Patent Application
20250019909
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The disclosure relates to drainage apparatuses and more particularly pertains to a new drainage apparatus for draining effluent produced by washing an automobile.
Chemicals produced from washing automobiles can be deleterious to many materials constituting driving surfaces such as asphalt. And even when the chemicals do not harm the materials, the effluent produced by washing automobiles can leave visually unpleasant messes on parking lots, driveways, and garage floors. The prior art describes various drainage mat apparatuses to cover supportive surfaces and facilitate drainage. But the prior art does not disclose such a drainage mat apparatus which supports an automobile and facilitates drainage of effluent that accumulates on the mat to a remote location. Such an apparatus would be desirable to protect driving surfaces from effluent produced by washing automobiles.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a planar member with a top surface and a bottom surface. The top surface is configured for supporting an automobile, and the planar member has a size such that a peripheral edge of the planar member is configured to horizontally surround the automobile. A lip is coupled to and extends upwardly from the peripheral edge of the planar member and bounds a recess above the planar member. A drainage tube is coupled to and extends through the lip to the recess. The drainage tube has an open distal end with respect to the lip such that the drainage tube is configured for facilitating drainage of an effluent out of the recess through the drainage tube. A drainage hose is selectively couplable to the drainage tube and is configured for facilitating drainage of the effluent remotely from the recess through the drainage tube.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A plurality of drainage tubes 24 is coupled to and extending through the lip 20 to the recess 22. Each drainage tube 24 of the plurality of drainage tubes 24 has an open distal end 26 with respect to the lip 20 such that the drainage tube 24 is configured for facilitating drainage of an effluent out of the recess 22 through the drainage tube 24. Each drainage tube 24 of the plurality of drainage tubes 24 is parallel to the top surface 14 of the planar member 12, and a lower side 26 of each drainage tube 24 of the plurality of drainage tubes 24 is coplanar with the top surface 14 of the planar member 12. Each drainage tube 24 of the plurality of drainage tubes 24 is positioned adjacent to one of a plurality of corners 28 of the planar member 12 and on an associated one of a pair of longitudinal portions 30 of the lip 20.
A drainage hose 32 is selectively couplable to each drainage tube 24 of the plurality of drainage tubes 24. The drainage hose 32 is configured for facilitating drainage of the effluent remotely from the recess 22 through a selected one of the plurality of drainage tubes 24. The drainage hose 32 has interior threads 34 which are complementary in shape to exterior threads 36 of each drainage tube 24 of the plurality of drainage tubes 24. Each one of a plurality of caps 38 is couplable to each drainage tube 24 of the plurality of drainage tubes 24 to close the drainage tube 24. Each cap 38 of the plurality of caps 38 has internal threads 40 which are complementary in shape to the exterior threads 36 of each drainage tube 24 of the plurality of drainage tubes 24.
Each of the planar member 12 and the lip 20 comprises a flexible material wherein the planar member 12 and the lip 20 are rollable into a storage condition 42. The flexible material is polyvinyl chloride but may be rubber, polyethylene, or the like. A plurality of nodules 44 is coupled to the top surface 14 of the planar member 12 to space the automobile 46 above the top surface 14 of the planar member 12 and facilitate flow of the effluent between the automobile 46 and the top surface 14.
In use, the automobile 46 is positioned over the top surface 14 of the planar member 12 and surrounded by the peripheral edge 18 of the planar member 12. The drainage hose 32 is attached to the selected drainage tube 24 and the plurality of caps 38 are used to cover a remaining set of drainage tubes 24 of the plurality of drainage tubes 24. The selected drainage tube 24 may be chosen based on proximity to a drainage destination 48, an incline of the planar member 12 causing the effluent to flow toward one of the plurality of drainage tubes 24, or other criteria. The automobile 46 is washed, causing the formation of the effluent including any detergent and water used to wash the automobile 46 and any dirt and other debris which was covering the automobile 46. The effluent flows off the automobile 46 and into the recess 22, then through the drainage hose 32 away from the planar member 12 to the drainage destination 48, which may be defined by a drain, a container, a portion of a ground surface, or the like.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
