The system, device and method of the present invention relate to improving the safety of residential and commercial sewerage, drainage and water disposal systems. Hot and cold water have many residential and commercial uses, and water disposal systems and/or pipes are typically found in all residential and commercial houses and buildings.
Thus, the system, device, and method of the present invention improve the safety of the residential and commercial sewerage, drainage and water disposal systems of millions of households and commercial buildings.
The sewerage, drainage and water drainage systems may cause problems if left unattended for prolonged periods of time. If they get clogged or overfilled, such systems may cause water and sewage spills, such as in cases of sewer backup, which not only creates a water and/or sewage spill, causing damage, but is also unsanitary and potentially dangerous because sewage and drainage water may contain dangerous and harmful bacteria and other pathogens hazardous to human health and life. Organic materials in sewage decompose quickly, creating breeding grounds for bacteria and emitting odorous gases, which can also be harmful to people. Sewage poses a serious health risk to any people and animals living in the home, and sewage backups are, therefore, very dangerous. Cleaning up a sewage backup and water in the basement can be dangerous for these reasons, and can expose people to bacterial and other infections if they are not careful, making them sick.
Ordinary back water valves that exist for sewerage and water drainage systems are designed to close if the main sewer backs up. However, if the user is unaware of the problem, the water and waste will continue to be flushed into the line, creating a flood of sewage because there is no warning or alarm. Such back water valves often fail in the closed position, leaving the sewer line blocked off even if there is no stoppage, and for this reason such valves are not permitted in many jurisdictions.
What is needed is a system, device and method that can be used in residential and commercial sewerage, drainage and water disposal systems, improving the safety of these system by shutting them down if there is a backup or spill and notifying the owner of the problem.
One such device is described in nonprovisional patent application Ser. No. 17/670,564 (Martire), filed on Feb. 14, 2022, of which this application is a continuation in part and to which this application claims priority. The device is a combination of the Overflow Preventer patented in U.S. Pat. No. 10,718,531 (Martire) and U.S. Pat. No. 10,955,143 (Martire) and a modified cleanout plug that is in fluid communication with the Overflow Preventer. The device alerts the owner if there is a problem with water or sewer backup, and, in some embodiments, may shut off the flow of water to prevent further damage.
In an effort to further reduce the complexity and the costs of detecting problems in sewerage, drainage and water disposal systems, the present invention addresses the backup and overfill problem by using another solution, providing a system, device and method for notifying the owner of the leak, or alternatively shutting off water to stop the sewerage, drainage and water disposal systems water backup and alerting the owner of the backup of the system.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system, device and method to improve the safety of sewerage, drainage and water disposal systems. The present invention is very inexpensive to manufacture and easy to install by a qualified professional. It is a commercial and residential safety device for sewerage, drainage and water disposal systems. The present invention may be used for applications of varying scope, such as a single residential dwelling (small) to industrial applications such as a building or factory system (large).
The preferred embodiment is compact in size, inexpensive to manufacture and simple to install, providing maximum safety and economic benefit for a minimal investment of labor and materials. The system and device are easy to assemble, and the method is easy to follow according to the disclosure of the present application.
Many configurations may be used for the system, device and method of the present invention within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Although the examples and the preferred embodiments are shown primarily with sewerage, drainage and water disposal systems, the system, device and method of the present invention are equally applicable to other applications where fluid backup or overflow may be an issue. The anticipated service life of the embodiments of the present invention is at least five years.
A system, device and method to improve the safety of sewerage, drainage and water disposal systems of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
The smart trap is a sewer trap plug or cleanout plug as illustrated in
The cleanout plug 10 is cooperatively sized to fit into a cleanout aperture that is otherwise plugged by a common cleanout plug, also called a sewer cleanout cap. Such plugs or caps are typically installed in the street-side and house-side cleanout apertures of the main sewer trap. The size of such plugs or caps is typically 4 inches in diameter, but they can also be 3 inches or 6 inches, so cleanout plugs 10 may be sized appropriately and threaded as needed to be mounted into the cleanout aperture. The envisioned method of installation of this embodiment of the device and system of the present invention is into the house-side cleanout aperture, but the device and system of the present invention may also be installed on the street side.
Threading 17 is the standard and preferred installation method, but the cleanout plugs 10 may also be installed using snaps, latches, rails, friction installations, Luer Lock connection or another connection method known in the art.
With reference to
The cleanout plug 10 cooperates with a pair of electrical contacts, the first electrical contact 30 and the second electrical contact 40, which are magnetic. The magnetic electrical contacts 30 and 40 are preferably permanent magnets, but electromagnets could be used as well. The wiring 75 includes individual wires 55 and 65 that are electrically attached to the magnetic electrical contacts 30 and 40 respectively, preferably by soldered connections 35 as illustrated in
A layer of electrical insulating material, the insulator 20, is placed between the electrical contacts 30 and 40 and the interior top surface 15 of the cleanout plug 10. The cleanout plug 10 is preferably ferrous (pure iron or alloy containing iron), or another magnetic metal. Cast iron is most practical in this application and is the most commonly used type, other than PVC or plastic. Although the cleanout plug could be made of magnetic metal nickel, for example, that would be more costly. The insulator 20 should be held in place by the attraction force between the magnetic electrical contacts 30 and 40 and the cleanout plug 10, but the insulator 20 can also be held in place by adhesive, hook and loop, snaps, latches, or other suitable methods.
The insulator 20 is preferably a thin plate of solid insulator material such as plastic, PVC, polyethylene, or rubber. Other electrically insulating materials may also be used, such as a ceramic or porcelain plates, but they are more expensive and brittle than other electrical insulators. The shape and size of the insulator 20 is preferably selected to be substantially close to the interior diameter of the interior top surface 15 of the cleanout plug 10, so as to prevent significant movement of the insulator 20 from side to side. Other suitable shapes can be used for the insulator 20, such as a square shape that fits inside a circle of the interior top surface 15 in the cleanout plug 10 (i.e., the diagonal of the square insulator 20 would be less than the diameter of the circle that is the interior top surface 15).
An alternative embodiment illustrated in
Alternatively, the electrical contacts 30 and 40 may have a lip (not shown), larger in the diameter than the electrical contacts 30 and 40 themselves, and the insulator caps 92 may be made of flexible plastic or polyethylene so that they are worn on (shoehorned) around the lip and are held in place by the cooperating substantially horizontal flanges of the insulator caps 92 that extend towards the electrical contacts 30 and 40 from the substantially vertical wall and extend over the lip.
Yet another alternative embodiment may have no insulator 20 but rather use an electrically insulating coating or paint (not shown) on substantially the entire surface of the interior top surface 15. The coating or paint on the interior of the cleanout plug 10 would insulate the ferrous (magnetic) cleanout plug 10 from the electrical contacts 30 and 40, but paint or coating may wear out or chip over time, so it is not the preferred method of insulating the cleanout plug 10 from the electrical contacts 30 and 40.
Yet another alternative embodiment of the device might include a non-magnetic cleanout plug 10 (PVC or plastic), with a ferrous or magnetic plate (not shown) on top of the exterior top surface 12 of the cleanout plug 10 and strong magnetic electrical contacts 30 and 40 in the cleanout plug. Provided the top of the cleanout plug 10 is thin enough and the magnetic contacts are selected to be strong enough, the magnetic attraction will hold the magnetic electrical contacts 30 and 40 in place. In this embodiment, the insulator plate 20 would not be required because the non-magnetic cleanout plug 10 is made from an insulating material and would not short the magnetic electrical contacts 30 and 40.
In all of the embodiments an alternative embodiments above, a vertical wall (not shown) separating the magnetic electrical contacts 30 and 40 could be built into the cleanout plug 10 or the insulator plate 20 to prevent the drifting of the magnetic electrical contacts 30 and 40 close to each other to erroneously close of the electrical circuit (false positive).
With reference to
In an embodiment with or without a grommet 85, there could be an optional aperture 95 in the top of the cleanout plug 10 (between the exterior top surface 12 and the interior top surface 15). Such aperture 95 is illustrated in
The wiring 75 is preferably insulated wiring, containing the individual wires 55 and 65, which may be individually insulated, but at least one of which must be insulated from the other.
With reference to
The electrical connections to and from the terminal block 180 are illustrated in
The entire electrical circuit, including smart trap, alarm, and water valve shut off is illustrated in
In this and all of the described embodiments, the smart trap device (cleanout plug 10 with its connected elements) connected with a relay 390 as illustrated in
The device and system of the present invention operate on the principle that the fluid is not coming from above, but it is coming from below, through the cleanout plug 10. In operation of the sewerage, drainage and water disposal overflow preventer, an alarm via the alarm module 100 is activated once the water reaches an unsafe level, causing the cleanout plug 10 of the device to fill with fluid (i.e., water or sewage) up to the electrical connectors 30 and 40 disposed on the interior top surface 15 of the cleanout plug 10, with the insulator plate 20 located between the electrical connectors and the interior top surface 15. The water and sewage closes the electrical connection between the magnetic electrical connectors 30 and 40, sending an electrical signal to the alarm module 100 via the electrical wiring 75.
The device sends a message to shut off the main water supply so that the backup is not made worse by use of the showers, toilets, sinks, washing machines, or dishwashers and/or triggers an alarm at the same time. It should be noted that the order of these functions is interchangeable as desired (i.e., the alarm may be activated first and the water shut off second, after a pre-programmed delay for example, or the water may be shut off first and the alarm activated second). However, in the preferred embodiment, the alarm and the water shut off are done at the same time, i.e., simultaneously, to prevent water/sewage overflow and the resulting damage and hazardous conditions.
As illustrated in
The warning light and/or sound is used to alert the owners to the problem with fluid/sewage overflow, before or contemporaneously with shutting off the main water supply. The lamp or light 140 is preferably an LED or fiber optic light, and the audio alarm or buzzer 150 is preferably a speaker or piezo- or electric buzzer or other sound emitter. They are preferably built into the alarm module housing 110 of the present invention, together with control electronics and wiring to activate them, and an interior or exterior power source to power them, which is preferably a power supply that plugs into an electrical outlet and provides 24 V power through the power cord 120 and may optionally include a replaceable or rechargeable backup battery.
The electrical connections to and from the terminal block 180 are illustrated in
Although not necessary to the operation of the system and device of the present invention, to improve the safety of sewerage, drainage and water disposal systems, the system and device may include electrical and/or electronic control and/or monitoring circuits and mechanisms, monitoring the water/sewerage flow through the pipe, using various optical, electrical, mechanical, and other sensors positions in or about the system and device.
This device and system can detect the water or sewerage backing up before the damage is done, shut off the water to immediately stop the backup, and notify the owner of the problem, avoiding a very messy, unsanitary, and hazardous issue.
The alarm housing 110 and the alarm module 100 perform other functions, such as activating a visual or sound alarm, or by initiating a landline or cellular telephone call, email or text message to the owner, possibly over the Wi-Fi home network.
In an alternative embodiment, the system and device may include a controller or a programmable controller to further improve the efficiency of the system and device of the present invention. Such a controller may include a number of programs and/or settings that take into consideration the communications and warnings/alarms to the operator or owner via the alarm module or other communication means such as telephone or Wi-Fi. The controller may be an independent computer, a chip-based controller, or a different controller known in the art.
These configurations will enable the system and device disclosed in the specification of the present invention to improve the safety of the sewerage, drainage and water disposal systems.
Anyone can use the system and device of the present invention to improve the safety of sewerage, drainage and water disposal systems, providing additional safety, cost savings, and other benefits of safer, more efficient operation. The dimensioning and sizing of the system and device of the present invention to improve the safety of such systems, may be easily determined by those skilled in the art, but the applicant envisions that the system and device may be made with varying sizes, height/length, width/diameter, and other parameters.
While the system and device to improve the safety of as sewerage, drainage and water disposal systems, of the present invention have been shown and described in accordance with the preferred and practical embodiments thereof, it is recognized that departures from the instant disclosure are contemplated within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the true scope of the invention should not be limited by the abovementioned description of the preferred embodiments since other modifications may become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a study of the drawings, description, explanations, and specifications herein. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the principles described herein can be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention and the subject matter of the present invention.
This patent application is a continuation in part of nonprovisional patent application Ser. No. 17/670,564 (Martire), filed on Feb. 14, 2022, the disclosure of which and all preceding applications is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. This invention was not made pursuant to any federally-sponsored research and/or development.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 16032116 | Jul 2018 | US |
Child | 17207630 | US | |
Parent | 15271061 | Sep 2016 | US |
Child | 16032116 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 17670564 | Feb 2022 | US |
Child | 18238253 | US | |
Parent | 17207630 | Mar 2021 | US |
Child | 17670564 | US |