U.S. patent application number 10/300632 was filed with the patent office on 2004-05-27 for humidifier.
Invention is credited to Chen, Shih-Yen.
Application Number | 20040099967 10/300632 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 32324416 |
Filed Date | 2004-05-27 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040099967 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Chen, Shih-Yen |
May 27, 2004 |
HUMIDIFIER
Abstract
An improvement on a humidifier includes a leakage prevention
ring, and two opposite supporting plates. The leakage prevention
ring has several ring-shaped portions, which define inner and outer
concentric annular trenches. The concentric trenches are closely
mounted onto an upper end of a vapor conduit, and a down-projecting
annular protrusion lo of a vapor outlet disposed right above the
conduit respectively. The supporting plates can pivot up and down,
and are biased by torsion springs to hold a water-supplying bottle
between them in an inverted vertical position, which is connected
to a valve of the humidifier, so that the bottle can't tilt or
shake to cause damage to the valve.
Inventors: |
Chen, Shih-Yen; (Yung Kang
City, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
ROSENBERG, KLEIN & LEE
3458 ELLICOTT CENTER DRIVE-SUITE 101
ELLICOTT CITY
MD
21043
US
|
Family ID: |
32324416 |
Appl. No.: |
10/300632 |
Filed: |
November 21, 2002 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
261/66 ;
261/72.1; 261/DIG.65 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A61M 16/164 20140204;
F24F 6/025 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
261/066 ;
261/072.1; 261/DIG.065 |
International
Class: |
B01F 003/04 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An improvement on a humidifier, comprising a main body including
a water-containing portion, and a valve connected to the
water-containing portion; and, an upper cover joined to the main
body; the upper cover having a vapor outlet disposed right above a
vapor conduit of the main body; the upper cover having a holding
portion disposed in a holding space of the main body with a through
hole of a bottom of the holding portion being right above the valve
so that a water-containing bottle in inverted position can be
connected to the valve at a neck of the bottle; and, being
characterized by a ring-shaped leakage prevention member joined to
an upper end of the conduit and a lower annular protrusion of the
vapor outlet; the leakage prevention member having a plurality of
ring-shaped portions, which define inner and outer concentric
annular trenches, closely fitted onto corresponding sides of the
upper ends of the vapor conduit and the lower annular protrusion of
the vapor outlet.
2. The improvement on a humidifier as claimed in claim 1, wherein
the holding portion defines a holding room therein, and two
opposite supporting plates are connected to an upper portion of an
inner side of the holding portion to contact corresponding lateral
sides of the bottle so that the bottle is stopped from moving
sideways to a tilted position; the opposite supporting plates being
up and down pivotal, and being biased towards a substantially
horizontal position with torsion springs so that bottles of various
circumferences can be inserted between the supporting plates, and
can be stopped from moving sideways to a tilted position by means
of the supporting plates; an annular inward projecting edge being
formed on the inner upper portion of the holding portion to prevent
corresponding edges of the supporting plates from moving past them
so as to restrict pivotal movement of the supporting plates.
3. The improvement on a humidifier as claimed in claim 2, wherein
two pair of connecting protrusions each having a pivotal hole are
formed on the inner upper portion of the holding portion, and each
of the opposite supporting plates has two opposite pins inserted
into the pivotal holes of respective pairs of connecting
protrusions of the holding portion, and the torsion springs
connected to the supporting plates are passed around the pins.
4. The improvement on a humidifier as claimed in claim 3, wherein
the supporting plates are made to have a concavely curved shape on
inward edges thereof.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a humidifier, more
particularly a humidifier, which can prevent vapor from leaking
through a joint between a conduit and a vapor outlet thereof, and
which provides a supporting mechanism for increasing stability of a
water-containing bottle connected thereto.
[0003] 2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
[0004] Humidifiers are used for maintaining proper amount of
humidity in the air for the well being of humans.
[0005] Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional humidifier includes a
main body 1, a valve 12, a vapor conduit 14, and an upper cover 15.
The main body 1 includes a heating member (not shown), a holding
space 11, and a water tank in a lower section of the main body 1.
The valve 12 is disposed in the holding space 11, and is provided
for controlling flow of water from a bottle to the main body 1
with. The conduit 14 is disposed in the main body 1 for vapor to
pass through. The upper cover 15 is joined to the upper end of the
main body 1. The upper cover 15 has a vapor outlet 17, which is
connected to the upper end of the conduit 14, has and a through
hole 16, which is right above the valve 12.
[0006] A water-containing bottle (not shown) is passed through the
hole 16, and connected to the valve 12 at a neck in an inverted
position for supplying the humidifier with water.
[0007] Thus, vapor produced by the humidifier can travel through
the vapor outlet 17 via the conduit 14 to increase humidity in the
air. However, the humidifier is found to have disadvantages as
followings:
[0008] 1. The vapor outlet 17 is simply mounted around the upper
end of the conduit 14 or the upper end of the conduit is simply
mounted around the lower end of the outlet 17 without leakage
prevention means being provided. Consequently, vapor is prone to
leak through the joint between the conduit 14 and the vapor outlet
17 thereof
[0009] 2. The valve 12 is subject to damage because the
water-containing bottle connected thereto is likely to tilt or
shake due to lack of supporting means.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] It is a main object of the present invention to provide a
humidifier, which is equipped with a leakage prevention means on a
joint between a conduit and a vapor outlet thereof to prevent vapor
from leaking.
[0011] It is another object of the present invention to provide the
humidifier with a supporting means for increasing stability of a
water-supplying bottle connected to a valve thereof.
[0012] The leakage prevention means of the humidifier of the
present invention has several ring-shaped portions, which define
inner and outer concentric annular trenches. The concentric
trenches are respectively closely mounted onto an upper end of a
vapor conduit, and a down-projecting annular protrusion of a vapor
outlet disposed right above the conduit. The supporting plates can
be pivoted up and down, and are biased by torsion springs to hold
the water-supplying bottle in between in an inverted vertical
position, which is connected to a valve of the humidifier. The
torsion springs will keep the supporting plates in a sloping
position with certain resistance if a bottle connected to the valve
has such a circumference that the supporting plates are pivoted
away from the usual horizontal position by the bottle.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] The present invention will be better understood by reference
to the accompanying drawings, wherein
[0014] FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the conventional
humidifier as described in the Background,
[0015] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the humidifier
according to the present invention,
[0016] FIG. 3 is a front view of the humidifier according to the
present invention,
[0017] FIG. 4 is a top view of the humidifier with a
water-containing bottle connected thereto according to the present
invention,
[0018] FIG. 5 is a top view of the humidifier with another
water-containing bottle connected thereto according to the present
invention,
[0019] FIG. 6 is a top view of the humidifier with yet another
water-containing bottle connected thereto according to the present
invention; and,
[0020] FIG. 7 is a side view of the humidifier and the bottle in
FIG. 6.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0021] Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, a humidifier of the present
invention includes a main body 2, a valve 3, a vapor conduit 4, an
upper cover 5, and a ring-shaped leakage-prevention means 7.
[0022] The main body 2 includes a heating member (not shown), a
holding space 21, and a water tank in the lower section. The valve
3 is disposed in the holding space 21. A water-containing bottle 6
is connected to the valve 3 at a neck 61 thereof in an inverted
position so that water can flow into the water tank via the valve
3. The conduit 4 is disposed in the main body 2 for vapor produced
by the main body 2 to pass through.
[0023] The leakage prevention member 7 has several ring-shaped
portions, which define inner and outer concentric annular trenches
71, and 72.
[0024] The upper cover 5 has a vapor outlet 53, and an annular
holding portion, which defines a holding room 51, and which has a
through hole 52 on a center of a bottom. The holding portion of the
upper cover 5 has an annular inwards projecting edge 56 at an upper
section thereof, and two pairs of connecting protrusions (not
numbered), each of which has a pivotal hole, on upper portions of
two opposite inner sides thereof.
[0025] In addition, two supporting plates 55 are provided, each of
which has two opposite pivotal pins, and a concavely curved inner
edge.
[0026] In combination, one of the pivotal pins of each of the
supporting plates 55 is passed through a torsion spring 552, and
the pivotal pins are passed into the pivotal holes of the
connecting protrusions sticking inwardly of the holding room 51.
And, the torsion springs 552 engage respective supporting plates 55
and corresponding connecting protrusions to exert rotary force on
the supporting plates 55 so as to bias inward edges of the
supporting plates 55 upwards; outward edges of the supporting
plates 55 being stopped from moving down by the annular inwards
projecting edge 56 therefore the torsion springs 552 can only force
the supporting plates 55 to move to a horizontal position as shown
in FIG. 3. The leakage prevention member 7 is closely mounted onto
an upper end of the conduit 4 at the inner annular trench 71
thereof. The upper cover 5 is joined to the upper end of the main
body 2 with the vapor outlet 53 being disposed right above the
conduit 4, and with the annular protrusion 54 closely fitting into
the outer annular trench 72 of the leakage prevention member 7.
[0027] And, the holding portion of the upper cover 5 is held in the
holding space 21 of the main body 2 with the through hole 52 being
right above the valve 3.
[0028] Thus, a portion of the inverted water-containing bottle 6
can be passed through between the opposite supporting plates 55,
and the bottle neck 61 can be passed through the through hole 52 to
be connected to the valve 3. Referring to FIGS. 4, 5, and 6,
because the supporting plates 55 can pivot on the holding portion,
bottles 6 having relatively big circumferences still can be passed
through between the supporting plates 55; the torsion springs 552
can keep the supporting plates 55 in a sloping position after the
supporting plates 55 are forced to pivot to the sloping or vertical
position by bottles 6 having relatively big circumferences. In
other words, the torsion springs 552 will keep the supporting
plates 55 in sloping position with certain resistance if a bottle
connected to the valve 3 has such a circumference that the
supporting plates 55 are forced to pivot away from the usual
horizontal position by the bottle. Therefore, bottles with various
circumferences can be supported in a vertical position by the
supporting plates 55 even if the supporting plates 55 are
positioned in sloping position.
[0029] From the above description, it can be easily understood that
the humidifier according to the present invention has advantages as
followings:
[0030] 1. Vapor is can't possibly leak through the joint between
the conduit 4 and the vapor outlet 53 because of the leakage
prevention means.
[0031] 2. The water-containing bottle connected to the humidifier
can't possibly shake or tilt due to the supporting plates.
Therefore, there is no possibility of damage being caused to the
valve 3 connected to the neck of a water-containing bottle by
unwanted movement of the bottle.
* * * * *