Patent Publication Number: US-9839341-B2

Title: Food waste collector system with overhead sprayer

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/051,370 filed on Sep. 17, 2014. The entire disclosure of the above application is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to food waste collector systems, and more particularly, to a food waste collector system having an overhead sprayer that provides for use of both fresh and recirculated water. 
     BACKGROUND 
     This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art. 
     Food waste collector systems are typically used in commercial kitchens in lieu of food waste disposers. In a typical prior art food waste collector system, a recirculating stream of warm water (for example, 107° F.) is used to rinse food waste from plates prior to dishwashing. The food waste is collected in a perforated container (such as a strainer basket) that is received in the recirculation tank for the recirculating stream of water. Water in the recirculation tank is pumped by a pump to a spout that is disposed above the recirculation tank and discharges into it. The dishes are held under the spout and rinsed by the water being discharged from the spout. The perforated container can be removed from the recirculation tank, drained and the food waste collected in it emptied. 
     SUMMARY 
     This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features. 
     A food waste collector system has a tank mounted to a table with a table top surrounding a top of the tank, a pump that recirculates water by pumping it from the tank and back into the tank through a spout that discharges into the top of the tank, and an overhead sprayer. A perforated container is removably receivable in the tank. The overhead sprayer has a nozzle fluidly coupled by a fresh water valve to a fresh water passage of a water line and by a recirculating water valve to a recirculating water passage of the water line. The overhead sprayer also has a valve handle disposed at the nozzle and coupled to the fresh water valve and the recirculating water valve. The valve handle has a fresh water position wherein the fresh water valve is open and the recirculating water valve is closed when the valve handle is in the fresh water position. The valve handle also has a recirculating water position wherein the recirculating water valve is open and the fresh water valve is closed when the valve handle is in the recirculating water position. 
     In an aspect, the valve handle is biased to the recirculating water position. 
     In an aspect, the recirculating water passage is fluidly coupled by a recirculating water shut-off valve to the pump. 
     In an aspect, the fresh water passage is fluidly coupled to sources of fresh hot and cold water by a mixing valve. 
     In an aspect, the food waste collector system includes an adjustable nozzle lock for adjustably positioning a vertical height of the nozzle. In an aspect, the adjustable nozzle lock includes a collar slidably received on a vertical member projecting upwardly from the top of a table and a member that is coupled to the collar and to a nozzle side of the water line. 
     Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. 
    
    
     
       DRAWINGS 
       The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a food waste collector system having an overhead sprayer in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of a variation of an overhead sprayer of the food waste collector system of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     With reference to the drawings, a food waste collector system  100  having an overhead sprayer  102  in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure includes a tank  104 , a perforated container  106  removably receivable in the tank  104 , a pump  107 , and a spout  108 . The tank  104  is mounted to a table  110  with a table top  112  surrounding a top  114  of tank  104 . Water is recirculated from the tank  104  by being pumped by the pump  107  to the spout  108  where the recirculating water is discharged from the spout  108  into the perforated container  106  (when it is received in the tank  104 ) and the tank  104 . The spout  108  is illustratively a waterfall spout. Overhead sprayer  102  has a nozzle  116  coupled via a water line  118  to a source of fresh water and to a source of the recirculating water. 
     The water line includes a fresh water passage  120  and a recirculating water passage  122 . It should be understood that fresh water passage  120  and recirculating water passage  122  may be individual water lines disposed adjacent each other (such as tubes), shown as fresh water line  124  and recirculating water line  126  in the example embodiment of  FIG. 1 . In an aspect, a vertical member  128 , which may be a cylinder, projects upwardly from table top  112  and surrounds a section of fresh water line  124  and a section of recirculating water line  126 . 
     A valve handle  130  at the nozzle  116  is coupled to a fresh water valve  132  and a recirculating water valve  134 . The nozzle  116  is fluidly coupled by the fresh water valve  132  to the fresh water passage  120  and by the recirculating water valve  134  to the recirculating water passage  122 . An inlet  136  of the fresh water valve  132  is coupled to the fresh water passage  120  of the water line  118  and an outlet  137  ( FIG. 2 ) of the fresh water valve  132  is coupled to an outlet  140  of the nozzle  116 . An inlet  138  of the recirculating water valve  134  is coupled to the recirculating water passage  122  of the water line  118  and an outlet  139  of the recirculating water valve  134  is coupled to the outlet  140  of the nozzle  116 . When the valve handle  130  is moved to a fresh water position, the fresh water valve  132  is open and the recirculating water valve  134  is closed, blocking flow of recirculating water out of the nozzle  116 . Fresh water then flows through the fresh water valve  132  out through the nozzle  116 . When the valve handle  130  is moved to a recirculating water position, the recirculating water valve  134  is open and the fresh water valve  132  is closed, blocking flow of fresh water out through the nozzle  116 . Recirculating water then flows through the recirculating water valve  134  out through the nozzle  116 . It should be understood that the fresh water valve  132  and the recirculating water valve  134  can be separate valves, or be part of the same valve assembly that includes both valves. In either case, the valve handle  130  is used to move the fresh water valve  132  and the recirculating water valve  134  between their open and closed positions. 
     By moving the valve handle  130  to the desired position, a user can use the overhead sprayer  102  to spray either fresh water or recirculating water. In an aspect, valve handle  130  is spring loaded so that it is biased by a spring to a desired position—one of the fresh water or recirculating water positions. In an aspect, the desired position is the recirculating water position. A user then grasps the valve handle  130  and pulls it against the spring to move it to the fresh water position. When the user releases the valve handle  130 , it then returns to the recirculating water position. 
     It should be understood that the water line  118  can have other configurations. In an aspect, the water line  118  has an inner tube  200  ( FIG. 2 ) surrounded by an outer tube  202 . The inside of the inner tube provides the recirculating water passage  122  and the space between the outer tube  202  and the inner tube  200  provides the fresh water passage  120 . 
     In an aspect, the inside diameter of the inner tube  200  is large enough to allow relatively large particles to pass, such as particles of food waste that may not have been filtered from the recirculating water. In an aspect, the inside diameter of the inner tube  200  is 5/16 of an inch. It should be understood that the inside diameter of the inner tube  200  can be other than 5/16 of an inch. 
     The recirculating water passage  122  is fluidly coupled by a recirculating water shut-off valve  142  to pump  107 . More specifically, recirculating water shut-off valve  142  is coupled between the source of recirculating water, such as an outlet of pump  107 , and the recirculating water passage  122 . When the recirculating water shut-off valve  142  is closed, recirculating water is blocked from flowing into the recirculating water passage  122  of the water line  118  and all the recirculating water flows to the spout  108 . When the recirculating water shut-off valve  142  is open, a portion of the recirculating water flows into the recirculating water passage  122  of the water line  118  and the remainder of the recirculating water flows to the spout  108 . 
     In an aspect, the fresh water passage  120  is fluidly coupled to sources of fresh hot and cold water by a mixing valve  144 . More specifically, mixing valve  144  has a hot water inlet  146  coupled to a source of hot water shown representatively by hot water source line  148  (which can be a hot water line of a building in which food waste collector system is located) and a cold water inlet  150  coupled to a source of cold water shown representatively by cold water source line  152  (which can be a cold water line of a building in which food waste collector system  100  is located). An outlet  154  of the mixing valve  144  is coupled to the fresh water passage  120 . The mixing valve  144  mixes hot and cold fresh water and is adjustable so that a user can adjust the temperature of the fresh water being sprayed from the nozzle  116 . 
     It should be understood that the mixing valve  144  is optional. If the overhead sprayer  102  does not have mixing valve  144 , the fresh water passage  120  is coupled directly to the source of fresh water, which can be either hot water or cold water depending on whether hot or cold water is desired. 
     The overhead sprayer also includes an adjustable nozzle lock  156  that can be adjusted up and down to adjust the height of the nozzle  116  and then locked in place. In an aspect, adjustable nozzle lock  156  includes a member  158 , such as bar or tube, that is attached at one end referred to as nozzle end  160  to a nozzle side  162  of water line  118  above nozzle  116  and at an opposite end referred to as collar end  164  to a collar  166  that is slidably received on vertical member  128 . Collar  166  includes a lock device  168  that locks collar in place on vertical member  128 . Lock device  168  may for example be a set screw. It should be understood that member  158  could be attached to nozzle  116  instead of water line  118  and as used herein, nozzle side  162  of water line  118  also includes nozzle  116 . It should be understood that lock device  168  can be lock devices other than a set screw. Lock device  168  for example can be a clamp. Alternatively, member  158  could skew, such as by the action of a spring force pulling nozzle end  160  upwardly, and create an interference between collar  166  and vertical member  128 . Friction then holds collar  166  in position on vertical member  128 . Member  158  is then moved to be perpendicular to vertical member  128  to release the interference between collar  166  and vertical member  128 , collar  166  is then slid up or down on vertical member  128  to position collar  166  and thus the height of nozzle  116 , and member  158  then released to return to the skewed position recreating the interference between collar  166  and vertical member  128 . 
     When an element or layer is referred to as being “on,” “engaged to,” “connected to,” or “coupled to” another element or layer, it may be directly on, engaged, connected or coupled to the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly engaged to,” “directly connected to,” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, there may be no intervening elements or layers present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.). As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. 
     Spatially relative terms, such as “inner,” “outer,” “beneath,” “below,” “lower,” “above,” “upper,” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature&#39;s relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. Spatially relative terms may be intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over, elements described as “below” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “above” the other elements or features. Thus, the example term “below” can encompass both an orientation of above and below. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly. 
     The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.