US1744266A - Sewer-flushing device - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 21, 1930. R. c. HALYBURTON 1,744,256

SEWER FLUSHING DEVICE Filed Feb. 11, 1928 INVENTOR.

ff K V/Q/ME %NEY Patented Jan. 21, 1930 UNITE s ATES PATENT QFFICE ROY C. HALYBURTON, 0F LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR T0 CHARLES R. LION,

' OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA SEWER-FLUSHING DEVICE Application filed February 11, 1928.

This invention relates to sewer flushing devices and is particularly directed to that general class of device which automatically functions to periodically efiect a flushing of 5 the sewer.

A device of this general character comprises a flushing well having a valved outlet com municating with the sewer conduit to be flushed, said valve being arrangedto be automatically opened by a tripping mechanism controlled by a predeterminedhead of water which is permitted to flow into the well at a predetermined rate. The water in the well, when it reaches a predetermined level flows into a tripping pan or bucket, which when it receives a suflicient quantity of water to overbalance the weight of the valve, serves to opensaid valve to allow the main. body of water to flow into the sewer conduit, thereby flushing the sewer.

In a construction in which the valve is of the submerged type, that is with the valve located at or near the bottom of the flushing well, the valve is urged to closed position not only by its own weight but by the weight of the water above the valve. It will be understood that for any given ratio between the weight of the valve and the capacity of the bucket, the valve will not open if the main body of water in the well has a depth which is greater than a predetermined maximum. and while it is realized that the capacity of the bucket could be increased to overcome the static pressure of a body of water of any reasonable depth, there is however a limit to the size of bucket which may be used in con nection with standard sewer systems, such limit being due to lack of space in the well to install a large bucket and due to the prohibitive cost of manufacture of a large bucket which must necessarily be made of relatively expensive non-corrosive material.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a sewer flushing device of the general character above referred to, in which, with a given size of valve and a given relative capacity of actuating bucket, the valve will open against a greater static pressure head, thus enabling the employment of a body of flushing fluid of greater depth than Serial No. 253,576.

heretofore employed in devices of this submerged valve character, and'in which the static pressure of the outrushing water tends to assist in the opening of the valve and in maintaining the valve open until the well is emptied.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a valve and valve seat construction in which the valve ring cannot spread and in which the action of the valve tends to maintain said ring in place.

Various other objects and advantages will be more fully apparent from the following description of the accompanying drawing which illustrates a preferred form of embodiment of the invention and which form a part of this disclosure.

Of the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section disclosing the flushing device mounted for operation within a well of a sewerage system.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detailview showing the valve in its closed position.

In the drawings, 10 designates a well of any particular design, communicating with a pit 11 which communicates with a sewer conduit 12. The top of the well has a manhole ring 13 closed by an inner man-hole cover 14 and an outer man-hole cover 15 preferably located approximately level with the street.

Leading into the well near its top, is a water pipe 16 provided with a valve 17 which may be conveniently reached from the manhole and be regulated to permit water to flow into the well at any desired rate.

Mounted between the well 10 and the pit 11 is a false bottom plate 18, preferably formed of wood which has been treated with asphalt or other suitable material to render it water tight, said bottom plate being preferably caulked in a metal frame 19 which is securely anchored in the masonry of the well. This bottom plate 18 forms a support for the entire mechanism of the device and has an opening 20 therein constituting a discharge port establishing direct communication be tween the well and the sewer conduit. An annular valve seat member 21 is secured in said opening 20 by screws 22 and co-operating with said seat is a bell-shaped valve 23 having a valve ring 24 preferably formed of rubber and adapted to engage sa1d seat memher when the valve is closed.

Connected with the upper end of the valve 23 is a rod 25 which extends upwardly and is pivotally connected to one end of a walking-beam 26. Said walking-beam 26 is pivotally supported between its ends on a pivot pin 27 carried by an arm which is vertically adjustable on a tubular standard 29, said standard being hollow throughout its height and provided near its lower end with an annular flange 30 by which it is secured to the upper surface of the bottom plate 18, by suitable bolts 31. This standard has a depending skirt 32 which extends through a hole in said bottom plate and is provided with an overflow pipe 33 which is screwthreaded into the wall of the standard so as to be swung radially in relation to its mounting to raise or lower its outer open end and vary the maximum level of the body of water in the well.

A downwardly extending bracket 34 is secured to the under surface of the bottom plate 18 by suitable means and an actuating pan or b'ucl-zet 35 is provided with hinge lugs 36 pivotally connected to said bracket at 37, so that said bucket is pivotally supported within the pit 11 below the tubular standard 29. Extending upwardly from the horizontal portion of the floor of the bucket 37 is an ear 38 to which is pivotally connected the lower end of a rod 39. lhis rod extends upwardly through the tubular standard 29 and is pivotally connected at 40 with the walkingbeam 26.

' The floor of the'bueket tapers upwardly to a point close to the upper edges of the side walls of the bucket and a cover plate 41 is secured to said side wallsand to the floor of the bucket and extends from one side wall across to the other and rearwardly substantially one-half the length of the bucket. Near the outer endof the bucket the floor thereof:

is provided with a drain opening 42, the purpose of the cover plate being to retain the water in the bucket a suflicient length of time to insure a complete opening ot the valve and the purpose of the drain opening being to perinit the water to drain from the bucket after the completion of the flushing operation, so the bucket may be then returned to normal positionby the weight of the valve.

A bracket 43 extends laterally from the standard 29 and surrounds the rod 25=so as to guide said rod and the valve during the operation of the mechanism.

,While the valves of devices of the type herein referred to are guided in their movements, such guide means allow some lateral play in'order that the mechanism may move freely and sees to do away with the necessity of close machining of the parts. 'F or this reason it is desirable to' employ a tapered valve seat in order that the valve may, in a measure, be self centering as it closes. In practice it is very seldom that the valve drops directly to seating position, it being a more frequent occurrence for one point of the valve ring to strike the seat first.

In the construction herein disclosed, the valve seat 45 is formed on the top edge of the valve of the valve seat member 21 and tapers inwardly and upwardly, and the rubber valve ring 24 is embedded in a groove 46 in the under surface of the valve, which groove defines a depending outer lip 47 and a depending inner lip 48 somewhat shorter than said outer lip, the lower seating surface of the valve ring being tapered inwardly-and upwardly to correspond with the taper off the valve seat. With this arrangement any pounding of the valve upon its seat'tends to compress the ring into its confining groove instead of causing it to expand, it being evident that the outer lip 47 effectively prevents any expanding of the valve ring.

The seat portion of the valve seat member 21 extends upwardly above the upper surface of the bottom plate 18 and this dis sition of the sea-t together with the inwar ly and upwardly tapered valve ring has a very important function contributing to the ease of operating of the valve. In a flushing device of this general character, any pronounced suction influence which is created by the outrushing water and which tends to prematurely reseat thevalve, is very detrimental, and for this reason I have arranged the present construction in such a manner that such suction influence on the valve is reversed, and will with the static pressure of the water, assist in maintaining the valve open, that is, the outrushing water is first directed upwardly by the upstanding valve seat to impinge upon the lower surface of the valve and valve ring, thustending to open the valve and maintain it open so longl as the water is discharging and consequent y any suctioninfluence present will be exerted inwardly and upwardly in the same path past the valve seat and lower surface of the valve ring and the valve and for this reason will tend to elevate the valve. Inwardly towards the center of the valve the water and the suction influence will again reverse and be directed downwardly through the valve opening 20 but herethey have little influence upon the valve itself.

By actual tests it has been found that this arrangement will produce a sewer flushing device, having given relative sizes of valve and bucket, which will operate positively and with little appreciable wear of the valve ring, in a body of water of one-third greater maximum depth than similar devices heretofore employed and using a valve and a bucket of similar'relative sizes.

In operation, the well is filled with water from the supply pipe 16. As the valve 23 is seated, the level of the water will gradually rise until it has reached the outer intake end of the overflow pipe 33. When the water reaches this point, it Will overflow into said overflow pipe and downwardly into the tubular standard 29 to discharge into the bucket 35. This bucket will gradually fill and when the Weight of water therein is sufficient to overcome the weight of the Valve and its connections, the bucket will be lowered and the valve will be raised to release the water in the well, whereupon said water will rush through the valve opening into the pit 11 and into the sewer conduit to effect a flushing of the sewer. W'hen the well and the pit are empty, the water remaining in the bucket will drain through the drain opening 42 and when said bucket is empty the mechanism will return to normal position, for a repetition of the operation.

From the above it should be evident that the employment of a raised tubular valve seat tapered inwardly and upwardly and cooperating with a similarly tapered valve ring and with the valve ring confined against expansion, constitutes a radical departure from and a marked improvement over the constructions heretofore employed in devices of this general character, and that the construction herein disclosed provides a device in which the static pressure of the discharging water and the suction created by its discharge serve to assist in the opening of the valve, thus distinguishing from the prior art devices in which the static pressure and the suction act to defeat the opening of the valve.

While the specific form of mechanism herein illustrated and described is fully capable of fulfilling all of the objects primarily stated, it is to be understood that I do not wish to limit the invention in this regard for it is susceptible of embodiment in various other forms, all coming within the scope of the claims, which follow.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a sewer flushing device, the combination of: a well adapted to contain a body of flushing fluid and having an outlet communicating with a sewer; a tubular member surrounding said outlet ancl having an annular upwardly projecting wall, the top edge of which is formed to provide an annular valve seat; a non-buoyant valve having a lower valve seat engaging surface adapted to engage said member only on the valve seat at its top edge, to close said outlet; and means for opening said valve to permit a discharge of said flushing fluid into said sewer, the discharge of said fluid being first directed upwardly by said annular wall to impinge against the lower surface of the valve.

2. In a sewer flushing device, the combination of: a well adapted to contain a body of flushingfluid and having an outlet communicating with a sewer; a tubular member surrounding said outlet and having an annular upwardly projecting wall, the top edge of which is slightly angled inwardly and upwardly to provide an annular beveled valve seat; a non-buoyant valve having a lower valve seat engaging surface adapted to engage said member only on the valve seat at its top edge, to close said outlet; and means for opening said valve to permit a discharge of said flushing fluid into said sewer, the discharge of said fluid being first directed upwardly by said annular wall to impinge against the lower surface of the valve.

3. In a sewer flushing device, the combination of: a well adapted to contain a body of flushing fluid and having an outlet communicating with a sewer; a tubular member surrounding said outlet and having an annular upwardly projecting wall, the top edge of which is slightly angled inwardly and upwardly to provide an annular beveled valve seat; a non-buoyant valve member adapted to close said outlet, said valve member having a valve ring confined in a groove in its lower surface and said valve ring having its lower valve seat engaging surface correspondingly beveled and adapted to engage said member only on the valve seat at its top edge; and means for opening said valve to permit a discharge of said fluid into said sewer, the discharge of said fluid being first directed upwardly by said annular wall to impinge against the lower surfaces of said valve member and said ring.

4:. In a sewer flushing device, the combination of: a well adapted to contain a body of flushing fluid and having an outlet communicating with a sewer; a tubular member surrounding said outlet and having an annular upwardly projecting wall, the top edge of which is formed to provide an annular beveled valve seat; a non-buoyant valve member adapted to close said outlet, said valve member having a valve ring confined in a groove in its lower surface with the lower surface of said valve ring disposed to engage said member only on the valve seat at its top edge; and means for opening said valve to permit a discharge of said fluid into said sewer, the discharge of said fluid being first directed upwardly by said annular wall to impinge against the lower surfaces of said valve member and said ring.

5. In a sewer flushing device, the combination of: a well adapted to contain a body of flushing fluid and having an outlet communicating with a sewer; a tubular member surrounding said outlet and having an annular upwardly projecting wall, the top edge of which is formed to provide an annular valve seat; a non-buoyant hollow bell-shaped valve member having an annular groove cut in its lower surface; a valve ring confined in said groove and adapted to engage said member only on the valve seat at its top edge, to close said outlet; and means for opening said valve to permit a discharge of said fluid into said sewer, the discharge of saidfluid being first directed upwardly by said annular wall to impinge against the lower surfaces of said valve member and said valve ring.

6. In a sewer flushing device, the combination of: a well adapted to contain a body of flushing fluid and having an outlet communieating with a sewer; a tubular member surrounding said outlet and having an annular upwardly projecting wall. the top edge of which is slightly angledinwar-dly and upwardly to provide an annular beveled valve seat; a non-buoyant hollow bell-shaped valve member having an annular groove cut in its lower surface; a valve ring confined in said groove, said valve ring having its lower valve seat engaging surface correspondingly beveled and adapted to engage said member only on the valve seat at its. top edge, to close said outlet; and means for opening said valve to permit a discharge of said fluid into said sewer, the discharge of said fluid being first directed upwardly by said annular Wall to impinge against the lower surface of said valve member and said valve ring.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, Galifornia, this 14th day of November, 1927. a

ROY C. HALYBURTON.

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