The present invention relates to a water saving device that can be used in any water supply installation for controlling water discharge operations to minimize water wastage at taps such as kitchen, bath room sinks, both residential and commercial, water stands for large gatherings at mosques and temples.

Back ground and prior art of the invention

A ½ inch, conventional water tap, either made of metallic components or plastics provides uncontrolled water supply continuously, as long as the valve is kept open partially or fully as per the sweet will of a user by manual operation. It does not provide intermittent water flow as per the sequence of use at will and therefore considerable wastage of water at the hands of the user is associated with it when examined in the context of its large scale of applications in home, street, temples and mosques. It is desirable to cut down the amount of water consumed at a point of usage effectively. Taps that turn off after a predetermined interval are available and are reliable but they are too complicated in construction, electrical wirings need to be relied upon, or involve too many mechanical components. Thus need exists for a water tap assembly that comply consistent water economy with its applications which is the prime consideration. Affordable price, easy to operate, assemble and disassemble, rust proof, durability are other equally important parameters in developing it so as to find mass appeal for its adoption in both rural and urban sector.

A simple illustration suffices to demonstrate the huge demand of water supply as mentioned below,

On an average a village mosque attended by 100 persons, 5 times a day and with 2.5 litre of water per person per ablution needs water supply of 365 * 100 * 5 * 2.5 = 456250 litres and allowing for days of mass prayers, raise it by modest 15%, that is, the water consumption works out to be 603390 litres per annum.

If one can cut it by 30%, it will certainly be a huge saving in both water supply and power consumption in both rural and urban sector.

For domestic application typically, the actual amount of water required to accomplish a part of the task at hand is relatively small compared to the amount of water that is wasted, the tap being opened through out the entire task being performed by the user. Thus currently a significant quantity of potable water is wasted by taps being left open or taps being on for longer than they are required during a particular operation. However water supply in domestic application is applied from overhead tanks, under variable water pressure as per the height of the water tanks. Greater the gravity head, higher is the discharge rate of water from the water tap, and the maximum delivery rate is governed by the maximum lift of the valve which in turn is decided by the size of the valve opening in the valve body. Hence in the conventional water taps once the valve opening is opened inside the tap, unrestricted water flows out of the outlet opening of the tap. Hence need also exists for a water tap to reduce water exist velocity from it.

For above mentioned unrestricted water flow it has been found that the inlet and the outlet area of the valve passage in the valve body of the tap and that at the maximum valve lift area inside the valve must be identical to ensure equal velocity of flow. Hence by maintaining the partial lift as regulated manually by the user, the flow rate can be reduced. Such technique along with providing enlarged area inside the valve body leads to reduce the water exist velocity to prevent unrestricted water flow out of the tap has been used in this current innovation.

The present invention also overcomes all other drawbacks and disadvantages of conventional water taps and fulfils all the aforesaid neediness and envisages to provide a lever operated water tap for a water supply that will reduce effectively water consumption at discharge taps and at the same time it can be easily and quickly installed by an unskilled or semi skilled user in existing, conventional, manually operated residential or commercial systems and is affordable in cost when compared to conventional or regulated water supply taps and is durable with the least maintenance cost over the period of intensive usage.

Japanese patent application no. JP 02 - 245685 titled as "Automatic Tap" discloses a device to miniaturize wastage of water by providing a control circuit unit for opening or closing a solenoid valve based on the output signal of an object sensor set on the surface of a water discharging pipe, and by providing a switch for switching the working of a valve to an automatic operation mode or a manual operation mode. By turning on / off of switch (13) the user can change the mode of operation as automatic mode / manual operation mode. Also the Indian patent application No. 1474 / CHE / 2009 discloses an automatic flow control compact water tap, which uses a sensor to detect the hand movements of the user in front of the tap, as a cue to open / close the valve controlling the water flow. Whenever a hand, or for that matter any other object, comes in the vicinity of the tap, the electronic sensor senses it and activates the solenoid valve. Once the solenoid gets energized, it drives the plunger downwards, eventually pressing on the top of the sub valve, and opening it. The mechanical arrangement made inside the tap such that opening of sub valve results into opening up the main valve, through which water gushes out of the tap.

The very big disadvantages of this kind of taps are failure of sensors and electrical power supply which cause to disable the automatic mode of operation of tap and during the manual operation the rate at which the water flows out of the outlet is not under the control of user or internal mechanical arrangements of such taps.

While our instant invention does not use any electrical operable devices like sensor which faces often maintenance problems and it fails during power off or power fail conditions and can't be used for long time vision. The enlarged area inside the valve body of the tap reduces the water exit velocity and thereby the rate at which water flows out of the outlet can be reduced to control unrestricted water flow during the need of desired quantity of water for the users.

Indian patent application bearing patent no. 138946 discloses improved water tap body having an inlet, for connecting to source of water supply for example water pipe, an outlet for water, a push button cap slidable over a top portion of the tap body, a valve operating stem connected to the said push button cap by a cotter pin, the said valve operating stem being divided into two parts by a collar portion integral therewith, a top plug placed around the upper portion of the valve operating stem above said collar and fixed to the tap body by screw threads, so as to restrict the upward movement of the valve operating stem.

While our instant invention does not have conventional sealing arrangements like push button cap, stuffing box and gland nut, in the threaded top cover screwed into the valve body with central opening for the valve operating stem which is prone to the most discomfort of leakage around the said valve operating stem over the passage of time and sticking of components due to rusting thereof and so provides simple mechanical operations and reliable integral arrangements for saving wastage of water.

Object of the invention

The main object of present invention is to provide a water tap of consistent water economy with its application by providing intermittent water flow as per the sequence of use at will to provide considerable wastage of water at the hands of the user.

Another object of the invention is to prevent water leakage, to provide rust proof, Affordable price, easily operable, least maintenance, long term view of intensive usage, electric wiring free, simplified mechanical constructional, manually controllable lever operated water tap.

This invention also objects to provide lever operated water tap of simple constructional arrangements of its integral parts so as even an unskilled or semi skilled user can easily and quickly install in existing conventional manually operated residential or commercial systems. Still another object of this invention is to reduce water exist velocity by providing enlarged area inside the valve body to save unrestricted water flow running forcefully during limited use of user.

Summary of this invention

This present invention discloses a lever operated water tap for a water supply that will reduce effectively water consumption and at the same time is affordable in cost when compared to conventional, manually operated residential or commercial regulated water supply systems. This instant innovation incorporated discloses lever operated water tap comprises a valve body, having inlet and outlet openings, are fitted the top side cover and bottom cover, after the valve is assembled. The inlet of the valve body is connected with the water supply systems from which the pressurized water enters into the valve body. Valve body at for a water supply that will reduce effectively water consumption and at the same time is affordable in cost when compared to conventional, manually operated residential or commercial regulated water supply systems. This instant innovation incorporated discloses lever operated tap in which the user shall swing the lever assembly about 35 degree, corresponding to the full lift of the valve to rotate the spindle with its load arm and to depress the valve assembly downward against the spring force thereby maximum opening of the valve at 'c' as a result water will flow out of the tap. Having opening the valve momentarily thus the user will hold his palms together to collect the intermittent requisite quantity of water delivered and with water so collected he will finish at least one part of the ablution. He may repeat the above operation to have fresh quota of handful of water for performing further use or will of the user and no need to keep the water running out of the tap after the completion of his will with just the quantity of water needed. By this innovation incorporated, the saving is expected to be over 50% in water consumption.

Detail description of the drawings

Fig. 1 is the external perspective elevation view of the whole device of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is the cross sectional perspective elevation view of the present invention showing the valve assembly with the valve opening at 'c' in opened position and the spindle and lever assembly in position. Fig. 3 illustrates the cross sectional elevation plane and end view of the assembled unit of the invention showing the valve opening at 'c' in closed position with internal details of the compression spring, spindle assembly and lever assembly.

Fig. 4 is the exploded perspective view of the individual component part of each assemblage like spindle assembly, lever assembly, valve assembly etc. of the valve body.

Detail description of the invention

The present invention comprises a valve body (1) closed at the top with lateral opening to insert a spindle assembly that follows a lever assembly (9) at the rear end of the spindle assembly as directed in the fig. 4. Spindle assembly includes a spindle (8), a sealing rubber cone (11) and a rubber washer ring (13); the Spindle (8) of the spindle assembly is supported at one end with the top side cover (2) at 'f and the other end at the pilot bearing " 'e' end" of the valve body as directed in fig. 3 and the sealing rubber cone (11) is positioned on the spindle (8) with the rubber washer ring (13) and the whole spindle assembly has been screwed to close the said lateral opening with the help of top side cover (2) as directed in fig. 4. Instead at the top side cover (2) at the end of the spindle assembly, the said sealing rubber cone (11) is provided inside so as to press against the spindle (8) under the supply water pressure acting on the outer conical surface of the rubber cone (11) and thereby effectively water leakage has been sealed around the spindle (8). While the said lever assembly (9) includes a vertical effort arm (a) with horizontal handgrip (15) at its end and a square slot (14) at the top. The load arm (b) as directed in fig. 2 & 3 is integral with the spindle (8), whereas the square end of the spindle assembly engages with the square slot (14) of the lever assembly as directed in fig. 1, and secured in position by a suitable fastener.

The said valve body (1) is provided with an inlet opening (16) and an outlet opening (17) of appropriate sizes to match the pressurized water flow of water supply system to which the valve body (1) is connected. The valve assembly along with the compression spring (10) is inserted into the valve body (1) from the bottom opening and is closed with threaded bottom cover (3) along with its rubber washer ring (13 A) as directed in fig. 3 & 4. The valve assembly consists of a SS (Stainless Steel) valve (4), a special rubber valve (5) secured above the SS valve (4) with suitable fastener, an annular flat valve seat (7) at the upper surface of rubber valve (5) and valve stem (6) of rust proof material. The said valve (5) is made up of rubber material, which does not deform under fluid pressure and has a much longer life and the said valve stem (6) at the top end is suitably configured to have only a point contact with the end of the load arm (b) of the spindle (8) to minimize wear and the compressing spring (10), positioned between the underside of the valve assembly and the inner side of the bottom cover (3), is provided along with the valve assembly to restore the rubber valve (5) to its annular valve seat (7) by its upward force and maintains the rubber valve (5) in firm contact at the annular valve seat (7) in the valve body (1), and the said upward force being supplemented by the fluid pressure acting on the underside of the valve assembly to ensure no leakage around the annular valve seat (7). The substantial linear vertical movement of the valve stem (6) is guided by the closely dimensioned opening (12) in the valve body on the upper side of the annular valve seat (7) as directed in fig. 2 .

During the operation of water tap, the user shall swing the lever assembly

(9) at the front side in the forward direction by a little push of handgrip (15) at the end of the effort arm (a). The maximum angular forward swing of the hand grip (15) can be of about 35 degrees, corresponding to the full lift of the valve assembly. The controlled swing of the handgrip (15) of the effort arm (a) from 0 - 35 degree rotates the spindle (8) with its load arm (b) to provide actuating force at the top end of the valve stem (6) to depress the whole valve assembly downward against the spring force so as to disengage the special rubber seat (5) carried by the SS valve (4) and retained in position by closely dimensioned opening (12) from the annular valve seat (7) as directed in fig. 2 & 3 and thereby opens the valve opening at 'c' to the extent as decided by the angular rotation of the spindle (8), effected by the effort arm (a) of the lever assembly (9). The rotation of the effort arm (a) of the lever assembly and the load arm (b) is so selected as to have least effort to be applied by the user at the hand grip (15) of effort arm (a) to avoid fatigue to the user. During this desired operation the lateral movement of the said spindle (8) has been taken care of by the step on the spindle (8) at'd', as directed in fig. 3 and proper dimensioning of the sealing rubber cone (1Ϊ) and the top side cover (2). Hence the controlled swing of the handgrip (15) from 0 -35 degree leads to valve opening at 'c' between closed to maximum open position with an intermediate open position between the closed position and the maximum open position at 'c'. As a result water may be made flow out of the tap outlet (17) under desired will of the user. The enlarged area inside the body of the valve reduces the water exit velocity to control unrestricted water flow from the outlet (17).

When the handgrip (15) of the effort arm (a) is released to discontinue the water flow from the tap with no supply water pressure in the incoming line, the compression spring (10) restores the rubber seat (5) back to its annular valve seat (7) at in the valve body (1). Hence in the closed or non operating position, the load arm (b) of spindle (8) rests against the rounded top of the valve stem (6) and the handgrip (15) comes back to its original position.

Hence by recapitulating the above mechanical process, it can be shown that, the up and down vertical linear motion of the valve assembly of valve body (1) is controlled by the rotational motion of spindle (8) with its integral load arm (b) to provide actuating force to depress the valve stem (6) and which in turn controlled by the forward angular motion of hand grip (15) of the lever assembly (9). More the depression of valve stem (6) in downward direction with the help of load arm (b) and compression spring (10) leads to greater the water discharge amount from the tap outlet. It can be noted that the linear distance travelled by the valve stem (6) in the downward direction due to corresponding swing of lever assembly (9) from the non operating position to maximum rotating position of 35 degree is only 3 mm distance due to combined action of external actuation force by the user and internal water force acting inside the valve body (1). Hence with such carefully designed mechanical arrangements as mentioned above the present innovative device avoids fatigue to the user.