Kohler Company

General Machinery Corporation

Thomas J Husting

Thomas A Bonnell

Alan D Bengtson

Jonah D Husting

The present invention has a harp with four arms forming a parallelogram. The four arms are pivotally connected at their respective ends. Wires are secured between the side arms of the harp with holders. The harp is securely received within a channel of the machine. As such, the harp lies in a plane that is parallel to the front of the product being sliced at all times. The harp is angularly adjustable, such that the top and bottom of the harp can selectably converge or diverge as the harp tilts. The wires remain parallel during the divergence and convergence of the top and bottom of the harp. An actuator is provided for effecting the tilting of the harp. Two vertical bars can be provided for supporting the wires and minimizing deflection of the wires along their respective lengths.

Machine with a tilting harp

An adjustable wall jamb is disclosed which can compensate for a variety of variations in wall structures when fitting a panel member thereto. One adjustable wall jamb is for a shower enclosure and affords a channel into which a portion of the wall panel is sealed, and thus provides a 'floating' type seal without contacting an end of the adjustable wall jamb. The adjustable wall jamb is formed as a support post and is telescopingly fitted into a stud jamb. In an alternative embodiment, there is a one-piece adjustable wall jamb having securing flanges and sealing fingers formed as a one-piece unit. This can be utilized in conjunction with the square fitment of a panel to a wall, a corner construction, or an angled construction.

Adjustable wall jamb

A door system includes a sill having a ledge extending across the bottom of an opening to a bathing enclosure and having a raised lip along an exterior side of the ledge. A pair of parallel tracks are above the opening with a first door suspended from and slidable along the first track freely above the ledge. A second door and a third door are suspended from and slidable along the second track being freely suspended above the ledge. A pair of door retainers are attached to the first door and engage the other doors to prevent the doors from swinging into each other. A stop member is attached to the sill on an interior side of the ledge to retain three doors above the ledge between the stop member and the raised lip.

Multiple section suspended bath doors with a lower stabilizer

A door system includes a sill with a ledge extending across the bottom of an opening to a bathing enclosure and with a raised lip along an exterior side of the ledge. A pair of parallel tracks are above the opening with a first door suspended from and freely slidable along the first track above the ledge. A second door and a third door are suspended from and slidable along the second track being freely suspended above the ledge. A pair of door guides are attached to the first door and engage the other doors to prevent the doors from swinging into each other. Similar door guides are attached to the second and third doors and interlock with one of the door guides on the first door to prevent the doors from sliding entirely past each other. A stop member is attached to the sill and retains the doors above the ledge between the stop member and the raised lip. Detent blocks also are disclosed for holding the doors in a closed state.

Multiple section suspended bath doors with interlocking members

A door latching and seal assembly wherein a movable seal provides a combined latching and seal function with a detent action as the door engages and disengages a movable seal. In a preferred manner, the assembly has an extending lip for engagement with the door and the detent action is provided by lobe portions extending into cutouts in a mounting member. The latching and seal assembly is particularly suited for use with a curved shower door.

Door latching and seal assembly

Disclosed herein is a drain valve for a bathtub or other gravity drained container. When energized with an electrical pulse, a solenoid mounted directly below the drain elbow drives the poppet upward, which unseals the outlet drain. A permanent magnet latches the solenoid armature in place in the up position. The valve is closed by energizing the solenoid with a pulse of opposite polarity which pulls the armature downward and out of the influence of the permanent magnet. A piston in a sleeve over-nested by a movable shroud provides leakage protection and allows manual opening and closing.

Drain valve assembly

Shower enclosure

A switch actuator for use with an electrical switch sensitive to changes in air pressure includes a bellows formed of a flexible material. The bellows is attached to a nipple having a passageway for operatively connecting the actuator to the electrical switch. A sleeve is shrink fitted over the outer surface of the nipple, causing the bellows to be lodged between the sleeve and the nipple. The sleeve includes a tubular sidewall with an inwardly-extending flange defining a central opening. A button is slidable relative to the sleeve and includes a projection extending through the central opening to engage the bellows. Pressing the button deforms the bellows, thereby decreasing the volume of a cavity formed between the bellows and the nipple.

Switch actuator

A drain valve activator assembly for a container such as a bathtub is disclosed. In one embodiment, there is an overflow plate mountable on a side wall of the tub at the overflow outlet. A stem is positioned through the plate so as to rotate on its own longitudinal axis, so as to have one end extending into the bathtub, and so as to have one end extending out of the bathtub. A solenoid is provided outside the tub with a holding member such as a leaf spring. Upon activation, the solenoid pulls the leaf spring away from the stem. Normally, the leaf spring is biased towards the stem. The holding member and a stem end are configured so as to be able to interfit and inhibit stem rotation when the leaf spring abuts against the stem. A torsion spring stores the rotational energy used to manually open the valve, and then uses that energy to drive the valve to the closed position in response to the solenoid operation.

Growing community of inventors

Sheboygan Falls, WI, United States of America

Thomas J Husting