US3227087A - Pumping device - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 4, 1966 G. w. ALBEE ETAL 3,227,037

PUMPING DEVICE Filed Oct. 18, 1963 M O 1 L B 2 N NE R W5 Wm N A T Wm x F E M @w United States Patent 3,227,0il7 PUMPENG DEVICE George W Albee and Kenneth A. F. Qlson, Phoenix, Ariz., assignors to Midland-Ross Corporation, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ghio Filed Oct. 18, 1963, Ser. No. 317,342 4Clain1s. (Cl. 103-103) This invention relates to an improvement in liquid pumping devices. More particularly, the invention relates to an improvement in liquid pumping devices of the type adapted to be submerged in a body of the liquid to be pumped. The invention can be utilized to advantage in evaporative type air cooling units. According to such an application a pumping device in accordance with the present invention may be submerged in a body of Water and utilized to pump Water to means for bringing the water into contact with a stream of air tobe cooled.

Pumping devices of the type adapted to be submerged in a body of the liquid to be pumped customarily comprise a motor supported above the level of the liquid being pumped; an impeller submerged in the liquid; a shaft connecting the impeller to the motor; a housing for the impeller and forming, therewith, the pump, per se; and means for supporting the motor and for connecting it to the impeller housing. In the construction of the impeller housing it is necessary to provide means removable from the rest of the housing to provide for the insertion and removal of the impeller and yet which is tightly attachable to the remainder of the housing in service to prevent leakage of the liquid being pumped. Thus, in the prior art, there are-disclosed pumping devices having wall means forming a generally cylindrical impeller housing, generally completely enclosed except for appropriately located liquid inlet and outlet openings, in which an end wall of the cylindrical housing is removably secured to the remainder of the housing by threaded fasteners.

According to the present invention, however, the need for threaded fasteners for securing the removable means of the impeller housing to the remainder of the housing is obviated without impairment of the performance of the pumping device and at substantially reduced manufacturing costs. For a further understanding of the invention, attention is directed to the following portion of the specification, the drawing, and the appendedclaims.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view, in perspective, of a pumping device incorporating the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational View, partially in section, of a portion of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary elevational exploded view, partially in section, of the apparatus of FIGS. 1 and 2; and

FIG. 4 is a view taken on line 4i of FIG. 2 except with a portion of one element of the apparatus broken away to illustrate other features of the apparatus.

In accordance with the present invention there is provide-d a pumping device 11 comprising motive means such as an electric motor 12, a pump body 13, an impeller 14 illustrated as being of the centrifugal flow type, and a shaft for transmitting power from motor 12 to impeller 14. Shaft 15 is of suilicient length to allow impeller 14 to be submerged in a body of the liquid to be pumped (not shown) while permitting motor 12 to be operated at a predetermined safe distance above the level of the body of liquid. Pump body 13 comprises a plurality of aperture-d tabs 16, shown illustratively as two (2) in number, whereby motor 12 may be attached to pump body 'by means such as threaded fasteners 17. Motor 12, in turn, comprises means such as mounting bracket 18 whereby pumping device 11 may be attached to the wall means of the receptacle (not shown) containing the body of liquid to be pumped;

In addition to apertured tabs 16 pump body 13 comprises wall means ]Wforming cylindrical recess 21, open at one end, to receive a forward bearing portion (not shown) of motor 12. Pump body 13 also comprises Wall means including an end wall 22 and an annular wall 23 extending perpendicularly from end wall 22 and forming a generally cylindrical recess 24- for receiving pump impeller 14. End wall 22 is provided with a suit ably located aperture 25 to permit the passage therethrough of shaft 15- and which is size-d to provide adequate clearance with respect to shaft 15to constitute an opening for the delivery of liquid to impeller 14. Also; wall means 25 is provided with a tangentially disposed tubular element 26 which constitutes an outlet for delivery of liquid from pumping device 11 to a suitable delivery line (not shown);

Additionally, pump body 13 comprises a plurality (shown as four) of circumferentially space-d ribs 27, each of which is constructed generally in the shape of a T, and whose inner edges are spaced apart from each other sufficiently far to permit free operation of impeller shaft 15; Ribs Z7 serve to connect wall means 19 to end wall member 22; to form a unitary structure. As illustrated, pump body 13 and all of its constituent elements may be formed in a single pieceof a plastic material. Plastic materials found suitable for such an application include a highimpact thermoplastic resin marketed by Marbon Chemical Division of Borg-Warner Corporation, Gary, Indiana, under the trademark Cycolac (Type T) and a super high impact polystyrene marketed by Dow Chemical Company, Midland, Michigan, under the trademark Styron 480.

The end of cylindrical recess 24- opposite from end wall 22 is closed in service by means removable from the remainder of pump body 13 comprising a closure plate 28 formed from a resilient material, preferably the same material as the pump body. Closure plate 23 may be provided with a centrally disposed aperture 29 for the admission of liquid to be pumped to impeller 14 from the lower regions of the means containing the liquid and further comprises an annular recess $51 which cooperates with the lower portion of wall means 23 to form a seal when closure plate 28 is attached to pump body 13.

In the attachment of closure plate 28 to pum body 13 during service it has been found that the use of threadedfasteners characteristic of prior art means for attaching a closure plate to an impeller housing may be eliminated to advantage, both from the standpoint of initial manufacturing cost and from the standpoint of ease of removing closure plate 23 for access to recess 24 as for cleaning or for removing impeller 14}. The attachment of closure plate 28 to pump body 13 is effected, in accordance with the present invention, as follows: Wall means 23 of pump body 13 is provided with a plurality of pairs 32 of spaced apart legs 33 extending radially outwardly and downwardly therefrom. Each of the legs is provided with a shoulder surface 34 extending transversely outwardly from that side of the leg 33 which is opposite to the other leg in the same pair. Further, in applications where the peripheral surface 35 of closure plate 28 is planar, all of the shoulder surfaces 34 of the legs 33 are co-planar. Because of the fact that the legs 33 in a given pair 32 are spaced apart, they may be biased toward each other to reduce the dimension, transverse to the legs, from the end of a shoulder surface 34 of one of the legs 33 in a pair 32 to the end of the shoulder surface 34 of the other leg 33 of the pair shown at FIG. 2 as A.

To cooperate with the plurality of pairs of legs 32 of pump body 13 closure plate is provided with a plurality of generally rectangularly shaped peripheral notches 36 in peripheral surface 35. The number of notches 35 is equal to the number of pairs 32 of legs (shown as four) and notches 36 are so located that, when closure plate is suitably oriented with respect to pump body 13 prior to attachment as shown at MG. 3, each notch 36 is very closely aligned with a pair of legs 32. The width dimension of each slot 36, shown as B in FIG. 4, is somewhat less than dimension A of the aligned pair 32 of legs 33 when the legs have not been biased toward one another and is somewhat greater than A when legs 33 of the aligned pair 32 have been biased toward one another. Thus, by biasing the legs 33 of every pair toward one another closure plate may be moved up towards pump body with notches 3d moving past the ends of shoulder surfaces 34 SLlffiClBIlllY far that the end portion of wall means '23 is received in recess 31 of closure plate 28 to form a liquid seal. At such time the force tending to bias the legs 33 of each pair toward one another should be released with the effect that legs 33 will return to their normal position and shoulder surfaces 34 will bar the withdrawal of closure plate 2%.

To achieve satisfactory closing of the open end of cylindrical recess 24 by means of closure plate 2-8 it is desired that the spacing between the plane of the lower edge of wall means 23 and shoulder surfaces 34 of legs 33 be not in excess of, and preferably slightly less than, the spacing between the plane of the root of recess 31 and the plane of the exterior of peripheral surface 35. If the prior spacing substantially exceeds the latter spacing closure plate 28 will not fit sufiiciently tight to maintain a satisfactory seal, and if the prior spacing is less than the latter spacing in an amount beyond the resiliency of closure plate 28 the return of legs 33 to their normal position upon removal of the biasing force will not occur with the result that closure plate 28 will not be retained in place by the locking action of shoulder surfaces 34.

The biasing of individual legs 33 in a pair 32 for the purpose of attaching closure plate 28 to pump body can be accomplished by wedging action when closure plate is biased toward pump body 13 by opposed forces directed transversely to closure plate 28 if each of legs 33 is provided with an inclined surface 37 inclining from the outer edge of shoulder surface 34 downwardly and inwardly to the end of the respective leg 33. In the illustrated embodiment, however, it is necessary that the biasing of legs 33 toward one another to facilitate the removal of closure plate 28 be by means of opposed forces directed transversely of legs 33.

The best mode known to us to carry out this invention has been described above in terms sufficiently full, clear, concise, and exact as to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the same. It is to be understood, however, that it is contemplated that other modes of practicing the invention can be made by a skilled artisan without departing from the scope of the invention which is defined only by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a pumping device comprising end wall means and annular wall means extending from the end wall means and forming a recess for receiving an impeller, means for closing the recess comprising, in combination: a plurality of pairs of spaced apart substantially parallel legs extending outwardly and downwardly from the annular wall means and of unitary construction with said annular wall means and each of the legs being provided with a shoulder surface extending generally transversely from that side of the leg which is opposite to the side facing the other leg in the same pair; and a closure plate having apertures adapted to be aligned with the plurality of pairs of legs, said apertures being of sufficient width to clear the shoulder surfaces of a pair of legs when the legs are biased toward one another and being of insufficient width to clear the shoulder surfaces of a pair of legs when the legs are not biased toward one another.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said closure plate comprises an annular recess for receiving the lower edge of the annular wall means and for forming a seal therewith.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said closure plate comprises an annular surface located exteriorly of the annular recess and wherein the apertures adapted to be aligned with pairs of spaced apart legs comprise generally rectangularly shaped notches in the periphery of the annular surface.

4-. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the lower edge of the annular wall means is disposed in a plane, wherein the root of the annular recess is disposed in a plane, wherein all the shoulder surfaces of the legs are co-planar, and wherein the spacing between the plane of the lower edge of the annular wall means and the plane of the shoulder surfaces is not greater than nor substantially less than the spacing between the plane of the root of the annular recess and the top of the annular surface of the closure plate.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,688,930 9/1954 Moss 10387 2,758,498 8/1956 Johnson. 2,844,100 7/ 1958 Heinicke 10387 FOREIGN PATENTS 139,573 7/1930 Switzerland.

SAMUEL LEVINE, Primary Examiner.

HENRY F. RADUAZO, DONLEY I. STOCKING,

Assistant Examiners.

Claims (1)

1. IN A PUMPING DEVICE COMPRISING END WALL MEANS AND ANNULAR WALL MEANS EXTENDING FROM THE END WALL MEANS AND FORMING A RECESS FOR RECEIVING AN IMPELLER, MEANS FOR CLOSING THE RECESS COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION: A PLURALITY OF PAIRS OF SPACED APART SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL LEGS EXTENDING OUTWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY FROM THE ANNULAR WALL MEANS AND OF UNITARY CONSTRUCTION WITH SAID ANNULAR WALL MEANS AND EACH OF THE LEGS BEING PROVIDED WITH A SHOULDER SURFACE EXTENDING GENERALLY TRANSVERSELY FROM THAT SIDE OF THE LEG WHICH IS OPPOSITE TO THE SIDE FACING THE OTHER LEG IN THE SAME PAIR; AND A CLOSURE PLATE HAVING APERTURES

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