Abstract:
A faucet capable of accepting different types of control valves includes an adapter disk, whereby a precise ceramic control valve can be mounted to the faucet. When the faucet is used alone without the adapter disk, a safety control valve can be mounted in the faucet. In this way, the faucet can accept two different kinds of control valves, thereby increasing the functionality thereof.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to a faucet with replaceable control valves, and in particular to a faucet in which a precise ceramic control valve or a safety control valve can be mounted. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Prior Art 
         [0004]    Faucets available in the market are configured to allow cold water and hot water to flow through them, thereby providing water of different temperatures depending on the mixing ratio between the cold water and the hot water. Usually, the faucet is used to provide cold water or warm water. In a few cases, people may directly use the hot water supplied by the faucet. The warm water is obtained by mixing cold water and hot water in a desired ratio. The most common way of controlling the mixing ratio between cold water and hot water is achieved by a precise ceramic control valve or a safety control valve. However, since the constructions of these two control valves and their water-controlling mechanisms are different from each other, the precise ceramic control valve is incompatible with the safety control valve, so that they cannot be substituted for each other in the same faucet. As a result, the manufacturers in this field need to produce different kinds of faucets separately to meet the standards of the precise ceramic control valve and the safety control valve, which increases the cost of developing and manufacturing the faucets. Further, the faucets with different kinds of control valves have to be respectively stocked, which increases the amount of required storage space. 
         [0005]    Thus, if there is a faucet capable of replacing control valves in which a precise ceramic control valve or a safety control valve can be compatibly used, then only a single construction of the faucet can support two different kinds of control valves, thereby increasing the functionality thereof. 
         [0006]    In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present inventor proposes an improved faucet based on his research and expert knowledge. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    The primary object of the present invention is to provide a faucet capable of replacing control valves. The faucet has an adapter disk, whereby a precise ceramic control valve can be mounted to the faucet. When the faucet is used alone without the adapter disk, a safety control valve can be mounted in the faucet. In this way, the faucet of the present invention can support two different kinds of control valves, thereby increasing the functionality thereof. 
         [0008]    According to an embodiment the present invention, the faucet has a base. A valve chamber is formed in the base and the bottom of the base is in communication with a cold water inlet pipe, a hot water inlet pipe and an outlet pipe. The inner bottom surface of the valve chamber is formed with two spaced positioning recesses. One side of the two positioning recesses is provided with a concave mixing trough. The two positioning recesses and the mixing trough are in communication with a cold water inlet port, a hot water inlet port and an outlet port respectively. The cold water inlet port, the hot water inlet port and the outlet port are in communication with the cold water inlet pipe, the hot water inlet pipe and the outlet pipe respectively. The bottom of the adapter disk has two extension legs corresponding to the positioning recesses of the faucet. The interiors of the two extension legs are formed with a cold water through-hole and a hot water through-hole respectively in communication with the top surface of the adapter disk. The front surface of the adapter disk is provided with an outlet through-hole, and two locking holes are formed on the same surface as the outlet through-hole diagonally with respect to the extension legs respectively. The peripheries of the adapter disk and the extension legs are provided with a respective sealing ring. The periphery of the front surface of the adapter disk is formed with an upwardly-extending flange. With the above construction, an embodiment faucet capable of replacing control valves can be formed. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view of the present invention; 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view showing the external appearance of an embodiment adapter disk; 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a partial cross-sectional view showing an embodiment adapter disk; 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view showing an embodiment adapter disk taken from another viewing angle; 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment faucet being used with a precise ceramic control valve; 
           [0014]      FIG. 6  is an assembled cross-sectional view showing an embodiment faucet being used with a precise ceramic control valve; 
           [0015]      FIG. 7  is an assembled cross-sectional view showing an embodiment faucet being used with a precise ceramic control valve taken from another viewing angle; 
           [0016]      FIG. 8  is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment faucet being used with a safety control valve; 
           [0017]      FIG. 9  is an assembled cross-sectional view showing an embodiment faucet being used with a safety control valve; and 
           [0018]      FIG. 10  is an assembled cross-sectional view showing an embodiment faucet being used with a safety control valve taken from another viewing angle. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0019]    Please refer to  FIGS. 1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 , and  8 . A faucet  10  of the present invention has an adapter disk  20 , whereby a precise ceramic control valve  30  can be mounted to the faucet  10 . When the faucet  10  is used alone, a safety control valve  40  can be mounted to the faucet  10  in a replaceable manner, so that only one faucet  10  needs to be used for two different kinds of control valves. The faucet  10  has a base  11 . A valve chamber  12  is formed in the base  11 . The bottom of the base  11  is in communication with a cold water inlet pipe  13 , a hot water inlet pipe  14  and an outlet pipe  15 . The inner bottom surface of the valve chamber  12  is formed with two spaced positioning recesses  121 . One side of the two positioning recesses  121  is provided with a concave mixing trough  122 . The two positioning recesses  121  and the mixing trough  122  are in communication with a cold water inlet port  123 , a hot water inlet port  124  and an outlet port  125  respectively. The cold water inlet port  123 , the hot water inlet port  124  and the outlet port  125  are in communication with the cold water inlet pipe  13 , the hot water inlet pipe  14  and the outlet pipe  15  respectively. The bottom of the adapter disk  20  has two extension legs  21  corresponding to the positioning recesses  121  of the faucet  10 . The interiors of the two extension legs  21  are formed with a cold water through-hole  22  and a hot water through-hole  23  respectively in communication with the top surface of the adapter disk  20 . The top surface of the adapter disk  20  is provided with an outlet through-hole  24  and two locking holes  25  that are formed in diagonal relationship with respect to the extension legs  21  respectively. The peripheries of the adapter disk  20  and the extension legs  21  are each provided with a respective sealing ring  26 . The periphery of the front surface of the adapter disk  20  is formed with an upwardly-extending flange  27 . 
         [0020]    Please refer to  FIGS. 5 ,  6 , and  7 . The operation of the embodiment faucet  10  will be described. When the faucet  10  is used with a precise ceramic control valve  30 , the adapter disk  20  is disposed in the valve chamber  12  of the faucet  10  with the extension legs  21  of the adapter disk  20  engaging with the positioning recesses  121  of the faucet  10 . Then, the precise ceramic control valve  30  is disposed on the adapter disk  20  in such a manner that a cold water inlet  31  and a hot water inlet  32  of the precise ceramic control valve  30  are in communication with the cold water through-hole  22  and the hot water through-hole  23  of the adapter disk  20 . By means of the adapter disk  20 , the cold water inlet  31  and the hot water inlet  32  of the precise ceramic control valve  30  are set in communications with the cold water inlet port  123  and the hot water inlet port  124 , respectively, so that the precise ceramic control valve  30  can be correctly utilized in the faucet  10 . Further, when the precise ceramic control valve  30  is placed on the adapter disk  20 , two locking posts  33  formed on the bottom surface of the precise ceramic control valve  30  are inserted into the locking holes  25 , so that the precise ceramic control valve  30  can be positioned on the adapter disk  20  accurately. After a faucet shroud  50  and a faucet body  60  are assembled onto the faucet  10 , the precise ceramic control valve  30  is held in a proper position and any undesirable upward movement of the control valve  30  is prevented. The user can operate a handle of the faucet body  60  together with a relative movement between upper and lower ceramic pieces of the precise ceramic control valve  30  to thereby control the opening/closing of the control valve  30  and the mixing ratio between the cold water and the hot water. After the hot water and the cold water are mixed within the precise ceramic control valve  30  into warm water, the warm water flows through an exit hole  34  of the precise ceramic control valve  30 , an outlet through-hole  24  of the adapter disk  20 , and the outlet port  125  of the faucet  10 . Finally, the warm water is supplied externally via the outlet pipe  15  of the faucet  10 . 
         [0021]    Please refer to  FIGS. 8 ,  9 , and  10 . When the faucet  10  is used with a safety control valve  40 , a sealing sleeve  42  jacketed with a spring  41  is first placed into each of the two positioning recesses  121  of the faucet  10 . A switch rod set  43  is then disposed into the valve chamber  12 . After the faucet shroud  50  and the faucet body  60  are mounted together with the faucet  210 , the switch rod set  43  and the sealing sleeve  42  jacket with the springs  41  are held in a proper position and any undesirable upward movement of these elements is prevented. The user can operate the handle of the faucet body  60  together with a switching action of a bottom valve  44  of the switch rod set  43  to thereby control the opening/closing of the control valve  40  and the mixing ratio between the cold water and the hot water flowing therein. After the hot water and the cold water are mixed in the safety control valve  40  into warm water, the warm water flows through the outlet port  125  of the faucet  10 . Finally, the warm water is supplied to the outside via the outlet pipe  15  of the faucet  10 . 
         [0022]    In summary, an embodiment faucet having a replaceable control valve has the following advantageous features. When the faucet  10  is used alone, a safety control valve  40  can be mounted therein directly. By using an adapter disk  20 , a precise ceramic control valve  30  can be mounted in the same faucet  10 , so that only a single faucet  10  needs to be used for two different kinds of control valves. Therefore, since the faucet  10  can be selectively used with the precise ceramic control valve  30  and the safety control valve  40 , the manufacturers in this field need not implement different kinds of faucets to meet these two control valves, thereby reducing the costs of developing and manufacturing the faucets. Also, the amount of storage space required for the faucets can be decreased. Thus, it is apparent that the embodiment faucet is more competitive in the market. 
         [0023]    The above disclosed embodiment is merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Various equivalent variations and modifications may be designed as known to those skilled in the art in view of the teachings of the present invention. Thus, all such variations and equivalent modifications are also embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.