Water Lifting System

This invention is related to a drinking water system and, more particularly, to a system for lifting water from a reservoir on the floor to a dispensing gravity-fed bottle elevated above the floor.

Most tap water is considered unsatisfactory for drinking, by many people, for reasons of taste and/or health. For example, many people buy fluoride water for their growing children. People with cardiovascular disorders should drink water that is low in sodium. Other people just don't like the taste of tap water, while still others find it more convenient to use bottled water than to run a water line to the place of use. Such water is available commercially in, for example, 5-gallon glass bottles delivered to the user's location.

The conventional dispenser comprises an open top reservoir having a gravitational flow bottom output terminated by a tap. The open top of the reservoir receives the shoulder of an inverted supply bottle so that the mouth or neck of the supply bottle extends down into the reservoir. The water flows out of the bottle, filling the reservoir, until the opening of the bottle is below the water surface. Only when water is drained from the tap, lowering the water surface, will water again flow out of the bottle. When the supply bottle is empty, it can be readily removed as it is light because it is empty. The full bottle must be now lifted and inverted over the reservoir. When one considers that a 5-gallon filled water bottle weighs more than 50 pounds, the person lifting it must be relatively strong and healthy. Since people who had heart attacks especially need low sodium water, they find it impossible to lift the filled water bottle because of their weakened condition.

The bottled water industry has long recognized a need for a solution to the foregoing problem and, in the past, means have been devised for lifting water from the floor to the dispenser. Some of these means are taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,653,413; 3,495,612; and others. These prior art means are either expensive and need new equipment, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,495,612; or required a self-contained motor assembly, as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,413. This latter patent also requires the user to make sure that the mouth of the inverted bottle is plugged before one attempts to refill the bottle.

An object of this invention is to provide a system that is simple and economical for lifting water from a bottle on the floor to a raised bottle in a dispenser.

Another object of this invention is to provide a system for lifting water with a suction means.

Another object of this invention is to provide a system for lifting water that operates in response to a vacuum such as is provided by a household vacuum cleaner.

These and other objects and features of advantage will become more apparent after one studies the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of my invention, together with the appended drawing.

FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of my novel system, showing a modified water bottle in operative association with the water cooler and dispenser, coupled to a source bottle on the floor.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged axial section, in elevation, of the top portion of my modified water bottle.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view, taken on line 3--3 of FIG. 2 in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to FIG. 1, my novel system is shown ready to transfer water from a standard water bottle 11, resting on a floor 12, to my modified water bottle 13 mounted on top of a standard dispenser 14. The dispenser 14 is a typical standard dispenser, having the ceramic reservoir 16 with an open top and a suitable outlet valve 17 coupled to the lower portion of the reservoir 16. Around the top of the reservoir is placed a resilient ring 18 to form a buffer between the reservoir 16 and my modified bottle 13. This dispenser 12 is very similar to the dispenser described in the above mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,413.

Referring to FIG. 2, I will now describe my modified water bottle. Basically, bottle 13 is similar to bottle 11, but with the following modifications: On the substantially flat bottom 21, which is now inverted and shown disposed above the neck 22, a hole 25 is formed by suitable means in bottom 21, and, preferably, axially disposed over the neck 22. Over the hole 25 a chamber is formed which has a tubular wall 26 preferably made cylindrical. The wall 26 could be made of plastic or glass and sealed to the bottom 21 by suitable means. The wall 26 is topped with a cover 27 sealed to the wall 26 and an opening is provided in the cover to which is coupled a tube 28 which is capable of being coupled to a suitable vacuum supply, for example, a standard household vacuum cleaner. Between the bottom 21 and the cover 27 is fixedly disposed an annular member 29, which is bonded and sealed to the wall 26. The opening in member 29 is preferably larger than the opening 25 in the bottle bottom 21, for reasons that will become more apparent hereinafter. As shown in FIG. 3, between the member 29 and bottom 21 is disposed a vortex forming means which includes a spiral wall 31, having one end 32 sealed to the wall 26 and the other end 33 spaced therefrom, as shown. Tangentially disposed to and extending through the wall 26 near the end 32 is a tubulation 34. If one traces a path from the outside of the tubulation 34 to the hole 25, one finds the path is a spiral. Freely suspended with the bottle 13 and the chamber 11 is a rigid rod 41 having fixed at its upper end a piston or disc 42, made slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the wall so that the disc 42 is free to move axially therein. On the lower end of rod 41 is mounted a plug 43 which, when lifted by the rod, is capable of sealing the mouth or opening in neck 22. Below the disc 42 and around the rod is mounted a valve gate 44 which is shown in sealing engagement with an annular seal 45 disposed around the hole 25. The weight of the rod 41, disc 42, plug 43 and seal 45 cause to form an effective air-tight seal around the hole 25 so that, in normal operation, air can only enter the bottle 13 through the opening in neck 22, thereby preventing overflow and flooding of the reservoir 16.

When bottle 13 is empty, one need only couple one end of a hose 51 to the tubulation 34 and place the other end in the neck 22' of the full water bottle 11, as shown in FIG. 1. Bottle 11 is sitting on the floor by its bottom 21'. Bottle need not be placed close to the dispenser if one has a sufficiently long hose 51 to reach the bottle 11. After the hose is placed in the neck 22' then one takes one end of the vacuum hose (not shown) leading from a standard household vacuum cleaner, for example, the cannister type, and couples the vacuum hose to the tube 28. The vacuum cleaner and hose are not shown, for obvious reasons. When the vacuum is drawn, the piston 42 is lifted to the position shown by dash lines 42a, thereby lifting lower plug 43 to the position shown by dash lines 43a to seal the mouth of bottle 13. The valve gate 44 is also lifted to the position shown by dash lines 44a, which position is preferably near the annular member 29, for reasons that will become apparent hereinafter. The air in bottle 13 is sucked up through hole 25 around past the raised valve gate 44 and around past the raised piston 42, forming a partial vacuum therein. This causes water to be sucked up through hose 51 and enter chamber 26. In so entering, the water forms a vortex due to the spiral path formed by spiral wall 31. The vortex prevents the water from completely covering the hole 25 so that as the water enters bottle 13, the air therein is displaced up through the axial center of the hole 25. Since the raised valve gate is near the member 29 or above member 29, the entering water is prevented from being sucked up over the valve gate. Since preferably five gallons of water is lifted from a 5-gallon supply bottle to our modified 5-gallon bottle, one need not monitor the operation closely. The water, when it is completely transferred, remains in my modified water bottle 13 as long as the vacuum is drawn. Then when the vacuum is cut off, the piston 42 falls to cause the valve gate 44 to seal up the hole 25. Water may now be dispensed.

Having described the preferred embodiment of my invention, one skilled in the art, after studying the above disclosures, can devise other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of my invention. Therefore, my invention is not to be considered as limited to the disclosed embodiment, but includes all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.