Patent Description:
In the principle of an existing mobile showerhead holder, a friction block is generally arranged on the moving base, and the friction block may be attached to or detached from the lifting rail to achieve the effect of fixing or moving. The attachment of the mobile showerhead holder of this kind is usually realized by a force exerted by a spring. When moving is required, a user presses the button in the extending direction of the spring, so that the friction block overcomes the elastic force of the spring and releases the lifting rail. When the mobile showerhead holder with this structure is used, the user's force application direction is generally lateral, that is, the user's hand action applies the force towards the left or right side. When the elastic force of the spring is large, the user needs to apply a large force, which may cause the lifting rail to deform. Further, in order to conveniently apply a force, while the thumb is pressing the button, the user needs to hold other portions of the holder with the other fingers. In addition, the position of the holder needs to be adjusted with the assistance of the other hand, which makes it difficult for the user to adjust the position of the holder when the user is holding something in his/her hand.

It is known from <CIT> a slide seat on a lifting guide rod wherein a control sway rod enables, when pushed upwards, to press a moveable piece to separate a hold tight piece from the lifting guide rod. When pushed downwards, the control sway rod maintains the moveable piece with minimal deviation. Two opposite actions are required to release the slide seat and move it down, which is counterintuitive and non-convenient.

It is known from <CIT> a movable support seat with two moveable paws engaged with a post thanks to a resilient element. The moveable paws have pressing portions to manually disengage with the post. This also requires different actions to release and move the support seat and isn't convenient.

The objective of the disclosure is to overcome the above-mentioned defects or problems in the BACKGROUND section, so the disclosure provides a vertical rail slider and a mobile showerhead holder, and according to the mobile showerhead holderthrough cooperation of inclined surfaces of a rotation piece and an abutting piece, when a user toggles the rotation piece, the abutting piece is moved away from a vertical rail, the holder is released from a state of being attached to the vertical rail, the force of the user to toggle the rotation piece accordingly pushes the holder up or down, and such operation is more convenient than that of an existing holder.

To accomplish the foregoing objective, the following technical solutions are adopted by the disclosure.

The disclosure provides a vertical rail slider configured to be attached to or detached from a vertical rail to be fixed to or to move relative to the vertical rail, and the vertical rail slider includes a body, a rotation piece, an abutting piece, and an elastic piece. The body is provided with a sleeve portion configured to be sleeved on and fitted with the vertical rail. The rotation piece is rotatably connected to the body around a rotation axis perpendicular to an axial direction of the vertical rail. The abutting piece slides along a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis in a radial direction of the vertical rail relative to the body and is adapted to abut against the vertical rail to be fitted with the sleeve portion to be attached to the vertical rail. Two ends of the elastic piece respectively abut against the abutting piece and the body to push the abutting piece to abut against the vertical rail. The rotation piece is configured to be adapted to be fitted with the abutting piece through fitting of the inclined surfaces to drive the abutting piece away from the vertical rail through rotation.

Further, the abutting piece is provided with an abutting portion to be fitted with the rotation piecethrough fitting of the inclined surfaces, and the abutting portion is provided with a first abutting surface and a second abutting surface which are arranged in the axial direction of the vertical rail and are inclined surfaces or arc surfaces.

Further, the rotation piece includes an abutting buckle, the abutting buckle is provided with an overlapping portion overlapping with the abutting portion in the radial direction of the vertical rail, and the overlapping portion obliquely abuts against the first abutting surface or the second abutting surface when the rotation piece rotates.

Further, the abutting buckle is provided with a first elastic arm and a second elastic arm. The first elastic arm and the second elastic arm respectively abut against the first abutting surface and the second abutting surface when the rotation piece is located at a first rotation position. The abutting piece is driven by the elastic piece to abut against the vertical rail when the rotation piece is located at the first rotation position.

Further, the rotation piece further includes a rotation base. The rotation base is provided with a toggle portion and a transition portion. The transition portion is rotatably connected to the body and is provided with an abutting buckle installation groove. The abutting buckle is provided with a clamping portion suitable for being inserted into and fitted with the abutting buckle installation groove. The toggle portion is adapted to receive a force to drive the rotation piece to rotate relative to the body.

Further, the body is provided with a sliding buckle extending along a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis in the radial direction of the vertical rail. The abutting piece is provided with a clamping slot, and two ends of the abutting piece in the direction of the rotation axis are provided with the abutting portion. The sliding buckle is configured to be suitable for being inserted into the clamping slot and clamped to and fitted with the abutting piece. The abutting piece is configured to be adapted to slide in an extending direction of the sliding buckle and is limited by the sliding buckle to prevent the abutting piece from being detached from the body.

Further, the abutting piece includes an abutting base and an abutting block. The abutting base is slidably connected to the body and is provided with the clamping slot. The abutting block is fixedly connected to the abutting base and is configured to be adapted to abut against the vertical rail.

Further, the body includes an inner frame, a fixed frame, and an outer casing. The inner frame is fixedly connected to the outer casing and is rotatably connected to the rotation piece. The fixed frame is fixedly connected to the inner frame and is provided with the sliding buckle. The outer casing is provided with the sleeve portion.

Further, the rotation piece is provided with two transition portions in the extending direction of the rotation axis, and the two transition portions are rotatably connected to two ends of the inner frame respectively and are located at two ends of the outer casing respectively.

The disclosure further provides a mobile showerhead holder including the vertical rail slider according to any one of the above and a showerhead bracket. The showerhead bracket is fixedly connected to the body of the vertical rail slider.

Based on the above description of the disclosure, the disclosure exhibits the following beneficial effects compared to the related art.

To make the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the disclosure more clearly illustrated, several accompanying drawings required by the embodiments for description are briefly introduced as follows. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the disclosure, and for a person having ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without inventive effort.

<NUM> showerhead base, <NUM> friction pad, <NUM> washer, <NUM> screw, <NUM> showerhead inserting portion, <NUM> inner frame, <NUM> annular clamping grooves, <NUM> anti-rotation groove, <NUM> arc-shaped opening, <NUM> fixed frame, <NUM> sliding buckle, <NUM> elastic piece sleeving post, <NUM> sliding groove, <NUM> position-limiting groove, <NUM> abutting base, <NUM> abutting portion, <NUM> first abutting surface, <NUM> second abutting surface, <NUM> clamping slots, <NUM> abutting block mounting groove, <NUM> abutting block, <NUM> abutting block buckle, <NUM> abutting block frictional surface, <NUM> elastic piece, <NUM> abutting buckle, <NUM> clamping portion, <NUM> overlapping portion, <NUM> first elastic arm, <NUM> second elastic arm, <NUM> rotation base, <NUM> toggle portion, <NUM> transition portion, <NUM> clamping ring, <NUM> abutting buckle installation groove, <NUM> outer casing, <NUM> sleeve, <NUM> sleeve portion, <NUM> decorative cover.

The accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the disclosure are included to provide a clear and complete description of the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments are preferred embodiments of the disclosure, and should not be regarded as exclusion of other embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art without making any inventive effort fall within the scope that the disclosure seeks to protect.

Unless otherwise clearly defined in the claims, specification, and the above-mentioned drawings of the disclosure, the terms "first", "second", or "third" and so on are used to distinguish different objects, not used to describe a specific order.

Unless otherwise clearly defined in the claims, specification, and the above-mentioned drawings of the disclosure, for location words, such as the use of the terms "center", "transverse", "perpendicular", "horizontal", "vertical", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", and other indication orientations or positional relationships are based on the orientations and positional relationships shown in the drawings, are provided to facilitate the description of the disclosure and simplify the description, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the indicated device or element must have a specific orientation or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, so cannot be understood as limiting the specific protection scope of the disclosure.

In the claims, the description and the drawings of the disclosure, unless otherwise explicitly defined, if the term "fixed connection" or "fixedly connected" is used, it should be understood in a broad sense, that is, any connection method without displacement relationship and relative rotation relationship between the two, that is, including non-removable fixed connection, removably fixed connection, connected as a whole, and fixed connection through other devices or components.

In the claims, specification, and the above-mentioned drawings of the disclosure, if the words "include", "have", and variations thereof are used, it is intended to indicate "include but not be limited to".

In the claims, specification, and the above-mentioned drawings of the disclosure, if the term "fitting of the inclined surfaces " is used, it is intended to indicate that the two objects forming the fitting of the inclined surfaces have a tendency of obliquely urging against each other. By way of fitting of the inclined surfaces, movement of one object in one direction could be converted into movement of the other object in another direction.

With reference to <FIG> is an explosive view illustrating a structure of a mobile showerhead holder according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The mobile showerhead holder mainly includes a showerhead bracket, a body, an abutting piece, a rotation piece, and an elastic piece <NUM>. The body, the abutting piece, the rotation piece, and the elastic piece <NUM> are fitted with one another to form a vertical rail slider capable of allowing the mobile showerhead holder to be fixed to or to move relative to a vertical rail fixed onto a wall through being attached to or being detached from the vertical rail.

Herein, an extending direction of the vertical rail, that is, its axial direction is defined as a first direction. In this embodiment, the vertical rail is vertically arranged, and the first direction is a vertical direction. The vertical rail also has a radial direction, which is a horizontal direction. The rotation piece rotates around a horizontally extending rotation axis, and an extending direction of the rotation axis is a second direction. The abutting piece slides along a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis in the horizontal direction, and a sliding direction of the abutting piece is a third direction.

Herein, the body includes an inner frame <NUM>, a fixed frame <NUM>, an outer casing <NUM>, and a sleeve <NUM>.

With reference to <FIG>, the inner frame <NUM> may be treated as a cylindrical member extending in the second direction, one end thereof in the second direction is used for being connected to the showerhead bracket, and an opening of the other end is used for installation of the abutting piece and the elastic piece <NUM>. An outer wall of the inner frame <NUM> is provided with annular clamping grooves <NUM> at positions close to both ends, and the annular clamping grooves <NUM> are used for forming a rotating connection and being fitted with the rotating member. The inner frame <NUM> is provided with an arc-shaped opening <NUM> on one side in the radial direction. The opening of the arc-shaped opening <NUM> faces the third direction and faces the vertical rail when the holder is installed on the vertical rail. The arc-shaped opening <NUM> is used for the abutting piece to protrude out of the inner frame <NUM>. Besides, a slot is provided on the other side of the inner frame <NUM> opposite to the arc-shaped opening <NUM>, and the slot extends in the second direction and is used for installation of the fixed frame <NUM>. The outer wall of the inner frame <NUM> is further provided with an anti-rotation groove <NUM> extending in the axial direction, and the anti-rotation groove <NUM> may be fitted with the outer casing <NUM> to prevent the inner frame <NUM> from rotating relative to the outer casing <NUM> around its axial direction.

With reference to <FIG>, the fixed frame <NUM> is provided with a sliding groove <NUM> extending in the second direction, and the abutting piece is installed in the sliding groove <NUM> and may slide in the sliding groove <NUM> in the third direction. Position-limiting plates are provided at both ends of the sliding groove <NUM> in the second direction. Two position-limiting plates are provided at the same end position, and a position-limiting groove <NUM> is formed between the two position-limiting plates. The position-limiting groove <NUM> may be fitted with the abutting piece to limit the sliding direction of the abutting piece and prevent the abutting piece from offsetting. A plurality of sliding buckles <NUM> are provided on upper edges of groove walls on both sides of the sliding groove <NUM>. The sliding buckles <NUM> extend in the third direction and are provided with buckle structures. An elastic piece sleeving post <NUM> is disposed in the sliding groove <NUM> near one side of the groove wall. When the elastic piece <NUM> is a spring, the elastic piece <NUM> may be sleeved on the elastic piece sleeving post <NUM> to prevent the elastic piece <NUM> from being displaced.

With reference to <FIG> and <FIG>, the outer casing <NUM> may be regarded as being formed by joining together two tubular members extending in the second direction and the first direction respectively, and joint positions of the two tubular members communicate with each other, so that inner cavities of the two tubular members fitted with each other and together form a cavity of the outer casing <NUM>. The sleeve <NUM> is installed in the tubular member of the outer casing <NUM> extending in the first direction, and the sleeve <NUM> may be made of a material with a high friction coefficient such as rubber. A portion enclosed in a center of the sleeve <NUM> forms a sleeve portion <NUM>, and the vertical rail may be inserted into the sleeve portion <NUM>. It should be noted that an opening is provided in a side wall at a middle position of the sleeve <NUM>. The opening is used for allowing the abutting piece to protrude into the sleeve portion <NUM>, so that the abutting piece is allowed to abut against the vertical rail and be fitted with the inner wall of the sleeve portion <NUM> to be attached to the vertical rail, and the holder is thereby fixed onto the vertical rail.

In addition, the outer casing <NUM> is provided with an anti-rotation rib which is matched with the anti-rotation groove <NUM> of the inner frame <NUM>, and the anti-rotation rib may be inserted into the anti-rotation groove <NUM> to prevent the inner frame <NUM> from rotating relative to the outer casing <NUM> in the second direction.

With reference to <FIG> and <FIG>, the abutting piece includes an abutting base <NUM> and an abutting block <NUM>.

The abutting base <NUM> is provided with clamping slots <NUM> corresponding to the sliding buckles <NUM> on the fixed frame <NUM> one-to-one. The sliding buckles <NUM> may be inserted into the clamping slots <NUM> and clamped to and fitted with the abutting base <NUM> through the buckle structures thereon. Since each sliding buckle <NUM> itself has a certain length, the abutting base <NUM> may slide in the extending direction of the sliding buckles <NUM>. Further, the ends of the sliding buckles <NUM> are clamped to the abutting base <NUM>, the abutting base <NUM> may not be separated from the fixed frame <NUM>. An abutting block mounting groove <NUM> is provided in the middle of the abutting base <NUM>. The elastic piece <NUM> is installed between the abutting base <NUM> and the fixed frame <NUM> and is used for applying a force to the abutting base <NUM> to keep the abutting piece in a state of abutting against the vertical rail when no external force is applied.

With reference to <FIG>, each of two ends of the abutting base <NUM> in the second direction is provided with an abutting portion <NUM> for being fitted with the rotation piece through fitting of the inclined surfaces. The abutting portion <NUM> is provided with a first abutting surface <NUM> and a second abutting surface <NUM> whose ends are connected to each other in the first direction. The first abutting surface <NUM> and the second abutting surface <NUM> are fitted with other to form a "V"-shaped structure, and the opening of this "V"-shaped structure faces the third direction. In this embodiment, the first abutting surface <NUM> and the second abutting surface <NUM> are inclined surfaces, but in other embodiments, the first abutting surface <NUM> and the second abutting surface <NUM> may be arc surfaces. In addition, the two side walls of the abutting portion <NUM> in the first direction may also be fitted with the position-limiting groove <NUM> on the fixed frame <NUM>, so that the sliding of the abutting base <NUM> in the third direction is further limited.

The abutting block <NUM> is provided with an abutting block buckle <NUM>, and the abutting block buckle <NUM> may be inserted into the abutting block mounting groove <NUM> on the abutting base <NUM> and is clamped and fixed to the abutting base <NUM>. The abutting block <NUM> is provided with an abutting block frictional surface <NUM> facing the vertical rail. The abutting block frictional surface <NUM> may be made of materials such as rubber, so that a large frictional force may be formed between the abutting block frictional surface <NUM> and the vertical rail to ensure a sufficient attachment force to the vertical rail.

With reference to <FIG> and <FIG>, the rotation piece is configured to be adapted to be fitted with the abutting piece through fitting of the inclined surfaces to drive the abutting piece away from the vertical rail through rotation, and the rotation piece includes a rotation base <NUM> and an abutting buckle <NUM>.

The rotation base <NUM> is provided with a toggle portion <NUM> and two transition portions <NUM>. The transition portions <NUM> are disposed on one side of the toggle portion <NUM> and are located at two ends of the toggle portion <NUM> in the second direction. The toggle portion <NUM> is a plate-shaped member, and a user may push the toggle portion <NUM> by hand, so that the toggle portion <NUM> is inclined upwards or downwards in the first direction, thereby driving the entire rotation piece to rotate relative to the body. When the rotation piece is at a first rotation position, the toggle portion <NUM> is at a horizontal position. The first rotation position herein refers to the position at which the rotation piece is not being toggled. Through the arrangement of the toggle portion <NUM>, a force bearing area of the rotation base <NUM> may be increased when the user uses the holder. In this way, it is convenient for the user to adjust the up and down movement of the holder through a single finger, multiple fingers, the back of the hand, or other force application points on user's body, so that the holder may be suitable for the disabled, the elderly, children, and other groups with less mobility.

The transition portion <NUM> is a circular ring structure, and a clamping ring <NUM> extending in a circumferential direction of an inner wall of the transition portion <NUM> protrudes from the inner wall. The clamping ring <NUM> may be fitted with the annular clamping groove <NUM> on the outer wall of the inner frame <NUM>, so that the rotation base <NUM> may be rotatably connected onto the inner frame <NUM>, and that the rotation piece may rotate relative to the body. The inner wall of the transition portion <NUM> is further provided with an abutting buckle installation groove <NUM>. With reference to <FIG>, the abutting buckle installation groove <NUM> is a groove-like structure with a "T"-shaped cross section, which may be clamped to, fitted with, and fixed to the abutting buckle <NUM>.

Referring to <FIG>, one end of the abutting buckle <NUM> is provided with a clamping portion <NUM>. The cross section of the clamping portion <NUM> forms a "T"-shaped structure, so that the clamping portion <NUM> may be inserted into the abutting buckle installation groove <NUM> from the side, and that the abutting buckle <NUM> and the rotation base <NUM> are clamped and fixed. An overlapping portion <NUM> protruding towards the second direction is provided at the other end of the abutting buckle <NUM>. The overlapping portion <NUM> is provided with a tip end whose tip is facing the clamping portion <NUM>, and two sides of the tip end extend outwards to form a first elastic arm <NUM> and a second elastic arm <NUM>. With reference to <FIG> and <FIG>, the overlapping portion <NUM> may be fitted with the abutting portion <NUM> of the abutting base <NUM> in an overlapping manner, and an overlapping direction of the overlapping portion <NUM> faces the position where the toggle portion <NUM> is located. Further, with reference to <FIG>, the cross-sectional view on the right side in <FIG> is a schematic view of a cross section B-B on the left side. When the rotation piece rotates upwards or downwards from the first rotation position, the rotation base <NUM> drives the abutting buckle <NUM> to rotate relative to the body and makes the tip end of the overlapping portion <NUM> abut against the first abutting surface <NUM> or the second abutting surface <NUM>. In this way, the abutting piece is driven to against an elastic force of the elastic piece <NUM> and slide towards the position where the fixed frame <NUM> is located, so that the holder is released from the state of being attached to the vertical rail.

It should be noted that, with reference to <FIG>, when the rotation piece is in the first rotation position, the tip end of the overlapping portion <NUM> is just between the first abutting surface <NUM> and the second abutting surface <NUM>. Herein, the first elastic arm <NUM> and the second elastic arm <NUM> respectively abut against the first abutting surface <NUM> and the second abutting surface <NUM>. The abutting piece may be in a relatively stable state through the first elastic arm <NUM> and the second elastic arm <NUM>, and the abutting piece thus is prevented from shaking. In addition, protrusions are provided at the ends of the first elastic arm <NUM> and the second elastic arm <NUM>, and the protrusions may increase the degree of deformation of the first elastic arm <NUM> and the second elastic arm <NUM>, so that the force exerted on the abutting piece is increased, and stability of the abutting piece is further improved.

Besides, the showerhead bracket includes a showerhead base <NUM>, a friction pad <NUM>, a washer <NUM>, and a screw <NUM>.

The showerhead base <NUM> is provided with a showerhead inserting portion <NUM>, and a showerhead may be inserted into the showerhead inserting portion <NUM> to be fixed. The showerhead base <NUM> is fixed onto the inner frame <NUM> by the screw <NUM>, so as to form a fixed connection with the body of the holder. With reference to <FIG>, the friction pad <NUM> is installed between the showerhead base <NUM> and the inner frame <NUM>, and the washer <NUM> is installed between the screw <NUM> and the inner frame <NUM>.

During installation, the showerhead base <NUM> is installed onto the inner frame <NUM> first. Next, one abutting buckle <NUM> is installed on the abutting buckle installation groove <NUM> on the side of the rotating base <NUM> close to the showerhead base <NUM>, and after the rotation base <NUM> is sleeved on the outer casing <NUM>, the inner frame <NUM> and the showerhead base <NUM> are then inserted into the outer casing <NUM> from the end of the rotation base <NUM> away from the showerhead base <NUM>. After that, the abutting piece, the elastic piece <NUM>, and the fixed frame <NUM> are assembled and are inserted into the outer casing <NUM>, and the abutting base <NUM> on the abutting piece is aligned with the arc-shaped opening <NUM> on the inner frame <NUM>. Next, another abutting buckle <NUM> is installed on the abutting buckle installation groove <NUM> on the other side of the rotation base <NUM>, and a decorative cover <NUM> is then clamped to the transition portion <NUM> of the rotation base <NUM>. Finally, the sleeve <NUM> is installed on the outer casing <NUM>.

In use, with reference to <FIG>, the illustration in the middle position is a schematic view of the rotation piece in the first rotation position. When the rotation piece is in the first rotation position, the holder is attached to the vertical rail to be fixed onto the vertical rail. The holder may move upwards when the user toggles the rotation piece upwards, and the holder may move downwards when the user toggles the rotation piece downwards.

Claim 1:
A vertical rail slider, configured to be attached to or detached from a vertical rail extending along a first direction to be fixed to or to move relative to the vertical rail, the vertical rail slider comprising:
- a body, extending along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, provided with a sleeve portion (<NUM>) configured to be sleeved on and fitted with the vertical rail;an abutting piece, adapted to slide along a third direction, perpendicular to the first direction and the second direction, between an attached position to the vertical rail, wherein the abutting piece abuts to the vertical rail to fit with the sleeve portion (<NUM>), and a detached position away from the vertical rail, the abutting piece being provided with an abutting portion (<NUM>) provided with a first abutting surface (<NUM>) and a second abutting surface (<NUM>) that are inclined surfaces forming a V-shaped structure;
- a rotation piece, rotatably connected to the body around an axis of the second direction, wherein the rotation piece includes an abutting buckle (<NUM>) provided with an overlapping portion (<NUM>) fitting with the abutting piece through fitting with the first and second abutting surfaces (<NUM>, <NUM>), and when the rotation piece is driven to rotate relative to the body, the overlapping portion (<NUM>) obliquely abuts against the first abutting surface (<NUM>) or the second abutting surface (<NUM>), thus driving the abutting piece from the attached position to the detached position; and
- an elastic piece (<NUM>), wherein two ends of the elastic piece (<NUM>) respectively abut against the abutting piece and the body to push the abutting piece to abut against the vertical rail when no external force is applied.