Mixing Tap

Abstract

A mixing tap comprises a tap body with hot and cold water inlets and three outlets all communicating with an internal spherical housing in which a spherical control member with an external actuating handle is fluidtightly swivelably mounted. Three peripheral openings in the control member communicate with an inner mixing chamber, the actuating handle serving as means for moving the control member between positions in which the said inlets and outlets selectively communicate with the peripheral openings corresponding to a desired hot/cold water mixture and selection of one of the outlets by means of a grid guiding the handle. A valve clapper in the mixing chamber can be actuated to adjust the rate of flow of the desired mixture from the selected outlet by screw operated means on the handle.

Description

The present invention concerns manually adjustable mechanical mixing taps of the type comprising a tap body with two liquid inlets and at least one outlet, a control member mounted inside the tap body, and a single actuating or manoeuvring handle fixed to the control member.

In a known tap of this type, the control member has spherical headed valve clappers cooperating with elastic seats to control the passage of water through these seats which communicate with water inlet and outlet conduits. The construction of such a tap is, however, complicated and its operation is not entirely satisfactory.

The present invention aims to provide an improved mixing tap, i.e., of simpler construction and with a reliable operation.

The mixing tap according to the invention is characterised in that: the control member is spherical and comprises at least three peripheral openings for the inlet and outlet of fluids, these openings communicating with a mixing chamber inside the spherical control member; a valve clapper is mounted in this mixing chamber to adjust the rate of outlet of liquid therefrom, the actuating handle carrying a screw-operated member for actuating this clapper in any position of the spherical control member; and the tap body comprises a concave spherical housing in which the spherical control member is mounted in a fluidtight manner and having means (namely slot-like openings) for establishing, in cooperation with the peripheral openings of the control member, the desired communication with said liquid inlets and said at least one liquid outlet of the tap body according to the position given to the control member.

In a preferred embodiment, the control member is formed of two hemispherical parts, an elastic joint being disposed between these two parts to press them against the concave housing of the tap body in a manner to enable the taking up of play.

The accompanying drawings show, by way of example, two embodiments of taps according to the invention. In the drawings:

FIGS. 1 to 3 are axial cross sections of a first embodiment of mixing tap in three different positions;

FIG. 4 is a cross section taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a cross-section taken along line 5--5 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a cross-section taken along line 6--6 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is an axial cross sectional view of the second embodiment of mixing tap in a particular position;

FIG. 8 is a cross section similar to FIG. 7, but taken at 90.degree.,

FIG. 9 is a view from above the tap body looking along the direction indicated by arrows 9 in FIG. 8; and

FIG. 10 is a cross section of a detail of FIG. 7.

The mixing tap shown in FIGS. 1 to 6 is of the manually adjustable mechanical type and comprises a tap body 10, a spherical control member 11 mounted inside the body 10 and a single handle, designated generally by 12, fixed to the control member 11. The tap body, as shown in FIG. 4, comprises an inlet 13 for hot water (arrow C), an inlet 14 for cold water (arrow F), and three outlets 15, 16 and 17 respectively for a wash basin (arrow L), a bath (arrow B) and a shower (arrow D).

Of course, it would be possible to have a tap body with only a single outlet, for example for a wash basin, or with two outlets.

The hot and cold water inlets 13 and 14 are respectively connected to conduits 13' and 14' in the body 10. Similarly, the outlets 15, 16 and 17 are connected to respective conduits 15', 16' and 17'.

The tap body 10 additionally comprises a substantially frusto-spherical recess 18 in which a joint 19 in plastics material is arranged. The control member 11 is mounted in the joint 19 and a substantially hemispherical cover 20 is fixed to the body 10 by means of a nut 21 threadably engaging the body 10 and gripping a flange 20' of the cover 20, the inner surfaces of the joint 18 and cover 20 forming a concave spherical housing fluidtightly receiving the spherical control member 11. A pin 42 (FIG. 3) angularly locks the cover 20 on the body 10.

The handle 12 is fixed to the control member 11 by means of a rod 22 of hexagonal cross section having at one end a screw thread 23 engaging in a corresponding tapped bore of an actuating knob 24 carried by the handle 12. To the other end of the rod 22 is screwed a valve clapper 25 provided with a sealing ring 26. The rod 22 is slidably mounted in a tubular projection 27, also of hexagonal cross section (FIG. 6), made in one piece with a part 28 fixed in a fluidtight manner to the control member 11, an O-ring 29 being arranged between the two for this purpose. The part 28 is of square cross-section over a portion of its length and of circular cross-section over another portion of its length (FIG. 6). The clapper 25 is movable in a mixing chamber 30 inside the spherical member 11 from an open position (shown in FIG. 1) to a closed position (shown in FIG. 2) in which the ring 26 is applied against a seat formed in the member 11. This clapper 25 serves for adjustment of the rate of outflow of liquid, as will be described further on.

The knob 24 is retained on an internally threaded sleeve 31 with an outer hexagonal portion by means of a ring 32. This sleeve 31 is screwed onto a part-spherical dome 33 itself fixed on the tubular projection 27 by means of nuts 34. Two balls 35 are disposed between the inner surface of the dome 33 and the cover 20 and serve to guide the handle 12, as will be described hereinafter.

The spherical part of control member 11 comprises five slot-like openings for the inlet and outlet of liquids, namely: an opening 36 for the inlet of hot water, an opening 37 for the inlet of cold water, an opening 38 for outlet to a wash basin, an opening 39 for outlet to a bath, and an opening 40 for outlet to a shower. The hot and cold water openings 36, 37 communicate with the mixing chamber 30 by passages 36' and 37' respectively leading into the seat of clapper 25.

Additionally, the conduits 13', 14', 15', 16' and 17' are all extended through the joint 19 to lead to inner slot-like openings in this joint adapted to cooperate with the peripheral openings 36 to 40 of the spherical control member 11 to set up desired communications with either or both of the hot and cold water inlets as well as with a selected outlet according to the position given to the control member 11 by means of the handle 12.

To guide this handle 12 in the positions corresponding to the different settings of the mixture of liquids, the tap body 10 or, as shown, the underside of the dome 33 has two symmetrical grids, each formed by three grooves (shown in dashed lines in FIG. 3) only a single one of these grooves, 41, 41' being shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The balls 35 of the cover 20 each cooperate with the grooves of one of the grids. Each groove corresponds to the adjustment of the tap on one of the three outlets 15', 16', and 17' and the handle 12 can be moved along any groove into any position corresponding to a given setting of the mixture of hot and cold water passing out via the chosen outlet. For example, in FIG. 1 the balls 35 are each in a groove 41, 41' of the two symmetrical grids and the handle is located in the position corresponding to the wash basin outlet 15, 15'. The hot water opening 36 is aligned with the inlet conduit 13', the cold water opening 37 is closed by the joint 19 and the opening 38 is aligned with the wash basin outlet conduit 15'. In this extreme position, in which the balls 35 are each at a respective end of the respective groove 41, 41', only hot water will be supplied.

In FIG. 2, the handle 12 is located in the mid-way position with the openings 36 and 37 aligned with the hot and cold water inlets 13' and 14' respectively, the opening 38 still being aligned with the conduit 15'. In this position, there is an equal mixture of hot and cold water. However, in the position shown in FIG. 2, this mixture would not leave by the conduit 15' since the valve clapper 25 is closed. To open the clapper 25 and allow the mixture to flow through the conduit 15', the user turns the knob 24 to screw the thread 23 of the rod 22 into its nut thereby lifting up the clapper 25 from its seat.

In the other extreme position with the handle 12 fully inclined towards the right (looking at FIG. 1), each of the balls 35 is located at the other end of the grooves 41, 41', and only cold water will flow through the conduit 15'. The mixture of hot and cold water can therefore be set at will by choosing the inclination of the handle 12 along the selected pair of grooves.

In the position shown in FIG. 3, the handle 12 is placed with the balls 35 in the groove of the guide grids corresponding to supply of the mixture to the outlet conduit 17' for the shower. The handle 12 is shown, as for FIG. 1, with the balls 35 in the middle of their respective grooves, so that the control member 11 has its hot and cold water inlets equally uncovered, whilst the opening 40 is permanently in communication with the outlet conduit 17' for the shower. By moving the handle 12 into the appropriate extreme position of the balls 35 in their grooves, solely hot or cold water is delivered through the slot 40 to the conduit 17'.

The same operation is obtained when the balls 35 are positioned in the third grooves, corresponding to supplying the mixture in the outlet conduit 16' for the bath. The three grooves of each grid are joined by a centrally located through-groove (FIG. 3), so that the balls 35 can be moved from one groove to another by firstly placing the handle with the balls 35 in the middle of the grooves, for example as shown in FIG. 2, and then inclining the handle to move the ball from one groove to another, for example to the FIG. 3 position.

In a variant, the tap body or a part integral therewith may comprise a grid with slots each corresponding to one outlet, any position of the handle in a slot corresponding to a given setting of the mixture of liquids in the respective outlet.

The described mixing tap is advantageous in that it comprises a single handle simultaneously enabling: (1) adjustment of the rate as well as the mixture of the delivered liquid: (2) selection of the apparatus to be used (bath, shower, or wash basin); and (3) assurance of a reliable shutting of the tap for any position of this handle.

The mechanical mixing tap shown in FIGS. 7 to 10 comprises a tap body 50 with two hot and cold water inlets 51, 52 and an outlet 53, indicated by the arrows in FIGS. 7 and 8. A spherical control member 54 is mounted in a hemispherical housing 55 of the tap body 50 and an actuating handle 56 is fixed to the control member 54.

A corresponding upper half for the hemispherical housing 55 is formed in a dome 57 fixed on the tap body 50 by means of a threaded sleeve 58 screwed into a cylindrical extension 59 to the dome 57 surrounding the said body 50.

The control member 54 is formed of two hollow hemispherical parts 60, 61, the part 60, shown in detail in FIG. 10, being integral with a tube 62 slotted at 63 and whose inner section is hexagonal. The tube 62 passes through an elongate opening 57' in the upper part of the dome 57 and is provided with outer protuberances 64 slotted at 65, as indicated in FIG. 8. These protuberances 64 are adapted to engage in a corresponding housing 66 provided in the handle 56, as will be described in detail hereinafter.

An elastic joint 67 is disposed between the two hemispherical parts 60, 61 of the control member 54 and serves to urge these parts against the inner wall of the spherical housing comprised between the tap body 50 and the dome 57.

The hollow interior of the spherical control member 54 forms a chamber 68 having hot and cold water inlet openings 69 and 70 respectively and an outlet opening 71, all provided in the hemispherical part 61.

A valve clapper 72 is mounted in the chamber 68 to adjust the rate of outlet of water through the opening 71. This clapper 72 comprises, on the one hand, a sealing joint 73 adapted to come to bear against a seat 74 of the clapper and, on the other hand, a rod 75 of hexagonal section mating with the internal shape of the tube 62 and terminating with a screw 76 screwing into the knob 56.

The described tap is assembled as follows:

The hemispherical part 60 is placed in the dome 57 with its tube 62 passing through the opening 57'.

The handle 56 is forced onto the tube 62 which deforms elastically to allow the protuberances 64 to pass into the housing 66 where they axially retain the handle on the part 60.

The screw 76 of the clapper 72 is then introduced into the tube 62 with the hexagonal rod 75 in engagement with the inner wall of corresponding shape of the tube 62.

Next, the handle 56 is screwed onto the screw 76 so that the clapper 72 is brought inside the part 60 into the position shown in FIG. 7.

The hemispherical part 61 is then mounted on the part 60; the tap body 50 is brought against the part 61 and the sleeve 58 is finally screwed into the extension 59 of the dome 57 to hold the various parts of the described tap in place. The joint 67 disposed between the hemispherical parts 60 and 61 is compressed so that it elastically holds these parts pressed against the spherical inner surface of the hemispherical housing 55 and of the dome 57, thus ensuring fluidtightness of the control member 54 in its housing as well as taking up any play.

Operation of the described tap is as follows:

In the position shown in FIG. 7, the axis of the handle 56 is inclined in relation to the axis of the tap body 50 so that the tube 62 of the control member 54 is located at the extreme left of the opening 57' and the cold water inlet opening 70 is obturated by the inner wall of the hemispherical housing 55 of the tap body 50. The hot water inlet opening 69 is in communication with the hot water supply conduit 51 of the tap body. Hot water thus passes into the chamber 68 and, the clapper 72 being open, passes out through the opening 71 which communicates with the outlet conduit 53.

In FIG. 8, the clapper 72 is shown applied against its seat 74, this position being reached by turning the handle 56 in the clockwise direction.

By placing the handle 56 in the mid-way position along the opening 57', the inlet openings 69 and 70 are each located partly facing the hot and cold water inlets respectively. Mixing thus takes place in the chamber 68 and, when the clapper 72 is in the open position, the mixture passes out through the opening 71 which is facing the outlet conduit 53.

A feature of the latter described mixing tap is that by turning the handle 56 to close the clapper 72 against its seat 74, this handle tends to lift up in relation to the rod 75 if turning is continued whilst the sealing joint 73 is applied against the seat 74. This relative movement of the handle 56 results in gripping the slotted end of the tube 62 against the clapper rod 75 by means of the protuberances 64 cooperating with the inclined walls of the housing 66 for the handle. This rod 75, as well as the handle 56, is therefore locked in position by a self-gripping effect and the material of joint 73 is consequently not squashed against the seat, which increases its useful life.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A manually adjustable mechanical mixing tap, comprising a tap body having two inlets and at least one outlet for the passage of liquids; a spherical housing in said tap body and communicating with said inlets and outlet; a spherical control member fluidtightly swivelably mounted in said housing and movable in all directions within said spherical housing; said control member comprising an inner mixing chamber with at least three peripheral openings for the inlet and outlet of liquids, and two spherical elements with an elastic ring between said two elements for pressing said two spherical elements against said spherical housing to render said tap fluid-tight; a single external actuating handle fixed to said control member, said handle being means for moving said control member between positions in which said inlets and said at least one outlet of said tap body selectively communicated with said peripheral openings of the control member; means in said chamber for setting the rate of outlet flow of liquid from said chamber and having a closing member and seat against which said closing member is bearable, said handle including screw-operated means for adjustably controlling all positions of said means for setting the rate of outlet flow of liquid from said chamber; and means for limiting the pressure of said closing member against said seat and thereby limit the pressure of said spherical elements against said housing.

2. A tap according to claim 1, in which the said inlets and outlet communicate with said spherical housing by slot-like openings.

3. A tap according to claim 1, in which said means for setting the rate of outlet of liquid from the chamber comprise a valve clapper having an elastic sealing joint which can be applied against a seat in said chamber delimiting an outlet opening of the chamber, said limiting means further comprising self-gripping means for rotationally locking said screw-operated means when the handle is turned to a position corresponding to closing of the clapper against its seat.