Patent Application
20240384519
The present invention relates generally to a urinal backup flange, and, more particularly, to: (i) a urinal backup flange that can be used to repair a damaged urinal's outlet connection that may have been caused by a broken or failed existing flange for connecting the urinal to a wall through which effluent piping is disposed; (ii) a repair kit containing such a urinal backup flange; and (iii) a method for repairing a damaged urinal flanged connection.
Urinals are ubiquitous in many privately-owned and public facilities such as airports, bars, hotels, restaurants, office or commercial buildings, or highway rest areas. Urinals are normally positioned and mounted to a wall (typically a vertical wall), wherein the interface between the urinal and the wall comprises a connection of the urinal's effluent outlet to a pipe opening at the wall that eventually drains to a sewer system or a tank.
Typically, a flange is used to facilitate the connection between the urinal's effluent outlet and the drainage pipe opening at the wall. The flange may also be provided with elements that aid in the securing of the urinal to the wall structure. A conventional urinal flange may be made of a suitable plastic material that is designed to withstand contact with urine and/or water, such as corrosion-resistant polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Such a conventional urinal flange may include an annular flange portion to which a relatively short piece of cylindrical tube may be aligned to the annular opening and attached to the annular flange portion for interfacing with the drainage pipe at the wall and a pair of ear or wing portions integrally attached to opposite sides of the annular flange portion such that the pair of ear or wing portions extend outward in opposite directions. Each ear or wing may be provided with one or more apertures or slots for receiving and generally positioning urinal mounting bolts such that the bolts can protrude forwardly of the ear or wings and can extend through corresponding apertures in the urinal to mount and fasten the urinal against the wall structure. An opening of a drainage pipe may extend through the wall from a backside of the wall. The cylindrical tube of the annular flange portion is positioned to extend rearwardly and inserts through the opening of the drainage pipe, where the cylindrical tube of the annular flange portion and the drainage pipe may be glued and/or threaded together. An annular gasket is typically disposed between the urinal's outlet and a front face of the annular flange portion so as to provide a seal therebetween.
Over time, a urinal flange can fail for a variety of reasons, each of which can cause leakage of urine-containing liquid into the surrounding area, thereby requiring time-consuming and costly cleanup and/or sanitation as well as repair. For example, in many facilities such as in a bar or tavern, urinals tend to be abused by inebriated patrons, and, often, their actions can place considerable stress on the flanged connection, inevitably leading to a breach in the sealed connection between the urinal effluent outlet and the drainage pipe. To replace the damaged flange, it may often be necessary to not only remove the urinal from the wall but also to tear down and remove portions of the wall, which can be time-consuming. The situation can be exacerbated when it becomes necessary to access the damaged flanged connection from the other side of the wall to which the urinal is attached, and such a situation would add significantly more time and materials for repair, thereby increasing costs.
In other facilities such as public restrooms at highway rest areas, the routine bathroom cleaning operations may involve indiscriminate and prolonged spraying of harsh cleaning chemicals and water on the walls to which urinals are attached. Such operations can result in accelerated corrosion of items vital for a secure and sealed connection between the urinal and the wall structure (e.g., bolts or metallic flanges). Again, repairs of such failed connections are often time-consuming and costly because not only the entire urinal may need to be removed, but also portions of the wall may have to be torn down, to complete the repair of a damaged flange connection.
Additionally, a urinal flange can be damaged from the time of its original installation. Urinal mounting bolts are often over-tightened and the bolt-receiving apertures of the urinal and the apertures on the ears or wings of the urinal flange may be misaligned. These occurrences may cause distortion or disfigurement of the urinal flange's ears or wings, which over time may lead to their break off so as to adversely affect the mounting of the urinal to the wall, thus requiring repair steps to be taken. Again, the necessary repair steps typically require the removal of the urinal from the wall and portions of the wall to be cut open to gain easy access to the broken urinal flange in order to remove and replace it.
To address the aforementioned problems with replacing damaged urinal flanges, it has previously been proposed, for example, to repair a urinal flange with damaged ears or wings by inserting, aligning, and securing a urinal coupling device with pivoting members behind the damaged urinal flange after cutting off the damaged ears or wings. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 9,631,354 B1, issued to Corbin on Apr. 25, 2017, discloses a urinal coupling device including: at least one support member having a pair of opposite lateral portions and a main portion of an arcuate configuration extending between and rigidly interconnecting the opposite lateral portions; and a pair of ears each at an inner end portion thereof being attached to one of the opposite lateral portions of the support member such that the ears extend in opposite directions with respect to one another from the support member, each of the ears being configured to receive a urinal mounting bolt; wherein the main portion of the support member has an inner surface configured to interface with a portion of a tube of a urinal flange device adjacent to an annular flange of the urinal flange device. However, the coupling device is a complicated hinged device that includes two pivotable parts, which requires an alignment of slots to facilitate insertion of the urinal bolts. The reference discloses a one-piece urinal coupling device as an alternative embodiment, but a repair using this alternative device would appear to require complete removal of the damaged urinal flange because the aperture in the coupling device for receiving the pipe portion of the damaged annular flange has a closed configuration.
In view of the abovementioned deficiencies in the prior art, there remains a need in the art to provide a urinal backup flange that can facilitate an easy repair of a damaged urinal connection.
One or more of the aforementioned needs may be satisfied by the invention described below.
The present invention, described below, provides an effective solution for overcoming one or more of the deficiencies of the known prior art described above.
A urinal backup flange according to the present invention comprises: (i) a central flange portion with an arcuate, recessed bottom that substantially conforms to the cross-sectional shape of an upper portion of a site's piping; and (ii) two side or lateral (e.g., ear or wing) portions extending laterally from each lateral end of the central flange portion and having slots for receiving urinal bolts. The urinal backup flange can be provided with one or more apertures and/or protrusions or tabs with apertures in the form of eyelets to allow securement of the device to the wall and/or the damaged urinal flange already in place. The urinal backup flange can be positioned between the urinal and the wall, such as in front of, or behind a damaged urinal flange, and slipped over the existing relatively short pipe extending from damaged urinal flange and/or the drainage pipe extending through the wall. After adjusting alignment and positioning, and optionally replacing the gasket, if necessary, urinal bolts may be used to secure the urinal to the wall through both the damaged urinal flange as well as the urinal backup flange. A urinal flange repair kit including the urinal backup flange according to the present invention and a method for its use are also disclosed.
In one aspect of the invention, the present invention is directed to a backup flange for use in repairing a failed connection between a urinal outlet and a drainage pipe caused by a damaged urinal flange. The backup flange may comprise:
In another aspect, the present invention is directed to a urinal flange repair kit. The kit may comprise:
In another aspect, the present invention is directed to a method for repairing a connection between a urinal outlet and a drainage pipe caused by a damaged urinal flange. The method may comprise the steps of:
In another aspect, the backup flange may be made from a material such as brass, steel (e.g., stainless steel), or polymeric materials.
In another aspect, the central flange portion and the upper section of the pair of side or lateral (e.g., ear or wing) portions of the backup flange are provided with multiple spaced-apart apertures for securing the backup flange to the wall structure and/or the damaged urinal flange.
In another aspect, multiple protrusions or tabs provided with eyelets extend from the central flange portion.
The preferred embodiments of the invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings provided to illustrate but not limit the invention, where like designations denote like elements, and in which:
Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
The following detailed description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the described embodiments or the application and uses of the described embodiments. As used herein, the word “exemplary” or “illustrative” means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any implementation described herein as “exemplary” or “illustrative” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations. All of the implementations described below are exemplary implementations provided to enable persons skilled in the art to make or use the embodiments of the disclosure and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure, which is defined by the claims.
Some features may be described using relative terms, such as “upper,” “lower,” “left,” “rear,” “right,” “front,” “vertical,” or “horizontal.” Such positional relative terms are only for reference with respect to the appended Figures and are not meant to limit the disclosed embodiments.
Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any expressed or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field, background, brief summary or the following detailed description. It is also to be understood that the specific devices and processes illustrated in the attached drawings, and described in the following specification, are simply exemplary embodiments of the inventive concepts defined in the appended claims. Hence, specific dimensions and other physical characteristics relating to the embodiments disclosed herein are not to be considered as limiting but merely exemplary, unless the claims expressly state otherwise.
Furthermore, a person skilled in the art would understand from reading this disclosure that “a” and “an” each generally denotes “at least one,” but does not exclude a plurality unless the contextual use dictates otherwise. Also, the term “or” in a list of enumerated items denotes “at least one of the items” and, therefore, does not exclude a plurality of items of the list.
Shown throughout the figures, the present invention is directed toward a urinal backup flange for use in repairing a failed connection between a urinal outlet and a drainage pipe caused by, for example, a damaged urinal flange, to a urinal flange repair kit containing the same, and a method of use thereof.
Referring to
For ease of understanding the exemplary embodiment shown in
The urinal backup flange 100's central flange portion 102 may have any suitable configuration or shape, as long as the central flange portion 102's bottom contour substantially conforms to the cross-sectional shape of a relatively short pipe section that extends integrally from the damaged urinal flange 136 (as depicted in
As shown in
Additionally, as shown in
Furthermore, as shown in
Regarding the side or lateral (e.g., ear or wing) portions 104 and 106 shown in
As illustrated in
Referring to
Referring to
Since many modifications, variations, and changes in detail can be made to the described embodiments and aspects of the invention, it is intended that all matters in the foregoing description and shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. Thus, the scope of coverage of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.
