Swing spout having a rotational detent

Abstract

In one embodiment, a swing spout is provided. The swing spout includes a spout hub and a bearing member. The spout hub is operable to rotate relative to the bearing member. The bearing member has a detent and the spout hub has a detent member. When the spout hub is rotated to a predetermined position, the detent member of the spout hub engages the detent of the bearing member.

Description

BACKGROUND

The invention relates to a swing spout and more specifically, to a swing spout having a detent on a bearing member to aid in positioning the swing spout in a predetermined location.

Some faucets have a spout which is capable of rotating to allow water to be distributed to different parts of a sink or tub. These types of spouts are sometimes referred to as swing spouts. A swing spout allows a user to rotate the spout in a circumferential direction to a desired location. Once the spout has been moved to the desired location, the spout generally remains in that position but is not locked into that position. At any time, a user may reposition the spout by applying a small circumferentially-directed force to the spout and removing the force when the spout has rotated to the desired position. Again, the spout will generally remain in the desired position, in an unlocked state, until another small circumferentially-directed force is applied to the spout. At all positions, the same amount of small circumferentially-directed force is needed to move the spout to a new location.

SUMMARY

In one embodiment, a swing spout is provided. The swing spout includes a spout hub and a bearing member. The spout hub is operable to rotate relative to the bearing member. The bearing member has a detent and the spout hub has a detent member. When the spout hub is rotated to a predetermined position, the detent member of the spout hub engages the detent of the bearing member.

Numerous other advantages and features of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description of the invention and the embodiments thereof, from the claims and from the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention as well as embodiments and advantages thereof are described below in greater detail, by way of example, with reference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a swing spout in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2A is a top plan view of the bearing member of the swing spout of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2B is a bottom plan view of the bearing member of the swing spout of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3A is a perspective view of the spout hub of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3B is an inverted perspective view of the spout hub of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4A is a top cross-sectional view of the detent of the bearing member and the detent member of the spout hub of FIG. 1 in a non-engaged state; and

FIG. 4B is a top cross-sectional view of the detent of the bearing member and the detent member of the spout hub of FIG. 1 in an engaged state.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there are shown in the drawings and will be described herein in detail specific embodiments thereof with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments illustrated.

FIG. 1 shows an exploded view of a swing spout 10. The swing spout 10 includes a spout hub 12 and a spout tube 14. The spout tube 14 has a rear end 16 and a front end 18. Disposed on the front end 18 of the spout tube 14 is a tip assembly 20. The tip assembly 20 may be one or more pieces that are attached to the front end 18 of the spout tube 14 or the tip assembly 20 may optionally be omitted from the final design of the swing spout 10. The rear end 16 of the spout tube 14 is attached to the spout hub 12. The spout hub 12 is aligned with the rear end 16 of the spout tube 14 such that fluid may pass from within the spout hub 12 and into the rear end 16 of the spout tube 14.

On an upper end 24 of the spout hub 12, a cap 26 is disposed. An o-ring 28 is disposed between the upper end 24 of the spout hub 12 and the cap 26. The o-ring 28 prevents fluid from leaking between the upper end 24 of the spout hub 12 and the cap 26.

The swing spout 10 also includes a bearing member 30 and a nipple 32. The nipple 32 connects to a water supply 34. The nipple 32 is covered by an escutcheon 36 and the spout hub 12. The nipple 32 includes a port 38 which allows fluid to move from inside the nipple 32 to the port 22 of the spout hub 12 and into the spout tube 14. Also, the nipple 32 has a ledge 40 protruding from the outer surface of the nipple 32. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the bearing member 30 fits over the top of the nipple 32 and rests on the ledge 40. The bearing member 30 has at least one locking projection 42 which firmly sits in a corresponding locking cavity 44 in the ledge 40 of the nipple 32. As a result, the bearing member 30 is fixed to the nipple 32 and is not free to rotate relative to the nipple 32. While the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 uses a separate piece from the nipple 32, it is possible to have the two pieces combined into a single piece.

Now referring to FIG. 2A, a top view of the bearing member 30 is shown. The bearing member includes a detent 46 and at least one stop 48. The detent 46 as shown is a pair of flexible fingers, however, the detent 46 may be other shapes and configurations. The detent 46 serves to hold the spout hub 12 in a semi-locked (or engaged state) at a predetermined rotational position. A user may rotate the spout hub 12 out of the semi-locked (or engaged) state by applying a force that is greater than the force required to rotate the spout hub 12 at other positions. Thus, as a user rotates the spout hub 12 relative to the bearing member 30 by applying a first pushing force to the spout hub 12, when the spout hub 12 reaches the predetermined rotational position, the user will feel an abrupt resistance provided by the detent 46. At this point, the spout hub 12 will not rotate further with respect to the bearing member 30 unless the pushing force is increased above a threshold level. The inter-operation between the spout hub 12 and the detent 46 of the bearing member 30 will be discussed in greater detail with respect to FIGS. 4A and 4B.

Referring to FIG. 2B, a bottom view of the bearing member 30 is shown. As discussed previously, the bearing member 30 may have at least one locking projection 42 to engage the locking cavity 44 in the ledge 40 of the nipple 32.

Referring now to FIG. 3A, a perspective view of the spout hub 12 is shown. The spout hub 12 has a cavity 50 and a port 22. The cavity 50 houses the nipple 32 and the bearing member 30. The port 22 is disposed through the spout hub 12 allows fluid to move from the nipple 32, out of the spout hub 12 and into the spout tube 14. Port 22 is enclosed by and aligned with the rear end 16 of the spout tube 14.

FIG. 3B is a perspective view of the spout hub 12 in an inverted position. Within the cavity 50, the spout hub 12 includes a detent member 52, a rotational limiting portion 54 and a rotational channel 56. In one embodiment, the detent member 52 is a small projection which corresponds to the size and shape of the detent 46 of the bearing member 30. The rotational limiting portion 54 serves to limit the rotational range of the spout hub 12 relative to the bearing member 30. The shape and size of the rotational limiting portion 54 may vary to adjust to the size and shape of bearing member 30. Also, the size (or length) of the rotational limiting portion 54 may vary to allow the spout hub 12 a greater or smaller rotational range about the bearing member 30. As discussed in more detail below, the stop 48 of the bearing member 30 moves within the rotational channel 56 when the spout hub 12 is rotated relative to the bearing member 30.

Referring now to FIG. 4A, a cross-sectional view of the spout hub 12 and the bearing member 30 is shown in which the detent 46 is not engaged by the detent member 52. As shown, the spout hub 12 is rotated as far as possible in a clockwise direction relative to the bearing member 30. In this position, the stop 48, which is disposed in the rotational channel 56 of the spout hub 12 at A, contacts the rotational limiting portion 54 of the spout hub 12 such that the stop 48 obstructs the further rotation of the spout hub 12 relative to the bearing member 30.

While the spout hub 12 positioned as shown in FIG. 4A is prevented from rotating in a clockwise direction relative to the bearing member 30, the spout hub 12 may be rotated in the counterclockwise direction relative to the bearing member 30. This is accomplished by applying a circumferential force (rotational force) to the spout hub 12. The rotational force need only be large enough to overcome the friction force between the spout hub 12 and the bearing member 30.

As a user applies the rotational force in the counterclockwise direction, the spout hub 12 begins to rotate in a counterclockwise direction relative to the bearing member 30. As long as the rotational force is applied, the spout hub 12 will continue to rotate in the counterclockwise direction relative to the bearing member 30 until the detent member 52 approaches the detent 46. As the detent member 52 approaches the detent 46, the detent 46 is compressed radially inward against a support member 58. The support member 58 provides support and resistance to the radially inward compression of the detent 46. However, depending on the material used, the support member 58 may not be needed. Furthermore, if the detent 46 is something other than a mechanical device, the support member 58 may again not be needed.

As the detent 46 compresses and as the support member 58 resists the compression, the user may feel this resistance. As the detent member 52 reaches a lip portion 60 of the detent 46, the user will feel a resistance to the rotation of the spout hub 12 relative to the bearing member 30. To continue to rotate the spout hub 12 in a counterclockwise direction relative to the bearing member 30, the rotational force must be increased to force the detent 46 to further compress radially inward such that the detent member 52 may move past the lip portion 60 of the detent 46.

If the rotational force is increased to compress the detent 46 far enough to allow the detent member 52 to move past the lip portion 60 of the detent 46, then the spout hub 12 will move into a center 62 of the detent 46 as shown in FIG. 4B. In this engaged state, the detent 46 is pressed radially outward by the support member 58 and the lip portion 60 of the detent 46 restricts the rotational movement of the spout hub 12 in both directions relative to the bearing member 30. Although the detent 46 restricts the rotational movement of the spout hub 12 relative to the bearing member 30, it does not completely prevent spout hub 12 from being rotated relative to the bearing member 30. In order to rotate the spout hub 12 out of its engaged state as shown in FIG. 4B, a circumferential force must be applied to the spout hub 12 that exceeds a threshold. The threshold is determined by the particular detent 46 used but the threshold exceeds the force needed to rotate the spout hub 12 relative to the bearing member 30 when the spout hub is in a non-engaged state. As a result, a user may know when the spout hub 12 reaches a predetermined engaged position because the spout hub 12 will not rotate as easily and the user would be able to “feel” the detent member 52 position at any time simply by rotating the spout hub 12 until the detent member 52 of the spout hub 12 engages the detent 46 of the bearing member 30.

In use, the detent 46 of the bearing member 30 may be used to center the spout 1 relative to the sink or tub. For example, a user may wish to be able to rotate the spout 1 to deliver water to various parts of the sink or tub. However, for aesthetic reasons, the user may wish to return the spout 1 to the center of the sink or tub after use. One way to assure that the spout 1 is returned to the same center location each time the user wishes is for the detent 46 of the bearing member 30 to be aligned with the center of the sink. In this way, the user can simply rotate the spout 1 towards the center until the detent member 52 of the spout hub engages the detent 46 of the bearing member 30. Once engaged, the spout 1 will not easily (or accidentally) be rotated from that center position. As a result, the user is assured that the spout 1 is centered in the same location time after time.

The above description of some of the embodiments of the present invention has been given by way of example. From the disclosure given, those skilled in the art will not only understand the present invention and its attendant advantages, but will also find apparent various changes and modifications to the structures and methods disclosed. It is sought, therefore, to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined by the appended claims, and equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. A swing spout comprising:

a spout hub having a detent member; and

a bearing member having a detent and abutting said spout hub,

wherein said spout hub is operable to rotate relative to said bearing member and wherein said detent member engages said detent at a predetermined rotational position.

2. The swing spout of claim 1 wherein said detent includes a pair of flexible fingers and said detent member includes a projection.

3. The swing spout of claim 1, wherein said bearing member includes a stop and said spout hub includes a rotational limiting portion; and

wherein said stop prevents rotation of said spout hub relative to said bearing member by contacting the rotational limiting portion when said spout hub is rotated a predetermined distance relative to said bearing member.

4. The swing spout of claim 3 wherein said stop is disposed between said detent member and said rotational limiting portion.

5. The swing spout of claim 1 wherein said swing spout includes a nipple, and said nipple includes a ledge having a locking cavity; and wherein said bearing member abuts said ledge and said bearing member includes a locking projection disposed within said locking cavity.

6. The swing spout of claim 5 further comprising:

a support member disposed between said detent and said nipple.

7. The swing spout of claim 6 wherein said support member is an elastomer.

8. A faucet comprising:

a nipple;

a spout hub having a detent member, said spout hub disposed over an upper portion of said nipple;

a bearing member having a detent, said bearing member disposed between an inner surface of said spout hub and an outer surface of said nipple,

wherein said spout hub is operable to rotate relative to said bearing member and wherein said detent member engages said detent at a predetermined rotational position thereby setting said spout hub.

9. The faucet of claim 8 wherein said detent includes a pair of flexible fingers and wherein said detent member includes a projection from said inner surface of said spout hub.

10. The faucet of claim 8, wherein said bearing member includes a stop and said spout hub includes a rotational limiting portion; and

wherein said stop prevents rotation of said spout hub relative to said bearing member by contacting the rotational limiting portion when said spout hub is rotated a predetermined distance relative to said bearing member.

11. The faucet of claim 10 wherein said stop is disposed between said detent member and said rotational limiting portion.

12. The faucet of claim 8 wherein said swing spout includes a nipple and said nipple includes a ledge having a locking cavity;

wherein said bearing member abuts said ledge; and

wherein said bearing member includes a locking projection disposed within said locking cavity.

13. The faucet of claim 8 further comprising:

a support member disposed between said detent and said nipple.

14. The faucet of claim 13 wherein said support member is an elastomer.

15. A method of rotating a swing spout comprising the steps of:

rotating a spout hub relative to a bearing member having a detent until a detent member on said spout hub is positioned within said detent.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said detent includes a pair of flexible fingers; and

wherein said detent member includes a projection from an inner surface of said spout hub.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step on:

further rotating said spout hub relative to said bearing member until said detent member is not positioned within said detent.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising the steps of:

Further rotating said spout hub relative to said bearing member until a rotational limiting portion of said spout hub contacts a stop on said bearing member.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein as said spout hub approaches said detent, a first finger is pressed radially inwardly against a support member.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein said support member is disposed between said bearing member and a nipple.