Fluid handling – Diverse fluid containing pressure systems – Gas pressure storage over or displacement of liquid
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-06
2001-05-29
Walton, George L. (Department: 3753)
Fluid handling
Diverse fluid containing pressure systems
Gas pressure storage over or displacement of liquid
C137S240000, C137S334000, C137S899000, C138S034000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06237620
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates generally to the field of tools or implements. More particularly the invention relates to a tool/implement, which is multi-functional in that it serves to introduce a gas, for example, air into a plumbing system, and secondly thereafter introducing liquid antifreeze into a closed plumbing system.
Even more particularly, the present invention relates to a novel tool, which assists in two ways in the winterizing of the plumbing system for a recreational vehicle, boat/yacht, house, cottage, or other structure which is possessed of an interior plumbing system which is desirably shut down during the winter months, when the temperature falls below the freezing point 32° F. The tool of this invention can be easily connected to a compressor outlet and easily connected to the appropriate plumbing fixture inlet of any of the systems referred to hereinabove.
In the latitudes where the winter seasons or winter months bring below freezing temperatures, it is incumbent upon the owner or occupant of certain/particular structures, featuring indoor plumbing, to take steps to prevent the freezing of the liquid or fluid within the plumbing systems. Structures of this kind include recreational vehicles, boats/yachts, as well as residences, particularly cottages in a remote area and nominally not in use during the winter months.
Many folks own cottages or other structures, eg. lodges, located in remote regions such as by a lake for fishing or a wilderness area for hunting, which are frequently occupied during the summer months, including spring and fall. With the onset of winter, these cottages, lodges, resort, etc., are necessarily winterized in order to prevent damage to the plumbing by the onset of freezing weather, yielding frozen pipes, as well as burst pipes due to the expansion accompanying the water turning to solid ice after sufficient exposure to ambient temperature below freezing. Similarly, recreational vehicles such as trailers, both of the kind that are pulled by motorized vehicle, or self-contained motor homes are stored during the winter months and used only in the times of clement moderate weather encountered in the spring, summer or in the fall of the normal seasons and same is true of boats. Many feature interior plumbing systems for conveying water from a source to the various sink, lavatories, bathrooms, and kitchen regions necessarily and desirably featuring a supply of water, both hot and cold, for the convenience of the person or persons occupying the particular unit in the summer months.
In addition to boats, yachts, and land traversing recreational vehicles such as mobile homes/trailers etc., which are generally known to be stored in the off season; there is also the non movable type of dwelling which are built in a remote region as perhaps as around a lake, forest, or a stream for use for a recreational purpose principally in the spring, summer, and fall. The same structures, including cottages, lodges, etc., are unoccupied during the winter months and should therefore be winterized to avoid the formation of ice in the piping, whether it is metal or plastic and therefore subject to damage if the water inside the pipe freezes, with accompanying expansion. Such expansion almost always results in a fracture or breaking of the pipe, or possibly the valve, or whatever part of the plumbing, to the financial detriment of the owner who must underwrite rather expensive replacement of the broken pipes, valves, or whatever is part of the plumbing systems. This expense can be considerable when it is realized that the pipes constituting the plumbing system for conveyance of water throughout the vehicle, boat/yacht, cottage, or lodge may proceed in relatively inaccessible regions; which may require removal of a structural component of the mobile home, boat/yacht, cottage, or lodge, in order to provide access to the freeze damaged length of pipe or the particular fitting adversely affected by the freezing temperature in the winter months.
Now the problem or phenomenon of the freezing pipe or plumbing in the general plumbing system within the mobile home, boat/yacht, cottage, or lodges is generally well know.
It has been known that one expedient which may be used to avoid the problem is to bleed the water from the plumbing system entirely and replace it with a potable liquid formulated to remain liquid over a range of temperatures associated with the particular latitude or the degree of severity of the winter associated with the particular geographic location. Commercial liquids have been formulated and are available to the public at large. The containers bear labels which are informative as to the temperature conditions which maybe used without freezing. Generally the liquids are color-coded a pink color for identification purposes.
In some cases a simple opening of the faucet and allowing the water to drain by gravity is used and antifreeze introduced into the plumbing system, by any variety of techniques. Many of these drain and replace techniques however provide inadequate protection, since all of the water is not withdrawn from the system due to the positioning of the piping and in the particular system under consideration.
I am aware that additionally a number of patents have issued disclosing variety of systems and techniques for draining water from the system and replacing it with a liquid antifreeze to avoid the fractured, broken, or ruptured piping problem due to freezing of the water at the temperature encountered at that particular geographic location.
One such patent is U. S. Pat. 4,286,617, dated Sep. 1, 1981, to Marvin Bedient. Another such technique is disclosed U. S. Pat. No. 5,488,968 issued Feb. 6, 1996 to John Price and Michael Way. Another system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,310, dated Apr. 16, 1996, and issued to David Sordello and Carl Engstrom. Yet another winterizing system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,031, dated Jul. 23, 1996, to Shelby and Diana Brence. Another apparatus/method for winterizing seasonal dwellings is disclosed in the U. S. Pat. No. 5,676,182 issued Oct. 14, 1997 to George McMullen and David Watson.
A careful detailed examination of each of the aforesaid patents reveals the disclosure of a number and variety of plumbing systems requiring winterization, that is by removal of water and substitution of an antifreeze liquid which will not freeze at the temperatures water freezes, namely 32° F. and below. The examination also reveals that the systems, apparatus, equipment, and techniques described in said patents are cumbersome, are complicated, and utterly fail to disclose, suggest, or teach the novel multifunctional tool of this invention. By multifunctional, I mean just that; that the tool serves in the rapid removal of water from the plumbing system and it also serves in the introduction of replacement fluid (which is an antifreeze), into the system whereby the pipes will not burst due to expanding ice as the temperature drops.
In the light of the foregoing, it may be stated as a principle object of the principle invention to provide a novel, simple, uncomplicated, multifunctional, and a unitary device which is useful in the winterizing treatment of the plumbing, constituting the water system of a variety of homes, vehicles, mobile homes, boats, yachts, and etc.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a simplified and inexpensive device, which is capable of use for the intended purpose by an individual with little or no assistance.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a device, which is of such unique design as utilizes already existing components which are readily available at low cost from many sources.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a device, as referred to and described herein, which is extremely lightweight, whereby it may be easily manipulated and used by the one seeking to accomplish the purposes for which the tool is intended.
The foregoing, and as well as other objects of the present invention, will become appar
Stutz Paul F.
Walton George L.
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