Abstract:
A support assembly useful in supporting a plumbing fixture in the course of effecting connections thereto includes a base provided with a vertical tube segment supporting a nut assembly threadably engaged to a rod partly received in the segment with the upper rod end supporting an adapter conformed to the supported fixture. An offset bar fixed to the rod exterior engages a lateral recess on the segment to fix the rod in rotation as the nut assembly is turned. The assembly may include rods of differing lengths and adapters of various forms.

Description:
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/843,602 filed on May 11, 2004 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,024,743 and the benefit of this earlier filing date is claimed for all matter common with this parent application. 

   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to tools useful in plumbing assembly, and more particularly to manually adjustable structures insertable under the free edges of a cantilevered sinks and the like while plumbing connections are effected to the drain openings thereof. 
   2. Description of the Prior Art 
   The plumbing connection below a sink often include complex geometries confined in a small space that are sometimes compounded by items like a food debris macerators, or garbage disposal, in current implementation comprises an electromechanical structure of some bulk and mass. While many improvements have made to render these devices and their plumbing quite reliable, the complex nature of the mechanism and the frequency of its use and abuse make it an item of frequent attention. Most often this attention requires removal and replacement, or re-installation following repair, of the device to the underside of the sink drain opening, a task requiring manipulation of a fairly heavy and cumbersome article within the narrow and crowded confines of the cavity under the sink. 
   Various tools have been devised in the past that assist in this difficult task most often taking the form of a threaded puller supported over the drain opening and extending through the drain fitting to suspend the macerator. Examples of such prior art devices can be found in the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 6,557,229 to Ricci, U.S. Pat. No. 5,177,853 to Herook and others. While suitable for the purposes intended support mechanisms of this nature typically deploy the adjustment elements of the tool on top of or inside the sink cavity while all the alignments are made within the cabinet under the sink. This distant adjustment facility of these prior art devices has rendered their use less than fully convenient. 
   Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the alignment task of a disposal installation entails several aspects, including the attachments of the disposal to the sink flange, the connection of electrical leads and also the connection of the various drain lines. These tasks are all effected within the narrow confines of the sink cabinet. A disposal support mechanism that is conveniently manipulated with one hand while the other elements are brought out for connection with the other is therefore extensively desired. Significantly, these same tool adjustment attributes can be also utilized in other plumbing tasks. For example, those engaged in effecting plumbing connections beneath a cantilevered sink assembly will appreciate that such can only be accessed once the supporting pedestal is moved to the side, requiring some upward lifting of the free edge of the sink to provide both support and movement clearance adjustment to move the pedestal to the side. These concurrent functions and the tight quarters dictate one-handed tool manipulation and a mechanism that provides these attributes is extensively sought. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   Accordingly, it is the general purpose and object of the present invention to provide mount assembly conformed for one-handed adjustment of the length thereof. 
   Other objects of the invention are to provide an adjustable support assembly conformed for manual adjustment to a supporting dimension subjacent an article held in a lifted position. 
   Further objects of the invention are to provide a support assembly useful in temporary positioning of articles while effecting repairs subjacent thereof. 
   Yet other objects of the invention are to provide an installation support which is adaptable to various configurations and is easily manipulated for proper alignment. 
   Briefly these and other objects are accomplished within the present invention by providing a generally planar base surface conformed to threadably engage one end of a pipe segment aligned in a generally orthogonal projection therefrom. The free end of the segment is both finished to form a smooth bearing surface and is further fixed to the upper end of an exterior longitudinal channel to provide a radial recess extending longitudinally along the exterior surface of the segment. A selected one of a complement of various length threaded rods first threaded through the interior of a nut assembly is then inserted into the segment such that the extending portion thereof is then receivable within the upper opening of the segment with the nut assembly supported on the surrounding bearing surface. In this manner rotary advancement of the nut assembly raises and lowers the free projecting end of the inserted rod which may be threadably secured to one of several adaptor fixtures conformed in a first embodiment to mate with a corresponding bottom structure of a disposal that is being installed and in the second embodiment to a supporting cradle for other articles. To prevent the adaptor-rod combination from turning with the nut assembly as it is rotated a threaded sleeve mounted on the rod is locked by compression against the adaptor to deploy a longitudinal bar along the rod exterior into the recess in the channel along the pipe segment. 
   Those skilled in the art will further appreciate that the foregoing combination is easily conformed to various sink cabinet, disposal geometries and other structures. In each instance, moreover, the thread pitch of the nut assembly and weight of the supported article are combined with the contact dimensions of the base plate to preclude the rotary movement thereof as the article is raised. The plumber engaged in the replacement or other installation task thus needs only one hand to manipulate the nut assembly leaving the other hand free for fitting alignments obtained by a simple and reliable tool that effectively resolves a tedious and cumbersome task. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective illustration, separated by parts, of the inventive support assembly useful in the course of installation of a food debris macerator or garbage disposal; 
       FIG. 2  is yet another perspective illustration of the inventive support assembly in its deployed form; 
       FIG. 3  is a sectional view taken along line  3 — 3  of  FIG. 2 ; 
       FIG. 4  is yet another sectional view taken along line  4 — 4  of  FIG. 4 ; 
       FIG. 5  is a further perspective illustration of the inventive support assembly detail, illustrating another adaptation thereof to a particular disposal; 
       FIG. 6  is yet a further perspective illustration of the inventive support assembly conformed for lifting and supporting a pedestal mounted sink while plumbing repairs are effected; and 
       FIG. 7  is a side view, in partial section, of the inventive support assembly in the course of its use according to the illustration in  FIG. 6 . 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   As shown in  FIGS. 1–4 , the inventive support assembly, generally designated by the numeral  10 , comprises a base  11  of a generally planar configuration provided with a threaded boss  12  on the upper surface  11   u  thereof. The peripheral edge surface of the lower surface  11   l  may be finished to a rough finish, shown by projections  13 , to increase frictional resistance to any rotary displacement thereof A pipe segment  15  exteriorly threaded over the lower end surface  15   l  is then threadably insertable into the boss  12  to form a vertically aligned annular structure supported on the base and defined at the upper end  15   u  by a smoothed end surface  16 . A longitudinally aligned channel piece  17  is then affixed to the outer surface of segment  15  to present a radially directed recess  18  extending from surface  16  along a portion of segment  15 . 
   A selected one of a plurality of threaded rods  21 - 1  through  21 - n , shown as rod  21 - 1  in the Figure, is then threadably received in the interior of a nut assembly  22  to extend a lower portion  211  into the interior bore  19  of segment  15 . This extension is limited by the resting abuttment of the assembly  22  against the smoothed surface  16  and is adjustable by the rotary advancement of the assembly on rod  21 - 1 . In this manner the extension of the upper rod portion  21   u  is manually selectable by rotary manipulation of the nut assembly. To allow for such one-handed manipulation of the nut assembly  22  on rod  21 - 1  a threaded sleeve  23  is advanced onto the upper rod segment  21   u  to deploy an offset bar  24  aligned for receipt within recess  18 , thus fixing the rod in rotation. To further secure sleeve  23  on the rod a clamping nut  26  may be provided, or alternatively the sleeve may be compressed against any support adaptors that may be threaded onto the rod end. Of course, these alternatives depend on the length of the rod selected and the desired height of the adapter deployment, a dimension determined by the size of the article supported on the adapter and the height to which it needs to be raised. 
   Those skilled in the art will appreciate that commercially available disposals D are variously implemented and the geometry of their lower surfaces will therefore need various conforming support structures. For this reason a plurality of adapters  31 - 1  through  31 - m  is provided as a part of the assembly array each conformed to a particular disposal geometry and each characterized by a central mounting nut  32  conformed for mounting on the corresponding upper rod end  21   u . For example, for those configurations of the disposal D provided with an annular central boss CB (see  FIG. 5 ) the structure of adapter  31 - 1  provides an annular ring  33  mounted on nut  32  by a spider  34 . Alternatively, disposals D provided with a key opening in their lower surface for clearing jams may take advantage of the adapter  31 - 2  provided with an upward key  35  and configurations that include a flat lower surface may use the dished support  36  shown on adaptor  31 - m  (and illustrated in  FIGS. 2 and 3 ). Of course, other disposal shapes can be similarly accommodated. 
   In each instance it is the deployment convenience of a support structure that is easily adjusted that is desired, particularly when raising the disposal into compressive contact with the seals and brackets that form the mounting structure. To preclude inadvertent reduction in height a retention interlock is conveniently formed by providing a series of flats or depressions  22   d  on the periphery of the nut assembly  22  on which the offset bar  24  rests as it is cantilevered from sleeve  23 . The manual advancement of the nut assembly is therefore against a spring bias, assuring positive engagement at the position selected. In this manner a conveniently assembled tool is provided that is easily configured for various installation geometries. Moreover, the generally conventional nature of most of the components of the assembly assures a broad selection of materials such as metal, PVC or other polymeric structures. 
   Of particular interest to those engaged in the installation or re-installation of disposals and macerators is the range of utility of this support assembly which can be further expanded by combining the several pieces in any selection. For example the very short rod  21 - 2  may be combined with one of the other, longer, ones by threaded insertion into both the ends of sleeve  23  and the annular support  31 - 1  may be combined with adapter  31 - 2  for those instances where both a key opening and a central boss is included in the disposal end. Thus a wide range of shapes and dimensions is conveniently accommodated. 
   By particular reference to  FIGS. 6 and 7  the usefulness of the above-described support assembly may be extended to tasks other than those entailed in mounting a food debris macerator. For example, and not by way of a limitation, the assembly may be conveniently adapted to provide support for cantilevered sink basins while the usually provided pedestal support is removed to obtain access to the drain plumbing. Like numbered parts functioning in a like manner to that previously described, the threadably expansive combination of the threaded rod  21 - 1 , with the nut assembly  22  and sleeve  23  engaged thereon is once again receivable in the upper opening of the pipe segment  15  with the offset bar  24  again extending in the radial recess  18  on the segment&#39;s exterior. This combination, generally designated herein by the numeral  120 , is then engaged and threadably locked by bottoming the upper end of rod  21 - 1  in a threaded boss  132  formed on the underside of a transverse upper cradle  131  conformed to support the exterior edge EX of a cantilevered sink basin SB. The lower end of the pipe segment  15 , in turn, is then received in a frustoconical cavity  112  formed in the upper surface of a generally rectangular base piece  111 . Preferably, recess  112  includes an interior bottom surface  113  of a planform generally equal to the sectional dimension of segment  15  while the upper opening  114  of the recess defines a larger space to allow for some angular displacement of assembly  120  relative the base piece  111 . A leaf spring  115  cantilevered from the base piece  111  extends to also engage the recess  18  to oppose rotation of the segment  15  within cavity  112 . A resilient pad  133  in cradle  131  together with a set of resilient pads  111   p  on the lower surface of the bade piece then provide the necessary retention against sliding while also protecting the surfaces of the work site. 
   Those in the art will appreciate that this supporting assembly, once in place, is particularly suited for a one-handed manipulation of the nut assembly  22  while the other hand can be used to move the sink pedestal SP out of the way and thereafter to manipulate the drain fittings DF. Moreover, other supporting tasks can be similarly assisted by this assembly limited only by the complement of the red pieces and end fittings provided. In this manner a single tool complement conveniently accommodates a single person in effecting tasks that heretofore required the assistance of others. 
   Obviously, many modifications and variations can be effected without departing from the spirit of the invention instantly disclosed. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be determined solely by the claims appended hereto.