Safety grate cover for a swimming pool
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.
This application is a Continuation-In-Part of application Ser. No. 11/633,064, filed Dec. 4, 2006
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONMost 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 INVENTIONThe 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 INVENTIONAs 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.
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.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 2, 2008
Publication Date: Sep 25, 2008
Inventor: Robert B. Lawson (Naples, FL)
Application Number: 12/156,414