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A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or patent disclosure as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever.
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in odor containment for urinals and more particularly an odor barrier that does not require the use of any oily liquid.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Current Techniques
In our modern world, efficient and effective utilization of resources has become a hallmark of the environmental ethos. Conservation of fresh water, a primary natural resource, has finally arrived to the common household and to businesses. In the home and commercial applications, the activities of cleaning, drinking, showering, washing, and toilet usage are all ordinary uses of water individuals and businesses are determined to reduce water usage. To minimize the utilization of water in each of these activities would strike businessmen as being environmental friendly and would also represent a substantial financial savings. Thus, there is a desire to restrict the usage of water in these activities; in particular, there is a desire to limit the water used in urinals and toilets in every flush.
Next, sanitation codes require that urinals must provide an odor seal to contain sewer gases and other odors that develop in the ordinary functioning of the drainage system. Generally, P-traps and/or S-traps are utilized by drainage systems to form a seal in cooperation with the residual portion of the water used to flush the urinal. This kind of seal attempts to prevent sewer gases from exiting the drainage system up through the urinal. However, this type of seal does not effectively stop urine odor from flowing up through the urinal. In fact, the usage of these urinals requires multiple flushes each and every use in order to keep the trap free of residual urine and therefore the user's environment free of undesirable odors.
Several kinds of waterless or flush-less urinal systems have been developed trying to meet all of the above needs: a urinal that saves water or just does not use it and also provides a seal to contain sewer gases and odors. The most common example of these systems is the one described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,037 to Reichardt and Gorges issued 27 Jan. 1998, entitled “Waterless urinal”, which uses a body of oily liquid sealant as an odor barrier. The liquid seal includes urine to block sewer gases with an oil seal to block the urine odor from escaping into the restroom. This system has had several improvements (e.g., see U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,197 to Gorges) in its internal structure; the oil-sealed odor trap has had modifications that prolong sealant retention and that protects against high pressure water flushing. In spite of these changes, there remain various disadvantages with this kind of seal. For example, such systems require a strict maintenance regimen with monitoring by qualified personal that is not something one wants to spend money on. Additionally, the odor cartridges lifespan is not long enough to yield any appreciable cost savings.
Another type of waterless urinal system does not use an oil-sealed odor trap. This type utilizes an elastomeric membrane mechanism to provide odor prevention. The elastomeric membrane curls open to allow urine or water to pass through and then curls back up to prevent sewer gases from entering the restroom. This system is described in U.S Patent application publication No. 2006/0207005 to Janssen published 21 Sep. 2006, entitled “Cartridge apparatus for Urinal.”
A urinal cartridge odor control system comprises a urinal have an opening in a lower region for evacuation of fluids; a cartridge fitted to an opening located on the lower region of a urinal, such that the cartridge unit comprises an umbrella shaped part for deflection of materials, a locking section for opening and closing of the trap and a cylindrical shell for supporting the entire structure of the cartridge control system.
As stated above the system has a cylindrical shell; this shell has three different sizes ranging from largest to smallest and including a medium size, all of them coaxially linked by means of two tapered shapes where the largest size is on the top and the smallest size is on the bottom wherein the largest size's internal wall is in a watertight connection with a bottom region of the urinal. The cylindrical shell provides a support structure for the entire system as described further below.
A spring sealed trap housing fitted in the cylindrical shell's medium size's internal wall is made up of a coupling device fitted in the cylindrical shell's medium size's internal wall and resting on the second conical tapered shape that is closest to the bottom and a first cylindrical device having one or more passageways for permitting fluid to flow down arranged around a central column that extends upwards and the first cylindrical device inserted into the coupling device.
Further, a sealing disk is attached to the first cylindrical device using a spring locking mechanism. Also attached to the first cylindrical device is a seal attached to the top of the central column of the first cylindrical device so that the seal prevents fluids or gases to flow upwards through the first cylindrical device and blocks motion of a second cylindrical device. The spring locking mechanism further comprises a second cylindrical device inserted coaxially into the first cylindrical device such that the second cylindrical device has a flange at its top to respond to the motion of a spring arranged coaxially around the second cylindrical device and designed to compress and decompress against the second cylindrical device's flange and a ledge inside of the first cylindrical device.
To enable the attachment of the sealing disk with the second cylindrical device, the locking member is inserted coaxially underneath the sealing disk and passing through the sealing disk and passing through and threaded into the second cylindrical device so as to lock together the sealing disk and the second cylindrical device so as to engage the coaxially arranged spring. The system also includes an o-ring attached to the sealing disk so as to make a better seal between the sealing disk and the first cylindrical device and a weight disk to better balance the entire mechanism.
Cylindrically shaped part 8 and coupling 15 forms a housing for the spring-sealed trap 17. The coupling 15 is fitted into the middle diameter of external shell 16 such that it will not be able to move during ordinary operation of the spring-sealed trap. The coupling 15 has an upper and a lower diameter; the upper diameter is for the fitting of cylindrically shaped part 8 such that motion of this part is prohibited whilst the bottom diameter is for the formation of a spring-sealed trap. Also, the coupling 15 has perforations or holes at its base to permit the flow of fluids and a central axially raised portion that is sized to block the ‘overextended’ motion of the downward movement of the valve operation so as to prevent it from disengaging. In other words, it prevents the motion from going to far. This raised portion corresponds to the movement of the locking screw 14 in the central axis as described previously. The bottom portion of cylindrically shaped part 8 fits snugly into the internal diameter of coupling 15 such that it does not move during normal operation. It rests upon a lip that extends out from the internal walls of coupling 15; thus, coupling 15 has within itself formed two internal diameters, one for the fitting of the cylindrically shaped part 8 and a smaller one for the formation of a trap 17.
Once a liquid reaches the cylindrical-shaped part 8, it flows through several holes 8A located on this part's lower region and here is where the spring-sealed trap 17 acts as a valve: normally in a closed state (
The cylinder 9 that is integrated with a flange 9A along with spring 11 centrally wrapped around cylinder 9 operates within cylindrically shaped part 8 to open and close the disk 10 when liquids strike it. To complete the spring operation in the odor trap an upper seal 21 is required so that fluid and or gases will not flow back up the trap and through the cylindrically shaped part 8. This seal 21 is attached to the top of the hexagonal column that is integral with cylindrically shaped part 8 using physical pressure and a glue or adhesive. Thus, when the spring is fully extended the cylinder 9 cannot extend beyond the seal 21. When the spring is compressed because of weight being applied to the disk 10, flange 9A presses down against coaxially placed spring 11 that compresses within the cylindrically shaped part 8 and against a ledge formed within cylinder 8 that supports the other side of the spring 11. Thus, the spring 11 limits the motion of the disk 10 along with a centrally raised portion of coupling 15 prevents the device from disengaging.
Returning to the external surface 800, it should be noted that upon approaching the bottom edge of coupling 15, the external surface 800 tapers to a material of circular shape 830. Thus, this forms a solid material edge about the bottom of the coupling 15 between circular material 830 and inner circular material 840 that meets it as the material forming circular surface 840 proceeds down to the plane formed by the bottom portion of the coupling 15 and then outwards to meet material circle line 830.
At the complete underside of coupling 15, a flow control region is shown formed of a circular material 870 and raised portion 880 surrounded by four supports in a cross-shaped pattern. The region between each of the cross-supports form cavities 860 that pass through the bottom of the coupling unit; these cavities 860 facilitate evacuation of materials and are in the shape of chords between inner circle material line 840 and the edge 850 of circular material 870 and the bottom of the coupling. The edge of the circular material 870 is shown at circle 850 that passes from the horizontal level of the tapered inner circumference 840 to the bottom surface of the coupling 15 forming a slab volume of material as shown. Additionally, the inner top portion of the circular region 870 is raised up until it reaches a central raised portion 880. This raised portion 880 prevents the spring trap from over extending itself.
Cylindrically shaped part 8 is shown in
At the extreme top of cylindrically shaped part 8 is a small rectangular area 920 as shown in
Conclusion & Final Considerations
It should be appreciated that whilst the description has included certain specific shapes for the various parts this should not specifically limit the scope of applicant's disclosure. For example, the three diameter cylindrical shell is replaceable with different types of shapes such as three triangles, squares, pentagons, general polygons, ellipses, ovals, curves, combinations of the foregoing or other types of shapes that are adapted for usage in the teachings herein. Likewise the columns, cylinders, disks and other part herein are replaceable with mechanical items shaped in triangles, squares, pentagons, general polygons, ellipses, ovals or curves and they should be broadly interpreted as such.
The system described herein can bear high pressure water flushing without damaging or altering the essential parts for its normal operation. Additionally, the elimination of odors does not require the use of water; thus, it maximizes water utilization efficiency. Herein is disclosed a cartridge unit installed in a vitreous china urinal that isolates odors in a first closed state and permits urine flow to a drainage system in a second open state. This along with a P-trap is used to lock in sewer gases and other odors. The urinal includes one cylindrical opening in which the cartridge unit is coaxially installed so that the urine can flow easily to it using the internal urinal walls. The cartridge unit has several disks used to seal out odors in its closed state and upon receiving urine impacting the surface of a bottom disk the seal is opened so as to permit the flow of urine directly to a drain. Thus, the cartridge provides a sealed connection between the opening of the urinal and a drainpipe for allowing urine to be drained away.
The cartridge unit is composed of a top plastic part that has an umbrella shaped appearance and that functions to receives urine or any material, liquid or combination thereof and divert it in order to dissipate flow energy thus protecting the cartridge's internal parts. It should be noted that this part is the only one of the cartridge unit that is visible to a user and presents a pleasant appearance. Underneath it and coupled to this top part goes another plastic member which presents an internal tapered shape so that the liquid is directed to the center and flows downwardly through several holes which finish on a facing-down flat surface; its exterior face presents a cylindrical shape and goes firmly fastened to a third component located on the cartridge's bottom and acts as a lower limit to the above components. Within these two last components is housed a spring-sealed odor trap which is responsible for allowing urine and other materials or combinations thereof to be drained away through the holes when open and at the same time provides an odor seal when closed.
The spring-sealed odor trap comprises a cylinder attached to a disc and supported by a compression spring, which slides up and down due to the force exerted by the liquid's weight (downwards) and the spring's force (upwards). In other words, the spring's resultant force has to be lesser than the resultant force of the liquid's weight on the flat disc's upper face as well as it has to be enough large to get the disc and the cylinder back to its initial position when there is no liquid over the trap. The flat disc has a rubber o-ring facing the mechanism housing, so when it is in a closed state properly seals the upper part of the cartridge unit from the drain line, and it also has an extra weight attached by a screw to its underside in order to help it to open when there is a weight over it. The odor trap as well as its housing is housed in a plastic cylindrical-shaped shell which is underneath the urinal in a watertight connection. This shell helps the odor trap housing to direct the liquids from the urinal straight to the trap and it also conducts them out of the cartridge. Once the liquids are out of the cartridge unit they form a second trap (known as P-trap because of its shape) that acts to block sewer gases. Thus, the spring-sealed odor trap also provides both a sewer gas barrier and a urine odor barrier. Along with the P-trap, the cartridge unit ensures a reliable urinal operation and offers another option to those who are looking for a water-free urinal but without the problems of classical sealant methods.
The various parts in the cartridge unit are preferably composed of common plastics found in plumbing for urinals of this sort. The spring is preferably made up a metal or metallic alloy such as stainless steel. The O-ring is preferably composed of a rubber material or similar material. Various implementations are contemplated by inventor so as to facilitate diverse groups of material combinations of the many components of the invention. Thus, the parts described herein may be constructed to suit from combinations of materials such as plastic, cast iron, copper, ceramics, stainless steel, brass, glass, composites, stone, marbles, PVC and many more. Similarly, the urinal may be constructed of various types of common materials such as vitreous china, ceramics, metals, metallic alloys, enamels or combinations of the foregoing.
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