Aerating device

May 23, 1972 _{Gi w} jatho et al 3,664,589

AERATING DEVICE

Criminal Filed March 4, 1968 ₂ Sheets-Sheet 1

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May 23, 1972 _{G&lt; w} jatho et al 3,664,589

AERATING DEVICE Criminal Filed March 4, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

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United States Patent Office

3,664,589

Patented May 23, 1972

3,664,589 AERATING DEVICE George W. Jatho, Oak Lawn, and Louis F. Kint, Chicago, III., assignors to Wrightway Engineering Co., Chicago, HI.

Continuation of application Ser. No. 709,992, Mar. 4, 1968. This application May 11,1970, Ser. No. 56,038 Int. Cl. E03c 1/084

U.S. CI. 239—428.5 13 Claims

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

Disclosed herein is an aerating device for entraining air in water or other liquid flowing through a conduit. The aerating device includes a casing with a removable internal assembly comprising an annular partition mounted in the casing and having radially projecting and axially extending ribs which form air inlet passages between a smooth inner surface of the casing and the partition. The ribs extend axially above an upstream end portion of the partition to form legs which removably support a seating ring in spaced relation above the partition to thereby define circumferential slots or apertures between the legs. A body for breaking up the flow of liquid through the casing is removably mounted on a seat formed in the ring. Air is drawn through the passages and apertures and is entrained in and mixed with the liquid as the body breaks up the flow of liquid.

This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 709,992, filed Mar. 4, 1968, now abandoned.

This invention relates to an improved aerating device of the bottom air inlet type which is adapted to be mounted on a water faucet or the like.

Aerating devices for mixing water and air are widely known and used in conjunction with faucets and other water outlets. Such devices produce a soft, coherent, bubbly stream which is essentially non-splashing and which contains large amounts of entrained air. These known aerating devices commonly include a plurality of internal parts which are mounted in a tubular casing. The forming and assembly of these parts contributes substantially to the cost of manufacturing known aerating devices, and it is desirable to design the aerator to keep such cost to a minimum and to simplify the assembly operation as much as possible.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a novel and improved aerator which has relatively few components and is easily assembled.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel and improved aerator in which the internal parts can be assembled outside of a casing and then inserted as a unit into the casing.

A further object of the invention is to provide an aerator of the foregoing character which has a novel and improved internal construction for admitting inlet air to the bottom of the device.

These and other objects and features of the invention will become more apparent upon a reading of the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a liquid conduit having mounted thereon an aerating device comprising one specific embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 2—2 of FIG. 1 and showing the upstream end portion of the aerating device in plan;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3—3 of FIG. 2 and further illustrating the structure of the aerating device;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the aerating device;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the internal assembly of the aerating device before it is inserted into the casing;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged bottom plan view of the aerating device shown in FIG. 1 with a portion broken away to reveal the interior construction; and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 7—7 of FIG. 5 and illustrating the structure of a joint interconnecting certain components of the aerating device.

Briefly described, the aerator of the present invention includes an annular partition or cage having axially extending ribs which cooperate with the smooth interior surface of a tubular casing to form a plurality of axial passages extending upstream from a downstream end or outlet of the casing. The ribs extend upwardly beyond an upstream end portion of the partition to support a ring in a spaced relationship above the partition and thereby form apertures providing fluid communication between the passages and an interior portion of the partition. An aerator plug or breakup and mixing body is detachably supported on the ring to break up the flow of liquid through the casing and to cause the flow velocity of the liquid to increase. This action of the aerator plug causes air to be drawn through the passages and apertures and to be mixed or entrained in the liquid flowing through the casing.

An aerator 10 embodying my invention is illustrated in FIG. 1 in connection with a water conduit 11 which includes, in the present instance, a faucet spout 12 on which the aerator is mounted and from which a soft, bubbly, coherent stream of aerated water flows. The aerator 10 has an external tubular casing 14 which is preferably metal and which is connected to the faucet spout 12 by external threads 20 on an upstream end portion 21 of the casing. The threads 20 are interfitted with internal threads 22 on the lower end of the spout 12. An internal assembly 24 (FIGS. 4 and 5) is mounted within the casing 14.

The assembly 24 includes an aerator plug or breakup and mixing body 26 of conventional shape which breaks up the flow of water or other liquid through the casing 14 and increases the flow velocity of the liquid in a known manner. The plug 26 is supported on an annular member or ring 28 which is in turn supported by a generally cylindrical or annular partition or cage 30. The plug 26, the ring 28, and the partition or cage 30 are each preferably formed of injection molded polymeric material such as “Delrin,” a thermoplastic acetal resin available from E. I. du Pont de Nemours &amp; Co. of Wilmington, Del. A metallic screen 32 is mounted in a downstream end portion of the partition 30 to retard the flow of aerated liquid and thereby reduce splashing of the aerated stream.

The partition 30 includes a plurality of integral radially outwardly projecting and axially extending ribs 36 (see FIGS. 3, 4 and 5) which provide a close-fitting but readily removable engagement with the smooth cylindrical inner surface 38 of the casing 14. The ribs 36 cooperate with the inner surface 38 of the casing 14 to form arcuately extending air inlet passages 42 (see FIGS. 3 and 6) which are circumferentially spaced and disposed between adjacent ribs 36. Each passage 42 is defined by the interior surface 38 of the casing 14 and the concentric exterior surface of a web or circumferential wall portion 44 of the partition 30. As seen in FIG. 3, the passages 42 extend axially upstream from the outlet or downstream end portion of the casing 14 to enable air to flow into the partition 30 from the surrounding atmosphere, as indicated by the arrow 46 in FIG. 3.

3,664.

The ribs 36 project axially upwardly from an upstream end edge 50 of the web or wall 44 of the partition 30 to provide circumferentially spaced supports or legs 54 on which the ring 28 is mounted. In addition to supporting the aerator plug 26, the ring 28 forms an upstream end of 5 the air passages 42 by means of a flange portion 60 (see FIG. 7) at the outer periphery of the ring 28 which engages the upper ends of the axially projecting legs 54 and extends between adjacent legs, as shown in FIG. 5, to overlie the upstream ends of the passages 42. The legs 10 54 support the ring 28 in axially spaced relationship above the upstream end edge 50 of the web 44 to form lateral apertures or slots 64 (see FIGS. 3 and 5) which extend between adjacent legs 54. The slots 64 provide fluid communication from the passages 42 to a lower chamber or 15 space 66 (FIG. 3) within the partition 30 and also to an upper chamber or space 80. Thus, the passages 42 and apertures 64 enable air to flow axially from the surrounding atmosphere through the passages 42 from which the air is then directed laterally through the slots 64 into the 20 chambers 66 and 80 where the air is mixed or entrained with water or other liquid flowing through the device. It should be noted that the passages 42 are formed by the cooperation between the ribs 36 of the partition 30 and the interior surface 38 of the casing 14 without the neces- 25 sity of machining the casing 14 to form channels as must be done with other known aerators.

The ring 28 also has at its inner periphery a depressed or downwardly recessed annular interior shoulder or seat 70 which receives the peripheral edge of an integral per- 30 forated disk portion 72 of the aerator plug 26 to support the aerator plug and position it relative to the partition 30. The ring 28 also includes an axially downstream projecting annular skirt or baffle portion 74 which circumscribes a generally circular bulbous body or plug portion 35 76 which is connected to the perforated disk 72 by a neck 78. This structure of the aerator plug 26 in cooperation with the ring 28 provides the mixing zone 80 in which the air and water are mixed in a known manner. The baffle portion or skirt 74 of the ring 28 circumscribes the 40 bulbous body 76 to form an annular passage 84 (FIG. 3) through which air flows in an upstream direction to the mixing zone 80 and through which the aerated liquid flows in a downstream direction.

The disk 72 is provided with a plurality of holes or 45 perforations 88 which overlie the upper surface of the body 76 and which break up the flow of liquid into a plurality of high velocity jets which impinge on the upper surface of the body 76. As the jets of water or other liquid pass downwardly through the mixing zone 80, air is drawn 50 unpwardly through the passages 42 and inwardly through the apertures 64 into the mixing zone 80 and mixed with and entrained in the jets of liquid. The jets of liquid impinge violently against the upper surface of the bulbous body 76 to cause considerable splashing and breaking up 55 of the jets in several directions (i.e. upwardly against the under surface of the disk 72 and outwardly against the ring 28) to further mix the air with the liquid while the liquid is in the mixing zone 80. The aerated liquid then flows through the annular passage 84 and downwardly 60 through the chamber 66, a substantial portion of the liquid tending to cling to the bulbous body 76 to form a coherent bubbly stream. The aerated stream is discharged through a circular downstream outlet 92 of the partition 30 defined by a radially inwardly projecting lip 94. The annular 65 passage 84 has a cross-sectional area which is greater than the total cross-sectional area of the perforations 88 so that the chamber 80 is not filled with liquid to· enable air to pass upstream through the annular passage 84 into the mixing and break-up chamber 80. The screen 32 is sup- 70 ported on the annular lip 94 to retard the flow of aerated liquid and to thereby reduce the fluid pressure and splash tendency of the stream of areated liquid.

In the assembly of the aerator 10, the screen 32 is inserted through the open upstream end of the partition 30 75

589 before the ring 28 is mounted on the legs 54. The screen 32 has a close fit in the partition 30 and is pressed downwardly into engagement with the radially inwardly projecting lip 94 at the downstream end portion of the partition 30. Next, the ring 28 is mounted on the legs 54. To facilitate mounting the ring 28 on the legs 54, the baffle or skirt portion 74 of the ring 28 is provided at its outer surface with a slightly inclined undercut or recess, as is clearly shown at 98 in FIG. 7 where the recess is exaggerated for purposes of clarity of illustration. The upper ends of the legs 54 have slight radially inwardly projecting lips or proturberances 100, which are also exaggerated in FIG. 7 for purposes of clarity of illustration. As the ring 28 is pressed into engagement with the legs 54, the upper ends of the legs 54 yield resiliently to a slight extent and the protuberances 100 snap into the recess 98 to securely but detachably interconnect the ring 28 and the partition 30.

After the ring 28 has been mounted on the legs 54, the outer rim or edge portion of the perforated disk 72 of the aerator plug 26 is positioned in readily removable engagement with the annular seat 70 on the interior portion of the ring 28. The annular seat 70 positions the bulbous body 76 relative to the skirt portion 74 of the ring 28 to insure that the annular passage 84 has a uniform cross-sectional area which results in a uniform flow of aerated liquid from the mixing zone 80 to the downstream portion of the chamber 66. Once the aerator plug 26 is supported on the seat 70 of the ring 28, the internal assembly 24 is inserted as a unit through the upstream open end of the casing 14. The assembly 24 then slides freely downwardly in the casing 14, and the downstream end portions of the ribs 36 move into abutting engagement with an annular inwardly projecting lip or ledge 106 at the downstream end of the casing 14. This engagement between the downstream end portions of the ribs 36 and the lip 106 positions the assembly 24 relative to the casing 14. A gasket 108 is placed on top of the assembly 24 within the upper end 21 of the casing 14 to provide a seal between the casing 14 and an internal shoulder 110 on the faucet spout 12, thereby preventing leakage at the threaded connection 20-22.

In view of the foregoing, it will be understood that an aerator assembly is provided having relatively few components, most of which are readily molded of a polymeric material such as “Delrin.” These components are readily assembled to form the aerator device. The necessity of providing a specially machined casing is eliminated by the provision of the partition or cage 30 having the radially projecting ribs 36 which cooperate with the smooth cylindrical inner surface of the casing 14 to form the passages 42 through which air flows into the mixing zone 80.

While only one embodiment of the invention has been herein described, it will be understood that modifications and variations thereof may be effected without departing from the scope of the invention.