AU713351B3 - A seal - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A PETTY PATENT Name of Applicant: ALLIGOLD PTY. LTD.

086 626 637) Actual Inventor: Address for Service: Invention Title: CULLEN

CO.,

Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 240 Queen Street, Brisbane, QIld. 4000, Australia.

A SEAL The following statement is a full description of this invention method of performing it known to us: including the best 2 A SEAL This invention relates to a seal which is attachable to the outside of a tap spindle and which functions to prevent water from flowing into a wall or bench cavity through which the tap spindle passes.

When plumbing fixtures such as taps are installed through a surface such as a wall or a bench top, initially a circular hole is cut through the wall or bench top. The tap is then passed through the hole. The tap itself consists of a tap body and a spindle which is threadingly attached to the tap body. The tap body contains the valve seat and the valve while the spindle is attached to the tap handle such that rotation of the handle causes the spindle to push the valve against the valve seat. This arrangement is entirely conventional.

With these tap assemblies, the tap body is behind the wall or below the bench top while the spindle protrudes through the hole cut into the wall or bench top. As the valve needs to be inspected and replaced from time to time and as the valve seat may need to be reground from time to time, it is necessary to ensure that the hole in the wall or bench top is considerably larger than the tap itself such that enough room is left for a spanner to unscrew the tap spindle from the tap body.

When the spindle is removed from the tap body, it is customary to also replace a thin seal which prevents leakage between the spindle and the tap body.

The spindle itself is made of two parts being the spindle body (which is threadingly engaged with the tap body), and a spindle rod which rotates in the spindle body and to which the tap handle is attached. A second much smaller seal is positioned between the spindle body and the spindle rod to prevent water from leaking between these two parts, but this seal is hardly ever replaced and it is therefore not uncommon for water to leak between the spindle body and the spindle rod.

It is important that water does not leak into the wall or bench cavity as this will damage or rot the structural components which are typically formed from pine, chipboard and the like, and becomes a likely source of white ant infection. On the other hand, it is important to make sure that there is enough room around the spindle to allow it to be removed from the tap body.

In order to prevent water from leaking through the wall or bench top when the tap is passed through the opening, the remaining gap should be closed using a flexible sealing compound such as silicone. However, when tap maintenance is required, the silicone must be dug out and removed and then replaced with fresh silicone. If the sealing compound is insufficiently applied or imprecisely applied, openings can still form which will allow water to pass through the cavity. In practice however, the sealing compound is rarely applied.

In a shower recess, the hot and cold water taps pass through the wall. In this case, the recess is usually tiled and the tiles are separated by vertical and horizontal grout lines. Openings are cut into the wall through which the taps can pass and these openings often intersect a grout line.

These grout lines present a particular problem with sealing as the grout lines are slightly recessed relative to the surface of the tile and water can easily pass along a grout line and into the wall recess.

The hot and cold taps in a laundry also often pass through a tiled wall and there is a similar problem with effectively sealing against water ingress. Sealing problems are also found with vertically extending taps which pass through a horizontal bench top as is found in kitchens.

One attempt to prevent water from passing through the gap between the spindle and the wall or bench top is to apply a bead of flexible sealing compound to the dressing flange of the tap. Most taps are provided with a decorative dressing flange which sits loosely over the spindle and abuts against the wall of bench top. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to apply a silicone bead to the bottom of the dress flange as some dress flange have only a fairly sharp contact edge and it is difficult to apply a bead of silicone to this edge. Also, the thin bead must be expertly applied and must be reapplied every time the dress flange is removed which must happen if the tap washers are to be inspected.

Another disadvantage with this arrangement is that this bead of silicone does not prevent water from leaking from the tap spindle and passing into the wall cavity, this being particularly troublesome for bench top taps.

The dressing flange has an opening in the top through which the spindle rod can pass and for aesthetic reasons, the opening sits above the seal between the spindle rod and the spindle body. Therefore, water leaking through this seal will simply drip down the spindle body and inside the dressing flange (therefore being unobserved) and can cause severe damage to the bench top or wall.

It also appears that another type of seal is available which sits under the dressing flange but which requires the dressing flange to seal it against the wall or bench top. Unfortunately, dressing flange designs vary quite considerably between manufacturers some being spring biased in position and others being screwed into position and seals which rely upon the dressing flange only are generally found to be unsatisfactory.

The present invention is directed to a seal which can be pushed over the outer body of the spindle and pushed against the wall of bench top and which has a configuration which reduces or eliminates water passing into the wall or bench top cavity.

It is an object of the invention to provide a seal which may at least partially overcome the abovementioned disadvantages or provide the public with a useful or commercial choice.

In one form, the invention resides in a seal attachable to the outside of a tap spindle and which prevents water from passing through an opening in a surface through which the spindle passes, the seal having a main body portion, a passageway passing through the main body portion and through which the tap spindle can pass, gripping means to hold the main body portion onto the spindle, first sealing means to prevent water from passing through the passageway when the main body portion is fitted about the spindle, and second sealing means to prevent water from passing between the seal and the surface through which the spindle passes.

The seal can be simply pushed over the tap spindle body and against the wall or bench top or other surface through which the tap (or other plumbing fixture) passes. The seal has a gripping means to hold the seal onto the tap spindle body (or other fixture body) which makes its fitting independent of the dressing flange which is a difficulty with conventional devices. The seal further has two sealing means, one which basically seals against any water which leaks between the spindle body and the spindle rod, and the second sealing the seal against the bench top or wall (including tiled walls).

The seal is preferably of a unitary construction and can be formed from polymeric compounds such as rubbers, plastics, elastomers and the like. The seal should be made from water resistant and corrosion resistant materials and is found that rubbers including natural rubbers and neoprenes are suitable for this purpose. If desired, the seal can be made of a non-unitary construction although this may add to manufacturing cost, and can also be made from mixtures of suitable components including plastics, rubber mixtures, mixtures including polyurethanes, PVC, ABS, polymers and the like.

The seal is sized such that it at least seals over the opening cut into the wall or bench top. The size of the opening will depend on the size of the tap but as the majority of taps are of a similar size, it is found that a relatively few different sized seals can cover most tap designs.

For aesthetic reasons, the seal may be sized and configured to sit underneath the dressing flange such that when the dressing flange is attached, the seal is not visible. However, the seal according to the invention does not require the dressing flange for its sealing properties.

In a preferred form, the main body portion is substantially circular when viewed in plan and can have a diameter of between 30 to (it being appreciated that the diameter can vary depending on the hole size and the tap size). The thickness of the main body portion can also vary but as it is preferred that the main body portion sits underneath the dressing flange, the configuration should be sucl.to allow this to occur. In an embodiment, the main body portion can have a thickness of between 5 to although this can again vary to suit.

The main body portion has a passageway extending through it the passageway typically being central and configured such that the tap spindle can pass through the passageway. It is preferred that the main passageway is dimensioned to be a fairly snug fit on the outside of the tap spindle such that in one form of the invention, the gripping means to hold the main body portion onto the spindle is the wall of the passageway which presses against the spindle wall.

The main body portion has a first sealing means which prevents water from passing through the passageway when the seal is fitted over the spindle body.

In one form of the invention, the main body portion is of a thickness such that the seal between the tap spindle body and the tap spindle rod projects past the main body portion. (That is, that the seal is not within the passageway in the main body portion.) The first sealing means, in one form of the invention consists of a resilient annular lip which extends into the passageway and is adjacent the upper end of the passageway. In this manner, as the seal is pushed over the tap spindle, the lip will deform outwardly and will seal against the spindle body (it being appreciated that the spindle body is usually of a squarish cross-section and typically has surface blemishes which makes the surface non-uniform).

The seal further has a second sealing means which prevents water from passing between the seal and the wall or bench top.

In one form, the second sealing means comprises an annular flange which extends from a rear wall of the seal and presses up against the wall or bench top. The flange is preferably of a fairly flexible design to allow it to track undulations in the wall or bench top surface and particularly to allow it to seal the grout line between wall tiles.

In one form of the invention, the flange has a configuration such that it splays outwardly when pressed up against a wall or bench top as it facilitates an effective seal being formed.

An embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the following drawings in which Figure 1 shows a tap passing through a tiled wall.

Figure 2 shows the tap of Figure 1 with the seal attached to it.

Figure 3 shows the seal in cross-section.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown part of a tiled wall which shows four tiles 10A-10OD separated by grout lines 11. A hole 12 has been cut through the tiles and a tap spindle has been passed through hole 12, the spindle having a spindle body 14 and a spindle rod 15. Spindle body 14 is attached to the remainder of the tap which is behind the tiled wall and is not illustrated, and the rear portion 16 of the spindle body has a rectangular shape to allow it a tubular spanner to be attached to portion 16 to allow portion 16 to be rotatably threadingly disengaged from the remainder of the tap body. The arrangement clearly illustrates that access to portion 16 is required in order to inspect the tap valve which sits well within hole 12.

As with most conventional taps, spindle rod 15 and spindle body 14 has a small internal seal and this seal is not generally accessible, is rarely inspected and changed, and often results in water dripping out of spindle body 14 in the area indicated by reference numeral 17.

Typically, no attempt is made to seal hole 12 and instead a dressing flange (not illustrated) is simply placed over the spindle and which abuts against the tiled wall. It is hoped that the dressing flange itself will deflect enough water away from hole 12 but in practice it is found that this is not the case.

Figure 2 and Figure 3 illustrate the seal according to an embodiment of the invention and particularly illustrates how useful the seal is to effectively and simply seal off hole 12 against water ingress. Seal 18 in the embodiment is formed from rubber and is substantially circular when viewed in plan, but has a tapered main body portion 19 better illustrated in Figure 3. Tapered main body portion 19 has a front wall 20 and a rear wall 21 with rear wall 21 in use being against the tiled wall 10. Main body portion 19 has a passageway 22 extending through it and passageway 22 is dimensioned such that it firmly grips against the outer wall of spindle body 14 such that this forms the gripping means of the seal. The firm fit should be such that the seal is not readily movable along the seal body but can be prised away if it is necessary to maintain the tap. The gripping means can be achieved by making the seal out of a resilient rubber material, although it is envisaged that discrete gripping means could also be provided such as internal ribs or profiles in the passageway.

To prevent water leaking at 17 from passing down or along spindle body 14 and into hole 12, a first sealing means is provided. In the embodiment, the first sealing means is an integral inwardly directed annular lip 23 which forms part of front wall 20 and which extends into passageway 22. When the seal is pushed over spindle body 14,.-lip 23 splays outwardly and seal against the spindle body this being best illustrated in Figure 2.

Rear wall 21 is provided with a second sealing means which in the embodiment is in the form of a singular annular flange 24 which is spaced just inwardly from the peripheral edge 25 of main body portion 19. Flange 24 is integrally formed with the main body portion but as it is of a thinner crosssection, is much more flexible than the main body portion. Flange 24 has an internal wall 26 which diverges outwardly from rear wall 21. The function of this is to make flange 24 splay outwardly and seal against the wall. The free edge 27 of flange 24 is quite thin which means that it can track undulations in the surface of the wall or bench top and can pass into and seal against the grout line 11 in a tiled wall.

In use, an existing tap handle and dressing flange is removed from the remainder of the tap body. The seal is fitted over the tap body (spindle) and pushed down against the wall of bench top surface. The tap flange can be reversed to assist in pushing the seal. When the seal is against the wall or bench top surface, flange 24 is lifted and flicked with a finger or implement to ensure that the tapered sealing lip is even all the way around and facing outwardly from the tap. The flange and tap handle is then replaced and the seal can be removed and reused many times when tap maintenance is required.

The seal can be used on 18mm tap spindles which is common in the trade but of course different seals can be used for different taps. The seal can be used on all surfaces such as tiles, laminate, stainless steel, fibreglass and the like and is suitable for a shower/bath taps, basin taps, shower outlets and the like.

Flange 24 allows the seal to be used on irregular surfaces such as textured bench top surfaces, grouted tiles, and the like.

The seal is held in place by the tap body or spindle and does not require supplementary retention such as by a dressing flange and the like.

The seal has a double sealing action against water leaking through the grout tiles etc. and also between the spindle body and the spindle rod. The flange 24 in the embodiment is of a relatively thin design allowing a good seal to be formed with minimum pressure to achieve the seal.

Flange 24 in the embodiment deflects outwardly and can conform to irregular surfaces such as grout grooves to form a positive seal.

The seal can be used in any application where a plumbing fixture penetrates a flat surface and is particularly suited to such an arrangement where the seal needs to be removed for inspection or maintenance of the plumbing fixture.

It should be appreciated that various other changes and modifications can be made to the embodiment described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

For instance, some taps are known where the spindle body has an outward thread presumably to threadingly attach the dressing flange. In this arrangement, it may be desirable that the passageway 22 has an internal thread such that the seal can be threadingly engaged to the spindle body.

Claims (3)

1. A seal attachable to the outside of a tap spindle and which prevents water from passing through an opening in a surface through which the spindle passes, the seal having a main body portion formed with a rear wall which, in use, faces the surface through which the tap spindle passes, a passageway passing through the main body portion and through which the tap spindle can pass, gripping means to hold the main body portion onto the spindle, first sealing means to prevent water from passing through the passageway when the main body portion is fitted about the spindle, and second sealing means to prevent water from passing between the seal and the surface through which the spindle passes, the second sealing means comprising an annular flange extending from the rear wall, the flange having a tapered cross-section which tapers from a thicker rear portion which is at the rear wall, to a thin free edge, the flange having an inner wall which diverges outwardly from the rear wall.

2. The seal of claim 1 wherein the first sealing means is an annular lip extending into the passageway.

3. The seal of claim 1 or claim 2 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this 12' day of October 1999 ALLIGOLD PTY LTD 086 626 637) By their Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO.