JP2001262633A - Rainwater storage tank - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To ensure rainwater with less impurities by storing rainwater in a water tank after a short time elapses from a start of rain-fall. SOLUTION: An intake pipe 12 is made to branch in the horizontal direction from a middle part of a leader led from a roof, and the front thereof is led to the water tank 14. A valve casing 22 is provided to a part of the intake pipe branching from leader, a plate-like valve 24 is pivoted in the valve casing with a pin 26 in a rotatable manner. A coil spring 30 is extended between the upper surface of the valve 24 and an inside fixed point 28 of the intake pipe 12, the valve 24 is approximately vertically erected by force of the coil spring, and an opening of a lower leader 10b is maintained in an opening state. A string 32 is bound to the lower surface of the valve 24, the string is pulled out from an outlet 34 provided to the lower leader 10b, and a small water container 36 is hung down to the end of the string 32.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rainwater tank for collecting rainwater falling on a roof and using the collected rainwater as miscellaneous water.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art If rainwater that has fallen on a roof is collected and used for various purposes such as watering in a garden, water resources can be effectively used, and water bills can be reduced. However, the rainwater contains dust floating in the air or accumulated on the roof, and is difficult to use as it is depending on the application. Therefore, in the conventional rainwater tank, a settling tank is provided by partitioning the inside of the tank, where impurities are settled, and clean water flows over the partition into the next section. But with such a device,
Heavy impurities can be removed, but light ones do not precipitate and cannot be removed. In addition, the structure becomes complicated, and the manufacturing cost increases.

[0003]

It has been found that impurities contained in rainwater are large in rain at the beginning of falling and gradually decrease thereafter. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to store rainwater after a short period of time has passed since the start of rainfall so that rainwater with less impurities can be secured.

[0004]

[Means for Solving the Problems] A lower downspout is extended with a valve box interposed between an upper downspout through which rainwater flowing down to the roof flows,
The water intake pipe is branched from the valve box in the horizontal direction, and the tip of the water intake pipe is led to the water tank. A valve to open and close the lower downspout opening in the valve box,
A biasing means such as a spring for biasing the valve to an open state is provided. A link such as a string is guided to the outside from the valve, a water container is hung therefrom, and an outlet for flowing rainwater flowing in the downspout into the container is provided in the lower downspout (claim 1).

When it starts to rain, rainwater flows down from the roof through the upper downspout. Since the valve in the valve box is normally biased open, the rainwater flows down the lower downspout as it is. At that time, rainwater flows out of the lower downspout from the outlet and accumulates in the water container. Thus, when the water in the water container gradually increases and accumulates in a predetermined amount, the valve is linked by its weight, and the valve closes the mouth of the lower downspout. When this happens, the rainwater will now flow towards the intake pipe and will fall into the aquarium and collect.

As described above, in the apparatus according to the present invention, the dirty rainwater that has begun to fall is allowed to flow into the sewage or the like as it is, and only rain that has continued for a while and has reduced impurities is introduced into the water tank. Can be stored. Therefore, a thing like a sedimentation tank is unnecessary and can be provided at low cost. In addition, since this device does not require a power supply, there is an effect that it can be easily installed in a garden or the like.

[0007] A variety of valve structures are conceivable.
The valve may be formed in a plate shape and pivotally supported in the valve box (claim 2). Alternatively, the valve may be formed in a ball shape and housed movably in the valve box (claim 3). Both structures are simple and reliable in operation.
Note that the valve box may be square or cylindrical.

In this apparatus, rain falling down the inner surface of the downspout is collected in a water container, and the valve is closed by the weight of the accumulated water, but the gutter is circulated along the inner surface of the downspout. In this case, the rainwater can be collected at the outlet without escaping, poured into the water container, and the valve can be reliably closed (claim 4).

It is preferable that the overflow pipe through which water overflows from the water tank when the amount of rainfall is large rise from the lower part of the water tank and be guided to the downspout. In this case, the sediment accumulated at the bottom of the water tank is discharged from the overflow pipe together with the water, so that clean water can be supplied.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a downspout led from a roof, from which a water pipe 12 is branched in the horizontal direction, and the branch is led to a water tank 14. Aquarium lid 14a
A cage-type strainer 16 is suspended from the lower surface of the, so that trash that flows together with rainwater is captured.

The overflow pipe 1 is located near the bottom of the water tank 14.
8 is connected to the downspout 10. A hole 18a is made in the lower part of the overflow pipe 18 so that water can be sucked into the pipe from here. A water tap 20 is provided below the water tank 14.

A valve box 22 having a rectangular cross section is provided at a portion where the intake pipe branches from the downspout. FIG. 2 shows the inside of the valve box. A plate-like valve 24 is pivotally supported on the valve box by a pin 26 so as to be rotatable. A coil spring 30 is extended between the upper surface of the valve 24 and the inner surface fixing point 28 of the water intake pipe 12, and the force of this spring causes the valve 24 to stand almost vertically, keeping the opening of the lower downspout 10b open.

On the other hand, a string 32 is connected to the lower surface of the valve 24,
The string is pulled out from an outlet 34 provided in the lower downspout 10b, and a small water container 36 is hung above the string 32. A gutter 38 is provided on the inner surface of the lower downspout so that water flows toward the outlet 34.

When rain begins to rain, rainwater flows down from the roof through the upper downspout 10a. The valve 24 is urged by the spring 30 so as to be in a standing state, and the mouth of the lower downspout 10b is open, so that rainwater flows down the lower downspout 10b as it is,
It is discharged to sewage. When flowing through the downspout 10, most of the rainwater flows down along the inner surface of the pipe, so that the rainwater enters the downspout 38 wrapped around the inner surface of the downspout, and the outlet 3
4 and sent out from the outlet (A in FIG. 2).
-A section). The rainwater that has flowed out of the spill hole accumulates in the water container 36. When the water in the water container gradually increases and accumulates in a predetermined amount, the string 32 is pulled by its weight, and the valve 24 rotates around the pin 26 to be horizontal as indicated by a chain line in FIG. The mouth of the lower downspout 10b is closed. Reference numeral 40 denotes a gasket packing in contact with the valve 24. When this happens, the rainwater flowing through the upper downspout 10a flows toward the intake pipe 12 and accumulates in the water tank 14. Large debris contained in the rainwater is removed by the cage strainer 16.

When the rain continues to fall and the water tank 14 becomes full, water in the tank enters the overflow pipe 18 through the hole 18a and flows down to the lower downspout 10b. The sediment collected at the bottom of the aquarium is also sucked into the overflow pipe together with the water and discharged outside.

In this way, the rainwater accumulated in the water tank can be taken out at any time by twisting the water tap 20.
When the rain stops, the water accumulated in the water container 36 is discarded. By doing so, the valve 24 is opened, and it is possible to prepare for the next rainfall. Since it is easy to forget to discard the water, a very small hole may be formed in the bottom of the water container 36, and the accumulated water may be drained from this hole over time.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment in which the valve is formed in a ball shape. The ball valve 44 is movably accommodated in a valve box, a weight 48 is provided at the end of a string 46 led from the valve, and the weight of the ball valve 44 draws the ball valve toward the water pipe. Another string 32 led from the ball valve 44 is pulled out from the outlet 34 as before, and the water container 36 is hung at the lower end. In this case, the ball valve is usually pulled up by the weight 48, and rainwater freely flows down into the lower downspout 10b. Then, when water accumulates in the water container 36 and the string 32 is pulled, the ball valve closes the mouth of the lower downspout 10b as shown by the chain line. When this happens, the rainwater flows through the intake pipe into the aquarium. The ball valve 44 may have elasticity, for example, like a rubber ball, so that the gasket 40 is not required.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a rainwater tank.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a valve box.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the valve box.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Downspout 10a Upper downspout 10b Lower downspout 12 Intake pipe 14 Water tank 18 Overflow pipe 22 Valve box 24 Valve 30 Spring (biasing means) 32 String (Link) 34 Outlet 36 Water container 38 Gutter 44 Valve 48 Weight Force means)

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A lower downspout extending from a valve box to an upper downspout through which rainwater flowing into a roof flows, and a water pipe is branched from the valve box in a horizontal direction. A valve for opening and closing the mouth of the lower downspout is provided in the valve box, and a biasing means such as a spring for biasing the valve to an open state is provided in the valve box. A rainwater tank in which a water container is suspended and an outlet is provided in the lower vertical gutter for flowing rainwater flowing in the vertical gutter into the container. 2. The rainwater tank according to claim 1, wherein the valve has a plate shape and is rotatably supported in the valve box. 3. The rainwater tank according to claim 1, wherein the valve body is ball-shaped and is movably accommodated in the valve box. 4. The rainwater tank according to claim 1, wherein a gutter for collecting rainwater flowing along the inner surface of the downspout at the outlet is circulated along the inner surface of the downspout. 5. The rainwater tank according to claim 1, wherein an overflow pipe for flowing water overflowing from the water tank is set up from a lower portion of the water tank and led to the downspout.