Retrofit whirlpool bath having flow directing recesses

A retrofit whirlpool bath is described which includes an oblong tub having inwardly tapering side and end walls. The end walls each have a back supportive surface and each are provided with a wedge shaped recessed surface. One of the end walls is also provided with a vertical, semi-tubular recessed surface intersecting the wedge shaped recessed surface. The recessed surfaces include apertures receptive to water jet nozzles and are designed to enhance the pressure and turbulence of water flowing from the nozzles and to distribute the turbulent water against the back of a person reclining against the supportive surfaces.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates generally to whirlpool baths and more particularly 
to whirlpool baths that can be retrofitted within a standard size bathtub 
space. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Retrofit whirlpool baths are known in the prior art. For example, in U.S. 
Pat. No. 3,739,924 R. A. Jacuzzi describes a hydromassage tub having an 
end provided with a relatively steep wall and with associated arm rests to 
provide comfortable back and arm supports for a person sitting in the tub. 
A water jet assembly is installed in the end of each arm rest to provide 
general hydromassage action and a jet assembly is installed in the 
relatively steep wall to provide hydromassage action directly to the back. 
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,614,952 A. D. Agmellino discloses a bathtub which 
includes a pair of water jets in the end wall nearest the drain. U.S. Pat. 
No. 3,967,323 describes a constant flow bathtub having inlets located near 
the bottom of the tub and overflow outlets located near the top of the 
tub. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,845,759, 3,874,374, and 4,139,001 all describe other 
types of whirlpool baths. 
All known whirlpool baths include water jet nozzles mounted flush or almost 
flush with the walls or bottom of a tub. The water flowing from the 
nozzles quickly disperses within the body of water contained by the tub to 
produce a general turbulence within the water. Unfortunately, this general 
turbulence does not always produce the desired therapeutic or relaxing 
results. 
One of the most desirable places for the soothing beat of the water jets to 
hit is on a person's back and shoulders. Jacuzzi recognized this fact when 
he included a water jet in the backrest of his tub so that an intense 
stream of water would hit a user's back. However, the jet of Jacuzzi's tub 
is focussed on only a small area of a person's back so that other portions 
of the back and neck only receive a weakened swirl of water. 
What the prior art fails to show, then, is a whirlpool type bath which can 
provide intense, soothing hydromassage action over a large area of a 
person's back and neck. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of this invention to provide a whirlpool bath which can 
produce an intense, soothing hydromassage action over a large area of a 
person's back and neck. 
It is another object of this invention to provide such a whirlpool bath 
which can be installed in a standard bathtub space. 
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a whirlpool bath that is 
attractive, rugged, dependable and easy to manufacture. 
Briefly, the invention comprises an oblong tub having sloped end wall 
sections and sloped sidewall sections smoothly merging into a generally 
oblong shaped bottom section. The end walls have a back supportive surface 
and a wedge shaped recessed surface. One of the end walls is also provided 
with a generally vertical, semi-tubular recessed surface which intersects 
the wedge shaped recessed surface. The recessed surfaces are provided with 
a pair of apertures receptive to hydromassage water jet nozzles. Water 
flowing out of the two nozzles react with each other and provide a 
swirling, turbulent hydromassaging flow of water which is directed and 
channeled by the recesses to the crucial areas of the back, spine and 
neck. The recesses are deeper and wider at the bottom than at the top to 
provide a substantially constant turbulence within the recessed area. 
Jets are also provided in the sidewalls of the tub to provide general 
turbulence to the water and to massage the hip and leg areas. A suction 
port is provided on a side of the tub and a passive drain is recessed 
within the semi-tubularly shaped recess at the bottom of the tub. A water 
retaining lip flares away from the top of the wall sections. 
An advantage of this invention is that a person can receive a highly 
efficient hydromassage over a large area of the neck and back. 
Another advantage of this invention is that the whirlpool bath can be made 
to fit within a standard bathtub space. 
Yet another advantage of this invention is its simplicity allowing for 
economical construction and high reliability. 
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will no 
doubt become apparent upon a reading of the following descriptions and a 
study of the several figures of the drawing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring to the perspective view of FIG. 1 and the top plan view of FIG. 
2, a whirlpool tub 10 in accordance with the present invention includes a 
bottom section 12 and four contiguous, upwardly and outwardly extending 
wall sections 14, 16, 18, and 20. As can be seen, the four wall sections 
and the bottom section merge smoothly together to create a generally 
oblong shaped tub having a gently sloping inner surface. 
With added reference to FIG. 3, a first end wall section 14 includes a 
surface 22 which is supportive of a reclining person's back, a wedge 
shaped recessed surface 24, and a generally vertical, semi-tubularly 
shaped recessed surface 26 intersecting the recessed surface 24. The wedge 
shaped recessed surface includes a substantially horizontal ledge surface 
28, two triangularly shaped side surfaces 30 and a back surface 32. As 
best seen in FIGS. 1 and 5, the recessed surface 24 is wider and deeper 
near its bottom than at its top. Likewise, recessed surface 26, which 
extends from nearly the top of the tub to the bottom surface, is deeper 
near the bottom than at the top. 
With reference to FIG. 4, a second end wall section 16 includes a surface 
34 supportive of a user's back and a wedge shaped recess surface 36. The 
recessed surface 36 is similar to recessed surface 24 and includes a 
substantially horizontal ledge surface 38, two triangularly shaped side 
surfaces 40 and a back surface 42. Again, the recessed surface is wider 
and deeper near its bottom than near its top. 
The upper edges of the wall sections are surrounded by a horizontally 
flaring lip section 44 including a pair of facing U shaped ridge sections 
46 and 48, and a planar section 50. It will be noted that ridge section 46 
near wall section 14 is raised above the level of ridge section 48. This 
greater height is necessitated to prevent overflow by water channeling up 
recessed surface 26. The ridge sections co-operate to retain the water 
within the tub but are slightly separated at 52 to allow any water 
splashed out of the tub to run back in. 
A number of apertures are provided in the tub for the inflow or draining of 
water. Recessed surface 24 is provided with two apertures 54 which are 
receptive to water jet nozzles (not shown). Similarly, recessed surface 36 
is provided with two apertures 56 which are receptive to nozzles. The tub 
is also provided with four more apertures 58 in the side wall sections 
which are receptive to water jet nozzles. Aperture 60 is a suction port 
and aperture 62 is a passive drain. 
By recessing aperture 62 within semi-tubularly shaped recess 26 a person 
can comfortably sit directly over the drain. Furthermore, the recessed 
drain aperture allows the present tub to be installed with a "loop 
plumbing" system which is, as is well known to those skilled in the art, 
highly advantageous over other plumbing systems. 
The jet nozzles at apertures 58 provide general agitation of the water 
within the tub and supply a certain degree of hip and leg massage for a 
person sitting in the tub. The interaction of water flowing from nozzles 
in apertures 54 and 56 can be best described with reference to FIG. 5. 
In FIG. 5 arrows 64 indicate the direction in which water will flow from 
the jets if a person is reclining against supportive surface 22, and arrow 
66 indicates the direction in which water will flow from the jets if a 
person is leaning against supportive surface 34. It will be noted that by 
leaning against a supportive surface a person's back co-operates with the 
recesses to form a channel through which the water must flow up the back 
and, in the case of recess 26, along the spine. The recesses of end wall 
section 14 thus direct the swirling, pulsating water across a broad area 
of the back and up and down the spine, and the recess of end wall section 
16 direct the water flowing from the jet nozzles to the upper back. 
The water flowing from the nozzles is, of course, at its highest velocity 
and pressure immediately upon entering the tub. By tapering the recesses 
the pressure can be more evenly distributed across the back. Furthermore, 
by providing two jet nozzles per recessed surface a strong, interactive 
turbulence is assured. 
Finally, as seen in FIG. 1, an aperture can be provided in a corner of 
planar section 50 for an air control valve. All other controls, plumbing, 
and mechanisms associated with the tub can be hidden beneath the planar 
sections of the tub or behind the front skirting of the tub (not shown). 
The tub can further be provided with the necessary surface configurations 
to accept sliding glass doors, etc. 
While this invention has been described in terms of a single preferred 
embodiment, it is contemplated that those reading this description and 
studying the drawing will realize various modifications and permutations 
thereof. It is therefore intended that the following appended claims be 
interpreted as including all such modifications and permutations as fall 
within the true spirit and scope of the present invention.