The present intention refers to a system that ensures the watertightness and fixation of the flexible and impervious. lining of a swimming pool or reservoirs to the overflow gutter of swimming pools or water reservoirs.

Currently there are various types of water circulation systems for swimming pools and reservoirs, within which the system of water circulation of the "overflow" type is included and whose operation is characterized by the existence of a gutter placed around the whole perimeter cf the swimming pool or reservoir, outer side, whose function is to collect the water which overflows from the swimming pool which is driven, by force of gravity, to a surge tank from where is captured by a circulation pump that directs it to a filter and subsequently returns it again to the swimming pool by means of the injectors placed on the side or the bottom of the swimming pool or water reservoir.

The construction and waterproofing of a swimming pool or reservoir with the water circulation system of the "overflows type can be accomplished by means of various construction techniques, such as reinforced concrete or shotcrete, which guarantee the watertightness of the pool or reservoirs, nevertheless with considerable costs of labour and materials. Other more economical construction techniques are equally applicable to this type of pool or reservoirs, such as, structure witch metal panels, with resin panels, which merely ensure the stability of the swimming pool or reservoir tub the watertightness of which is achieved by the application of a flexible and impervious lining. This latter lining may have an internal frame called "reinforced flexible and impervious lining" less economic or not have this frame and be designated as "flexible and impervious lining", more inexpensive. The application of the reinforced flexible and imperious lining, less economic and more time consuming consists in the cut on site of the lining which comes in rolls, by the technicians, according to the desired measurements, and subsequent manual welding in the swimming pool or reservoir structure itself by moulding thereon. The cheapest and fastest waterproofing of the pool or reservoir is obtained by the application of an impervious and flexible lining originated from an industrial process, which provides the cut and welding mechanically, tailored in the shape and size of the swimming pool or reservoir to which it is intended.

That said, the attainment of watertightness in the use of the flexible and impervious lining in pools or reservoirs with overflow systems is a challenge.

In fact, the difficultly lies in the fixation of the flexible and impervious lining to the gutter and to present the water from entering the structure of the pool or reservoir, going to the reverse side of the impervious and flexible lining, through the existing system of fixation of said lining to the gutter, losing water from the system. The present invention proposes to overcome the lack/inefficiency of watertightness inherent to the use of the flexible and pervious lining in overflow gutter for swimming pools or reservoirs by means of a system produced industrially and easy to apply.

There are several devices for the fixation of a pool liner, such as the document FR2783856 which discloses a fixation profile for swimming pool and an adapted liner whereby the fixation of the liner to the profile é obtained by the fitting of a "head" in the form of an arrow, located at end of the liner, on the edge of the profile which has a hook on which a wedge will eventually fall.

The system, comprised by various devices connected to one another, allows the fixation of the impervious and flexible lining of the swimming pool or reservoir, as well as prevents the loss of water from the hydraulic system of the pool or water reservoir, namely and by way of indication, into the space between the impervious and flexible lining of the swimming pool or reservoir and the overflow gutter and the structure of the swimming pool itself, a phenomenon enhanced by the constant overflow of water from the swimming pool or reservoir into the collection gutter making said system watertight.

The document DE4407452A1 discloses a swimming pool for light usage with adjustable overflow channel, which contains a rectangular pool edging and an overflow channel, which form a single assembly and are connected below the edging to the pool wall. The edging is adjustable with respect to the overflow channel in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, resulting in an adjustable overflow level. At least the wall of the pool can be made from metallic sheeting, supporting a waterproof film and an installation attachment corresponding to the design of the wall can be provided. A fixing screw can also be used to secure the adjustable edging at the desired overflow level.

The document EP0609163A1 discloses an overflow adjustment by mechanical finetuning adaptable to all kinds of swimmingpools. This technology relates to a set of industrially manufactured profiled sections which allow an overspill level to be set to within a millimetre by precise mechanical adjustment, which can be fitted to swimming pools of all shapes and types. The overspill setting, with precision mechanical adjustment, which can be adapted to all types of swimming pools, consists of a set of profiled sections, composed for example of several profiled sections such as: an overspill setting profiled section, a base bar, a stabilizing profiled section for the adjusting screw, an adapter profiled section and a supplementary adapter profiled section. The following are also shown: the setting nut, the wall of the swimming pool, the dowelled screws, the sealing membrane, the overspill level, the attachment lip and the water in the swimming pool.

The document DE4328305A1 discloses a swimming pool lining which comprises sheet which covers the pool floor and inner walling and is drawn over the pool edge in the overflow channel. An approximately U-shaped cross-section cover engages over the pool edge area and forms a grip strip. The cover is formed by a cover plate completely engaging over the pool edge between the inner walling and the overflow channel, whereby the overflow channel is lined with the sheet drawn over the pool edge. The cover plate is of stainless refined steel, preferably chrome nickel steel. The inner side brace is pressed under tension onto the pool inner walling. On the pool inner walling between the cover plate and the sheet a sealing strip, preferably of silicon rubber, runs around the swimming pool. On the pool edge is fixed an outside fitment angle, in which the outer side brace of the cover plate is suspended.

The system according to the present invention is small and of easy handling.

The system for watertightness and fixation of the flexible and impervious lining to the overflow gutter consists of four interconnected components.

The first component refers to a gutter (1), which can be obtained by cutting and bending of a colaminated sheet, which in turn is obtained by an industrial process, through the coating of the galvanized sheet with polyvinyl chloride, better known as PVC. The gutter (1) can be applied to various types of structures of pools or reservoirs (32), as a result of various techniques of constructions of swimming pools or reservoirs, such as reinforced concrete or metallic or resinous panels. It has at its end two side flaps (5) and a bottom flap (4), in order to allow for the union between the various excerpts of the gutter (1), this union being stabilized with the application of screws with nuts in the perforations (6) that the flaps (4, 5) have. The watertightness of the union between the various excerpts of the gutter (1) is reinforced with the application of liquid PVC on said unions. The gutter also has two support bases (2) for the placement of various types of grid (31) commercially available. The inner side end of the gutter (3) allows, besides the guidance in the placement of the gutter on the structure of the swimming pool or reservoir, for the application of the reinforced flexible and impervious lining (25), since the lining of the gutter is compatible with the reinforced flexible and impervious lining (25), allowing the technician to weld the two materials on site and thus ensure the union and watertightness between the two materials.

The second component refers to an anchoring profile (8) and can be manufactured by means of an extrusion process of rigid material, such as aluminium, for example. The support bases of the anchoring profile (15) are placed and fixed on the inner side base of the gutter (7) by means of a polymer based sealant and adhesive applied on the bases of the anchoring profile (15). The anchoring profile (8) has a non-slip surface (13) on the upper part of the anchoring profile (8) to ensure better adherence and greater safety for the pool or reservoir user, also ensuring a better grip should the application of some type of coating on this profile is intended. The two union cavities (14) located at the bottom part of the non-slip surface (13), are intended to facilitate the sequential joint of the excerpts of the anchoring profiles, using the introduction of a joint profile (30) in the same. The anchoring cavity (9), located on the inner end of the anchoring profile (8), is intended to receive the fixation profile (16) and comprises a stop for fixing the anchoring profile (10), located in the lower end of said anchoring cavity (9) and a watertight recess (11) located at the upper end of said anchoring cavity (10). At the end of the anchoring profile (8), there is a boss for the watertightness of the anchoring profile (12).

The third component consists of a fixation profile (16), whose aim allows simultaneously the fixation of the flexible and impervious lining (24) to the anchoring profile (8) and allows the watertightness for the system of overflow gutter of swimming pools or reservoirs. The fixation profile is preferably formed by a flexible material, such as PVC, in that it has a concave shape with respect to the anchoring cavity (9), shaping the latter, as well as a stop of fixation profile (17), cavity of fixation profile (18), blocking relieves of the fixation profile (19), watertightness boss of the fixation profile (20). The fixation profile (16) also presents a surface that allows the welding (23) of the flexible and impervious lining (24), at the factory, in high frequency, to the fixation profile (16). The fixation profile (16) fits, moulds itself to the cavity of anchoring (9), by means of its manual introduction in said cavity, and whose immobilization is obtained through the fitting of the stop of the fixation profile (17), into the stop of fixation of the anchoring profile (10).

The fourth component refers to a locking profile (26), whose application together with the gutter (1), anchoring profile (8) and fixation profile (16) allows to achieve the watertightness and fixation of the overflow gutter system. It consists of material derived from PVC, but with more rigidity than the fixation profile and is intended to finish the fitting and the final fixation of the fixation profile (16) into the anchoring profile (8) by introducing the same (locking profile (26)) into the cavity of the fixation profile (18). The locking profile (26) has an upper base (28) and a lower base (27) both with locking relieves (29), allowing a better adhesion to the fixation profile (16). The introduction of the locking profile (26) causes an expansion of the fixation profile (16) due to the embedding of the upper base of the locking profile (28) and the lower base of the same (27), crushing the lower contact surface of the fixation profile (22) to the lower surface of the anchoring cavity (9b) and the upper contact surface of the fixation profile (21) to the upper surface of the anchoring cavity (9a). The same expansion of the fixation profile (16) causes the fitting of the watertightness boss of the fixation profile (20) into the watertightness recess (11). The immobilization of the locking profile (26) into the cavity of the fixation profile (18) is obtained by anchoring the locking relives of the locking profile (29) into the locking relieves of the fixation profile (19).

With the present system for overflow gutter of swimming pools or reservoirs com anchoring and watertightness profiles for the application of flexible and impervious coating is intended to present a novel, economic and rapid solution in response to the difficulties inherent to the fixation and watertightness of such pools or reservoirs, with the resulting gain in assembly time, cost associated with the workmanship of the industry of construction of swimming pools or water reservoirs.

• Figure 1 shows a perspective view of an overflow gutter.
• Figure 2 shows a sectional view of the overflow gutter.
• Figure 3 shows a perspective view of the anchoring profile.
• Figure 4 shows a sectional view of the anchoring profile.
• Figure 5 shows a detail of the union of the excerpts of the anchoring profile.
• Figure 6 shows a perspective view of the fixation profile.
• Figure 7 shows the fixation profile in sectional view.
• Figure 8 shows a perspective view of the locking profile.
• Figure 9 shows a sectional view of the locking profile.
• Figure 10 shows a perspective view of the overflow gutter with fixation of the reinforced impervious and flexible lining.
• Figure 11 shows a detail of the reinforced impervious and flexible lining fixed.
• Figure 12 shows a global perspective view of the different components of the system.
• Figure 13 shows a sectional view of the different components of the system.
• Figure 14 shows a sectional view of the different components in their final position.
• Figure 15 shows a perspective view of the different components in the final position.