JP7617616B2 - Bathtub - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a bathtub.

Bathtubs have been developed that spray water from nozzles installed on the walls of the bathtub to provide a massage effect or relaxation effect while bathing.

Patent Document 1 discloses a bathtub that is equipped with a jet nozzle having a throttle structure and an intake pipe section adjacent to the nozzle that supplies air to the water jetted from the jet nozzle, allowing water containing air bubbles to be jetted from the nozzle.

JP 2000-245800 A

In the bathtub described in Patent Document 1, a throttle structure is provided in the flow path inside the jet nozzle, so the water that jets out from the nozzle is dispersed over a wide area. This creates the problem that it is not possible to apply strong pressure, such as with finger pressure, to the shoulders or lower back, for example, with the water jet.

The present invention aims to provide a bathtub that can generate a water flow that exerts a strong pressure, similar to that of finger pressure, on the bather's body.

The bathtub of the present invention comprises a bathtub body having a wall and a bottom, and a jetting section provided on the inner surface of the bathtub body and having a flow path for jetting water. A supply path for supplying water to the flow path is formed inside the wall or the bottom, and the cross-sectional area of the flow path of the jetting section is formed to be a constant size.

In the bathtub of the present invention, the cross-sectional area of the flow path of the jetting portion may be configured to be smaller than the cross-sectional area of the supply path.

In the bathtub of the present invention, the jetting portion may protrude in a dome shape from the surface of the wall portion.

In the bathtub of the present invention, the bathtub and the jetting portion may be integrally constructed from ceramic.

The bathtub of the present invention includes a first nozzle row and a second nozzle row each consisting of a plurality of nozzles arranged circumferentially at different vertical positions, and both nozzle rows may be arranged such that the vertical positions of the nozzles that make up each row are staggered.

In the bathtub of the present invention, the diameter of the flow path of the jetting part may be configured to be 2 mm to 5 mm.

In the bathtub of the present invention, the flow path of the water jet is designed to be a fixed size. Therefore, when the bather brings a part of his/her body close to the jet, a strong pressure like finger pressure can be applied to the part of the body.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a bathtub according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a cross section of the region A shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from above. FIG. 3(a) is a plan view of a bathtub according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3(b) is a cross-sectional view of the bathtub. FIG. 4(a) is a plan view of a bathtub according to a third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4(b) is a cross-sectional view of the bathtub.

[First embodiment]

The following describes a bathtub 10, which is one embodiment of the present invention, with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the schematic configuration of the bathtub 10. In FIG. 1, cross-sectional hatching is omitted to avoid cumbersome illustration. As shown in FIG. 1, the bathtub 10 is a ceramic bathtub that is approximately rectangular in side view, and has a bathtub body having a bottom 11 and a wall 12. The bottom 11 is provided with a plug (not shown) for draining water, and the wall 12 is provided with a jetting section 20 for jetting water (hot water) into the bathtub. In addition, the wall 12 of the bathtub 10 is provided with a water intake port 14A and a supply port 14B, each of which is connected to a circulation pump 16. The circulation pump 16 has the role of sucking up water stored in the bathtub 10 from the water intake port 14A via a hose H1, and circulating the water sucked up via the hose H2 from the supply port 14B into the bathtub 10. This supply port 14B is configured to spray water from the spray part 20 into the bathtub 10 via a supply passage 12A with a substantially circular cross section formed inside the wall part 12.

The ejection section 20 is composed of nozzle rows 22, 23, and 24 provided on the inner wall surface 12S side of the wall section 12. The nozzle row 22 corresponds to the first nozzle row, and the nozzle row 23 corresponds to the second nozzle row. Each nozzle row 22, 23, and 24 is provided along the circumferential (substantially horizontal) direction and is arranged in order from the upper end side of the wall section 12 toward the bottom section 11 side. The nozzle row 22 is composed of a plurality of nozzles 22A, 22B, 22C, etc., arranged at equal intervals, and the other nozzle rows 23 and 24 are similar. In addition, the positions of the nozzles constituting the nozzle row 23 located in the middle stage are arranged so as to be staggered with the positions of the nozzles constituting the nozzle rows 22 and 24 located above and below. This allows the bather to sit in the bathtub and have the water spurting from the upper nozzle press against the area around the shoulder blades while the water spurting from the lower nozzle presses against the area around the spine, so that the water spurting from the center and sides of the body, which are different positions when viewed from above, can be pressed simultaneously.

Here, since the configuration of each nozzle constituting the nozzle rows 22 to 24 is the same, the nozzle 22A will be described as an example with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the cross-sectional configuration of the area A shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from above. In FIG. 2, the arrows shown by dashed lines indicate the flow of water. As shown in FIG. 2, the nozzle 22A has a bulging shape that bulges out in an approximately dome shape from the inner wall surface 12S of the wall portion 12, and a flow path 22A-1 having an approximately circular cross section is provided inside the nozzle 22A. The nozzle 22A is formed in a dome shape and has a rounded tip, so that it has the advantage that it does not hurt much even if you accidentally hit your leg against the nozzle 22A while bathing. This flow path 22A-1 is provided approximately horizontally from the supply path 12A formed inside the wall portion 12 toward the top of the nozzle 22A. It is preferable to form the length L of the flow path 22A-1 to be 15 mm or more. In addition, flow path 22A-1 is formed to have a smaller cross-sectional area than supply path 12A, and the diameter of flow path 22A is configured to be a constant size of 3 mm. Here, the diameter of flow path 22A-1 may be appropriately set to be in the range of 2 mm to 5 mm. With the above configuration, water supplied through supply path 12A can be forcefully ejected from nozzle 22A.

In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for installing ceramic bathtubs in tourist facilities and large bathing facilities as a way to attract customers. In addition, when making a bathtub from ceramics, the manufacturing process includes a firing step, which causes various parts of the bathtub to shrink after firing, resulting in a large variation in dimensions. For this reason, if you try to attach a resin or metal nozzle part to form a spray part after the bathtub is made, the shape of the attachment part on the bathtub wall will be deformed by firing, making it difficult to attach the above parts, and the installation work will be time-consuming.

In this embodiment, the nozzle rows 22-24 are formed from clay or the like in the same way as the bathtub 10, and are then integrated with the bathtub 10 through a firing process or the like. This prevents gaps or wobble between the nozzle rows 22-24 and the bathtub 10, and also reduces the effort required for installation. In this case, the supply channel 12A formed in the wall portion 12 and the flow path 22A-1 in the nozzle 22 can be formed by firing a string or the like that is embedded in the clay beforehand, or by forming a flow path in the clay using an appropriate drilling means and then firing the resulting product.

In the bathtub 10 of this embodiment, the flow paths in each nozzle that constitutes the nozzle rows 22-24 that spray water into the bathtub 10 are configured to have a constant diameter of 3 mm. Therefore, by bringing a part of the bather's body close to the nozzles that constitute the nozzle rows 22-24, a strong pressing force similar to finger pressure can be applied to that part of the bather's body.

[Second embodiment]

As shown in FIG. 3, the ceramic bathtub 110 according to the second embodiment differs from the bathtub 110 according to the first embodiment in that the ejection portion 120 is formed on the bottom portion 111. Below, the following description will focus on the configuration that differs from the first embodiment, and descriptions of similar configurations will be omitted as appropriate.

The jetting section 120 of the bathtub 110 according to this embodiment is a part that jets water from the bottom 111 of the bathtub 110, and is composed of multiple nozzle rows 122 and 123. The multiple nozzle rows 122 and 123 have a first nozzle row 122 and a second nozzle row 123 that are arranged in a concentric circle centered on the center of the bottom 111. The first nozzle row 122 has multiple nozzles 122A to 122G arranged at equal intervals on the outer concentric circle. The second nozzle row 123 also has multiple nozzles 123A to 123H arranged at equal intervals on the inner concentric circle. Here, the first nozzle row 122 and the second nozzle row 123 are arranged so that the nozzles 122A to 122G and 123A to 123H are staggered, but are not limited to such an staggered arrangement. In this embodiment, the water jet 120 is not located on a portion of the periphery of the bottom 111 where the bather sits. When the bather sits in this bathtub 110, the water jetted from the water jet 120 can press against the foot pots on the soles of the feet.

Here, the nozzles 122A to 122G and 123A to 123H have the same configuration, so we will use nozzle 122D as an example to explain. Nozzle 122D has a bulging shape that bulges out from the bottom surface of the bottom 111 in an approximately dome shape, and inside it is provided a flow path 122D-1 with an approximately circular cross section. Like nozzle 22A in the first embodiment, nozzle 122D is formed in a dome shape, and its tip is rounded, so that a bather will not feel hurt when stepping on nozzle 122D. This flow path 122D-1 is provided approximately vertically from a supply path (first supply path 111A) formed on the inner surface of the bottom 111 toward the top of nozzle 122D-1. The length and cross-sectional area of the flow path 122D-1 are formed in the same way as flow path 22A-1 in the first embodiment.

In this embodiment, the first supply path 111A, the second supply path 111B, and the third supply path 111C are formed in the bottom 111, and water output from the circulation pump 16 is supplied to the flow path 122D-1 through these supply paths 111A to 111C. The first supply path 111A is formed concentrically in the bottom 111 so as to correspond to the first nozzle row 122. The second supply path 111B is formed concentrically in the bottom 111 so as to correspond to the second nozzle row 123. The third supply path 111C is formed from the first supply path 111A and the second supply path 111B toward the supply port 114B. These supply paths 111A-111C are formed, for example, by disposing a flammable string-like body between the base material on the lower side of the bottom 111 and the base material on the upper side of the bottom 111 during the molding process of the bottom 111, and then burning the string-like body during the bisque firing process.

In the bathtub 110 according to this embodiment, the circulation pump 16 operates to suck up water from the tub through the water inlet 114A, and the sucked up water is supplied to the third supply passage 111C through the supply port 114B. The water supplied to the third supply passage 111C is supplied to the first supply passage 111A and the second supply passage 111B. As described above, the first supply passage 111A is connected to the flow paths of the nozzles 122A-122G of the first nozzle row 122, and the second supply passage 111B is connected to the flow paths of the nozzles 123A-123H of the second nozzle row 123, so that water is sprayed upward from these nozzles 122A-122G, 123A-123H. This stimulates the soles of the bather's feet (pressure points).

[Third embodiment]

As shown in FIG. 4, the ceramic bathtub 210 according to the third embodiment is shallower than the bathtub 10 according to the first embodiment, and is a so-called lie-down bath type in which the bather bathes while leaning against the wall 212, and the wall 212 and the bottom 211 are provided with a jet section 220. The following will focus on the configurations that differ from the first and second embodiments, and will omit explanations of the common configurations as appropriate.

The bathtub 210 of this embodiment has a rectangular bottom 211 and a wall 212 extending upward from the bottom 211. The wall 212 is composed of a front wall 2121 located in front of the bather, side wall 2122 located on both sides of the bather, and a rear wall 2123 located behind the bather, with the front wall 2121 and side wall 2122 standing upright so as to be approximately perpendicular to the bottom 211. The rear wall 2123 serves as a backrest for the bather and is inclined backwards (so that the opening of the bathtub becomes wider).

In this embodiment, the jetting section 220 is provided on the rear wall 2123 and the bottom 211. The jetting section 220 provided on the rear wall 2123 has three nozzle rows 222 to 224. The three nozzle rows 222 to 224 include an upper nozzle row 222 provided above the rear wall 2123 so that the water jetted from the nozzles presses against the bather's shoulders, a middle nozzle row 223 provided at the middle height of the rear wall 2123 so that the water jetted from the nozzles presses against the bather's back, and a lower nozzle row 224 provided below the rear wall 2123 so that the water jetted from the nozzles presses against the bather's waist. Each of the upper nozzle row 222, the middle nozzle row 223, and the lower nozzle row 224 is composed of a plurality of nozzles horizontally arranged along the inner wall surface of the rear wall 2123. The configuration (shape and flow path) of these multiple nozzles is the same as the nozzle 22A of the first embodiment. Note that the middle nozzle row 223 is arranged so as to alternate with the nozzles of the upper nozzle row 222 and the lower nozzle row 224, but the position of the nozzles in each nozzle row 222-224 is not limited to this. Also, the ejection section 220 provided on the rear side wall portion 2123 is not limited to the three nozzle rows 222-224, and may be two or less nozzle rows, or may be four or more nozzle rows.

The jetting section 220 provided on the bottom 211 is provided in the front part of the bottom 211 so that the water jetted from the nozzles presses against the bather's foot pot, and in this embodiment is composed of two nozzle rows 226, 225. The configuration (shape and flow path) of the multiple nozzles in the nozzle rows 225, 226 is the same as the nozzle 22A in the first embodiment.

Supply channels 212A and 211A are formed inside the rear wall 2123 and the bottom 211 to supply water to each nozzle of the jetting section 220 provided on the rear wall 2123 and the bottom 211. The supply channels 212A and 211A are connected to a supply channel 230 provided on the wall 212 and the bottom 211. One end of the supply channel 230 is connected to the supply channel 212A, and the other end of the supply channel 230 is connected to the supply port 214B. Therefore, the water output from the circulation pump 16 is sent from the supply channel 230 to the supply channels 212A and 211A, and from the supply channels 212A and 211A to each nozzle of the jetting section 220.

The present invention can be implemented in various forms that include improvements, modifications, or variations based on the knowledge of a person skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. In addition, the invention can be implemented in a form in which any of the invention-specific features are replaced with other technologies within the scope of the same action or effect.

10 Bathtub 12 Wall portion 12A Supply channel 12B Water intake port 12S Inner wall surface 20 Spout portion 22A Nozzle row (first nozzle row)
22B nozzle row (second nozzle row)
22C nozzle row

Claims (4)

A bathtub body having a wall and a bottom;
A dome-shaped jetting section is provided protruding from the inner surface of the bathtub body and has a flow path for jetting water.
Equipped with
A supply channel for supplying water to the flow path is formed inside the wall portion or the bottom portion,
The cross-sectional area of the flow passage of the jetting portion is formed to be a constant size,
The bathtub body and the jetting part are integrally made of ceramic. The bathtub according to claim 1, wherein the cross-sectional area of the flow passage of the ejection section is configured to be smaller than the cross-sectional area of the supply passage. the ejection section is provided on the wall section and includes a first nozzle row and a second nozzle row each including a plurality of nozzles arranged at different vertical positions along a substantially horizontal direction,
3. The bathtub according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle rows are arranged such that the nozzles constituting each row are staggered in the vertical direction. The bathtub according to claims 1 to 3, in which the diameter of the flow passage of the jetting part is configured to be 2 mm to 5 mm.