Patent Publication Number: US-8112832-B2

Title: Attachment of a sanitary washstand fitting to a washstand

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the filing benefit of PCT Patent Application No. PCT/EP2005/010859, filed Oct. 8, 2005, which claims the filing benefit of German Patent Application No. 102004049736.2 filed Oct. 13, 2004, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The invention relates to a sanitary washstand fitting having a housing which is detachably fastened to a washstand with the aid of a fastening arrangement. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Fastening elements of known sanitary washstand fittings can be inserted in an aperture in a washstand from above and are secured from below by screwing. Often, the washstand is accessible from below only with difficulty, so that the fitter is frequently obliged to adopt an uncomfortable posture which is also detrimental to health. In addition, the connection of the washstand fitting from below by screwing is complicated and time-consuming. 
     The present invention is directed to resolving these and other matters. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The object of the present invention is to develop a sanitary washstand fitting of the initially mentioned type in such a way that it can be mounted, substantially from above, on a washstand in a stable manner without major technical resources. 
     This object is achieved, according to the invention, through the fact that the fastening arrangement comprises:
     a) a base which can be fastened to the washstand;   b) a slip-on arrangement by means of which the housing can be slipped onto the base from above;   c) a clamping arrangement by means of which the housing which has been slipped on can be locked against the base.   

     According to the invention, therefore, the sanitary washstand fitting can be mounted on the washstand from above. For this purpose, the housing is slipped on from above and fixed to the pre-mounted base by means of the clamping arrangement, an operation which can be carried out rapidly and without any technical resources. All that is carried out underneath the washstand is the connection to the angle valves and the fitting of the pull rod to the waste fitting. The base thus forms an adapter for a large number of complementary housings of washstand fittings, which can be rapidly and easily substituted for one another. 
     It is particularly advantageous if the clamping arrangement comprises a clamping element which can be tensioned and untensioned, particularly above the washstand, by means of an adjusting element, so that the outlay in terms of labour is markedly reduced. 
     A particularly stable clamping arrangement can be produced in a technically simple manner through the fact that the base has a groove with a spring ring having a slit and the housing has a complementary counter-groove, and said spring ring is radially expandable by means of a threaded pin which can be screwed into a threaded through-bore in the housing. 
     In order to ensure that the slit in the spring ring is always positioned in the region of the threaded pin, a positioning pin for the spring ring is advantageously disposed in the groove. 
     The fitting of the water-conducting lines is markedly simplified in a further advantageous form of embodiment, in which the base has at least one connecting element for water-conducting lines. 
     It is to be understood that the aspects and objects of the present invention described above may be combinable and that other advantages and aspects of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following description of the drawings and detailed description of the invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       An exemplified embodiment of the invention will be explained in greater detail below with the aid of the drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  shows, diagrammatically, an axial section through a washstand fitting mounted on a washstand; 
         FIG. 2  shows, diagrammatically, a section through the washstand fitting represented in  FIG. 1 , along the line II-II therein; 
         FIG. 3  shows, diagrammatically, an enlarged horizontal section through the washstand fitting represented in  FIG. 1 , in the region of a clamping arrangement which is shown in untensioned form here, and along the line III-III in  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIG. 4  shows an enlargement of a detail from  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  shows a further enlarged detail view of the clamping arrangement represented in  FIG. 4 , in the region of an adjusting element; 
         FIG. 6  shows a horizontal section through  FIG. 5 , along the line VI-VI therein; 
         FIG. 7  shows, diagrammatically, an enlarged horizontal section through the washstand fitting represented in  FIG. 1 , in a manner similar to  FIG. 3  but with the clamping arrangement shown in tensioned form; 
         FIG. 8  shows, diagrammatically, a view similar to  FIG. 4 , with the clamping arrangement tensioned; 
         FIG. 9  shows a further enlarged detail view from  FIG. 8 , in the region of a spring ring; and 
         FIG. 10  shows a detail view from  FIG. 8 , in the region of the adjusting element. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail one or more embodiments with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiments illustrated. 
     A washstand fitting  1 , which is fastened to a washstand  2  from above, is represented in  FIG. 1 . 
     Said washstand fitting  1  comprises a housing  3 , from which a water outlet  4  leads out at the top right-hand side in  FIG. 1 . Disposed in the housing  3 , at the top, is a cartridge  5  which is known per se and which can be actuated by means of a mixer lever  6 . 
     In the interior of the housing  3 , two upper water-infeed lines  7  lead to the cartridge  5  from below. 
     In its lower region, which forms a fastening arrangement  8  as well, the housing  3  has substantially the shape of a circular hollow cylinder. It is slipped onto a base  9  which is likewise in the shape of a circular cylinder and the external cross-section of which is complementary to the internal cross-section of the lower region of the housing  3 . Along the upper region of the superficies of the base  9 , an O-ring  10  is disposed in a groove  11  for sealing purposes. 
     The base  9  is fastened on the upper side of the washstand  2  by means of a base bolt  12  which has an external thread. A plain washer  13  is disposed between the base  9  and the washstand  2 . 
     On the left in  FIG. 1 , the base bolt  12  leads perpendicularly out of the lower end face of the base  9 . The bolt is slipped through a through-aperture for said bolt in the washstand  2  and is secured from below by means of a clamping washer  14  and a nut which is not represented. 
     In the front view in  FIG. 2 , there are additionally disposed in the base  9  two connecting elements  15 , which are known per se, for connecting the upper water-infeed lines  7  to two lower water-infeed lines  17  which run through corresponding apertures  16  in the washstand  2  from below. 
     The base  9  also has a through-aperture  18  for a pull rod  19  for a waste fitting which is not represented. 
     In order to fix the housing  3  on the base  9 , a clamping arrangement  20  is provided as an additional part of the fastening arrangement  8 . Said fastening arrangement comprises a spring ring  21  which is disposed in a spring-ring groove  22  running round within the jacket of the base  9 . 
     In the untensioned state, the spring ring  21  disappears almost completely within the spring-ring groove  22  and does not project, or projects only slightly, beyond the jacket of the base  9  ( FIGS. 3 to 6 ). Disposed in the internal superficies of the housing  3  at the level of the spring-ring groove  22  is a counter-groove  23  which has a V-shaped cross-section and into which the spring ring  21  is partially pushed later on when in the tensioned state ( FIGS. 7 to 10 ). 
     Said spring ring  21  is slit on its side which is on the right in  FIG. 3 . The slit  24  in the spring ring  21  is represented in the detail in  FIG. 6 . In their quarter which is on the left in  FIG. 6 , the opposing end faces of the spring ring  21  have two mutually parallel flat faces  25 . To the right of said flat faces  25 , the end faces are each beveled by 45°, so that the slit  24  has, as a whole, a 90° indentation  26 . 
     When the spring ring  21  is in the untensioned state, the flat faces  25  rest against a positioning pin  27 . The positioning pin  27  is disposed in that wall of the spring-ring groove  22  which is the lower wall in  FIG. 5 , and said pin prevents the spring ring  21  from twisting within the spring-ring groove  22 . 
     In a prolongation, towards the right in the detail view in  FIG. 6 , in relation to the slit  24  in the spring ring  21 , the jacket of the housing  3  has a threaded through-bore  28  into which a threaded pin  29  is screwed as an adjusting element for the spring ring  21 . The left-hand edge of the threaded pin  29 , which edge faces towards the spring ring  21 , is chamfered by 45°, thus producing a truncated cone  30  with a cone angle of 90°, which is complementary to the 90° indentation  26  in the slit  24  in the spring ring  21 . 
     If the threaded pin  29  is turned in the clockwise direction, the truncated cone  30  is pushed towards the left into the 90° indentation  26 , and thus forces the end faces of the spring ring  21  apart from one another in the upward and downward directions respectively in  FIG. 7 , as is represented in section in the detail in  FIG. 10 . As a result of this, the spring ring  21  is expanded radially as a whole, and is forced out of the spring-ring groove  22  and into the counter-groove  23  in the housing  3 , as is shown in section in  FIGS. 8 and 9 . 
     When the spring ring  21  is in the completely tensioned state, it engages, in the detail view in  FIG. 9 , in the counter-groove  23  with its left-hand outer third, and its inner region, which faces towards the base  9  and is on the right in  FIG. 9 , remains in the spring-ring groove  22 , so that the base  9  is clamped in, relative to the housing  3 . 
     In order to mount the washstand fitting  1 , the base  9  is first of all fastened to the washstand  2  by means of the base bolt  12  and the connecting elements  16  are connected to the lower water-infeed lines  17  from below in  FIG. 1 . The threaded pin  29  is then turned anticlockwise out of the threaded bore in the jacket of the housing  3  until it no longer projects beyond the inner superficies of the latter. Said housing  3  is thereupon slipped onto the base  9  from above in  FIG. 1 , the upper water-infeed lines  7  being connected to the connecting elements  16  at the same time. After that, the threaded pin  29  is turned in the clockwise direction until the spring ring  21  is completely tensioned and the housing  3  is clamped fast on the base  9 . Finally, the pull rod  19  is slipped through the appropriate apertures and connected to the waste fitting in a manner which is known per se. 
     The base  9  can also be fastened to the washstand  2  in some other way than by means of the base bolt  12 , the clamping washer  14  and the nut. 
     The clamping arrangement  20  may, for example, also be produced in the housing  3  by means of a large number of grub screws which are screwed into a groove in the jacket of the base  9 . 
     The spring ring  21  may also have, for example, an angular or elliptical cross-section instead of a round one. 
     Instead of the threaded pin  29  with the truncated cone  30 , use may also be made of a pin with a non-circular, in particular elliptical, cross-section, by means of which, as a result of rotation, the end faces of the aperture  24  in the spring ring  21 , which in this case are preferably parallel, are forced apart. 
     It is to be understood that additional embodiments of the high-speed door assembly described herein may be contemplated by one of ordinary skill in the art and that the scope of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed. While specific embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, numerous modifications come to mind without significantly departing from the spirit of the invention, and the scope of protection is only limited by the scope of the accompanying claims.