This invention is primarily intended tυ provide bath- and washing pos ib lities for persons who for different reasons (disabilities etc) now find it imposs¬ ible to or only with extreme -..Ji fficulty can use ordinary S bathtubs.

To have a bath in a bathtub and to be entirely surrounded by warm water, to have the entire body warmed up is except the purely hygienic aspects of bathing of a major stimulance for many persons, in particular 10 ol people and those suffering from rheuma i m etc.

According to literature bathtubs of different forms have been known already before classical antiquity. Tubs of wood or copper are among the forrunners of the bath- . tubs of today with outlet. In known embodiments the bath- 5 tubs can essentially be divided into reclining tubs (lon¬ ger) and sitting bathtubs (shorter). The bathtubs can either be standing by themselves or be buil.t in, stand on the bathroom floor or be sunk partly or entirely. Among the sitting bathtubs a version has existed called closet- 0 tub, which was built into a closet.

Common to most of todays known bathtubs is a rela¬ tively big heigth for stepping in or out, about 0,5 meter or more and that the entire inside of the tub is sloping towards the outlet. The person in the bath .therefore ,has S a tendency to slide towards the lowest point (the outlet) of the tub. Furthermore ,a normally sized adult in sitting position will have the upper part of his body, shoulder etc uncovered by water and is thus chilled by the air which is not a pleasant experience. Sitting baths with a low entrance step for elder¬ ly and disabled persons exist in several different models. Common to the known embodiments are the more or less com¬ plicated devices that are necessary in order to seal the door of the tub. These complicated devices make the product expen- sive to purchase and dubious to use from a hygienic point of view. In those cases when a lift for patients is used the cost may be still higher. The above points a re probab-

ly the main reasons why so few bat tubs for elderly and disable persons are in use at present. 40 The present invention defines solutions of the above problems and constitutes a sitting bath with low threshold and a seat inclined towards the rear, from the lowest point (outlet) thus giving a comfortable sitting position without the risk of sliding towards the outlet 45 end of the bathtub. The water draining from the seat, in¬ clined towards the rear, takes place via two chutes at the sides of the seat. By those chutes at the sides of the seat the advantages are obtained of a fullsized, en¬ tire seat wich undivided sitting surface and, furthermore, the SO horizontal adjustment of the bathtub becomes uncritical. Furthermore,the relatively big depth of the tub enables a sitting, normally sized adult to be entirely surround¬ ed by water up to the level of his neck/chin. This is par¬ ticularly important for people who are elderly, rheu- 55 matics etc. The relatively big depth of the bathtub can ^■ however give a feeling of confinement. The loose hatch (see below) may therefore suitably be fabricated from a transparent material.

A side effect of the invention is that a footbath is ob- 60 tained in the bottom part (at the outlet). Through the big entrance opening on one side of the bathtub a helper to the bathing person can take care of his/her footbath, in case the bathing person has difficulties in bending downwards. The footbath can suitably initiate the full 65 bath, the first polluted water being let out. Then the bottom and the sides are showered clean before the full bath begins.

The sitting bath described below has as thebaths of today an upper edging or frame that at the outside ^~ 0 is turned downwards. The tub in accordance with the inven¬ tion has however on one side a big opening extending almost to the bottom of the tub leaving only a low threshold. This opening is intended for the entrance of the bathing person. A sitting bath according to the invention can as ^~ > well as the bathtubs of todav be fabricated in enamelled

steel, ^' reinforced or unreinforccd plastics or other suit¬ able materials.

The sitting bath in accordance with the inven¬ tion can as is usual today be provided with fee ^' t , be

80 supported in a frame (open box) or be supported in other suitable ways. Feet or corresponding means are provided with levelling means (for instance screws). The sitting bath in accordance with the invention is constituted by few simple parts and this renders the bathtub very hygi-

85 enic, since it is very easy to clean the tub after finish¬ ing the bath. The design wiht few and simple parts, also, renders the sitting bath priewworthy which in tarn en¬ ables it to be available to the public, which is essen¬ tial . 100 Supports and gripping means can be fitted to the sitting bath in order to facilitate entrance and exit. A step or low foot-stool or similar means in front of the opening of the tub reduces the height of entrance to that of the threshold. These aids are of a great importance to 105 persons physically impaired.

Further advantages and details are apparent from the following description of aprcfcrred embodiment of the invention with reference to the drawings. In the drawings Fig la shows the bathtub seen from one side and Fig lb 110 a cross section of the tub, Figs 2a and 2b two views of a door or hatch of the tub, Figs 5a and 3b details of the sealing and Fig 4a a tub with a supporting frame.

The sitting bathtub in accordance with the inven¬ tion consists essentially of two major parts, the tub 10 115 shown in Figs la and lb and the hatch 15 shown in Fi s

2a and 2b. As is apparent from Fig 1b the bathtub 10 has inwards towards the bottom inclined or sloping sides (walls) giving as is common practice with most bathtubs a greater cross- and length dimension at the top than 120 at the bottom. One side of the bathtub (right, left

or front) is provided with an opening 11 extending al¬ most to the bottom of the bathtub. In the shown embodi¬ ment the opening 11 is on the left side. The purpose of this opening is to give a low threshold for anyone who en- 125 ters the bathtub. The loose hatch 15 has dimensions larger than thoseof the opening of the bathtub. When closing the opening 11 with the hatch 15 this is placed on the inside of the bathtub covering the opening. In this position the hatch is hooked over the edge of the bathtub. Between the 130 hatch and the inside of the bathtub an elastic seal 16 is placed. This seal 16 is fitted to the hatch. The seal is provided with a lip 20 resulting in a high specific sur¬ face pressureCgood sealing function).

The side walls including that one with the ope- 135 ning are inclined. The hatch is hooked over the edge of the tub in such a way that the bottom part of the hatch is first supported. This will give the essential initial sealing effect at the lower part when water is first fil¬ led into the bathtub. 140 Further up it may well be at this stage a gap between the hatch and the side of the bathtub. The water will with increasing height in the tub successively push the hatch (and its seal) outwards thus giving a full sealing effect to the required level. 145 In this way several advantages are obtained. To start with, the pressure of the water exerted on the hatch 15 is transferredon to the seal as well as the pres¬ sure _, exerted directly on the seal secures that no water will leave the bathtub this way. Furthermore it becomes 150 actually impossible to open or remove the hatch 15 as long as there is water in the bathtub and as a result there is no risk of inadvertent opening of the hatch resulting in a massive outflow of water which might re¬ sult in apartment damages and which is perhaps more im- 155 portant in this case,also might negatively influence the balance of the person sitting in the bathtub by the out-

flowing water. In this way further security arrangements become unnecessary. Still the hatch can be made very light and it is thus o no inconvenience that it has to be 160 lifted (a little bit) into its place. This can-be done also by eldery weak persons.

The inverted U-shape of the upper part of the hatch is so shaped that the hatch will hang over the edge of the bathtub with a certain.play sideways. In this way 165 it can be ascertained that the hatch with the seal is first in contact with the bottom part of the opening of the bath¬ tub. In order further to secure this initial bottom sealing the hatch can be provided with a mechanical locking means. As is shown in Figs 5a, 3b this may comprise a rod 21 170 vertically movable in guides 22, 23. The rod is operated by a grip 24 extending through an elongated hole 25 high up in the hatch. The hole restricts the movement of the rod and also prevents the tub from being over¬ filled. When the hatch is lifted to its proper closing 175 place it is lifted in the grip 24 and when the correct position is achieved the grip is pressed downwards grip¬ ping into a slot or recess 26 in the threshold. The re¬ cess and the end of the rod are so chamfered that latter- ally a movement and a force is exerted on the bottom of 180 the hatch drawing this and its seal against the opening. This rod can of course also be used to centre the hatch relative to the opening. As the water then progressively fills the bathtub the pressure exerted by the water on the hatch 15 forces this successively outwards closing the wedge- 185 like gap 28 to a sealing contact over the entire height of the hatch.

The seat 14 of the sitting bathtub is provided with an incline backwards towards the support for the back. In order to empty the tub and not to entrap the wa¬ ter at the rear of the seat chutes 15 are provided at the 190 sides of the seat inclined forwards. The inclination or slope backwards gives a very comfortable sitting position without any risk for the sitting person to slide forward to¬ wards the lower part of the bathtub (at the outlet). The

inclination of the chutes relative o the horizontal is op- 195 posite that of the seat. By arranging these drainage chu¬ tes 13 at the sides of the seat 14 the advantage of a comfortable whole seat surface and, furthermore,, the horizontal adjustment of the bathtub become uncritical since drainage of all water is always secured. The whole 200 seat in combination with the big depth of the tub also facilitates the washing of private parts.

The bathtub is fabricated with a relatively big depth of 80-100 cm, enabling the water to .reach the neck/ chin of the bathing person. The big depth can however 205 give a feeling of confinement which can be counteracted very efficiently by making the hatch of transparent ma¬ terial of for instance "plexiglass" or similar resistant flexible synthetic resin materials. -

The shown sitting bath can also be used as a 210 footbath having the depth of 5-15 cm, that is the distan¬ ce from the threshold to the bottom of the bathtub.

The sitting bathtub can be sunk- into the floor levelling the floor with the bottom' edge of the opening. This results in a negative step into and step out corre- 215 sponding to the depth of the footbath.

The hatch in the shown embodiment is in the open¬ ed position hooked over the front short side of the tub. The person who intends to have a bath enters the bathtub, grips the hatch, lifts it slightly, turns and hooks the. 220 hatch over the edge at the opening. The grip and rod is pushed down so that the bottom part of the hatch includ¬ ing the seal rests against the inside of the tub giving the initial sealing. As the tub progressively is filled with water the sealing function continues upwards. ^Z2 -> Of course bathtubs in accordance with the inven¬ tion can be provided with bubble- and massagebath means where corresponding needs exist.

The tub can of course be supported in many dif¬ ferent ways . One particularly advantagous way is however 230 to support the tub at its corners tor instance by a frame provided

with legs 29 extending the upper edge 30 of the tub. The legs are on top provided with slightly protruding knobs 32 between frame and tub. The weight of the water in the tub has a tendency to push down the center of the tub and bring the legs inwards towards each 235 other. However, the pressure exerted by the water on the sides of the bathtub has an opposite tendency to extend the opening and as a result these forces balance each other and in practise practically no movement can be observed for the sides ov the opening.- The legs 29 of the frame is 240 held together by sides made in glasfiber reinforced plastic riveted to the legs.

The basic principle of the invention can also be used if the opening is increased to include almost one en¬ tire side of the bathtub. In a bathtub of this kind a per- 245 son in a wheel-chair can rather easily be moved sidewards into the bathtub. A further alternative is that the opening is increased also to include a _. part of the bottom of the tub, in which way the threshold can be reduced to a mini¬ mum. The possibility of a footbath can then be provided by 250 means of a low separate hatch.

In the above embodiment the essential initial sealing (enabling the water pressure to continue the sea¬ ling) is obtained by gravity forces exerted on the hatch aided by rod. Of course other simple means can also be 255 used, but probably the use of an inclined side of the bathtub will prove itself to be the most suitable solu¬ tion, in particular as bathtubs are preferably provided with inclined sides, primarily in order to facilitate their removal from the mould and secondly to facilitate 260 storing of several bathtubs when they are transported, stored etc. However, further possibilities exist and a- nother rather simple solution is to provide a jet suction pump in the water inlet of the bathtub, which pump is used to give a vacuum immediately when water is flushed into 265 the bathtub. The vacuum is piped to the lower seal area provided with suitable suction chambers or channels and

in this way the water entering the bathtub will give the suction force securing the seal. This method will work in¬ dependent of inclined sidewalls as soon as the hatch is in 270 contact with the side and water inlet starts.

The successive climbing of the sealing function is obtained in two different ways in the shown embodiment due to the shape of the seal. To start with the lip 20 of the seal 16 itself subjected to the water pressure capable of 275 successively sealing the tub. Secondly also the rise of the water causes the hatch to fit outwards closing the wegdelike space between hatch and opening and forcing the seal 16 against the side of the opening.

In fact this progressive sealing is so automatic 280 that also a very slight initial pressure at the bottom of the hatch will later on secure its entire sealing. As a consequence the locking rod and grip is more psycholo- gicaly than functionaly required. If malfunction of the seal ocours due to e.g. old age of the seal an extra suf- 285 ficient pressure can easily be established with a foot or a knee.

It should further be mentioned that within the scope of the invention other simple means can be used to established the initial bottom sealing, for instance the 290 use of memory metal triggered by the temperature of the water in the bottom of the tub. Other mechanical devices using manpower or other pressures can also be used. For instance the water pressure can act on a piston that couses a hook to draw the hatch towards the opening. Of 9S course different magnetic devices can also be used e. g. the seal in itself can be magnetic.