Patent Application
20180094960
Where services such as gas, electricity or water are supplied to a budding or other geographic area, meters and associated systems are commonly installed to measure utility usage. The meters are typically located in cases to protect them from weather and/or tampering. The meters are sometimes located inside of or beneath buildings. Meters may also be located in exterior meter boxes. In many locations it is desirable to position water meters outside of the structure to which water is being provided. Thus, the water meter is often positioned in a location where the meter cannot be damaged by inadvertently striking or otherwise deforming the meter. It is therefore customary to position the water meter below ground level. By positioning the water meter below ground level, in the situation where the water meter is utilized to measure the amount of water provided to a structure or area, the water meter can be positioned below the freezing level of the ground. The bottom of the water meter box may be left open so that water leaking from the water meter can pass into and be absorbed by the soil beneath and around the meter. Water meter boxes must be made sufficiently strong to withstand the pressure of the surrounding soil.
A modular water meter box is disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a water meter box for protecting a water meter disposed below ground includes a first side part, a second side part, a first end part, and a second end part. A first end of the first side part is detachably connectable to a second end of the first end part. A second end of the first side part is detachably connectable to a first end of the second end part. A second end of the second side part is detachably connectable to a first end of the first end part. A first end of the second side part is detachably connectable to a second end of the second end part. Each of the first side part, second side part, first end part, and second end part comprises a port for passing a pipe between an exterior and an interior of the water meter box.
In another embodiment, a water meter box side module includes a first end, a second end, a top side, and a bottom side. The first end is configured for detachable connection to a first different box side module. The second end is configured for detachable connection to a second different box side module. The bottom side is thicker than the top side.
In a further embodiment, a water meter box includes a plurality of side modules. Each of the side modules engages two other of the side modules via locking tabs and locking apertures of the side modules. Each of the side modules includes a first end, a second end, a top side, a bottom side, and a wall extending from the first end to the second end and from the top side to the bottom side. The first end includes a plurality of locking tabs extending axially from an end wall surface. Each of the locking tabs includes a base portion and a hook portion. The base portion extends axially from the end wall surface. The hook portion extends normally from the base portion. The hook portion includes a locking notch in side of the hook portion nearest the end wall surface. The second end includes a plurality of apertures and a plurality of locking projections. The apertures extend through the side module with spacing corresponding to the locking tabs. Each of the locking protrusions corresponds to one the apertures, and is configured to engage a locking tab of one of the two other of the side modules. The bottom side is thicker than the top side. The wall includes horizontal ridges, horizontal ribs, vertical ribs, and a mounting groove. One of the horizontal ribs extends from an exterior apex of each of the horizontal ridges along an entire length of the apex. The vertical ribs extend along an entire height of the side module. The mounting groove is to retain a wireless communication system in an interior surface of the wall.
For a detailed description of exemplary embodiments, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, in which:
In the following discussion and in the claims, the terms “including” and “comprising” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to . . . ”. Any use of any form of the terms “connect,” “engage,” “couple,” “attach,” or any other term describing an interaction between elements is intended to mean either an indirect or a direct interaction between the elements described. The recitation “based on” is intended to mean “based at least in part on.” Therefore, if X is based on Y, X may be based on Y and any number of additional factors.
When introducing elements of various embodiments of the present invention, the articles “a,” “an,” “the,” and “said” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. In addition, as used herein, the terms “axial” and “axially” generally mean along or parallel to a central axis (e.g., central axis of a body or a port), while the terms “radial” and “radially” generally mean perpendicular to the central axis. For instance, an axial distance refers to a distance measured along or parallel to the central axis, and a radial distance means a distance measured perpendicular to the central axis. The use of “top,” “bottom,” “above,” “below,” and variations of these terms is made for convenience, but does not require any particular orientation of the components.
In the drawings and description of the present disclosure, like parts are typically marked throughout the specification and drawings with the same reference numerals. The drawing figures are not necessarily to scale. Certain features of the invention may be shown exaggerated in scale or in somewhat schematic form, and some details of conventional elements may not be shown in the interest of clarity and conciseness. The present disclosure is susceptible to embodiments of different forms. Specific embodiments are described in detail and are shown in the drawings, with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the principles of the disclosure, and is not intended to limit the disclosure to that illustrated and described herein. It is to be fully recognized that the different teachings and components of the embodiments discussed below may be employed separately or in any suitable combination to produce desired results.
A substantial portion of the cost of a water meter box results from the cost of shipping the water meter box from the location of manufacture to the location of installation, and storage of the water meter box prior to installation. Conventional water meter boxes are manufactured as unitary structures having of an outer wall surrounding an open interior. Unfortunately, such a configuration is space inefficient, and therefore relatively costly, to ship and store because of the space wasted by the open interior of the box. The water meter box disclosed herein may also be substantially lighter than conventional water meter boxes to further reduce shipping costs. For example, some conventional water meter boxes are made of concrete, while the modular water meter box disclosed herein is formed of a polymer, such as polypropylene, and therefore may be only a fraction of the weight of a conventional concrete meter box.
Because the size of the water meter box needed for any particular application can vary widely, conventional water meter boxes are manufactured in a variety of sizes. For example, a smaller water meter box may be needed to house a single water meter, and a larger water meter box may be needed to house multiple co-located water meters. Shipping and storage of conventional water meter boxes of different sizes may increase the costs associated with the box.
Embodiments of the water meter box disclosed herein are of modular construction. Accordingly, the water meter box of the present disclosure may be shipped and stored as pieces that occupy substantially less space than conventional water meter boxes, and may therefore be substantially less costly to ship and store than conventional water meter boxes. For example, the water meter box side modules disclosed herein may be stackable to effectively allow many more (e.g., 3 times more) water meter boxes to be shipped and stored per pallet than is possible with conventional water meter boxes. Additionally, the modular construction of the water meter boxes disclosed herein allows for assembly of multiple sizes of the water meter box while storing only a few sizes of meter side modules. For example, three different sizes of the water meter box can be produced from two sizes of the water meter box side modules. As a result, the modular water meter box further promotes efficiency in shipping and storage by reducing the number of components that must be shipped and stored to support different meter box sizes.
The side modules 102 and 104 may be shipped and/or stored separately, and interlocked to form the water meter box 100 at an installation site or at an installation staging site, thereby reducing the shipping and storage volume of the water meter 100, and correspondingly reducing the cost associated with shipping and storage of the water meter box 100. Because the side modules 102 and 104 are interlocked to form the water meter box 100, water meter boxes 100 of three different sizes may be constructed using the side modules 102 and 104. For example, four side modules 104 may be interlocked to form a small water meter box 100, two side modules 102 may be interlocked with two side modules 104 to form a medium water meter box 100, or four side modules 102 may be interlocked to form a large water meter box 100. The side modules 102, 104 may be provided with any dimensions needed to form a suitable water meter box 100. Various additional features of the water meter box 100 and the side modules 102, 104 are described herein.
The side modules 102 and 104 may be interlocked by any of a variety of fastening methods. Interlocking via tabs and slots of each side module is described herein with respect to some embodiments. Other embodiments may be interlocked using screws, bolts, pins, knuckles of the side modules 102/104 and bolts or pins similar to those used in hinges, adhesives, or other fasteners.
Referring now to
As a result of the right trapezoidal shape of the side modules 102, 104, the base of the water meter box 100 is wider than the top of the water meter box 100 as can be best seen in
As shown in
The side module 102 includes a port 428 that allows piping (i.e., one or more water pipes) to pass into or out of the water meter box 100 through the side module 102. The port 428 may provide selectable sizing to accommodate various diameters of piping. For example, the port 428 may include scoring that allows various amounts of material of the wall 430 to be removed from the side module 102 as needed to provide adequate clearance for specific piping. The port 428 may include concentric knock-outs of increasing diameter, where knock-outs are pre-scored sections of wall material that are removable at installation time as needed.
Water meter flow measurements may be wireless communicated to a reader via a wireless communication system coupled to the water meter. Referring to
The above discussion is meant to be illustrative of various principles and embodiments of the present disclosure. While certain embodiments have been shown and described, modifications thereof can be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and teachings of the disclosure. The embodiments described herein are exemplary only, and are not limiting. Accordingly, the scope of protection is not limited by the description set out above, but is only limited by the claims which follow, that scope including all equivalents of the subject matter of the claims.
