Pipes and tubular conduits – Combined – With hose protector
Utility Patent
2000-03-07
2001-01-02
Hook, James (Department: 3752)
Pipes and tubular conduits
Combined
With hose protector
C138S113000, C138S151000, C138S156000, C138S177000, C138SDIG001, C405S048000
Utility Patent
active
06167914
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed generally to apparatus for use in subterranean fluid dispensing systems for disposal of wastewater. The invention is particularly directed to apparatus for inhibiting material such as rocks, stones, pebbles and gravel from clogging an outlet orifice of a pressurized subterranean wastewater dispensing system.
Subterranean wastewater dispensing systems typically do not dispense wastewater into the surrounding material on a continuous basis. Instead, the dispensing systems are typically called upon only periodically to dispense such wastewater. During the time when wastewater is not being dispense, the material surrounding the dispensing system experiences a hydraulic relaxation during which time particulate materials may migrate toward openings or orifices used in the system to dispense the wastewater and may plug or at least inhibit the flow through such openings or orifices.
This problem has been recognized previously and a number of solutions have been proposed.
Some wastewater dispensing systems have been constructed from short segments of tubing or pipe or drain tile. Adjacent ends of the short segments are separated by coupling sleeves or supports which allow for the wastewater to drain into the material below the short segments. Systems of this type are suitable for use only in very low pressure situations such as gravity fed outlets from septic tanks and are not suitable for use in pressurized systems. Examples of such systems are to be found in Steen, U.S. Pat. No. 1,518,014; Benedict, U.S. Pat. No. 2,637,170; and Zaucha, U.S. Pat. No. 3,225,546.
The preferred wastewater dispensing systems are constructed from substantially continuous pipes or tubes having a plurality of openings or orifices dispersed at spaced intervals along the length of the pipes or tubes. While such systems can be used in low pressure situations, they are also suitable for use in pressurized wastewater dispensing situations. Sleeves or casings have been employed to protect the openings or orifices from being clogged by the surrounding material. The sleeves often have to be slipped or threaded onto the end of the pipe or tube, and then moved along until aligned with the orifice to be protected. An example is shown in Chisholm, U.S. Pat. No. 299,347. The assembly process for such an arrangement is very time-consuming, and therefore undesirable.
To avoid the threading operation, some orifice protectors have been designed to merely sit on to of the pipe or tube over the orifice to be protected. Examples are shown in Wiggins, U.S. Pat. No. 953,080 and Ball, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,556. However, such orifice protectors are easily disturbed from their desired location during the back-filling operation, and are nearly impossible to use in circumstances where the orifices of the pipe or tube are located on the bottom or side of the pipe or tube.
A more suitable protector for such orifices is shown in Ringdal, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,454 which can be placed at any location along the length of a pipe or tube, and protects a dispensing opening in the tube or pipe regardless of its orientation. The structure requires the use of pins to secure the protector in position relative to the pipe which leads to a time-consuming assembly of the system as a whole.
What was missing from the prior art was an orifice protector that could be easily added at any point along the dispensing pipe or tube without the need to thread the protector on from an end of the pipe or tube, would remain fixed relative to the pipe or tube once placed in the desired relation relative to an orifice in the dispensing tube or pipe, and consisted essentially of a single element which required no pre-assembly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An orifice protector of the present invention is intended for use in subterranean fluid dispensing systems that include at least one conduit for disposing of wastewater, the conduit having a plurality of orifices distributed at spaced intervals along the length of the conduit(s). An orifice protector of the present invention is employed to protect one such orifice. A fluid dispensing system would generally employ a plurality of the protectors of the present invention with one orifice protector being employed to protect each orifice along the length of the conduit(s) forming the system.
Each orifice protector would generally comprise a body in the form of a partial cylinder or collar defined by a wall having a C-shaped cross section, the wall having an outer and an inner surface. A central portion of the wall includes a plurality of openings extending between the outer and inner surfaces. The wall also has two longitudinal edges separated by a slot adapted to receive said conduit, the two longitudinal edges being deflectable away from each other and biased toward each other to grip said conduit. The wall also has two ends including stand-off portions for maintaining the central portion of the wall spaced from said conduit.
The stand off portions ensure that the openings in the central portion of the wall of the orifice protector are spaced from the orifice being protected thus providing a region into which wastewater from the conduit can flow without immediately facing the material such as soil, rocks, stones, pebbles or gravel in which the system is buried. Each of the plurality of openings in the central portion of the wall preferably has a sufficient cross-section to inhibit the migration of the adjacent material toward the adjacent orifice being protected by the protector. The plurality of openings in the central portion of the wall taken together preferably have a cross-sectional area many times that of the adjacent orifice thereby providing ample area for outflow of wastewater. The size of the slot and the length of the stand-off portions are chosen to provide sufficient gripping force between the orifice protector and the conduit to maintain the orifice protector in fixed location, even during system installation procedures such as back fill operations, and the like. The slot allows the orifice protector to be added at any point along a nearly continuous length of conduit, rather than having to be threaded or slipped onto an end of a section of a conduit, and to be applied to conduits having a range of diameters.
The plurality of openings in an orifice protector of the present invention can take a number of shapes, however a plurality of slits situated generally parallel to the ends of the protector has proven to be a particularly advantageous arrangement. Preferably each of the slits extends through about a 90° arc length of the wall forming the orifice protector. The stand-off portions preferably are integral with the wall portion of the orifice protector, and are preferably formed by downwardly and inwardly indented portions of the two ends of the wall forming the orifice protector.
The wall forming the orifice protector can be of any suitable thickness but is most easily formed to have a substantially constant thickness separating the outer and inner surfaces. A readily available material for forming the orifice protector of the present invention is schedule
40
plastic tubing conventionally employed in wastewater systems which is then cut into suitable lengths and cut again to form the two longitudinal edges are preferably linear and substantially parallel to each other. The ends are then plastically deformed to the desired shape to form the stand-off portions. Of course the same or a functionally equivalent shape can be obtained by injection molding or other suitable processes.
The orifice protector of the present invention is formed of a single element that can be easily added at any point along a dispensing conduit having a range of diameters and, once added, remains fixed at the desired location relative to the conduit and to an orifice in the conduit. The orifice protector can be used in any orientation and resists displacement during back-fill. These and other features will become apparent upon consideration of the accompanying
Hook James
Locke Reynolds LLP
LandOfFree
Orifice protector does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Orifice protector, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Orifice protector will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2555009