Pool grating having curves therein

Abstract

A structure for installing grate bars in a swimming pool having straight and curved section. The pool has a top gutter formed in concrete. The grate bars follow the concept of being parallel to a pool wall. A multiple of spaced apart elements support elements are placed over the gutter at predetermined intervals and fastened to the top of the concrete. A pre-assembled grid of longitudinal grate bars is placed over the support elements and fastened thereto. The pre-assembled grate bars are held together by lateral stays. In the curved section, individual grate bars placed onto the support elements one by one and are bent into the respective curves of the gutter. the individual grate bars are received between the spaces of the knobs on the support elements and snap fitted therein.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention pertains to pool constructions, particularly, it is directed to the overflow gutter concept. The overflow gutter concept is increasingly being used in the United Sates an other countries. This concept is not only used in large swim competition pools but also in leisure and residential pools. The perimeter overflow system is often called deck level, overflow or wet deck. This type of construction involves a gutter which is placed around the whole perimeter of the pool and placed at the deck level of the pool so that water can flow into the gutter and a grating covers the opening of the gutter which is placed at deck level. The grating has to be strong enough to accommodate foot traffic near the edge of the pool. Known gratings have connecting stays that run perpendicular to a pool wall. They are extruded, are somewhat flexible and can handle a radius. Gratings constructed with stays or grate bars that run parallel to the edge of the pool have a tendency to hinder the flow over the grate because the parallel stays present an obstacle to water flow which is highly desirable in pool constructions because this way the concrete deck remains mostly dry and prevents feet from slipping thereon.

Such pool deck and grate construction has been disclosed by the applicant in U.S. Pat. No. 6,968,665 and has been found to be most successful, however, the construction and installation has proven to be somewhat time consuming and cumbersome.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention greatly simplifies the construction of a swimming pool having curves and having grate bars that are parallel to the walls of the pool. This is accomplished by pre-manufacturing grate bar grids that are installed over the gutter and in straight sections of the pool. The grids are supported by support elements that straddle the gutter. The support elements are reinforced by a grid array below the top. The tops of the support elements have U-shaped receptacles that will receive straight grate bars. The support elements are spaced apart at predetermined intervals in the curves of the pool gutter. Straight grate bars are secured in the U-shaped receptacles and can be bent into shape to follow the curvature of the gutter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a pool having a gutter and curves;

FIG. 2 illustrates a pool having a grate bar grid installed over a gutter;

FIG. 3 shows a grid bar installed in a receptacle;

FIG. 4 shows a cross section through a grid bar;

FIG. 5 shows how a receptacle for the grate is created;

FIG. 6 shows the details of a support element;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of grate bar;

FIG. 8 is a top view of a grate bar;

FIG. 9 is a side view of a grate bar;

FIG. 10 is a bottom view of a grate bar;

FIG. 11 shows two grate bars connected to each other;

FIG. 12 is a side view of the support element supporting a multiple of grate bars;

FIG. 13 shows grate bars installed in a curve of the pool from a straight run;

FIG. 14 is a top view of an extruded grate bar grid;

FIG. 15 is a side view of the grid assembly of FIG. 14.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a swimming pool 1 having a grate system 2 installed on the top of the deck.

FIG. 2 is a cross section through the inventive construction wherein 6 is a nose in the form of a simulated grate bar having friction ribs 6 and 4 is a water facing plate that overlaps the concrete front. It can be seen that the water level is even with the top 6 of the simulated grate bar. There is a finger gripping recessed groove that aids swimmers to gain a hold of the deck. The simulated grate bar 6 has a hollow below its top which ends in a plate that is located on top of the concrete and is fastened thereto by way of a lag screw 11 which is driven into an anchor 11 and held in there by way of the anchor 11. The screw head 12 has washer 13 there under. The plate has two upstanding hooks thereon which will receive the counter hooks 9 which are molded into the under side of the hollow grate bar 7. The hollow grate bar 7 is snap fastened to the bottom plate by engaging the hooks 8 and 9. All of the above has been disclosed in applicant's copending application Ser. No. ______. The inventive concept in the form of a support element 20 is shown on the left of the bottom plate which element 20 straddles the gutter. The right gutter wall 32 is shown. The support element 20 is fastened to the concrete top by way of lag screw. The details of the installation is shown below in FIG. 12. The support element 20 supports the longitudinal grate bars 6a through 6d and more.

FIG. 3 shows one of the grate bars as it is installed and fastened to the support element 20. The support element 20 has retention knobs 21 located thereon. The support element 20 is being extruded together with its reinforcing frame or array 25. The retention knobs have hooks 22 thereon which will receive the longitudinal retention barbs 23 located on the grate bar 6. The grate bars will snap fit into the space between the retention knobs by way of hooks 22 and the barbs 23 and will be securely held therein.

FIG. 4 is a cross section through a grate bar 6 and shows the retention barbs 23 thereon. The top friction surface is shown at 24.

FIG. 5 shows a partial section of the support element 20 which is being extruded as mentioned above. This partial section clearly shows the knobs 21 with the hooks 22.

FIG. 6 shows the support element 20 in its basic outline. It is extruded and clearly shows the reinforcing frame or array 25 thereon. This reinforcing is essential since the support element spans the width of the gutter and must be able to support foot traffic thereon.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the U-shaped longitudinal grate bar with the same numerals shown as were explained above.

FIG. 8 is a top view of a longitudinal grate bar 6 showing the friction surface 24 on top of the grate bar and also showing the double male clips 26, which will be explained below.

FIG. 9 is a side view of the longitudinal grate bar with like reference characters applied as were in previous Figs.

FIG. 10 is a bottom view of the longitudinal grate bar 6 with like reference characters applied as were in previous Figs.

FIG. 11 is a cross sectional side view to show how two longitudinal grate bars are connected together. To this end, the previously identified double male clip is shown at 26 on one end of one grate bar 6 and how it is inserted in an opening 27 on another grate bar 6. The two grate bars are merely snap-fitted together to make a rigid connection.

FIG. 12 is a side view of a support element 20 as it straddles the gutter having side walls 32 and 33. The support element 20 is placed across the gutter and fastened at its respective ends to the top of the concrete by lag screws 28. Also, in this FIG. 12 there can be seen the reinforcement grid or array 25, which as previously mentioned, must be able to support foot traffic on top of the grate bars 6. The grate bars 6 are supported on top of the support element 20 and between the knobs 21 where they are locked in place by the respective hooks 22 and barbs 23. (FIGS. 3-7).

FIG. 13 illustrates how a straight section and a curved section is connected together.

The curved section is shown at 30 and a straight section is shown at 31.

The construction of the straight section will be explained with reference to FIG. 14. As can be seen in FIG. 13, the support elements 20 are placed over the gutter at regular and predetermined intervals into the straight as well as the curved areas of the pool. Once the grid (FIG. 14) of the straight section is placed over the respective support elements 20 and fastened thereto, the individual longitudinal grate bars 6 in the curved section are each clipped together end to end (26 and 27, FIG. 11) into the respective ends of the straight section. The straight bars 6 are now bent according to the curvature of the pool and placed into their respective spaces between the knobs 21 on top of the support elements and snapped therein. The grate bars 6 are rigid enough to support foot traffic thereon, once installed, but they still can be bent to conform to the curvature of the gutter. To complete the installation in a curve, each of the grate bars 6 is installed individually until a curved section is completed. There after the straight grid section can be continued in the straight section following the curved section.

FIG. 14 shows the construction of a straight grate bar grid having multiple of longitudinal grate bars 6 therein. Like reference characters are being used as they were shown in previous Figs. In this FIG. 14 there are shown a multiple of lateral stays 20a which are spaced apart from each other a predetermined distance to form a grid. The longitudinal grate bars 6 and the lateral stays 20a are molded simultaneously to form a rigid grid. The lateral spacings between the bars are held to conform to the spacings between the knobs 21 on the support element 20. This way it is merely necessary to press a pre-assembled grid assembly onto several support elements 20 in a straight section of the gutter.

FIG. 15 is a side view of the grid bar assembly of FIG. 14 and no further discussion is deemed to be necessary.

Claims

1. A structure for installing grate bars in a swimming pool, said swimming pool having the concept of grate bars running parallel to a wall of the pool, said pool having a gutter at a top thereof, said gutter having straight and curved sections, said gutter further having support elements on top of the concrete from which said gutter is formed, said support elements having ends and are spanning said gutter and are fastened to said concrete by lag screws at the ends of said support elements, said support elements are spaced along said straight and said curved sections at predetermined intervals, said straight section receiving a grid of pre-assembled grate bars on top of said support elements, said curved sections having individually bent grate bars fastened to a top of said support elements.

2. The structure of claim 1, wherein said grate bars have a hollow nose assembly installed between said grate bars and an edge of the pool.

3. The structure of claim 2, wherein said hollow assembly has a longitudinal depression placed downwardly from a top of said hollow assembly to act as finger grips for a user in said pool.

4. The structure of claim 1, wherein said grate bars have a U-shaped cross section and having a friction inducing design on top of the grate bars.

5. The structure of claim 1 including a male clip at one end of said grate bars and a female receptacle at another end of said grate bars, whereby, when said male clip of one end of one grate bar is snapped into said female receptacle at one end of another grate bar, said grate bars will be rigidly connected to each other.

6. The structure of claim 1, wherein said support element has a reinforcing array below a top of said element, said array extending downwardly into the gutter.

7. The structure of claim 1, wherein said support element has spaced apart knobs on top of said element and each of said knobs has lateral hooks thereon.

8. The structure of claim 7, wherein each of said U-shaped grate bars has lateral barbs thereon, and when said grate bars are introduced between said knobs, the barbs on said U-shaped grate bars will snap under said hooks of said knobs.

9. The structure of claim 1, wherein said pre-assembled grate consists of a grid having a multiple of spaced apart lateral stays, the lateral stays are molded simultaneously with longitudinal grate bars which are spaced apart, the ends of said spaced apart longitudinal grate bars have at one end thereof male clips thereon and have female receptacles on the other end so that a multiple of longitudinal grate bars can be snapped together.