Baths – closets – sinks – and spittoons – Pool type – Accessory
Reexamination Certificate
2002-11-15
2004-11-16
Fetsuga, Robert M. (Department: 3751)
Baths, closets, sinks, and spittoons
Pool type
Accessory
C004S292000, C004S507000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06817043
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
NA
STATEMENTS REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
NA
REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX
NA
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drainage cover system for a drain located on the drain of a swimming pool or spa. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for preventing the entrapment of a person by the drain of a swimming pool or spa and related injury. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for installing a safety swimming pool drain cover in an existing swimming pool. Additionally, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for installing a safety swimming pool drain cover in new construction of a swimming pool.
Swimming pools and spas typically use a pump to drain and recirculate water and supply the filter or supply heated water when a heater is used. Such systems usually have a single main drain or sump located at or near the bottom or lowest part of the swimming pool or spa. In the case of inlets for spas the sump may be in the side of the pool or spa. A portion of the water is normally pumped or suctioned out of the swimming pool or spa through the main drain, into an inlet of a suction pump, and then drained or filtered along with any water from a skimmer and recirculated back into the swimming pool or spa through jets located around the interior walls of the swimming pool or spa.
The drain used in a swimming pools or spa create suction caused by the large volume of water passing through the drain, wherein the suction can be strong enough to trap bathers on the drain. When bathers place their heads or bodies in the vicinity of an active drain, their hair or a portion of their body may become entrapped by the drain, such as at a cover or grating. A blocked drain can develop a strong vacuum within a few tenths of a second. If the suction pressure is strong enough, a bather who is entrapped by a drain may not be able to break free of the suction and may ultimately drown.
Each year, hundreds of young children die and thousands come close to death due to entrapment at a drain in swimming pools and spas. Safety organizations, such as the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the National Spa and Pool Institute (NPSI), and various state government entities, have acknowledged the need for devices that protect against swimming pool or spa drain entrapment. The CPSC estimates that each year about 300 children under 5 years of age drown in residential swimming pools, and that hospital emergency room treatment is required for approximately another 2,300 children under 5 years of age who were submerged in residential swimming pools. In fact, drowning is recognized as a leading cause of death of children under the age of 5 years in California, Arizona, and Florida. Of particular concern are entrapments involving hair entanglement, limb entrapment, body entrapment, and disembowelment by a drain. Hair entanglement/entrapment occurs when a bather dips below a water surface and his or her hair is sucked into and becomes entangled on a drain grate in the main drain of a swimming pool or spa. Body entrapment typically occurs when part of a bather's torso completely covers an unprotected or damaged drain, thereby creating a vacuum within the drain from which the bather cannot break free. Limb entrapment refers to accidents in which a bather's arm or leg is sucked into a main drain of a swimming pool or spa. Disembowelment accidents occur where small children, usually two to six years old, place their buttocks over a drain, covering the drain creating a seal. Injury occurs when the greatly increased suction acts to eviscerate the child when their lower intestines are sucked out of their body through their anus.
Various devices have been used to prevent entrapment, for example, conventional drain systems have used “anti-vortex” or “anti-entrapment” covers, which lack holes at the top, preventing or discouraging a person from covering that hole, and which reduce flow rates (to perhaps less than 6 ft./sec.) to reduce turbulence. Other conventional drain systems for swimming pools and spas have used multiple drains, as opposed to just a single drain, separated by sufficient distance, to prevent a vacuum from being formed when one of the drains is obstructed. Further ways include gravity-fed collector sumps, and vent stacks, which attempt to limit total suction to about 2 ft.-H
2
O.
A system with multiple drains has its drawbacks, however in that it can be significantly more complex and expensive, especially in retrofit. Additionally, multiple bathers can cover the multiple drains, permitting the creation of the hazardous vacuum, which the system is designed to prevent. Another disadvantage is that the grates or other covers may fail, permitting a person to cover that drain, and become entrapped, or disemboweled. Another is that even grates designed to be “anti-vortex” or “anti-entrapment” may still permit hair entanglement in the drain cover support attachment points or in the cover openings themselves. Yet another disadvantage is that not all swimming pools or spas use the same diameter main drain preventing the use of a single grate or cover in all swimming pools or spas. Further, it is not clear that multiple drains per pump provide sufficient protection because of the potential for dynamic hydraulic imbalance due to debris build up in one of the drains, which may permit a large increase in suction at the other drain.
Pressure detection systems have also been used to reduce the risk of entrapment. Pressure detection systems shut off a drain system when the vacuum pressure within the system reaches a critical level, thus relieving the vacuum at the main drain after a certain time lapse. Unfortunately, the complexity and time delay of such systems raises reliability concerns. Thus, a need still exists for an improved method and apparatus for preventing entrapment.
Newer pools may have a relatively large surface area for the drain cover so that a swimmer can not block enough of flow to be entrapped. These newer drain sumps may be one and one half feet square or two feet in diameter. However, there are many thousands of existing pools and spas that have drain sumps with openings and drain covers less than twelve inches in diameter.
The present invention is primarily directed to retrofitting the thousands of existing pools and spas that do not meet the newer codes and guidelines to prevent swimmer entrapment at the pool or spa drain. It is possible to drain an existing pool and chisel out the concrete around the drain so that a much larger drain sump can be installed that will have a large intake area and large drain cover that can not be blocked by a swimmer. However, the cost of changing the drain sump in a pool and repairing the concrete around the drain sump is substantial.
A better way is needed to retrofit the thousands of existing pools or spas to place them in compliance with newer standards for drain covering sizes that prevent entrapment of a swimmer and drowning. An object of the present invention is to easily and quickly accomplish the retrofitting at a small cost.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,360,379 discloses a domed cover for a swimming pool drain that is lockable by a bridge that has upper arms extending downward and lower arms extending upward which are drawn in their respective directions by a bolt that passes through threaded upper and lower hubs. The bridge has bearing feet pivotally connected between the adjacent facing ends of the arms that, once extended, exert pressure against the inside surface of the drain. The bolt passes through the center of the domed cover with an exposed bolt cap to allow for rotating the bolt, extending the arms and locking the cover in place.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,088,842 discloses a drain structure for a pool or hot tub that has normally present suction or drain forces. The drain has a plurality of interior grating members, which are cantil
Charles W. Hanor, P.C.
Fetsuga Robert M.
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