Patent Application
20170350099
The disclosure relates to plumbing devices and more particularly pertains to a new plumbing device for inhibiting debris from entering an underground valve box.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a valve box that may be buried in ground. Thus, an underground plumbing fitting may be housed within the valve box. A lid is removably positioned on the valve box and the lid is positioned to close the top side. A shield is removably positioned within the valve box. The shield inhibits debris from entering the valve box when the valve box is buried. Thus, the shield inhibits the underground plumbing fitting from being covered by the debris.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The valve box 12 may comprise an underground valve box of any conventional design. The underground plumbing fitting 22 may comprise a sprinkler system valve or the like. The valve box 12 includes a lid 26. The lid 26 is removably positioned on the valve box 12 and the lid 26 is positioned to close the top side 16.
A shield 28 is removably positioned within the valve box 12. The shield 28 inhibits debris 30 from entering the valve box 12 when the valve box 12 is buried. Thus, the shield 28 inhibits the underground plumbing fitting 22 being covered by the debris 30. The debris 30 may comprise dirt, rocks or other earthen material.
The shield 28 comprises a frame 32 that has a pair of lateral walls 34 extending between a pair of longitudinal walls 36. The lateral walls 34 are spaced apart from each other such that the frame 32 has a rectangular shape. The frame 32 has an inside surface 38 and an outside surface 40. The frame 32 is removably positioned in the valve box 12. Thus, the outside surface 40 of the frame 32 frictionally engages the inner surface 24 of the valve box 12.
The frame 32 is coextensive with the outer wall 18 of the valve box 12 when the frame 32 is positioned in the valve box 12. Moreover, the frame 32 is aligned with the bottom side 14 of the valve box 12 when the frame 32 is positioned in the valve box 12. Thus, the frame 32 is positioned beneath the underground plumbing fitting 22. The frame 32 may be manufactured with a variety of dimensions. Thus, the frame 32 may fit in a variety of valve box 12 sizes.
A screen 42 is provided and the screen 42 is coupled to the inside surface 38 of the frame 32. The screen 42 extends between each of the lateral walls 34 and each of the longitudinal walls 36. Thus, the screen 42 inhibits the debris 30 from passing through the frame 32 when the valve box 12 is buried. The screen 42 comprises a mesh material. The mesh material may have openings ranging between three mm and six mm.
In use, a hole 36 is dug in ground 20 and the frame 32 is positioned in the hole 36. The valve box 12 is positioned on the hole 36 such that the frame 32 is positioned in the valve box 12. Thus, the screen 42 inhibits the debris 30 from being urged upwardly in the valve box 12. The underground plumbing fitting 22 is positioned to extend through the valve box 12 in the convention of underground sprinkler systems and the like. The underground plumbing fitting 22 is positioned above the frame 32. The screen 42 inhibits the underground plumbing fitting 22 from becoming buried by the debris 30. Thus, the underground plumbing fitting 22 may be serviced without having to expose the underground plumbing fitting 22 with respect to the debris 30.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, system and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
