US20080229490A1

US20080229490A1 - Safety grate cover for a swimming pool

Info

Publication number: US20080229490A1
Application number: US12/156,414
Authority: US
Inventors: Robert B. Lawson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Hydrotech Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2006-12-04
Filing date: 2008-06-02
Publication date: 2008-09-25
Also published as: US7419588B2; US20080128342A1

Abstract

A grate cover in combination with a swimming pool being installed in a recess in the top of a sump. The grate is formed of an upper and a lower section. Each of the upper and the lower section exhibit four quadrants therein. The upper section has dome-shaped configuration and has square shaped interstices therein. Each of the quadrants of the upper section has a concave curvature therein at a transition between the upper and the lower section. Each of the quadrants of the lower section have two concave curvatures therein. One curvature extends in a first direction from the upper section toward an outside edge of grate cover. The other second concave curvature extends in a direction which is normal to the first direction. This way, the forceful suction within the sump cannot obtain enough force to suction the skin of a human onto the grate cover to cause any injuries. The curvatures in the top of the grate cover will always induce a lateral flow under a human body no matter how much of the grate is covered by the body.

Description

This application is a Continuation-In-Part of application Ser. No. 11/633,064, filed Dec. 4, 2006

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Most all swimming pools have a drainage sump located mostly in the deep end bottom for draining the pool when necessary and also for participating in the circulation of the pool water which is circulating through the filter system. Other pool systems are known as wading pools or Jacuzzis.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The above mentioned pools have a sump in the lowest point of the pool and is of a pot-like configuration and has a grating installed over the opening of the sump to prevent any of the larger debris or children's toys from entering into the sump and to prevent any human limbs or larger areas of the human body to make contact with the considerable suction force in the bottom of the sump to avoid any injuries. The considerable suction in the bottom of the sump creates quite a forceful suction on the top of the grate that covers the sump. It has been known that many injuries have occurred to a human being suctioned onto the sump cover without being able to extricate him or herself without any help. Most of the sump covers known in the art have a flat surface thereon and the covers have many interstices therein to catch anything on the flat surface thereon while the water is suctioned into the sump. It has been found, in many instances, the force of the suction is of such intensity so that a human body can be trapped on top of the cover and the body of the person cannot be removed unless emergency procedures are undertaken.
Steps have been taken alleviate a person from being sucked onto the cover. The above identified application has almost solved the problem by making the cover in a dome-shaped configuration. This way, no flat surfaces are presented to any part of the human body to thereby eliminate any chance of being sucked onto the surface of the grate cover.
Other constructions have taken a different approach to this problem by having a sensor installed in the water suction line that would sense any increase in the force of the suction and after a short delay would cut off the suction. However, this approach has the disadvantage that by the time the increase in suction is being sensed, the person is already pulled down by the force of the suction and still could obtain a serious injury.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As mentioned above, this invention is a Continuation-In-Part of a prior application. The prior application has a dome-shaped grate cover covering the sump. Since this dome-shaped grate cover is almost fool-proof with regard to any injuries, the present inventive concept is a further improvement over the prior grate cover. The present invention still has a dome-shaped cover but is divided into an upper section and a lower section. The upper section has four quadrants and each of the quadrants has square-shaped interstices and exhibits a concave curve at the transition to the lower section. The lower section also has four quadrants and each of the quadrants has a first concave curve extending in a direction toward the outside of the cover and furthermore has a second concave curve in a direction which is normal to the direction of the first concave curve. This arrangement assures that there is never a chance of any part of the human body being suctioned onto the grate cover because of the above curvatures there is always a lateral flow of suctioned water into the sump and under a person being in close contact with the cover.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top view of the inventive grate cover;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the grate cover taken along the line B-B of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the grate cover taken along the line C-C of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a detailed view of the transition between a first quadrant and a second quadrant as shown by circle D;

FIG. 5 shows a fastening element at a middle line of the cover as shown by the circle A;

FIG. 6 shows a fastening element at a corner of the cover as shown by the circle F;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a sump in the bottom of the pool;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the various interstices of the pool cover;

FIG. 9 is across section through a wall of the interstices.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a top view of the grate cover having a domed section. The basic cover is in a square configuration and seen from the center top there are four downwardly sloping quadrants 1 a, 1 b, 1 c and 1 d. There is a transitional area between the upper section and a lower section 2. The transitional area is shown by the circle D and FIG. 4. The lower section 2 again is divided into four quadrants 2 a, 2 b, 2 c and 2 d. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the upper section 1 has a multiple of interstices of a square configuration and the second section 2 has oblong or rectangular interstices. The square interstices are held to a minimum of between 8.00 mm and 11.00 mm. This assures that not even a finger of a human hand can be sucked into the sump by way of a forceful suction. The top of the dome-shaped section 1 has a flat location 3 thereon to receive an ID tag which will indicate the exact specification of the grate cover.
FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the grate cover. The view is taken along line B-B of FIG. 1. This view clearly shows the dome-shaped top section 1 as it tapers downwardly toward the lower section 2. At the transition between the upper section 1 and the lower section 2 there is slight concave curve 4 which blends into the lower section 2. The lower section shows a concave curve 5 as it curves downwardly toward the outside edge of the cover.
FIG. 3 is another cross sectional of the grate cover. This view is taken along the line C-C of FIG. 1. This view shows a concave curve 5 a which is normal to the concave curve 5 that curves downwardly toward the edge 17 of the grate cover.
FIG. 4 is a top view of an area depicted in FIG. 1 by the circle D. This Fig. shows the square interstices 6 of the upper section 1 and the oblong or rectangular openings or interstices 7 of the lower section 2.
FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate how the grate cover is fastened to the sump shown in FIG. 7. FIG. 5 shows a fastening element 10 of the grate cover lower section 2 that is located at about the middle line of the grate cover lower section 2 and has an opening 11 therein which is used to pass a fastener there through. In FIG. 6 there is shown a corner 8 of the grate cover having an opening 9 therein which is used to pass a fastener there through into a recess of the sump.
FIG. 7 illustrates a typical sump 12 which is normally of a square configuration although other shapes such as circular or rectangular may also be used. However, the square shape has proven to be most beneficial. The sump 12 has a suction outlet 13 in the bottom. The sump 12 has a recess 14 around its upper periphery which is used to insert the grate cover therein to be flush with the bottom of the pool or Jacuzzi.
FIGS. 8 and 9 show a detailed construction of the walls of the interstices or openings in the grate cover. The walls are shown at 15 and the upper surface of the walls have a reduced profile thereon to form ribs 16. This reduced profile 16 is instrumental in further minimizing the contact that can be had with the skin of a human when coning in contact with the grate cover.
It can now be seen that the pool grate cover is quite superior in performance when compared with the covers known in use including the co-pending application identified above. Experiments and tests have shown that the skin of a human cannot be attracted to the surface of the cover because the contact area is too small and the various curvatures on the top do not allow any areas of the body and the limbs to be attracted to the surface of the grate cover. The various concave curvatures of the top of the cover will always create lateral flows through the interstices and under any area of the human body. The suction force from inside of the sump cannot find enough contact areas to be effective to cause injuries.
This inventive grate cover should be installed in condo polls, apartment complexes, olympic size pools or even pools used in a home environment. The home environment use includes wading pools and the use of a Jacuzzi.

Claims

1. A pool grate cover in combination with a sump, said grate cover being installed in a top recess of said sump, said grate cover having walls forming a multiple of interstices therein, said grate cover has an upper and a lower section, each of said upper and lower sections having four quadrants, the quadrants of said upper section forming a dome-shaped configuration and having a concave curvature at a transition between said upper section and said lower section, each quadrant of said lower section having a first concave curvature extending in a direction toward an outside of said grate cover.

2. The pool grate cover of claim 1, wherein said interstices of said upper section are of a square configuration.

3. The pool grate cover of claim 1 including a flat area on top of said upper section for the reception of information with regard to the specification of said pool grate cover.

4. The pool grate cover of claim 1, wherein said lower section has a further second concave curvature which is normal to said first curvature.

5. The pool grate cover of claim 1, wherein said lower section has interstices of a rectangular configuration.

6. The pool grate cover of claim 1, wherein said walls forming said interstices have reduction ribs therein to limit a contact with the skin of human making contact with said grate cover.

7. The pool grate cover of claim 1, wherein said interstices have a dimension between 7 mm to 11 mm.