US3182679A - Closures for clean-out openings in drain traps and for other purposes - Google Patents

Description

INVENTOR PETER vALl-:nrmo

ATTORNEY TRAPS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES Filed April l0, 1963 P. VALENTINO CLOSURES FOR CLEAN-OUT OPENINGS IN DRAIN United States Patent O 3,182,679 CLOSURES FOR CLEAN-OUT OPENINGS IN DRAIN TRAPS ANI) FOR OTHER PURPOSES Peter Valentino, 565 Autumn Ave., Brooklyn, NX. Filed Apr. 10, 1953, Ser. No. 272,010 '3 Claims. (Cl. IS7-247.51)

This invention relates to clean-out plugs and is applicable to all cases or installations where a plug is utilized to close an opening into a pipe, chamber, compartment or the like, so that the plug may be removed to gain access through the opening.

In an application of the invention as herein disclosed, it is shown as applied to the clean-out opening of a drain trap which forms part of the connection of a house drain to a sewer, septic tank, or the like.

Such drain traps are usually positioned in a sump pit provided in the cellar door, and in a majority of cases the plug is rarely removed. As a consequence of attachment of the plug over a long period, when the occasion arises that the plug must b' removed, it is necessary to apply a powerful force to the plug to loosen it, owing to corrosion of the threads on the plug and those on the drain opening or nipple. Usually a heavy and long Wrench is the only tool capable of applying the necessary turning force upon the plug, but since the pit is narrow it is difficult if not impossible to apply a wrench with a sufficiently long handle. rllhus it is a time consuming and laborious job to remove the plug.

Further, when the plug has finally been removed, it is found that the threads on the plug or on the trap opening, or on both, have been damaged to such an extent that it is no longer possible to screw the plug down securely, and if and when it has again been screwed down the interengagement of the threads is far weaker than orginally, so that a slight rise in pressure in the drain will lift, tilt, or even push out the plug, which is obviously a most undesirable condition.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide new and useful improvements in clean-out openings and plugs therefor, which are not only easily removed for access through the opening but which are also very simple to install and to reinstall after removal.

It is a further object lof the invention to provide novel and useful improvements in clean-out openings and plugs for drain traps in sewer connections in houses and buildings.

The above broad as well as additional and more specific objects will be clarified in the following description wherein reference numerals refer to like-numbered parts in the accompanying drawing. It is to be noted that the drawing is intended primarily for the purpose of illustration and that it is therefore neither desired nor intended to limit the invention necessarily to any or all of the details shown or described except in so far as they may be deemed essential to the invention. e

Referring briefly to the drawing,

FIG. l is a side elevational View of a sewer connection having a drain trap, with the latter mounted in a pit dug in the cellar floor, illustrating an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded View, with the various parts in section either in whole or in part, of the elements of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the assembled attachment to the drain pipe opening, showing in phantom the closure plug in position ready to be tapped firmly in place.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the assembled attachment with the closure plug in iinal closing position.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a fragment of the drain pipe and the attaching sleeve mounted therein.

3,182,679 Patented May 11, 1965 ICC FIG. 6 is a fragmentaryelevational view of a modified form of plug.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral 10 indicates a cellar floor having a pit 11 sunk thereinto. A house sewer connection is shown at 12 and it includes the trap 13 having the riser 14 which is open at the top 15. In customary installations, the riser has internal threads, not shown, into which a cast iron closure plug is screwed.

In one form in which the instant invention is applicable, the riser 14 has a circumferential internal gouge which provides a shoulder 17. A cast iron ferrule 16 is set into the opening 15 and rests upon the shoulder 17, and a iiange 19 at the base of the ferrule provides a circumferential recess which is filled with lead 18 to seal the joint in a well known manner.

At its upper end the ferrule has a series of axially spaced and parallel circumferential grooves or threads 20. A tapering lead sleeve 21, having at the top of the tapering wall 22 an external flange 23, also has on the outside of the wall 22 a series of axially spaced alternating circumferential grooves and ridges 24 and 25, respectively. The internal grooved wall of the ferrule may be made to taper in a downward direction at substantially or approximately the same degree of taper as the wall 22, not shown.

A preferably hollow cast iron plug is shown at 26, and its tapering wall 30 has substantially the same degree of taper as the wall 22 of the sleeve 21. However, the diameter of the bottom edge of the plug is larger than the bottom internal diameter of the sleeve 21, and the diameter of the top edge of the plug is larger than that of the top internal diameter of the sleeve. This is indicated by the vertical broken lines which extend between the plug and the sleeve in FIG. 2.

With the `ferrule 16 mounted on the riser 14 as set forth above, the lead sleeve 21 is inserted into the top opening thereof and hammered into the position thereof shown in FIG. 3. The plug 26 is then set into the sleeve. The outer tapering surface 27 of the plug is not perfectly smooth, as the plug is not machined after it has been cast so that this surface is covered by the imprints of grains of sand left by the mold in which it was cast. Thus this surface is covered by minute pock marks and peaks, and it may be stated to be relatively rough or tumbled. If desired, however, this surface may be machined to the extent of providing axially spaced grooves 28 as, for example, is shown for the plug 26a in FIG. 6.

The plug is then gent-ly tapped with a hammer at a number of places to force it downward int-o the lead sleeve. During this operation the tapering wall of the plug deforms the wall of the sleeve by spreading it radially and thus forcing the relatively soft lead thereof into the grooves 2t) of the ferrule 16, substantially as shown in FIG. 4. A-t the same time, especially as the plug approaches the end of its downward Itravel, the rough surface 27 of the plug deforms the inner surface of the wall 22 to form an interlocking of the Wall of the plug with the sleeve. The interlocking of the sleeve 21 on the ferrule 16 and of the plug in the sleeve result, of course, from the relative softness of the lead compared with the hardness of the iron of the plug and the ferrule. The plug is provided with the customary boss 29, and it is readily loosened 4for removal by a few taps with a hammer on the sides of the boss and, if necessary, on the edges of the plug which project above the flange 23 of the sleeve 21.

The structure thus far described assures not only a tight and secure retention of the plug to close the cleanout opening, but also greatly simplifies the operation of attaching the plug and removing it. The usual difiiculty of removing a cast iron or brass plug from a cast iron pipe into which the plug has been screwed and in which it has remained undisturbed for a long time, is well known. Such difficulty is entirely eliminated by the present invention, as is also the need for a powerful wrench. The mounting of the ferrule 16 in the drain upright 14 also elevates the opening into the trap into a handier position.

The lead sleeve 21 and the plug 26 may also be used directly upon the customary upright of such drain traps, which is internally screw-threaded and receives a screw plug, as a replacement after the original plug has been removed but is not replaceable on the riser. ln such cases the leadsleeve 21 is hammered into the opening as before, and a new plug like the plug 26 is hammered into the sleeve. Here also the plug, in being tapped into place by a hammer, will force the outer surface of the sleeveV into the screw threads of the riser opening. After a plug 2 6 has been removed from a clean-out opening containing the lead sleeve 21, it may be replaced with the interposition of a fresh llead sleeve, or the same old sleeve may remain in place and the plug will again be interlocked therewith lby tapping it with a hammer.

The lengths of the riser 14 and the ferrule 16 are a matter of choice. Some drain traps have a clean-out opening lying in a plane inclined at an angle to the horizontal, and the term riser as herein used is intended to apply also to the latter type of opening. Further, since the invention is applicable also to other purposes, the opening to which it is applied may be at any angle to the horizontal or vertical.

Ordinary lead is sufficiently iiaccid or soft at ordinary temperatures to permit it to be deformed in the manner described above without risk of tearing or breaking through the wall 22 of the sleeve. Moreover, the depth of the grooves 24, 25 in the sleeve 2 may be very small, and in some cases the outer :surface of the sleeve may even be rela-tively smooth. It has been found, however, that a better and tighter seal of the sleeve within the threaded or grooved opening of the riser 14 or the fen rule 16 is attained with the grooves at a spacing equal to the spacing of the grooves 20, or substantially so.

VWhile the trap 13 including the riser 14, and the ferrule 16, have been stated above to be made of cast iron, which is the material most commonly used in sewer connections, the material need not be so limited. 'For any or all of such parts may be made of any other metal or alloy possessing the desired or requisite property of hardness in contrast to the softness of lead. The exaoY pression hard metal as used in the appended claims is therefore intended to embrace all metals and alloys which are known to be so much harder than lead that they retain their shape and conformation while lead is being deformed under pressure against any part or surface of the hard metal. It is to be noted that, although the plug 26 is illustrated and described as having its lower end of larger diameter than the lower end of the sleeve 21, that would not be the case if the plug were substantially lengthened axially, for example doubled in length, but such a plug would involve an unnecessary excess use of material.

The invention having thus been described, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is as follows:

l. In a drain trap of hard metal including a riser which is open at the top, the riser having an internal shoulder spaced below the top thereof, extension means for increasing the height of the riser comprising a ferrule of hard metal resting on said shoulder and extending above `said open top and provided with axially spaced internal grooves, means sealing the joint between the riser and the ferrule and means for forming a closure for the open upper end of the ferrule, said last-named means comprising a tapering lead sleeve having axially spaced circumferential ridges on the external surface thereof, the sleeve registering in said upper end of the lferrule and having `an external flange on the larger end thereof res-ting on the rim of said upper end of the errule with said ridges completely filling said internal grooves, and a complementarily tapering plug of hard metal frictienally engaged -in said sleeve.

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein the tapering surface of said plug is provided with projections which penetrate the internal surface of the sleeve.

3. A device according to claim l, wherein the tapering surface of said plug is provided with axially spaced ridges which penetrate the internal surface of the sleeve.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 92,020 6/69 Dacey 137--247 .27 306,268 10/84 Lawler 137--247-35 306,527 10/84 Reuter.

674,903 5/01 Callaway 220-245 2,543,430 2/51 Anderson 220-24-5 ISADOR WEIL, Primary Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. IN A DRAIN TRAP OF HARD METAL INCLUDING A RISER WHICH IS OPEN AT THE TOP, THE RISE HAVING AN INTERNAL SHOULDER SPACED BELOW THE TOP THEREOF, EXTENSION MEANS FOR INCREASING THE HEIGHT OF THE RISER COMPRISING A FERRULE OF HARD METAL RESTING ON SAID SHOULDER AND EXTENDING ABOVE SAID OPEN TOP AND PROVIDED WITH AXIALLY SPACED INTERNAL GROOVES, MEANS SEALING THE JOINT BETWEEN THE RISER AND THE FERRULE AND MEANS FOR FORMING A CLOSURE FOR THE OPEN UPPER END OF THE FERRULE, SAID LAST-NAMED MEANS COMPRISING A TAPERING LEAD SLEEVE HAVING AXIALLY SPACED CIRCUMFERENTIALLY RIDGES ON THE EXTERNAL SURFACE THEREOF, THE SLEEVE REGISTERING IN SAID UPPER END OF THE FERRULE AND HAVING AN EXTERNAL FLANGE ON THE LARGER END THEREOF RESTING ON THE RIM OF SAID UPPER END OF THE FERRULE WITH SAID RIDGES COMPLETELY FILLING SAID INTERNAL GROOVES, AND A COMPLEMENTARILY TAPERING PLUG OF HARD METAL FRICTIONALLY ENGAGED IN SAID SLEEVE.

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