Powered Back Scrubbing System

Not Applicable

Not Applicable

Not Applicable

Not Applicable

Not Applicable

The disclosure relates to shower and bath devices and more particularly pertains to a new powered back scrubbing system to allow a person to scrub his or her back in a hands-free manner.

The prior art relates to shower and bath devices. The prior art, as best understood, does not disclose a powered back scrubbing system with rotating scrubbers that are movable while rotating to allow a person to scrub his or her back in a hands-free manner.

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above in a powered back scrubbing system generally comprising a scrubber assembly, a power unit, a control system, and a housing with legs to support the housing on a shower wall. The scrubber assembly includes a scrubbing head and a drive unit designed to rotate the scrubbing head. The power unit is operatively connected to the drive unit. The control system is operatively connected to the scrubber assembly to control the operation thereof. The housing contains the drive unit. The legs are designed to support the housing and the scrubber assembly a distance from a shower wall with the scrubbing head facing away from a shower wall to permit a user to engage the user's back against the scrubbing head. The scrubber assembly is movable while the scrubbing head rotates.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular tothereof, a new powered back scrubbing system embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeralwill be described.

As best illustrated in, the powered back scrubbing systemgenerally comprises a scrubber assembly, a power unit, a control system, and a housingwith legsto support the housingon a shower wall, as shown in. In the embodiments shown, there are two scrubber assembliesas discussed further below, but for convenience of description, one scrubber assemblywill be discussed in the following. In addition, identical parts identified in one of the figures may not be marked in the other figures for ease of viewing. As best seen in, the scrubber assemblyincludes a scrubbing headand a drive unitdesigned to rotate the scrubbing head. The drive unitincludes a drive motorand a drive shaftconnecting the drive motorto the scrubbing head. The drive motoris positioned in the housing. The drive shaftprojects through the housing. The scrubbing headincludes a support platformconnected to the drive shaftand a scrubbing structuremounted on the support platform. As shown in, the scrubber assemblycan include at least one additional scrubbing headinterchangeable with the scrubbing head. Each of the scrubbing headscan include a different size or type of scrubbing structure. For example, one scrubbing headcould be a brush having hard or soft bristles, as shown in, whereas another scrubbing headcould be a sponge, as shown in, or pumice stone.

The housingcontains the drive unitand legsare designed to support the housingand the scrubber assemblya distance from a shower wallwith the scrubbing headfacing away from the shower wallto permit a userto engage the user's back against the scrubbing head, as shown in. The legscomprise suction cupsto detachably connect the legsto the shower wallby suction, though other connection means could be used such as hooks or clips to hang off of parts of a bath or shower. The legsare adjustable in length to permit a userto adjust the distance between the housingand the shower wall. The legscould be telescoping with a spring-loaded locking pin, as shown in, but other designs are within the scope of the disclosure. As shown in, the legscan be used to mount the powered back scrubbing systemin different locations in a shower or bath.

A power unitis operatively connected to the drive unitto supply power to it. The power unitincludes batteries positioned in the housing. The batteries may be rechargeable batteries and the power unitincludes a charging port, as shown in, projecting through the housingand designed to receive a power cord. As shown in, a plugcould be used to cover the charging portagainst entry of water.

A control systemis operatively connected to the scrubber assemblyto control the operation thereof. The control systemis designed to control at least one of duration, speed, intermittence, and direction of rotation of the scrubbing ahead, as well as possibly other operating functions of the powered back scrubbing system. The control systemincludes a control panel, as shown in, positioned in the housingand designed to permit a userto input control commands.

The powered back scrubbing systemalso includes a movement assemblypositioned in the housing, best seen in. The movement assemblyis connected to the scrubber assemblyto move the scrubbing headback and forth along a front wallof the housing. The movement assemblyshown inis in the form of a motorized drive screw assembly operatively connected to the power unit. The front wallincludes a guide openingto guide movement of the scrubbing head. The movement assemblyis designed to move the scrubbing headup and down along a user's back. This movement can be done while the scrubbing headsare rotating.shows one possible example of a movement assemblyfor moving the scrubber assemblies, though other designs, such as servomotors, sliding drives on guide rods, and other devices that can move the scrubber assembliesalong a path of movement are within the scope of the disclosure.

The powered back scrubbing systemalso can include a refillable containercontaining cleaning medium, such as liquid soap or body wash. A dispenser systemconnects the containerto the scrubbing headto dispense cleaning medium to the scrubbing head. The scrubbing headincludes a passage, as seen in, to permit flow of cleaning medium to the scrubbing structure. The dispenser systemincludes a pumpto pump cleaning medium out of the containerand tubingconnecting the pumpto the passagein the scrubbing head. The containerand the dispenser systemare positioned in the housing. A capcan be used to open and close the container. A pump button could be included in the control panelto permit a userto manually activate the pumpto dispense cleaning medium, or the control systemcould control the pumpto automatically dispense cleaning medium.

As shown in, the powered back scrubbing systemincludes a pair of scrubber assemblies. The movement assemblyis operatively connected to the pair of scrubber assembliesto move the scrubbing heads. The refillable containeris connected by a pair of dispenser systemsto the scrubbing heads. The power unitand the control systemare operatively connected to the pair of scrubber assemblies.

show an alternative embodiment of the powered back scrubbing systemin which the pair of scrubber assembliesis operatively connected to a pair of refillable containers, a pair of dispenser systems, a pair of power units, and a pair of control systems, each positioned in an individual housingto form a pair of individual scrubbing units, rather than using a single housingas in. The powered back scrubbing systemofincludes a support frameconnected to the legsand on which each of the scrubbing unitsis adjustably mounted to permit manual adjustment of the position of the scrubbing units. In the embodiment shown, a usercould slide the individual scrubbing unitsup and down along the support frame.

show how to use the powered back scrubbing system. Once the userhas positioned the powered back scrubbing systemin a desired location, the usersimply activates the powered back scrubbing systemand engages his or her back against the scrubbing heads. The scrubbing headsare rotated and scrub the user's back. The usercan either manually adjust the position of the scrubbing heads, as in the embodiment of, or allow the scrubbing headsto be moved up and down automatically, as in the embodiment shown in. If the userfinds that the powered back scrubbing systemis not in a desired position, he or she may disconnect the suction cupsand move the powered back scrubbing systemto a different location on the shower wall, and also may adjust the length of legs.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.