Quick Shower Shutoff

From PDI

Contents 1 Preface 2 Problems with existing designs 3 Claims 4 In layman's terms

Preface

Nowadays, water conservation is becoming more and more important. It is known that taking showers is one of the main cases for consuming immense amounts of water (7-10 gallons per minute [1]). Any way of reducing that amount might be very beneficial on a large scale. Already some strides are made, like utilization of low-flow showerheads, but there still exists untapped potential.

Problems with existing designs

Most of the current designs have at least one of the following flaws:

1. Shutting off or temporarily gagging the water flow (fully or partially) resets the previously chosen and set comfortable water temperature (specifically, this is plaguing the setups that have separate valves/knobs for hot and cold water).
2. Shutting off the flow requires the use of hand to operate the shutoff valve, which might constitute a problem since during the process of taking a shower hands tend to be occupied by soap, shampoo and other objects; additionally, sometimes the view may be obscured by shampoo foam and finding the valve(s) and operating them properly might require quite some time.

Claims

1. A shutoff valve capable of temporarily stopping or restricting the flow of water to the showerhead;
2. A shutoff valve as claimed in claim 1, operated by a control located at the floor of the shower cabin, bottom of the bath, or other surface used as a support surface during the shower, and operated by the person's foot (step-on);
3. A shutoff valve as claimed in claim 2, permanently positioned (built-in) and utilizing with mechanical linkage between the control and the valve (for new installations);
4. A shutoff valve as claimed in claim 2, movable or removable and utilizing pneumatic or hydraulic linkage between the control and the valve (for retrofitting existing installations);

In layman's terms

You are in the shower and trying to lather your hair. You don't quite need the water (well, at least much of it) running at this moment. But, first of all, you can't see because your eyes are closed. And your hands are all shampooey. You need to reach down, find those damn knobs and turn them shut (and in the process, you've lost the temperature setting that took you a minute to find). Damn! Too much trouble, you're most likely to keep the water running.

Now, how about you just step on a plate or button or the like, and the water stops. You step off the plate, and the water instantly flows again? You're much more likely to use that!

It might be too hard to add a mechanical linkage to enable that to existing bathtubs or shower cabins. OK, how about a device that looks like an air mattress pump and is filled with air or water, the end of the hose plugged into the shut-off valve control. You step on that rubber hemisphere, the pressure increases, causing the shutoff valve to engage. And, that device doesn't have to be attached to the bathtub bottom, just thrown in, so there's no problem of making a hole in the bottom of the bathtub.