Patent Abstract:
A shower head includes a housing supporting a low speed rotary valve member driven by a high speed rotary turbine to produce a variable flow rate. The turbine also produces pulsations of water streams discharged from the housing and is shifted axially to produce continuous water streams. A manually actuated control valve and passages with pressure responsive flow control washers provide for selecting different ranges of variable flow or for bypassing the variable flow.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a shower head with pulsation and a variable flow rate, as also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,664 which issued to Applicant and the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. In general, the shower head disclosed in the &#39;664 patent provides the option of selecting, either separately or in combination, a discharge spray with or without pulsation, a variable flow rate and an infinitely variable spray pattern. The shower head of the present invention also provides a spray pattern with or without a variable flow rate and with or without pulsation, and further provides for a simplified and compact construction. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     FIG. 1 is an axial section of a shower head constructed in accordance with the invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a radial section taken generally on the line  2 — 2  of FIG. 1; and 
     FIG. 3 is a fragmentary axial section showing a modification of the invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The components of a shower head  15 , as shown in FIG. 1, are preferably molded of a rigid plastics material. The components include a generally cylindrical housing  16  including a cup-shaped lower portion  18  and a cap-shaped upper portion  22 . The upper portion  22  has an annular neck portion  24  for receiving a part-spherical ball  26  of a tubular fitting  28  to provide a universal swivel connection between the housing  16  and the fitting  28  which connects to a water supply line. A pressure compensating flow washer  29  provides a predetermined flow rate of about 3.5 gallons per minute (GPM). 
     The housing  16  encloses a cylindrical valve body  32  defining a cross bore which receives a cylindrical valve member  34 . One end of the valve member  34  has an integral head  36 , and a knurled knob  38  is secured onto the opposite end portion of the valve member  34 . Cylindrical ports  41  and  42  extend diametrically through the center portion of the valve member  34 , and a port  43  extend diametrically through an end portion of the valve member in a direction perpendicular to the port  41 . 
     The valve body  32  has a port  46  which extends in an axial direction through the valve body and connects an inlet chamber  47  to an annular chamber  49 . The port  43  is aligned with the port  46  when the valve member  34  is rotated 90° from the position shown in FIG. 1. A pressure compensating flow control washer  50  provides a flow rate of about 2.5 GPM through the port  46 . The valve body  32  also has two ports  51  and  52  which selectively align with the ports  41  and  42  and connect the chamber  47  to a cylindrical chamber  53  within the center portion of the valve body  32 . A pressure compensating flow control washer  54  provides a flow rate of about 2.5 GPM through the port  52 . A circular valve member  55  is positioned within the chamber  52  and is eccentrically mounted on an output shaft  57  of a speed reducing drive or gearbox  60  seated within a chamber  61  of the valve body  32 . 
     The speed reducer  60  has a square or non-circular input shaft  62  which is driven by a rotary turbine wheel  65  having circumferentially spaced and upwardly projecting blades  66  and an arcuate opening  68 . Preferably, the speed reducer  60  provides a substantial reduction in speed from the input shaft  62  to the output shaft  57 , for example, a reduction of 10 to 1. Thus if the turbine wheel  65  rotates at 600 rpm, the output shaft  57  and the eccentric valve member  55  rotate at 10 rpm or one revolution every six seconds. The turbine wheel  65  is driven by water jets directed by a set of three circumferentially spaced drive ports  71  which direct pressurized water within the chamber  49  at an angle towards the blades  66  on the impeller  65 . The bottom wall of the lower housing portion  18  has circumferentially spaced sets or groups of small orifices  73  which are opened and closed in response to rotation of the turbine wheel  65  in order to produce pulsation of the discharge streams of water through the orifices, in the same manner as disclosed in the above &#39;664 patent. 
     As a result of the size and eccentric position of the rotating valve member  55 , when water flows through the ports  51  and  41 , the flow rate varies from a completely open port  51  to an almost closed position of the port  51  (FIG. 1) so that the flow rate through the ports varies between a high flow rate such as 3.5 GPM and a low flow rate such as 1.5 GPM. The water flowing past the rotary eccentric valve member  55  flows into the circular chamber  61  and outwardly through peripherally spaced ports  76  into the annular chamber  49 . During the lowest flow rate of water past the rotary valve member  55 , sufficient water flows into the chamber  49  to continue rotation of the turbine wheel  65  to maintain rotation of the turbine wheel and valve member  55  during the low flow portion of the cycle. When the knob  38  is rotated to close the port  51  and open the port  52 , the flow rate through the port  52  will vary, for example, between 2.5 GPM and 1.0 GPM to provide an average flow rate of 1.75 GPM. 
     When it is desired to bypass the variable flow rate of water through the shower head  15 , valve member  34  is rotated manually with the knob  38  until the ports  51  and  52  are closed and the port  46  is open to the flow of water through the port  43  within the valve member  34  to provide a maximum continuous flow rate of 2.5 GPM. Also, the flow rate through the port  46  may be manually adjusted or varied by rotating the knob  38  in order to select the desired flow rate of pulsating water streams from the orifices  73 . While the valve member  55  continues to rotate within the chamber  53  in response to rotation of the turbine wheel  65 , if the ports  51  and  52  are completely closed, there is no automatic cycling of the flow rate between high and low flow rates. By turning the knob  38  until the ports  46  and  51  or  52  are all partially open, the automatic variable flow rate may be infinitely changed to the selected variable flow rate desired. 
     Referring to FIG. 3, a rotary turbine wheel  65 ′ is constructed similar to the turbine wheel  65  and includes circumferentially spaced and upwardly projecting blades  66 ′ and also an upwardly projecting hub  86  defining a square or spline cavity  88  for slidably receiving the input shaft  62 ′ of the speed reducer  60 ′. The bottom wall of the lower housing portion  18 ′ includes an externally threaded boss  91  which threadably receives a control knob  92  having an upwardly projecting center stud or pin  93  with a rounded upper end surface. The bottom surface of the rotary turbine wheel  65 ′ has a center part-circular cavity  94  which receives the top end of the pin  93  to form a rotary bearing support. 
     When it is desired to provide a variable flow rate without pulsation, the control knob  92  is rotated so that the pin  93  lifts the turbine wheel  65 ′ upwardly causing the rotor hub  86 ′ to slide upwardly on the input shaft  62 ′ of the speed reducer  60 ′. When the turbine wheel  65 ′ is elevated, water flows around the turbine wheel, through the opening  68 ′ and simultaneously through all of the orifices  73 ′ so that continuous streams are discharged from the orifices while the turbine wheel  65 ′ continues to rotate. In this mode, the rotating eccentric valve member  55  produces a variable flow rate of water through the ports  71 ′ and a non-pulsating variable flow rate of water is discharged through all of the orifices  73 ′. 
     From the drawing and the above description, it is apparent that a shower head constructed in accordance with the present invention provides desirable features and advantages. As one feature, the shower head  15  not only provides for pulsation of the discharge spray streams, but also provides for automatically varying the flow rate with or without pulsation. The variable flow rate is desirable for providing a different shower sensation with maximum intensity while also saving water since the average of the variable flow rate can be made not to exceed the commonly accepted code requirement of 2.5 gallons per minute by cycling between 3.5 GPM and 1.5 GPM. If a further water saving feature is desired, the port  42  provides for cycling at a lower average flow rate such as 1.75 GPM. 
     It is also apparent that the rotary turbine wheel  65  not only functions to produce pulsation of the discharge water streams from the spray orifices  73 , but also functions to drive the eccentric valve member  55  at a substantially lower speed through the gear or speed reducing unit  60 . The control device on knob  92  also provides for variably adjusting the intensity of the pulsation by adjusting the position of the turbine wheel  65 ′ above the bottom wall of the housing portion  18 ′. In addition, the shower head has a minimum number of molded plastic components and is compact in size. 
     While the forms of shower head herein described constitute preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to these precise forms of shower head, and that changes may be made therein without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 1