Patent Application
20210340746
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.
Certain variations of the present invention provide a sink strainer basket comprising an odor prevention arrangement wherein the drain regulator is arranged to automatically open when a predetermined amount of sewage flows into a sink in which the sink strainer basket is installed.
In one aspect of the present invention, it provides a sink strainer basket for a sink having a sink drainage hole, 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 movably provided on a bottom side of the strainer body to normally close the drainage opening; and
a supporting member supported by the strainer body; and
a resilient member mounted on the supporting member and arranged to exert a biasing force toward the drain regulator so as to normally drive the drain regulator to close the drainage opening, wherein when a predetermined amount of sewage is allowed to pour into the drainage cavity, the biasing force exerted by the resilient member is temporarily overcome by the force caused by flowing of the sewage so that the drain regulator is arranged to move away from the drainage opening for allowing the sewage to drain into the sink drainage hole.
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.
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.
It should be appreciated that the terms “install”, “connect”, “couple”, and “mount” in the following description refer to the connecting relationship in the accompanying drawings for easy understanding of the present invention. For example, the connection can refer to permanent connection or detachable connection. Furthermore, “connected” may also mean direct connection or indirect connection, or connection through other auxiliary components. Therefore, the above terms should not be an actual connection limitation of the elements of the present invention.
It should be appreciated that the terms “length”, “width”, “top”, “bottom”, “front”, “rear”, “left”, “right”, vertical“, “horizontal”, “upper”, “lower”, “exterior”, and “interior” in the following description refer to the orientation or positioning relationship in the accompanying drawings for easy understanding of the present invention without limiting the actual location or orientation of the present invention. Therefore, the above terms should not be an actual location limitation of the elements of the present invention.
It should be appreciated that the terms “first”, “second”, “one”, “a”, and “an” in the following description refer to “at least one” or “one or more” in the embodiment. In particular, the term “a” in one embodiment may refer to “one” while in another embodiment may refer to “more than one”. Therefore, the above terms should not be an actual numerical limitation of the elements of the present invention.
Referring to
The strainer body 10 may have a drainage cavity 11 and at least one drainage opening 12 communicating with the drainage cavity 11.
The odor prevention arrangement 20 may comprise a drain regulator 3, a supporting member 2 and a resilient member 4. The drain regulator 3 may be movably provided on a bottom side 161 of a bottom panel 16 of the strainer body 10 to normally close the drainage opening 12. The supporting member 2 may be supported by the strainer body 10.
The resilient member 4 may be mounted on the supporting member 2 and arranged to exert a biasing force toward the drain regulator 3 so as to drive the drain regulator 3 to normally close the drainage opening 12, wherein when a predetermined amount of sewage is allowed to pour into the drainage cavity 11, the biasing force exerted by the resilient member 4 may be temporarily overcome by the force caused by flowing of the sewage so that the drain regulator 3 is arranged to move away from the drainage opening 12 for allowing the sewage to drain into the sink drainage hole 301.
According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the strainer body 10 may be configured from metallic material such as stainless steel. It may also be configured from plastic material. The strainer body 10 may have an annular cross-sectional shape when viewed from the top. As shown in
The strainer body 10 may have a plurality of drainage openings 12 distributed thereon, wherein each drainage openings 12 may communicate the drainage cavity 11 with the sink drainage hole 301 of the sink 30. When sewage is poured in the drainage cavity 11, the sewage may be allowed to pass through the drainage openings 12 when the drain regulator 3 is not blocking the drainage openings 12. Each of the drainage openings 12 may have an elongated cross-sectional shape when viewed from the top and may radially extend from the center portion of the strainer body 10.
The strainer body 10 may further comprise a handle 14 upwardly extended from an upper side 162 of the bottom panel 16 of the strainer body 10 for allowing a user to grab thereon. The handle 14 may have a cylindrical or tubular structure upwardly extended from the center portion of the strainer body 10 in the drainage cavity 11.
The odor prevention arrangement 20 may be utilized for normally blocking the sink drainage hole 301 so that undesirable odor is prevented from spreading over the indoor space in which the sink 30 is located.
The drain regulator 3 may have a cross sectional shape which corresponds to a cross-sectional shape of the main portion 15 of the strainer body 10 so that the drain regulator 3 may be moved to block all of the drainage openings 12. For example, the drain regulator 3 may also have a circular cross-sectional shape.
The supporting member 2 may have a tubular structure and may extend downwardly from the bottom side 161 of the bottom panel 16 of the strainer body 10. For the sake of easy manufacturing, the supporting member 2 may be integrally extended from the handle 14 as shown in
The resilient member 4 may have a mounting portion 41 and a plurality of resilient legs 42 outwardly extended from the mounting portion 41 for biasing against a bottom side 161 of the bottom panel 16 of the strainer body 10. In addition, the resilient member 4 may have a through mounting slot 43 formed on the mounting portion 41, wherein the supporting member 2 may penetrate through the mounting slot 43 so as to couple with the resilient member 4.
Each of the resilient legs 42 may be slightly bent to have a curved or inclined contour when viewed from the side (see
When the resilient member 4 is mounted on the supporting member 2, each of the supporting legs 42 may possess a predetermined resilient ability for exerting an upward pushing force toward the drain regulator 3. In this preferred embodiment, the drain regulator 3 may movably couple to the supporting member 2 in such a manner that the drain regulator 3 may move along a longitudinal direction of the supporting member 2. However, this movement may be controlled or limited by the upward pushing force exerted by the resilient legs 42.
Note that the number of resilient legs 42 maty vary depending on the circumstances in which the present invention is manufactured or used. Some exemplary configurations may be illustrated in
As another example, as shown in
The odor prevention arrangement 20 may further comprise a locking member 5 securely mounted on a bottom end portion 21 of the supporting member 21, wherein the mounting portion 41 of the resilient member 4 may be mounted on the supporting member 2 at a position between the drain regulator 3 and the locking member 5. Specifically, as shown in
The operation of the present invention is as follows: under normal condition, the resilient legs 42 of the resilient member 4 may be arranged to bias against the drain regulator 3 so as to exert an upward urging force thereto. The drain regulator 3 may be forced to cover the drainage openings 12. When tap water flows into the sink 30 (for dish washing purpose for example), sewage may eventually flow through drainage cavity 11 and the drainage openings 12. The flow of sewage creates a pressure on the drain regulator 3 which may overcome the resilient force exerting on the other side of the drain regulator 3. When this happens, the drain regulator 3 may be pushed to move downwardly along the a longitudinal direction of the supporting member 2 in the sink drainage hole 301 so as to unblock the drainage openings 12 and the sewage may be allowed to pass through the clearance formed between the drain regulator 3 and the strainer body 10, as shown in
When sewage stops flowing through the sink strainer basket, the pressure exerted by the flowing sewage ceases to exist and the drain regulator 3 may be pushed by the resilient member 4 and move upwardly along a longitudinal direction of the supporting member 2 so as to return to its normal position, that is, to substantially cover the drainage openings 12 of the strainer body 10. This prevent undesirable odor from spreading to the indoor space in which the sink 30 and the sink strainer basket is located.
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.
