Adaptor for plumbing fitting

Claim 2

An adaptor for two back-to-back plumbing fixtures each having a faucet and mechanism including a single lever cartridge having hot and cold water input paths and a common output path along with a lever-controlled mixing valve to adjust the amounts of hot and cold water to be fed through the common output path and through the respective faucet, the combination of two supply pipes common to both back-to-back fixtures, one pipe supplying hot water and the other cold water to the two cartridges, said adaptor being coupled between but one of said cartridges and the two supply pipes to cross-connect the two supply pipes so as to rectify the flow of hot and cold water fed to the cartridge to which the adaptor is coupled, said adaptor having three independent paths, one connecting the hot water supply pipe to the hot water path of the cartridge, another connecting the cold water supply pipe to the cold water path of the cartridge, and the third connecting the common output path of the cartridge to the faucet of the respective plumbing fixture, whereby the levers of both cartridges may be separately adjustable by substantially equal angular displacements in the same rotary direction with respect to each respective plumbing fixture to obtain equal mixtures of hot and cold water for transmission through the faucets of both plumbing fixtures.

Claim 3

An adaptor according to claim 1 having a cavity to align the adaptor to the cartridge so as to join the water paths of the adaptor with the corresponding water paths of the cartridge and to hold the cartridge against lateral movement with respect to the adaptor to prevent mis-alignment of the water paths.

Claim 4

The combination of: a. two manifolds, each having three conduits for connection to a plumbing fixture to be installed back-to-back, one conduit to supply hot water, another to supply cold water, and a third to return a mixture of hot water and cold water; b. two substantially identical cartridges each having three conduits for connection to the respective three conduits of each of the manifolds, each cartridge having means for the regulation of the flow of water to the faucets of the plumbing fixtures; each cartridge having a lever and mechanism controlled by the lever to control the ratios of hot water and cold water to be supplied to the third conduit of each cartridge and then returned to the third conduit of the manifold; and c. an adaptor unit interposed between one of the manifolds and one of the cartridges and having fluid conduit paths to cross-connect the hot water conduit of the manifold with the hot water conduit of the cartridge and to independently cross-connect the cold water conduit of the manifold with the cold water conduit of the cartridge without modifying or interrupting the connections between the third conduit of the manifold and the adaptor, whereby the cartridges of both back-to-back plumbing fixtures may be joined to common hot water and cold water conduits of the manifold so that both cartridges may be identically operated for controlling the flow of water to the respective faucets of the plumbing fixtures.

Claim 5

The combination of: a. two manifolds, each having three conduits for connection to a plumbing fixture to be installed back-to-back, one conduit to supply hot water, another to supply cold water, and a third to return a mixture of hot water and cold water; b. two substantially identical cartridges each having three conduits for connection to the respective three conduits of each of the manifolds, each cartridge having means for the regulation of the flow of water to the faucets of the plumbing fixtures; each cartridge having a lever and mechanism controlled by the lever to control the ratios of hot water and cold water to be supplied to the third conduit of each cartridge and then returned to the third conduit of the manifold; and c. an adaptor unit interposed between one of the manifolds and one of the cartridges and having fluid conduit paths to cross-connect the hot water conduit of the manifold with the hot water conduit of the cartridge and to independently cross-connect the cold water conduit of the manifold with the cold water conduit of the cartridge without modifying or interrupting the connections between the third conduit of the manifold and the adaptor, whereby the cartridges of both back-to-back plumbing fixtures may be joined to common hot water and cold water conduits of the manifold so that both cartridges may be identically operated for controlling the flow of water to the respective faucets of the plumbing fixtures.

Claim 6

The combination of claim 3 in which the adaptor unit includes a protruding element and the manifold includes a cavity, the protruding element and the cavity being joined together to mechanically couple the adaptor unit to the manifold, and the adaptor unit also includes a cavity and the cartridge includes a protruding element so as to mechanically couple the cartridge to the adaptor unit.

Claim 7

Apparatus for coupling two back-to-back plumbing fixtures each designed to supply water from hot and cold water supply pipes to a faucet having a conduit at the left to receive hot water to be discharged by the faucet and a conduit at the right to receive cold water to be discharged by the faucet, comprising an adaptor unit having three independent passages therein to be connected with but one of said fixtures, one of said passages of the adaptor unit interconnecting the hot water supply pipe to the conduit at the right of one of said faucets to supply hot water thereto and another of said passages of the adaptor unit interconnecting the cold water supply pipe to the conduit at the left of said one of said faucets to supply cold water thereto, means including a control member associated with the faucet of each fixture to mix and adjust the volume of the hot and cold water to be supplied to the faucet, the third conduit of said adaptor unit being coupled to said one of said faucets to feed the mixed water from said one faucet with which the adaptor is associated, whereby both fixtures will be identically controllable by its control member.

Claim 8

Apparatus for coupling two back-to-back plumbing fixtures each designed to supply water from hot and cold water supply pipes to a faucet having a conduit at the left to receive hot water to be discharged by the faucet and a conduit at the right to receive cold water to be discharged by the faucet, comprising an adaptor unit having three independent passages therein to be connected with but one of said fixtures, one of said passages of the adaptor unit interconnecting the hot water supply pipe to the conduit at the right of one of said faucets to supply hot water thereto and another of said passages of the adaptor unit interconnecting the cold water supply pipe to the conduit at the left of said one of said faucets to supply cold water thereto, means including a control member associated with the faucet of each fixture to mix and adjust the volume of the hot and cold water to be supplied to the faucet, the third conduit of said adaptor unit being coupled to said one of said faucets to feed the mixed water from said one faucet with which the adaptor is associated, whereby both fixtures will be identically controllable by its control member.

Claim 9

Apparatus according to claim 5 including mechanism for aligning the adaptor unit between the hot and cold water supply pipes and the one fixture with which it is connected for physically holding the adaptor unit in alignment with respect to said one fixture.