Shower back scrubber

Abstract

A shower-mounted back-scrubber device is installed on the wall of a shower stall at a height approximating the height of the user's back. The device has a pair of scrub brushes that rotate and reciprocate vertically. The user stands comfortably with his or her back abutting the device. The brushes traverse and clean the entire surface of the user's back without awkward manual manipulation or translation relative to the device. The brushes are motor-driven by a drive shaft connecting the motor to a transmission. The transmission and drive shaft have a telescoping connection that permits positioning a housing of the device relative to the motor. A controller regulates rotational and reciprocal speed of the brushes.

1 . A device for scrubbing the human body, comprising:
 a housing adapted to be mounted to a vertical wall;   a traveling carrier, vertically movable within said housing;   a brush mounted on said carrier;   a motor; and   a transmission connecting said motor to said carrier, said transmission simultaneously rotating and vertically reciprocating said brush relative to said housing.   
   
   
       2 . The device recited in  claim 1 , including a pair of brushes that simultaneously rotate in opposite directions. 
   
   
       3 . The device recited in  claim 1 , including a controller for regulating the rotational and reciprocal speed of said brushes. 
   
   
       4 . The device recited in  claim 1 , including a single motor that drives both rotational and vertical movement. 
   
   
       5 . The device recited in  claim 2 , wherein said transmission includes a worm gear assembly for reciprocating said brushes vertically and a pinion gear assembly for rotating said brushes. 
   
   
       6 . The device recited in  claim 5 , wherein the gear of said worm gear is fixed to said carrier and the worm of said worm gear assembly is rotatably mounted on said housing. 
   
   
       7 . The device recited in  claim 6 , wherein the gear of said worm gear assembly is centrally located on said carrier. 
   
   
       8 . The device recited in  claim 7 , said carrier including a pinion gear assembly located on each side of the worm gear assembly. 
   
   
       9 . The device recited in  claim 8 , wherein the pinions of each pinion gear assembly are rotatably mounted on opposed sides of said carrier, and the racks of the pinion gear assemblies are mounted on opposed sides of the worm of the worm gear assembly. 
   
   
       10 . The device recited in  claim 9 , wherein said racks are fixed parallel to and equidistantly from the worm and generally vertically on said housing. 
   
   
       11 . The device recited in  claim 10 , wherein said pinions include fixed shafts extending from the central axis of each pinion gear. 
   
   
       12 . The device recited in  claim 11 , wherein said brushes are removably fixed to said pinion shafts. 
   
   
       13 . The device recited in  claim 1 , wherein said scrub brush reciprocates vertically between upper and lower limit positions and said device includes contact switches that reverse the direction of travel of said brushes at said limit positions. 
   
   
       14 . The device recited in  claim 1 , wherein said carrier, transmission and brush are mounted on said housing. 
   
   
       15 . The device recited in  claim 14 , wherein said motor is remote from said housing and connected to said transmission by a drive shaft. 
   
   
       16 . The device recited in  claim 15 , wherein said transmission and drive shaft have a telescoping connection that permits the housing to move distally and proximally relative to the motor. 
   
   
       17 . A device for scrubbing the human body, comprising:
 a) a housing that can adapted to be releasably mounted to a vertical wall within a showering enclosure;   b) a carrier within said housing;   c) a pair of scrub brushes located on the outside of said housing and rotatably mounted to the carrier by shafts that extend through slots in said housing;   d) a transmission connected to said carrier within the housing, said transmission simultaneously rotating said brushes in opposite directions, reciprocating vertically said scrub brushes relative to said housing, and positioning said scrub brushes at the same height in the shower enclosure during reciprocation; and,   e) a motor located remote from said housing.   
   
   
       18 . The device recited in  claim 17 , including an adjustable connector between said motor and said transmission that enables the housing to move distally and proximally relative to the motor without disengaging the motor from the transmission. 
   
   
       19 . The device recited in  claim 1  wherein said housing is slideably attached to the vertical wall 
   
   
       20 . The device recited in  claim 19  wherein slideable attachment of said housing to said wall is provided by a pair of substantially parallel vertical rails affixed to said wall.