Water treatment cartridge and base

Abstract

A water treatment unit includes a base and a disposable, plug-in cartridge. The cartridge contains a pair of hollow cylindrical, porous, solid water treatment elements designed to treat water flowing radially through their walls. The cylindrical elements are mounted so as to act in parallel, thereby achieving the advantages of a long, thin-walled element in a compact configuration.

I claim:  
     
       1. Liquid treating apparatus which comprises: 
       A. a housing carrying a key member and containing at least two treatment elements, each of said treatment elements being substantially in the form of a solid porous cylinder having a bore therethrough along its longitudinal axis, the exteriors of said treatment elements and the interior of said housing forming a liquid reservoir;  
       B. a base member releasably receiving said housing, said base member including  
       i. means for supplying a liquid to be treated to one of said bores and said reservoir, said liquid passing radially through each of said porous cylinders,  
       ii. means for delivering treated liquid from the other of said bores and reservoir; and  
       iii. a latch for receiving said key member, wherein said key member includes a detent and said latch comprises a spring clip engageable with said detent; and  
       C. said base member defining first and second sockets therein and said housing carrying first and second hollow studs insertable in said sockets to form, when so inserted, a liquid supplying channel and a liquid delivery channel.  
     
     
       2. The apparatus of claim  1  wherein said releasably securing means comprises means for selectively disengaging said spring clip from said detent. 
     
     
       3. The apparatus of claim  2  wherein said selectively disengaging means comprises: 
       a camming member rotatable to retract said spring clip from said detent; and  
       a lever mounted on said base member connected to rotate said camming member.  
     
     
       4. Water filtration apparatus which comprises: 
       a base member defining first and second sockets therein;  
       means for supplying water from an external source to one of said first and second sockets;  
       means for delivering water from the other of said first and second sockets to an external application;  
       a filtration cartridge having a one piece plastic housing substantially rectangular in cross section containing therein a plurality of solid, porous, substantially cylindrical, filter elements spaced from said housing to define a first volume therewith, each of said filter elements having a longitudinal axis and a bore extending therealong, the combined bores defining a second volume;  
       a cartridge base plate closing said housing and carrying first and second studs having water passages therethrough and insertable, respectively, into said first and second sockets in water flow relationship with said water supplying and water delivering means;  
       means within said cartridge for channeling water flow between said first stud and said first volume;  
       means within said cartridge for channeling water flow between the second stud and said second volume;  
       means for releasably securing said cartridge to said base member which comprises a key defining a detent thereon and being mounted on said cartridge, and a latch comprising a spring clip mounted on said base member to receive and secure said key and means for selectively releasing said latch from said key.  
     
     
       5. The apparatus of claim  4  wherein said latch comprises: 
       a hook engageable with said detent; and  
       means for resiliently urging said hook into engagement with said detent.  
     
     
       6. The apparatus of claim  5  wherein said selective releasing means comprises: 
       a camming member rotatable to engage said resilient urging means and displace it from engagement with said detent; and  
       means for manually rotating said camming member.  
     
     
       7. The apparatus of claim  6  wherein said resilient urging means comprises a leaf spring and said hook is formed by the edge of said leaf spring. 
     
     
       8. The apparatus of claim  7  wherein a pair of leaf springs are formed by opposing legs of a single, substantially U-shaped, spring material and a hook is formed by each of the opposed edges of said leaf springs therein defining said spring clip. 
     
     
       9. The apparatus of claim  4  wherein each of said filter elements comprises activated carbon. 
     
     
       10. The apparatus of claim  9  wherein said filter elements are in a substantially linear array. 
     
     
       11. The apparatus of claim  10  wherein the outside diameter of each of said filter elements does not exceed approximately 1.75 inches. 
     
     
       12. Water filtration apparatus which comprises: 
       a base member defining first and second sockets therein;  
       means for supplying water from an external source to one of said first and second sockets;  
       means for delivering water from the other of said first and second sockets to an external application;  
       a filtration cartridge having a housing containing therein a plurality of solid, porous, substantially cylindrical, filter elements spaced from said housing to define a first volume therewith, each of said filter elements having a longitudinal axis and a bore extending therealong, the combined bores defining a second volume;  
       a cartridge base plate dosing said housing and carrying first and second studs having water passages therethrough and insertable, respectively, into said first and second sockets in water flow relationship with said water supplying and water delivering means;  
       means within said cartridge for channeling water flow between said first stud and said first volume;  
       means within said cartridge for channeling water flow between the second stud and said second volume;  
       a key mounted on said cartridge defining a pair of opposed detents thereon; and  
       a pair of leaf springs formed by opposing legs of a single, substantially U-shaped, spring material mounted on said base member, each of the opposed edges of said leaf springs forming a hook to receive and secure one of the opposed detents of said key.  
     
     
       13. The apparatus of claim  12  wherein said camming means comprises a shaft extending between the legs of said U-shaped spring material and said manual rotating means comprises a lever mounted to said shaft external of said base member. 
     
     
       14. The apparatus of claim  13  wherein each of said filter elements comprises activated carbon. 
     
     
       15. The apparatus of claim  14  wherein said filter elements are in a substantially linear array. 
     
     
       16. The apparatus of claim  15  wherein the outside diameter of each of said filter elements does not exceed approximately 1.75 inches. 
     
     
       17. A liquid treating apparatus which comprises: 
       
         a cartridge containing means for filtering a liquid;  
       
       
         a base member adapted to receive said cartridge, said base member having means for delivering said liquid into said cartridge and receiving a filtered liquid from said cartridge; and  
       
       
         means for latching said cartridge to said base member comprising a key member and a latch, wherein said key member includes a detent and said latch comprises a spring clip engageable with said detent.  
       
     
     
       18. The apparatus of claim  17 , wherein said filtering means comprises at least one treatment element substantially in the form of a solid porous cylinder having a bore therethrough along its longitudinal axis.  
     
     
       19. The apparatus of claim  18 , wherein said at least one treatment element is two treatment elements in a substantially linear array.  
     
     
       20. The apparatus of claim  18 , wherein said solid porous cylinder comprises activated carbon.  
     
     
       21. The apparatus of claim  17 , wherein said delivering means comprises at least one socket and at least one hollow stud insertable therein to form a channel for delivering said liquid from said base member into said cartridge.  
     
     
       22. The apparatus of claim  21 , wherein said socket is defined by said base member and said hollow stud is disposed on said cartridge.  
     
     
       23. The apparatus of claim  17 , wherein said receiving means comprises at least one socket and at least one hollow stud insertable therein to form a channel for receiving said filtered liquid from said cartridge into said base member.  
     
     
       24. The apparatus of claim  23 , wherein said socket is defined by said base member and said hollow stud is disposed on said cartridge.  
     
     
       25. The apparatus of claim  17 , wherein said spring clip is attached to said base member, and said key is attached to said cartridge.  
     
     
       26. The apparatus of claim  17 , wherein said latching means further comprises means for disengaging said spring clip from said detent.  
     
     
       27. The apparatus of claim  26 , wherein said disengaging means is disposed within said base member.  
     
     
       28. The apparatus of claim  26 , wherein said disengaging means comprises: 
       
         a camming member rotatable to retract said spring clip from said detent; and  
       
       
         a lever connected to said camming member and adapted to rotate said camming member.  
       
     
     
       29. The apparatus of claim  28 , wherein said spring clip comprises a U- shaped spring material, and wherein camming member comprises a shaft extending between the legs of said U - shaped spring material, said shaft having an oval - shaped cross section.