Patent Application
20140373262
No cross reference is made to other applications.
No Federal Government support was received in the development of this Invention.
No sequence listing, table, or computer program is attached or accompanies this Application.
This invention relates to a drain closure for a vessel, and more particularly a drain closure incorporating a rising track within a pipe internal wall to direct track followers to effect opening and closure.
A bath or sink, herein “vessel”, is drained by a “drain closure” assembly. The upper portion of this assembly consists of a “stopper”, which is fastened to a “strainer” by a plurality of methods. The “strainer” itself is a flanged pipe that threads through a vessel drain hole into further pipes beneath the bath to direct drain water out of the “vessel” via the bottom perforation of this flanged pipe with further “linkage” to a drain pipe. Said linkage usually consists of an external thread on the outer wall of the strainer pipe threading into an internal thread of a fitting beneath the bath. The upper flange on the “strainer” cup rim pulls on the rim of the vessel drain hole to hold the fitting beneath the vessel tightly to the underside of the vessel. A plurality of seals for this juncture are encountered in the field. Common “drain closures” include rubber stoppers, spring loaded devices, and pin capture devices. Often “cross hairs”, a horizontal cross feature, is affixed to the interior of the strainer pipe.
In the early days of plumbed baths, a rubber stopper was used to retain water in a vessel. Since “stopper” implies a resistance fit, this terminology has evolved to “drain closure” to also include several categories of devices that effect closure with a sealing “gasket” that lies atop the “strainer” flange inside the vessel to effect closure. The “open” position of a drain closure must include a mechanism whereby, when in open position, the drain stays open in opposition to the force of the head of draining water within the vessel that naturally operates to close the drain and seal the gasket or similar seal.
More advanced stopper drain closures include Fairchild (U.S. Pat. No. 1,300,593: Apr. 15, 1919) and Leduc (U.S. Pat. No. 1,403,423: Jan. 10, 1922). These devices indicate a rudimentary initiative to include new convenient functionalities of a drain closure. Here, the plugs have features to prevent removal.
A number of patents describe assemblies including a spring to enable an easy transition from open position of the drain to closed position of the drain. Watts (U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,877: Jan. 26, 1988) patented the “push pull” drain which maintains an open position using a sprung ball bearing. The advantage of this design is that the fraction of the strainer volume occupied by the “stem” of the “push pull” is small and interferes less with drain flow when open. The disadvantage of small springs used is the eventual failure to maintain an open position against the head pressure of liquid being drained from the vessel.
Kivela (U.S. Pat. No. 2,915,762: Dec. 8, 1959) describes a device which makes use of a coil spring centered around the “stem” axis. Such an open spring device is easily fouled by hair and other debris. The spring longitudinal to the “stem” axis, when combined with a catch system, resulted in the evolution of two standard drain closures. The first is “pop up” using a large axial spring and a ballpoint pen clicker barrel, as in Petursson (U.S. Pat. No. 3,366,980: Feb. 6, 1968). The other is the unpatented “clicker” device which uses a planar track instead of the pen clicker barrel to maintain an open position in opposition to the head of draining liquid. Both of these devices occupy a large fraction of the volume within the “strainer”, potentially slowing liquid drainage from the vessel. All drain closures relying upon a spring have a limited functional life.
Hobbs (U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,397: Mar. 16, 1999) describes a device which avoids all springs and instead relies upon lifting and turning of the “stem” axis to capture a projecting pin. While this design avoids the shorter life span of springs and the volume occupied by sprung devices, it is delicate in that the user of a bath can ruin the device by simply standing upon it and breaking the pin.
Provision of a drain closure other than a simple resistance fit stopper reflects a number of objectives for a drain closure; namely,
(1) The closure must be able to be manipulated between a closed position and an open position.
(2) The open position of the drain closure must be able to withstand without closing the head pressure of the liquid being drained from the vessel.
(3) The drain closure must not occupy too great a volume of the strainer in order to not unduly impede drainage flow.
(4) Potential for fouling of the drain closure by hair and debris should be minimized.
(5) The drain closure must be robust.
(6) Manipulation must be ergonomically efficient.
Despite a range of drain closures being available for vessels such as baths and sinks, none of them satisfy all of these requirements.
Accordingly, it is an objection of this invention to at least partially overcome some of the disadvantages of the prior art.
In a preferred embodiment, the horizontal stopper is circular with a domed surface on the upper side. On the underside of the stopper is a mounting zone for an annular gasket seal as well as a pipe into which the stopper is inserted. Alternately, an o-ring may be mounted in a grove to effect close against the upper interior of the strainer pipe. Ergonomic features including knobs can be added to the dome surface to aid in rotation by hand or foot. The post itself has several features, one the vertical post equipped with a plurality of horizontal track followers issuing perpendicular to the post, two a thread or other fixture that secures the horizontal stopper by a plurality of means to the top end of the post, and three optional terminal features extending down from the bottom end of the post that effect remote actuation if required. The horizontal track followers are inserted into vertical tracks in the inner wall of the strainer pipe and lifted and rotated to clear a stop against counterclockwise motion. This strainer in turn threads through the perforation at the bottom of the vessel into a receiving fitting to drain the vessel liquid away. Optionally, a bolt can be threaded through the post center from the bottom and fixed with a plurality of means underneath the strainer to allow for remote actuation. Although simple, this assembly enables all six of the drainage functionalities to be realized; namely:
(1) The closure must be able to be manipulated to a closed position and an open position:
This is achieved through the application of horizontal torque on the circumference of the horizontal stopper to effect travel of the track followers clockwise up and counter clockwise down the track on the internal wall of the flanged pipe strainer.
(2) The open position of the drain closure must be able to withstand, without closing, the head pressure of the liquid draining from the vessel:
At the uppermost position of the internal track there are terminal resting features in which the projections from the upper stem part may rest and resist force to move it back down the internal track.
(3) The drain closure must not occupy too great a volume of the strainer in order to not unduly impede drainage flow: With no springs or crosshairs the diameter of the post of the tracking drain closure is small.
(4) Potential for fouling of the drain closure by hair and debris should be minimized: Easy removal of the tracking drain stopper allows for complete access for cleaning.
(5) The drain closure must be robust:
With no springs or pins this design is robust.
(6) Manipulation must be ergonomically efficient:
Application of rotational force on the outer rim of the stopper results in good torque owing to the distance between the outer rim and the stem axis, allowing for easy rotation.
In a preferred embodiment, the flanged strainer is first fed through the hole in the bottom of the vessel. The upper flange on the strainer allows the strainer to hang freely on the vessel interior. Underneath the vessel a sealing gasket is applied to the upper flange of a fitting into which the strainer threads for a waterproof attachment. The drain closure stopper is then introduced into the tracks on the internal wall of the strainer. Alternately, an existing strainer with a broken stopper can be used, wherein the old stopper is removed and a new tracking strainer affixed by a plurality of methods, including glue, to the old strainer, and the new stopper inserted into this new tracking strainer. In this repair case, no external thread is necessary on the external wall of the strainer.
Further aspects of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and drawings, which illustrate the invention and preferred embodiments of the invention.
In the drawings, which illustrate embodiments of the invention:
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