Abstract:
A vent for a building has a cover attached to a base. The base has an aperture permitting gas to pass. A moisture directing means on an underside of the cover directs moisture move under the influence of gravity to fall outside of the aperture. The cover may include a slanted side wall portion, with the aperture positioned with its center displaced from the center of the cover toward the slanted side. The base may include a pair of moisture deflecting features along at least a portion of one of the nonslope sides to prevent moisture flowing along the base from within an area on the base covered by the cover to outside of the covered area at the nonslope sides. The base may also include a water deflecting ridge on its underside positioned between a downslope edge and the aperture to deflect water away.
Abstract:
A hand held vacuum cleaner unit and docking assembly for a central vacuum system is shown. The hand held vacuum cleaner has a handle, a suction nozzle, a trigger switch to turn on a battery powered suction motor and an outlet port. The docking assembly fits into a central vacuum cleaner mounting plate, and provides a cradle to store the hand held vacuum cleaner. Recharging contacts, a latch mechanism, seals and an intake port are provided on the docking assembly. When the hand held unit is in the docking assembly it may be electrically charged, and emptied of dirt and debris by activation of the central vacuum system. The docking assembly also includes an access port for a conventional central vacuum hose.
Abstract:
A greywater recovery and reuse system is shown, including a body for collecting, conditioning and discharging greywater. The body has an inlet connection to a source of greywater; a filter for filtering the greywater; a tank for receiving the filtered greywater; a disinfector for disinfecting the filtered greywater; a pump for discharging the conditioned greywater from said tank to a toilet that needs flushing water; a discharge connection to a sanitary sewer system; a fresh water connection and a control system for controlling the operation of the greywater recovery and reuse system. The system includes a controller for operating the system and dealing with certain alarm and status conditions. Methods of operating the system are also comprehended.
Abstract:
A female electrical receptacle for mounting behind an inlet valve of a central vacuum cleaning system, having a base portion and a cover portion wherein the base portion defines three open topped channels and two side channels include an electrically conductive bayonet extending into said channel. The central channel retains the ground wire. Each bayonet is electrically connected to a female pin receptacle located toward one end of said base portion. The cover is sized and shaped to be field securable to said base portion to close said open top channels onto said bayonets, The female electrical receptacle further includes attachment features adjacent the pin receptacles, which are sized and shaped to engage with said inlet valve to permit said one end to be mounted behind said inlet valve and connected to a plug opening in said inlet valve. An electrical wire may be field inserted between the cover and the base so that when the cover is secured to the base an electrical connection is completed by the bayonets between the wire and the pin receptacles to electrify the plug opening in the inlet valve.
Abstract:
A bathtub drain and overflow fitting kit is provided having a drain fitting, an overflow fitting and/or an adapter fitting, for connecting the bathtub drain and overflow openings to the household waste plumbing. The overflow fitting has a ball and socket connection between its inlet and outlet. Preferably, the overflow fitting has an abutment member which limits the range of angles created by the joint socket and joint ball within a range of angles to about 10°. The kit includes a gasket having a first sealing portion, a second sealing portion, and a tapered sealing portion between the first and second sealing portions, and is configured so that the same gasket may be used at the drain opening or the overflow opening. The drain and overflow fittings have at their inlets retaining features that interengage matching retaining features on the gasket to hold during installation.
Abstract:
A passive vent for venting a building enclosure having an opening in a roof portion, the vent being adjustable for mounting on roof portions of different slopes. The vent has a base pivotally attached to a vent structure with a pair of pivot joints. The vent structure has a collar attached to a vent body having a cover. At least one gas permeable screen is positioned on the vent body between the cover and the collar. The base comprises a lower attachment structure for attaching the base to the roof portion over the opening. An aperture through the lower attachment structure permits gas to pass in to and out of the opening in the roof portion through the base. A wall including a pair of opposed curvilinear wall sections surrounds the aperture. The pivot joints define a pivot axis about which the vent structure pivots along a range of angles relative to the base. The collar is sized and shaped to overlap portions of the aperture surrounding wall to maintain a continuous wall between the collar and the aperture surrounding wall along the range of angles. At least one securement means secures the vent structure in one of the range of angles relative to the base.
Abstract:
A latch assembly having first and second parts for association with first and second elements, respectively. The first and second parts are configured to cooperate to releasably secure the first element to the second element. The first part has a latch member for releasably engaging a catch member on the second part when the latch member is manipulated from an unlatched configuration to a latched configuration. A latch member holder associated with the first part is adapted to hold the latch member while allowing the latch member to pivot about a pivot axis, and slide along a sliding axis which is perpendicular to said pivot axis. The latch member is manipulable into the latched configuration in a predetermined range of contiguous positions relative to the latch member holder along the sliding axis. A method of releasably securing the first element to the second element is also disclosed.
Abstract:
An in-line grease interceptor assembly adapted to separate fat, oil, and grease (FOG) out from wastewater mixed with FOG. The assembly has an inlet for receiving wastewater mixed with FOG, an outlet for discharging wastewater after at least some FOG has been separated out from the wastewater, and a chamber hydraulically located between the inlet and the outlet. The chamber has lateral sides, a floor, and an open top, and is adapted to maintain the mixed wastewater in the chamber at a predetermined liquid level located below the open top while accumulating the separated FOG in a layer above the predetermined liquid level. An auxiliary baffle is positioned inside the chamber, extending from a downstream end toward an upstream end of the chamber, between the floor and the open top. The auxiliary baffle has a downstream end, an upstream end, and lateral sides, and defines a first separation section above the auxiliary baffle, and a second separation section below the auxiliary baffle. One or more water directors are also positioned in the chamber to provide a sinuous flow path for the mixed wastewater through the chamber from the inlet to the outlet via the first separation section, and the second separation section. The auxiliary baffle is sized, shaped and positioned in the chamber to substantially block the separated FOG in the first separation section from entering the second separation section. A method of preventing FOG being carried out with wastewater mixed with FOG from a food preparation establishment to a sewer system is also disclosed.
Abstract:
A fire stop device having a body having a through bore and the body being sized and shaped to be positioned within an opening in a wall, the body is made from a moldable a thermoplastic resin having a blowing agent suspended therein. The blowing agent has a predetermined gas release temperature and the thermoplastic resin has a melting temperature above the predetermined gas release temperature of the blowing agent; wherein when exposed to a fire the blowing agent first begins to release gas and the resin softens as the resin is heated until the resin is soft enough for the released gas to expand the plastic to form a foam to close said through bore before a char is formed on said expanded body by said fire. A method of forming a fitting having the blowing agent suspended therein is also provided.
Abstract:
An adaptor for a passive roof vent is presented having a base securable to a roof deck and an integrally moulded stepped collar extending from the base on one side for connecting to different air duct sizes which defines a discharge end for an air flow passageway. A central well is defined by the collar adjacent to and below the base and is open towards the other side of the base and has a hinge pin for at least one flapper valve retained in the well below the base. At least one flapper valve, hinged to the hinge pin, pivots about a closed position to which the flapper valve is biased by gravity and an open position in which the flapper valve is opened by air pressure from below within the air flow passageway. The flapper valve remains partially within the well when the flapper valve is open.