Solid material comminution or disintegration – Apparatus – Including means applying fluid to material
Reexamination Certificate
2002-11-20
2004-08-10
Tolan, Ed (Department: 3725)
Solid material comminution or disintegration
Apparatus
Including means applying fluid to material
C241S046014
Reexamination Certificate
active
06772968
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to food waste disposers and, more particularly, to a new waste line connector assembly for a food waste disposer.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1
depicts a typical food waste disposer
10
. The food waste disposer
10
mounts to a sink (not shown) by a number of methods and techniques known in the art. In the present example, the disposer
10
mounts to the sink using a vibration isolation mounting system
60
. The sink represents a first, substantially fixed point P
1
in the vibrational system of the disposer
10
.
The disposer
10
includes an upper food conveying section
12
, a lower motor section
14
, and a central grinding section
16
disposed between the food conveying section
12
and the motor section
14
. The food conveying section
12
is connected to the vibration isolation mounting system
60
and includes a housing
18
that forms an inlet
20
at its upper end for receiving food waste. The food conveying section
12
conveys the food waste to the central grinding section
16
. The motor section
14
includes a motor
22
imparting rotational movement to a motor shaft
24
. The motor
22
is enclosed within a motor housing
26
. The grinding section
16
includes a grinding mechanism having lugs
36
, a rotating plate
34
, and a stationary shredder ring
38
.
In the operation of the food waste disposer, the food waste delivered by the food conveying section
12
to the grinding section
16
is forced by lugs
36
against teeth
42
of the shredder ring
38
. The edges of the teeth
42
grind the food waste into particulate matter sufficiently small to pass from above the grinding plate
34
to below the grinding plate
34
via gaps between the teeth
42
outside the periphery of the plate
34
. Due to gravity and water, the particulate matter that passes through the gaps between the teeth
42
drops onto base frame
28
and, along with water injected into the disposer, is discharged through a discharge outlet
44
into a tailpipe
46
and a waste line
58
.
As best shown in
FIG. 2
, one end
47
of the tailpipe
46
is connected to the discharge outlet
44
by a non-conventional fitting consisting of a gasket
48
, a flange ring or connection member
50
, and at least one bolt
52
. Typically, the tailpipe
46
, gasket
48
, flange ring
50
and bolt(s)
52
are supplied with the disposer. The gasket
48
is made of rubber and fits over a flanged end
47
of the tailpipe
46
. The flange ring
50
is made of metal and slips over the tailpipe
46
. The flange ring
50
attaches to the discharge outlet
44
of the disposer with the bolt(s)
52
. This compresses the gasket
48
between the flange ring
50
and the discharge outlet
44
of the disposer. At the other end of the tailpipe, a nut
54
and seal
56
are used to produce a slip joint to the other household plumbing of the waste line
58
, which represents a second, substantially fixed point P
2
in the vibrational system of the disposer. The slip joint is capable of a limited amount of axial movement and is capable of minimal radial movement. Consequently, the slip joint is incapable of sufficiently isolating vibrations from the disposer
10
to the waste line
58
.
When operating, the disposer
10
can vibrate due to rotation of the motor
22
and the forces created within the disposer
10
when food waste is impacted. The vibration of the disposer
10
can include movement in all three axes. For simplicity, the vibrational movement is described herein as having an axial component A, a rotational component R, and a lateral component L, which can occur as the disposer
10
moves relative to fixed point P
1
. It is understood that this description of the vibrational movement is merely used to simplify the discussion of vibration of the food waste disposer
10
and that the actual vibration of the disposer
10
can be described with more complexity.
The vibration of the disposer
10
due to the rotational forces and impacting of the food waste is transmitted through the rigid connection of the discharge
44
to the tailpipe
46
. Although there is a gasket
48
, once it is compressed sufficiently to seal against the disposer outlet
44
and the tailpipe
46
, it becomes essentially rigid and transmits vibration. The joint between the tailpipe
46
and the waste line
58
(nut
54
and seal
56
), while not perfectly rigid, is sufficiently constrained to transmit the vibration of the tailpipe
46
into the household plumbing
58
.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, using the vibration isolation mounting system
60
between the disposer
10
and the sink reduces the amount of vibration transmitted from the disposer
10
to the fixed point P
1
of the sink. Reductions in sink vibration up to 85% have been found in tests. The typical vibration isolation mounting system
60
includes a flexible element
62
and flexible support posts
64
between the sink and the disposer
10
, allowing for additional motion of the disposer
10
during grinding. A side effect of the additional motion of the disposer
10
, however, is greater movement of the disposer
10
in the axial, rotational, and lateral directions A, R, L and higher forces acting upon the rigid connections in the tailpipe
46
and other plumbing of the waste line
58
. These increased forces may eventually result in failure of the joints, creating leaks and may create additional noise during the operation of the disposer
10
.
The present invention is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more of the problems set forth above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To that end, the present invention provides a connector assembly for attaching a waste disposer to a waste line. In one embodiment, the connector assembly includes a flexible isolation coupler. The flexible isolation coupler has a flexible portion for absorbing the vibrational forces of the waste disposer.
The connector assembly may also include at least one rigid tubular body portion. The flexible isolation coupler may be attached to the discharge outlet of the waste disposer and between the discharge outlet of the waste disposer and the at least one rigid tubular body portion. In this case, the at least one rigid tubular body portion is attached to the waste line and between the flexible isolation coupler and the waste line.
The flexible isolation coupler may also be attached to the waste line and between the waste line and the at least one rigid tubular body portion. In this case, the at least one rigid tubular body portion is attached to the discharge outlet of the waste disposer and between the discharge outlet of the waste disposer and the flexible isolation coupler.
The at least one rigid tubular body portion may also include a first rigid tubular body portion and a second rigid tubular body portion. In this embodiment, the first rigid tubular body portion is attached to the discharge outlet of the waste disposer and between the discharge outlet of the waste disposer and the flexible isolation coupler. The second rigid tubular body portion is attached to the waste line and between the flexible isolation coupler and the waste line. The attachments of the first and second rigid tubular body portions to the flexible isolation coupler may be made by several means including by using ring clamps or other clamp devices or by integrally molding the components together.
In another embodiment, the connector assembly includes a flexible isolation coupler and a tubular tailpipe. The flexible isolation coupler has a first end, a second end, and a flexible portion. The first end of the flexible isolation coupler is attached to the discharge outlet of the waste disposer. The tubular tailpipe has a first end and a second end. The first end of the tubular tailpipe is attached to the second end of the flexible isolation coupler. The second end of the tubular tailpipe is attached to the waste line. The flexible portion of the flexible isolation coupler isolates the vibrational forces created in the disposer during operation from the wa
Berger Thomas R
Culver Jeff P
Jara-Almonte Cynthia C
Emerson Electric Co.
Howrey Simon Arnold & White , LLP
Tolan Ed
LandOfFree
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