Bathtub fitting standard external space while affording larger floor area and enclosed volume
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional bathtubs have limited interior space due to the width of the upper apron deck and opposing wall, which restricts the bathing or showering volume within the typical rectangular footprint of residential bathrooms, and existing solutions either do not increase internal volume or require complex mechanisms that are not suitable for standard installations.
Innovation Solution
A bathtub design with thin front, back, and side walls, where the front apron deck is cantilevered inwardly from the front vertical surface, maintaining a minimal width to support sliding glass doors without reducing the interior space, and the rear wall has no apron edge, allowing for a larger internal floor area and volume within standard tub dimensions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the upper apron deck is made three or more inches in top width for sliding glass doors, then the sliding door support function is improved, but the interior bathing space is significantly reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The apron deck transitions from a horizontal extension to a vertical configuration. The deck is positioned against the rear wall and extends vertically upward, creating a support surface for sliding glass doors without encroaching on the horizontal interior bathing space. This dimensional reorientation resolves the contradiction by providing door support in the vertical dimension while preserving horizontal volume.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of extending the apron deck horizontally from the front wall as in conventional designs, the invention inverts the approach by positioning the deck against the rear wall and extending it vertically upward. This inversion allows the sliding door support structure to be located at the rear rather than the front, eliminating the space loss at the front interior while maintaining structural support functionality.
2Shape
If both front and opposite walls have three or more inches in top width for symmetry, then aesthetic symmetry is improved, but the internal volume is further limited
Solution Approach 1:
The invention deliberately introduces asymmetry in the bathtub structure. The front wall maintains a conventional apron deck configuration, while the rear wall features the vertical deck extension. This asymmetric design prioritizes functional optimization (maximizing interior volume) over aesthetic symmetry, resolving the contradiction by accepting visual asymmetry as the trade-off for gaining internal space.
Solution Approach 2:
The vertical deck extension is applied locally only at the rear wall rather than uniformly across all walls. This localized modification allows the invention to gain interior volume where it matters most (the bathing area) while leaving other portions of the bathtub structure conventional, thus achieving space optimization without requiring complete redesign of the entire tub structure.
3Area of stationary object
If thin walls are used to maximize interior space, then the internal floor area is increased, but the structural strength is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the orientation parameter of the rear wall deck from horizontal to vertical. By extending the deck vertically upward against the rear wall rather than horizontally into the bathing area, the design maximizes the internal floor area while maintaining adequate wall thickness for structural strength. The vertical configuration eliminates the need to reduce wall thickness to gain space.
Data Source
AI summary
A bathtub with a limited rectangular footprint and an optimized floor space is formed with a substantially planar base with a length and width that define the limited rectangular footprint and a front wall, a back wall, a first side wall and a second side wall integral with and extending substantially vertically upwards from the substantially planar base. Each of the front, back, first side wall and second side wall have minimal wall thicknesses to define the optimized floor space and the front wall has a substantially planar upper apron deck that extends inwardly from an outer substantially vertical front wall surface for a fixed amount in a substantially parallel relation to the substantially planar base.