Patent Publication Number: US-9901939-B2

Title: Multifunctional shower head

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a shower head, especially to a multifunctional shower head with waterway switch function. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Existing shower head with waterway switch function usually comprises a water diversion plate and a driving mechanism to drive the water diversion plate to rotate so as to implement the switch. According to different switch motion, the driving mechanism can be a button switch driving mechanism, a cover plate rotation switch driving mechanism or a swinging switch driving mechanism. Whatever driving mechanism it is, it has to overcome a bigger water pressure when the water diversion plate rotates, thus making it hard to operate. Especially for a button switch driving mechanism, it needs big pressing force, the sealing piece easily moves when the water diversion plate rotates, thus decreasing the sealing performance of the shower head and affecting the sealing effect of the shower head. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is provided with a multifunctional shower head which is easy to switch the functions, it overcomes the disadvantages of the existing known technology. The technical proposal of the present invention to solve the technical problems is that: 
     A multifunctional shower head, comprising a fixed seat, a driving mechanism, a water diversion plate rotatably connected to the fixed seat and a water diversion body disposed below the water diversion plate, the water diversion body is disposed with a plurality of water diversion holes that are used to connected to the outlet functions of the shower head, the water diversion plate is disposed with an outlet hole, the driving mechanism drives the water diversion plate to rotate with respect to the water diversion body, so that the outlet hole is alternately connected to part of the water diversion holes so as to switch the outlet functions of the shower head, wherein a sealing ring is clapped between the water diversion plate and the fixed seat, the sealing ring defines a separating area on the upper surface of the water diversion plate, each water diversion hole is disposed with an O-ring correspondingly, the bottom surface of the water diversion plate is pressed and contacted to the O-ring, therein the O-rings of the water diversion holes disconnected to the outlet holes define a non-water area on the bottom surface of the water diversion plate, the separating area has a similar area with the non-water area. 
     In another preferred embodiment, it further comprises an elastic piece that presses the water diversion plate to the O-rings tightly, the water diversion plate is further disposed with a passage running through the top and the bottom surface of the water diversion plate. 
     In another preferred embodiment, it comprises six water diversion holes that are arranged annularly and four outlet holes that are arranged annularly, two adjacent water diversion holes are spaced in 60 degrees, two adjacent outlet holes are spaced in 90 degrees; the driving mechanism is a pressing type one, the driving mechanism drives the water diversion plate to rotate in 30 degrees each time. 
     In another preferred embodiment, the six water diversion holes are divided into three groups that are respectively connected to three waterways, in these three waterways, the flow volume of one waterway is far less than the other two. 
     In another preferred embodiment, the fixed seat comprises a main body and a metal mold insert, the metal mold insert is fixedly connected to the bottom surface of the main body, the main body is disposed with an inlet waterway, the inlet waterway is integrally molded into the main body. 
     In another preferred embodiment, the driving mechanism comprises a button, a swing piece pivoted joint to the fixed seat, a ratchet, a slide piece, a ratchet wheel, a reposition piece used to drive the ratchet to reposition, and a transmission connected to the water diversion plate and the ratchet wheel; pressing the button can make the swing piece push the slide piece to slide, the slide piece drives the ratchet to push the ratchet wheel to rotate. 
     In another preferred embodiment, the driving mechanism further comprises a stop claw corresponding to the ratchet wheel, the stop claw is connected to the fixed seat. 
     In another preferred embodiment, the reposition piece is an elastic arm connected to the end portion of the ratchet, the fixed seat is disposed with a stop block corresponding to the reposition piece. 
     In another preferred embodiment, the reposition piece is a spring disposed to the fixed seat, the ratchet is disposed with a withstanding arm used to press the spring. 
     In another preferred embodiment, the reposition piece is a spring disposed to the fixed seat, the spring is connected between the slide piece and the fixed seat, the ratchet is locked catch to the slide piece. 
     Comparing to the existing known technology, the technical proposal of the present invention has advantages as follows: 
     1. the sealing ring defines a separating area on the top surface of the water diversion plate, the O-ring corresponding to the water diversion hole, which is disconnected to the outlet hole, defines a non-water area on the bottom surface of the water diversion plate, the separating area has a similar area with the non-water area, so that the area on the top surface of the water diversion plate suffers equal pressure to the area on the bottom surface, so that no pressure difference exists on the top and bottom surface of the water diversion plate, the water diversion plate needs light force of rotate, so that it is easy to switch the functions, besides, during waterway switching by the button switch mechanism, in the water flowing state, it needs light force to button switch the waterways, and the switch force of the waterways are identical. 
     2. the water diversion plate always presses the O-rings during rotating switching, so that the O-rings can&#39;t move, the water diversion holes are sealed with stability. 
     3. The shower head has six water diversion holes that are arranged annularly and four outlet holes that are arranged annularly; so that each time the water diversion plate rotates 30 degrees, two outlet holes align with the two water diversion holes, the structure is simple and skillful. 
     4. In these three waterways, the flow volume of one waterway is far less than that of the other two, so when switched to the waterway, the user can put the shower gel or shampoo to the body, after that, the user can just press the button again to switch it to the shower state, it doesn&#39;t need to close the water and adjust the water temperature again all over the process, so that it is water-saving and convenient. 
     5. The fixed seat comprises a main body and a metal mold insert, the metal mold insert is connected to the bottom surface of the main body, the metal mold insert has strong crush resistance that it can efficiently avoid deformation of the fixed seat due to water pressure. Besides, when switched to the smallest flow volume, the fixed seat suffers the maximum water pressure, but as the inlet waterway is integrally molded into one side of the main body, the fixed seat can suffer largest water pressure but avoiding leakage. 
     6. The reposition piece is applied with a spring structure that it can lengthen the service life of the button. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention will be further described with the drawings and the embodiments. 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an exploded and schematic diagram of a multifunctional shower head of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a schematic diagram of a water diversion plate of the shower head of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a schematic diagram of the water diversion plate and a water diversion body of the shower head of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a partial sectional diagram of the shower head of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 5  illustrates an enlargement diagram of A of  FIG. 4 . 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a schematic diagram of a driving mechanism of the shower head of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 7  illustrates a schematic diagram of a second kind of the driving mechanism of the shower head of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 8  illustrates a schematic diagram of a third kind of the driving mechanism of the shower head of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a multifunctional shower head of the present invention, which is easy to switch the functions. The shower head comprises a water diversion plate  20 , a fixed seat  40  disposed above the water diversion plate  20 , a water diversion body  60  below the water diversion plate  20  and a driving mechanism  80  used to drive the water diversion plate  20  to rotate. 
     The fixed seat  40  comprises a main body  42  and a metal mold insert  44 , the metal mold insert  44  is connected to the bottom surface of the main body  42 . As figured in  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5 , a water chamber  10  is defined between the water diversion plate  20  and the fixed seat  40 . The main body  42  is disposed with an inlet waterway, the inlet waterway is integrally molded into the main body  42 , the inlet waterway is connected to the water chamber  10 . The central portion of the water diversion plate  20  is disposed with a sealing ring  30 , the sealing ring is clamped between the water diversion plate  20  and the fixed seat  40 . The sealing ring  30  defines a separating area on the top surface of the water diversion plate  20 , that is to say, when water enters the water chamber  10 , with the sealing ring  30 , water can not enter the area of the water diversion plate  20  the sealing ring  30  surrounds, so that no water pressure exists in this area. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 3 , the water diversion plate  20  is disposed with four outlet holes  22  that are arranged annularly, two adjacent outlet holes  22  are spaced in 90 degrees. Therefore, the water pressure area S 1  of the top surface of the water diversion plate  20  suffering from the water chamber  10  is: the area of the top surface of the water diversion plate minuses the area the sealing ring  30  surrounds (the area of the separating area) and then minuses the total area of the four outlet holes  22 . 
     The water diversion body  60  is disposed with six water diversion holes  62  that are arranged annularly, two adjacent water diversion holes are spaced 60 degrees. Each water diversion hole  62  has an O-ring  64 , six O-rings  64  are connected together. As figured in  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5 , the water diversion plate  20  and the water diversion body  60  define a decompression cavity  50 . An elastic piece  70  presses the water diversion plate  20  onto the O-rings  64 . In the working condition, two water diversion holes  62  are connected to the two outlet holes  22 , therein, the O-rings corresponding to the four water diversion holes  62 , which is disconnected to the outlet holes  22 , define a non-water area on the bottom surface of the water diversion plate  20 . Therefore, the water pressure area S 2  of the bottom surface of the water diversion plate  20  suffering from the decompression cavity  50  is: the area of the bottom surface of the water diversion plate  20  minuses the area of the O-rings  64  corresponding to the four water diversion holes  62 , which is disconnected to the outlet holes  22 , that is to say, the non-water area, and minuses the area of the four outlet holes. The water diversion plate  20  is further disposed with four passages  24  running through the top and bottom surface of the water diversion plate. 
     As the top surface and the bottom surface of the water diversion plate have equal area, the separating area and the non-water area have similar area, that is to say, S 1 ≈S 2 , the water pressures to the top surface and the bottom surface of the water diversion plate are counteracting to each other, so that the water diversion plate  20  rotates with ease. 
     To describe the waterway switch principle conveniently, four outlet holes  22  are divided into two first outlet holes  22   a  and two second outlet holes  22   b , six water diversion hoes  62  are divided into two first water diversion holes  62   a , two second water diversion holes  62   b  and two third water diversion holes  62   c . Two first water diversion holes  62   a , two second water diversion holes  62   b , two third water diversion holes  62   c  are respectively connected to three waterways. 
     When two first outlet holes  22   a  are aligned to the two first water diversion holes  62   a , water flows to the first waterway through the first water diversion holes  62   a , at this time, the shower head outflows a little volume, the shower head is in water-stop condition; when the water diversion plate  20  rotates 30 degrees, two second outlet holes  22   b  are aligned to the two second water diversion holes  62   b , water flows to the second waterway through the second water diversion holes  62   b , at this time, the shower head outflows maximum volume, having a first spray pattern; the water diversion plate  20  continues to rotate 30 degrees, two first outlet holes  22   a  are aligned to the two third water diversion holes  62   c , water flows to the third waterway through the third water diversion holes  62   c , at this time, the shower head outflows maximum volume, having a second spray pattern; and followed by recycling. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 6 , how the driving mechanism  80  drives the water diversion plate  20  to rotate will be described hereafter: 
     The driving mechanism  80  comprises a button  81 , a swing element  82  and a ratchet  83  pivoted joint to the fixed seat  40 , a slide element  84  connected to the fixed seat  40 , a ratchet wheel  85 , a reposition element  86  to drive the ratchet  83  to reposition, a transmission  87  connected to the water diversion plate  20  and the ratchet wheel  85 , and a stop claw  88  to avoid the ratchet wheel  85  rotating reversely. The reposition element  86  is an elastic arm connected to the end portion of the ratchet  83 , the connecting position of the reposition element  86  and the ratchet  83  is pivoted joint to the fixed seat  40 , the fixed seat  40  is disposed with a stop block  46  corresponding to the reposition element  86 . The strop claw  88  is connected to the fixed seat  40 . 
     Pressing the button  81  can drive the swing element  82  to swing, and the swing element  82  then pushes the slide element  84  to slide, the slide element  84  drives the ratchet  83  to push the ratchet wheel  85  to rotate 30 degrees, with the transmission  87 , the water diversion plate  20  rotates 30 degrees synchronously with the ratchet wheel  85 , at the same time the reposition element  86  stores energy and drives the ratchet  83  to reposition. 
     Referring to  FIG. 7 , the reposition element is a spring  86   a  disposed to the fixed seat  40 , the ratchet  83  is disposed with a withstanding arm  832  used to push the spring  86   a , so that the spring  86   a  can push the withstanding arm  832  to make the ratchet  83  reposition. 
     Referring to  FIG. 8 , in another case, the reposition element is a spring  86   b  disposed in the fixed seat, the spring  86   b  is connected between the slide element  84  and the fixed seat  40 , the ratchet  83  is locked to the slide element  84 , so that the spring  86   b  can push the slide element  84  to make the ratchet  83  reposition. 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof for carrying out the patent for invention, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the patent for invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims.