Portable water softener

Claim 1

A COMPACT WATER SOFTENER SUITABLE FOR CONNECTION TO FAUCET TAPS OR OTHER WATER OUTLETS AND EFFECTIVE TO REDUCE THE HARDNESS OF THE WATER TO VERY LOW LEVELS, SAID WATER SOFTENER INCLUDING A GENERALLY CYLINDRICAL SHAPED HOUSING, AN INLET IN ONE END OF THE HOUSING, AND AN OUTLET IN THE OTHER END OF THE HOUSING, SAID INLET AND OUTLET BEING GENERALLY AXIALLY ALIGNED, ONE WITH ANOTHER, AN ANNULAR SHAPED WATER SOFTENING MATERIAL CONTAINER WITHIN THE HOUSING, SAID WATER SOFTENING MATERIAL CONTAINER HAVING WATER PERVIOUS WALLS AND HAVING THEREIN A QUANTITY OF WATER SOFTENING MATERIAL, THE VOLUME OF THE WATER SOFTENING MATERIAL BEING LESS THAN THE VOLUMETRIC CAPACITY OF THE WATER SOFTENING MATERIAL CONTAINER SO THAT THE WATER SOFTENING MATERIAL CAN BE DISPLACED IN RESPONSE TO WATER PRESSURE FORCES, THE EXTERIOR DIAMETER OF THE WATER SOFTENING MATERIAL CONTAINER BEING SUBSTANTIALLY LESS THAN THE INTERIOR DIAMETER OF THE HOUSING WHEREBY A WATER FLOW PATH IS PROVIDED BETWEEN THE WATER SOFTENING MATERIAL CONTAINER AND THE HOUSING, A WATER SPLASE PLATE AT THE OUTLET END OF THE HOUSING, SAID PLATE BEING LOCATED DIRECTLY IN LINE WITH THE PAT OF WATER FLOW FROM THE INLET, SAID SPLASH PLATE BEING LOCATED BELOW THE WATER SOFTENING MATERIAL CONATINER SO THAT THE WATER MUST TRAVERSE THE LENGTH OF THE CONTAINER BEFORE IMPINGING AGAINST THE SPLASH PLATE, A PLURALITY OF WATER CHANNELS BETWEEN THE SPALSH PLATE AND THE BOTTOM OF THE WATER SOFTENING MATERIAL CONTAINER SO ARRANGED THAT WATER DEFLECTED BY THE SPLASH PLATE MAY PASS FOR A SUBSTANTIAL DISTANCE GENERALLY RADIALLY OUTWARDLY BENEATH THE WATER SOFTENING MATERIAL CONTAINER, AND SPACER MEANS FOR MAINTAINING THE SPLASH PLATE SPACED FROM THE OUTLET END OF THE HOUSING SO THAT WATER WHICH HAS PASSED THROUGH THE WATER SOFTENING MATERIAL CONTAINER IS DIRECTED TOWARDS THE OUTLET.