Patent Publication Number: US-10314442-B2

Title: Shower curtain assembly

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
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     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
     Not Applicable 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98 
     The disclosure and prior art relates to curtain assemblies and more particularly pertains to a new curtain assembly for covering an opening of a shower enclosure. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a housing that defines an internal space. The housing is configured to couple to a substrate so that the housing is positioned proximate to an opening of a shower enclosure. A slot is positioned through a bottom of the housing. The slot extends substantially between opposing ends of the housing. At least one panel, which is flexible so that it can be rolled, is positioned in the internal space. A first end of the at least one panel is positioned through the slot. The slot is positioned to selectively extend the at least one panel from the housing to cover the opening of the shower enclosure. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is an isometric perspective view of a shower curtain assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a bottom view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a front view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a side view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is an in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 6  thereof, a new curtain assembly embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 through 6 , the shower curtain assembly  10  generally comprises a housing  12  that defines an internal space  14 . The housing  12  is configured to couple to a substrate so that the housing  12  is positioned proximate to an opening of a shower enclosure. In one embodiment, the housing  12  is substantially circularly shaped when viewed longitudinally. In another embodiment, the housing  12  is linear so that the housing  12  extends parallelly to the opening of the shower enclosure when the housing  12  is coupled to the substrate. In yet another embodiment, the housing  12  is arcuate so that the housing  12  extends distally from the opening of the shower enclosure when the housing  12  coupled to the substrate. 
     A slot  16  is positioned through a bottom  18  of the housing  12 . The slot  16  extends substantially between opposing ends  20  of the housing  12 . 
     Each of a pair of couplers  22  is coupled to a respective opposing end  20  of the housing  12 . The couplers  22  are configured to couple to the substrate to couple the housing  12  to the substrate so that the housing  12  is positioned proximate to the opening of the shower enclosure. 
     In one embodiment, each coupler  22  comprises a bar  24 , a disc  26 , and a plurality of penetrations  28 . The bar  24  is coupled to and extends linearly from a respective opposing end  20  of the housing  12 . The disc  26  is axially coupled to the bar  24  distal from the housing  12 . The penetrations  28  are positioned through the disc  26 . Each penetration  28  is configured to insert an item of mounting hardware, such as a screw, to couple the disc  26  to the substrate to couple the housing  12  to the substrate. The housing  12  is positioned proximate to the opening of the shower enclosure. In another embodiment, the plurality of penetrations  28  comprises four penetrations  28 . 
     The assembly  10  comprises at least one panel  30 . The at least one panel  30  is flexible so that the at least one panel  30  is rollable. The at least one panel  30  is positioned in the internal space  14  with a first end  32  of the at least one panel  30  positioned through the slot  16 . The slot  16  is positioned to selectively extend the at least one panel  30  from the housing  12  to cover the opening of the shower enclosure. In one embodiment, the at least one panel  30  is substantially water impermeable. 
     The at least one panel  30  comprises a plurality of sheets  34 . Adjacent sheets  34  are selectively separable along a respective perforation  36  that is positioned in the at least one panel  30 . Each sheet  34  is substantially complementary to the opening of the shower enclosure. The slot  16  is positioned to selectively extend a respective sheet  34  from the housing  12  to cover the opening of the shower enclosure. The respective sheet  34  is selectively separable along an associated perforation  36  from the adjacent sheet  34 . The adjacent sheet  34  then is positioned to be extended from the housing  12  to sequentially cover the opening of the shower enclosure. 
     In one embodiment, a plurality of holes  38  is positioned through a front  40  of the housing  12 . In this embodiment, the assembly  10  comprises a plurality of hooks  42  and a rod  44 . Each hook  42  has a first terminus  46  that is complementary to a respective hole  38 . The holes  38  are positioned in the housing  12  so that each hole  38  is positioned to insert the first terminus  46  of a respective hook  42  to couple the hooks  42  to the housing  12 . The rod  44  is complementary to the plurality of hooks  42 . The hooks  42  are positioned to couple to the rod  44  to couple the rod  44  to the housing  12 . The rod  44  is configured to support a covering, such as a decorative curtain, to shield the housing  12 . In another embodiment, the plurality of holes  38  comprises two holes  38  that are positioned singly proximate to the opposing ends  20  of the housing  12 . 
     In use, the penetrations  28  are positioned through the disc  26  so that each penetration  28  is configured to insert the item of mounting hardware, such as the screw, to couple the disc  26  to the substrate to couple the housing  12  to the substrate. The housing  12  is positioned proximate to the opening of the shower enclosure. The slot  16  that is positioned in the housing  12  is positioned to selectively extend the respective sheet  34  from the housing  12  to cover the opening of the shower enclosure. The respective sheet  34  is selectively separable along the associated perforation  36  from the adjacent sheet  34 . The adjacent sheet  34  then is positioned to be extended from the housing  12  to sequentially cover the opening of the shower enclosure. The hooks  42  that are positioned on the housing  12  are positioned to couple to the rod  44  to couple the rod  44  to the housing  12 . The rod  44  is configured to support the covering, such as the decorative curtain, to shield the housing  12 . 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.