ILLUMINATING DEVICE FOR HOT AND COLD WATER DISPENSER WITH PURIFYING FUNCTION Technical Field The present invention relates generally to an illuminating device for hot and cold water dispensers with a purifying function, and more particularly, to an illuminating device for hot and cold water dispensers with a purifying function, which has a plurality of illuminating units of various colors at a position adjacent to hot and cold water dispensing valves mounted on the front surface of a hot and cold water dispenser, thus allowing the operating state of the hot and cold water dispenser as well as cold and hot water dispensing valves to be easily distinguished, and which is designed to reflect light against the water dispensing valves, thus having a splendid and elegant illuminating effect, reducing the manufacturing cost of the illuminating device, and allowing the water dispenser to be easily operated without additional lighting in the dark.

Background Art Generally, a hot and cold water dispenser with a purifying function consists of a main body provided with water dispensing valves, and a water tank seated on the main body for feeding water to the main body. The water dispensing valves are blue and red to indicate cold and hot water, respectively.

The main body has also a power lamp at a predetermined position of the main body.

When it is required to drink water from the hot and cold water dispenser, a user presses levers of the water dispensing valves to open the water dispensing valves. At this time, hot and cold water is discharged from the water tank through water supply pipes installed in the main body to the outside of the water dispensing valves.

Meanwhile, in a bright place or a sunny place, a user easily can find a

desired water dispensing valve of the hot and cold water dispenser. But, the conventional hot and cold water dispenser has a problem that water may overflow, and besides, a user's hand may be scalded in the case of dispensing hot water, because it is difficult to know an accurate volume of water filled in a cup and to distinguish the cold water dispensing valve from the hot water dispensing valve in the night without switching on a room light. Thus, in order to avoid scalding due to user's carelessness, the user must take great care of operating the hot and cold water dispenser, and besides, an additional illuminating device is required.

In order to solve the above problems, there has been disclosed Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 97-78534, which was published on December 12,1997 and is entitled"device for illuminating water dispensing valves of hot and cold water dispenser with purifying function". But, in the Korean Patent Laid- Open Publication No. 97-78534, the position of the illuminating device is unclear, so the illuminating device is not likely to be practically produced or used.

Further, there has been disclosed Korean U. M. Laid-Open Publication No. 98- 2860, which is entitled"automatic illuminating device for water purifiers".

However, this device of Korean U. M. Laid-Open Publication No. 98-2860 has a problem that it is complicated in its construction, thus causing the increase of its manufacturing cost, because an optical sensing device reacting to the quantity of light around the water purifier and a drive device of an illuminating device must be additionally installed in the device.

In addition, there has been disclosed Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 99-31652, which was published on May 6,1999 and is entitled"illuminating device for water purifiers". But, this device a problem that it is complicated in its construction, thus causing the increase of its manufacturing cost, because an optical detecting device and a temperature sensing device are additionally installed in the device, and the device is also provided with a microprocessor.

Disclosure of the Invention Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the

above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an illuminating device for hot and cold water dispensers with a purifying function, which has a plurality of illuminating units of various colors at a position adjacent to hot and cold water dispensing valves mounted on the front surface of a hot and cold water dispenser, thus allowing the operating state of the hot and cold water dispenser as well as cold and hot water dispensing valves to be easily distinguished, and which is designed to reflect light against the water dispensing valves, thus having a splendid and elegant illuminating effect, and thus reducing the manufacturing cost of the illuminating device, and thus allowing the water dispenser to be easily operated in the dark, without additional lighting.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides an illuminating device for hot and cold water dispensers with a purifying function, each of the water dispensers consisting of a main body seating a water tank thereon and provided therein with a control unit as well as a water supply pipe communicating with the water tank, the main body having a recessed water dispensing part at its front portion, the water dispensing part being provided at its lower portion with a sewage storage box, at its front surface with cold and hot water dispensing valves communicating with the water supply pipe, and at its upper surface with an illuminating unit, wherein the illuminating unit is exposed to the outside of the upper surface of the water dispensing part at its first end and positioned within the main body at its second end to be electrically connected to the control unit, and two indicating units are positioned above the cold and hot water dispensing valves and within an effective angular range of illumination of the illuminating unit, respectively, to indicate the cold and hot water dispensing valves.

As described above, the present invention is directed to provide an illuminating device for hot and cold water dispensers with a purifying function, which has a plurality of illuminating units of various colors at a position adjacent to hot and cold water dispensing valves mounted on the front surface of a hot and cold water dispenser, thus allowing the operating state of the hot and cold water dispenser as well as cold and hot water dispensing valves to be easily

distinguished, and which is designed to reflect light against the water dispensing valves, thus having a splendid and elegant illuminating effect, and thus reducing the manufacturing cost of the illuminating device, and thus allowing the water dispenser to be easily operated without additional lighting in the dark.

Brief Description of the Drawings The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a hot and cold water dispenser with a purifying function having an illuminating device according to the primary embodiment of this invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the hot and cold water dispensers with a purifying function having the illuminating device shown in Fig. 1; and Figs. 3a and 3b are sectional views showing illuminating devices for hot and cold water dispensers with a purifying function, in accordance with the second and third embodiments of this invention, respectively.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention Reference should now be made to the drawings, in which the same reference numerals are used throughout the different drawings to designate the same or similar components.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an illuminating device for hot and cold water dispensers with a purifying function according to this invention. Fig.

2 is a sectional view of the illuminating device for hot and cold water dispensers with a purifying function shown in Fig. 1.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, according to this invention, a hot and cold water dispenser 10 has a cylindrical shape, and consists of a main body 14 on which a water tank 12 is seated. In the dispenser 10 are provided a control unit

(not shown) as well as a water supply pipe (not shown) communicating with the water tank 12. The main body 14 has a recessed water dispensing part 16 at its front portion. The water dispensing part 16 is provided at its lower portion with a sewage storage box 18, and provided at its front surface 15 with cold and hot water dispensing valves 20a and 20b communicating with the water supply pipe.

An illuminating device 100 is positioned at a position around the cold and hot water dispensing valves 20a and 20b of the hot and cold water dispenser 10, and consists of illuminating units 1 Oa and 11 Ob collaterally used as indicators.

The illuminating units 110a and 110b may be light emitting diodes (LEDs) or electric bulbs. The illuminating units 1 lOa and 1 lOb are positioned on the upper surface 17 of the water dispensing part 16 in such a way as to be perpendicular to the upper surface 17 and opposite to the sewage storage box 18, such that light emitted from the illuminating units l lOa and 1 lOb passes the cold and hot water dispensing valves 20a and 20b and is transmitted to the sewage storage box 18. In this case, the illuminating units 1 lOa and 1 lOb each are at one end exposed to the outside of the upper surface 17 of the water dispensing part 16 and positioned within the main body 14 at the other end to be electrically connected to the control unit. Two indicating units 112a and 112b are positioned above the cold and hot water dispensing valves 20a and 20b of the water dispensing part 16, respectively, to indicate the cold and hot water dispensing valves 20a and 20b. In this case, the indicating units 112a and 112b are positioned within an effective angular range of illumination of the illuminating unit 11 Oa and 11 Ob, respectively.

Figs. 3a and 3b show an illuminating device for hot and cold water dispensers with a purifying function, in accordance with second and third embodiments of this invention, respectively. Referring to Figs. 3a and 3b, the illuminating units 110a and 110b are set in the upper surface 17 of the water dispensing part 16."L"-shaped transparent caps 212a and 212b are arranged at the junction corner of the upper surface 17 of the water dispensing part 16 and the main body 14. The transparent caps 212a and 212b each come into close contact with the main body 14 at its end and extend downward prior to being bent

horizontally to pass under the illuminating unit llOa and 11 Ob at its horizontal surface extending in the same direction as the upper surface 17 of the water dispensing unit 16. The indicating units 112a and 112b are integrally provided on the surface of the transparent caps 212a and 212b for indicating the cold and hot water dispensing valves 20a and 20b, respectively. A hole 214 is preferably formed on the transparent caps 212a and 212b at a position under the illuminating units llOa and 11 Ob such that light emitted from the illuminating units llOa and 11 Ob is directly transmitted to each of the cold and hot water dispensing valves 20a and 20b (see, Fig. 3b). More preferably, the caps 212a and 212b may be made of opaque materials with the thickness of 2mm.

The caps 212a and 212b formed in this way allow the light emitted from the illuminating units l lOa and 11 lOb to be transmitted to the front surface of the water dispensing unit 16, the cold and hot water dispensing valves 20a and 20b of the water dispensing unit 16, and the sewage storage box 18.

Industrial Applicability As described above, the present invention provides an illuminating device for hot and cold water dispensers with a purifying function, which has illuminating unit at the upper surface of a water dispensing part, thus allowing the operating state of the hot and cold water dispenser as well as cold and hot water dispensing valves to be easily distinguished, and reducing the manufacturing cost of the illuminating device, and which is designed to reflect light against the water dispensing valves, thus having a splendid and elegant illuminating effect without requiring additional lighting in the night.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.