Hand-held pumping device

Abstract

A cordless battery powered, hand-held pump, for pumping out liquid, primarily bilge water from small boats, has a support shaft with a submersible pump/motor secured at one end of the shaft, and a handle at the other end of the shaft that is inclined at an angle from the shaft; the pump's liquid discharge connects with an outlet located near the handle, which is aligned with the handle and can connect with a garden hose; a removable, rechargeable battery pack is mounted in the end of the handle, and connects through a lockable switch to the motor. The pump can discharge 10 gallons a minute directly overboard.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not applicable (N/A)

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

N/A

REFERENCE TO A SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING

N/A

COMPACT DISC APPENDIX

N/A

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. This invention is directed to a hand-held pumping device, and in particular to a battery driven, dockside boat bailer, for bailing small boats.

2. Most small boats are typically docked in the open, and are subject to accumulating rainfall. Also, when beached, they frequently are exposed to wave-action, and again accumulate water. Owing to the nature of their construction it can be difficult and time consuming to bail out such accumulations by hand.

Larger vessels are usually fitted with permanent bilge pumps, that discharge overboard. Many efforts have been devoted to this problem of boat de-watering, from the hand-pump of Gearing (U.S. Pat. No. 161,775 of April 1875) to the motor driven placement pump of Ridgeway (U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,396 of September 1977).

A parallel aspect of water displacement is found in domestic sump pumps and the like, such as Zimmermann et al (U.S. Pat. No. 2,981,196 of April 1961); Peters (U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,606 of April 1973) and Roberts et al (U.S. Pat. No. 3,814,544 of June 1974. The Roberts et al auxiliary sump pump is battery driven, apparently by an automotive-style lead/acid battery. It is not unusual to equip such installations with float-controlled switches, to activate them automatically.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a light-weight, hand-held, portable cordless electric de-watering pump, having a comparatively high rate of discharge, suited for discharging water over the side of a small boat.

Thus, the present invention is distinguished over the prior art by way of a battery-operated, rechargeable and completely portable, self-contained device.

The hand-held device has a substantially rigid shaft, with a self-contained, submersible pump/motor at its lower end, and a grippable handle at its other end.

In a preferred embodiment, the discharge from the pump is directed upward into the shaft, from which it exits by way of a discharge port that can be readily aimed so as to discharge over the side of the boat, when convenient. The three-foot discharge stream is adequate for direct dewatering of small boats in most instances.

The shaft is about three feet in length, and is readily oriented, while maintaining the pump intake submerged, to effect discharge over the side of most small boats.

The discharge port has a garden-hose fitting, so that a garden hose and the like may be attached thereto, in the event that direct overboard discharge is not suitable, such as in the case of a deeper hulled vessel, in which case the water can be more distantly discharged by way of the hose, to a location better suited to water disposal.

It is contemplated that the pump discharge may be connected directly at the pump per se to a short length of suitable hose, which hose is removably clipped to the pump shaft, thus enabling the user to readily direct the pump discharge in any desired direction, independent of the orientation of the pump handle.

The handle by which the dewatering pump is held houses a removable, rechargeable battery pack and a control switch, by which the motor is energized. The control switch may be a trigger grip that underlies the handle, and may include a locking button to lock the switch in an operating or an inoperative condition.

The mass of the battery pack, located towards the rear of the handle, which is off-set from the axis of the pump shaft, serves as a counterweight to the pump/motor, thereby facilitating precise positioning of the pump in relation to the structure of the hull of the boat.

The construction of the motor permits it to be immersed, while the adoption of battery power, with relatively low voltage (e.g. 12 to 18-volts) substantially eliminates any likelihood of water-borne short-circuits or its accompanying dangers.

In one embodiment, a pumping rate of 10-gallons per minute was obtained, while the standard 12-volt battery pack in its fully-charged condition gives energy capacity to dewater several small boats at the 10 gallons per minute rate. With an established capacity of forty minutes of continuous pumping by way of a fully charged battery pack, it is evident that a number of small boats can be dewatered of an average water content on a single battery pack charge, while the recharging of a battery pack requires about the same amount of time, so that use of two battery packs should make continuous dockside dewatering a feasible and practical operation, at marinas and the like.

Owing to the simple construction, light weight, low cost and ready deployment of the subject bailer, its use is contemplated in a wide range of environments, including the retrieval of liquid spills, such as retrieving local small oil spills off bodies of water. By adoption of an explosion-proof motor and switch, use of the device in handling fuel spills is made possible by the connection of a hose from the pump into a sealed container. In many automobile accidents, the handling of spilled gasoline presents a dangerous problem for which the subject invention may prove to be part of a practical and satisfactory solution.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

Certain embodiments are described by way of illustration, without limitation of the present invention thereto, other than as defined in the following claims, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a first embodiment of a boat bailer in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view of a second embodiment of the bailer, deployed by a user;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view in transverse section of a small boat; and,

FIG. 4 is a side view of a third embodiment of a subject boat bailer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a bailer device 10 in accordance with the present invention has a pump portion 12 surmounted by an electric motor 14.

The pump 12 has a screened filter inlet 13, to exclude detritus that otherwise might jam or otherwise block the pump or the associated discharge flow passages.

The pump/motor 12/14 is mounted within a housing 16 at the end of a hollow shaft 18. The shaft 18 is surmounted by an off-set handle portion 20. A battery pack 22, such as those used in power hand tools, is house within the handle portion 20.

The handle 20 includes a pivotally mounted switch trigger lever 26, and an associated locking button 28 to lock the lever 26 in an operating or in an inoperative condition.

The motor 14 is DC (direct current) low voltage, suited for battery operation. The output of pump 12 passes upwardly by way of interior hose connection 30 to a discharge housing 32. The discharge axis of the housing 32 is substantially at right-angles to the shaft 18, and in substantial coincidence with the plane of the handle portion 20. The housing 32 has an externally threaded hose connection for attachment of a garden hose (not shown)

The battery pack 22 is removably secured within the end of the handle portion 20, enabling its ready removal for substitution of a spare battery, and for re-charging. The handle portion 20 is inclined from the shaft 18, for convenience of use in positioning the pump 12, as shown in FIG. 2. This off-set also provides a moment arm for the mass of the battery pack 22, pivoting about the point of suspension of the user's hand, to at least partially compensate for, and counterbalance the mass of the pump/motor 12/14, during its initial placement into the water that is to be drained. This facilitates precise positioning of the pump inlet 13 into sump and other drainage spaces that may have the access to them restricted.

The alignment of the discharge housing 32 in the plane of the handle 20 promotes accurate aiming of the discharge jet from the bailer 10.

FIG. 3 simply illustrates the type of open-hulled small boat in which the subject bailer 10 is of particular use, with the facility to discharge directly overboard. Referring to FIG. 4, this illustrates the suitability of the subject bailer for manufacture from locally available component parts. Thus, a bailer 40 may have a shaft 48 of plastic, such as ¾ inch polyvinylchloride (PVC) tube, surmounted by a tee-piece 42, with a bottom (female/male) elbow 44. A combined pump/motor 50 has its output nozzle 52 secured by way of sleeve 54 to the elbow 44.

The bailer discharge outlet 56 may consist of a ¾-inch pipe secured to the T of tee-piece 42. Above the tee-piece 42, the interior of the shaft 48 is sealed off with a plug. A handle 58 is clamped at 59 to the shaft 48, the handle 58 having an on/off switch trigger 60, with a lock-off button 62. A battery pack 22 is removably secured within the handle 56. The electrical output from the battery pack 22, when the trigger 60 is actuated, passes by way of externally located conductors protected within a vinyl tube 64, to the pump/motor 50.

Claims

1. An electrically powered, light-weight hand-held pump, for pumping liquid from one location to another, said pump having a support shaft; a combined pump/motor secured to the distal end of said shaft, a handle inclined from said shaft and located at the proximal end of the shaft; liquid discharge means connected with said pump/motor, in use to receive liquid output therefrom, said liquid discharge means having an outlet located between said distal and said proximal ends; battery means to power said motor, and switch means mounted on said handle in controlling relation with said motor means, said handle being in orientation-controlling relation with said support shaft, in use to control the direction of liquid discharge by said liquid discharge means.

2. The pump as set forth in claim 1, said pump having an inlet, the polar axis thereof being substantially parallel with the polar axis of said shaft.

3. The pump as set forth in claim 2, said polar axis of said pump being in substantial alignment with the polar axis of said shaft.

4. The pump as set forth in claim 2, said polar axis of said pump being substantially coplanar with said handle.

5. The pump as set forth in claim 1, said liquid discharge means being located primarily within said supporting shaft.

6. The pump as set forth in claim 1, said battery means being removable and rechargeable.

7. The pump as set forth in claim 6, said battery means being located within said handle in off-set relation from the polar axis of said shaft, in use to provide a counterweight to the mass of said pump/motor, to facilitate the accurate positioning of said pump/motor in a desired location.

8. The pump as set forth in claim 1, including filter means to filter liquid passing into said pump.

9. An electrically powered, light-weight hand-held pumping device, for pumping liquid from one location to another, said pumping device having a support shaft; a combined pump/motor secured to one end of said shaft, a handle located at the other end of the shaft; liquid discharge means connected with said pump/motor, in use to receive liquid output therefrom, said liquid discharge means having a directionally controllable outlet; battery means mounted on said device to power said motor, and switch means mounted on said handle in controlling relation with said motor means, said handle being in position-controlling relation with said pump/motor, in use to control the location of said pump/motor in relation to said liquid.

10. The pump as set forth in claim 9, said battery means being located within said handle in off-set relation from the polar axis of said shaft, in use to provide a counterweight to the mass of said pump/motor, to facilitate the accurate positioning of said pump/motor in a desired location.