Kohler Company

Carter J. Thomas

Carl F. Mueller

Peter W. Swart

Jeffrey F. Tempas

Ronald A. Bauer

Ronald A Bauer

Peter William Swart

Carter J Thomas

Robert C Giese

David J O'Connell

Jeffrey F Tempas

Richard J Hackl

Carl F Mueller

Michael G Cook

Diana Q Wang

Peter W Swart

An air bath has air outlets extending around the side walls of the water basin. Air is delivered to the air outlets through a ring-like air manifold coupled to a blower by conduit. The conduit has a bypass vent that siphons off a portion of the air flow otherwise passing to the air outlets and maintains the blower in communication with ambient air. The air delivery system provides a wider range of bubble densities by allowing the blower to operate at lower speeds without overheating or stalling from back pressure arising from the pressure head of the water in the basin.

Air bath with bypass vent

A control system for plumbing equipment includes a user interface and a main controller. Only the user interface is customized and unique to a specific model of the plumbing equipment, and stores main software program that is tailored to operate the particular components of that specific model. The main controller is generic and is able to be used on several different models of the plumbing equipment. Upon activation of the control system the main software program is transferred to the main controller which configures the main controller to operate the specific model of the plumbing equipment.

Distributed control system for a whirlpool tub

An apparatus is provided to control a plumbing fixture, such as a whirlpool, that has electrically operated components. The apparatus has a dial that is moveable by the user into a plurality of positions to select a function of the plumbing fixture to be controlled. A unique sensor arrangement detects motion and the direction of the motion and provides a signal to a controller that changes the valve of a pointer that designates which function is presently selected. The user then presses a keypad to indicate whether the selected function is to be activated or deactivated and to control the intensity of the selected function. The signals from the keypad also are applied to the controller.

User interface for controlling a whirlpool tub

Disclosed herein is a bath tub having a deep basin without an internal overflow. Instead, an overflow trough encircles the basin and collects water falling over a rim of the basin. A pump directs water within the overflow trough through a conduit back into the basin, so as to continuously maintain water flowing over the rim of the basin. Micro-effervescence and a chromatherapy system can also be provided with such a tub.

Overflowing soaker bath tub

Growing community of inventors

Belgium, WI, United States of America

Ronald A Bauer