BATH SYSTEM
According to the invention, a seat is provided for use in a shower or a bath. The seat has a base for supporting a user, a support, such as a pair of legs, for supporting the weight of a user, and a bracket for removeably attaching to a grab bar. The seat is dimensioned so that the grab bar does not support the load of the user.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/189,054 filed Aug. 15, 2008. Cross reference is made to copending U.S. patent applications Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX entitled “Bath System” (Attorney Docket No. 136-3126-U; 60137-581 PUS2; Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX entitled “Bath System” (Attorney Docket No. 136-3127-U; 60137-581 PUS3); Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX entitled “Bath System” (Attorney Docket No. 136-3128-U; 60137-581 PUS4); Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX entitled “Bath System” (Attorney Docket No. 136-3129-U; 60137-581 PUS5); Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX entitled “Bath System” (Attorney Docket No. 136-3130-U; 60137-581 PUS6); Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX entitled “Bath System” (Attorney Docket No. 136-3131-U; 60137-581 PUS7).
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONBath showers and tubs have many features. Some baths and showers include seats and benches. Some seats are fixed to the interior of tubs and showers. Other seats are arranged on slides to allow a user to, in essence, ride the seat from the exterior of a tub to the interior of the tub and back.
Showers typically have a threshold over which a user must step to enter into a shower. The threshold typically serves to keep water from escaping from the shower.
Some bath and shower fixtures attach grab bars thereto to provide hand holds for users.
Both shower and shower/bath fixtures use doors, typically glass, and curtains, typically plastic, to keep water from escaping from the shower enclosure during use.
Some bath and shower units provide shelves for storage of bath materials such as soap, shampoo, toys and the like.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccording to the invention, a removable seat is provided for use in a shower or a bath. The seat has a base for supporting a user, a support, such as a pair of legs, for supporting the weight of a user, and a bracket for attaching to the grab bar. The seat is dimensioned so that the grab bar does not support the load of the user. The bracket also allows for easy installation and removal of the seat from the shower.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the seat has a back to which the bracket is either integrally formed or fixedly attached.
These and other features of the present invention can be best understood from the following specification and drawings, the following of which is a brief description.
Referring now to
At the back wall 30 of the shower 20, there is a vertically placed grab bar 25a and a cathedral shaped grab bar 25b. Similarly, grab bars 35 are placed on end wall 40 to provide hand holds for a user. The cathedral shaped grab bar 25b is placed in a recess 70 in the back wall 30, the cathedral-shaped grab bar having a bottom portion 75, two upwardly extending leg portions 80, and an arcuate section 85 connecting the tops of the two leg portions is placed therein. The grab bars are attached to end and side walls 30, 40 by means known in the art by mounts 102 (see
As may be seen in
Referring now to
By integrating the shower head with the grab bars, a user may understand that he can hold the shower head support if desired while manipulating the shower head because the shower head support is the grab bar.
Referring now to
Referring to
The stabilizing bracket 140 is attached to the upper back 165 of the seat back 135 (see
The seat back is attached to the legs 150 by means of support arms 160 which attach to the seat back below the stabilizing bracket 140 by conventional means and attach to a mid portion 175 of legs 150 also by conventional means. The seat has a pair of downwardly depending flanges 180 which conventionally attach to the legs 150 while allowing the seat to pivot thereabout. The legs 150 conventionally attach at their lower end to the weight distribution support 155 that serves to distribute the weight of a user across a greater area of the shower floor 45 to minimize the ends of the legs from damaging the floor 45.
The chair 125 is made of water resistant material like plastic, wood or metal. As shown in
Also, the slots 182 in seat 125 are hygienically designed to allow a user to wash his or her undersides (not shown) without undue movement by directing spray from under the seat to that underside area. The slots tend to be wider at a user's underside portions to allow cleaning thereof.
To use the chair, one places the bracket 140 over a grab bar 25 while depressing the spring 143 to allow the grab bar 35 to nestle within the arcuate portion 170, locates the weight distribution support 155 and flips down the seat 130. When not in use, a user simply flips up the seat 130 and leaves the chair in place. If more space is necessary, or the chair needs cleaning, a user simply flips up the seat and, because of the dimensions of the arcuate portion 170, simply depresses the spring 143 and lifts the chair and the bracket 140 up over the bar for removal. The spring minimizes the probability that the chair will be pushed off the bracket when it is not intended to remove the chair. If the chair is lifted or pushed upwardly, the spring catches the grab bar 35 and prevents removal of the chair from the grab bar. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that other types of devices such as clamps, flexible over-center grips and the like may be used to prevent the removal of the chair if not desired by a user.
Referring now to
Referring now to
Referring now to
The bench seat may either sit on the longitudinal portion 220 of the knee wall and the pedestal 215 and thereby be easily removed from the shower surround 195 if desired, or may be fixedly hinged as shown in
The bench seat 205 is generally flush with a pedestal 215 when flipped down (
Referring to
According to an embodiment of this invention, the door 245 need only extend down to a top 298 of the pedestal thereby reducing the weight and cost of the door. In this embodiment, the pedestal and the shorter door cooperate to minimize water escaping from the shower surround.
Referring now to
Referring now to
The arm rests and seat cooperate so that, when the seat is pivoted down, the seat is essentially flush with the front wall 370 so a user can slide across the front wall onto the seat if desired.
The arm rests 365 are contoured to mimic a comfortable position for a user's arms and, therefore, one will recognize that one of ordinary skill in the art may choose other shapes and contours as long as the arm rests conform with the seat to provide a surface that is comfortably flush with the front wall 370. The side arms 405 of the seat 400 extend past the sides of a pillow 360 when the seat is pivoted down so that the pillow 390 can be placed in an ideal position behind the seat (see
The seat 400 may be spaced from the front wall 370 by a dimension that allows a shower curtain room to pass between the front wall and the seat to minimize an amount of water from escaping from the tub surround 350 (see
Referring to
The drain 440 is disposed within a cavity 450 in the front wall 430 (or other wall) of the bath and shower surround and has enough volume to store goods such as soap, shampoo, bath toys and other items deemed necessary or preferable for the bathing experience. The bottom walls 455 of the cavity are sloped towards the drain 440 to allow for complete drainage in the event of an overflow condition. The cavity 440 may have a pivotable cover 460 that closes for esthetics and to give easy access to the tub and shower surround 425. The cover should be flush with the top of the front wall so as not to provide an impediment to entering or exiting the tub. It should be understood that the cavity 450 may incorporate various other devices such as shower controls, separate handheld showers 455 that may be plumbed into the cavity as is known in the art, soap dispensers, as well as other devices (not shown).
The adjacent scuppers form a plurality of corbels 465 that are designed to support the cover if it is closed. The cover 465 may be relatively rigid to operate as a transfer seat or other support.
It should be understood that like reference numerals identify corresponding or similar elements throughout the several drawings. It should also be understood that although a particular component arrangement is disclosed in the illustrated embodiment, other arrangements will benefit herefrom.
The foregoing description is exemplary rather than defined by the limitations within. Various non-limiting embodiments are disclosed herein, however, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that various modifications and variations in light of the above teachings will fall within the scope of the appended claims. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described. For that reason the appended claims should be studied to determine true scope and content.
Claims
1. An apparatus for use in a bathing environment, said environment including a grab bar, said apparatus comprising:
- a seat portion for supporting a user;
- a load portion attaching to said seat portion for supporting a load of the user; and
- a bracket for attaching to the grab bar such that the bracket is removeably attached to said grab bar so that said apparatus may be easily removed from said bathing environment.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said bracket is integral with said seat portion.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising means for preventing removal of said bracket from said grab bar.
4. An apparatus for use in a bathing environment, said environment including a grab bar, said apparatus comprising:
- a seat portion;
- a load portion attaching to said seat portion for supporting a load of the user;
- a back portion attaching to either of said seat portion or said load portion; and
- a bracket attached to said back portion for easily removably attaching to said grab bar.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said back portion attaches to said load portion.
6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said back portion attaches to said seat portion.
7. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said load portion includes a pair of legs.
8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said load portion further comprises a load distribution portion that attaches to each end of each of said leg.
9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said load portion is adapted to spread the load carried by said legs across a wider area than the area of each end of each leg.
10. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said bracket further comprises:
- an arcuate portion that extends equal to or less than 1800 for extending removably over the grab bar.
11. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said apparatus further comprises:
- said back portion and said load portion are integrally formed.
12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said bracket further comprises:
- an arcuate portion that extends equal to or less than 1800 for extending removably over the grab bar.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said arcuate portion forms an integral whole with said back portion.
14. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said back portion widens from a top of said back portion to a bottom of said integrally formed load portion.
15. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said said back portion and said load portion have a plurality of slots, each said slot widening from a top of said back portion to a bottom of said integrally formed load portion.
16. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said seat has slots.
17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said slots allow access therethrough to a related position of a user's undersides when sitting on said seat whereby said user may clean said related position of said user's undersides by directing a spray through said slots.
18. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said seat is pivotable.
19. An apparatus for washing a user on a seat in a bathing environment comprising:
- a seat bottom; and
- a plurality of slots disposed in said seat bottom wherein said slots allow access therethrough to a related position of a user's undersides when sitting on said seat bottom whereby said user may clean said user's undersides by directing a spray through said slots that coordinates with said related position.
20. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein said slots are wider at either end portion of said seat bottom and narrower therebetween to allow easy access the user's undersides through said wider slots.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 31, 2009
Publication Date: Feb 18, 2010
Inventors: Victor Hoernig (Lowell, IN), Geraint Krumpe (Chicago, IL)
Application Number: 12/533,046