EP2201187B1

EP2201187B1 - Pipe member

Info

Publication number: EP2201187B1
Application number: EP08834877.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Per Thorsson
Original assignee: Bls Industries AB; Bls Ind AB
Current assignee: Bls Industries AB
Priority date: 2007-10-03
Filing date: 2008-10-02
Publication date: 2017-03-29
Anticipated expiration: 2028-10-02
Also published as: SE0702218L; WO2009045164A1; EP2201187A1; EP2201187A4; SE531476C2

Description

Background to the invention

The present invention relates to a pipe member. The pipe member comprises an inlet portion for connection to a drain from, for example, a washbasin or the like, an outlet portion for connection to a drain system for draining preferably water from the washbasin or the like, and a transition portion between the inlet portion and the outlet portion. The transition portion comprises at least one interception means for gathering foreign objects in wastewater from the washbasin or the like.
Foreign objects such as toothpicks or fragments thereof, ear cleaners known as "buds", and applicators for cosmetics, but also, for example, earrings, are often dropped into the outlet of the washbasin or the like. These foreign objects are easily washed further into the drain system, which they risk obstructing, leading to troublesome and expensive cleaning operations. There is of course also risk of earrings and the like being permanently lost.
Interception means in many different versions have therefore been used with the object of intercepting such objects before they are washed down into the drain system, but such interception means have tended to be soon obstructed by objects becoming stuck in them.
US 2,467,143 discloses a strainer of the type adapted to be placed in pipe lines for the removal of pipe scale or other solid matter from flowing liquids vapours or gasses.

Brief summary of the invention

An object of the present invention is therefore to propose a pipe member as above with an improved interception means which not only eliminates the risks indicated above but also prevents the interception means from becoming obstructed.
The present invention relates to a pipe member in accodance with claim 1.
This version of the interception means of the pipe member not only affords the abovementioned advantages but also makes it possible, without much effort, to clean away foreign objects gathered in the interception means. If the foreign object or objects cannot be cleaned away directly, the pipe member is easy to remove for cleaning of the interception means.
Other objects and advantages of the pipe member according to the invention will be apparent to one skilled in the art, who examines the attached drawings and the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the pipe member.

Brief description of the drawings

Fig. 1 depicts schematically a pipe member according to the present invention after connection to an outlet from a washbasin and connection to a drain system for draining water from the washbasin.
Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the pipe member with an adaptor and an airlock.
Fig. 3 is a schematic longitudinal section through the parts according to Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the pipe member with an adaptor and an airlock.
Fig. 5 is a schematic longitudinal section through the parts according to Fig. 4.

Detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention

The pipe member 1 according to the present invention is intended to be connected to an outlet 2 from preferably a washbasin 3 or the like (see Fig. 1).
The pipe member 1 comprises for the purpose an inlet portion 4 with substantially the same shape and size of flow cross-section as the outlet 2.
The pipe member 1 is further intended to be connected to a drain system for draining, for example, water from the washbasin or the like. The drain system is represented in Fig. 1 by an outlet pipe 5 which in the version depicted is connected via a pipe sleeve 6 with a gasket to the pipe member 1 as a result of the outlet pipe and the pipe member being quite simply pushed into the pipe sleeve.
The pipe member 1 comprises for the connection to the drain system an outlet portion 7 with substantially the same shape and size of flow cross-section as the drain system (the outlet pipe 5).
Finally, the pipe member 1 comprises a transition portion 8 between, and joining together, the inlet portion 4 and the outlet portion 7 so that water from the washbasin 3 or the like, can flow from the pipe member's inlet portion 4 to its outlet portion 7.
With the object of preventing foreign objects such as toothpicks, ear cleaning buds, earrings etc. from being washed further into and obstructing the drain system, with said consequent troublesome and expensive cleaning operations, and to preventing certain of these objects, which may be valuable, from becoming lost, the transition portion 8 has at least one interception means 9 for gathering foreign objects in wastewater from the washbasin 3 or the like. The present invention has nevertheless also to be so configured that it is not quickly obstructed by very small particles such as grains of sand, hairs etc.
For the purposes indicated, the interception means 9 comprises a wall portion 11 which is wholly or partly provided with apertures 10 through it, which protrudes wholly or partly into the transition portion 8 and which allows wastewater from the washbasin 3 or the like, but not foreign objects accompanying it, to pass through. The wall portion 11 provided with apertures 10 protrudes into the transition portion 8 substantially across and/or obliquely against and/or substantially directly against the direction of wastewater flow through the transition portion. The wall portion 11 may therefore run in many different ways in the transition portion 8. It may for example comprise a straight element protruding into the transition portion 8 across the direction of wastewater flow through the transition portion. It may for example comprise a curved member progressively deflecting against the direction of wastewater flow. It may alternatively comprise an element bent to substantially 90° which runs initially across the direction of flow and thereafter directly against the direction of flow. The apertures 10 in the wall portion 11 may be of any suitable shape. In the version depicted in the drawings, the wall portion 11 is wholly or partly grating-like and the apertures 10 are therefore elongate.
In the version of the pipe member 1 depicted in the drawings, the inlet portion 4 of the pipe member runs substantially vertically from the outlet 2 of the washbasin 3 or the like, and the transition portion 8 with the interception means 9 is so configured that the outlet portion 7 of the pipe member is caused to run at an angle relative to the inlet portion, preferably, as in the drawings, substantially horizontally, to said drain system 5 for draining wastewater from the washbasin or the like.
In the version of the pipe member 1 depicted in the drawings, the interception means 9 also comprises in the transition portion 8 of the pipe member a pocket 12 in which foreign objects in the wastewater can be gathered without hindering or preventing the flow of wastewater from the washbasin 3 or the like through the pipe member, i.e. the pocket is open upstream against the direction of wastewater flow through the pipe member. As viewed in the direction of wastewater flow, the pocket 12 is formed in the transition portion 8 externally to, e.g. lower than, the throughflow surface of the outlet portion 7 in cases where, as in the drawings, the outlet portion runs substantially horizontally. The pocket 12 is delineated internally, at the top in the version depicted, by the wall portion 11 which is wholly or partly provided with apertures 10. The wall portion 11 constitutes substantially an extension into the transition portion 8, i.e. an extension upstream, against the direction of wastewater flow through the pipe member 1, of part of the outlet portion 7, e.g., in the version depicted, a lower portion 7a of the outlet portion.
In the version depicted in the drawings, the interception means 9 finally comprises also a protrusion 13 in the transition portion 8 of the pipe member. The protrusion 13 protrudes into the transition portion 8 to delineate the throughflow surface of the transition portion and to guide foreign objects in wastewater from the washbasin 3 or the like into the interception means 9. The protrusion 13 protrudes into the transition portion 8 from what is seen in the direction of wastewater flow or in a longitudinal section through the pipe member as an opposite side 8a of the transition portion relative to the side 8b thereof in which said pocket 12 is formed. The protrusion 13 and the wholly or partly grating-like wall portion 11 form an angle relative to one another.
The interception means 9 may also in any version of it be so configured that it can be unfastened and removed from the pipe member 1, e.g. for cleaning.
The inlet portion 4 of the pipe member 1 is configured to allow it to be connected by an adaptor 14 for connection to some other shape and/or size of outlet 2 from the washbasin 3 or the like. The adaptor comprises in a preferred version depicted a first element 14a for fitting on the inlet portion 4 of the pipe member 1, a second element 14b and a gasket 14c. The first element 14a has an internal thread with which an external thread on the second element 14b is caused to cooperate, while an internal thread on the second element is formed according to the size of the outlet 2 of the washbasin 3 or the like, for firm screwing of the pipe member 1 to the outlet. The adaptor 14 may also take some other form than that described above.
Correspondingly, the outlet portion 7 of the pipe member 1 may be configured to allow it to be connected by an adaptor (not depicted) for connection to some other shape and/or size of drain system 5. This adaptor may be of the same shape as, or of some other shape than, the adaptor 14 above.
The pipe member 1 has a seat 15 for detachable fitting therein of a tubular airlock 16. The seat 15 for the airlock 16 is disposed, for example, downstream of the interception means 9 in the direction of wastewater flow. In the version depicted in the drawings, the seat 15 is thus situated in the outlet portion 7 of the pipe member 1 but may within the scope of the invention be disposed elsewhere in the pipe member. The airlock 16 comprises in the version depicted a substantially tubular outer element 17 and a blocking means 18 fitted detachably in the outer element. An airlock of this type is described and illustrated in more detail in patent application SE 0701803-9 and is therefore not described in more detail here.
The pipe member 1 further has a guide means 19 for correctly fitting (see for example Fig. 5) the airlock 16 in said seat 15. Said guide means 19 is, for example, situated, precisely like the airlock 16, on the outlet portion 7 of the pipe member 1 for correct fitting of the airlock in the seat 15 in the outlet portion and takes the form, as in the drawings, of, for example, a peripheral protrusion 20 which, when the airlock 16 is fitted in the seat 15, is caused to cooperate with a correspondingly shaped peripheral hollow 21 in the tubular outer element 17 of the tubular airlock. The guide means 19 may also be fitted elsewhere in the pipe member 1 if so desired.
It will be obvious to one skilled in the art that, beyond what is indicated above, the pipe member according to the present invention can be modified and altered within the scope of the claims set out below without departing from the idea and object of the invention. Thus the pipe member may be of any shape and/or size suitable for the purpose and be made of any suitable material. The pipe member may be situated at any suitable location between the washbasin or the like and the drain system. The pipe member may be connected to other sanitary appliances with outlets, e.g. water-free urinals, in which there is a need to gather foreign objects which appear in wastewater and/or flushing water, e.g. as a result of having been dropped in the water. The pipe member may be made wholly or partly of plastic or metal.

Claims

A pipe member (1) comprising
an inlet portion (4) for connection to an outlet (2) from preferably a washbasin (3) or the like,
an outlet portion (7) for connection to a drain system (5) for draining preferably water from the washbasin (3) or the like, and
a transition portion (8) between the inlet portion (4) and the outlet portion (7), in which the transition portion (8) has at least one interception means (9) for gathering foreign objects in wastewater from the washbasin (3) or the like, and
in which the interception means (9) comprises
a wall portion (11) which is provided wholly or partly with apertures (10) through it which allows wastewater from the washbasin (3) or the like, but not foreign objects accompanying it, to pass through,
characterized in that the wall portion (11) protrudes wholly or partly into the transition portion (8) substantially across and/or obliquely against and/or substantially directly against the direction of wastewater flow through the transition portion,
wherein the interception means (9) further comprises a pocket (12) in which foreign objects in the wastewater can be gathered without hindering or preventing the flow of wastewater from the washbasin (3) or the like through the pipe member, which pocket is configured externally about the throughflow surface of the outlet portion (7) and is formed, as seen in the direction of wastewater flow, in the transition portion (8) below the throughflow surface of the outlet portion (7) and is delineated at the top by the wall portion (11) wholly or partly provided with apertures (10), which wall portion constitutes substantially an extension into the transition portion of part, preferably a lower portion (7a), of the outlet portion (7), and
a protrusion (13) which protrudes into the transition portion (8) from what in the direction of wastewater flow is seen as the opposite side (8a) of the transition portion relative to the side (8b) thereof in which said pocket (12) is formed to delineate the throughflow surface of the transition portion and to guide foreign objects in wastewater from the washbasin (3) or the like into said pocket (12).
A pipe member (1) according to claim 1,
in which the inlet portion (4) of the pipe member (1) runs substantially vertically from the outlet (2) of the washbasin (3) or the like, and
in which the transition portion (8) with the interception means (9) is so configured that the outlet portion (7) of the pipe member (1) is caused to run at an angle relative to the inlet portion (4), preferably substantially horizontally, to said drain system (5) for draining wastewater from the washbasin (3) or the like.
A pipe member (1) according to claim 1 or 2, in which said wall portion (11) is wholly or partly grating-like.
A pipe member (1) according to any one of the above claims, in which the inlet portion (4) of the pipe member is configured to allow the connection thereto of an adaptor (14) for connection to some other shape and/or size of outlet (2) from a washbasin (3) or the like.
A pipe member (1) according to any one of the above claims, in which the pipe member has a seat (15) for detachably fitting therein a tubular airlock (16).
A pipe member (1) according to claim 5, in which the seat (15) for the airlock (16) is disposed, as seen in the direction of wastewater flow, downstream of the interception means (9).
A pipe member (1) according to claim 5 or 6, in which the pipe member has at least one guide means (19) for correctly fitting the airlock (16) in said seat (15).
A pipe member (1) according to any one of the above claims, in which the outlet portion (7) of the pipe member has a seat (15) for detachably fitting therein a tubular airlock (16).
A pipe member (1) according to claim 8, in which the outlet portion (7) of the pipe member has at least one guide means (19) for correctly fitting the airlock (16) in said seat (15) in said outlet portion.
A pipe member (1) according to claim 9, in which the guide means (19) takes the form of a peripheral protrusion (20) which, when the airlock (16) is fitted in said seat (15), is caused to cooperate with a correspondingly shaped peripheral hollow (21) in the tubular airlock.
A pipe member (1) according to any one of the above claims, in which the outlet portion (7) of the pipe member is also configured to allow the connection thereto of an adaptor (14) for connection to some other shape and/or size of drain system (5).
A pipe member (1) according to any one of the above claims, in which the interception means (9) is disposed detachably in the transition portion (8) of the pipe member.