US3060693A - Dry well forming receptacle - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 30, 1962 Filed Jan. 4, 1960 A. R. TAYLOR DRY WELL FORMING RECEPTACLE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. 30, 1962 A. R. TAYLOR 3,060,693

DRY WELL FORMING RECEPTACLE Filed Jan. 4, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 3,060,693 DRY WELL FORMING RECEPTACLE Arthur R. Taylor, Nashua, N.H., assgnor to Brown Company, Berlin, N.H., a corporation of Maine Filed Jau. 4, 1960, Ser. No. 207 3 Claims. (Cl. 61-13) This invention relates to fluid receptacles and particularly dry wells of the type used to receive a sudden charge of water and to store it temporarily until it seeps into the ground.

In Imany cities it is now illegal to allow rainfall run-off from the roof of a house to ilow into the regular sanitary sewers. Storm sewers, it they exist, are often spaced such a distance away that it involves considerable expense to connect to them. Because of these and other factors it has become a common practice to have rain spouts discharge into dry wells, that is, wells below the surface of the ground which lare normally dry instead of full of water. Where no sanitary sewers exist, the discharge water from washing machines and the like is also very often disposed of in the same way.

The purpose of all such wells is to store water temporarily until it can drain away by scoping slowly into the ground. In order to prevent the soil around the well hole from collapsing, it has been customary to lill it with rocks or large stones before it -is covered. These occupy much of the space in the well itself land thus make it necessary to excavate a volume that greatly exceeds the volume of water the well is to hold. Furthermore, rocks of the proper size are frequently not available at the site and hence must be located and hauled there at considerable bother and expense. Probably the biggest problem with this type of construction, however, is that surrounding sand and dirt frequently wash into the interstices of the well to such an extent that the capacity of the well to store water is impaired.

It is, therefore, one of the principal objects of this invention to provide a simple yet more effective dry well construction.

Another object of the linvention is to provide a dry well construction of lightweight yet strong material, capable of being buried under a substantial amount of earth.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a dry well which requires little maintenance.

Other objects of this invention will be obvious from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a receptacle for use in a dry well according tothe invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2 2 of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 are sectional views taken on lines 3 3, 4 4, and 5 5-, respectively, of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is an isomeric view of a modification of the receptacle of lFIGS. l-S also in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken on line 7 7 of FIG. 6, and

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of another modification in accordance with the invention.

In brief, the objects of this invention are achieved by the formation of a bundle of fiber pipes provided with a cover and adapted to receive a distributing pipe with an inlet for connection to a drain. This combination is particularly suitable for insertion into a round hole of virtually the same circumference as that of the bundle. A pipe connection is then made to the inlet and dirt is iilled in on top for landscaping purposes.

More particularly, as shown in the drawings, the pipe lengths are grouped in side-by-side alignment so as to form a hexagon in section. Each is preferably molded from fiber impregnated with bitminous material, which is particularly suitable for this use because of its lightness, strength and resistance to decay. In the embodiment of FIGS. l-S, the outside pipes in the bundle have round perforations 12 and all the pipes designated 13, which in part at least fall within a transverse region of width equivalent to the pipe diameter, have squared ends. The

remainder of the pipes 14 have their upper ends cut offV at an angle to their axes and are arranged so that their openings at this end effectively face toward the aforementioned transverse region. Disposed in this transverse region and resting on the tops of the pipes 13 is a horizontal distributing pipe 15 adapted to be coupled to a drain line '20 as shown in FIG. 3 in dotted outline. Along the bottom of the pipe 15' parallel to its axis there is provided a saw-cut or groove 16. By means of this saw-cut the distributing pipe is adapted to communicate with the upper ends of the pipes 13 which, in turn, are adapted to overow into the pipes 14. To insure this latter result there is provided a cover 17 'which rests on the upper extremities of the pipes 14 and which has a hexagonal shape `corresponding to the cross-sectional outline of the ipe bundle. This cover may corn-prise plywood, for example, or wire mesh of some kind. In the latter case, especially, it will be essential, of course, to provide some form of outer covering as well. Hence, as shown, a sheet 18 of bituminous-impregnated heavy duty felt is placed on top of the cover 17 and brought down over the sides of the bundle for a short distance where it is held in place by a band 19. Slits 21 are provided in the outer covering 18 so as to form in effect depending skirts 22. One of these skirts is provided with an aperture through which the distributing pipe 15 projects for connection to the drain line 20, and diametrically opposite thereto, in another ofthe skirts, is a hole optionally to admit another drain line 2.0' leading to another receptacle unit. Ordinarily the drain lines will be of the same diameter as the distributing pipe 15 in which case line 20 can be joined by means of a sleeve coupling, as shown; or they will be of a smaller size such that they will t tightly within the distributing pipe. Since it is unnecessary to provide a tight connection inside the nest of pipes, no coupling has been shown for the drain line 20'.

At the bottom end of the bundle there is another band 23 which is passed around the pipes. Also the outside ring of pipes are out off at an angle and arranged to face :away from the center of the bundle as shown in FIG. 2. Not only does this effectively increase the size of the pipe apertures discharging into the ground but also it eliminates the need for squaring olf the sides of the hole in which the receptacle is placed or making it larger than necessary. It will be understood, however, that this feature is not absolutely required according to the invention, which is likewise true as regards the number, shape and size of the openings provided in the walls of the pipes.

In operation the assembly is placed in a hole with the pipes substantially vertical, and a connection is made to distributing pipe 15. Water enters through distributing pipe 15 and passes into the pipes 13 by way of the sawcut 16. If pipes 13y become full due to the inability of the water to flow out of them and into the ground fast enough, commensurate with the rate and amount of inilow, the water overflows into the pipes 14. Most of the pipes 14 are located on the outside of the bundle and are provided with the apertures 12. Hence, for the most part the water will seep into the ground from these pipes at a faster rate.

In FIGS. 6 and 7 there is shown a modification of the receptacle according to the present invention which is especially suited for connection to a vertically oriented drain line. As shown in FIGS. 6 :and 7, this modiiied form of receptacle comprises a pipe bundle similar to that of FIGS. l-5 except that all the pipes 31 are of the same length save for a central distributing pipe 32. Pipe 32 has a terminal portion which projects above the pipes 31 and which is adapted for connection to a downspout or other drain line. The cover used in this case comprises a sheet of the same kind of material as outer cover 18 in FIGS. l-S and it is provided with a central aperture through which the projecting end of distributing pipe 32 is passed. There is no under cover because all of the pipes 31 are cut off square yat the top as well as the bottom, thereby effectively providing a reinforcing support for the cover. It will also be observed that all of the pipes 31 have slots formed by saw-cuts instead of round holes, such slots serving in general the same function as the holes in FIGS. l-S. By way of example, there have been shown five equally spaced openings or saw-cuts made in the walls of the outside ring of pipes, each having a maximum depth of approximately one-half inch with a threesixteenths inch kerf.

In the further modification of FIG. 8, all but the outside ring of pipes are discontinuous. That is to say, approximately the middle one-third of these pipes has been dispensed with, leaving only upper and lower end portions to form the bundle. In this way it is possible to realize a substantial saving in the overall cost of the pipes.

The optimum size and number of the holes in the pipes will depend to some extent on soil conditions. In some instances it may be best to have very few holes with larger diameters to avoid plugging, and in other instances a large number of small holes to better distribute and thereby increase the rate of flow out of the pipes. Instead of holes, it will also be possible, of course, to use saw-cuts as in FIGS. 1-5 and vice versa.

Various modifications of this nature that are Within the spirit and scope of the invention will, no doubt, occur to those skilled in the art and therefore the invention should not be deemed to be limited to the details of what has been described herein by way of example but rather it should be deemed to be limited only to the combination as claimed.

What is claimed is:

l. A preformed unitary receptacle for use in forming dry wells comprising a group of hollow open-ended fiber pipes arranged in vertically extending laterally abutting relation, a cover extending over the upper ends of said pipes having -a skirt extending around the upper portions thereof, a distributing conduit extending through said cover providing fluid communication with said pipes, at least some of said pipes being perforated and having bevelled faces at their upper ends, the bevelled faces being positioned for fluid communication with said other pipes, and means binding said pipes and cover together into a unitary bundle adapted to be positioned as a unit in a dry well.

2. A unitary receptacle for use in forming dry wells comprising a bundle of cylindrical open-ended ber pipes disposed in laterally abutting relation, some of said pipes transversely of said bundle having their upper ends terminating below the upper ends of the remaining pipes and forming a space between said remaining pipes to accommodate a horizontally extending distributing pipe, the remaining pipes having bevelled faces at their upper ends and some of which have apertures in their peripheral wall, the lower portion of said bevelled faces positioned for fluid communication with said other pipes, a water impervious cover extending over the tops of all of said pipes covering said space, said cover having skirts extending downwardly around the upper outside portion of said bundle, means holding said cover and pipes in a unitary bundle for positioning as a unit in a dry well, and opposed apertures in said skirts aligned wit-h said space for permitting insertion of a horizontal pipe across the top of said bundle beneath said cover.

3. A receptacle as claimed in claim l wherein at least some of the interior pipes in said bundle are discontinuous and define a space therebetween interiorly of said bundle.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,767,801 Eads Oct. 23, 1956 2,802,339 Fogerty Aug. 13, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 215,502 Australia Jan. 23, 1958

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