Fluid handling – Processes – Cleaning – repairing – or assembling
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-12
2002-01-15
Walton, George L. (Department: 3753)
Fluid handling
Processes
Cleaning, repairing, or assembling
C137S312000, C081S177200, C081S180100, C141S086000, C141S098000, C141S31100A, C184S001500, C222S108000, C007S100000, C220S573000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06338357
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a fluid catch device adapted to prevent spills when used during removal of a drain plug located in an area of limited access.
It has become customary practice in the motorcycle industry to equip motorcycles with glide plates (also known as skid plates and case plates). Typically, these glide plates are found on motocross or off-road motorcycles, but they also can be provided on other motorcycles (e.g., street motorcycles). The glide plate protects the engine parts and/or frame of the motorcycle when the motorcycle “bottoms out” or otherwise is subjected to impact from below or in front of the engine. Similar glide plates are provided on many four-wheel and three-wheel all-terrain vehicles.
Glide plates, especially those found on off-road motorcycles and vehicles, tend to have a sled-like configuration that is coextensive with most or all of the engine's bottom surfaces and, in most cases, coextensive with a significant part of the engine's front surface. Such glide plates have proven effective at protecting engine components, especially crank cases. Unfortunately, however, they also have complicated the process of changing engine fluids.
Drain plugs for engine fluids, such as engine oil, tend to be located at or near the bottom of the engine. This positioning is dictated by the effects of gravity. The typical glide plate, therefore, obstructs or severely limits access to the drain plug. It is at least inconvenient, if not impractical or impossible, to remove the glide plate every time an engine fluid has to be drained. The glide plate is designed to withstand significant impact. It therefore must be attached securely to the motorcycle or other vehicle. It is not uncommon for the glide plate to be attached using fasteners that are coated with a thread-locking compound. Generally, secure attachment is inconsistent with rapid removal of the glide plate. Most manufacturers therefore sacrifice convenience in favor of strength and reliability, by rigidly attaching the glide plate in a manner that makes removal difficult, if not impossible.
While some, if not most, glide plate manufacturers, motorcycle manufacturers, and motorcycle owners have attempted to resolve this problem by providing an access hole for the drain plug, the access hole typically is very small. Few, if any, access holes are larger than two inches in minor diameter. Generally, the access hole is just large enough to permit removal of the drain plug. In some glide plates, the access hole is oval instead of circular. Most oval access holes fall within a range of minor and major diameters of about 1⅜ to 1½ inches for the minor diameter and about 2 to 2½ inches for the major diameter. Larger holes typically are not desirable because they correspondingly increase the amount of surface area on the motorcycle's engine that remains vulnerable to intrusion and/or impact from below. Larger holes also may reduce the glide effect provided by the glide plate.
The small size of the typical access hole, however, makes removal of the drain plug a messy operation. As the drain plug is progressively loosened, engine fluid tends to seep out around the plug. The fluid then gushes out rapidly as soon as the plug is withdrawn from its opening. As gravity draws the fluid out, it strikes the plug and the tool, if any, that was used to remove the plug. Fluid thereby splashes throughout the inside of the glide plate, and some splashes out through the access hole. Such splashing is especially undesirable when the engine fluid is hot. Hot engine fluid can cause burn injuries if it strikes the skin. At the very least, it can be uncomfortable and messy if it reaches the skin.
Eventually, some of the fluid that is splashed behind the glide plate makes its way out from behind the glide plate and contaminates the ground. Whatever fluid remains behind the glide plate tends to accumulate dirt. The conventional drain plug removal technique on a motorcycle therefore can result in burns and/or uncomfortable exposure to hot fluids. It also results in both ground contamination and a sludgy mess inside the glide plate. On most ground surfaces, a dangerously slippery residue remains.
The resulting contamination of the ground with engine fluids is unsightly, dangerous, and environmentally harmful. The cumulative effects of such ground contamination can lead to ground water contamination as well. The negative environmental impact of such ground contamination and ground water contamination has received much attention in recent years. As a result, measures have been taken to regulate the disposal of engine fluids. Some of these measure have been implemented at great expense and inconvenience. Any spills that result from conventional drain plug removal techniques are contrary to the goals served by such measures.
Recent efforts consistent with such measures have been directed to providing spill prevention devices for engine fluids in the automotive industry. Such efforts, however, have been focused on devices with large mouths that fit over the typical car or truck drain plug, funnel-shaped fluid catches, or other dimensions, features, and/or shapes that make such devices incompatible with the access hole of at least some, if not all, motorcycle glide plates. Notably, most car and truck drain plugs are readily accessible.
Because access to a motorcycle's drain plug is severely limited when the motorcycle has a glide plate or similar obstruction, oil catch devices that have a large mouth cannot be positioned flush against the fluid reservoir of the engine to prevent the engine fluids from being spilled or splashed about the glide plate as the drain plug is removed and withdrawn. Likewise, cup-shaped catch devices that have radially extending drainage hoses or pipes cannot extend close enough to the fluid reservoir and drain plug of the typical motorcycle, to prevent spillage of the fluid behind the glide plate.
Some catch devices in the automotive industry have magnetic attachment mechanisms adapted to engage the ferrous metal pans or other engine parts of the automobile. In the context of motorcycle engines, however, aluminum parts tend to be more prevalent as a weight reduction measure. The magnetic attachment mechanisms found in the catch devices for automotive applications are ineffective when applied to the aluminum engine parts of motorcycle engines.
There is consequently a need in the art for a fluid catch device adapted to prevent spills when used during removal of a drain plug located in an area of limited access, such as the area behind the glide plate of a motorcycle or other vehicle. This need extends to a catch device having dimensions that facilitate insertion of the device into the area of limited access so that the device can engage the surface of the fluid reservoir around the drain plug, and remain engaged thereto during removal of the plug, thereby to prevent splashing of any access limiting features on the vehicle. There is also a need for a fluid catch device that can be secured in place under a motorcycle engine regardless of whether the parts of the engine are made of aluminum, some other non-ferrous or low-ferrous metal, or a non-metal material.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A primary object of the present invention is to overcome at least one of the foregoing problems and/or satisfy at least one of the foregoing needs by providing a fluid catch device adapted to prevent spills when used during removal of a drain plug located in an area of limited access, such as the area behind the glide plate of a motorcycle or other vehicle.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a fluid catch device having dimensions that facilitate insertion of the catch device into an area of limited access so that the catch device can engage the surface of a fluid reservoir around a drain plug, and remain engaged thereto during removal of the plug, thereby to prevent splashing of access limiting features in the area of limited access.
To achieve these an
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