Drains such as those in toilets, sinks, and tubs are typically unclogged by using a plunger comprised of a deformable head mounted on the end of an elongated handle or shaft. Plunger head designs typically include an air chamber or bellows coupled to a seal. During an unclogging operation, a plunger head seal is held over, or inserted into, the mouth of the drain while the plunger handle is reciprocated in an upward and downward motion that alternately contracts and enlarges the space within the head air chamber. This reciprocating motion then creates an alternating pressure and suction force in the drain passage that is often sufficient to dislodge an obstruction in the drain.
Flexible plunger boot implementations described herein are used with a drain plunger to unclog an obstructed drain in a plumbing fixture. In one general implementation, the flexible plunger boot is releasably attachable to a bottom end of a drain plunger and includes a coupling section that includes an annular ring-shaped structure with a central aperture. The coupling section has a size and shape that facilitates releasably coupling it to the bottom end of the drain plunger. This general implementation of the flexible plunger boot also includes a bulbous seal that has a hollow spherical shape which is truncated at a top end and a bottom end. The top end of the bulbous seal depends from a bottom end of the coupling section. The bulbous seal has a maximum outside diameter that is larger than a diameter of a plumbing fixture drain that the bulbous seal is inserted into and is flexible enough to deform inwardly and form an interference fit with the walls of the plumbing fixture drain. This general implementation of the flexible plunger boot further includes a periphery seal having an inwardly concave annular ring shape with a central aperture that depends at its top end from the bottom end of the bulbous seal. The periphery seal is smaller in diameter than the maximum outside diameter of the bulbous seal but larger in diameter than a drain opening of, a plumbing fixture whose drain diameter is too small for the bulbous seal to fit into. The periphery seal is also flexible enough so that whenever it is pressed down against a surface surrounding a drain opening of the plumbing fixture, a lower portion of the periphery seal flattens against the surface to form a flat annular ring which creates a mechanical seal between the periphery seal and the surface.
In one implementation, the annular ring-shaped structure of the flexible plunger boot's coupling section has an exterior surface that is inwardly concave and an interior surface having a ring-shaped protrusion which interfaces with a bottom end of the drain plunger. In addition, the coupling section has a size and shape that facilitates releasably coupling the coupling section to the bottom end a drain plunger.
In one alternate implementation, the flexible plunger boot is permanently affixed to a bottom end of a drain plunger. In this implementation, the coupling section has a size and shape that facilitates its permanent attachment to the bottom end a drain plunger.
In one implementation, the flexible plunger boot is molded as one integrated part and exhibits a varying flexibility with height owing to a varying wall thickness. In this implementation, the coupling section is the least flexible part of the flexible plunger boot.
It should be noted that the foregoing Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts, in a simplified form, that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the claimed subject matter in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented below.
The specific features, aspects, and advantages of the flexible plunger boot implementations described herein will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:
In the following description of the flexible plunger boot implementations reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which are shown, by way of illustration, specific implementations in which the flexible plunger boot can be practiced. It is understood that other implementations can be utilized and structural changes can be made without departing from the scope of the flexible plunger boot implementations.
It is also noted that for the sake of clarity specific terminology will be resorted to in describing the flexible plunger boot implementations described herein and it is not intended for these implementations to be limited to the specific terms so chosen. Furthermore, it is to be understood that each specific term includes all its technical equivalents that operate in a broadly similar manner to achieve a similar purpose. Reference herein to “one implementation”, or “another implementation”, or an “exemplary implementation”, or an “alternate implementation”, or “one version”, or “another version”, or an “exemplary version”, or an “alternate version”, or “one variant”, or “another variant”, or an “exemplary variant”, or an “alternate variant” means that a particular feature, a particular structure, or particular characteristics described in connection with the implementation/version/variant can be included in at least one implementation. The appearances of the phrases “in one implementation”, “in another implementation”, “in an exemplary implementation”, “in an alternate implementation”, “in one version”, “in another version”, “in an exemplary version”, “in an alternate version”, “in one variant”, “in another variant”, “in an exemplary variant”, and “in an alternate variant” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same implementation/version/variant, nor are separate or alternative implementations/versions/variants mutually exclusive of other implementations/versions/variants.
Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes,” “including,” “has,” “contains,” variants thereof, and other similar words are used in either this detailed description or the claims, these terms are intended to be inclusive, in a manner similar to the term “comprising”, as, an open transition word without precluding any additional or other elements.
The flexible plunger boot implementations described herein are employed in conjunction with a drain plunger to clear the drain of a plumbing fixture (such as toilet, sink, bathtub, and so on) when it is clogged by an obstruction. Referring to
The plunger head 106 is connected to an outlet section that forms its lower end. Without the flexible plunger boot installed, the outlet section typically functions as a seal, but with the flexible plunger boot installed functions as a coupling structure 108. In one implementation, the coupling structure 108 has a size and shape that interfaces with and secures the flexible plunger boot 102 to the plunger 100, as will described in more detail in the sections to follow.
In general, the flexible plunger boot implementations described herein are designed to either seat securely within a drain opening, or alternately, in the case where the drain opening is smaller in diameter than a periphery seal forming the bottom end of the flexible plunger boot, to create a seal around the drain opening. An operator of a plunger equipped with the flexible plunger boot implementations described herein generally unclogs a plumbing fixture drain by placing the flexible plunger boot into position above or in a clogged drain such that it interfaces with the opening of the drain. This forms an interference fit and/or mechanical seal with the drain opening. Next, as force is applied downward on the handle of the plunger, the plunger head compresses and creates an increased pressure within the flexible plunger boot and against the obstruction in the drain. In cases where the flexible plunger boot is secured within the drain opening, this increased pressure in the flexible plunger boot causes the flexible wall of the middle portion of the boot to press with greater force against the interior wall of the drain, thereby enhancing the mechanical seal between the boot and the drain wall. Next, as the handle is pulled upwards, the plunger head expands and applies a suction force to the obstruction in the drain. The flexible plunger boot implementations described herein stay sealed to the opening of the drain via the suction force. The upward and downward motions are repeated creating reciprocating pressure and suction forces that dislodge an obstruction from within the drain, thereby facilitating clearing of the drain. The dislodged obstruction is typically drawn down the drainpipe when the plunger is removed.
The flexible plunger boot implementations described herein have many advantages. For example, as will be described in greater detail in the sections to follow, implementations of the flexible plunger boot can be releasably installed on the end of existing drain plungers. Thus, there is no need to purchase a plunger to realize the benefits afforded by the flexible plunger boot. Rather, the flexible plunger boot can be purchased separately and used on any plunger having an outlet section that is compatible with a coupling section of the flexible plunger boot. In addition, existing plungers can be upgraded to facilitate unclogging a wider variety of plumbing fixtures with very different drain opening sizes than they could without the flexible plunger boot. For example, the flexible plunger boot implementations described herein are versatile enough to unclog drains associated with toilets that have throat sizes and shapes that vary greatly from one model to another. In addition, the flexible plunger boot implementations described herein are capable of unclogging not just toilets but also garbage disposal drains, bathroom sink drains, kitchen sink drains, bathtub drains, to name a few, all with varying drain opening sizes.
In one implementation, the coupling section 202 of the flexible plunger boot is an annular ring-shaped section with a central aperture having a shape that facilitates its releasable coupling to the coupling structure (108 in
While the foregoing description of the coupling section was directed to its attachment to the household drain plungers described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,192,525, it is not intended that the flexible plunger boot implementations described herein be limited to use with the aforementioned plungers. Rather, it is envisioned that the coupling section can be configured to interface with any plunger having a sealing structure amenable to attachment of a flexible plunger boot without departing from the scope of the flexible plunger boot implementations described herein.
Referring again to
The maximum outside diameter of bulbous seal occurs at approximately its mid-height, and in one implementation is made large enough to produce an interference fit in most toilet throats and garbage disposal drain openings. For example, in the tested implementation shown in
However, an advantage of the detachable nature of the flexible rubber boot is that it can be removed from the bottom end of the plunger and replaced with another flexible plunger boot. Thus, if a plunger is to be used to unclog the drain of a plumbing fixture having a larger drain diameter than a typical toilet or sink and which exceeds the maximum outside diameter of a currently installed flexible plunger boot, then the currently installed flexible plunger boot can be replaced with one having a maximum exterior bulbous seal diameter that exceeds the unusually large drain opening.
Referring again to
Referring now to
As described previously, when the flexible plunger boot is first depressed and then pulled upward, as would be the case when the plunger is pulled up on an upstroke, the resulting suction force holds the periphery seal in place over the surface surrounding the drain opening and prevents the lateral slippage that can cause splashing and spillage of wastewater.
It is noted that once the obstruction has been dislodged, the suction force is released, and the plunger can be removed from the sink or bathtub. While the bottom end of the bulbous seal is flexible enough to collapse and allow the upper portion of the periphery seal to be driven into the interior of the bulbous seal, is it is also resilient enough so that the bulbous seal and the peripheral seal spring back to their original shapes and positions. This is advantageous as the user does not have to touch the flexible plunger boot to manually pull the peripheral seal back into place.
In general, the flexible plunger boot can be constructed from one or more materials to produce the flexibility characteristic described previously. In addition, the flexible plunger boot can be constructed as one integrated part or multiple parts that are joined together. In one implementation, the flexible plunger boot is molded as single integrated piece from a single material with the wall thickness being varied to create the desired flexibility characteristics. For example, the flexible plunger boot can be molded from a durable and flexible rubber or plastic. This is advantageous as it makes the molding easy and inexpensive. In one implementation, the flexible plunger boot is molded as one integrated part made from natural rubber.
While the flexible plunger boot has been described by specific reference to implementations thereof, it is understood that variations and modifications thereof can be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the system. By way of example but not limitation, while the flexible plunger boot implementations described so far involved a removable structure, in one alternate implementation, the flexible plunger boot is permanently affixed to the end of a drain plunger.
Whether the flexible plunger boot is releasably and permanently affixed to a plunger, its shape and flexibility provide additional capabilities and advantages when installed on a plunger. For example, the orientation of the opening to a toilet throat can present a non-uniform opening that the flexible plunger boot must seal.
It is also noted that although the foregoing subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
What has been described above includes example implementations. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the claimed subject matter, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations are possible. Accordingly, the claimed subject matter is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications, and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
The aforementioned implementations have been described with respect to interaction between several components. It will be appreciated that such implementations and components can include those components or specified sub-components, some of the specified components or sub-components, and/or additional components, and according to various permutations and combinations of the foregoing. Sub-components can also be implemented as components coupled to other components rather than included within parent components (e.g., hierarchical components).