Abstract:
Improvements in present day fire hydrants are presented. The improvement relates to a fire hydrant where the above ground structure is essentially removed and is replaced with an adaptable connection. The connection uses the same mounting hole pattern as used in the above ground hydrant. In operation, the adaptable connection is protected by a hinged cover that is opened to provide access to the adaptable connection. The adaptable connection includes a bayonet type connection where a portable fire hydrant is secured and rotated to start the flow of water. The adaptable fire connection eliminates the appearance of the fire hydrant, the potential of a vehicle hitting a fire hydrant and the material cost associated with above ground fire hydrants.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of Provisional 60/961,453 filed Jul. 23, 2007 the entire contents of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to improvements in providing water for firefighting equipment. More particularly, the present improvement relates to a fire hydrant where the above ground structure is essentially removed and an adaptable water connection is placed where the above ground fire hydrant existed. The adaptable fire connection uses the same mounting hole pattern as used in the above ground hydrant. In operation, the adaptable connection is protected by a hinged cover that is opened to provide access to the adaptable connection. The adaptable connection includes a bayonet type connection where a portable fire hydrant is secured and rotated to start the flow of water. The adaptable fire connection eliminates the appearance of the fire hydrant, the potential of a vehicle hitting a fire hydrant and the material cost associated with above ground fire hydrants. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Most fire hydrants today exist above the surface of the ground. Most fire hydrants retained the water in a pipe that exists in the ground under the hydrant. A screw is located on top of the hydrant. When the screw is turned, it opens a valve located on the pipe and water moves from the pipe and into the hydrant. A fire person attaches a hose to a fitting on the side of the hydrant and the hose transports the water where needed to fight a fire. Current hydrants have a number of problems that have not been accurately addressed. The problems include the height of the fire hydrant above the surrounding area, making it susceptible to cars hitting the hydrant and people being injured by running into the hydrant. The hydrant is also not cosmetically pleasing. The cost of the fire hydrants is also expensive and is paid by the community for the installation, care and service of the hydrants. A number of designs have tried to address the problem with the hydrants by replacing the hydrant with a temporary cosmetic hydrant, but these designs require a modification of the pipe and or fitting that supplies water to the hydrant. Some exemplary examples of patents that have tried to address the present design of fire hydrants are presented herein. 
     U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,216,792 issued Apr. 17, 2001, 6,095,174 issued Aug. 1, 2000 and 5,901,738 issued May 11, 1999, all issued to Wayne Edwin Miller disclose a portable fire hydrant. The supply pipe from the water main is replaced with a custom replacement valve and up-pipe. A custom outer flange is also disclosed to protect the fittings and attachment means. The outer flange is the covered. When a fire hydrant is needed, the cover is lifted off and a portable fire hydrant is secured onto the up-pipe. A valve operator located on top of the portable fire hydrant is then turned to open the valve located in the ground near the supply line. While the Miller patents show an alternative to most present day fire hydrants, the Miller patents require alteration to the up-pipes and flanges that are being used. This would require a significant expense to change a single fire hydrant. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,110 issued Sep. 8, 1998 to Milton Segal discloses a fire hydrant assembly where a dummy hydrant is mounted on the custom flange. When the use of the hydrant is needed, the dummy hydrant is removed from the base and the actual hydrant is secured to the custom flange. A valve operator located on top of the portable fire hydrant is then turned to open the valve located in the ground near the supply line. While Segal discloses a replacement hydrant, the hydrant is still significantly above the surrounding landscape, making the hydrant and people susceptible to harm. The mounting flange further does not have connections for use with the bolt pattern that is common with present day fire hydrants. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,179 issued Aug. 14, 1973 to Luther C. Atkins et al., discloses a portable fire hydrant. The portable fire hydrant has a removable hydrant body. One of the requirements of this invention is the use of a ball valve that mounts to the existing water main. The main advantage of this design is for the ball valve to stop the flow of water if the hydrant is removed or broken from the base. In the event of damage or removal of the hydrant, a spring will push the ball valve into the valve seat to stop the flow of any additional water. While this invention provides a potable replacement hydrant, the hydrant still exists above the surrounding landscape and there is not a provision for providing a low profile cover. The invention further requires modification of the underlying valve or complete replacement of the underlying valve. 
     What is needed is a simple replacement to common fire hydrants that provides a low profile cover that is designed to work with the existing hole pattern of standard fire hydrants. The proposed device provides a solution with mounting flange and hydrant that can be quickly installed and removed by fire fighters when needed. When not needed a cover protects the installation site from vandalism and harm to people and vehicles. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the improved fire hydrant to provide a low profile alternative to fire hydrants that are currently being used. Most services that are available provided to consumers are being placed underground to reduce the visual distraction. Power lines, telephone poles, and distribution of TV signals have all been placed underground to improve the visual appearance of the community. The lower profile provides a number of benefits. First, the lower profile is more cosmetically appealing to the surrounding area. Secondly, the lower profile virtually eliminates the possibility that the hydrant will be broken off if it is struck by a vehicle. Third, the lower profile reduces the possibility that a person will be harmed by running into the hydrant. 
     It is another object of the improved fire hydrant to provide a hydrant that is less expensive. The savings comes from a simpler connection to the flange of the water main. The connection component is designed to mount onto the existing bolt pattern to allow for integration for new construction projects and allows for immediate integration onto existing hydrants. When a fire hydrant is needed, the installation of the hydrant onto a hydrant base is as simple as connecting the hose to a fire hydrant. 
     It is another object of the improved fire hydrant to provide standardization of hydrant connections. The standardization is with the connection to the water main. Each city can determine their own hose requirement and the fire hydrant or barrel can be fabricated with a discharge port configured to match the hoses being used by each city. This is particularly important when neighboring fire fighters assist another city. Today a neighboring city may not have hoses that mate with all hydrant types. With the proposed hydrant, a neighboring city would bring their own hydrant that couples with their own hoses thereby eliminating the connection problem. 
     It is another object of the improved fire hydrant to eliminate a flushing requirement that requires all above ground fire extinguishers to be flushed for two minutes to remove foreign debris. The elimination of this requirement will result in a significant water savings. 
     It is still another object of the improved fire hydrant to integrate a gear type coupling mechanism whereby the installation of the hydrant onto the coupler connects the hydrant and opens the flow of water into the hydrant. A cover plate protects the coupling from unauthorized access. When the cover plate is removed, the hydrant is placed over the coupler and rotated slightly to engage the hydrant into the base. The hydrant is further turned to open the flow of water. A gearing mechanism converts the rotation of the hydrant to rotate open the valve allowing water to flow into the hydrant and out a hose. 
     Various objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, along with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows a typical prior art fire hydrant. 
         FIG. 2  shows the cover on the fire hydrant connection to the water main. 
         FIG. 3  shows the cover to the connection port opened. 
         FIG. 4  shows a portable fire hydrant with the connection for the replaced base. 
         FIG. 5  shows a cross sectional view of the portable fire hydrant being connected to the opening valve. 
         FIG. 6  shows an exploded view of the opening valve. 
     
    
    
     
       
         
               
             
               
               
             
           
               
                   
               
               
                 DRAWINGS - Reference Numerals 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                 10 
                 Typical prior art fire hydrant 
               
               
                 11 
                 Hose connections 
               
               
                 12 
                 Flow control 
               
               
                 14 
                 Ground 
               
               
                 20 
                 Connection to water main 
               
               
                 21 
                 Mounting nuts 
               
               
                 22 
                 Nut/bolt clearance 
               
               
                 30 
                 Street curb 
               
               
                 40 
                 Dome cover 
               
               
                 41 
                 Support plate 
               
               
                 42 
                 Security bolt 
               
               
                 43 
                 Key 
               
               
                 44 
                 Cover retaining hole 
               
               
                 45 
                 Hinge 
               
               
                 46 
                 Gear 
               
               
                 47 
                 Gasket 
               
               
                 48 
                 Clearance hole(s) 
               
               
                 49 
                 Sealing lip 
               
               
                 50 
                 Portable fire hydrant 
               
               
                 51 
                 Elongated slots(s) 
               
               
                 52 
                 Gasket 
               
               
                 53 
                 Ear(s) 
               
               
                 60 
                 Butterfly valve 
               
               
                 70 
                 Handle(s) 
               
               
                 71 
                 Water Discharge port 
               
               
                 80 
                 Inner ring 
               
               
                 81 
                 Pinion 
               
               
                 82 
                 Worm 
               
               
                 83 
                 Worm gear 
               
               
                 84 
                 Shaft 
               
               
                 90 
                 Engagement motion 
               
               
                 91 
                 Turn Hydrant 
               
               
                 92 
                 Turn inner ring 
               
               
                 93 
                 Turn pinion 
               
               
                 94 
                 Turn worm gear 
               
               
                 95 
                 Open valve 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  shows a typical prior art fire hydrant  10 . Fixed above ground fire hydrants, or plugs, take a variety of configurations that are similar to the shape shown in this figure. The basic prior art fire hydrant  10  is bolted onto the connection from the water main  20 . Typically, the mounting bolts are integrated into the water main connection flange  20  and the fire hydrant  10  is placed on the flange  20  and nuts  21  secure the hydrant onto the connection flange  20 . Fire hydrants are typically placed on the street curb  30  for easy locating and to allow fire hoses to be easily connected. Some fire hydrants have the water pressurized with water, and when hoses are connected  11  to the hydrant the flow control valves  12  are opened to permit flow into the hoses. In other prior art hydrant designs the flow control is placed on the top of the hydrant and permits flow to all open hose connections  11 . 
       FIG. 2  shows the cover on the fire hydrant connection to the water main. This figure shows the same curb  30  and connection from the main as was shown and described in  FIG. 1 . The connection for the hydrant is protected under the dome cover  40 . The dome cover  40  and support plate  41  connect to the water main  20  using the same bolt pattern. The use of the existing bolt pattern and connection to the water main flange  20  allows the system to be retrofit onto existing hydrants without modification. The lower profile of the dome cover  40  makes the replacement cosmetically pleasing, protects the connection from vehicular harm, and reduces potential vandalism to the hydrant. When connection of a fire hydrant is needed the fire personnel use a custom key  43 , that is custom configured to reduce the potential for vandalism, on the security bolt  42  to open the dome cover  40  to gain access to connect fire equipment. While it is shown that a bolt is used to secure the dome cover  40 , other methods of securing the dome cover are contemplated that include but are not limited to a threaded hardware, a latch or a locking tab. In the preferred embodiment the hardware that secures the support plate  41  are countersunk into the support plate  41 . The countersunk bolts eliminate the potential to harm a fire hose or cause injury to a person. 
       FIG. 3  shows the cover to the connection port opened. The inside of the dome cover has recesses  22  for nut and bolt clearance. The clearance is sufficiently designed to allow the bolts and nuts to be protected from the elements and prevent tampering of the nuts. The dome cover is hinged  45  with the support plate  41 . The security bolt  42  is threaded into the cover retaining hole. A simple locking mechanism is with a threaded bolt  42  that requires a specially designed key, but it is also contemplated that a key with custom lock can be used to secure the dome cover  40 . The threaded hole for the locking bolt is shown as item  44  in this figure. The support plate  41  is secured to the water main flange with nuts  21  to fix the location and orientation of the support plate  41  on the water main connection. The eight elongated slots  51  exist on the inner ring  80  for retaining the ears of the portable fire hydrant. A raising sealing lip  49  extends around the inner ring.  FIG. 5  shows and describes the sealing lip  49  in greater detail. The ears are shown and described in more detail with  FIGS. 4 and 5 . The closed butterfly valve  60  is operable to provide flow from the water main. 
       FIG. 4  shows a portable fire hydrant with the connection for the replaced base. The portable fire hydrant  50  shown can be fabricated in a variety of heights and with a variety of water discharge ports  71  based upon the hoses being used. The sets of ears located on the bottom of the hydrant  50  are positioned over the slots  51  shown and described in  FIG. 3 . Once the ears  53  are placed into the slots the operator grasps the handles  70  and rotates  90  the fire hydrant  50  to engage the ears  53  in the slots located in the inner ring. A gasket  52  seals the hydrant with the inner ring. While four ears  53  are shown, it is contemplated that as few as two, three or more than four locking ears can be used to improve the stability and security of the fire hydrant in the inner ring  80 ). The fire hydrant can be located in one of six positions on the inner ring to give the fireperson a variety of directions they can place the hydrant based upon the desired hose direction. Additional rotation  91  of the hydrant opens the valve to allow water to flow out of the hydrant. The additional motion is shown and described in more detail with  FIG. 6 . 
       FIG. 5  shows a cross sectional view of the portable fire hydrant  50  being connected to the opening valve  60 . The portable fire hydrant  50  is shown with the discharge port  71 . Each city can specify the size of the discharge port  71  to mate with the hoses and hose connections they are using. Some cities require connection for 2.5″ hoses, 3.5″ hoses, 4″ hoses or other size hose connections. While the connection end to the water main is standard with this hydrant or barrel the discharge port  71  is manufactured per specifications per county based upon the hoses from the city. 
     The portable fire hydrants  50  are interchangeable to accommodate different diameter discharge ports. It is also contemplated that the portable fire hydrant can be configured with multiple discharge ports to allow for multiple hoses to be connected at the same time. The ears  53  are shown on the bottom of the portable fire hydrant. Because there are only two locking ears in this hydrant  50 , the elongated hole is not visible in this cross section. The inner ring  80  has a raised sealing lip  49  that allows for easier alignment of the portable fire hydrant as well and a surface for the gasket  52 . The gasket  52  encircles the bottom of the hydrant to create a seal of the hydrant  50  with the inner ring  80 . 
     The domed cover  40  is shown in its open configuration where it is pivoted on hinge  45 . The dome cover  40  is not shown in cross section in this view. The securing bolt  42  is shown going through the dome cover. When the dome cover  40  is closed the securing bolt  42  is threaded (or locked) into the cover retaining hole  44 . The inside of the dome cover is configured with recesses to provide clearance for the mounting nuts and bolts  21 . 
     The supporting plate  41  is securely mounted onto the connection to the water main  20 . A gasket  47  seals the supporting plate  41  and the connection to the water main  20 . The connection from the water main typically extends above the ground  14 , curb or street. In some cases the threaded studs are integrated into the flange connection from the water main, and in other cases the threaded studs are bolts that pass through the flange connection from the water main. This figure shows that the preferred embodiment of the design fits onto a flat water main flange  20  with no modifications to the water main mounting flange  20 . The butterfly valve that seals the water main is shown as item  60 . It is shown in this figure in the closed orientation, but rotates around the central axis to open. The operation of the valve is shown and described in more detail in  FIG. 6 . 
       FIG. 6  shows an exploded view of the opening valve. The support plate  41  is shown without the dome cover attached to the hinge  45 . The clearance holes  48  are for mounting the support plate  41  to the existing water main flange. The connection secures the support plate and provides a seal to water main. A gasket  47  provides a seal to accommodate surface imperfections. The threaded hole  44  for securing the dome cover is visible in this view. A gear  46  is visible going around the inside of the supporting plate. The gear  46  engages with pinions  81  that turn when the inner ring  80  is being rotated. The inner ring is rotated by rotating the body of the fire hydrant with the handles  70  (shown and described in  FIG. 4 ). The ears from the bottom of the hydrant engage in the elongated slots  51  to secure the hydrant onto the inner ring  80 . The inner ring  80  has a raised sealing lip  49  that allows for easier alignment of the portable fire hydrant as well and a surface for the gasket  52 . 
     The butterfly valve  60  has shafts  84  extending out the ends of the disk portion of the butterfly valve. At the ends of the shafts, worm gears  83  are located. The worm gears  83  engage on worms  82  located on the opposite ends of the pinion 
     In operation, a fire fighter will open the dome cover  40  to expose the internal structure. They will place the ears  53  on hydrant  50  into the elongated slots  51  and rotate the hydrant slightly  90  to retain the hydrant onto the inner ring  80 . The fire fighter will then prep the hose. Once the fire fighter is ready to deliver water to the fire the hydrant will be rotated 91. This rotation is from ⅛ to ¼ of a turn. The rotation  91  turns the inner ring  92 . When the inner ring  91  is turned, the meshing pinion  81  will turn 93 and rotate the worm  82 . The worm will rotate  94  the worm gear  83  turning the shaft  84  and opening  95  the butterfly valve  60 . To close the valve the hydrant is rotated in the opposite direction and the gear train closes the valve. When the hydrant is returned to its home position, the ears are disengaged and the hydrant is removed for use in another location. The dome cover is secured back onto the support plate to protect and secure the connection. 
     Thus, specific embodiments of a fire hydrant cover and a portable fire hydrant have been disclosed. It should be apparent, however, to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The inventive subject matter, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims.