Ships – Valves – Boat plugs
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-10
2003-09-09
Avila, Stephen (Department: 3617)
Ships
Valves
Boat plugs
Reexamination Certificate
active
06615760
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The subject invention relates to a draining device for draining water from a boat, and in particular, to a draining device for automatically draining water from a boat while the boat is in use that utilizes an automatically sealing ball valve assembly to prevent water from flowing into the boat through the draining device.
Water accumulates in the bottom of most boats. Accordingly, many boats are provided with a drain hole in the bottom or the transom of boat that is normally sealed with a drain hole plug. When the boat is removed from the water, any water that has accumulated within the boat may be drained from the boat by removing the drain hole plug from the drain hole and allowing the water within the boat to drain out through the drain hole. Other boats are provided with draining or bailing devices with various types of ball valves that automatically drain water from the boat when the boat in moving forward through the water and seal when the boat is not moving through the water. U.S. Pat. No. 3,394,671, issued Jul. 30, 1968; U.S. Pat. No. 3,550,548, issued Dec. 29, 1970; U.S. Pat. No. 3,565,031, issued Feb. 23, 1971, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,217,846, issued Aug. 19, 1980 are examples of devices with various types of ball valves for automatically draining water from a boat that seal when the boat is not moving through the water. While these devices enable the automatic draining of water from boats, there is a need for an effective automatic boat draining device that is: simple in construction with no secondary valve; durable; inexpensive; reliable and effective; easy to mount in an existing drain plug hole in the transom of a boat; and easy to quickly disassemble, clean, maintain, and reassemble. In addition, there is a need for such a device that does not project outward from the transom where the device can be damaged by contact with something external of the boat, such as a piling, or present an obstruction on an outside surface of a boat transom to bump against or catch on a person's clothing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The boat drain plug of the subject invention is an effective automatic boat draining device that is simple in construction, With no secondary valve, and that automatically seals when a boat is at rest in the water. The automatically sealing boat draining device of the subject invention is durable; inexpensive; reliable and effective; easy to mount in an existing drain plug hole in the transom of a boat; and easy to quickly disassemble, clean, maintain, and reassemble. In addition, the automatically sealing boat draining device of the subject invention only projects outward from the transom for less than one inch and contains no components external of the transom that can be easily damaged by contact with something external of the boat, such as a piling, or that present an obstruction on an outside surface of a boat transom to bump against or easily catch on a person's clothing.
The automatically sealing boat draining device of the subject invention includes: a cylindrical housing with a drain hole; a ball valve assembly mounted within and removable from the drain hole; and a plug for sealing the drain hole. The cylindrical housing of the automatically sealing boat draining device has a radially outwardly extending annular flange at the outer end of the housing through which the housing is secured to the transom of the boat with screws, bolts, or other mechanical fasteners. When mounted on the transom of a boat, the housing flange is substantially flush with the outer surface of the transom and the cylindrical housing extends into the interior of the boat through a hole in transom of the boat.
The water conveying drain hole in the cylindrical housing passes completely through the cylindrical housing from an inner end to the outer end of the cylindrical housing. The drain hole has a cylindrical threaded outer end portion for threadably receiving a plug that seals the drain hole when the boat draining device is not in use; a cylindrical intermediate portion that receives a ball valve assembly; a cylindrical inner end portion for admitting water within a boat into the drain hole; and an annular groove between the cylindrical threaded outer end portion and the intermediate portion of the drain hole for receiving a snap fit retaining ring to retain a ball valve assembly within the intermediate portion of the drain hole.
A ball valve assembly is housed within the cylindrical intermediate portion of the drain hole and retained there by a snap fit retaining ring. The ball valve assembly includes a ball, a sealing ball seat component, and a flow through ball seat component. The sealing ball seat component and the flow through ball seat component each have a central bore therein that, together, form a cavity housing the ball. The bore in the sealing ball seat component forms an inner end of the cavity housing the ball and has a first valve seat for receiving the ball and sealing the drain hole to prevent the flow of water into the boat through the drain hole when the ball in seated in the first valve seat. The bore in the flow through ball seat component forms an outer end of the cavity housing the ball and has a second valve seat for receiving the ball and permitting the flow of water through the drain hole when the ball in seated in the second valve seat. The ball is free to move back and forth between the valve seats at the inner end and the outer end of the cavity housing the ball. A flow of water from the outer end of the drain hole toward the inner end of the drain hole causes the ball to move to the inner end of cavity, seat in the first valve seat, and seal the drain hole to prevent the flow of water through the drain hole. A flow of water from the inner end of the drain hole toward the outer end of the drain hole causes the ball to move to the outer end of cavity, seat in the second valve seat, and permit the flow of water through the drain hole.
The removal of the snap ring from the groove between the intermediate portion and the outer portion of the drain hole permits easy removal of the ball valve assembly from the cylindrical housing for cleaning and maintenance. A plug is removably threaded into the threaded outer end portion of the drain hole when the automatically sealing boat draining device is not in use.
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Brackett Thomas A.
Wise George A.
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