Patent Publication Number: US-2006010784-A1

Title: Wall water panel

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
      The present invention relates to a water field box to be hidden in wall and, more particularly, to a water field box to be hidden in wall including a case having a flexible hose for connecting a soft duct and a water field inside, and a plate for opening/closing the case; wherein the flexible hose is coupled to the soft duct protected by a flexible (bellow) pipe through a socket having different diameters at one end and also coupled to the water field at the other end, the opening/closing plate has a frictional protrusion and a hole for repairing the plate, and a flange member around outline of the hole to be opened/closed by an opening plate, the socket having different diameters is for inserting and fitting a connection pipe of the water field and coupled to the opening plate through a port for inserting the socket and a threshold, both being formed on a part of the opening plate, and, at the same time, coupled and integrated with the flexible hose.  
     BACKGROUND ART  
      Generally, when new buildings such as house or apartment are constructed or old buildings are under extension working, cold/hot water pipes from outdoor are guided into a distribution device installed at bottom side of a sink, or in a built-in chest of drawers or dress-room or the like, which is, in turn, connected to each of places requiring the water such as toilet, bathroom, boiler room and/or multi-purpose place.  
      Herein, in consideration of a cold/hot water pipeline leading to each of the places in demand from the distribution device, a pipe passes through inside of a Zebra-type pipe protection housing with a bent member on outer side thereof and through the floor of a room or a living room as encased by the housing, then goes to a toilet or a bathroom, by connecting each of the water field boxes mounted at an entrance of each room by means of connection pipes in order to supply cold/hot water to the bathtub, the washstand, the toilet bowel and so on.  
      Such conventional way to bury the water field box into floor has a difficulty to repair the water field box, more particularly, involves disadvantages that it is difficult to visibly monitor the cold/hot water pipeline or the water field box hidden in the floor when there is a damage and/or a water leakage of the cold/hot water pipeline or the water field box, then it should require to dig out and excavate the floor and loot into the pipeline or the box in detail and, after completing the examination, the pipeline or the box must be buried again in the floor.  
      Therefore, it is recently proposed a method that directly encloses the water field box in a wall adjacent to a desired place such as the toilet or the bathroom, instead of the conventional method for hiding the water field box in the floor or ground.  
      However, the water field box directly encased in the wall has the cold/hot water pipeline passing through inner space thereof and a connection pipeline between a multiple water field boxes which are made of metal or synthetic resin and comprises a general form of several pipes, and the pipes are individually separated when it requires examination of the interior condition of the water field box or repair work thereof, then, after finishing the work, are combined together in the reverse order.  
      Accordingly, such water field box has drawbacks such as inconvenience for working and long time required and needs a complicated procedure of decomposing the water field box during the working process and of combining again in the reverse order.  
     DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to a water field box to be hidden in wall including a case having a flexible hose for connecting a soft duct and a water field inside, and a plate for opening/closing the case (abbreviated to “the opening/closing plate”); wherein the flexible hose is coupled to the soft duct protected by a flexible bellow pipe through a socket having different diameters at one end and also coupled to the water field at the other end, the opening/closing plate has a frictional protrusion and a hole for repairing the plate (abbreviated to “the repair hole”), and a flange member around outline of the hole to be opened/closed by an opening plate, the socket having different diameters is for inserting and fitting a connection pipe of the water field and coupled to the opening plate through a socket inserting port and a threshold, both being formed on a part of the opening plate, and, at the same time, coupled and integrated with the flexible hose. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The above object, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the related art from the following detailed description for preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing,  
       FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view illustrating a water field box to be hidden in a wall according to the present invention;  
       FIG. 2  is a side cross-section illustrating the water field box of the present invention;  
       FIG. 3   a  is an enlarged view illustrating ‘A’ portion of  FIG. 2 ;  
       FIG. 3   b  shows an alternative example of flexible hose mounted on the water field box according to the present invention;  
       FIG. 4  is a view illustrating connection state of a socket having different diameters mounted on the water field box according to the present invention; and  
       FIG. 5  is a view illustrating usage of the water field box according to the present invention. 
    
    
     BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION  
      The present invention will be described in more detail be reference to the following embodiments which are presented for purpose of illustration and should not be construed to limit the scope of the invention thereto.  
       FIG. 1  represents an exploded perspective view of the water field box to be hidden in the wall according to the present invention and  FIG. 2  shows a side cross-sectional view of the box in an assembly form.  
      Referring to Figures, it would be identified that the water field box  1  according to the present invention comprises a case  2  built with a flexible hose  9  and an opening/closing plate  12  to open/close the hose.  
      The flexible hose  9  is jointed to a soft duct  34  as a cold/hot water pipeline at one end thereof and coupled with front end of a flexible bellow pipe  8  enclosing the soft duct for protection thereof through a socket having different diameters  6  and nuts  5  and  7 .  
      Around front outer edge of the case  2 , formed are a corner member  3  and several, preferably, four elliptical slots  4  inside the corner member  3  to connect the removable opening/closing plate  12 .  
      Thus, by fitting a fixture  18  through a mounting hole  17  formed on the corner member of the plate  12 , the plate  12  is fixed and connected to the case  2 . The slots  4  guide a correct point for fixing position to be mounted and a complete connection between the case  2  and the plate  12 .  
      The opening/closing plate  12  is generally made of synthetic resin or metal material, outer surface of which has a plurality of frictional protrusions  19  suitable for applying mortar or tile and inner side of which comprises a repair hole  13  having a desirable dimension such that allows a hand of a user to enter into the repair hole.  
      Such repair hole  13  is typically formed by cutting out a portion of the plate  12  to obtain a flange member  14  and protruding the flange member  14  outside and is in various forms including, but not limited to, elliptical, rectangular, hexagonal forms and the like. The repair hole is more preferably elliptical in view of appearance and available use.  
      Additionally, the repair hole  13  of the plate  12  is equipped with alternative opening plate  21  for closing the repair hole  13 , which is a little larger than the plate  12  to cover the edge member of the plate  12  when the opening plate  21  closes the plate  12 .  
      On a portion of the opening plate  21 , formed is a port  23  for inserting the socket  22  (abbreviated to “the socket inserting port”). Around outer edge of the port  23  a threshold  24  in a protrusion form is formed to be securely coupled and mounted to a connector  11  of the flexible hose  9  through nuts  10  and  20  when the socket  22  is fitted into the opening plate  21 . (See  FIG. 4  described below).  
      Further, a mounting hole  16  on bottom portion of the flange member  14  of the opening/closing plate  12  and another mounting hole  25  on bottom portion of the opening plate  21  are faced each other then receive the fixture  26 . Thereafter, near a further mounting hole  15  on the flange member  14  of the opening/closing plate  12 , matched are both elliptical slots  25 ′ formed on right and left top portions of the opening plate  21 . Finally, after setting up an exact position for the opening plate  21  by using the elliptical slots  25 ′, the opening plate  21  is attached and mounted on the flange member  14  of the opening/closing plate  12  by another fixture  26 ′.  
      Herein, since the elliptical slots  25 ′ formed on the right and the left top portions of the opening plate  21  are elliptical and in the elongated slit forms instead of a simple opening structure, after slightly moving the opening plate  21  to the right or left directions to set a fixing point for the exact position as the mounting holes  16  and  25  are assembled together by the fixture  26 , a complete assembly is established by fitting the fixture  26 ′ into the elliptical slots  25 ′. In addition to, finishing caps  27  and  27 ′ are further fitted into the elliptical slots  25 ′ to give a better appearance thereof.  
      Next, after fitting a connection pipe  29  having a cover  28  into the socket  22  to connect together, a water field  33  is coupled to the connection pipe thereby to complete the water field box  1  having the water field  33  hidden in the wall according to the present invention.  
      Referring to  FIG. 2 , the water field box  1  hidden in the wall according to the present invention is installed inside the wall  30 , and comprises a soft duct  34  coming from lower portion through the flexible hose  9  having improved flexibility and bending ability and connected to the water field  33  outside the water field box  1 , in replace of typical rigid pipe type boxes made of metal or synthetic material.  
      The soft duct  34  is the cold/hot water pipeline inflowing from the outside and connected to a distribution device mounted on a revetment of a house and/or inside a laminated wall of a building, etc. and outer portion of the soft duct  34  is surrounded by the bellow pipe  8  and inflowing into the water field box  1  through the floor or the wall. The flexible hose  9  is coupled to the opening plate  21  at outlet thereof and connected to the water field  33  to finally receive the cold/hot water.  
      As described above, the opening plate  21  is fixed and coupled to the flange member  14  of the opening/closing plate  12 . As the water field box  1  of the present invention is constructed, the opening/closing plate  12  is firstly jointed to the case  2  by the fixture  18  and top side of the opening/closing plate  12  is applied by mortar  31  then covered with tiles  32 . Next, the opening plate  21  is coupled to the prepared plate  12  to complete the water field box assembly  1 .  
      Herein, on the top side of the opening/closing plate  12 , formed are a preferable number of frictional protrusions  19  having desired dimension sufficient to prevent the mortar  31  coating the opening/closing plate  12  from sliding and/or moving and to obtain a complete adhesion efficiency.  
      Alternatively, the outer side of the water field box  1  can be finished by using the mortar  31  without the tiles  32 . In this case, it is better to work the finishing process after completely assembling the opening/closing plate  12  and the opening plate  21  into the case  2 .  
       FIG. 3   a  is an enlarged view of ‘A’ portion in  FIG. 2  and represents that the flexible hose  9  is securely coupled with the socket  22  fitted into the opening plate  21  at the outlet thereof through the connector  11 .  
      As shown in Figures, the front end of the connector  11  is engaged in the socket  22  and coupled by the nut  10  and the socket  22  is also coupled to the opening plate  21  through the nut  20  within the flange member  14 .  
      In addition to, inside one part of the opening plate  21  faced to the flange member  14  of the opening/closing plate  12 , located is a packing member  35  made of such as rubber material to greatly increase coupling strength of the opening plate  21  to the flange  14  as possible.  
      Returning to  FIG. 3   a , the flexible hose  9  of the present invention has a general form of the hose, which comprises an outer surface  37  having improved flexibility and bending ability and covered with specific stainless yarns  36  and a coil spring  38  inside to prevent the hose from being bent.  
       FIG. 3   b  illustrates alternative example of the flexible hose mounted on the water field box according to the present invention, which comprises a coil spring  38 ′ on outer side of the flexible hose  9 ′ already covered by the stainless yarns  36 ′, compared to the above example of  FIG. 3   a.    
       FIG. 4  illustrates the water field box  1  of the present invention connected with the socket  22 .  
      Such socket  22  is a coupler including a main body and two circular portions having larger and smaller  40  and  39 . The socket  22  has a hook groove  42  at a part of top edge  41  thereof.  
      Therefore, the hook groove  42  of the socket  22  is engaged with the threshold  24  formed around the socket inserting port  23  of the opening plate  21 . When the larger circular portion  40  of the socket  22  is coupled with the connector  11  of the flexible hose  9  as it is fitted into the socket inserting port  23 , the larger circular portion  40  is fixed to rear side of the opening plate  21  by the nut  20  and, the nut  10  across the flexible hose  9  is fitted into the smaller circular portion  39  of the socket  22  as the front end of the connector  11  of the flexible hose  9  is faced to the smaller circular portion  39  of the socket  22 .  
      As a result, the flexible hose  9  can be rigidly engaged with the socket  22  when the larger circular portion  40  of the socket  22  is fitted into the socket inserting port  23  of the opening plate  21 . More particularly, since the threshold  24  is fitted into the hook groove ( 42 ) of the socket  22 , it is possible to prevent the socket  22  from undesirably moving or idling and to attain a complete connection between the socket  22  and the water field when the connection pipe ( 29 ) is fitted and coupled to the socket  22  to joint the water field  33  to the socket  22 .  
      As described above, the water field box  1  according to the present invention comprises the case  2  built with the flexible hose  9  to joint the soft duct  34  and the water field  33  and the opening/closing plate  12  to open/close the hose; wherein the opening/closing plate  12  is formed with the repair hole  13  to allow opening/closing the plate  12  by the opening plate  21  having the socket having different diameters  22  coupled with the front end of the flexible hose  9 , whereby the water field box  1  of the present invention accomplishes a convenience of repairing work for the water field box  1  that it requires only the opening plate  21  to be opened, without a need of fully opening the opening/closing plate  12 .  
      The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of this invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. Obvious modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teaching. All such modifications and variations are within the scope of the present invention as determined by the appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are fairly, legally, and equitably entitled.  
     INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY  
      Further, the present invention has advantages that the worker can directly monitor interior condition of the water field box  1  during the work and, when the flexible hose should be repaired or the soft duct  34  in the bellow pipe  8 , as the cold/hot water pipeline, should be replaced by a new one, the repair and/or the replacement work can be conveniently conducted by firstly releasing a coupled part located in the distribution device side, then, putting a hand into the repair hole  13  and pulling the flexible hose  9  to easily draw the flexible hose  9  and/or the soft duct  34  out from the water field box  1 .  
      Alternatively, referring to  FIG. 5  which represents the usage of the water field box  1  to be hidden in the wall according to the present invention, the bellow pipe  8  enclosing the soft duct  34  as the cold/hot water pipeline to protect it is connected to the water field box  1  through the floor and the wall  30  in the distribution device side and, outside the water field box  1 , the water field  33  such as water tap is jointed to conveniently use the water field box  1 .