Telescoping Drum Auger Extension Tool

Abstract

An apparatus for cleaning drains has a drum auger with a coiled snake cable mounted on a telescoping extension tube. The tube has a rear and a forward handle with a cable lock on top of each handle. By alternately locking/unlocking each handle's cable lock and extending/folding the telescoping extension tube, the user can project the cable down a clogged drain without touching the cable. A second key feature is that the telescoping extension tube prevents kinking of the cable. Turning the auger handle twists the cable's auger tip when a wing screw locks the cable to a rotatable nose on the drum auger.

Claims

1. A drain cleaner comprising: a drum auger having a frame for rotatably holding a drum; a cable affixed to the drum; wherein rotating a handle on the drum twists the cable and a nose on the drum auger when a wing screw on the nose locks the cable to the nose; a rear clutch handle having a manually activated trigger which locks the cable at a top segment of the rear clutch handle; said rear clutch handle having a rear neck to receive the nose; a telescoping pipe attached to a front of the rear clutch handle; a distal end of the telescoping pipe attached to a rear of a forward clutch handle; said forward clutch handle having a manually operated trigger which locks the cable at a top segment of the forward clutch handle; said forward clutch handle having a connector to engage a drain; wherein releasing the forward clutch handle while locking the rear clutch handle and releasing the wing screw from the cable and moving the rear clutch handle forward inserts an auger tip of the cable into the drain; and wherein rotating the handle with the wing screw locked on the cable causes the auger tip to rotate.

2. The drain cleaner of claim 1, wherein the triggers of the forward and rear clutch handle each further comprise a pivot with an upper fixed arm attached to a movable upper arm that drives a clutch upward to lock the cable at a top inner point of the respective clutch handle.

3. The drain cleaner of claim 1, wherein the connector on the forward clutch handle further comprises a pipe and a hose clamp.

4. The drain cleaner of claim 1, wherein rotating the handle counter clockwise, with the wing screw and both clutch handles open, winds the cable around the drum.

5. The drain cleaner of claim 3, wherein the pipe further comprises a soft washer that encircles the cable, thereby removing debris from the cable during extraction of the cable from the drain.

6. The drain cleaner of claim 1, wherein the nose further comprises a rotatable base mounted in a fixed member of the frame, wherein a cylinder connects the rotatable base to a rotatable rear handle base from which the handle projects.

7. A drain cleaner comprising: a drum for holding a cable in a coiled fashion around a reel; a frame for holding the drum to provide a manual rotation of the reel by a user turning a handle on the drum; a telescoping extension tube connected to the frame to allow the cable to extend down the telescoping extension tube; said telescoping extension tube having a forward handle and a rearward handle; wherein each handle has a lockable clutch brake to lock and release the cable; a distal end of the forward handle having a connector means functioning to attach to a drain pipe; and wherein alternately locking and unlocking the forward and rearward handle clutch brake and moving the rearward handle forward and backward allows the user to unravel the cable from the reel and drive it down the drain pipe.

8. The drain cleaner of claim 7, wherein the frame further comprises a rear shell that is rotated by the handle and a forward stationary shell, wherein a connecting rod attaches the rear shell to a base of a rotatable nose on the forward stationary shell, and a wing screw on the rotatable nose locks the cable to the rotatable nose to enable a twisting of the cable when the handle is rotated when each lockable clutch brake is released.

9. The drain cleaner of claim 8, wherein the connector means further comprises a pipe and a hose clamp.

10. The drain cleaner of claim 8, wherein the connector means further comprises a soft washer surrounding the cable which removes debris from the cable during retraction of the cable from the drain.

11. The drain cleaner of claim 8, wherein the rearward handle further comprises a rear neck to receive the rotatable nose.

12. The drain cleaner of claim 7, wherein the lockable clutch brake further comprises a pivotable trigger having a fixed upper arm that drives a movable upper arm upward to lock the cable between the lockable clutch brake and an upper inside point of the handle.

13. A method to clear a blockage in a drain, the method comprising the steps of: forming a drum auger with a cable attached to a reel; attaching the drum auger to a rear handle having a lockable clutch brake; attaching a telescoping pipe to a front of the rear handle; attaching a forward handle having a lockable clutch brake to a distal end of the telescoping pipe; attaching a connector on the forward handle to a drain; alternately locking and unlocking the forward and rear handle clutch brake and moving the rear handle forward and backward to drive the cable down the drain, clearing a blockage in the drain.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising the step of securing the cable to a rotatable nose on the drum auger and rotating the handle to twist the cable.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of cleaning the cable during retraction by installing a washer surrounding the cable in the connector.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] FIG. 1 (Prior Art) is a side elevation view of a drum auger in operation.

[0029] FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the telescoping drum auger in the closed mode attached to a drain pipe.

[0030] FIG. 3 is the same view as FIG. 2 with the telescoping drum auger in the extended mode.

[0031] FIG. 4 is a cutaway view of the drum with the cable wound around the reel.

[0032] FIG. 5 is the same view as FIG. 4 with the cable extended.

[0033] FIG. 6 is a side elevation view of the telescoping drum auger in operation.

[0034] FIG. 7 is the same view as FIG. 6 with the cable being extracted.

[0035] FIG. 8 is a side perspective cutaway view of the drum auger attachment to the telescoping assembly.

[0036] FIG. 9 is an exploded view of the telescoping drum auger.

[0037] FIG. 10 is a cutaway view of the locking clutch in the open mode.

[0038] Before explaining the disclosed embodiment of the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the particular arrangement shown, since the invention is capable of other embodiments. Also, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0039] Referring first to FIG. 1 a drain pipe 1 has an open end 2 and a blockage 3. A prior art drum auger 4 has a cable 5 with an auger tip 6. U.S. Pat. No. 8,434,186 shows an example of a prior art drum auger and is incorporated herein by reference. The handle 7 is rotated thereby rotating the cable as shown by arrow TORQUE. Thus, the auger tip 6 rotates to clear the blockage 3. The only force F put on the auger tip 6 is provided by the cable 5 as pushed in by the drum auger 4. However, the cable 5 coils up into a coil 8. This limits the force F capable of pushing against blockage 3. This coil 8 also inhibits the rotation TORQUE of the cable 5.

[0040] Referring next to FIG. 2 a telescoping drum auger 20 has a distal end 21 with a (rubber) connector 22 that has a hose clamp 23 attaching the connector 22 to the distal end 21 of the telescoping drum auger 20. The working end 24 of the connector 22 has a hose clamp 25 for attachment to the open end 2 of the drain pipe 1.

[0041] A forward pipe 26 does not telescope. The forward pipe 26 attaches to the forward clutch handle 27 at its forward end 28. A telescoping pipe 29 attaches to a rear end 30 of the forward clutch handle 27. A rear end 31 of the telescoping pipe 29 attaches to a front end 32 of a rear clutch handle 33.

[0042] A rear end of the rear clutch handle 33 has a neck 34 to receive a nose 35 of a drum auger 36. The drum auger 36 has a handle 37 to twist the cable 5.

[0043] The rear clutch handle 33 is shown with the trigger 38 activated which locks the cable 5 against the inside top of the rear clutch handle 33. The handle 39 of the forward clutch handle 27 is released. Thus, the cable 5 can slide back and forth in the forward clutch handle 27.

[0044] A user can pull the rear clutch handle back in direction B to pull the cable 5 out of the drain pipe 1. During insertion of the cable 5 the user would extend the telescoping pipe 29, then unlock the forward clutch handle 27, then lock the rear clutch handle 33, then shove the cable 5 into the open end 2 of drain pipe 1. The cable would unwind out of the drum auger 36. No coiling of the cable 5 is possible because the telescoping drum auger 20 completely surrounds the cable 5. Once the auger tip 6 hits the blockage 3, the user can exert a strong force F against the blockage 3 because the connector 22 holds the telescoping drum auger 20 firmly in place.

[0045] Referring next to FIG. 3 both triggers are unlocked. The user can turn handle 37 and twist the cable 5 to turn the auger tip 6. The telescoping pipe 29 is shown extended exposing inner pipes 29A and 29B. The turning of the auger tip 6 could also be done with the telescoping pipe 29 closed. When twisting the cable 5 using the handle 37, the wing screw 40 must be fastened against the cable 5. For all insertion and extraction steps, the wing screw 40 is released from the cable 5.

[0046] Referring next to FIGS. 4, 5 the cable 5 is wound into a coil so as to be in a storage mode 41. The cylinders 42 support the handle end 370 to rotate around cable 5 as it is anchored at AN to handle end 370 at the fixed hub 371. Thus, turning handle 37 twists the cable 5 by rotating the handle end 370 which rotates the cylinder 42 which rotates the nose 35. When the wing screw 40 locks the cable 5 to the nose 35, the cable 5 is twisted when the handle 37 is rotated.

[0047] Referring next to FIG. 6 the user just before this step has twisted the auger tip 6 clockwise by turning handle 37 clockwise shown by arrow C. At that time rear clutch handle 33 was unlocked and wing screw 40 was locked against cable 5. In this view the rear clutch handle 33 is locked, and the telescoping pipe 29 is closed. The user is ready to pull the rear clutch handle back in direction B to pull the auger tip 6 out of the drain pipe 1. Once this step is done, the user turns the handle 37 counter clockwise to reel the cable back into a coil 41 as shown in FIG. 4. The insertion and extraction steps are done in increments of the extension length L (FIG. 3) which is nominally about one foot.

[0048] Referring next to FIG. 7 handle 37 is turned counter-clockwise cc, thus turning auger tip 6 in the same direction. Rear clutch handle 33 would need to be unlocked for any twisting of cable 5. As shown rear clutch handle 33 is locked. By pulling rearward in direction B the auger tip 6 would be extracted from the drain pipe 1.

[0049] Referring next to FIG. 8 the neck sides 34A and 34B of neck 34 are shown exploded from drum auger nose 35.

[0050] Referring next to FIG. 9 the preferred manufactured exploded view is shown. The miscellaneous connecting screws and washers are not shown. A washer 260 wrings out the debris off the cable 5 during retraction. Preferably all parts are plastic except the metal cable 5. The base 401 of nose 35 is rotated by cylinder 42 shown in FIG. 5.

[0051] Referring next to FIG. 10 the front clutch handle 27 is shown, wherein the operation of the rear clutch handle is identical. Trigger 39 pivots at P1 so that pulling trigger 39 straightens arms 100, 101 and clutch 102 is driven up in slot 103. This clutch 102 locks the cable 5 up against the inner top at point 110, when the trigger 39 is pulled.

[0052] Although the present invention has been described with reference to the disclosed embodiments, numerous modifications and variations can be made and still the result will come within the scope of the invention. No limitation with respect to the specific embodiments disclosed herein is intended or should be inferred. Each apparatus embodiment described herein has numerous equivalents.