Drain trap device

Abstract

 The invention relates to a drain trap device for sanitary and/or plumbing equipment, comprising an inlet portion to receive fluids from said sanitary and/or plumbing equipment and an outlet portion to discharge fluids into a plumbing system whereas said inlet and outlet portion are connected via a underlying siphon portion, wherein said siphon portion comprises a draining valve, more particularly to such drain trap device comprising a siphon portion with a inner tubular section extending into a lower part of said siphon portion to provide a fluid seal mechanism, wherein the ball valve mechanism comprises one hemispheric valve part which can be rotated from a closed position to an open position and vice versa without interfering with said inner tubular section.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to drain trap devices intended to trap solid materials from wastewaters streaming out of sanitary and/or plumbing and/or industrial waste stream equipment, such as a sink, bath, shower tray, industrial drains, etc.

[0002] Such drain trap devices most often involve a siphon portion, providing a water seal against reflux of odours, which retains solid materials in its lower part. This type of drain trap devices is well know in the art. These devices require occasional draining and/or cleaning to remove deposits of solid materials (such as, in particular, hair parts, often agglomerated with soap and greasy remains, small objects accidentally fallen in the drain, etc.) from the siphon and maintain the proper operation of plumbing installation.

[0003] With the conventional known devices this draining and/or cleaning operation requires removing the lower part of the siphon, which is a rather time consuming and messy job, and in general involves the intervention of a professional.

[0004] Proposals have been made to make the draining / cleaning of the drain trap less cumbersome, by providing more easily removable parts; particular reference is made in this respect to patent documents US 4.164.048, US 4.179.762, US 4.539.718 and US 5.934.316.

[0005] These proposals appear not very satisfactory in practice, as they still involve complex or messy manipulations which the average user does not like to perform.

[0006] It is the objective of the present invention to provide a drain trap device that avoids the drawbacks of the prior art and can easily be drained and cleaned by any unskilled user.

[0007] The invention thus provides a drain trap device for sanitary and/or plumbing equipment, comprising an inlet portion to receive fluids from the sanitary and/or plumbing equipment and an outlet portion to discharge fluids into a plumbing system, said inlet and outlet portion being connected via a underlying siphon portion, in which drain trap device the siphon portion comprises a draining valve.

[0008] According to a more specific feature of the invention, said draining valve comprises in particular a ball valve mechanism.

[0009] This type of valve mechanisms is well known in the art; it is in particular often used in heating installations.

[0010] Any type of ball valve mechanisms can be used in carrying out the present invention, with the ball portion made of PVC, tetrafluoroethylene (such as "TEFLON"), polypropylene, brass, ceramic material, etc., and with seals made of tetrafluoroethylene, ceramic material, etc.

[0011] Preferred ball valve mechanisms involve the combinations of a brass ball with tetrafluoroethylene seals or of a ceramic ball with ceramic seals.

[0012] These combinations appear to provide optimal long term operation and water tightness of the valve in the environment met in drain trap devices

[0013] In a preferred embodiment of the invention the ball valve mechanism ideally constitutes the bottom part of the siphon portion of the drain trap.

[0014] For certain specific embodiments of the invention the ball valve mechanism may however have to be positioned extending laterally with respect to the siphon portion of the drain trap, such as for instance in the case of bath or shower tray siphons, where the siphon portion is often placed too near a floor surface to position the ball valve as the bottom of the siphon.

[0015] In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the drain trap device comprises a siphon portion with a inner tubular section extending into a lower part of the siphon portion to provide a fluid seal mechanism (a construction well known, per se, in conventional drain traps), whereas the ball valve mechanism comprises one hemispheric valve part which can be rotated from a closed position to an open position, and vice versa, without interfering with said inner tubular section.

[0016] In addition one may also use an inner tubular section with narrowed lower end (a more narrow lower end than usual), so that the lower end part suffers even less risk from interfering with the inner bore of the ball valve during the movement of the valve and furthermore provides a larger passage for the waste fluids in the drain trap device to reduce the risk of obstruction.

[0017] One may on the other hand also use an inner tube which only extends to somewhat above the ball valve ball; because the maximum seal fluid level for the fluid seal corresponds to the distance between the outlet of the drain trap device and the bottom end of the inner tube, one may prefer, in this case, to lengthen the lower part of the drain trap device (i.e. the portion between the outlet and the ball valve) to have a sufficient passage between the inner tube end and the ball valve, and a sufficient fluid level above the bottom end of the inner tube.

[0018] The ball valve may be provided with any type of handle (fixed or removable) in function of the practical or aesthetic criteria set by the user.

[0019] Further features and properties of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the drain trap according to the invention.

[0020] Reference is made in this detailed description to the enclosed drawings, in which :

Figure 1 is a front elevation view of a device according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a partially cross-sectional representation of the front elevation view of figure 1;

Figure 3 is a, partially cross-sectional, side elevation view of the device according to figure 1, in closed position;

Figure 4 is a, partially cross-sectional, side elevation view of the device according to figure 1, in open position; and

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view of the device, taken on the line V-V of figure 3.

Figure 6 is a partially cross-sectional representation of an alternative embodiment of the device according to the invention.

[0021] Figure 1 shows a drain trap device according to the invention, designated in its totality by reference numeral 1;

[0022] The upper part (above line A) of the drain trap device according to the invention is generally similar to most drain trap devices well known in the art, involving a siphon system, and is only represented on the drawings for a proper understanding of the essence of the invention (as incorporated in the lower part of the drain trap device), i.e. the fact that the drain trap device comprises a draining valve, preferably a ball valve mechanism;

[0023] The bottom part (below line A) of the drain trap device according to the invention, designated by reference numeral 2 in the drawings, comprises a rotating handle 3 for actuating the draining valve of the drain trap.

[0024] The upper part of the drain trap device 1 comprises an inlet 4 to the siphon system, for receiving waste waters from a sanitary or plumbing equipment (not represented) and an outlet 5 for discharging the waste waters. The inlet 4 of the drain trap can be connected to the sanitary or plumbing equipment through connecting means 5, well known per se.

[0025] As shown in more detail on the drawing of figure 2, making visible the internal parts the siphon mechanism, the pipe 4, constituting the inlet of the drain trap, can slide up and down within a tubular section (plastic pipe) 7, to allow height adjustment of the inlet 4 with respect to the outlet 5.

[0026] Once the height adjustment is carried out the inlet pipe 4 and the tubular section / pipe 7 (comprising a bevelled, thickened upper extremity, not visible in the drawings, but well known per se in the art) are connected to each other in a water tight manner by means of a tightening screw ring 8, well known per se.

[0027] In the known drain trap devices of the state of the art, the bottom part of the siphon generally constitutes a downwardly convex closing lid, which is screwed in the upper part.

[0028] In the drain trap according to the invention shown in figures 1 - 5, the bottom part 2 of the device, screwed in the upper part, essentially comprises a ball valve mechanism, provided and adapted in such a way that operating the ball valve does not interfere with the lower extremity of said pipe 7 (constituting the inner tubular section of the siphon providing the fluid seal mechanism).

[0029] In the embodiment of the invention represented in figures 1 - 5, the actual ball valve 9, made of brass with an outer layer of chromium or nickel, of the ball valve mechanism is maintained in said bottom part 2 by means of a first, fixed, internal abutment ring 10 providing support for a first "TEFLON" seal ring 11, and by means of a second internally screwed abutment ring 12 providing support for a second "TEFLON" seal ring 13.

[0030] As shown in figures 2 - 5, the ball valve of the specific embodiment of the invention represented in the drawings, involves a valve ball, which is partly cut-away on one side of the ball (called here the "hemispheric" ball part of the ball valve), in the way more clearly represented in figures 3 and 5 of the drawings. This distinguishing feature with respect to the more conventional ball valve shape allows the operation of the ball valve mechanism without interference with the inner pipe 7, even if the pipe 7 reaches far into the bottom part of the siphon in order to provide an optimal fluid seal.

[0031] In addition, as shown in figure 2-4, the bottom portion of the pipe 7 is narrowed with respect to the upper portion to provide even less risk from interfering with the inner bore of the ball valve during the movement of the valve and even more importantly, to furthermore provide a larger passage for the waste fluids in the drain trap device to reduce the risk of obstruction.

[0032] The ball valve mechanism is operated by means of the rotating handle 3, which is connected to the valve ball 9 by means of an axle 14, reaching through the housing of the bottom part 2 of the drain trap device, in a completely fluid tight way.

[0033] The shape and size of the handle 3 is not specifically relevant in the context of the actual invention, and may therefore involve any convenient, aesthetic and/or unobtrusive design, provided that the users can easily rotate the handle.

[0034] Figure 6 shows an alternative embodiment of the drain trap device according to the invention, comprising a tubular section (plastic pipe) 7 only extending to above the ball valve, without a narrowed bottom portion.

[0035] While the invention has been disclosed in detail with reference to one specific embodiment of the invention, it is stressed that the invention is not limited to the specific details given for that embodiment and that many changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the invention as set out in the above general disclosure and the attached claims.

Claims

1. Drain trap device for sanitary and/or plumbing equipment, comprising an inlet portion to receive fluids from said sanitary and/or plumbing equipment and an outlet portion to discharge fluids into a plumbing system whereas said inlet and outlet portion are connected via a underlying siphon portion, wherein said siphon portion comprises a draining valve.

2. Drain trap device according to claim 1, wherein said draining valve comprises a ball valve mechanism.

3. Drain trap device according to claim 2, wherein said ball valve mechanism constitutes the bottom part of said siphon portion.

4. Drain trap device according to any one of claim 2 and 3, comprising a siphon portion with a inner tubular section extending into a lower part of said siphon portion to provide a fluid seal mechanism, wherein said ball valve mechanism comprises one hemispheric valve part which can be rotated from a closed position to an open position and vice versa without interfering with said inner tubular section.

5. Drain trap device according to claim 4, wherein said inner tubular section comprises a narrowed lower end to provide broadened passage for waste fluids in the drain trap.

6. Drain trap device according to any one of claim 2 to 5, comprising a siphon portion with a inner tubular section extending into the lower part of said siphon portion to provide fluid seal mechanism, wherein said inner tubular section extends to above the ball valve ball.

7. Drain trap device according to claim 2, wherein said ball valve mechanism is positioned extending laterally with respect to the siphon portion of the drain trap

Drawing