 
           [0020]      FIG. 9  is an exploded perspective view of an assembly of the components of  FIG. 8  and an embodiment of a delivery spout; 
           [0021]      FIG. 10  is a perspective view of an assembly of the components of  FIG. 9  and an embodiment of two handles; 
           [0022]      FIG. 11  is a cross-sectional side view of a portion of the faucet assembly of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0023]      FIG. 12  is a partially cut-away perspective view of an embodiment of a delivery spout; 
           [0024]      FIG. 13  is a cross-sectional side view of the delivery spout of  FIG. 12 ; 
           [0025]      FIG. 14  is a cross-sectional side view of a portion of the assembly of  FIG. 10 ; 
           [0026]      FIG. 15  a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention, connected to a faucet, to form an assembly; 
           [0027]      FIG. 16  is an exploded perspective view of the assembly of  FIG. 15 ; 
           [0028]      FIG. 17  is a front cross-sectional view of the faucet assembly of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0029]      FIG. 18  is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of a fluid delivery assembly; 
           [0030]      FIG. 19  is a front cross-sectional view of the fluid delivery assembly of  FIG. 18 ; 
           [0031]      FIG. 20  is an exploded perspective view of a portion of the faucet assembly of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0032]      FIG. 21  is another exploded perspective view of a portion of the faucet assembly of  FIG. 1 ; and 
           [0033]      FIG. 22  is a partially cut-away perspective view of the assembly of  FIG. 21 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0034]    This invention may take many different forms. The current description and drawings teach only a few of the many different forms or embodiments of the invention. It should be understood that the present disclosure is to be considered as disclosing only a few, non-limiting examples of the principles of the invention. This disclosure is not intended to limit the broadest aspects of the invention to the illustrated embodiments. 
         [0035]      FIG. 1  illustrates a faucet system  100  for delivery of water to a user. The faucet system  100  includes a faucet assembly  200 , a fluid delivery assembly  300  and fluid inlet valves  400 . The faucet assembly  200  includes a delivery spout  210 , two handles  220  and an escutcheon  230  that are mounted as an assembly on top of a countertop  150  (shown in broken line form). The fluid delivery assembly  300  is connected between the faucet assembly  200  and the fluid inlet valves  400 . One inlet valve  400  may provide hot water from a hot water source (e.g., water heater) and the other inlet valve  400  may provide cold water from a cold water source (e.g., well or city water). Alternatively, faucet system  100  may be any other suitable fluid delivery system (e.g., a shower system). 
         [0036]      FIG. 2  illustrates an exploded view of the faucet assembly  200  and the fluid delivery assembly  300 . As explained in greater detail below, the fluid delivery assembly  300  includes at least one tube assembly  310  defining a flow path for hot or cold water, a housing  320  and a retaining assembly  330 . The tube assembly  310  has a first portion  340  configured to be connected to a fluid source, such as a hot or cold water inlet line. The first portion  340  may be connected to the fluid source inlet line by a connection member  390 , such as a threaded pressure fitting nut. The tube assembly  310  may preferably be comprised of PERT plastic tubing, and the housing  320  may be comprised of plastic. 
         [0037]    As may also be seen in  FIG. 2 , a second portion  350  of the tube assembly  310  is configured to connect with the housing  320 . This second portion  350  is sized and shaped to fit tightly within the housing  320 . The second portion  350  also includes sealing member  360 , such as one or more O-rings, to seal the connection between the second portion  350  and the housing  320  and prevent fluid leakage through that connection. The retaining assembly  330  includes a securing member  375  having a tube threaded portion  370  and a housing threaded portion  380  (see  FIG. 22 ). The securing member  375  is slidably movable along the length of a portion of a tube  315  and rotationally movable about the circumference of the tube  315 . 
         [0038]    The fluid delivery assembly  300  is assembled by sliding the tube assembly  310  into the housing  320 , such that the second portion  350  fits into the housing  320 . The securing member  375  is then rotated by hand so that the tube threaded portion  370  and the housing threaded portion  380  are threadably secured to each other. This in turn secures the tube assembly  310  to the housing  320 . 
         [0039]    At the other end of the fluid delivery assembly  300 , the first portion  340  is connected to the fluid source inlet valve  400 . A sealed connection is effected by tightening the connection member  390  to the inlet valve  400  with a wrench. 
         [0040]    The fluid delivery assembly  300  may be connected to various types of faucets. For example,  FIG. 1  illustrates connecting two tube assemblies  310  to a two handled lavatory sink fixture. Alternatively, the fluid delivery assembly  300  may be used in any other suitable faucet system, such as a single handled faucet fixture or a two handled kitchen sink fixture with a side sprayer. 
         [0041]    Each faucet assembly  200  may have one or more fluid flow cartridge assemblies  500 . For example, the faucet assembly  200  shown in  FIG. 2  has two fluid flow cartridge assemblies  500 , one for the hot water and one for the cold water. Each fluid flow cartridge  500  is configured to control the flow rate of a single fluid source, such as a range of fluid flow from no fluid flow at all (e.g., hot water off) to maximum fluid flow (e.g., hot water on all the way). Alternatively, a single fluid flow cartridge assembly may be configured to mix fluids from two fluid sources (e.g., hot and cold water), such as in a single handle faucet, for example. 
         [0042]      FIG. 3  illustrates housing  320 , which includes a pair of end bodies (each designated as end body  322 ). These end bodies  322  are connected to the opposite ends of a center body  324 . Center body  324  forms a waterway for supplying the hot and cold water from the tube assemblies  310  into a water discharge fixture, such as delivery spout  210  shown in  FIG. 2 . Each end body  322  includes sealing member  326 , such as one or more  0 -rings or gaskets, to seal the connection between the end body  322  and the center body  324  and prevent fluid leakage through that connection. The end body  322  includes a threaded cartridge sealing portion  321  that is threaded on the outside and that is configured to receive a cartridge sealing nut  222  as shown in  FIG. 2 . The cartridge sealing portion  321  also includes a cartridge housing  325  on the inside that is configured to receive a fluid flow cartridge assembly  500  (see  FIG. 8 ). The end body  322  also includes a mounting base insert portion  323  that is configured to be slidably inserted into a portion of a mounting base  227 . As shown in  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the housing  320  is seated in the mounting base  227 . The mounting base  227  is attached to a countertop or deck, such as the countertop  150  shown in broken line form in  FIG. 1 . For example, the mounting base  227  has two threaded mounting spindles  228  connected to a center base  229 . The threaded mounting spindles  228  may be inserted into holes in the countertop  150  such that the center base  229  rests flush against the top of the countertop  150 . Mounting base securing nuts  225  (shown in  FIG. 2 ) may then be threaded onto the threaded mounting spindles  228  from underneath the countertop  150  and tightened until the tops of the mounting base securing nuts  225  are flush against the bottom of the countertop  150 , thereby securing the mounting base  227  to the countertop  150 . 
         [0043]    The threaded mounting spindles  228  are hollow and are configured to slidably receive the mounting base insert portions  323  of the housing  320 . Portions of the end bodies  322  and the center body  324  are configured to fit within the center base  229 . The assembled housing  320  and mounting base  227  may then be secured together to escutcheon  230  with securing members  232 , such as screws (as shown in  FIG. 6 ), thereby securing the escutcheon  230  onto the mounting base  227  on top of the countertop  150  as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 7 . 
         [0044]    As illustrated in  FIG. 8 , fluid flow cartridges  500  may be inserted into the cartridge housing  325  of the housing  320  and secured with the cartridge sealing nut  222 . The delivery spout  210  may be attached to the escutcheon  230  and the center body  324  using securing members  234 , such as screws (see  FIG. 9 ). Handles  220  may be attached to the fluid flow cartridges  500  and/or the cartridge sealing nut  222  to complete the faucet assembly  200  as shown in  FIG. 10 .  FIG. 11  shows a cross-sectional view of the faucet system  100 . 
         [0045]      FIGS. 12-14  illustrate features of the delivery spout  210 . Delivery spout  210  includes a fluid delivery tube  212  that extends through at least a portion of a spout housing  214 . The base of the spout housing  214  includes a first end  216  that is configured to be attached to a faucet assembly. This first end  216  includes a tube positioning member  215  that is sized and shaped to receive a first end portion  211  of the fluid delivery tube  212 . 
         [0046]    For example, as best seen in  FIG. 13 , the tube positioning member  215  may have a first end  217  that has a tube receiving member  218 . In this embodiment, the tube receiving member  218  is a generally U-shaped channel. This U-shaped tube receiving member  218  may be sized and shaped to receive and retain, as for example by a friction fit, a portion of the fluid delivery tube  212 . 
         [0047]    The tube positioning member  215  is configured to position the first end portion  211  in a manner that ensures proper alignment of the first end portion  211  with a fluid delivery connection in the center body  324  as shown in  FIG. 14 . Such alignment and connection arises when the delivery spout  210  is connected to escutcheon  230  as part of the faucet assembly  200 . 
         [0048]    Proper alignment of the first end portion  211  allows the delivery spout  210  to be quickly connected to the escutcheon  230  of the faucet assembly  200 , while ensuring that the first end portion  211  is properly and sealingly connected to that center body  324  of the fluid housing  320 . This avoids the need to disconnect and then reconnect the delivery spout  210  as a result of an improper connection of the fluid delivery tube  212 . This reduces labor and assembly costs. 
         [0049]    To assemble the fluid delivery assembly  300 , the housing  320  is inserted into the mounting base  227  ( FIG. 4 ), which has already been secured to the countertop  150 . Each tube assembly  310  is then inserted into an end body  322 , and the securing member  375  is then rotated by hand to cooperatively engage the tube threaded portion  370  and a housing threaded portion  380 . This secures the tube assemblies  310  to the housing  320 . Next, the first portions  340  of the tube assemblies  310  are connected to the hot and cold water source lines via the inlet valves  400 , respectively. In this way, the entire fluid delivery assembly  300 , or any portion of the fluid delivery assembly  300  (such as the tube assembly  310 ), may be easily removed and replaced as needed. 
         [0050]    As can be seen in  FIGS. 15 and 16 , a faucet system  600  is similar to faucet system  100  with the exception of different tube assemblies  610  that have a longer tube  615 .  FIG. 16  illustrates how easily the tube assembly  610  may be installed, removed or replaced. For example, in a typical kitchen or lavatory sink configuration the connections of the tube assemblies  610  to the faucet assembly  200  are behind a sink bowl (not shown). This makes it difficult to use tools within the space behind the sink bowl. No tools are required in the space behind the sink bowl for faucet system  600  because the securing member  375  of each tube assembly  610  may be tightened or loosened by hand. 
         [0051]      FIG. 17  shows a cross-sectional of faucet system  100  after assembly of the fluid delivery assembly  300 , which includes two tube assemblies  310 . The tube assembly  310  is shown in more detail in  FIGS. 18 and 19 .  FIGS. 20-22  show various stages of assembly of a housing  320 , a mounting base  227  and two tube assemblies  310 . 
         [0052]    The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described. Accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents should be considered as falling within the scope of the invention.