Patent Application
20230407619
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to leaching chambers for receiving and dispersing wastewater and, more particularly, to a leaching chamber having a mechanism for locking a first leaching chamber to a second leaching chamber at a range of angular orientations.
Hollow plastic leaching chambers are commonly buried in the ground to form leaching fields for receiving and dispersing liquids such as sewage system effluent or storm water into the surrounding earth. Such leaching chambers typically have a central cavity for receiving liquids. An opening on the bottom and louvers on the sides provide the means through which liquids are allowed to exit the central cavity and disperse into the surrounding earth. Typically, such leaching chambers have mating opposing ends so that like chambers can be connected to each other end-to-end, in series, to achieve a desired subterranean volume and dispersion area. They are usually arch-shaped and corrugated with symmetrical corrugations for strength.
Sometimes, the nature of the terrain for a desired leach field installation requires that chambers be installed as non-straight rows. Similarly, efficient use of the land can be increased by having the chambers follow the natural contours of the land. In such situations, a bend in a string of chambers can be accomplished by use of chambers or adapters which have angled ends. More recent developments include swivel-end chambers, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,592,293, 7,351,006 and 7,465,122. Such leaching chambers may, for example, include a swivel feature that allows such chambers to be angled out of alignment by up to 15°.
When trenches are not used, the chambers are placed on a leveled soil bed. This arrangement makes the chamber rows easy to adjust as desired. However, when these swivel-end chambers are buried, they can inadvertently be pushed out of alignment via rotation of one chamber relative to another about the swivel feature during the machine backfilling process. Inhibiting relative movement of the chambers during the backfilling process has largely required soil to be placed on the chambers (e.g., on the foot of such chambers) by hand labor to hold them in place prior to machine backfilling, and/or the use of external screws or fasteners to fix the relative position of two adjacent chambers. Either method, however, is tedious and increases the time and labor required for leach field installation. While certain chambers have been designed with deployable features that enable adjacent chambers to be at least temporarily maintained in a straight orientation, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,364,384, they are not capable of being locked at an angle.
In view of the above, there is a need for a leaching chamber having a mechanism for locking a first leaching chamber to a second leaching chamber at a range of angles, without the need for auxiliary fasteners or initial backfilling by hand labor to prevent inadvertent relative movement of the chambers during machine backfilling.
It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a leaching chamber.
It is another object of the present disclosure to provide a leaching chamber having a swivel feature that allows such chamber to be angled out of alignment with respect to an adjacent chamber.
It is another object of the present disclosure to provide a leaching chamber having a mechanism for locking a first leaching chamber to a second leaching chamber at a selected angular orientation.
These and other objects are achieved by the present disclosure.
Consistent with disclosed embodiments, systems, assemblies, apparatuses, and methods related to leaching chambers are disclosed. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a leaching chamber is provided. The leaching chamber may include a first end having a first end flange and a first locking feature associated with the first end flange; a second end having a second end flange and a second locking feature associated with the second end flange; and a chamber body between the first end and second end of the leaching chamber. The first end flange may be configured to overlap and rotatably connect with a complementary end flange of a second leaching chamber such that the leaching chamber is configured to rotate with respect to the second leaching chamber and to be disposed at a selected angular orientation relative to the second leaching chamber. The first locking feature of the first end flange of the leaching chamber may be configured to engage with a locking feature of the complementary end flange of the second leaching chamber to lock the leaching chamber in the selected angular orientation relative to the second leaching chamber.
According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a leaching field assembly is provided. The leaching field assembly may include a first leaching chamber including a first end having a first end flange, at least one locking pin depending from an underside of the first end flange, a second end having a second end flange, and a plurality of grooves on the second end flange; and a second leaching chamber including a first end having a first end flange, at least one locking pin depending from an underside of the first end flange, a second end having a second end flange, and a plurality of grooves on the second end flange. The first end flange of the second leaching chamber may be configured to overlap and rotatably connect with the second end flange of the first leaching chamber such that the second leaching chamber is configured to rotate with respect to the first leaching chamber and to be disposed in a selected angular orientation relative to the first leaching chamber. Each locking pin of the second leaching chamber may be configured to engage with one of the grooves of the first leaching chamber to lock the second leaching chamber in the selected angular orientation relative to the first leaching chamber.
According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a method of assembling a leaching field is provided. The method may include disposing a first leaching chamber on a surface, the first leaching chamber having a first end with a first end flange and a second end with a second end flange; overlapping a first end flange of a second leaching chamber with the second end flange of the first leaching chamber; rotating the second leaching chamber with respect to the first leaching chamber to arrange the second leaching chamber in a selected angular orientation relative to the first leaching chamber; and pivoting the second leaching chamber to engage a first locking feature on the first end flange of the second leaching chamber with a corresponding second locking feature on the second end flange of the first leaching chamber to lock the second leaching chamber in the selected angular orientation with respect to the first leaching chamber.
The forgoing summary provides certain examples of disclosed embodiments to provide a flavor for this disclosure and is not intended to summarize all aspects of the disclosed embodiments. Additional features and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosed embodiments. The features and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will be realized and attained by the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are examples and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosed embodiments as claimed.
The accompanying drawings constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate several embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosed embodiments as set forth in the accompanying claims.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate disclosed embodiments and, together with the description, serve to explain the disclosed embodiments.
Examples of embodiments are described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Wherever convenient, the same reference numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. While examples and features of disclosed principles are described herein, modifications, adaptations, and other implementations are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosed embodiments. Also, the words “comprising,” “having,” “containing,” and “including,” and other similar forms are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items. It should also be noted that as used in the present disclosure and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
As used herein, the phrases “for example,” “such as,” “for instance” and variants thereof describe non-limiting embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter. Reference in the specification to features of “embodiments,” “examples,” “one case,” “some cases,” “other cases” or variants thereof means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described may be included in at least one embodiment of the presently disclosed subject matter. Thus the appearance of such terms does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment(s). As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, the expression “at least one of . . . or” may include each listed item individually or any combination of the listed items. For example, the expression “at least one of A, B, or C” may include any of A, B, or C alone or any combination of A, B, and C (e.g., A+B, A+C, B+C, or A+B+C).
Features of the presently disclosed subject matter, are, for brevity, described in the context of particular embodiments. However, it is to be understood that features described in connection with one embodiment are also applicable to other embodiments. Likewise, features described in the context of a specific combination may be considered separate embodiments, either alone or in a context other than the specific combination.
Examples of the presently disclosed subject matter are not limited in application to the details of construction and the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The subject matter may be practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
In this document, an element of a drawing that is not described within the scope of the drawing and is labeled with a numeral that has been described in a previous drawing may have the same use and description as in the previous drawings.
The drawings in this document may not be to any scale. Different figures may use different scales and different scales can be used even within the same drawing, for example different scales for different views of the same object or different scales for the two adjacent objects.
With reference to
Between the first and second end flanges 16, 20, the chamber body 50 may include a plurality of corrugations formed of alternating peaks 22 and valleys 24. The peaks 22 and valleys 24 may include respective sidewalls with louver features defining slotted openings 26 for dispersing effluent or storm water from inside the chamber 10, as is known in the art. Leaching chamber 10 may also include a base flange 28 configured to act as feet for the leaching chamber 10 so that when installed, the base flange 28 is set on the surface of a prepared trench.
With further reference to
As best shown in
Referring now to
In alternative embodiments, the locking features of the first end flange 16 and second end flange 20 may include more or less than two (2) pairs of locking pins and groove arrays. For example, some alternative embodiments of leaching chamber 10 may include a single locking pin on the first end flange 16 and a single array of grooves on the second end flange 20, which may be configured to lock together in a similar manner as the locking pins 46, 48 with the arrays of grooves 44. In other alternative embodiments, the first end flange 16 may include three or more locking pins and the second end flange 20 may include the same number of corresponding arrays of grooves 44.
At this point, while maintaining the first end 14b of the second chamber 10b in an elevated position (i.e., while maintaining the second chamber 10b at an approximate 45 degree angle with respect to the ground), the second chamber 10b may be selectively rotated horizontally about the male-function pin 36a of the first chamber 10a to arrange the second chamber 10b in a selected angular orientation relative to the first chamber 10a. That is, the second chamber 10b may be rotated until a desired angle is formed between the first chamber 10a and second chamber 10b (e.g., an angle between about zero degrees and about 15 degrees, where at zero degrees, the two connected chambers 10a, 10b are arranged in a straight line). This is possible because the locking pins 46b, 48b on the underside of the first end flange 16b of the second chamber 10b are not yet engaged with the corresponding arrays of grooves 44a in wells 40a, 42a of the first chamber 10a (due to the wells 40a, 42a being recessed with respect to the peripheral surface of the second end flange 20a). Thus, the first chamber 10a and second chamber 10b may be rotatably connected together. That is, the chambers may be connected together via female-function pin 34b and male-function pin 36a, with the second chamber 10b configured to rotate horizontally about the male-function pin 36a of the first chamber 10a.
When a selected angular orientation or angular offset of the second chamber 10b with respect to the first chamber 10a is achieved, the second end 14b of the second chamber 10b can be lowered to the ground. This movement causes the locking pins 46b, 48b of the second chamber 10b to engage with corresponding grooves 44a within wells 40a, 42a of the first chamber 10a. This interface inhibits and/or prevents additional relative rotational movement between the first and second chambers 10a, 10b, locking the chambers 10a, 10b in the selected orientation. In particular, any effort to rotate the second chamber 10b, such as when soil is dumped onto the first or second chamber during backfilling, will be inhibited by the locking pins 46b, 48b of the second chamber 10b contacting the gear teeth adjacent to the grooves 44a of the first chamber 10a, which prevents the chambers 10a, 10b from rotating about the male-function and female-function pin connection.
In embodiments of leaching chamber 10 shown in
In the embodiment shown in
In disclosed embodiments, the arrays of teeth within each well 40a, 42a may have a pitch or space between adjacent teeth (defining the grooves 44a) that corresponds to approximately 5 degrees of incremental angular offset between the connected chambers 10a, 10b. As a result, moving the locking pins 46b, 48b from engagement with a first pair of grooves 44a to an adjacent pair of grooves 44a may result in a plus or minus 5 degree rotation of the second chamber 10b with respect to the first chamber 10a (i.e., the angle between first chamber 10a and second chamber 10b changes by 5 degrees). Thus, once the second chamber 10b is rotated into the selected angular orientation (relative to first chamber 10a), the second end 14b of second chamber 10b may be pivoted (e.g., lowered toward the ground) so that locking pins 46b, 48b engage with the corresponding grooves 44a of the first chamber 10a. In an embodiment, the arrays of grooves 44a may be configured to allow for selective placement and locking of the second chamber 10b at an angle between about 0° and about 15°, at 5° lock position increments, with respect to the first chamber 10a.
While the arrays of grooves 44 and locking pins 46, 48 have been disclosed above as providing between 0° and 15° of swivel, it is not intended that the present disclosure be so limited in this regard. In particular, it is contemplated that the arrays of grooves 44 may have a larger or smaller arc length or diameter to provide for a range of potential angular orientations greater than or less than the range disclosed above. It is further envisioned that the arrays of grooves 44 and locking pins 46, 48 can be configured so that the angular orientation of the adjacent chambers can be adjusted in less than 5° increments, to provide an even finer degree over control over the leach field configuration. For example, it is contemplated that the pitch or space between adjacent grooves can be selected to provide an even finer degree of angular adjustment (that is, a greater number of lock positions).
Importantly, the engagement of the locking pins 46, 48 of one chamber (e.g., second chamber 10b) with the corresponding, complementary grooves 44 of the wells 40, 42 of an adjacent chamber (e.g., first chamber 10a) may inhibit or prevent relative rotational movement between the adjacent chambers, particularly during the machine backfilling process. This is in contrast to existing leaching chambers where tedious hand backfilling or screws have typically been necessary to prevent the chambers from being pushed out of the selected alignment during the burying process (as a result of soil from the loader pushing the chamber around its swivel features).
In addition to obviating the need for hand backfilling or screws to provide a locking mechanism of sorts, the configuration of the leaching chamber 10 of the present disclosure may allow for further adjustment of the angular orientation of the adjacent chambers at any point prior to burying. In particular, if the angular orientation needs to be adjusted after it is initially set, the second end 18b of the second chamber 10b can simply be lifted off the ground which, at a certain angle above the ground, will cause the locking pins 46b, 48b of second chamber 10b to disengage from the grooves 44a of first chamber 10a. With the male-function pin 36a of the first chamber 10a still engaged with the female-locking pin 34b of the second chamber 10b, the second chamber 10b is free to be rotated to a selected angular orientation. The second end 20b of the second chamber 10b can then again be pivoted, or lowered to the ground, to again cause the locking pins 46b, 48b of second chamber 10b to engage with the corresponding grooves 44a of first chamber 10a to lock the leaching chambers 10a, 10b in the selected orientation.
Once second chamber 10b is installed in the selected position with its second end flange 20b exposed, an additional leaching chamber (e.g., a third chamber, not pictured) may be similarly installed and connected to second chamber 10b. For example, a first end flange 16 of the third chamber may be placed over the second end flange 20b of the second chamber 10b; the third chamber may be rotated with respect to the second chamber 10b until a second selected angular orientation or angular offset is achieved between the chambers; and a second end 14 of the third chamber may be lowered so that locking pins 46, 48 of the third chamber may engage with corresponding grooves 44b within wells 40, 42 of the second chamber 10b. Additionally, or alternatively, a second end flange 20 of an additional leaching chamber (e.g., a third leaching chamber) may be similarly connected to the first end flange 16 of leaching chamber 10a. In some embodiments, the second selected angular orientation between the second and third chambers may be equal to or different from the first selected angular orientation between the first and second chambers. For example, the first and second selected angular orientations may be different to account for the topography of the ground beneath the leaching chambers. This process of connecting additional leaching chambers may be repeated to connect any suitable number of leaching chambers until a leaching field assembly of the desired size is achieved. Some or all of the leaching chambers in the field assembly may be substantially identical.
At step 708, method 700 may include pivoting the second leaching chamber to engage a first locking feature on the first end flange of the second leaching chamber with a corresponding second locking feature on the second end flange of the first leaching chamber. In some embodiments, pivoting in step 708 may include lowering the second end 20b of second chamber 10b to or towards the ground. Due to the engagement of the first and second locking features, the second leaching chamber may be locked in the selected angular orientation with respect to the first leaching chamber. In some embodiments, the first locking feature may include depending pins 46, 48 shown in
At optional step 710, method 700 may include connecting one or more additional leaching chambers to the first leaching chamber or second leaching chamber. Any desired number of additional chambers may be added to the array of connected chambers until a leaching field of the desired size is formed.
The embodiments of the present disclosure described herein therefore provide a variety of means of achieving an angular offset between adjacent leaching chambers of a leaching field, and for fixing the chambers at the selected offset without requiring some degree of hand labor backfilling prior to machine backfilling. This allows for a more streamlined installation process and is in contrast to existing systems where hand backfilling has typically been required to inhibit substantial movement of the chambers relative to one another due to the large force of soil on the chambers created during the machine backfilling process.
In some embodiments, chambers of the present disclosure may be made of polyethylene, polypropylene or other olefin thermoplastic and may be made by injection molding. Chambers may be made by other processes and of other materials as well, without departing from the broader aspects of the present disclosure. For example, a chamber may be made by thermal forming or rotational molding or it may be made by an assembly of welded parts.
The foregoing description has been presented for purposes of illustration. It is not exhaustive and is not limited to precise forms or embodiments disclosed. Modifications and adaptations of the embodiments will be apparent from consideration of the specification and practice of the disclosed embodiments. While certain components have been described as being coupled to one another, such components may be integrated with one another or distributed in any suitable fashion.
Although this disclosure has been shown and described with respect to the detailed embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of skill in the art that various changes may be made and that equivalents, modifications, omissions, combinations (e.g., of aspects across various embodiments), adaptations and/or alterations may be added to and/or substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the disclosure. The elements in the claims are to be interpreted broadly based on the language employed in the claims and not limited to examples described in the present specification or during the prosecution of the application, which examples are to be construed as nonexclusive. In addition, modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof. Further, the steps of the disclosed methods can be modified in any manner, including reordering steps and/or inserting or deleting steps. Therefore, it is intended that the scope of the appended claims not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed in the above detailed description, but that the scope of the appended claims will include all embodiments falling within the scope of this disclosure.
Other embodiments will be apparent from consideration of the specification and practice of the embodiments disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as example only, with a true scope and spirit of the disclosed embodiments being indicated by the following claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/352,344, filed on Jun. 15, 2022, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63352344 | Jun 2022 | US |
