Friedrich Grohe Armaturenfabrik Gmbh+co.

Friedrich Grohe Aktiengesellschaft

Heinz Hirsch

Harald Korfgen

Vinzenz Grendel

Heinz-Dieter Eichholz

Friedrich Wagner

Veit Bechte

Walter Grau

Hans-Jurgen Ludewig

Gunter Faust

Gunter Kolbert

Gunter Gabel

An automatic shower control for the flow to a shower head by a detection device and its control and evaluation circuitry which detects the presence of a user and includes switching device for activation and deactivation of the control. An intensity selective evaluation of the detector signal indicates whether the signal derives from an object in a close proximity range or a normal proximity range to the detector and the system is switched on by the presence of an object in the close proximity range. During operation in the normal proximity range, which can terminate when the user leaves this range, water shut off can also be effected by movement of an object into the close proximity range.

Automatic shower control

A flow-control valve has a housing, a valve cartridge in the housing connectable between sources of hot and cold water and an output and including a valve for varying a volume/rate parameter and a temperature parameter of flow from the sources to the output, and a lever pivoted on the cartridge about two transverse axes, connected to the valve means, and movable by pivoting about one of the axes along a path in one direction relative to the housing to vary one of the parameters and movable by pivoting about the other of the axes in another direction relative to the housing to vary the other parameter. A stop is provided on the housing outside the valve cartridge along the path engageable with the lever. A biasing or spring unit urges the stop transversely into the path of the lever and thereby inhibits movement of the lever along the path past the stop.

Stroke limiter for single-lever mixing valve

A flow-control valve has a housing, a valve plate fixed in the housing and formed relative to a direction of flow through the valve with a flat upstream face and with an outlet port opening at the face, and a control plate fixed in the housing and formed relative to the flow direction with a flat downstream face riding on the valve-plate face and with a throughgoing inlet port opening at the face. This control plate is slidable on the valve plate for alignment of the ports and flow through the valve from the inlet port to the outlet port and for misalignment of the ports for restricted flow from the inlet port to the outlet port. A shield plate is fixed in the housing immediately upstream of the control plate and formed with an aperture aligned in the direction with and of generally the same shape as the port of the valve plate. Thus incoming flow will always be confined to a stream aligned with the outlet port of the valve plate.

Valve with flow shield

A valve comprises a housing forming a compartment traversed by an axis and having a radially opening outlet port and an axially open inlet port, a valve plate fixed in the housing and formed relative to a flow direction therethrough with a flat upstream face and with an axially throughgoing valve orifice opening at the face, and a control plate in the housing formed relative to the flow direction with a flat downstream face riding on the valve-plate face, with an axially throughgoing control orifice opening at the face, and with an axially open socket. This control plate is pivotal on the valve plate about the axis for alignment of the orifices and flow through the valve and for misalignment of the orifices for restricted flow through the valve. A large-diameter valve stem rotatable in the housing about the axis is formed with a socket open axially toward the plates and a small-diameter connecting rod extending through the valve plate has an inner end complementary to and rotationally fixed in the valve-stem socket and an outer end rotationally fixed in the control-plate socket. One of the rod ends is axially slidable in the respective socket so that rotation of the stem is transmitted by the rod to the control plate.

Flow-control and shutoff valve

A shut-off valve mechanism for a shut-off and control valve has a generally cylindrical housing with inner and outer annular shoulder against which a valve seat disk is placed to prevent distortion of the valve seat disk. The valve control disk is pressed by spring forces against the valve seat disk from its upstream side and is entrained in rotation by a spindle passing through the inner annular shoulder and the valve seat disk.

Growing community of inventors

Soest, Germany

Heinz Hirsch