Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~;VO 96/11124 PCl'/A~
- 219~546
. .
SHOWER CUBICLE
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to shower cubicles, and in particular
to shower cubicles adapted for incorporation in a confined space,
5 such as is often found, for example, in a mobile home, a boat or
the like. The invention is primarily described in relation to a
mobile home of the kind referred to as a motor home which is,
frequently at any rate, a small bus-type vehicle fitted out
internally with cupboards, toilets, and a small stove, bunks, and
10 fittings of that nature, but is not restricted to that embodiment.
The invention is well adapted for incorporation in any portable or
permanent structure in which space and floor area are limited.
BACKGROUND ART
In most motor homes it is necessary to have a shower
15 recess or a shower cubicle, and that normally also contains a
toilet and a wash hand basin.
When not in use, the shower cubicle is objectionable, in
that it is obtrusive and takes up considerable floor area that
could, with advantage be used for other purposes.
20French patent 2252-073 shows a shower cubicle which is
expansible by virtue of sliding overlapping walls. Thus it admits
WO 96111124 ~ PCTIAU95100645
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of the pc s l~-ly of reducing the floor area occupied by the
cubicle when not in use. However, the degree of reduction in
respect of either of its main plan dimensions is not very large, as
dictated by the requirement that, for aesthetic reasons and so as
to provide a flat floor externally of the cubicle when contracted, its
drainage floor pan requires to be enclosed by the walls at all
times. Moreover, the disclosed arrangement, involving sliding
extension of all four walls, is complex and, therefore, expensive
to manufacture.
10 DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a
size adjustable shower cubicle that may be contracted from an in
use configuration to an appreciably smaller stand-by
configuration that is simple to make and operate, that provides a
15 considerable diminution of one plan dimension when changed
down in size, and yet which provides a substantially flat external
floor when contracted.
The invention consists in a shower cubicle comprising a
floor of which at least a part is recessed to constitute a drainage
20 pan, a rear wall extending substantially along a rear edge of the
floor, two extendable and co"L,~.ildble side walls generally
coinciding with respective side edges of the floor, a transldliol -lly
movable front wall, a pan cover panel projecting hol i~ul: 'Iy
. = . . _ _ _ _ _ _ _
WO 96111124 219 7 5 ~ 6 PC'r~AU95/00645
outwardly from the foot of the front wall; said cubicle admitting of
two configurations, namely an in-use configuration, wherein the
side walls are extended and the front wall suL sl~nlic.l~y ,, ,, .. ,~;ides
with a front edge of the floor, and a stand-by configuration,
S wherein the side walls are contracted, the front wall is spaced
behind the front edge of the drainage pan and the pan cover
panel extends over that part of the drainage pan which is then in
front of the front wall.
In preferred embodiments, the cubicle further comprises
10 operating means for shifting from either configuration to the
other.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is plan view of a shower cubicle according to the
invention, fitted in a mobile home and shown in its in-use
15 configuration.
Figure 2 is a side elevation of the shower cubicle shown in
figure 1.
Figure 3 is a view similar to figure 1 showing the cubicle of
figure 1 in its stand-by configuration.
Figure 4 is a side elevation of the shower cubicle shown in
figure 3.
WO 96111124 ,. ; ~ PCT/~ 15
21975~6
Figure 5 is a sectional detail view taken on line 5-5 of
figure 3.
Figure 6 is an enlarged detail of a runner appearing within
enclosure 6 in figure 5.
Figure 7 is a view taken generally in the direction of the
arrow marked 7 in figure 6 showing the runner of that figure in its
extended configuration.
Figure 8 is a detail front elevation of a cover panel viewed
along line 8-8 of that figure.
Figure 9 is an enlarged sectional detail view taken on
line 9-9 of figure 7.
BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
By way of example, an embodiment of the above described
invention is described in more detail hereinafter with reference to
1~ the accompanying drawings.
The walls and floor of the illustrated cubicle comprise a
fixed unit and a movable unit.
The fixed unit constitutes the cubicle's rear wall 10, two
fixed panels 11 and 12 respectively of its extendable and
_ _ _ _ _ , . .
W0 96111124 l g 75~ ~ PCT/~ 15
, !
contractable side walls and a floor 13 having a recessed zone 14
constituting the cubicle's drainage pan. The fixed unit is
preferably furnished with such conventional fixtures, for example,
a toilet bowl 15 and wash basin 16, as may be provided in a
5 particular instance, to enable permanent plumbing connections to
be made therewith.
The movable unit constitutes the cubicle's translationally
movable front wall 17, two movabie panels 18 and 19
respectively of its side walls, and its forwardly extending cover
10 panel 20. In the present instance the movable side wall panel 15
incorporates a swing door 20 providing access to the cubicle
when in its in-use configuration.
Thus it will be seen that the movable unit rest in either of
two positions, to provide two corresponding configurations of the
15 cubicle, namely an in-use or extended configuration, as seen in
figures 1 and 2, where there is scarcely any overlap between the
fixed and movable panels of the respective side walls, and a
stand-by or contracted configuration, as seen in figures 3 and 4,
where there is considerable overlap between the panels of each
20 side wall.
In the in-use configuration the door 21 is available for entry
and exit into and from the cubicle and the drain pan 14 is wholly
enclosed by the cubicle walls. In the present instance the pan
cover 20 is then resident under a cupboard unit 22 of the motor
W0 961111t4 . PCT/AV ~
2i9~
! .'~ ' 6
home, but that of course is not essential to the invention.
In the stand-by configuration a passageway is provided
between the contracted cubicle and the cupboard unit 22, and
the cover panel 20 extends over that part of the drain pan 14,
s which would otherwise be exposed in the floor of the passage.
For preference the cover panel is mounted so that it is flush with
the passage floor adjacent to it. To that end the outboard end of
the cover panel may be suspended by bearing blocks 23 from an
axle 24 provided with wheels 25 running in guide tracks 26
10 adjacent the edges of a cut out in the floor 27 of the mobile home
to accommodate the cover panel 20.
The movable unit may be moved between those two rest
positions by means, for example, of a linear actuator 28
extending between it and the fixed unit.
The linear actuator 28 is a conventional, off-the-shelf,
proprietary item not needing detailed description herein. It is
essentially a jack screw with a rotatable nut, or maybe the screw
itself is rotatable in a fixed nut. The rotatable component is
driven by a small electric motor through a reduction gearbox.
20 The actuator l, ~n~ ," "s the rotation of the motor to linear
movement of an exlensiol1 rod, and is aulun,~lically self-locking
in any particular position of extension.
For preference the movable unit is carried upon two
WO 96111124 PCT/AU95/00645
2197546
telescop c runners 29 of known kind. As may best be seen in
figure 7, each runner 29 comprises a fixed casing 30, fastened to
a fixed side wall panel 11 or 12 as the case may be, and at least
one, pr~r~lably two, roller mounted bearers 31 and 32 houseable
s within the fixed casing, but which can move outwardly from it.
The outermost bearer 32 is fixed to the corresponding movable
side wall panel 18 or 19. When extended, each bearer still has
two spaced apart rollers lodged within either the fixed casing or
the other upstream bearer, so that it is rigid in the sense that it
10 can carry weight, in this case the weight of the movable walls, but
nevertheless moves freely in the longitudinal direction of the
runner.
Alternatively the moving unit may be suspended from a
ceiling mounted track.
The degree of overlap between the fixed and movable
panels (11 and 18 or 12 and 19 respectively) of the side walls
varies to accommodate the degree of e,~l~n~ion or contraction
thereof. In the in-use configuration the panels of each pair
scarcely overlap at all. Thus to prevent accidental full separation
20 and reduce water leakage the front upright edge of each fixed
~ panel and the rear upright edge of each movable panel are
preferably furnished with inter-engagable sealing means, such
as the hook formations 33 shown in figure 9. In other
embodiments each one of said at least two extendable and
25 contractable side walls may be in the form of more than one
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2 1 ~ 7 5 ~ 6
sliding panel or may be a plurality of hingedly connected panels
providing for extension in the manner of a conce, Li"a.
In other embodiments of the invention the linear actuator
described above may be replaced by other powered or manually
5 operable operating means for thrusting the movable unit from
one position to another. Indeed in very simple embodiments no
such operating means beyond perhaps a handle on the front
wall or elsewhere to permit the movable unit to be readily
grasped and the change from one configuration to the other is
10 effected by hand.
