Claims
- 1. An insulative cover for insulating a P-trap drain piping assembly located under a sink including multiple pipe sections joined at junctures, the pipe sections joined by fastening structures which have a larger outer diameter than an outer diameter of the respective pipe sections, the cover comprising:
- a first piece to be placed over a pipe section and having a diameter dimension and an end; and
- a second piece to be placed over a pipe section and having a diameter dimension and an end;
- when placed over the respective pipe sections of said P-trap assembly, the end of the first piece being adjacent the end of the second piece at a pipe juncture;
- a generally flexible collar structure configured to be slid along a portion of a pipe section and slid with respect to a portion of at least one of the first and second pieces, the collar structure being operably expansible for expanding its inner diameter and further being operable to be slid with respect to said piece away from the juncture so that the pipe sections may be joined together by the larger outer diameter fastening structure at said juncture, the expansible collar structure operable for expanding its inner diameter when the collar structure is subsequently slid over a portion of the juncture to cover said larger outer diameter fastening structure and form a generally continuous insulative cover over the joined pipe sections of the P-trap assembly.
- 2. An insulative cover as in claim 1 wherein the first piece is a J-shaped piece having first and second ends and the second piece is a generally straight piece, the cover further comprising:
- an L-shaped piece to be placed over a pipe section and having a diameter dimension and an end;
- when placed over the respective pipe sections of said P-trap assembly, the first end of the J-shaped piece being adjacent the end of the straight piece at a forward pipe juncture and the second end of the J-shaped piece being adjacent the end of the L-shaped piece at a rearward pipe juncture;
- the generally flexible collar structure slidable with respect to a portion of at least one of the J-shaped, generally straight and L-shaped pieces to be slid away from one of the forward and rearward junctures to join the pieces together at the respective juncture with said larger outer diameter fastening structure, the collar structure expansible to expand its inner diameter and cover the fastening structure when slid over the juncture after the pipe sections are joined together at the juncture by the fastening structure.
- 3. An insulative cover as in claim 2 further comprising another expansible collar structure operable to be moved along a portion of one of the J-shaped, generally straight and L-shaped pieces similar to the other expansible collar structure so that both the forward and rearward junctures and corresponding larger outer diameter fastening structures may be covered to form a generally continuous insulative cover over generally the entire P-trap piping assembly.
- 4. An insulative cover as in claim 1 wherein the expansible collar structure is dimensioned to be partially slidable inside a portion of at least one of the first and second pieces, the expansible collar structure operable to be slid partially inside the at least one piece to be moved alternatively toward and away from the juncture.
- 5. An insulative cover as in claim 1 wherein the expansible collar structure is dimensioned in length to couple together adjacent ends of the first and second cover pieces at said juncture when expanded to cover the larger outer diameter fastening structure to provide complete insulative coverage of said juncture.
- 6. An insulative cover as in claim 1 wherein said expansible collar structure is detachably fixed to an end of one of said pieces to be detached and slid away from said juncture when the pipe sections are being joined with the fastening structures, the collar structure expansible to be slid over the juncture and fastening structure to insulate the piping assembly.
- 7. An insulative cover as in claim 1 wherein the expansible collar structure includes first and second collar pieces, one of said collar pieces dimensioned to overlap the other collar piece to form an overlapping collar structure at the pipe juncture.
- 8. An insulative cover as in claim 1 wherein the expansible collar structure includes first and second collar pieces, the collar pieces abutting at the juncture.
- 9. An insulative cover as in claim 1 wherein the expansible collar structure is operably flexible such that it may be partially folded back upon itself away from the juncture when the pipe sections are being joined together with the fastening structure and then folded forward and expended in inner diameter to cover the fastening structure and the juncture.
- 10. An undersink drain assembly comprising:
- at least two separate bide sections each with opposite ends and one of a curved and an elongated section extending between said ends, the pipe sections configured to be positioned together at a juncture and fastened to each other with a fastening structure at said juncture;
- insulative covers extending over each of the pipe sections between the ends to cover the at least one curved and elongated section of the pipe section, at least on of the covers being free from slits and openings along a substantial portion of its length to generally completely cover the pipe section and reduce dirt and contaminants from being trapped by the insulative cover and pipe section;
- a generally flexible collar operable for being moved away from the juncture to allow access to the juncture and then operable for being positioned over a portion of the juncture and the fastening structure for providing insulation of the drain assembly.
- 11. A method for insulating a P-trap drain piping assembly located under a sink including multiple pipe sections joined at junctures, the pipe sections being joinable by fastening structures which have a larger outer diameter than the outer diameter of the respective pipe sections, the method comprising:
- placing a first cover piece having an end over a pipe section;
- placing a second cover piece having an end over another pipe section;
- placing a movable and expansible collar structure on one of said pipe sections to be moved with respect to said pipe section and respective cover piece, the collar structure being operably expansible for expanding its inner diameter;
- positioning the first and second cover pieces such that the ends of the pieces are adjacent one another at the juncture and the collar structure is positioned to provide access to the juncture and a fastening structure;
- moving the expansible collar structure over the juncture and expanding said inner diameter to move the collar structure over said larger outer diameter fastening structure at the juncture to form a generally continuous insulative cover over the joined pipe sections of the P-trap assembly.
- 12. The method of claim 11 wherein the first cover piece is a J-shaped piece having first and second ends and the second piece is a generally straight piece, the end of the generally straight piece placed adjacent the first end of the J-shaped piece at a forward juncture and the movable collar structure placed over the forward juncture, the method further comprising:
- placing an L-shaped piece having an end over another pipe section;
- positioning the L-shaped piece such that the end of the L-shaped piece is adjacent the second end of the J-shaped piece at a rearward juncture;
- placing a second expansible and movable collar structure on said pipe sections to be movable with respect to one of the L-shaped and J-shaped pieces;
- moving the expansible second movable collar structure over the rearward juncture and expanding said inner diameter of the second collar to move the second collar over said larger diameter fastening structure at the rearward juncture, whereby to provide complete insulative coverage of said P-trap drain piping assembly.
- 13. The method of claim 11 wherein the expansible collar structure is dimensioned to slide inside of a portion of a respective cover piece and over the juncture, the method further comprising sliding the collar structure inside the cover piece and over the juncture to form a continuous insulative cover.
- 14. An insulative cover for insulating a P-trap drain piping assembly located under a sink including multiple pipe sections joined at junctures, the pipe sections joined by fastening structures which have a larger outer diameter than an outer diameter of the respective pipe sections, the cover comprising:
- a first piece to be placed over a pipe section and having a diameter dimension and an end; and
- a second piece to be placed over a pipe section and having a diameter dimension and an end;
- the first and second pieces dimensioned such that when placed over the respective pipe sections of said P-trap assembly, the ends of the pieces are adjacent the juncture but are spaced away from the juncture to allow access to the juncture and a fastening structure for connecting the pipe sections together;
- a separate collar structure for being positioned around the fastening structure, the collar structure being operably expansible to expand its inner diameter for covering the larger outer diameter fastening structure and a portion of the juncture when placed therearound, the collar structure being independently movable with respect to the first and second pieces such that the collar structure is movable away from the juncture for joining the pipe sections together and is subsequently expansible to be movable over the larger outer diameter fastening structure and juncture portion for forming an insulative cover over the joined sections of the P-trap assembly.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-pan of application Ser. No. 08/146,999 entitled "Cover Assembly and Method For Covering Undersink Piping" filed Oct. 29, 1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,830 which is completely incorporated herein by reference.
US Referenced Citations (28)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
1249974 |
Feb 1989 |
CAX |
2714576 |
Oct 1978 |
DEX |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
146999 |
Oct 1993 |
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