Patent Publication Number: US-2015083819-A1

Title: Acrylic water features

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to acrylic water features and, more particularly, to an illuminated waterfall ornament having various modules for creating various water effects. 
     In an era of extreme stress and insane chaos, the demand for anxiolytics, anti-depressants and insomniolytics has increased at an alarming rate. Therefore, there have been efforts made in the development of non-pharmaceutical strife liberating approaches to conquer these personal burdens. Water displays have been developed for providing a serene and relaxing visual and audial effect for the user. 
     Conventional water displays, such as those designed for a desk or table top, are non-dynamic and unchanging, resulting in eventual apathy and disinterest. 
     These conventional water displays often lack illumination and are devoid of any changing water patterns and, therefore, produce the same auditory frequencies. 
     Moreover, with conventional water displays, the user typically cannot control the device&#39;s operation beyond turning the water pump on or off. There are typically no options for changing the display or providing different effects simply and conveniently. 
     As can be seen, there is a need for an improved table or desk top water display ornament that has the ability to provide multiple visual and audial effects for the user. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In one aspect of the present invention, a water display ornament comprises a transparent reservoir for containing water; a plurality of lights disposed below a bottom portion of the reservoir; a pump disposed inside the reservoir; a pressure chamber fed by the pump via a pump to pressure chamber tube; and at least one module operable to receive water flow from the pressure chamber, wherein the at least one module includes at least one of a slide-in waterfall module, a fountain and tides display module; a sphere module, and an aqua burst module. 
     These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings, description and claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an illuminated waterfall ornament according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view taken along line  2 - 2  of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of the pressure chamber of the illuminated waterfall ornament of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a slide-in module for the illuminated water ornament of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic front view illustrating water oscillation in the slide-in module chamber; 
         FIG. 6  is a top view of a double slide-in module chamber for the illuminated water ornament of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic front view illustrating water oscillation in the double slide-in module chamber of  FIG. 6 ; 
         FIG. 8  is a front view of a central reservoir fountain display of an illuminated water ornament according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 9  is a front view of a spherical fountain with a high velocity, low volumetric inflow and low grade obstruction to outflow, usable with the central reservoir fountain display of  FIG. 8 ; 
         FIG. 10  is a front view of a spherical fountain with reduced velocity, higher volumetric inflow and a slightly restricted outflow, usable with the central reservoir fountain display of  FIG. 8 ; 
         FIG. 11  is a front view of a spherical fountain with a large inflow nozzle producing a low velocity, high volumetric flow and a restricted outflow, usable with the central reservoir fountain display of  FIG. 8 ; 
         FIG. 12  is a front view of a spherical fountain multiple micro pores producing glittering dynamic micro geysers along the surface of the spherical fountain, while an occluded orifice is provided at the inflow site; 
         FIG. 13  is a side view of the central reservoir fountain display of  FIG. 8 ; 
         FIG. 14  is a front view of a fountain and tides display module, illustrating a high tide phase; 
         FIG. 15  is a front view of the fountain and tides display module of  FIG. 14 , illustrating a low tide phase; 
         FIG. 16  is a side view of an aqua burst display module; 
         FIG. 17  is a front view of the aqua burst display module of  FIG. 16 ; 
         FIG. 18  is a front view of an aqua burst display module; and 
         FIG. 19  is a front view of the aqua burst display module. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplated modes of carrying out exemplary embodiments of the invention. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims. 
     Broadly, an embodiment of the present invention provides an illuminated table or desk top water display ornament for everyday enjoyment and appropriate for every season and occasion. The water display ornaments embody a multiplicity of water displays, such as waterfalls, springs, waves, tides, cavitating bubbles, and the like, all combined and cycled in one system. This can be accomplished without the use of failure prone electrical and mechanical modules. The water display ornaments are simple in construction and maintain an aesthetically pleasing presentation to the viewer. Many options are available as a plug-in or slide-in module. This allows the viewer to change modules if desired to obtain different patterns, flows and sounds as desired. The water display ornaments can be efficacious modalities for attenuating an individual&#39;s adverse response to daily, weekly, annual or seasonal circadian cycles, such as seasonal affective disorder. Moreover, the water display ornaments offer life prolonging benefits similar to that attributed, by anecdotal evidence, to the ownership of a pet. 
     The water display ornaments, as herein described, can be made from various materials, such as an acrylic frame adorned with an artfully designed arrangement of stained mosaic glass, decorative accent marbles,  6 / 0  glass beads, grafting bead jewelry, decorative accent marbles, mosaic acrylic gems, and the like. The decorative glass can be bonded to the acrylic frame with castolite, for example, while the decorative acrylic marbles and gems can be bonded with acrylic glue. 
     The structures described herein, as discussed below, can be illuminated with a grid of lights, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) using white mono-colored, multi-colored, or programmable-colored lights. LEDs serve as a long lasting, low heat source of illumination and provides a fabulous decorative contribution to the water display ornament. 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 1 through 4 , a water display ornament can include a reservoir formed from reservoir side walls  10  and a reservoir bottom  12 . A light plate, such as an LED plate  14 , containing a plurality of LEDs  16  can be disposed below the reservoir bottom  12  to provide illumination through the reservoir bottom  12  and into water  44  disposed in the reservoir. 
     A pump  18  can be disposed at one side of the reservoir. The pump  18  can include a pump intake  20  for feeding water  44  thereinto. 
     A tube  22  can extend from the pump  18  to carry pump outflow water into a pressure chamber  24  disposed at the end of the tube  22 . A plurality of pressure chamber outflow holes  26  are disposed in the pressure chamber  24  to allow water  44  pumped by the pump  22  to flow out therefrom. A mirror  28  can be disposed in the reservoir to at least partially conceal the pump  18  and tube  22 . 
     A module, such as a slide-in waterfall module  30  can be placed under the holes  26  to receive water therein. The slide-in waterfall module  30  can take various designs and can be changed, as desired, by the user. One embodiment of such a slide-in waterfall module  30  is shown in  FIG. 4 , where the module includes side chambers  38  and a center chamber  36 . Chamber holes  34  can be used for water outflow, or may be interconnected with a pressure chamber (as described below) to provide a water source. Fountain holes  32  can be provided in the slide-in waterfall module  30  to allow water to exit therefrom. 
     In some embodiments, as shown in  FIG. 5 , one or more of the chambers  36 ,  38 , typically central chamber  36 , can be designed to vary its water height. A siphon tube  50  can be disposed within the variable chamber  48  to allow water to drain to a predetermined level once water reaches a maximum level. This can provide the appearance of a changing water level, or tides. As can be seen in the Figure, the waterfall  46  from the pressure chamber  24  causes cavitation bubbles  52  in the water  44 , further enhancing the visual display. 
     In some embodiments, as shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7 , the chamber  36  can be modified to include an inner reservoir  54  within the variable chamber  48 . This embodiment may allow the inner reservoir  54  to fill, before allowing water to flow into the variable chamber  48 , thus providing even greater dynamics for the viewer to see variable water levels in the water display ornament. 
     A light plate, such as a side LED plate  42  can be disposed behind the slide-in waterfall module  30  to provide an additional illuminated display. 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 8 through 13 , a water display ornament can include a central reservoir  56  having a pump  70  disposed therein. A pump to pressure chamber tube  58  can extend to a pressure chamber  66  disposed at an upper surface of the reservoir  56  from the pump  70 . A pressure chamber to channel tube  60  can extend from the pressure chamber to a channel  62 , as described below.  FIG. 13  illustrates a side view of the water display ornament, showing a flow control valve  72  on the tube  60  to control flow between the pressure chamber  66  and the channel  62 . 
     The channel  62  can extend along a bottom portion of the reservoir  56  from the pump  70  to deliver water flow to a central reservoir fountain tube  64  extending from the channel  62  at the bottom of the reservoir  56  toward a surface of the water  44  therein. A sphere  110  can be disposed on the end of the tube  64 . 
     Similar to the embodiment described above, a mirror  68  can be used to at least partially hide the tube  60  and the pump  70 . 
     The sphere  110  can be designed to provide various effects. The sphere  110  can be easily changed, for achieving these various effects, by simply removing the sphere  110  from the tube  64  via a sphere mount  114 . In one embodiment ( FIG. 9 ), the sphere can have a high velocity, low volumetric inflow and a low grade obstruction to outflow. In this design, the higher velocity nozzle  112  causes water to strike the vertex of the sphere and spiral downward along the inner surface of the sphere to the exit. At first glance, it appears as though the sphere is spinning until the observer appreciates the swirling action of the water. In another embodiment ( FIG. 10 ), a slightly larger nozzle produces a lower velocity jet, a higher volumetric flow, and a more restrictive aperture for outflow. In this system design, the resulting geyser approaches the sphere&#39;s vertex and falls back to the body of undulating water that accumulates to a height to equilibrate the inflow and outflow. In a further embodiment ( FIG. 11 ), a large inflow nozzle produces a low velocity, high volumetric flow and a greater restriction to sphere outflow. The inflow jet is invisibly embedded in the sphere&#39;s body of undulating water that accumulates in height to balance the inflow and outflow. In this display, the body of water within the sphere with dynamic waves appears to have no visible means of propulsion to explain its existence. In another embodiment ( FIG. 12 ), the sphere can be fenestrated with numerous micro pores and an occluded orifice at the inflow site. Thus, numerous glittering dynamic micro geysers are produced along the surface of the sphere. To account for hydrostatic pressure differences within the sphere, the caliber of the micro pores decrease from vertex to lower levels (for example, from about 1/16 inch to about 1/24 inch). 
     The water display ornament of the present invention can include a fountain and tide display, as shown in  FIGS. 14 and 15 . With this display, a reservoir  74  can be disposed below a low pressure chamber  76  to receive water therefrom. Water can also be supplied via a fountain pump  82  and pump tube  84  to a pressure chamber  80 . Water can enter the reservoir  74  from the pressure chamber  80 , as shown in  FIG. 15 , to form a fountain within the reservoir  74 . As the water level increases to a high tide level, a siphon tube  78  can cause the water to be expelled from the reservoir  74  to a low tide level. 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 16 through 19 , an aqua burst display module can be used with the water display ornament of the present invention. In this module, water can be pumped via a pump  92 , through a tube  94 , to a pressure chamber  98 . Water from the pressure chamber can enter an aqua jet chamber  90  to begin filling this chamber  90 . Water can also pass through to a hydrostatic pressure chamber  102 , especially as the volume of water increases in the aqua jet chamber  90 . Once the water in the hydrostatic pressure chamber  102  reaches a predefined height, a siphon tube  100  can drain water from the aqua burst display to begin the cycle again. 
     The aqua jet chamber  90  can include a plurality of aqua jets  104 , allowing water to jet therefrom and strike an acrylic plate  96 . During the drainage phase of the hydrostatic pressure chamber  102 , the hydrostatic pressure therein decreases, and flow into the chamber  102  increases from chamber  90 , which decreases the pressure in the aqua jet chamber  90  and decreases the diameter of aqua bursts  106 . During the filing phase of the chamber  102 , the reveres of the hydrodynamic changes described above occurs. Thus, the aqua burst undergoes dynamic expansions and contractions for the added pleasure of the viewer. An additional aesthetical feature of entertainment in the display is the multicolored sparkles the emanate from the siphon  100  to be cavitating bubbles illuminated by an LED plate  88  during the transition from the drainage to the filling phase of the chamber  102 . In addition, as the aqua bursts  106  disperse, a number of aqua satellites  108  are provided along the plate  96 . 
     The vortices in  FIG. 19  are generated in the pressure chamber  90  (see  FIG. 16 ) with the introduction of bubbles in the pump. The bubbles can be formed, for example, with either bubble bath or an air pump. 
     It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates to exemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.