US3212268A

US3212268A - Surface skimmer

Info

Publication number: US3212268A
Application number: US197152A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ortega Robert
Original assignee: Anthony Pools Inc
Current assignee: Anthony Pools Inc
Priority date: 1962-05-23
Filing date: 1962-05-23
Publication date: 1965-10-19
Anticipated expiration: 1982-10-19

Description

United States Patent O 3,212,268 SURFACE SKIMMER Robert Ortega, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to Anthony Pools Inc., Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of Delaware Filed May 23, 1962, Ser. No. 197,152 1 Claim. (Cl. 61-28) This invention relates generally to variable height weirs for controlling the flow of liquid through a passage and so designed as to be especially well suited for skimming debris from the surface of water in a swimming pool.

Devices embodying this invention are :adaptable for permanent installation in the side wall of a swimming pool and include a weir of buoyant material slidably supported to extend across an outlet passage for water from the pool and to rise and fall between predetermined limits as the level of the water in the pool may rise or fall. The water at the surface of the pool flows over the top of the Weir carrying with it scum, dust, leaves, and other debris which is collected in a pocket of the device.

General objects of this invention are to provide devices of the above-mentioned character which are simple and rugged in construction, easy to install, reliable in service, and economical to manufacture.

Further object and advantages of the invention will appear in the following part of this specification wherein the details of construction and mode of operation of a preferred embodiment are described with reference to the accompanying :drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical section througha device of this invention installed in a side wall of a swimming pool;

FIGURE 2 is a detailed view of the weir of the apparatus taken in the direction of arrows 2 2 on FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a back elevation of the variable Weir of the device; and

FIGURE 4 is a vertical section on a larger scale through the weir taken on the plane indicated by line 4 4 on FIGURE 3.

Referring to the drawing in greater detail and with the use of reference numerals, there is shown a side wall 10, here of concrete, of a swimming pool having a skimming apparatus of this invention mounted therein and designated, generally, by reference numeral 12. The apparatus 12 of the illustrated embodiment is designed to be installed as a unit in the side wall 10, and it will be apparent from a reading of the following description that the apparatus 12 when viewed in its broader aspects with its chamber or pocket, passages :and openings may be defined by the material which forms the side wall and, accordingly, where the apparatus 12 is sometimes referred to hereinafter and in the appended claims as being in or part of the side wall 10, it will be understood that this invention contemplates a construction in which the side wall itself delines the pocket, passages and openings of the apparatus. Thus, the side wall 10 is construed to include the apparatus 12 except where hereinafter specifically indicated in cases where it is intended to convey the concept of the apparatus 12 being a unit adapted to be installed in or against the side wall 10.

The Water in the swimming pool is designated by reference numeral 13 and its surface by numeral 14. As is conventional, there is a coping 15 defining the edge of the pool and merging with a concrete slab portion 16 to define a deck surface 17 around the pool. The side Wall 10 is illustrated as having a surface coating 18, and the ground in which the pool is installed is designated by numeral 19.

The apparatus 12 comprises a shell, designated generally by reference numeral 22, herein shown as being rice formed of concrete. The shell has a front wall 23 adapted to the disposed against the inside surface of the side wall 10, a back wall 24, two side walls 25 `and 26, and a bottom wall 27 defining a chamber or pocket 28 within the shell. The front wall 23 has an opening 30 for inlet of water to the pocket. Apparatus 12 includes a flow channel 34 having bottom wall 31 and two

channel side walls

32 and 33 for flow of water from the pool through outlet opening 35 into pocket 28. The coping 15 spans the passage 34.

The shell 22 of the apparatus includes a cover 36 disposed in the deck 17 and affording 'access to the pocket 28. In the illustrated embodiment the cover 36 is supported along one side thereof by a pair of joists 37, 3S suitably -supported at their ends as by

channel side walls

32 and 33 and the top edge of the back wall 24.

The weir of the apparatus 12 is desginated `generally by reference numeral 42. It comprises a unitary frame 43, a multiple component oat 44 supported by and slidable up and down in the -frame crosswise of oW channel 34. The frame 43 is adapted to be attached on the inside of the apparatus shell and comprises two

side members

46 and 47, a top member 48 and a bottom crossm'ember 49, the top and

bottom members

48 and 49 serving to secure and hold the

side members

46 and 47 in parallel spaced relationship. The bottom cross-member 49 has a ange 50 with apertures or holes 51 for reception of bolts 52 for fastening the frame to the inside surface of the front wall 23. At the top of the frame there are two laterally extending ears 54 for securing the upper end of the frame to the inside of the front wall 23.

rEhe float 44 is formed of buoyant material, for example, plastic, wood, etc., having a specific gravity less than one. In the illustrated embodiment the float consists of a plurality of cylindrical rods 59 of circular cross-section arranged loosely one upon another. The ends of the rods have annular grooves 61 seated loosely but captively in slots 60. The upper ends of the slots 60 are designated by reference numeral 63 and their lower ends by numeral 64.

The illustrated apparatus is designed to operate under normal conditions with the surface 14 of the water in the pool varying in height between an upper reference limit indicated by line 66 in FIGURE l and =a lower reference limit by line 67. The upper reference limit 66 is in a horizontal plane which passes through the top edge 56 of the float when the float is in an upper operating position, adjacent the upper ends 63 of the slots 60. The lower reference limit 67 is in a horizontal plane which passes through the top edge 56 when the float is in a lower operating position, adjacent the lower ends 64 of the slots 60.

The bottom wall 27 of the apparatus shell has an outlet 69 for flow of water from the pocket 28 through a pipe 70. Water is drawn through the pipe 70 for recirculation through a filter unit (not shown) back to the pool in a conventional manner.

When the recirculation system of the pool is shut down the water in pocket 28 will be at the same level as that in the pool. When the recirculation system of the pool is energized it will draw water from pocket 28 and lower the level below the pool level. Assuming that the surface of the water in the pool is at the upper reference limit 66 when recirculation is initiated, withdrawal of water from the pocket will cause the surface 72 of water in the pocket to fall below the starting level 66. Such lowering of the pocket water level causes the float 44 to slide downwardly in slots 60 because of the decreased buoyancy provided by the lowered water level in pocket 28.

When the float 44 drops to a position in which the top edge 56 of the iloat is below the level of the water in the pool, `water will flow over the top edge of the oat and empty into the pocket 28. Thus it is that the surface layer of the water in the pool is Withdrawn over the top edge of the oat whereby it carries along with it such .debris on the surface of the pool water to empty into the pocket 28 where the debris may be collected as in a wire basket 74 accessible by lifting the cover 36. So long as the level of surface 72 of water in the pocket is maintained below the level of water in the pool, the oat 44 will maintain continuous ow of skimmed water into the pocket. When the iloat bottom against the lower ends 64 of slots 60 the oat will soon cease being eective as a weir for skimming oi the surface of water from the pool until the pool water level rises for obvious reasons.

It will be noted that the lower reference limit 67 is spaced above the level of upper surface of the bottom wall 31 of the channel passage 34 and it will be apparent that were the side members of the frame 43 made to extend deeper into the pocket and the slots 60 made long enough that float could drop below the level of the upper surface of the bottom wall 31, then of course, it would be the level of surface 31 which would limit water owing from the pool into the pocket. In the illustrated embodiment the surface 31 is spaced below the lower reference limit 67. g Y Y Should it be desired to keep the filter unit of the swimming pool operating even though the level of the water in the pool is below that for ilowing into the pocket 28, there is an equalizer comprising a pipe 76 extending through the side wall 10 and open at one end 77 thereof to the inside of the pool and at its opposite end 78 to the inside of the pocket for ow of water from the pool directly into the pocket. The pocket end opening 78 of the equalizer pipe is covered by a float controlled valve 79 pivoted at 80 and having a float 81 on its upper end such that when there is sufficient water in the pocket 28 to extend to a level above the valve oat 81, the oat 81 will be buoyed upwardly to swing the valve on its pivot and close the equalizer pipe against water passing therethrough from the pool into the pocket. When the level of Water in the pool drops below the upper extent of movement of the valve oat 81, the ioat will cause the valve to swing on its pivot and uncover the pocket end opening 78 of the equalizer pipe to allow water to flow directly from the pool into the pocket and thereby maintain a supply of water in the pocket for being withdrawn through the outlet pipe 70.

While the particular surface skimmer herein shown and disclosed in detail is fully capable of attaining the objects and providing the advantages hereinbefore stated, it is to be understood that it is merely illustrative of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention and that no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design hereinshown other than as dened in the appended claim.

I claim:

A surface skimmer adapted to be installed vertically in the overflow passage of a swimming pool and cornprising, rigid mounting means adapted to be secured along the opposite lateral sides of the overflow passage, a plurality of similar cylindrical rollers arranged parallel t0 and in contact with one another with their opposite ends held loosely captive in said rigid mounting means 'and free to move bodily and as a group to and fro vertically of said mounting means and crosswise of the overflow passage, said cylindrical rollers being buoyant and suficient in number to provide a buoyant Weir of greater height than the depth of the overow passage for'which said surface skimmer is designed, and said *rigid mounting means being sufiiciently long and so disposed as to permit said rollers to rise and fall as necessary to permit the uppermost one of said rollers to provide skimming of the water on the upstream side of said rollers when at its minimum contemplated level.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,410,746 3/22 Gilgan 61-23 '1,797,042 3/31 Borland 61`28 2,579,304 12/51 Crawford 210-169 X 2,979,206 4/ 61 Konopka et al. 210-169 3,067,879 12/62 Baker 210-169 X 3,080,060 3/63 Blumenkranz et al. 21o-169 REUBEN FRIEDMAN, Primary Examiner. HERBERT L. MARTIN, Examiner.