CA1139115A - Open top drain - Google Patents

Abstract

OPEN TOP DRAIN

Abstract of the Invention A corrugated metal open top pipe drain for the collection and removal of surface water from paved areas, such as highways, parking lots, airports and the like.

Description

.3~

Back~round ~ the Invention ' ~ hl s inv~ention relate~ to drainage cul~rerts or plpes and relates particularly to a corrugated metal open Il top drai~ plpe use~ for the collection and removal Or 5 ~ aoe wa~er ~rom pav~d area~, such as hlghways, parking ¦l lot~, alrport~ and the like.
Surface ~ater is normally remoYed ~rom pa~ed ar~3a~
by con~ru~tln~ the pavemerlt with an appropri~te pitch and Il lnstalling ~ network o~ ~urbs, gutters or ot~er barri~er~ and 10 ¦ ~pa~ed cat~h basin~. In recent year~ highway englneers ha~re become oon~rned with the adequa¢y o~ such conventional ~ ace wa~er drainage arrangement~ ~ince it ha~ b~en dis-¦ co~r~red th~t hi~h ~p~ed vehlcle hand:L~ ng oan be seriously .
I lmpaired i~ the vehi~le~ ~ tir~s are caused ~o h;ydroplane du~
15 l to a ~ater ~ lm on the ~urface Of` the pavement . A number o~
serious accidents h~va o¢curred as a re~ult o~ t}le hlghway dralnag~ ~ys~ema ' ~ nablllty to qulc~ly and adequat~lg remov~
ace water during a heavy raln storm. In additionv ~ome l Or the drainage atrult3tures, auch aa ¢urb~ and ca'çch basin~
20 ¦ are themcel~e~ hazardous to any vehlole ~oming in cont;act ~rith them.
On large paved area~, such as parking lot~ or airport aprons, it i~ impractiaal to u3e curb~J ~utter~ or I ~uf~lclent catch baslns to serv~¢e the large vollamea Or 25 ~ surface water and thererore pondlng o~ the surfaae water often ocaur8, which ln col~ climate~ can re~ult in an ioe hazar~.
,, ,

-2- ';X~

Open top culverts have been used in the past and are the subject of United States Patents 1,362,952 and 1,444,198 to McQueary and United States Patent 3,714,786 to Evans et al.
Such previous open -top culverts have either had structural deficiencies that prevented them from performing well over an extended period of time or were expensive to fabricate and install.

SUM~IARY OF_THE INVENTION
.It is an object of this invention to provide an open top drain which will quickly and adequately remove large quantities of surface water from a paved area.
The invention provides a culvert having a corrugated cylindrical wall, said wall having seams parallel to the corrugations and having a plurality of longitudi.nally spaced apart longitudinally elongated rectangular openings disposed at regular repeating intervals in a line along the top of said culvert for the entry of water, said openings being separated longitudinally from each other by curved portions of said corrugated cylindrical wall each of which includes at least one cor.rugation and a seam, the bottom and sides of said culvert wall being essentially free of openings.
The culvert provides an open top drain which when installed does not present a hazard to vehicles. The culvert is economical to manufacture and install and will perform satisfac-torily over an extended period of time. It is also versatile and easily adaptable to a variety of locations where surface water drainage is required.

Brier Descrlpt~ on o~ Drawin~

FIGURE 1 ~ 8 ~ top Ylew o~ a l~ngth of the pre~erred embodiment o~ the opesl top dra:ln o~ thls lnvention.
11 FI~U~ 2 1~ a partlal top ~vle~ o~ two length~ o~
5 1l the open top draln o~ thi~ inventlon ~ho~e abu'cting ends are 301rl~a by a pre~erred coupllng band.
FIGURE 3 1~ a partlal top vle~ Or a lengt~ o~
another embodlment o~ the open tap drain o~ thl~ in~entivn.
~ FI~URE 4 1~ a partial seotional vie~ o~ open top 10 ~ draln o~ thi~ inv~ntlon.
FI~URE 5 i~ a seotlonal vlew tak~n along line~
5-5 o~ FI~URE 4 ~
FIaURE 6 i~ an iElOm2tr.l.0 ~10W 0~ the grati ng u~ed wlth the op~n top draln o~ thl~ lnventlon.
ï5 ~ U ~ 7 i~ a partiai s~ctional vie~ o~ the open top drain Or thl~ inventlon installed in a pavement.
FI~URB 8 i~ a ~ectlonal vlew t~ken alon~ th~
lines 8-8 o~ FI~UR~ 7.
FI~UR~ 9 1~ a p~rtlal ~ctional vlew Or a modi~ica~lon o~ ~he open top draln of thls inventlon~

Description o~ the Pre~erred_Embodiment Rererring to FIG~RÆS 1 and 2~ the pre~erred embodl~ent Or thla lnventlon comprl~es a corrugated helioal lock ~eam pipe 1 having a plurality o~ longitudinally ~51 spaced openi~gs 2 ~ormed in the upper side o~ the pipe 1.
Corrugated hellcal pipe~ or culYert~ are well known and are made from a contlnuous strip Or metal, suoh a~

I~

~3~3~

; ~teel, whlch i8 rlr~t corrugate~ and then helically bent to form a oy}lnder wlth ~he oppo~n~ edge~ o~ ~he steel strip ~olned together b~ a lo~k ~eam 3 or by weldin~. While we , prefer to use a corrugated helical lock ~eam plpe 1 rOr our 5 1 lnvention, annuls~ly corrugated or even ~mooth walle~
cyllndr~cal p~pe could be u~ed ~or our ln~ention al30, i~
Il desire~.
il As best illustrated ln FIGU~E ~ ~e pre~er to I reform th~ ~nds 4 o~ the plpe 1 to rorm ~e~eral annular 10 i corrugatlons 5 and a flang~ 6, a~ deserlbed in U.S. Patent ll No. 4,079,614 to Hall, to enable the pipes 1 to be cQrmected lll en~ to end wlth a channel shaped coupling ring 7.
~ de~lred9 lt would not b~ necessary to re~orm ¦~ the ends o~ the pipe 1 as de~cribed above in whioh cas~ any ~ the well known con~ntlonal annular connecting ban~s which engage the corrugatlon~ could be u~ed to connect khe end~ 4 o~ the ptpes 1 togeth~r.
The openlng~ 2 rormsd 1~ the upper ~ide Or the ! pipe 1 of thl~ lnvention exten~ alon~ the longitudlnal axl~
20¦ f pip~ 1 at regular repeatlng inter~als and are pre~erably .. ¦ a pluralitg or longltudinally spaced, longitudlna}ly elon~ated reatangular 810tB~ ~8 be~t ~hown ln FI~UR~ 1 and 2. The ¦ end~ of the alotwllke openlngs 2 termlnate ~hort o~ lock ~ 8~am 3 or ~eld.
25l, In FIaURE 3, ~e illuatrate another embodiment o~
thi~ ~nventlon where the longltudinally spaced openings 2 are a llne o~ punched round perforation~ 8 ln ad~acent valleys o~ t~e corrugatlon~ Or pipe 1.

As contrasted wlth prevlous open top drain~, the longitudinal openings 2 are not contlnuou~ but are dispo6ed at regular repeatlng 1ntervals. Sur~lcient metal remalns between the opening~ 2 to pre~erve the structural integrity 5 ' Or the plpe l.
As be~t illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 4, a se~les o~ cro~sbar~ lO ha~ln~ upwardly and outwardly bent ends ll i are po~tioned across the opening~ 2 in the ~alleya of the Il, corrugations and welded to the outer sur~ace of the p Lpe 1.
lOI~ FIa~E ~ illustrat~s an alternate ~orm o~ cros~bar 1 10' formed rrom a rlat rather than a round bar and we'Lded to the outer ~urrace o~ plpe l acros3 ~he opening 2.
A threaded ~tud 12 i8 welded to the center o~ each I¦ cros3bar lQ ln a vertioal ~081tlon. Stud lO ~erve~ to 15 ¦I po31tlon and retain a metal grate member 13 illuatrated in ¦I FI~URE 6 dlrectly aboYe the openlngs 2 as be~t ~hown in ¦~ FIQURE~ 7 and 8.
The metal grate member 13 can be o~ varlou~
il shape~ and ~orm~ but ~hould be suf~lciently strong to 20 1, ~upport ~ehlole loadB. We prerer to ~abrlcate the grate , member 13 in a rectangular ~hape as shown ln FIGURE 6 ustng a plurallty of parallel ~lat bearing bar8 14 ~et on edge whlch are spaced and ~astened together by a pair Or roun~
~pacer bars 15.
As ~hown ln FIGURE 6~ a pln 20 i~ welded to the end bearlng bar 14 o~ one grat~ member 13 to engage a mating opening 21 ln the end bearing bar 14 o~ the adJacent grate member whlch when engaged and ~upported by horizontal support bars 22 prevent the ends o~ the gate members 13 ~rom de~lectlng under ~ehicle loads.

~.3~

FI~URES 7 and 8 lllustrate the open top dralnage plpe 1 o~ thiY, lnvention pl~ced in a typical concr~te pavement 1~ . A~ ~hown ln the~e FI~URES 7 and 8 3 the kop ~urface of ~rate member 13 1~ po~itioned flush wlth the 5 ~ ace Or p~e~Dent 16 ~nd i~ held in place on ~tud 12 with a hold-down clip 17 and a nut 18 . At the ends ~ a lon~ bolt Il 23 and a botto~ retentlon clip 71~ whîch i3 lock~d in th~
Il openlng 2 by nut 24 Garl be used to retaln and 8upport; the I en~ o~ ~;rate 13~ ese ~a~tenlng arran~;ement~ permit, the 10 ~ qulck and ea~y remo~ral oX tbe grat~ m~mber 13 ~or cle~aning, 1, malnt~nance and ~epalr~.
i FI~URES 4,, 5 and 9 îllu~trate an expendable wooden or plastlc rorm 19 used to protect the drainage pipe 1 Or ~ thiB invention ~urlng lnstallatlon Rn~ ko as~l~t in the 1~ placing o~ th~ concrete pavement 16 aroun~ t~e pipe 1. A~
~hown 1n FI~U}~ 4, the form 19 1~ trapdezoldal in shELpe with it~ bot~om approximately th3 wPdth o~ the opening~ 2 ln p~Lpe 1 and the top approximately the wl~th o~ grat~ member 13.
Form 19 i~ tempor~rily held in p~ace durlng ~he 24 installatlon o~ the plpe by a nut 18 atta~hed to ~tud 12.
~he bottom o~ ~orm 19 i8 sealed around open1ng~ 2 by notching th~ bottom Or ~he rorm to con~orm to the shape o~ the ~or-ru~;ations or by the use of a~ ela~tomerlc ¢aulklng ma~erlal, to preYent leakage Or wet concrete into the plpe 1. When the concrete pavement 16 has cured" ~orm 19 18 remoYed and ¦ dlscarded an~ grate member 13 1~ put into plac2 and ~ecured to stud 12 by hold-do~m clip 17 and r.ut 18 a preYlously de~cribed. Form 19 assures the proper opening ~ n the i I

l~ --7_ , I eoncrete pavement 1~ ~or the grating memb r 13 atld further in~ures the proper ~ertlcal Rpacin~; of the grate member 13 I relative to the op~ning~ 2 ln pipe 1.
Ths upwardly and outwardly bent end~ 11 o~ the 5 1I cro~B barA 10 become lmbedded in the concre'ce paYement 16 ¦I dur1 ng its pourlng and ser~.re to an~hor the plpe 1 to the I pa~eme%lt and prevent any rotational or ot}~er movement of the I plpe 1 wh~n ln u~e.
~1 A~ ~hown ln FIGtJR~; 13 the plpe 1 Or thls in~e~ntlon 10 1~ ha~ the openings ~ on ~h~ Upp~rI1108t; ~ide to permit the entry o~ a~e wat~r lnto the plpe 1 with the re~ o~ the plpe . I ~r~e o~ p~r~oratlorls. In some ca~e~ where the open top pipe drain of thi~ ln~ention wlll b~ u~d ln location~ havlrlg a ¦ high ground ~at~r tabl~, it will be u~ul and de~irabl~ to 15 I alao have perforation~ in th~ lower side~ and bo~tom o~ the plpe 1 to permit the ln~low o~ the groun~ ~ater and to pr*~enb a~y tenden~y o~ the plp~ 1 to float out o~ the grolmd~
I

. . .
', --8-- .
1, 1 i, ., ,1 1

Claims (3)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A culvert having a corrugated cylindrical wall, said wall having seams parallel to the corrugations and having a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart longitudinally elongated rectangular openings disposed at regular repeating intervals in a line along the top of said culvert for the entry of water, said openings being separated longitudinally from each other by curved portions of said corrugated cylindrical wall each of which includes at least one corrugation and a seam, the bottom and sides of said culvert wall being essentially free of openings.

2. The culvert of Claim 1 having a removable grate member spaced vertically above said openings.

3. The culvert of Claim 1 or Claim 2, having a plurality of anchor members, each anchor member having a curved portion extending obliquely across said openings and secured to the bottom of a corrugation valley on either side of said openings and having two end portions projecting upwardly and outwardly away from the outer surface of the wall of said culvert.