Patent ID: 9649669
Date: 2017-05-16
CPC Classifications: B08B,C02F,E04F

Claim:
1. An apparatus for use in cleaning drywall tools, the apparatus comprising: a lower tank for holding a body of rinse water, an upper tank for collecting used rinse water, and a tank-supporting structure for supporting the lower and upper tanks above a horizontal support surface so that the upper tank is higher than the lower tank; a water-pumping assembly for pumping rinse water from the lower tank for purposes of rinsing tools over the upper tank; and an upper water-draining assembly on the upper tank for draining clarified rinse water from the upper tank back to the lower tank; wherein the upper tank includes a bottom of the upper tank, and a drain component extending through the bottom of the upper tank for water-draining purposes; wherein the water-draining assembly includes a tube having a first end portion in fluid communication with the drain component and a second end portion that defines an inlet to the water-draining assembly; wherein the tube is mounted on the upper tank movably so that a user can manually adjust the inlet between a water-draining position of the tube and a non-draining position of the tube; wherein the water-draining position of the tube is such that the inlet is lower than an upper lip of the upper tank when the tube is in the water-draining position of the tube, so that a user can immerse the inlet in the clarified water for purposes of draining the clarified water from the upper tank back to the lower tank; and wherein the non-draining position of the tube is such that the inlet is disposed above the upper lip of the upper tank when the tube is in the non-draining position of the tube; thereby to enable a user to drain the clarified rinse water from the upper tank back to the lower tank when desired without draining mud rinsed from the tools.