Leak-proof Laminar Flow Device

Abstract

This invention covers a fluid flow device for a spout, the device producing a single laminar flow stream and being substantially free of leakage. The device embodies an upstream perforated disk yielding divergent jets of water, two (or more) curved screens downstream of the disk and pointed in the downstream direction, and a body having a ledge or ledges upon which the screens are mounted and having a discharge port of reduced diameter emitting a single laminar stream which is substantially splashless within a range of practical fluid flow rates. The perforated disk also includes a so-called crush ring molded peripherally at the upstream end of the disk, the crush ring contacting a flat ring within the faucet spout to form a barrier or obstruction to prevent leakage through the threaded segments of the device.

Parent Case Text

This application is a continuation-in-part of our application Ser. No. 332,982, filed Feb. 15, 1973, assigned to the same assignee, said earlier application disclosing aerating apparatus for spouts and faucets. The present application discloses non-aerating apparatus, i.e., apparatus which does not receive air to be mixed with water for the discharge of a fluid combining water and the received air.

Description

This invention relates to spouts and faucets and, more particularly, to non-aerated devices attachable or otherwise connectable to spouts and faucets for producing a laminar flow from the spouts or faucets. More particularly, this invention relates to such non-aerated devices which are substantially free of leakage through the threaded or other segments employed for attaching the device to the spouts or faucets.

Heretofore, an aerator device of any conventional type was connected to a spout or faucet for producing a laminar stream. The aerator device, as is well known, embodies a jet-producing perforated diaphragm or disk, as well as an opening of some size for receiving air which is to be mixed with the jets of water traversing the diaphragm or disk to form a stream containing a mixture of water and air to be discharged by the aerator device. Such a device is costly and, moreover, may receive dirt or filth or other contaminants through the opening through which the air is admitted into the device. Furthermore, the air volume for a relatively good aerator device is something approximating 50 percent of the volume of water traversing the aerator and, as soon as the mixture of air and water leaves the device, the air disperses rather rapidly. Hence, a glass full of aerated water would, in a very short time, reduce to about a half glass of water. The above-noted factors are sometimes considered undesirable and they have handicapped the use of aerator devices.

According to the present invention, a non-aerated device is disclosed for connection to a spout or faucet for yielding a single laminar flow stream substantially free of air and substantially splashless upon impact against the basin or other object against which it is directed. The device also is constructed so as to be substantially free of leakage, notwithstanding the unavoidable miniature openings provided by the threads of the device used for connection to a spout or faucet.

The device of this invention will include an apertured diaphragm or disk at the upstream end of the body of the device, two or more screens all curved in the downstream direction and positioned on a ledge or ledges of the body of the device at a position downstream of the diaphragm or disk, and the body will have a discharge port which will be relatively smaller than the internal cross-sectional dimensions of the body of the device to discharge water in the form of a single laminar stream. The diaphragm or disk preferably will include means for converting water entering the device into a plurality of water jets, each jet diverging as it leaves its opening in the diaphragm or disk. The diverging jets emanating from the openings of the diaphragm or disk will travel through a relatively low pressure region to reach the curved screens which serve to coordinate the fluid components of the various jets to yield, through the discharge port of the device, a coordinated single laminar stream. Furthermore, the diaphragm or disk of the device will include a superimposed crush ring, usually brought into steady contact with a flat peripheral plate contained within the spout or faucet to which the device is threadedly connected so as to confine the water path to the region of the openings of the diaphragm or disk, but any water passing over the rim of the crush ring will be sucked into the main water path of the device by virtue of the reduced pressure developed in the space between the diaphragm or disk and the uppermost screen. Hence, leakage from the device will be minimized, if not fully eliminated.

This invention will be better and more clearly understood from the more detailed description and explanation hereinafter following when read in connection with the accompanying drawing exhibiting certain forms of the device for attachment to spouts or faucets in which:

FIG. 1 shows one form of the spout-end device, such as is involved in the present invention, applied to a spout or faucet;

FIG. 2 illustrates an enlarged cross-sectional view of one form of the spout-end device according to this invention, taken along lines 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 represents an enlarged top plan view of the disk or diaphragm employed in this invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates an enlarged cross-sectional view of the disk or diaphragm taken along lines 4--4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 designates an enlarged bottom plan view of the disk or diaphragm as shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 shows an enlarged partial segmental view of the crush ring structure; and

FIG. 7 shows an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of another form of the spout-end structure according to this invention.

The same or similar reference characters will be employed to designate the same or similar parts wherever they may occur throughout the drawing.

Referring to the drawing, and especially to FIGS. 2 to 5, there is shown a generally cylindrical body 1 in which are mounted, at or near the top of the body 1, a perforated diaphragm or disk 2 and two screens 3 and 4, both of which are formed at different curvatures in the downstream direction. These four components are all that are required to practice the invention in producing a substantially single laminar splashless stream of water substantially free of aeration.

It will be observed from FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 that the diaphragm or disk 2 includes, for illustration, three concentric groups of substantially identical perforations or apertures designated 5, 6 and 7, each group having overhanging projections 8, 9 and 10 so that incoming water randomly received from the supply pipe will be formed into groups of corresponding concentric jets of water determined by the number of perforations in the disk 2. The overhanging projections 8, 9 and 10 will cause the incoming water to be deflected toward the centers of the individual apertures as it enters the upstream end of the diaphragm 2, thereby producing, as each jet stream leaves its aperture of the diaphragm 2, a diverging water jet upon entrance into the low pressure region 11. These various divergent jets will be caused to traverse the curved screens 3 and 4 which may have different meshes, the upstream screen 3, for example, having a coarser mesh than the downstream screen 4. These screens 3 and 4 coordinate the many divergent jets into a substantially continuous stream which is confined within the bevelled wall 12 of the body 1. The coordinated stream of water will reach the discharge port 13 and will exit as a single laminar stream substantially free of air.

Thus, water travelling through a spout or faucet, whether in a lavatory or a kitchen fixture, will be formed by the apertured disk 2 into a plurality of water jets which are not cylindrical but are substantially divergent, i.e., frusto-conical, and these divergent or frusto-conical water jets will be caused to coalesce and coordinate in their passage through the screens 3 and 4 and then become fully unified as they leave the reduced diameter discharge port 13, thereby developing and producing a single laminar stream substantially free of air.

The screen 3 is shown mounted on a peripheral ledge 14. If desired, two or more identically curved screens may be mounted on ledge 14, the screens being fully in contact with each other. The screen 4 is shown supported at the upper rim of the bevelled step 12. If desired, two or more identically curved screens may be located at the top of step 12. It will be understood that the screens 3 and 4 may be oversized screens which are press-fitted into their respective positions within the housing 1.

The diaphragm 2 embodies a crush ring 16 which is superimposed upon and is preferably molded into the upstream side of the diaphragm 2. The crush ring 16 is generally brought into intimate contact with the underside of a substantially flat ring 17 which may be part of the conventional spout or faucet 18 to which the body 1 is threadedly connected at 19. The crush ring 16, when it is brought into firm contact with the flat ring 17, deforms somewhat as shown in FIG. 6 and presents a barrier or dam tending to plug the device against water leakage over the rim or dam formed by crush ring 16 and through the crevices of the threaded segment 19 which connects body 1 to faucet 18. The seal thus provided against water leakage, which is effected by having the ring 16 in firm contact with the flat ring 17, will ofttimes be sufficient to achieve the intended objective. However, the diaphragm 2 embodies a plurality of peripheral openings 20 which aid in rendering the device substantially leak-proof, especially under higher water pressures. The peripheral openings 20 communicate through openings 21 with the low pressure chamber region 11 which creates a suction, that is, a pressure below atmospheric pressure in the region between crush ring 16 and the threads 19. The suction will attract any water reaching beyond the crush ring 16 into the openings 20 and 21 due to the reduced pressure in chamber region 11, causing any such leakage to be diverted to join the jet streams reaching the chamber region 11. Thus, water leakage is effectively eliminated and at the same time, any such water traversing the openings 20 and 21 will be combined with and added to the water jets formed by apertured disk 2, then forming the single laminar stream discharged through the discharge port 13.

The body 1 may include a peripheral opening or openings 22 which are designed to receive a special key (not shown) used for threadedly driving the body 1 into firm contact within the spout or faucet 18 or for removing the device 1 from the spout or faucet 18. The openings 22 do not communicate with the chamber region 11 and hence air is not drawn into the device 1.

The screen 3 is a relatively heavy screen of, say, 24 .times. 24 mesh. The other screen 4 is preferably of a finer mesh, such as 40 .times. 40 mesh. The discharge port 13 -- the narrowest segment of body 1 -- may have a diameter of, say, 0.650 inches. The chamber region 11 may have a substantial sub-atmospheric pressure when water flows therethrough.

A modified form of device for generating a single laminar stream is shown in FIG. 7. This device includes a body 30, a similar perforated disk 2, and three curved contiguous screens 31, 32 and 33 which are in intimate contact with each other and mounted on a tapered ledge 34, all screens being pointed downstream, as shown. The body 30 has a second tapered ledge 35 separated from ledge 34 by a narrow cylindrical wall segment 36. A similar body structure for non-aerated fluid flow is disclosed in Pat. No. 3,730,439 of Richard G. Parkison, issued May 1, 1973. The discharge port 37 feeds a single laminar stream substantially free of air. The modified device of FIG. 7 is, of course, threadedly connectable to a faucet, such as 18 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. When so connected, it will convert the random flowing water traversing the faucet 18 and turning the sharp corner adjacent its end into a smooth laminar single stream which is coordinated through its travel to the basin of a sink or lavatory and is substantially splashless as it strikes the basin or any other object.

In the forms of spout-end structures shown in FIGS. 2 and 7, a pressurized turbulent stream, fed through a spout from a conventional water supply pipe, is divided by the perforated disk 2 into a plurality of frusto-conical water jets which are composed of water particles spreading out as they travel downwardly through a chamber region, such as 11, which is at subatmospheric pressure. Then the jet streams encounter screens which act to finely divide the applied water jets into finer particles and confine all of the water components to a relatively narrow discharge port, such as 13, to yield a single laminar non-aerated stream. The spout-end structure also embodies a mechanism for preventing water leakage by causing the same sub-atmospheric pressure chamber region to suck into the main water stream the water that might otherwise leak through the threaded region 19.

Although FIGS. 2 and 7 respectively illustrate two and three substantially curved screens for explanatory purposes. Any number of similarly curved screens may be interposed between the perforated disk 2 and the discharge port 13. If the screens are spaced from each other as shown in FIG. 2, the screens should preferably have substantially different meshes, but they should be arranged so that the finest meshes are at the downstream end and the coarsest meshes are nearest to disk 2. If the screens are in intimate contact with each other as shown in FIG. 7, the screens may have identical sturdy meshes and their meshes should be arranged to have different angular positions with respect to each other.

Although the disk 2 has been exemplified as having substantially rectangular apertures (see FIG. 5), these apertures alternatively may be circular, elliptical or of any other desired cross-section. The disk should include means for diverging the plural jet streams and the diverging means may be molded or otherwise formed either on the upstream side of the disk, as shown, or on its downstream side.

Common to the two spout-end structures illustrated, for example, in FIGS. 2 and 7, are a perforated diaphragm, such as 2, a plurality of screens, such as the two spaced screens 3 and 4 shown in FIG. 2, or the three contiguous screens shown in FIG. 7, and an intermediate space or chamber 11 providing a region of sub-atmospheric pressure between the disk 2 and the specified screens. The sub-atmospheric pressure is developed principally by the high velocity jet streams traversing the apertures in the disk 2. These jet streams, as already noted, are frusto-conical in contour, and the slope of the contour in a confined space such as 11 depends upon a number of factors, such as the pressure of the incoming water reaching the disk 2, the number of apertures in the disk 2, their cross-sectional areas and their shapes, etc. The presence of sub-atmospheric pressure during the flow of water serves to change the slope of the several jet streams traversing the disk 2 so that the jet streams may reach outwardly, whereby adjacent streams will tend to more clearly overlap each other. Virtually the entire surface of the screens will then be supplied with water. The sub-atmospheric pressure region also introduces the suction effect which acts to diminish, if not eliminate, possible leakage over the dam 16 and through the threaded segment 19. The several screens will break down the traversing water components into finely divided, quite minute water particles so that they may be coordinated and coalesced. Aided by the sloping walls, such as 12 of FIG. 2, and 34 and 35 of FIG. 7 of the body 1, and aided also by the curvatures of the screens which are pointed in the downstream direction, the water elements will be joined together into a single, well confined stream which is emitted as a non-aerated stream through the discharge port designated 13 in FIG. 2 and designated 37 in FIG. 7. The stream will also be substantially splashless.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A non-aerated device for attachment to a spout or faucet for converting the water randomly flowing through the spout or faucet into a single laminar stream substantially free of air, said device comprising a disk having a plurality of substantially equal parallel jet-forming perforations therein parallel to the axis of said device, said disk including means overhanging said perforations for causing the water flowing through said perforations to diverge so that the water jets are divergent in form as they exit from said perforations, said disk also having peripheral openings for receiving water which does not flow through said perforations; and a plurality of screens positioned downstream from said disk and forming a region of sub-atmospheric pressure between said disk and said screens, the screen nearest said disk having a mesh which is coarser than the screen farthest from said disk, and said screens being of spherical or concaval shapes bulging toward the downstream direction in said device, said device being further arranged so that water which passes through said peripheral openings in said disk is drawn into said region of sub-atmospheric pressure and is there joined with said water jets exiting from said perforations in said disk, and said device having its smallest internal cross-sectional area at its discharge end.

2. A non-aerated device in accordance with claim 1, in which the perforations in the disk are substantially rectangular in cross section.

3. A non-aerated device in accordance with claim 1, in which the diverging means of the disk provides paths adjacent the perforations of the disk to channel the water entering the perforations in directions which differ from the axial directions of the respective perforations.

4. A non-aerated device in accordance with claim 1, in which the peripheries of the respective screens are positioned along respective parallel transverse planes spaced from each other.

5. A non-aerated device for attachment to a spout or faucet for producing a substantially laminar stream, comprising a body attachable to the discharge end of the spout or faucet, a perforated disk mounted within the body near its upstream end for converting incoming water into a plurality of jet streams, said disk including overhanging segments to cause the water entering the apertures of the disk to be rendered turbulent, said disk having peripheral openings which are shielded from the apertures of the disk so as to substantially preclude the flow of water through said peripheral openings, and means for dividing the jet streams into small water components so that they may be coordinated, said means including a plurality of screens adjacent to, but upstream of, the discharge end of the body, said screens being concavally curved and their curvatures being pointed in the downstream direction, the discharge end of the body having the smallest cross-sectional dimension of the body to taper the discharged stream, whereby the discharged stream emanating from the device will be a single coordinated laminar non-aerated stream.

6. A device according to claim 5 in which the meshes of the screens are different, the finer meshed screens being adjacent the discharge end of the device.

7. A device according to claim 6 in which the disk has a continuous peripheral protruding lip cylindrically formed on the upstream side of the disk tending to divert incoming water to the perforations of the disk.

8. A device for attachment to a spout or faucet for converting the water randomly flowing through the spout or faucet into a single laminated stream substantially free of air, comprising a disk having a plurality of substantially equal parallel axially aligned jet-forming perforations therein, said disk including means for diverging the water flowing through said perforations so that the emitted water jets are divergent as they exit from the perforations, a plurality of screens positioned downstream of the disk and forming a sub-atmospheric pressure region between the disk and said screens, the screen nearest the disk having a mesh which is coarser than the screen farthest from the disk, said screens being of spherical or concaval shapes and pointed in the downstream direction, the device having its smallest internal cross-sectional area at its discharge port, the disk including peripheral openings for receiving water which does not flow through said perforations, the latter water being drawn into the sub-atmospheric region and being joined to the jets emitted by the disk.

9. A device for attachment to a spout or faucet for producing a substantially laminar stream, comprising a body attachable to the discharge end of the spout or faucet, a perforated disk mounted within the body near its upstream end for converting incoming water into a plurality of jet streams, said disk including overhanging segments to cause the water entering the apertures of the disk to be rendered turbulent, and means for dividing the jet streams into small water components so that they may be coordinated, said means including a plurality of screens adjacent to, but upstream of, the discharge end of the body, said screens being concavally curved and their curvatures being pointed in the downstream direction, the meshes of the screens being different, the finer meshed screens being adjacent the discharge end of the body, the discharge end of the body having the smallest cross-sectional dimension of the body to taper the discharged stream, whereby the discharged stream emanating from the body will be a single coordinated laminar non-aerated stream, the disk including peripheral openings communicating with the space intervening between the disk and said screens to draw water which avoids the perforations of the disk.

10. A device for attachment to a spout or faucet for producing a substantially laminar stream, comprising a body attachable to the discharge end of the spout or faucet, a perforated disk mounted within the body near its upstream end for converting incoming water into a plurality of jet streams, said disk including overhanging segments to cause the water entering the apertures of the disk to be rendered turbulent, and means for dividing the jet streams into small water components so that they may be coordinated, said means including a plurality of screens adjacent to, but upstream of, the discharge end of the body, said screens being concavally curved and their curvatures being pointed in the downstream direction, the meshes of the screens being different, the finer meshed screens being adjacent the discharge end of the body, the discharge end of the body having the smallest cross-sectional dimension of the body to taper the discharged stream, whereby the discharged stream emanating from the body will be a single coordinated laminar non-aerated stream, the disk including peripheral openings communicating with the space intervening between the disk and said screens to draw water which avoids the perforations of the disk, and the disk having a continuous peripheral protruding lip on the upstream side of the disk tending to divert incoming water to the perforations of the disk.