1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the installation of plumbing fixtures, and more particularly, to a method, apparatus and assembly for installing floor drains.
2. Description of Related Art
Unlike other types of plumbing fixtures, floor drains install directly into a concrete floor. Once installed, the rim of the fixture lies flush with the upper surface of the floor. In that position, liquid at floor level flows directly into the fixture and through an outlet at the bottom of the drain pipe beneath the floor. Such fixtures find widespread use and many floor drains appear in the concrete floors of buildings. Some of these buildings are many stories high and have many drains throughout.
Frequently, in multi-level buildings, the drain pipes extend through the incomplete skeleton structure. There is no floor to attach a stabilizing structure to make a drain “at grade”. The prior art stabilizing structure couples with the pipe and requires a floor for support for the pipe to further support the drain. In another application, after placing a sleeve over each drain pipe, the installer carefully fills the sleeves with sand to prevent collapse during the process of pouring the concrete floor. Once the sand is covering the drain pipe at each installation location, then workers can pour concrete and finish it at a predetermined floor level. The prior art installations involved time-consuming steps and is not possible in some situations. Therefore, a new and more efficient, less costly and less time-consuming way to install fixtures, such as floor drains, is sought.
According to a first aspect, the present invention provides for a stabilizing collar which is adapted to fasten to a drain pipe for stabilizing a drain. The stabilizing collar includes a body having an outer surface and an inner surface. The inner surface of the body defines an opening for receipt of a pipe. The body defines an engagement member attached for securing the body to a pipe. The body further defines a support receiving portion adapted to receive a support member for supporting a drain on the stabilizing collar. The body may comprise a ring. Alternatively, the body may comprise segment. The support receiving portion may define a support receiving member which is integral with the body. The support receiving member may be in the form of a lug or boss, further defining a passageway therethrough. The support boss may include an engagement member to engage a support member. Alternatively, the support receiving member may further includes a threaded portion to coact with a threaded support member or it may not be threaded, in which case, a threaded ledge can hold a support member.
The body of the stabilizing collar may be a ring. An engagement member can be provided further including an adjustment member to contact a pipe. Alternatively, the stabilizing collar may define a segment having an adjustable diameter. A hinge may divide the segment and separate the stabilizing collar into two separate segments where the hinge attaches the two segments together. An engagement member may be present to adjustably press the two segment ends together, thereby adjusting the diameter. The stabilizing collar can further include a support member to coact with the support receiving members.
The support receiving members can be threaded support receiving members to receive threaded support members. Alternatively, a threaded support member can be received in a support receiving member where the support member is threadedly received by a threaded ledge. The threaded ledge can be a threadably adjusted nut that sits upon the support receiving member. In the alternative, the support receiving member can be sandwiched between two threadedly adjustable members threadedly attached to the support member. The inner surface of the stabilizing collar can define the pattern for providing a frictional connection between the stabilizing collar and the drain pipe. The stabilizing collar can be made of cast metal or plastic.
The present invention also provides for a stabilizing assembly for stabilizing a floor drain to a pipe. The stabilizing assembly includes a stabilizing collar and a receptacle body. The stabilizing collar, as discussed previously, has a body which has an outer surface and an inner surface defining an opening for adjusting the stabilizing collar to fit a pipe. The body further includes support receiving members for securing a support member for supporting the drain. Support members are received by the support receiving members and are attached to the body of the stabilizing collar and extend longitudinally from the stabilizing collar providing support for the receptacle body. The stabilizing assembly can further include a pipe, the opening in the body of the stabilizing collar adapted to secure to the pipe.
The present invention provides for a method of installing a stabilizing collar to stabilize a receptacle body of a drain. The method includes first providing a drain, the receptacle body thereof having a first end and a second end as in the previously discussed stabilizing collar assembly. Next, a stabilizing collar is coupled to a drain pipe. Then a support member is coupled to the stabilizing collar using one of several methods, such as an adjustment member received in an engagement member attached using a nut or threadable support members for coacting with threaded support receiving members. Next the receptacle body is attached to the pipe, leveled and the support members are adjusted so that at least one contacts the receptacle body and therefore provides support to keep the receptacle body at the same slope as the floor level. A further step includes concrete being poured onto the floor foundation while the stabilizing collar stabilizes the floor drain, thereby covering the stabilizing collar with the concrete.
According to a second aspect, the invention provides for a stabilizing collar for stabilizing a drain to a drain pipe wherein the drain pipe extends below a floor surface. The drain includes a receptacle body coupled to a support member. The receptacle body has a first portion, a second portion and a third portion located between the first and second portions. The receptacle body is configured such that the first portion can be located at or above the floor surface, and the second and third portions can be located below the floor surface and wherein the third portion includes downwardly opening bosses. The stabilizing collar comprises a body having an outer surface and an inner surface defining an opening configured for receipt of a portion of the drain pipe extending below the floor surface and an engagement member configured for cooperation with at least one adjustment member. The adjustment member can be adjustable with respect to a diameter of the drain pipe to secure the body on the drain pipe. The body defines a support receiving portion adapted to receive the support member coupled to the downwardly opening bosses within the third portion of the receptacle body of the drain so that the support member can support the drain on the stabilizing collar from beneath the floor surface. The support receiving member can comprise a plurality of bosses spaced apart radially along the outer surface of the body. According to one design, the plurality of bosses can comprise four bosses spaced at approximately 90° intervals about the support receiving member. Each of the bosses can include an engagement member and an adjustment member to engage the support member within the boss and the adjustment member is configured to adjust the diameter of the bosses. According to one design, the third portion of the receptacle body can comprise an underside of a flange of the receptacle body and the downwardly opening bosses can comprise threaded passageways that are drilled and tapped on the underside of a flange of the receptacle body.
The present invention also provides for a stabilizing assembly for stabilizing a floor drain to a pipe wherein the drain includes a receptacle body having a first portion, a second portion and a third portion positioned between the first portion and the second portion. The first portion of the receptacle body can be located at or above a floor surface and the second and third portions of the receptacle body can be located below the floor surface, wherein the second end of the receptacle body is adapted to fasten to the pipe at a location below the floor surface and the third portion includes downwardly opening bosses. The stabilizing collar, as discussed previously, has a body which has an outer surface and an inner surface defining an opening for adjusting the stabilizing collar to fit a pipe. An engagement member is associated with the body of the stabilizing collar and adapted to secure the body of the stabilizing collar on the pipe. The engagement member is configured for cooperation with at least one adjustment member wherein the adjustment member is adjustable with respect to a diameter of the pipe, and a support receiving portion is adapted to receive a support member to support the drain on the collar. At least one support member is provided for stabilizing the receptacle body relative to the stabilizing collar. The support member has a first end and a second end. The first end is configured for cooperation with the support receiving portion of the stabilizing collar at a location beneath the floor surface. The at least one support member longitudinally extends from the stabilizing collar such that the second end engages the downwardly opening bosses in the third portion of the receptacle body of the drain. According to one embodiment, the plurality of bosses can comprise four bosses spaced approximately 90° degrees apart about the circumference of the stabilizing collar. According to one design, the third portion of the receptacle body can comprise an underside of a flange of the receptacle body and the downwardly opening bosses can comprise four bosses for cooperating with the four bosses of the stabilizing collar and wherein the four downwardly opening bosses of the receptacle body include threaded passageways that are drilled and tapped on the underside of a flange of the receptacle body. The bosses and the engagement members with the adjustment members can be alternatingly interspersed about the stabilizing collar.
In addition, in a further step, a desired slope for a receptacle body is attained by adjusting the receptacle body to have a slope in accordance with the slope of a floor and the support members can be adjusted longitudinally to position the underside of the receptacle body causing the top of the receptacle body to attain a slope in conjunction with a floor level.
Referring to
With continuing reference to
Stabilizing collar 100 is fastened to pipe P′ when the engagement member 105 is adjusted to secure stabilizing collar 100 to the pipe P′ by screwing adjustment member 106, which is preferably a threaded thumbscrew until the first end 102 at first segment 110 abuts first end 104 of second segment 112 and diameter D′ of stabilizing collar 100 is adapted to secure to a diameter of pipe P′. The pipe P′ can also be a part of the second floor drain support assembly 130. Floor drain receptacle body 126 is also adapted to attach to a pipe P′. Typically, the floor drain pipe assembly extends above ground level or at grade. A portion of the second floor drain support assembly 130 can be encased in concrete. The stabilizing collar 100 acts to stabilize the second floor drain support assembly 130 during the installation process.
The present invention provides a method for stabilizing a floor drain to a pipe P′. The receptacle body 126 is provided having a first end 136 and a second end 134. A stabilizing collar 100 is provided, the stabilizing collar 100 having the features as discussed previously. The opening 114 of the stabilizing collar 100 is placed over pipe P′ and engagement member 105 is adjusted to attach the stabilizing collar 100 to pipe P′. Next, the support members 128 are coupled to the stabilizing collar 100.
The support members 128 of the body 113 of stabilizing collar 100 are coupled to the support receiving members 116 when passed through the passageways 118. For attachment as shown in
Alternatively, as shown in
In
Once the receptacle body 126 is level and stabilized by the support members 128, a concrete mixture can be poured around the floor drain assembly 130 covering the floor foundation 11′ until a floor level 9′ has been reached.
In addition to providing stabilization, the present invention provides for a support member to slope the receptacle body 126. Sloping can take place by adjusting the support members 128 once they have been attached to the stabilizing collar 100. The top surface 136 of receptacle body 126 is sloped to match a floor level 9′, then support members 128 are longitudinally adjusted to contact the bottom end 134 of receptacle body 126 in the sloped position so that it rests upon the support members 128 in such a way as to slope the top end surface 136 of the receptacle body 126. The top end surface 136 having a slope that matches the slope of floor level 9′.
Similarly, the floor drain support assembly 30 in
With continuing reference to
It will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the invention without departing from the concepts disclosed in the foregoing description. Accordingly, the particular embodiments described in detail herein are illustrative only and are not limiting to the scope of the invention, which is to be given the full breadth of the appended claims and any and all equivalents thereof.
This application is based on U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/368,118, filed Jul. 27, 2010, on which priority of this patent application is based and which provisional patent application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61368118 | Jul 2010 | US |