Grill for swimming pool gutter

Abstract

The preferred embodiment of a grill for a swimming pool gutter includes an inner horizontal wall having a series of vertical slots therein, a slotted handgrip or nose portion, and a slotted horizontal wall extending away from the nose portion. The grill is comprised of a series of identical grill members supported in spaced-apart, parallel relationship, and individually adjustable closure means are mounted in the vertical slots in the inner wall to provide a fine adjustment for leveling the skimming action of the gutter and to provide a means for metering the skimming flow rate of the gutter. The grill is readily removably mounted to the gutter.

Parent Case Text

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 414,775 filed Nov. 12, 1973 now abandoned.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to swimming pools, and more particularly, to grills or grates for peripheral gutters for use in such pools.

Most of the contaminants that enter a swimming pool come from the atmosphere and bathers through the surface of the water and many tend to remain floating thereon. The most effective means for removing these contaminants from the water is continuous peripheral skimming by means of overflow gutters placed around the pool. Many public health authorities require that public pools have continuously skimming gutters.

A peripheral gutter desirably performs several functions. In addition to providing a skimmed flow rate sufficient to remove surface contaminants at an acceptable rate, the gutter should possess adequate surge and wave quelling characteristics. It will be appreciated that during periods when there are no swimmers in the pool, the skimming flow of water to the gutter is constant and equals a percentage of the rate at which water is recirculated into the pool. When swimmers enter the pool, however, or when heavy surges or wave action splash water into the gutters, the amount of water impinging against the gutter may from time-to-time exceed the flow capacity of the gutter. If the gutter does not have sufficient surge capacity, these conditions result in a flooded gutter which, in effect, would cause contaminated water to flow back into the swimming pool and cause effective skimming action to cease.

The level of the overflow lip of the gutter should be closely toleranced to dead level to insure the proper distribution of skimmed flow from all areas of the pool. The Bishop patent (U.S. Pat. No. 3,546,719) shows a means for roughly adjusting the height of the overflow lip of a gutter.

In a pool used for competitive swimming, it is preferred that the gutters provide a wave quelling action. The swimmers in a race create waves and turbulence which affect to some extent the speed of all the racers. The affect is most noticeable upon the trailing racers who swim into waves created by the leaders, although all swimmers are affected by their own breast wave when it bounces back off the end walls of the pool.

In order to minimize the impact of wave action, it is important that the peripheral gutter dissipate the energy of waves and turbulence, rather than bounce or deflect them back into the pool. Pools which incorporate means for quelling waves are sometimes called "fast" pools. Prior art devices for quelling waves are shown in the patents to Baker (U.S. Pat. No. 3,668,712), Bishop (U.S. Pat. No. 3,546,719) and Ellis (U.S. Pat. No. 3,363,767) which employ an inclined baffle plate located exteriorly of the lip of an overflow gutter for directing the waves down into the gutter, rather than bouncing the waves back into the pool. The Vincent patent (U.S. Pat. No. 3,577,570) employs a slightly inclined beach or surface to quell waves.

In order to protect against gutter flooding, the Baker gutter referred to above employs an overflow gutter with horizontally disposed, constantly open slots in the side wall of an overflow gutter. The horizontal slots can accommodate a predetermined maximum of skim flow, with the excess being forced over the top of the overflow gutter. The Hough patent (U.S. Pat. No. 3,641,594) and Baker's U.S. Pat. No. 3,668,714 disclose horizontal scupper slots at a few discreet points around the pool perimeter for establishing skimmed flow when the water level goes below its normal level.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the invention, an improved grill for a swimming pool gutter includes an inner, vertical wall or face having a plurality of spaced-apart, vertical openings or slots therein, and preferably a nose portion and a generally horizontally disposed wall extending away from the nose portion. The vertical slots or openings in the inner wall of the grill preferably include adjustable closure means, such as sliders, to provide for fine adjustment of the water level in the pool and to yield a means for regulating the skimming flow rate of the pool.

The grill is preferably constructed from a plurality of substantially identical grill members. The grill members are generally L-shaped and include a horizontal leg, a vertical leg, and an intermediate nose or lip portion. The grill members are supported in spaced-apart, parallel relationship so that the vertical legs define the inner wall of the grill and the spaces between the legs constitute the vertical openings or slots. The nose portion of the grill members desirably includes a handgrip means.

The inner wall of the grill, which essentially is comprised of a series of elongated vertical openings or slots, has superior wave quelling and surge controlling properties. It is desirable to employ means for readily removing the grill from the gutter for cleaning the gutter and the like.

In accordance with the foregoing, the primary object of the invention is to provide an improved grill for a swimming pool gutter.

This and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent as the following description of the preferred embodiment proceeds with continued reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a section of the preferred embodiment of a grill in accordance with the present invention shown mounted to a section of a swimming pool gutter;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2--2 of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The preferred embodiment of a grill generally indicated by the reference numeral 10 is shown in FIG. 1 as being readily removably mounted (in a manner to be described more fully below) over the opening of a gutter 12. The gutter 12 includes a removable supply pipe 14 mounted on bracket 16 and return water nozzles 18. The conduit connecting supply pipe 14 and nozzle 18 is not shown. The gutter 12 preferably is constructed of stainless steel. It should be understood that the gutter 12 is normally installed in a swimming pool (not shown) of concrete or the like and the gutter preferably is disposed about the entire periphery of the pool.

The grill 10 is comprised of a plurality of generally L-shaped members 20, each of which includes a vertical leg 22, a horizontal leg 24, and an intervening nose or handgrip portion 26. The legs 22 and 24 preferably are approximately perpendicular to each other. The grill members 20 are supported by three connecting rods 28 passing through aligned apertures in the grill members 20 and by spacer means 30 in spaced-apart, parallel relationship so that the vertical leg portions 22 define a generally vertically disposed, slotted, inner grill wall 32. Because of the spaced relationship of the vertical legs 22, the wall 32 includes a series or plurality of equally spaced-apart, vertical openings or elongated slots 34 separated by wall portions 36.

The horizontal leg portions 24 define a generally horizontally disposed, slotted, upper grill wall 38 which extends from the nose portion 26 away from the center of the pool. The upper grill wall 38, like the inner grill wall 32, preferably includes a plurality of spaced-apart elongated openings 40. The nose 26 of the grill members 20 preferably includes handgrip means, such as the protrusion 41 to provide a convenient place for swimmers to grasp the edge of the pool.

Adjustable closure means for closing at least the lower portion of the vertical openings or slots 34 in the inner grill wall 28 are preferably employed. In the preferred embodiment, the adjustable closure means comprise sliders 42 disposed between the vertical legs 22 of adjacent grill members 20 which may be adjustably positioned at different heights. The sliders 42 shown are molded articles shaped to slidably fit the contours of the adjacent legs 22. As best seen with reference to FIG. 2, the forward corners of the legs 22 which face the pool are beveled or inclined at 44 and keyways 46 are formed in the sides of the legs 22. The sides of the sliders 42 have complementary configurations whereby each slider is restrained against any movement other than vertical movement. One of the connecting rods 28 preferably passes through aperture 48 in the central portion of the slider 42 (FIG. 1) and a hole 50 is provided in the inner face of the slider 42 to receive an instrument, such as a screwdriver, to adjust the height of the slider 42. The friction between the slider 42 and the legs 22 holds the sliders in place.

Each slider 42 is preferably adjustable independent from each other slider so as to provide a fine or hairline adjustment for the skimming lip over which the water skimmed from the pool flows. This feature allows for leveling the gutter after its installation and also provides for subsequently resetting the level of the gutter to compensate for settling and the like.

The sliders 42 preferably cannot travel to cover completely the slots 34, but rather the upper limit of their travel is preferably some distance, say at least 11/2 inches or so, below the lip of the nose portion 26. This distance is sometimes referred to as the in-pool surge capacity and functions as a safety factor to guard against gutter flooding under turbulent water conditions.

The superior wave quelling properties of the invention are believed to stem from the fact that the inner grill wall 32 provides a series of elongated, vertical spaces in a wall which first contacts water being skimmed from the pool before the water contacts any other mechanical element, such as an overflow lip or deflection plate. Most preferably, the wall 28 is essentially coplanar with the wall of the pool to establish a visual reference to the end of the pool. This configuration tends to slice the wave forms which impinge against the inner wall 32, whereby the waves are broken up and their energy dissipated without deflecting the wave back into the pool. The beveled 44 forward surface of the legs 22 aid in dissipating the energy of waves striking the wall 32 at an oblique angle.

The slotted inner grill wall 32, and under circumstances of extreme turbulence the slotted upper grill wall 38, tend to meter or restrict the amount of water entering the gutter to a flow rate lower than the capacity of the gutter to prevent gutter flooding. The individually adjustable closure means 42 enhance the metering capability of the invention by enabling any desired number or array of openings or slots 34 to be closed to skimming flow by raising the sliders. The invention thus lends itself to pool construction in which gutter skimming flow rates and distribution patterns may be preselected and varied by adjusting the pattern of open slots 42 and closed slots 42. The entry adjustment capability just described controls the influx of water into the gutter to prevent gutter flooding and to contain surge in the pool while maintaining continuous surface skimming.

The grill 10 preferably is readily removably mounted to the gutter 12. To this end, the design of the preferred embodiment of the gutter includes U-shaped channel 52 and bracket 54 such that the lower ends of the vertical legs 22, and hence the lower edge of the inner grill wall 32, may be inserted into the upwardly opening U-shaped channel 52, and the exposed ends of the horizontal legs 24 and hence the exposed edge of the upper wall 38 may be pressed or snapped into the bracket 54. It should be understood that there may be a number of other ways to removably mount the grill 10 to a gutter 12 in addition to an insertable mounting means of the type just described.

The grill is desirably fabricated of metal, masonry or plastic, and most preferably from PVC or ABS plastic. A non-metallic grill construction is preferred because it eliminates the need to comply with the National Electrical Code requirement that the grill be grounded. The exposed surface of the upper grill wall 38 is antiskid. The grill sections may be manufactured in modular lengths to facilitate manufacture of the grill and its removal from the gutter.

The foregoing description of the preferred embodiment is set forth solely for purposes of illustration and it is our intention to cover all modifications and equivalents of the invention which fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims

We claim:

1. A grill for a swimming pool overflow gutter comprising an inner grill wall which includes means defining a plurality of spaced-apart openings therein, through which openings water skimmed from the surface of the pool may pass on its way into the overflow gutter, adjustable closure means mounted in the spaced-apart openings to close at least a portion of the openings and to define an overflow lip for the overflow gutter, and means for mounting said adjustable closure means for vertical movement in said openings, whereby vertical movement of the adjustable closure means changes the height of the overflow lip.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said openings comprise vertically disposed slots and in which said adjustable closure means comprises sliders mounted in each of said vertical slots, and wherein the means for mounting the sliders for vertical movement is constructed and arranged to allow the sliders to move vertically independent of each other.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the grill comprises a plurality of L-shaped grill members each having a vertical leg, a horizontal leg, and a nose portion located at the junction of and inter-connecting the legs, and means for supporting said grill members in spaced-apart, parallel, aligned relationship so that the vertical legs comprise said inner grill wall and the spaces therebetween define said spaced-apart openings.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said openings comprise vertically disposed slots and in which said adjustable closure means comprises sliders positioned between adjacent vertical legs in said slots, and wherein the means for mounting the sliders for vertical movement is constructed and arranged to allow the sliders to move vertically independent of each other.

5. For use with a gutter adapted to surround the perimeter of a swimming pool, the said gutter having a bottom gutter wall and spaced opposed inner and outer gutter side walls defining a channel into which overflow water from the pool is received, with the upper edge of said inner gutter side wall terminating at a level beneath that of the upper edge of said outer gutter side wall, a grill assembly cooperating with said gutter walls to enclose said channel, said grill assembly comprising: a grill side wall removably mounted on said gutter side wall and extending vertically upwardly in relation thereto, a top grill wall removably mounted on said outer gutter side wall and extending horizontally inwardly in relation thereto, the inner edge of said top grill wall being joined to and supported by the upper edge of said grill side wall, said grill walls having openings therein through which water overflowing from the pool is received in said channel, the openings in said grill side wall being in the form of elongated slots having longitudinal dimensions greater than their lateral dimensions, with said longitudinal dimensions extending vertically to provide a means of dissipating the energy of surface waves impinging on said grill side wall.

6. The grill assembly as claimed in claim 5 wherein the openings in said top grill wall are in the form of elongated slots having longitudinal dimensions greater than their lateral dimensions, with said longitudinal dimensions being arranged to extend transversally between the inner and outer edges of said top grill wall.

7. The grill assembly as claimed in claim 5 further characterized by protrusions at the junction of said top and side grill walls, said protrusions providing hand grip means for bathers in the pool.

8. The grill assembly as claimed in claim 5 further characterized by adjustable closure means mounted in the openings in said grill side wall to close at least a portion of said openings and to define an overflow lip for pool surface water being received in said channel, said closure means being adjustable vertically in said openings.

9. The grill assembly as claimed in claim 5 wherein said grill walls are made up of a plurality of L-shaped members with spacer means positioned therebetween.