VANITIES WITH WATERPROOF ELEVATING FEET

Abstract

Waterproof elevating feet are disclosed that may be installed on the bottom of vanities to prevent the vanities from being damaged by water. The elevating feet include a waterproof body having a sidewall, bottom surface and top edge, and may include an internal support brace having a central support pillar and one or more lateral support webs extending between the central support pillar and the sidewall.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/765,288 filed Feb. 28, 2025, which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to vanities with waterproof elevating feet.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Vanities such as those found in bathrooms may be susceptible to water damage when exposed to standing water from leaks and spills.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides waterproof elevating feet that may be installed on the bottom of vanities to prevent the vanities from being damaged by water. The elevating feet include a waterproof body having a sidewall, bottom surface and top edge, and may have an internal support brace having a central support pillar and one or more lateral support webs extending between the central support pillar and the sidewall.

An aspect of the present invention is to provide a vanity comprising a vanity body structured and arranged to support at least one sink, and multiple elevating feet attached to a bottom of the vanity body. Each elevating foot comprises a waterproof body including a sidewall, bottom surface, and top edge, and an internal support brace located inside the sidewall including a central support pillar extending from the bottom surface to the top edge of the waterproof body, and at least one lateral support web extending between the central support pillar and the sidewall.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a vanity comprising a vanity body structured and arranged to support at least one sink, and multiple elevating feet attached to a bottom of the vanity body. Each elevating foot comprises a waterproof body including a sidewall, bottom surface, and top edge, and a foot height at least 10 percent of a vanity height of the vanity body.

A further aspect of the present invention is to provide an elevating foot structured and arranged for attachment to a vanity comprising a waterproof body including a sidewall, bottom surface, and top edge, and an internal support brace located inside the sidewall including a central support pillar extending from the bottom surface to the top edge of the waterproof body, and at least one lateral support web extending between the central support pillar and the sidewall.

These and other aspects of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top isometric view of a vanity with elevating feet in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a bottom isometric view of the vanity of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the vanity of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the vanity of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the vanity of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a top isometric view of an elevating foot for installation on a vanity in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a bottom isometric view of the elevating vanity foot of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a side view of the elevating vanity foot of FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 is a top view of the elevating vanity foot of FIG. 6.

FIG. 10 is a bottom view of the elevating vanity foot of FIG. 6.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken through section line 11 -11 of FIG. 8.

FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken through section line 12 -12 of FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1-5 illustrate a vanity 10 with elevating feet 20. The vanity 10 includes a front 12, rear 13, sides 14, bottom 16, and top 18. The elevating feet 20 are installed on the bottom 16 of the vanity 10. As used herein, the term “vanity” includes free-standing closed or open stands, cabinets, consoles or similar types of furniture that may have at least one sink mounted therein or thereon. The vanities may be used in bathrooms or in other locations in residential and commercial buildings and facilities. In many cases, vanities may be made of materials such as wood, plywood, pressed wood, fiberboard and the like that may be susceptible to damage when exposed to water.

As shown in FIGS. 6-12, an elevating foot 20 includes a waterproof body 21 including sidewalls 22 and a bottom surface 24. A bottom opening 25 is provided in the bottom surface 24. The elevating foot 20 includes a top edge 26 forming a top opening 27 and a hollow interior space 28 of the waterproof body 21.

As shown most clearly in FIGS. 6, 9, 11 and 12, an internal support brace 30 is provided inside the hollow interior space 28 of the waterproof body 21. The internal support brace 30 includes a central support pillar 32 having an upper surface 33 with an upper threaded stud 34 extending therefrom. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 10, the central support pillar 32 has a lower pillar opening 36 with an inner diameter that forms the bottom opening 25 in the bottom surface 24 of the waterproof body 21. The hollow central support pillar 32 may have a slight inward taper from the lower pillar opening 36 to the upper portion of the pillar, for example, at least 0.1°, or least 0.2°, or at least 0.5°, or at least 1°, for example, from 0.5° to 10°, or from 1° to 5°, or from 1.5° to 3°.

As further shown in FIGS. 6, 9, 11 and 12, the internal support brace 30 includes lateral support webs 38 that extend laterally from the central support pillar 32 to the sidewalls 22 of the waterproof body 21. Each lateral support web 38 has a top edge 39 adjacent to the top edge 26 of the waterproof body 21 and the upper surface 33 of the central support pillar 32. As shown most clearly in FIGS. 6, 11 and 12, the top edges 39 of the lateral support webs 38 are slightly recessed below the height of the top edge 26 of the waterproof body 21 and the upper surface 33 of the central support pillar 32. For example, the recessed height of the top edges 39 may be at least 0.01 inch less than the top edge 26 height and/or the upper surface 33 height, or at least 0.02 inch less, or at least 0.05 inch less.

The elevating feet 20 may be made of any suitable materials having sufficient rigidity and shape to support the weight of a vanity and having waterproof or water-resistant properties, including plastics such as polypropylene (PP), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polystyrene (PS), high impact polystyrene (HIPS), polycarbonate (PC), nylon and the like. The elevating feet 20 may be produced by any suitable process such as injection molding, compression molding and the like, and may comprise a unitary piece or separate pieces that are assembled together with adhesive, mechanical fasteners, and the like. The elevating feet 20 may be hollow as shown in the figures, or may comprise a solid piece of material such as moulded plastic.

As shown in FIGS. 3-5, the body of the vanity 10 has a vanity height H_V; the elevating feet 30 have feet heights H_F; and the total height H_T of the vanity body and elevating feet may be measured from the bottom surfaces 24 of the elevating feet 20 and the top surface 18 of the vanity 10. As viewed from the front of the vanity, the elevating feet 20 are spaced apart from each other by a width W_F. As shown from the side of the vanity, the elevating feet 20 are spaced apart from each other a depth D_F.

The vanity height H_F may typically range from 15 to 40 inches, for example, from 20 to 36 inches, or from 25 to 32 inches. The foot height H_F of each elevating foot 20 may be selected to prevent water damage to the vanity 10, and may typically be at least 1 inch, for example, at least 1.5 inches, or at least 2 inches, or at least 3 inches. The foot height H_F of each elevating foot 20 may typically range from 1 to 12 inches, for example, from 1.5 to 10 inches, or from 2 to 8 inches, or from 3 to 6 inches. The total height H_T of the vanity may typically range from 18 to 48 inches, for example, from 20 to 40 inches, or from 24 to 36 inches.

The foot height H_F may typically be at least 3 percent of the vanity height H_V, for example, at least 5 percent, or at least 8 percent, or at least 10 percent, or at least 12 percent, or at least 15 percent. The ratio of foot height H_F to vanity height H_V, H_F: H_V, may typically be from 0.03:1 to 0.5:1, for example, from 0.05:1 to 0.3:1, from 0.1:1 to 0.2:1.

In the embodiment shown, each elevating foot 20 includes four planar sidewalls 22 forming a square cross section and having a slight outward taper from the bottom to the top of the elevating foot. Although four planar tapered sidewalls with square cross sections are shown, it is to be understood that any other suitable number and shape of sidewalls may be used, for example, tapered, straight or curved sidewalls with cross sections that are rectangular, circular, ovular, hexagonal, octagonal, or the like may be used. When tapered, the outward taper angle may typically be at least 0.1°, or at least 0.2°, or at least 0.5°, or at least 1°, or at least 2°, or at least 5°, and may range from 0.1 to 20°, or from 0.2 to 10°, or from 0.5 to 8°, or from 2 to 6°.

Each interior lateral support web 38 may be reinforced with at least one stiffening or reinforcing column having a diameter or width greater than the thickness of its corresponding support web. For example, a single cylindrical reinforcing column (not shown) may extend vertically along the height of each lateral support web 38, at a transverse equal distance between the central support pillar 32 and each sidewall 22. However, any other suitable number, shape and size of reinforcing columns may be used.

The bathroom vanity waterproof elevating feet may be installed on the bottom of a vanity by any suitable means such as threading their exteriorly-threaded bolts into interiorly-threaded holes on the bottom of the vanity adjacent its corners. Although threaded bolts are shown in FIG. 3, alternative types of screws, rods or mechanical fasteners may be used. For example, the feet may include upwardly-extending screws such as wood screws that may be fastened into pre-drilled holes in the vanity or may be self-drilled into the material of the vanity without pre-existing holes. When installed, the feet may support the weight of a vanity through a combination of the exterior sidewalls, interior webbing, central cylindrical support, and threaded bolt.

As used herein, “including,” “containing” and like terms are understood in the context of this application to be synonymous with “comprising” and are therefore open-ended and do not exclude the presence of additional undescribed or unrecited elements, materials, phases or method steps. As used herein, “consisting of” is understood in the context of this application to exclude the presence of any unspecified element, material, phase or method step. As used herein, “consisting essentially of” is understood in the context of this application to include the specified elements, materials, phases, or method steps, where applicable, and to also include any unspecified elements, materials, phases, or method steps that do not materially affect the basic or novel characteristics of the invention.

Notwithstanding that the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scope of the invention are approximations, the numerical values set forth in the specific examples are reported as precisely as possible. Any numerical value, however, inherently contains certain errors necessarily resulting from the standard variation found in their respective testing measurements.

Also, it should be understood that any numerical range recited herein is intended to include all sub-ranges subsumed therein. For example, a range of “1 to 10” is intended to include all sub-ranges between (and including) the recited minimum value of 1 and the recited maximum value of 10, that is, having a minimum value equal to or greater than 1 and a maximum value of equal to or less than 10.

In this application, the use of the singular includes the plural and plural encompasses singular, unless specifically stated otherwise. In addition, in this application, the use of “or” means “and/or” unless specifically stated otherwise, even though “and/or” may be explicitly used in certain instances. In this application and the appended claims, the articles “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless expressly and unequivocally limited to one referent.

Whereas particular embodiments of this invention have been described above for purposes of illustration, it will be evident to those skilled in the art that numerous variations of the details of the present invention may be made without departing from the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A vanity comprising:

a vanity body structured and arranged to support at least one sink; and

multiple elevating feet attached to a bottom of the vanity body, each elevating foot comprising: a waterproof body including a sidewall, bottom surface, and top edge; and an internal support brace located inside the sidewall including a central support pillar extending from the bottom surface to the top edge of the waterproof body, and at least one lateral support web extending between the central support pillar and the sidewall.

2. The vanity of claim 1, wherein the elevating foot has a foot height HF at least 10 percent of a vanity height HV of the vanity body.

3. The vanity of claim 1, wherein the top edge of the waterproof body and an upper surface of the central support pillar are located in a first horizontal plane.

4. The vanity of claim 3, wherein a top edge of the at least one lateral support web is located in a second horizontal plane below the first horizontal plane.

5. The vanity of claim 1, wherein the central support pillar is hollow.

6. The vanity of claim 5, wherein the hollow central support pillar comprises a lower pillar opening in the bottom surface of the waterproof body.

7. The vanity of claim 6, wherein the hollow central support pillar has an inward taper from the lower pillar opening to an upper portion of the support pillar.

8. The vanity of claim 7, wherein the inward taper is at least 1°.

9. The vanity of claim 1, further comprising an upper threaded stud extending from the central support pillar into the bottom of the vanity.

10. The vanity of claim 1, comprising a plurality of the lateral support webs.

11. The vanity of claim 10, wherein each lateral support web is substantially planar.

12. The vanity of claim 10, wherein each lateral support web extends radially outward from the support pillar.

13. The vanity of claim 12, comprising four of the radially extending support webs circumferentially spaced 90° from each other.

14. The vanity of claim 10, wherein the sidewall comprises four planar surfaces, and each lateral support web intersects one of the planar surfaces at a 90° angle when viewed from above the elevating feet.

15. The vanity of claim 1, wherein the sidewall comprises multiple planar surfaces having an outward taper angle from the bottom surface to the top edge.

16. The vanity of claim 15, wherein the outward taper angle is at least 1°.

17. The vanity of claim 1, wherein the waterproof body comprises a unitary piece of molded plastic.

18. A vanity comprising:

a vanity body structured and arranged to support at least one sink; and

multiple elevating feet attached to a bottom of the vanity body, each elevating foot comprising: a waterproof body including a sidewall, bottom surface, and top edge; and a foot height HF at least 10 percent of a vanity height HV of the vanity body.

19. The vanity of claim 18, wherein the waterproof body comprises a unitary piece of molded plastic.

20. The vanity of claim 19, wherein the unitary piece is hollow.

21. The vanity of claim 19, wherein the unitary piece is solid.

22. The vanity of claim 18, wherein the elevating foot comprises an internal support brace located inside the sidewall including a central support pillar extending from the bottom surface to the top edge of the waterproof body, and at least one lateral support web extending between the central support pillar and the sidewall.

23. An elevating foot structured and arranged for attachment to a vanity comprising:

a waterproof body including a sidewall, bottom surface, and top edge; and

an internal support brace located inside the sidewall including a central support pillar extending from the bottom surface to the top edge of the waterproof body, and at least one lateral support web extending between the central support pillar and the sidewall.