Patent Publication Number: US-6219860-B1

Title: Faucet assembly having overlapping spouts for releasing filtered and unfiltered water therefrom

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to a faucet assembly, more particularly to a faucet assembly which has two spouts for releasing filtered and unfiltered water therefrom. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional faucet assembly is shown to include a faucet body  1 , a tubular housing  2 , a spout  4  and a control knob  3 . 
     As illustrated, the faucet body  1  defines a water passage chamber having a cold water inlet adapted to be connected fluidly with a cold water supply source  111 , a hot water inlet adapted to be connected fluidly with a hot water supply source  112 , and a water outlet for discharging water therefrom. 
     The tubular housing  2  is sleeved rotatably around the faucet body  1 , and has a peripheral wall with upper and lower ends establishing a water-tight seal in cooperation with the faucet body  1  so as to define an annular chamber between the tubular housing  2  and the faucet body  1 , and between the upper and lower ends of the peripheral wall. The annular chamber is in fluid communication with the water passage chamber via the water outlet. The housing  2  further has a spout mounting port which is in fluid communication with the annular chamber and from which the spout  4  extends integrally and outwardly so as to guide the water inside the annular chamber to an exterior of the faucet assembly. 
     The control knob  3  is mounted on the tubular housing  2  for regulating and stopping flow of the water from the annular chamber to the exterior of the faucet assembly. 
     Since the aforesaid conventional faucet assembly is provided with only one spout, water discharged therefrom is generally not filtered and is thus fit only for washing and common use. In order to obtain drinking water, a two-spout faucet assembly  10  (see FIG. 1A) is provided with two spouts that are spaced apart from each other. As a result, a relatively large sink is needed to be disposed under two spouts of the assembly  10  (see FIG.  1 A). 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, the object of this invention is to provide a faucet assembly with two spouts that are adapted to release filtered and unfiltered water therefrom and that are disposed in an overlapping manner for use with a volume-reduced sink. 
     Accordingly, the faucet assembly of the present invention includes a faucet body, a tubular housing, a hollow tube, a first spout, a second spout, and first and second control knobs. The faucet body includes an upper faucet portion defining a first water passage chamber having a cold water inlet adapted to be connected fluidly with a cold water supply source, a hot water inlet adapted to be connected fluidly with a hot water supply source, and a first water outlet. The faucet body further includes a lower faucet portion defining a second water passage chamber isolated fluidly from the first water passage chamber. The second water passage chamber has an inlet adapted to be connected fluidly with a filtered water source so as to receive filtered water therefrom, and a second water outlet adapted for discharging the filtered water therefrom. The housing is sleeved rotatably around the faucet body, and includes an upper housing portion that establishes a first water-tight seal in cooperation with the upper faucet portion so as to define a first annular chamber therebetween in communication with the first water passage chamber via the first water outlet and that is formed with a first spout mounting port, and a lower housing portion that is disposed around the lower faucet portion and that defines an annular tube accommodating space therebetween. The tube has an axial length and a width that are smaller than those of the housing, and is disposed inside the tube accommodating space. The tube has a peripheral wall with two opposite ends connected to the lower faucet portion so as to establish a second water-tight seal and a second annular chamber between the lower faucet portion and the peripheral wall, and between the opposite ends of the peripheral wall of the tube. The second annular chamber is in fluid communication with the second water passage chamber via the second water outlet. The tube has a second spout mounting port formed in the peripheral wall and in fluid communication with the second annular chamber. The first spout extends integrally, radially and outwardly from the upper housing portion and is in fluid communication with the first spout mounting port for guiding water outwardly from the first annular chamber. The second spout is operably associated with the first spout so as to synchronously rotate therewith relative to the faucet body. The second spout extends generally parallel with the first spout and through the lower housing portion and is connected integrally to the tube. The second spout is in fluid communication with the second spout mounting port so as to be adapted to guide the filtered water outwardly from the second annular chamber. The first control knob is mounted on the tubular housing for selectively closing and opening the cold and hot water inlets and the first outlet upon operation thereof. The second control knob is adapted to regulate and stop flow of the filtered water to the second spout mounting port in the tube. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     These and other features and advantages of this invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of this invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional single spout faucet assembly; 
     FIG. 1A is an partly exploded view of a conventional two-spout faucet assembly; 
     FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the preferred embodiment of a faucet assembly of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the preferred embodiment; 
     FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the preferred embodiment taken along lines IV—IV in FIG. 3; and 
     FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment in use. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the preferred embodiment of a faucet assembly according to the present invention is shown to include a faucet body  20 , a tubular housing  30 , a hollow tube  80 , a first spout  70 , a second spout  82 , a first control knob  40  and a second control knob  310  (see FIG.  5 ). 
     As illustrated, the faucet body  20  includes an upper faucet portion  201  defining a first water passage chamber  201 C having a cold water inlet  21  adapted to be connected fluidly with a cold water supply source  100 , a hot water inlet  22  adapted to be connected fluidly with a hot water supply source  200 , and a first water outlet  23 . The faucet body  20  further includes a lower faucet portion  202  defining a second water passage chamber  202 C (see FIG. 3) that is isolated fluidly from the first water passage chamber  201 C. The second water passage chamber  202 C has an inlet (not visible) adapted to be connected fluidly with a filter device  300  (see FIG. 5) via a filter pipe  110  so as to receive filtered water therefrom, and a second water outlet  25  adapted for discharging the filtered water therefrom. 
     The housing  30  is sleeved rotatably around the faucet body  20 , and includes an upper housing portion  301  that establishes a first water-tight seal in cooperation with the upper faucet portion  201  so as to define a first annular chamber  31  therebetween in communication with the first water passage chamber  201 C via the first water outlet  23 , and that is formed with a first spout mounting port  303 . The housing  30  further has a lower housing portion  302  disposed around the lower faucet portion  202  and defining an annular tube accommodating space  32  therebetween. 
     The hollow tube  80  has an axial length and a width that are smaller than those of the tubular housing  30 , and is disposed inside the tube accommodating space  32  defined between the lower faucet portion  202  and the lower housing portion  302 . The tube  80  has a peripheral wall  81  with two opposite ends connected to the lower faucet portion  202  so as to establish a second water-tight seal and a second annular chamber  34  between the lower faucet portion  202  and the peripheral wall  81 , and between the ends of the peripheral wall  81  in the tube  80 . The second annular chamber  34  is in fluid communication with the second water passage chamber  202 C via the second water outlet  25 . The tube  80  further has a second spout mounting port  803  formed in the peripheral wall  81  and in fluid communication with the second annular chamber  34 . Preferably, two pairs of rubber rings  24  are employed to form the first and second water-tight seals. 
     The first spout  70  extends integrally, radially and outwardly from the upper housing portion  301  and is in fluid communication with the first spout mounting port  303  for guiding water outwardly from the first annular chamber  31 . Preferably, the first spout  70  has an inner end integrally connected to the periphery defining the first spout mounting port  303 . 
     The second spout  82  is operably associated with the first spout  70  so as to synchronously rotate therewith relative to the faucet body  20 . The second spout  82  extends generally parallel with the first spout  70  and through the lower housing portion  302  and connected integrally to the tube  80 . The second spout  82  is in fluid communication with the second spout mounting port  803  so as to be adapted to guide the filtered water outwardly from the second annular chamber  34 . Preferably, the second spout  82  has an inner end integrally connected to the periphery defining the second spout mounting port  803  in the tube  80 . 
     The first control knob  40  is mounted on the tubular housing  30  for selectively closing and opening the cold and hot water inlets  21 ,  22  and the first outlet  23  upon operation thereof. Preferably, the first control knob  40  includes a valve confining seat  50  fixed on the top end of the housing  30  so as to define a valve accommodating space  31 , a valve unit  400  disposed rotatably within the space  31 , and an operating lever  60  disposed over the seat  50  and operably attached to the valve unit  400 . 
     The second control knob  310  can regulate and stop flow of the filtered water to the second spout mounting port  803  in the tube  80 . In this embodiment, a rotary valve serves as the second control knob  310 . Since the structure of the rotary valve is not pertinent to the present invention, a detailed description of the same is omitted herein for the sake of brevity. 
     In this embodiment, the first spout  70  includes a spout pipe of an inverted U-shaped cross-section extending from the housing  30  generally in a horizontal direction, and defines an accommodating slot  71  therein (see FIG.  4 ). The second spout  82  has an intermediate spout body  820  (see FIG. 4) of oval-shaped cross section received in the accommodating slot  71  in the first spout  70  so as to be co-rotatable with the first spout  70 . 
     Preferably, the lower housing portion  302  in the housing  30  has a notch  33  formed in a lower end thereof and in communication with the slot  71  in the first spout  70 . Under this condition, the second spout  82  extends into the slot  71  in the first spout  70  through the notch  33  in the lower housing portion  302 . 
     A connecting pipe  120  is employed to supply cold water to the filter device  300 . 
     Since the first and second spouts  70 ,  82  are disposed in an overlapping manner, a volume-reduced sink is required to be disposed under the faucet assembly of the present invention. The object of the invention is thus met. 
     With this invention thus explained, it is apparent that numerous modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention. It is therefore intended that this invention be limited only as indicated by the appended claims.