AU2010226970A1 - Shower base - Google Patents

Description

Section 29 Regulation 3.2(2) AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Application Number: Lodged: Invention Title: Shower base The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: P111 H#AU/061 0 I SHOWER BASE FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to improvements in the construction of trays or bases for personal showers and in particular to level entry type personal 5 showers that are intended to provide a tiled surface on which the user stands. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Level entry to a shower has become more popular with people liking to see the floor tiles (or similar) in their bathroom extend into the shower. Such shower constructions are believed to provide a smarter appearance and moreover a safer 10 entry, especially when the person using the shower requires assistance, for example, wheel chair users and the like. Currently available shower trays or bases on the market still require some constructional modifications to the underlying floor regions of the building where the base will be installed including lowering of the floor area. Further known bases require individual inclined planes 15 on their upper surfaces falling to a generally central drainage outlet that requires the cutting of floor tiles when they are fixed to the shower base. The objective of the present invention is to provide an improved shower base construction that will enable construction of a level entry type tiled shower area without the difficulties associated with known shower bases of this type 20 discussed above. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a rectangular or square shower base having an upwardly facing continuous floor surface forming a single inclined plane falling towards a first edge region of the shower base or to said first edge region 25 and a second edge region of the shower base meeting said first edge region at a corner of said shower base, said shower base including a drainage outlet means positioned at or adjacent lower most zones of said upwardly facing floor surface, and said first edge region and/or said second edge region forming a front of said shower base. The front of the shower base is defined as being an access zone 30 for entering the shower area defined by the shower base. Such a shower base with a continuous floor surface ensures no or minimal tile cutting to cover the floor surface and arranging the fall of the floor surface to front edge (or edges) of the 2 shower base enables this or these edges to be located generally at floor level for the surrounding floor surface thereby ensuring level entry to the shower area. Preferably the drainage outlet means comprises a single outlet passage but if desired, a drainage channel (or channels) may be provided positioned along 5 at least one of the first or the second edge regions. Conveniently a lower support face of the shower base may be configured to support the shower base on an existing floor area when installed. The lower support face may be a continuous, substantially horizontal surface (when installed), but could comprise a series of adjacent support surfaces connected by a web forming the continuous floor 10 surface of the shower base. Conveniently a first raised lip extends along said first edge zone a first predetermined height above said upwardly continuous facing floor surface. Preferably the first raised lip extends a second predetermined height greater than said first predetermined height above said lower support face of the shower base. 15 Conveniently a second raised lip extends along said second edge zone said first predetermined height above said upwardly facing continuous floor surface. Preferably said second raised lip extends said second predetermined height above said lower support face of the shower base. The raised lips as defined above enable a tiling underlay sheet such as a cement sheet or similar to be 20 located on a surrounding floor surface with tiles laid thereon up to an inner edge of the raised lip (or lips). Preferably a first splash wall extends upwardly from a third edge zone of said shower base directly opposite said first edge zone. Conveniently a second splash wall extends upwardly from a fourth edge zone of said shower base 25 directly opposite said second edge zone. In one preferred embodiment, the shower base is moulded from a suitable plastics material or fabricated from fibreglass. In a second preferred embodiment the shower base is formed in at least two parts, a first said part being formed in at least two parts, a first said part being formed from a sheet metal material having a 30 substantially flat base wall and a second said part secured to said base wall defining said single inclined plane, said first part and said second part being formed from corrosion resistant materials. Conveniently the first part is fabricated from stainless steel sheet material. Conveniently the second part is formed from 3 a moulded plastics material or fibreglass, the second part being, in use glued to an upwardly facing surface of said flat base wall of said first part. Preferred embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 5 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig I is a plan view of a shower base configured in accordance with the present invention; Fig 2 is a top perspective view of the shower base shown in Fig 1; Fig 3 is a section view taken along line A-A of Fig 2; 10 Fig 4 is a section view taken along line B-B of Fig 2; Fig 5 is a schematic view showing the shower base of preceding figures installed in a position of use; Fig 6 is a top perspective view of a shower base according to a second preferred embodiment; 15 Figs 7 and 8 are section views along line A-A of Fig 6 showing the fabrication of the two parts forming this second preferred embodiment; and Fig 9 is a schematic view similar to Fig 5 showing the shower base of Figs 6 to 8 installed in a position of use. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS SHOWN IN 20 THE DRAWINGS Referring to the drawings, a square shower base 10 is illustrated having a continuous upwardly facing floor surface 11 with a front first edge 12, a second edge 13 (which also could be a front edge), a third edge 14 and a fourth edge 15. The floor surface 11 forms a single plane and in the embodiment illustrated, the 25 plane falls towards a first corner 16 from a diagonally opposite corner 17. In other embodiments it is possible also for the floor surface 11 to fall simply from the third edge 14 to the first edge 12 or from the fourth edge 15 to the second edge 13. In the illustrated embodiment a drainage opening 18 is provided through the floor surface 11 adjacent the first corner 16. It is, however possible for the drainage 30 opening to be provided anywhere along the lower most regions of the floor surface 11, ie along and adjacent the first edge 12 or along and adjacent the second edge 13 in the illustrated embodiment.

4 Preferably a raised lip region extending above the floor surface 11 adjacent the lower most region or regions of the surface 11 is provided. In the illustrated embodiment, a first raised lip 19 is provided along the first edge 12 and a second raised lip 20 is provided along the second edge 13. Preferably, splash 5 retention walls 21 and 22 are provided along the third edge 14 and the fourth edge 15. The shower base 10 illustrated in the drawings may be moulded from a suitable plastics material or fabricated from fibreglass or similar materials. As shown in Fig 5, the shower base 10 as illustrated is adapted to fit into a corner of 10 a room with a lower support region 23 supported on an existing floor 24. The drainage opening 18 is positioned in an opening 30 through the existing floor 24 but apart from this no other modifications to the underlying structure is required. Cement sheet or other suitable underlay sheeting material 25 may be laid up to the lip region 19 so that floor tiles 26 of the surrounding room can be laid up to 15 and over the lip region 19. Similarly, the same floor tiles 26 can be laid onto the floor surface 11 within the shower area. Similarly cement sheet or other suitable underlay sheeting material 27 may be applied to the wall support structure above the splash retention walls 21, 22 and wall tiles 28 can be tiled thereover down to the floor tiles 26 within the shower area. Optionally, shower screen material 29 20 might also be installed as desired. Figs 6 to 9 illustrate a second possible preferred embodiment. In this embodiment, the shower base 10 is fabricated from at least two parts, a first part 30 being fabricated from a suitable corrosion resistant sheet metal such as stainless steel, aluminium or aluminium alloys. The first part 30 has a 25 substantially continuous base wall 31 with an upwardly facing wall surface 32 and a downwardly facing underneath surface 33, each of which are generally located in a horizontal plane in an installed position (Fig 9). The base wall 31 has a front edge 34, a second edge 35 (which also could be a front edge), a third edge 36 and a fourth edge 37. The first part 30 further includes upraised splash retention 30 walls 38, 39 along the third and fourth edges 36, 37. Conveniently a raised lip 40 extends above the wall surface 32 along the front edge 34. A similar raised lip 41 is also formed along the second edge 35. The raised lips 40, 41 may conveniently be formed by pressing same from the 5 sheet metal forming the first part 30. Extending beyond the raised lips 40, 41, securing flanges 42, 43 may be provided. These flanges 42, 43 can be secured by fasteners to the supporting floor or other structure below the shower base 10 and when installed, cement sheet 44 (Fig 9) can overlap the flanges 42, 43 to 5 increase the level of waterproofing the tiled area surrounding the shower base. In addition to the first part 30, this embodiment of the shower base 10 includes a second part 45 formed as an insert that is secured by gluing or any other suitable means to upwardly facing wall surface 32 of the first part 30. The insert 45 may be moulded from a suitable plastics material or made from 10 fibreglass, or similar. The insert 45 provides an upwardly facing inclined surface 46 providing an inclined fall towards the drainage outlet 47 formed on the first part 30, in the corner region between the edges 34 and 35. While the illustrated embodiment shows use of a single insert 45, it will be appreciated that multiple parts can be provided to make up the insert illustrated. 15 Referring to Fig 9, typically wall cement sheet 48 will be secured to upstanding walls positioning the splash retention walls 38, 39 between the cement sheet 48 and the supporting wall structure. Similarly, the floor cement sheet 44 is positioned such that its edge overlaps the flanges 42, 43 such that tiles 28 can be secured to its upper surface overlapping the raised lip 40. Like 20 features in Fig 5 have been given the same reference numbers in Fig 9. While the foregoing describes the presently preferred embodiments, modifications or variations to these embodiments within the scope of the annexed claims are possible. While the drawings illustrate a corner shower unit, this is not essential as with minor modifications, the shower base might be positioned, as 25 desired, anywhere along a room wall.

Claims (16)

1. A rectangular or square shower base having an upwardly facing continuous floor surface forming a single inclined plane falling towards a first edge region of the shower base or to said first edge region and a second edge 5 region of the shower base meeting said first edge region at a corner of said shower base, said shower base including a drainage outlet means positioned at or adjacent lower most zones of said upwardly facing floor surface, and said first edge region and/or said second edge region forming a front of said shower base.

2. A shower base according to claim I wherein said front of said shower base 10 is an access zone entering a shower area defined by the shower base.

3. A shower base according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said drainage outlet means includes a drainage channel positioned along at least one of said first or said second edge regions.

4. A shower base according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein a lower 15 support face of said shower base is configured to support said shower base on an existing floor area when installed.

5. A shower base according to claim 4 wherein the lower support face of said shower base has a substantially horizontal planar surface engageable with and supported by said existing floor area when installed. 20

6. A shower base according to claim 4 or claim 5 wherein a first raised lip extends along said first edge zone having a first predetermined height above said upwardly continuous facing floor surface.

7. A shower base according to claim 6 wherein said first raised lip extends a second predetermined height greater than said first predetermined height above 25 said lower support face of the shower base. 7

8. A shower base according to any one of claims 5 to 7 wherein a second raised lip extends along said second edge zone having a first predetermined height above said upwardly facing continuous floor surface.

9. A shower base according to claim 8 wherein said second raised lip 5 extends a second predetermined height above said lower support face of the shower base.

10. A shower base according to any one of claims 1 to 9 wherein a first splash wall extends upwardly from a third edge zone of said shower base directly opposite said first edge zone. 10

11. A shower base according to any one of claims 1 to 10 wherein a second splash wall extends upwardly from a fourth edge zone of said shower base directly opposite said second edge zone.

12. A shower base according to any one of claims 1 to 11 wherein said shower base is moulded from plastics material or fabricated from fibreglass materials. 15

13. A shower base according to any one of claims 1 to 11 wherein said shower base is formed in at least two parts, a first said part being formed from a sheet metal material having a substantially flat base wall and a second said part secured to said base wall defining said single inclined plane, said first part and said second part being formed from corrosion resistant materials. 20

14. A shower base according to claim 13 wherein said first part is fabricated from stainless steel sheet material.

15. A shower base according to claim 13 or claim 14 wherein said second part is formed from a moulded plastics material or fibreglass, the second part being, in use glued to an upwardly facing surface of said flat base wall of said first part. 8

16. A shower base substantially as described herein with reference to Figs I to 5 or Figs 6 to 9 of the accompanying drawings. CLASSIC HARDWARE SUPPLIERS PTY LTD WATERMARK PATENT & TRADE MARK ATTORNEYS