PROTECTOR FOR A DRAIN

Abstract

A drain protector (1) is provided which has a conformable bottom frame (3) having a central opening that is closed by a filter element (4) spanning the opening. The filter element is capable of removing silt from water on a building site. The bottom frame is capable of conforming to the surface terrain around a drain opening due to the compressive weight of the drain protector in-situ. There is a porous top frame (2) that provides additional separation for debris from silted water and also provides compression weight for the bottom frame. The drain protector (1) may be removed, cleaned and reused.

Claims

1. A drain protector comprising a conformable bottom frame having a central opening that is closed by a filter element spanning the opening and the bottom frame being capable of conforming to the surface terrain around a drain opening.

2. The drain protector of claim 1, wherein the bottom frame is substantially planar and flat and is in the form of a ring of material with a central opening.

3. The drain protector of claim 1, wherein the bottom frame material is generally compressible or deformable so that it will conform during use when under load.

4. The drain protector of claim 1, wherein the bottom frame material comprises a low-density foam material.

5. The drain protector of claim 4, wherein the bottom frame material comprises a memory foam material.

6. The drain protector of claim 4, wherein the bottom frame material comprises an EPDM material in the form of a sponge.

7. The drain protector of claim 1, wherein the bottom frame material comprises a non-woven material.

8. The drain protector of claim 1, wherein the filter element comprises one or more functional elements.

9. The drain protector of claim 8, wherein the filter element comprises a silt filter element.

10. The drain protector of claim 8, wherein the filter element comprises a contaminant filter element.

11. The drain protector of claim 8, wherein the filter element comprises an open mesh protection element.

12. The drain protector of claim 9, wherein the silt filter element is a woven mesh having apertures.

13. The drain protector of claim 10, wherein the contaminant filter element comprises a polypropylene non-woven hydrophilic layer of 3 denier and 400 gsm.

14. The drain protector of claim 1, further comprising a top frame.

15. The drain protector of claim 4, wherein the top frame is of high density and is present in sufficient quantity to compress or deform the bottom frame.

16. The drain protector of claim 14, wherein the top frame is aligned with the bottom frame.

17. The drain protector of claim 14, wherein the top frame is a thin but dense material of sufficient weight to compress the bottom frame.

18. The drain protector of claim 14, wherein the top frame comprises high density rubber.

19. The drain protector of claim 14, wherein the top frame is relatively thick and porous, whilst still being of sufficient weight to compress the bottom frame.

20. The drain protector of claim 14, wherein the top frame is upstanding from the top of the filter element and provides a barrier to the free flow of water with or without debris and silt over the top frame and onto the filter element.

21. The drain protector of claim 14, wherein the material of the top frame is sufficiently porous to allow water to carry silt through its bulk and onto the filter element.

22. The drain protector of claim 14, wherein the top frame surface is sealed so as to provide a non-porous top surface, whilst maintain the porosity of the bulk of the top frame material.

23. The drain protector of claim 14, wherein the top frame is compressible.

24. The drain protector of claim 14, wherein the top frame comprises rubber crumb and preferably rubber crumb from recycled tire rubber.

25. The drain protector of claim 14, wherein the top frame material comprises materials that assist in indicating the presence and location of the drain protector on a building site.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a drain protector according to the present invention, and

[0029] FIG. 2 is a sectional view along the axis x-x′ of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] Referring now to the drawings, in which like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout, FIG. 1 illustrates the drain protector (1), which has a top frame (2) and a bottom frame (3), both of which have a drain proportion opening of similar dimensions. These two frames (2, 3) are aligned and bonded to each other. Spanning the openings of the top (2) and bottom frames (3) is a filter element (4), which is bonded at its periphery between the top (2) and bottom frames (3). The top frame (2) is made of bonder tyre rubber crumb and the bottom frame (3) is made of compressible memory foam.

[0031] In FIG. 2, the filter element (4) can be more clearly seen and its individual components. This element (4) is made up of three components. The bottom component (5) is a contaminant filter made of oleophilic polypropylene non-woven material. The middle component (6) is a silt filter element, which is made of monofilament nylon mesh with 100-micron aperture. The top component (7) is made of and open mesh of polymeric material, which protects the underlying silt filter (6).

[0032] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that while the present invention has been described in terms of a preferred embodiment thereof, numerous modifications, additions and changes can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.