Abstract:
A garbage disposer replacement unit includes a pre-rinse basket with food waste straining holes. A main body houses a tray slidingly suspended that retains small particles food waste via fine bottom perforations. The tray has a top opening larger than a drain diameter of an existing bus bowl in a kitchen. A plastic clip disc pairs with clip top members to clip the main body onto bus bowl flanges. The clip disc drain adapter adjusts and adapts the unit&#39;s outlet to different drain diameters of existing bus bowl fixtures. The clip disc and a top clip member constitute a clip assembly for adjustably clipping the unit main body to the given drain flange easily but securely. Optionally, a four-legged riser replaces the clip assembly to attach to the unit main body top for bus bowls with a flangeless standard drain fitting.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     A. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a garbage disposal, and more particularly to a garbage disposer unit for use in food industries to replace motorized disposers that have become an environmentally harmful way to dispose of food wastes.  
         [0003]     B. Description of Related Art  
         [0004]     Restaurant food waste from rinsed dirty dishes is an environmental problem. Garbage disposers are highly efficient at disposing of food waste at a high rate, unfortunately they have other problems. Drain waste has the potential to create public health hazards. Excessive food service waste can overburden community wastewater systems and consequently, the oceans and streams of our natural environment. In this regard, the currently popular powered garbage disposers are problematic. Heavy-duty disposers have a high initial cost and maintenance with lost operation time at busy restaurants when they need fast dish washing with food disposal. Some cities such as Irvine, Calif. have banned garbage disposers because of the environmental awareness that the motorized disposers basically excrete food waste in a slurry state to the rivers and public facilities where it is difficult to recycled into potable water. Thus, the food waste will eventually end up in the ocean where it can cause bacteria blooms and other environmental disasters.  
         [0005]     One alternative to the garbage disposer is a strainer system to catch food waste from rinsed dirty dishes. Strainers built into the piping system have been used for more than a hundred years. U.S. Pat. No. 495,998 shows a sink trap design patented in 1893, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. A larger unit is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 960,901 to Hall for a trap for kitchen sinks patented in 1910, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Hall shows a top strainer removable for cleaning and a bottom strainer. A horizontal line strainer was invented by Buker as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,915,188 patented in 1957, the disclosure which is incorporated herein by reference. The Buker device allows a continuous horizontal flow having a removable screen. A more recent improvement is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,351 to Peterson patented Aug. 30, 1977, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The Petersen device has a removable strainer mounted below a sink. While the previously cited patented inventions may help with household drain straining, they are not well-suited to a high flow restaurant type of environment. They also have inconvenient design features that would not allow their use as a replacement of a garbage disposer.  
         [0006]     Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a garage disposer replacement unit that can be installed immediately in place of a motorized disposer unit using a simple installation means. Another object of the present invention is to provide a clip-on device for installation of a detachable under-sink unit, which clip-on device is easily adaptable to various existing drain sizes of the sink fixture. Another object of the present invention is to provide a screw-on device for a swift installation of a detachable under-sink unit to the sink fixture, which has a standard existing drain fittings.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     A garbage disposer replacement unit according to the present invention includes a pre-rinse basket which can be custom made of stainless steel. The basket has multiple straining holes for filtering larger food chunks off dishes by dishwashing personnel. Below the basket is a unit that primarily comprises a main body constructed by sheets of stainless steel bent and welded or stamped into a shape of a drawer box with a deep bottom floor for holding an accumulation of food wastes for controlled disposal. The main body has a front rectangular opening through which a tray enters and slidably suspended in the interior of the main body. The tray has fine perforations at its bottom to filter out small particles of food wastes that pass the large holes of the basket. The tray has a top opening that is much larger than an available drain diameter of an existing bus bowl in a kitchen. This allows it to receive the first filtered wastes down the bus bowl.  
         [0008]     According to a first embodiment of installation of the main unit body to the sink fixture of a bus bowl, a clip disc formed of a plastic is paired with a number of clip top members to clip the main body onto the flanges of the bus bowl with the assistance of a fastening means. The clip disc has a drain adapter to adapt the unit&#39;s hole to the different drain diameters of existing bus bowl fixtures. An optional hole diameter is defined by the innermost of multiple annular grooves, which may be sawn off by an installer of the unit. The clip disc and a top clip member constitute a clip assembly for adjustably clipping the unit main body to the given drain flange easily but securely.  
         [0009]     An alternative embodiment is offered to the clip assembly made by the clip disc and a top clip member in installing the unit main body to the kind of bus bowl that does not have an integral drain flange commonly found on garbage disposers but a standard drain fitting screwed in an opening formed in the bus bowl. A riser is provided with an annular plate to conform to the bottom of the drain fitting and four legs protruding diametrically outwardly and downwardly of the annular plate. Each of the legs has a horizontal foot section formed with a bolt hole. A ring screw that is already in the drain fitting may be used to fasten the annular plate leaving the four legs free for attachment by the unit main body.  
         [0010]     The unit main body is attached by a fastening means including the bolts threaded from the interior of the main body through metal rings and the bolt holes of the foot sections, which abut the top plain of the main body. Then, the rings and nuts at the four feet around the annular plate securely fasten protruding ends of the bolts. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the garbage disposer replacement unit according to the present invention as applied to a kitchen sink shown partially broken away.  
         [0012]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the main body of the garbage disposer replacement unit of  FIG. 1 .  
         [0013]      FIG. 3  is a top view of a clip disc with drain adapter constituting a base member of a clip assembly for holding the garbage unit under a bus bowl according to a first embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 4  is a side view of the drain adapter plate of  FIG. 3 .  
         [0015]      FIG. 5  is a bottom view of the drain adapter plate of  FIG. 3 .  
         [0016]      FIG. 6  is a cross sectional view of the garbage disposer replacement unit installed under a bus bowl with a smaller drain size.  
         [0017]      FIG. 7  is a cross sectional view of the garbage disposer replacement unit installed under a bus bowl with a bigger drain size.  
         [0018]      FIG. 8  is an enlarged view of the cross section of the garbage disposer replacement unit encircled in  FIG. 6 .  
         [0019]      FIG. 9  is a bottom perspective view of a clip top member to clip on the flanges of the smaller drain of  FIGS. 6 and 8  in cooperation with the drain adapter plate.  
         [0020]      FIG. 10  is an enlarged view of the cross section of the garbage disposer replacement unit encircled in  FIG. 7 .  
         [0021]      FIG. 11  is a perspective view of an alternative clip top member to clip on the flanges of the bigger drain of  FIGS. 7 and 10  in cooperation with the drain adapter plate.  
         [0022]      FIG. 12  is a perspective view of an alternative installation means of a riser for fastening the unit main body to a bus bowl that has a standard drain fitting according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0023]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a garbage disposer replacement unit according to the present invention is generally referenced by number  10  and is shown in an exploded view to show its installation to a kitchen sink  11  as well as a wall plumbing  12  typical in any kitchen setting. The kitchen sink  11  has a bus bowl  13  wherein dishes are washed as it drains wastes with running water from a faucet  14 . At the bottom enter of the bus bowl  13  is formed a typical drain  15  with certain diameter terminated by outward flanges  16  for installing a waste treatment means such as a motorized garbage disposer, which the inventive sink unit  10  is replacing.  
         [0024]     Different bus bowls with various drain diameters have produced and are available in the market. For, example, small drains are sized 3½″, 4″, 4½″, 5″, 5½″, 6″, and  6½″. Bigger drains include diameters of  7½″, 8″, 8½″ and 9″.  
         [0025]     The garbage disposer replacement unit is also called a sink unit  10 . The sink unit  10  comprises a main body  20  constructed by sheets of stainless steel bent and welded into a shape of a drawer box with a deep bottom floor for holding an accumulation of food wastes for controlled disposal. The main body  20  has a front rectangular opening  21  though which a tray  22  enters and slidably suspended in the interior of the main body  20 . An oversized handle  23  is attached to the tray  22  for handling the same in its sliding in and out as well as transporting the filtered wastes. A secondary drain  24  formed in the bottom of the main body  20  is adapted to connect with the wall plumbing  12 .  
         [0026]     A clip disc  25  formed of a plastic is paired with an exemplary number of four clip top members  26  to clip the main body  20  onto the flanges  16  of the bus bowl  13  with the assistance of a fastening means including four upward threading bolts  27  from the interior of the man body  20 , metal rings  28   a  and nuts  29 , which is further detailed below.  
         [0027]     The sink unit  10  includes a pre-rinse basket  30  which can be custom made of stainless steel. The basket  30  has multiple straining holes for roughly filtering food wastes off dishes by dishwashing personnel who will use the sink unit  10 . The straining basket has straining holes preferably circular 4-7 mm diameter. The basket straining holes can be adjusted by about 60% without substantial performance degradation, but the best mode is 5-6 mm.  
         [0028]      FIG. 2  shows the main body  20  of the sink unit  10  in more detail where the tray  22  is taken out for a better view. The tray  22  is in the shape of a drawer with four sidewalls and a bottom wall formed with perforations  31  to filter out wastes at a finer level than that of the straining holes of the basket  30 . The tray perforations are preferably 1-3 mm diameter circular apertures. The diameter can be adjusted by about up to 40% without substantial performance degradation, but the best mode is 2 mm.  
         [0029]     The main body  20  is provided by a number of sheet members which may comprise a side plate  32  bent generally in U-shape, a front plate  33  for closing substantially the bottom half of an end opening of the side plate  32 , a rear plate for closing the entire opposite end opening of the side plate  32  not shown and a top plate  34  to cover the top opening of the side plate  32 . The main body  20  may be fabricated by known methods of fastening metal such as stamping, spot welding, laser welding to name a few.  
         [0030]     The top plate  34  has an annular opening  35  that is bigger than an available drain diameter as listed above and is positioned to communicate with the drain  15  of the bus bowl  13 . Also formed in the top plate  34  are four elongated openings  36  to position the threads of the bolts  27  at adjustable locations toward and away from the center of the annular opening  35  for the purpose described below.  
         [0031]     A pair of horizontal guide rails  37  having an L-shaped cross section are welded inside of the side plate  32  opposing each other at a level lower than an upper edge  38  of the front plate  33  to provide a slight safety barricade against an involuntary slippage of the tray  22  out of the main body  20 . To remove the tray, a user lifts the handle up to clear the safety barrier and pulls the tray out to empty the tray of food particles. The food particles caught by the tray are preferably between 2-5 mm in size. This would capture most rice, grains and small sized bread particles. The food particles retained within this tray may increase in size as they absorb water.  
         [0032]     The reservoir is formed in the bottom half of the main body  20  housing below the top half area devoted to the tray area. The guide rails  37  hold the tray within the tray area above the reservoir. The reservoir is formed between the sidewalls  32  and front wall  33  above the main body drain  24 . During use, the reservoir may fill up in case of drainage block. The reservoir thus operates as a buffer against water overflowing from the front opening over the front edge  38 .  
         [0033]     FIGS.  3  to  4  show the clip disc  25  in closer views. The top surface of the clip disc  25  as shown in  FIG. 3  is generally flat except the end walls  39  raised slightly indicating the top surface as opposed to the bottom surface of the disc  25 . The disc  25  section from the annular opening  35  about a half way toward the end walls  39  is formed as a drain adapter  40  for adjusting the diameter of the annular hole  35  to adapt to a given drain diameter of an existing bus bowl. The number of optional hole diameters is defined by annular grooves  41 , six of which are shown. Two adjacent grooves  41  define an annular island  42  or  43  flush with the top surface of the disc  25 . The equidistant slits  44  are for receiving a saw blade. Every other island  42  includes a number of equidistant slits  44  at a first set of the same radial positions while the intervening islands  43  include the same number of slits  45  at a second set of the same radial positions, which are set so that slits  44  and slits  45  in the adjacent islands are staggered relative to each other to maintain the rigidity of the clip disc  25 . Four identical elongated openings  46  are formed in the clip disc  25  at the corresponding locations to the elongated openings  36  of the main unit body  20 .  
         [0034]      FIG. 4  showing the side of clip disc  25  reveals the added thickness to the bottom of the drain adapter  40 , which is bounded by an annular ridge  47  on which the annular opening  35  of the unit main body  20  engages as shown in cross section in  FIGS. 6, 7 ,  8  and  10 . The annular ridge  47  is clearly shown in  FIG. 5  where the bottom side of the clip disc  25  has grooves  48  of same number as but wider than the grooves  41  on the top surface to facilitate easy access of a cutting means like a saw to the slits  44  and  45  for cutting adjustment of the size of the annular hole  35 .  
         [0035]     Two opposite grooves  41  and  48  can be compared in width more clearly in  FIGS. 6 and 8 , which detail the installation of the unit main body  20  under the bus bowl  13  with a small drain size D 1  in cross section. In this case, the clip disc  25  is placed between the main body  20  and the flanges  16  of the bus bowl  13  with the annular islands  42  and  43  intact and the elongated openings  36  of the main body  20  and the openings  46  of the clip disc  25  registered.  
         [0036]     Then, the clip top members  26  are prepared to grip the flanges  16  against the top surface of the clip disc  25 . In order to allow fastening of the clip assembly  25 / 26  with the main body  20 , the clip top member  26  has a latitudinal slot  49  for a fastener in its center as shown in  FIG. 9 . Also formed is a longitudinal slot  50 , which is located off center toward a shorter side of the rectangular member  26 . The clip top member  26  has a stepped bottom  51  along two adjacent sides to engage the flanges  16  of the bus bowl  13 . In addition, two sets of the opposite edges of the clip member  26  are shaped to the corresponding sections of the flanges  16  and the end walls  39  of the clip disc  25  where abutments take place.  
         [0037]     Therefore, the clip top member  26  may be selectively oriented for varying diametric distances of the flanges  16  of the bus bowl  13  relative to the end walls  38  of the clip disc  25  depending on the size of a given drain  15 . I.e., the longer side  52  of the clip member  26  may abut the flanges  16  for larger drains  15  while the shorter side  53  may abut the same for smaller drains  15 .  
         [0038]     Furthermore, having two differently and perpendicularly oriented slots  49  and  50  through which a fastening is made multiplies the adaptability of the clip member  26  to a wide variety of drain sizes. As shown in  FIG. 9 , the bolt is put through slot  50  in smaller diameter drains to use the shorter side  53 , but the bolt is put through slot  49  in larger diameter drains to use the longer side  52 . Because the small diameter drain  15  is provided in  FIG. 8 , the clip member  26  extends longitudinally spanning the flanges  16  and the end walls  38 .  
         [0039]     Eventually, the bolts  27  are threaded from the interior of the main body  20  through metal rings  28   b  and the elongated openings  36  and through the clip assembly  25 / 26  to be securely fastened by the rings  28   a  and nuts  29  at its four circumferential locations around the clip disc  25 .  
         [0040]      FIGS. 7 and 10  show that the same main unit body  20  is attached to a different bus bowl  103  having way larger drain size D 2 . In this case, the clip disc  25  has its entire drain adapter section  40  seen in  FIG. 6  cut off to have the biggest adapted hole  35  and is placed between the main body  20  and the flanges  106  of the bus bowl  103  with the elongated openings  36  of the main body  20  and the openings  46  of the clip disc  25  registered.  
         [0041]     Here, an alternative design of clip top members  126  are prepared to grip the flanges  106  against the top surface of the clip disc  25 . As shown in  FIG. 11 , the clip top member  126  is a smaller rectangular piece with curved edges shaped to the corresponding sections of the flanges  16  and the end walls  39  of the clip disc  25 . A through hole  127  is formed in the near center of the clip member  126  for a penetration of a fastener. Clearance of the clip top member  126  above the clip disc  25  for wedging the flanges  106  is now provided by inserting an additional ring  28   a  as shown in  FIG. 10 .  
         [0042]     Even with the single-hole clip member  126  there is a room for adjusting the clipping location diametrically in the clip disc  25  to adapt to a range of variation of the large diameter drain  105 . A comparison of the location of the bolt  27  in the elongated openings  36  and  46  in  FIG. 10  to that of  FIG. 8  clearly shows the diametrical adaptability of the clipping location for the different drains  105 .  
         [0043]     Similarly, the bolts  27  are threaded from the interior of the main body  20  through metal rings  28   b  and the elongated openings  36  and through the clip assembly  25 / 28   a / 126  to be securely fastened by the rings  28   a  and nuts  29  at its four circumferential locations around the clip disc  25 .  
         [0044]      FIG. 12  shows an alternative to the clip assembly made by the clip disc and a top clip member in installing the unit main body  20  to a bus bowl  113 , which does not have an integral drain flange but a standard drain fitting  115  screwed in an opening  116  formed in the bus bowl  113 . A riser  250  is provided with an annular plate  251  to conform to the bottom of the drain fitting  115  and four legs  252  protruding diametrically outwardly and downwardly of the annular plate  251 . Each of the legs  252  has a horizontal foot section  253  formed with a bolt hole  254 . The legs  252  may be integrally formed with the annular plate  251  while they may also be provided by separate members welded to the plate  251 . A ring screw  255  that is already in the drain fitting  115  may be used to fasten the annular plate  251  to the drain fitting  115  leaving the four legs  252  free for attachment by the unit main body  20 .  
         [0045]     The unit main body  20  is attached by a fastening means including the bolts  27  threaded from the interior of the main body  20  through metal rings and the bolt holes  254  of the foot sections  253 , which abut the top plain of the main body  20 . Then, the rings  28   a  and nuts  29  at the four feet  253  around the annular plate  251  securely fasten the protruding ends of the bolts  27 .  
         [0046]     With such construction of the sink unit  10  replacing the garbage disposer the dish washing individual may first use the basket  30  in the bus bowl  13  to roughly filter out bulky wastes after a load of dish washing and before emptying the basket to an assigned container. At intervals between extended periods of washing tasks the kitchen operator may slide out the tray  22  to check for the accumulation of finer wastes in the main unit body  20  wherein a secondary filtering has been carried out by the finer perforations  31  in the tray  22  letting significantly less contaminated water pass down the secondary drain  24 .  
         [0047]     Therefore, while the presently preferred form of the garbage disposer replacement unit has been shown and described, and several modifications thereof discussed, persons skilled in this art will readily appreciate that various additional changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, as defined and differentiated by the following claims.