Elevated safety bathtub and shower

Abstract

An elevated safety bathtub for use both by invalids and by persons without physical handicaps. The tube has a floor supported approximately at normal chair height and a side opening serving as an entryway through one of the walls of the tub, the bottom of the entryway being substantially at the same elevation as the floor of the tub. The entryway is provided with a water-tight barrier which may be moved out of the way to permit a person to enter the tub, and replaced once the person is inside the tub. The fact that the bottom of the entryway and floor of the tub are supported at approximately chair height enables the person to enter the tub by simply seating himself on the floor of the tub through the entryway as if he were seating himself in a chair. The person need not stand on the slippery tub floor. Several embodiments of the invention comprise adapter assemblies for converting existing conventional bathtubs to elevated bathtubs having the features of the present invention. These latter embodiments provide a tub shell for mounting on top of the existing tub so that the floor of the tub shell is approximately at chair height. Means are provided for securing the tub shell to the existing tub to prevent any horizontal slippage between the two, and provision is also made for adapting the existing plumbing for use with the elevated tub shell.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.