Moving fluid ejecting nozzle

Abstract: The nozzle comprises a hollow body (1) with a center flow axis (19) of a fluid supplying said nozzle. In the hollow body (1) there is housed in a freely rotatable manner a rotor (14) having an outlet through-bore (17) with a rear base (21) arranged eccentrically with respect to said center axis, and an axis (18) that is inclined transversally with respect to said center axis. The fluid supplied to the inlet (3) of the hollow body (1) is ejected from the through-hole (17) in the form of an inclined jet whose reaction thrust produces a torque that brings about the rotation of the rotor (14).

Description: The present invention refers to a moving ejecting nozzle for a fluid, in particular water, adapted to be used for instance in fitted shower booths or similar sanitary equipment. A number of moving ejecting nozzles for fluids are known in the art to mainly comprise, as disclosed for example in US-A-3 677 474 and in Ep-A-0 596 307, a hollow body connected to the fluid supply and housing in a swivelling manner an at least partially spherical insert provided with at least a boring through which the fluid is ejected from the nozzle. Such nozzles make it possible for the jet of fluid ejected therefrom to be orientated, ie. directed manually according to the particular needs. They do not, however, allow for water jets to be obtained which have a substantially diverging configuration as required in view of being able to cover an appropriately wide surface to be wetted. On the other hand, such a requirement is an actually existing one for instance in the case of fitted shower booths, in which a plurality of so-called "dorsal" water jets are usually provided which must ensure such a flow rate and such a force as to adequately bring about an appropriate massaging action on as broad as possible surface of a person's body. U.S. Patent No. 4,965,893 discloses a hydrotherapy apparatus comprising a nozzle according to preamble of claim 1, including a rigid elongated conduit having a supply orifice and a discharge orifice. The conduit is mounted for swivel movement to enable the discharge orifice to traverse a path constituted by a series of small circular or semicircular path segments linked by translational path segments. The conduit is moved along said path by reaction forces produced by the discharge stream; the stream is produced by a supplied water jet which entrains air and/or tub water, as selected by the user. Owing to reasons of costs and constructional complexity, the hitherto broadly uncomplied with need also exists to limit the number of nozzles required in view of obtaining an adequate performance on said as broad as possible surface of the body. On the other hand, quite important appears to be also the need for nozzles to be used which are substantially simple in their construction, effective in their action and reliable, such as to be easily assemblable, to do away with all needs of special maintenance, and to be capable of performing in an optimum manner under substantially all possible operating conditions, in particular under conditions of reduced water supply pressure. It therefore is a main purpose of the present invention to provide a fluid ejecting nozzle that is capable of generating at least a jet of fluid having a substantially diverging configuration along with an adequately elevated force. A further purpose of the present invention is to provide a fluid ejecting nozzle of the above cited kind, which has a particularly simple and reliable structure and construction. Still another purpose of the present invention is to provide a fluid ejecting nozzle of the above cited kind, which is capable of producing at least a jet of fluid adapted to perform a particularly effective massaging action, also in the case of a reduced supply pressure of the fluid concerned. According to the present invention, these aims are reached in a moving fluid ejecting nozzle embodying the features as recited in the appended claims. Anyway, the features and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood from the description that is given below by way of non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which: Figures 1 and 2 are cross-sectional views of the nozzle, in respective operating positions thereof, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; Figures 3 and 4 are front views of the nozzle illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, respectively. With reference to the above Figures, the nozzle according to the present invention can be noticed to mainly comprise a hollow body 1 in the shape of a goblet, on the front side of which there is screwed a threaded locking ring-nut 7. The rear portion 2 of the hollow body comprises an inlet 3 adapted to be connected to the supply of working fluid, which may for instance be water used to produce dorsal jets, in the manner that will be described in greater detail further on, in a shower booth having a support wall 20. In a per se known manner, the hollow body 1 is adapted to be mounted in a corresponding aperture of the wall 20, wherein the edge thereof is fastened by tightening it between a threaded locking ring-nut 4 and an annular abutment 5 under interposition of a sealing ring 6. In the hollow body 1 there is housed a diaphragm 8 provided with a central flared conveyance bore 9 that preferably extends axially with a centering collar 23. The diaphragm 8 also comprises at least a peripheral elastic lip 10, or similar provision, by means of which it rests in a sprung manner, ie. elastically, against the rear wall 2 of the body 1. The diaphragm 8 is kept pressed against the wall 2 by a bush 11 that is in turn locked in position, inside the hollow body 1, by the front ring-nut 7. In particular, the ring-nut 7 tightens a front peripheral lip 12 of the bush 11 against the front edge of the hollow body 1, under the interposition of a sealing ring 13. Therefore, the lip 10 of the diaphragm 8 advantageously enables the component parts housed in the hollow body 1, and in particular the diaphragm 8 itself and the bush 11, to automatically adjust axially in relation to each other. In a preferred manner, the bush 11 is in the shape of axial steps, as this can be seen in the illustrations appearing in Figures 1 and 2, and the inner side surface thereof fits in a substantially loose manner together with the outer side surface of a discoidal rotor 14 which is correspondingly in the shape of axial steps. The bush 11 and the rotor 14 are connected with each other through a ball bearing 15, or similar means, performing the twofold task of enabling the rotor 14 to freely rotate with respect to the remaing part of the nozzle, and forming at the same time an axial bond between the bush 11 and the rotor 14. To this purpose, in fact, both the bush 11 and the rotor 14 are provided with respective mutually opposing circumferential impressions adapted to accomodate the balls 16 of the bearing 15. The discoidal rotor 14 is provided with at least an eccentric outlet through-bore 17 which has preferably a substantially cylindrical or conical shape and communicates with the central bore 9 of the diaphragm 8, with respect to which it preferably has a greater diameter at least in correspondence of its rear base 21. In particular, the rear base 21 of the cylindrical bore 17 is situated in correspondence of the central bore 9, with respect to which it however is slightly out of axis (ie. situated eccentrically) and preferably inclined as shown in Figures 1 and 2. Furthermore, the axis 18 of the eccentric bore 17 is inclined in the transverse direction, and preferably also radially, with respect to the center flow axis 19 of the bore 9. When the nozzle receives a fluid under pressure (eg. water) at its inlet 3, the central bore 9 generates an axial flow of said fluid which supplies the eccentric bore 17. The latter diverts such a flow of fluid and delivers in turn a corresponding jet of fluid in the direction of its own inclined axis 18. Thanks to the combined effect of the bore 17 being inclined transversally and its being somewhat out of axis with respect to the central bore 9, the reaction thrust, or force, produced by said jet of fluid generates a torque that causes the discoidal rotor 14 to rotate (in a clockwise direction in the example being described here) about the center axis 19. In other words, the bore 17 of the nozzle according to the present invention produces a composite, inclined and rotating jet of fluid that is capable of covering (at a certain distance from the nozzle) a relatively large surface inscribed in an annulus. Anyone skilled in the art will be capable of appreciating that the conformation of such a rotating jet of water and/or the concentration of the fluid in the various points of the same jet can of course be varied according to particular needs by correspondingly varying the sizing of the component parts concerned, particularly the cross-section, the length and/or the inclination of the eccentric bore 17. It should in any case be noticed that the rotating water jet has most advantageously the effect of an intermittent "massage" on the surface hit by it (in particular, the body of a person), substantially corresponding to the massaging effect brought about by a pulsating jet which however is generally known to imply undesired complications in the construction. Quite on the contrary, the particular simplicity of the nozzle according to the present invention as far as both its construction and its operation are concerned can be most readily appreciated, along with the property of considerable reliability thereof. It will be appreciated that the above described nozzle may undergo a number of modifications or be the subject of a number of variants without departing from the scope of the present invention. For instance, the rear surface of the rotor 14, in correspondence of which there is arranged the base 21 of the eccentric bore 17, is preferably shaped so as to be provided with a flared recess 22 which communicates with the bore 17 and may be generally defined in the shape of an irregular frustum of cone, as this appears in Figures 1 and 2. Jointly with the bore 17, the recess 22 accomodates the centering collar 23 so as to allow for a suitable degree of geometric freedom between the fixed diaphragm 8 and the rotor 14, thereby preventing them from getting stuck. The recess 22, however, performs also a further important task: it in fact allows for a certain amount of water to flow from the central bore 9 to the ball bearing 15 by seeping through a hollow space existing between the diaphragm 8 and the rotor 14, so that, during the rotation of said rotor 14, the ball bearing itself is practically lubricated constantly in a perfect manner. This of course contributes to further enhancing the operating reliability of the moving nozzle according to the present invention. In particular, the presence of such automatically lubricated bearing 15 constantly assures an easy rotation of the rotor 14 , without practically any risk for the same rotor to get stuck, even when the fluid is being supplied at a reduced pressure at the inlet 3. It should in any case be also noticed that possible maintenance operations to be performed on the nozzle according to the present invention are made particularly convenient to be carried out by the possibility for all internal component parts thereof to be acceded to from the front, so that the same parts can actually removed from and reassembled into the nozzle axially, by simply unscrewing the locking ring-nut 7.

Claims: Moving fluid ejecting nozzle comprising a hollow body (1) having an inlet (3) connected to the supply of said fluid and a center flow axis (19), a rotor (14) being housed in said hollow body (1) in a freely rotatable manner about said center axis (19) said rotor (14) having at least an outlet through-bore (17) adapted to produce a jet of said fluid oriented in such a manner as to bring about, by the effect of reaction, the rotation of said rotor (14) about said center axis (19). characterized in that said hollow body (1) houses, upstream of said rotor (14), a diaphragm (8) having a bore (9) through which the fluid supplying the nozzle flows towards the outlet through-bore (17), said diaphragm (8) comprising elastic means (10) for elastically resting against a rear wall (2) of said hollow body (1). Ejecting nozzle according to claim 1, characterized in that said outlet through-bore (17) has a rear base (21) arranged eccentrically with respect to said center axis (19), wherein said outlet through-bore (17) has further an axis (18) that is inclined transversally with respect to said center axis, so that the fluid supplied to the inlet (3) of the hollow body (1) is ejected from the outlet through-bore (17) in the form of an inclined jet, whose reaction thrust generates a torque that brings about said rotation of the rotor (14). about the center axis (19). Ejecting nozzle according to claim 2, characterized in that said bore (9) is concentric to said center axis (19), and it has a smaller diameter with respect to said base (21) of the outlet through-bore (17). Ejecting nozzle according to claim 3, characterized in that said bore (9) of the diaphragm (8) extends axially with a centering collar (23) in correspondence of which there is arranged said base (21) of the outlet through-bore (17). Ejecting nozzle according to claim 4, characterized in that , in correspondence of said base (21), the rotor (14) is shaped to include a flared recess (22) that communicates with the outlet through-bore (17) and is adapted to accomodate said centering collar (23) so as to allow for a suitable degree of geometric freedom to exist between the diaphragm (8) and the rotor (14). Ejecting nozzle according to claim 1, characterized in that the rotor (14) is mounted in a freely rotatable manner with respect to the hollow body (1) by means of bearing means (15), or the like, co-operating with the outer side surface of the rotor so as to constitute an axial bond for said rotor with respect to the remaining part of the nozzle. Ejecting nozzle according to claims 5 and 6, characterized in that part of the fluid flowing through said bore (9) of the diaphragm (8) is capable of seeping towards the bearing means (15), so as to lubricate said means, through said recess (22) and a hollow space defined between said diaphragm and the rotor (14). Ejecting nozzle according to claim 1, characterized in that said elastic means include at least an elastic peripheral lip (10), through which said diaphragm (8) rests in a sprung manner against said rear wall (2) of the hollow body (1). Ejecting nozzle according to claim 8, characterized in that said diaphragm (8) is kept pressed against said wall (2) by a bush (11) which in turn is locked in position, inside the hollow body (1), by a front threaded ring-nut (7) screwed on to the same hollow body. Ejecting nozzle according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that said elastic means (10) are arranged such as to automatically enable the mutual axial adjustment of at least said diaphragm (8) and said bush (11) inside said hollow body (1).

Inventors: COLUSSI LUCIO, COLUSSI, LUCIO
Applicants: DOMINO SPA, DOMINO S.P.A.
Application year: 1998
Main classification: B05B3
IPC codes: A61H33, B05B3