Docking collar for a faucet having a pullout spray head

摘要

A faucet has a spout and a pullout spray head connected to a flexible water supply tube and releasably connectable to the spout. The spout has a docking collar mounted thereon for receiving a connecting shaft of the spray head. The docking collar has an annular wall with a plurality of U-shaped slots which define a plurality of cantilevered snap fingers. Each snap finger includes a projection that fits into a groove in the connecting shaft when the spray head is docked. An elastomeric O-ring surrounds the annular wall at a point where the O-ring engages the snap fingers to bias them toward the groove. Ridges on the exterior surface of the wall retain the O-ring in place. The spout and docked spray head have parallel shoulders that define a mating plane. The projections and groove define a retaining plane. The mating plane is not parallel to the retaining plane such that rotation of the spray head about an axis normal to the mating plane will cause the projections to release from the groove.