US3750691A

US3750691A - Combined pump and permanent siphon tube

Info

Publication number: US3750691A
Authority: US
Inventors: B Lidolph
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-11-22
Filing date: 1971-11-22
Publication date: 1973-08-07
Anticipated expiration: 1990-08-07

Abstract

The combined pump and permanent siphon tube of the present invention comprising a substantially inverted U-shaped siphon conduit; a head lock including a conduit having a single-looped spiral portion upstandingly and parallelly disposed at one of the terminal ends of the siphon conduit, and a horizontally disposed tube portion disposed at the end opposite the conduit-receiving end of the spiral portion; and an orifice lock including a conduit having a single-looped spiral portion disposed dependently from the siphon conduit at its end opposite the head lock-engaging end, and a horizontally disposed tube portion disposed at the end opposite the siphon conduit-receiving end of the spiral portion. The combined pump and permanent siphon tube may be provided with a head lock and an orifice lock fabricated of flexible resilient material.

Description

United States Patent 1 Lidolph 1 Aug. 7, 1973 COMBINED PUMP AND PERMANENT SIPHON TUBE [76] Inventor: Ben B. Lidolph, Rt. No. 1, New

Plymouth, Idaho 83655 [22] Filed: Nov. 22, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 203,102

[52] U.S. Cl 137/142, 417/234, 417/437 [51] Int. Cl. F041 10/00, F161 43/00 [58] Field of Search... 137/123, 142-153;

[56] References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 2,556 10/1866 Great Britain 137/147 Primary Examinerl-1enry T. Klinksiek AttorneyJohn W. Kraft [57] ABSTRACT The combined pump and permanent siphon tube of the present invention comprising a substantially inverted U-shaped siphon conduit; a head lock including a conduit having a single-looped spiral portion upstandingly and parallelly disposed at one of the terminal ends of the siphon conduit, and a horizontally disposed tube portion disposed at the end opposite the conduitreceiving end of the spiral portion; and an orifice lock including a conduit having a single-looped spiral portion disposed dependently from the siphon conduit at its end opposite the head lock-engaging end, and a horizontally disposed tube portion disposed at the end opposite the siphon conduit-receiving end of the spiral portion. The combined pump and permanent siphon tube may be provided with a head lock and an orifice lock fabricated of flexible resilient material.

2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PAIENIEDMIB 1w 3.750.691

SHEEI 1 (IF 2 FIG. I

BEN B. LIDOLPH TOR- PATENIED 3.750.691

sum 2 or 2 BEN B. LIDOLPH INVENTOR.

COMBINED PUMP AND PERMANENT SIPHON TUBE FIELD OF INVENTION The present invention relates to siphon apparatus, and more particularly to siphon apparatus which are operable to permanently maintain liquid in a siphon conduit and which may be operable to resume a siphon.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Means commonly used and employed to retain the prime of a siphon in a conduit include a variety of plugging mechanisms disposed at the head or orifice of the siphon. Plugging mechanisms often include hingedly mounted gates or valves actuated by levers or other linkages. An alternative method used to retain the prime of a siphon is to dispose the entranceway of the head of the siphon conduit in a standing body of water. In this type of prime-holding apparatus a surplus of water, over the minimum level, creates a pressure on the entranceway, and the siphon is resumed.

Means commonly used and employed to resume a siphon in a suitably configured conduit usually employ a variety of pumps disposed at either of the terminal ends or in the middle of the siphon conduit. Generally, pumps used with siphon tubes include a variety of ventricle pumps and bladder-type pumps. Ventricle pumps employ complex mechanisms for pumping liquid into the siphon conduit. Bladder pumps are intended to be collapsed thereby creating a low pressure equilibrium and then released creating a suction by a change in equilibrium.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide means operable to hold the prime of a siphon in a conduit, employing means integrally in a simple arrangement of the siphon conduit.

It is another object of this invention to provide siphon resuming means, provided as an integral part of the siphon conduit, employing an arrangement of the siphon conduit which is operable to create suction.

These and other objects shall become apparent from the description following, it being understood that modifications may be made without affecting the teachings of the invention here set out.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Generally, the combined pump and permanent siphon tube of the present invention comprising a substantially inverted U-shaped siphon conduit; a head lock including a conduit having a single-looped spiral portion unstandingly and parallelly disposed at one of the terminal ends of the siphon conduit, and a horizontally disposed tube portion disposed at the end opposite the conduit-receiving end of the spiral portion; and an orifice lock including a conduit having a single-looped spiral portion disposed dependently from the siphon conduit at its end opposite the head lock-engaging end, and a horizontally disposed tube portion disposed at the end opposite the siphon conduit-receiving end of the spiral portion. The combined pump and permanent siphon tube may be provided with a head lock and an orifice lock fabricated of flexible resilient material.

A more thorough and comprehensive understanding may be had from the detailed description of the preferred embodiment when read in connection with the drawings forming a part of this specification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the combined pump and permanent siphon tube of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, side elevational view of the orifice lock of the permanent siphon tube of this invention, and includes the orifice lock compressed in broken lines for illustrative purposes, and is typical of both the head lock and orifice lock of this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the FIG. 1, the combined pump and permanent siphon tube is shown to advantage and identified by the numeral 10. The tube 10 comprises .a siphon conduit 11, a head lock 12, and an orifice lock 13. The siphon conduit 11 is a conduit which has a summit or raised portion between its opposite terminal ends. Hence, the conduit 11 is of a substantially inverted U-shaped curved configuration. The curved configuration of the conduit 11 is uniform over the range of the curve. For reasons hereinafter later described with respect to the operation, it has been found to advantage to fabricate the conduit 11 of a material which is substantially rigid and being operable to retain a predetermined curve. The conduit 11 may be fabricated with metal tubing or with flexible conduit provided with a rigid spine having a predetermined curvature.

The head lock 12 is a conduit having a single-looped spiral portion 14 disposed at one of the terminal ends of the conduit 11 and being parallel to the conduit 11. The spiral portion 14 is disposed upstandingly from the uppermost terminal sides of the conduit 11. The spiral portion 14 is provided with a projecting tube 15 at the end opposite the siphon conduit-receiving end of spiral portion 14. The tube 15 is disposed from the spiral portion 14 substantially horizontally with respect to the rectilinear axis of the tube 10. Inpractice, it has been found to advantage to slightly incline the tube 15 upwardly toward the the terminal end of the .conduit 11 to facilitate flow and to provide means to maintain distance of the terminal end above the bottom of the channel from which the combined pump and siphon tube 10 is to draw. It has also been found to advantage to include an entranceway 16 disposed at the terminal end of the tube 15 to further facilitate intake of the tube 10.

The orifice lock 13 is a conduit disposed parallelly to the siphon conduit 11 at the end opposite the head lock 12 on the conduit 11. The orifice lock 13 includes a single-looped spiral portion 17 dependently disposed from the lowermost terminal side of the head-engaging end of the tube 10. In like manner to the head lock 12, the orifice lock 13 is provided with a horizontally projecting output tube 18. In operation, the tube 10 may be filled with liquid, such as water, by creating a sufficient suction at the orifice lock terminal end, while disposing the opposing head lock 12 into a body of liquid. A continuous volume of liquid is retained in the tube 10 by cohesion of the liquid which maintains an equilibrium by the high pressure pull on the liquid created by the head lock 12, and by an equal and opposite pressure in the orifice lock 13. The siphon may be activated by disposing the head lock entranceway 16 into reservoir of fluid and orienting the orifice lock 13 at a level sufficiently lower in elevation than the head lock 12 to displace the equilibrium to result in a flow of liquid through the tube 10.

Referring to the FIGS. 1 and 2, it has been found to advantage to fabricate the head lock 12 and the orifice lock 13 of flexible resilient material, such as rubber, plastic, or the like, which may be operable to be selectively compressed. In operation, a siphon can be activated by disposing the entranceway 16 of the head lock 12 in a body of liquid and alternately compressing and releasing the spiral portion 14 against the conduit 11 while blocking the terminal end of the orifice lock 13. Fluid is expelled from the tube by compressing the resilient spiral portion 14 and creating a low pressure equilibrium. When the spiral portion 14 is released, a suction is created in the tube 10; and fluid is drawn from the source of fluid through the tube 10. The process is repeated until a siphon is established. Alternatively, a siphon can be activated by means of an orifice lock 13 made of flexibly resilient material. The terminal end of the orifice lock 13 need not be blocked. The

spiral portion 17 of the orifice lock 13 is compressed will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many physical changes could be made in the apparatus without altering the inventive concepts and principles embodied therein. Hence, it is intended that the scope of the invention be limited only to the extent indicated in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A combined pump and permanent siphon tube,

comprising a siphon conduit having a substantially inverted U- shaped smooth curved configuration;

a head lock including a conduit having a singlelooped spiral portion upstandingly and parallelly disposed from one of the terminal ends of said siphon conduit, and a substantially horizontally disposed tube portion disposed at the end opposite the conduit receiving-end of said spiral portion; and

an orifice lock including a conduit having a singlelooped spiral portion disposed parallelly dependently from the end opposite the head lock-engaging end of said siphon conduit, and a horizontally disposed mis afiiaiiaisbbsff the sad opposite the siphon conduit-receiving end of said spiral portion.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said head lock and said orifice lock are fabricated of flexible resilient material.

Claims

1. A combined pump and permanent siphon tube, comprising a siphon conduit having a substantially inverted U-shaped smooth curved configuration; a head lock including a conduit having a single-looped spiral portion upstandingly and parallelly disposed from one of the terminal ends of said siphon conduit, and a substantially horizontally disposed tube portion disposed at the end opposite the conduit receiving-end of said spiral portion; and an orifice lock including a conduit having a single-looped spiral portion disposed parallelly dependently from the end opposite the head lock-engaging end of said siphon conduit, and a horizontally disposed tube portion disposed at the end opposite the siphon conduit-receiving end of said spiral portion.