Patent Application
20200173154
The present invention relates to a sink accessory, and more particularly to a sink strainer basket comprising an odor prevention arrangement which is capable of minimizing odor when a drain regulator is closed, and allowing drainage of sewage when the drain regulator is opened.
A sink strainer basket for a kitchen sink plays a vital role in indoor hygienic environment of households in modern times, even though it is a small device. Generally, the sink strainer basket with water-excreting and sealing functions are available in market, but consumers need to seal off manually to stop odor by themselves. If forget to seal off, odor may come out from the sewage pipe and contaminate the air inside of the house. This may cause harm to people's health.
In light of the above, there is a need to develop a sink strainer basket which may prevent or minimize odor automatically after draining of sewage.
Certain variations of the present invention provide a sink strainer basket comprising an odor prevention arrangement which is capable of minimizing odor when a drain regulator is closed, and allowing drainage of sewage when the drain regulator is opened.
In one aspect of the present invention, it provides a sink strainer basket, comprising:
a strainer body having a drainage cavity and a drainage opening communicating with the drainage cavity; and
an odor prevention arrangement, which comprises:
a drain regulator provided on the strainer body to fully occupy the drainage opening, the drain regulator comprising a main drainer body having a sewage passageway, and a blocking assembly movably mounted on the main drainer body to normally close the sewage passageway; and
a filtration handle extended from the drain regulator to be supported in the drainage cavity, the filtration handle having a central cavity and at least one filtration hole communicating with the central cavity, wherein when liquid and larger items are drained in the sink strainer basket, the larger items are filtered by the filtration handle, while the liquid is allowed to pass through the filtration hole and the central cavity to push the blocking assembly to open for draining of the liquid through the sewage passageway.
This summary presented above is provided merely to introduce certain concepts and not to identify any key or essential features of the claimed subject matter.
Please be noticed that, the terms described in implementation method, such as “On”, “Under”, “Front”, “Back”, “Left”, “Right”, “Vertical”, “Horizontal”, “Top”,
“Bottom”, “Inside”, “Outside”, “Clockwise”, “Counter clockwise” which represent directions or positions, are based on the direction or position relationships of the figures. The terms are used to make it easier to describe the instant invention and simplify the description. The terms are not indicating or implying that the involved devices or components must have specific orientation, or they must be constructed or operated with specific orientations, hence the terms should not be considered as restrictions of the present invention. The figures are schematic or concept diagram, the relationship between thickness and width and proportional relation of all parts are not fully consistent with the actual values.
The following detailed description of the preferred embodiment is the preferred mode of carrying out the invention. The description is not to be taken in any limiting sense. It is presented for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the present invention.
Referring to
The strainer body 1 may have a drainage cavity 101 and a drainage opening 2 communicating with the drainage cavity 101.
The odor prevention arrangement 20 may comprise a drain regulator 3 and a filtration handle 5. The drain regulator 3 may be provided on the strainer body 1 to fully occupy the drainage opening 2. The drain regulator 3 may comprise a main drainer body 31 having a sewage passageway 311, and a blocking assembly 60 movably mounted on the main drainer body 31 to normally close the sewage passageway 311.
The filtration handle 5 may extend from the drain regulator 3 to be supported in the drainage cavity 101. The filtration handle 5 may have a central cavity 51 and at least one filtration hole 4 communicating with the central cavity 51. When liquid and larger items are drained in the sink strainer basket, the larger items are filtered by the filtration handle 5, while the liquid is allowed to pass through the filtration hole 4 and the central cavity 51 to push the blocking assembly 60 to open for draining of the liquid through the sewage passageway 311.
According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the strainer body 1 may have an upper enlarged portion 103, a lower contracted portion 104 extended from the upper enlarged portion 103, and a top rim portion 105 outwardly extended from the upper enlarged portion 103. Each of the top rim portion 105, the upper enlarged portion 103 and the lower contracted portion 104 may have a circular cross sectional shape when viewed from the top. An outer diameter of the top rim portion 105 may be greater than that of the upper enlarged portion 103. The outer diameter of the upper enlarged portion 103 may be greater than that of the lower contracted portion 104. The strainer body 1 may be made of metallic material, such as stainless steel.
When in use, the upper enlarged portion 103 of the strainer body 1 may be disposed in the sink drainage hole 31 while the top rim portion 105 may bias against a bottom surface of the sink 30. The drainage opening 2 of the strainer body 1 may be formed on the lower contracted portion 104 for communicating the drainage cavity 101 with the drain regulator 3 of the odor prevention arrangement 20.
The main drainer body 31 of the drain regulator 3 may comprise a mounting body 312, a sewage discharge body 313 downwardly extended from the mounting body 312, and a plurality of connecting legs 314 downwardly extended from the mounting body 312. As shown in
The mounting body 312 may be supported in the drainage opening 2 of the strainer body 1, while the connecting legs 314 may downwardly extend from the mounting body 312 for pivotally connecting to the blocking assembly 60. As such, sewage may flow from the drainage cavity 101 to the mounting cavity 3123.
The sewage discharge body 313 may have a through passageway formed as the sewage passageway 311 of the drain regulator 3. Thus, this through passageway formed as the sewage passageway 311 may communicate with the mounting cavity 3123 so that sewage may flow from the drainage cavity 101 to the mounting cavity 3123 and eventually reach the sewage passageway 311. Accordingly, the mounting body 312 may have a sewage opening 3124 formed on the supporting platform 3121, wherein the sewage opening 3124 may align with the sewage passageway 311 so that the sewage opening 3124 may be formed as a starting point of the sewage passageway 311 of the drain regulator 3. Likewise, the sewage discharge body 313 may have a through discharge opening 3126 aligning with the sewage passageway 311 so that the discharge opening 3126 may be formed as an end point of the sewage passageway 311 of the drain regulator 3.
In this preferred embodiment, each of the supporting platform 3121 and the mounting rim portion 3122 may have a circular cross-sectional shape when viewed from the top. An outer diameter of the mounting rim portion 3122 may correspond to an inner diameter of the drainage opening 2 so that the mounting body 312 may be securely and fittedly connected to the inner sidewall of the drainage opening 2. Sewage from the drainage cavity 101 may be fully guided to pass through the mounting cavity 3123 and eventually reach the sewage passageway 311. No liquid leakage will be observed between the mounting body 312 and the strainer body 1.
The main drainer body 31 may further comprise a plurality of engagement members 315 formed on an inner circumferential surface 3125 of the mounting rim portion 3122 of the mounting body 312 for connecting to the filtration handle 5 (described below). The engagement members 315 may be configured as latches or threading rims for connecting to the filtration handle 5.
The blocking assembly 60 may comprise a pivotal axle 7 having two ends connected to the connecting legs 314 of the main drainer body 31 respectively, a sealing panel 6 extended from the pivotal axle 7 to normally close the discharge opening 3126 and the sewage passageway 311, and a weight member 61 also extended from the pivotal axle 7 but at an opposite direction to the sealing panel 6.
Referring to
It is worth mentioning that in order to allow the weight of the weight member 61 to be greater than that of the sealing panel 6, a number of configurations or methods may be utilized. For example, the weight member 61 may be made of a material which is heavier than that of the sealing panel 6. In this embodiment, however, the pivotal axle 7, the sealing panel 6 and the weight member 61 may form an integral structure and made by plastic material. The weight member 61 may comprise a housing 611 having a receiving compartment 6111, and a weight 612 disposed in the receiving compartment 6111 for increasing the overall weight of the weight member 61, as shown in
Referring to
Specifically, each of the filtration holes 4 may be elongated in shape and extend along a longitudinal direction of the filtration handle 5. Moreover, the filtration handle 5 may have an upper grabbing portion 53 and an exit opening 54 formed on two ends of the filtration handle 5 respectively. The exit opening 54 may communicate with the mounting cavity 3123 of the mounting body 312. The exit opening 54 may be formed on a transverse plane of the filtration handle 5.
The filtration handle 5 may further has a bottom coupling portion 55 circumferentially formed adjacent to the exit opening 54, and a plurality of locking members 56 outwardly extended from the bottom coupling portion 55. The bottom coupling portion 55 may have a diameter corresponding to that of the mounting cavity 3123 so that the bottom coupling portion 55 may be arranged to engage with the mounting rim portion 3122 of the mounting body 312 in such a manner that the locking members 56 may interlock with the engagement members 315.
Thus, the filtration handle 5 may rotatably engage with the mounting body 312 by rotatably engaging the bottom coupling portion 55 with the mounting rim portion 3122. When the filtration handle 5 is rotated such that the locking members 56 interlocks with the engagement members 315, the filtration handle 5 is locked with respect to the main drainer body 31. When a user wishes to detach the filtration handle 5 from the main drainer body 31, he or she simply needs to rotate the filtration handle 5 in an opposite direction until the locking members 56 disengage from the engagement members 315. After that, the user may detach the filtration handle 5 from the main drainer body 31 for cleaning or other purposes.
The sink strainer basket may further comprise a filtering panel 40 mounted to the filtration handle 5 at a position above the bottom coupling portion 55 for further filtering larger items from kitchen or bathroom sewage. The filtering panel 40 may have a plurality of through slots 41 formed thereon for allowing liquid to pass from a top side of the filtering panel 40 to the other side while stopping larger items, such as food items 13, from passing through the filtering panel 40.
In this preferred embodiment of the present invention, the filtering panel 40 may have a circular cross-sectional shape when viewed from the top wherein the through slots 41 may extend along a radial direction of the filtering panel 40. Moreover, the filtering panel 40 may have a main portion 42 and an edge portion 43 upwardly extended from the main portion 42. The edge portion 43 may prevent larger items from reaching the main drainer body 31 through a gap formed between the filtering panel 40 and the upper enlarged portion 103 of the strainer body 1.
The operation of the present invention is as follows: the sink strainer basket of the present invention is normally placed in the sink drainage hole 31 of a sink 30, with the filtration handle 5 engaging with the mounting body 312 of the main drainer body 31. Normally, as mentioned earlier, the sealing panel 6 is pivotally actuated to seal or cover the discharge opening 3126 so that odor from the bathroom or the kitchen sewage pipe may be prevented from spreading to the indoor space through the sink drainage hole 31.
When sewage and/or larger items such as food items 13 are poured in the sink 30, larger food items 13 may be filtered by the filtration holes 4 of the filtration handle 5 and the through slots 41 of the filtering panel 40. The result is that the larger items may be trapped on the filtering panel 40. On the other hand, sewage or liquid not filtered by the filtration handle 5 and the filtering panel 40 may pass through the filtration holes 4 and the through slots 41 and reach the mounting cavity 3123. The inherent flow rate of the sewage plus the density thereof overcome the weight of the weight member 61 and open the sealing panel 6. Once the sealing panel 6 has opened, the sewage or the liquid may flow through the sewage passageway 311 and the discharge opening 3126. The sewage or the liquid may then be discharged to the sewage pipe through the sink drainage hole 31.
After use, the flow of sewage or liquid ceases to exert force to the sealing panel 6 and the sealing panel 6 may be closed again in a manner described above (referred to as the normal circumstances above). A user may also detach the filtration handle 5 from the main drainer body 31 by grabbing the grabbing portion 53 and turn the filtration handle 5 until the locking members 56 disengage from the engagement members 315. After that, the user may detach the filtration handle 5 from the main drainer body 31 for cleaning or other purposes. After cleaning, the user may attach the filtration handle 5 back to the main drainer body 31 by engaging the filtration handle 5 to the main drainer body 31. The engagement may be accomplished by turning the filtration handle 5 until the locking members 56 interlocks with the engagement members 315.
From the forgoing descriptions, one skilled in the art would appreciate that through the use of the present invention, odor is prevented from entering the indoor space automatically, since the sink strainer basket has no other hole except the discharge opening 3126, which may be normally sealed by the sealing panel 6. Therefore, the filtration holes 4 are the only outlets for sewage to escape the sink strainer basket.
Furthermore, the strainer body 1, the filtration handle 5, and the drain regulator 3 may be tightly connected to form a whole set, and this whole set may be removed from the sink 30, cleaned, and reinstalled back to the sink 30.
Moreover, as several alternatives, the pivotal movement of the sealing panel 6 may also be accomplished by a spring, a floating ball, or a magnetic.
Compared conventional arts, the present invention has the following advantages:
The sealing panel 6 may be opened when sewage or other liquid is poured into the sink strainer basket. The sealing panel 6 may automatically close when sewage or liquid stop running through the sink strainer basket. This prevents drainage odor from leaking out to open space. The present invention is designed with simple structures and tight sealing, which addresses the problem for traditional sink strainer baskets which are capable of draining sewage but not automatically preventing drainage odor.
Moreover, the filtration handle 5 and the drain regulator 3 may be selectively engaged with each other. When engaged, they may form an integral structure. When detached, the filtration handle 5 may be individually cleaned or replaced. The sink strainer basket of the present invention may be freely inserted into the drainage hole 301 of the sink 30, or detached for cleaning or replacement purpose. The sink strainer basket does not permanently attach to any sink 30 or other drainage devices.
The present invention, while illustrated and described in terms of a preferred embodiment and several alternatives, is not limited to the particular description contained in this specification. Additional alternative or equivalent components could also be used to practice the present invention.
