Patent Abstract:
The present invention is coping for use in a swimming pool, said coping oriented along a longitudinal direction, and comprises a web disposed along said longitudinal direction, including a means for attaching said web to a side wall of a pool; wherein said web including a strip section integrally part of said web; a strip section being preferably irreversibly removable by shearing off a longitudinal strip section from said cap web for irreversibly removing said strip section from a facia of said web to expose an accessory slot defined behind said removed strip section, wherein said accessory slot adapted for attaching accessories to said coping.

Full Description:
This application claims the benefit of provisional application No. 60/304,449, filed Jul. 12, 2001. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to swimming pool construction and more particularly to a coping structure which is used to cap the upper edge of the wall of the swimming pool. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Conventionally swimming pool copings may be made of extruded materials, such as aluminum or plastic. They are positioned usually at the juncture of the vertical swimming pool walls and the horizontal deck which circumscribes the swimming pool and forms the transition piece there between. Copings may be used to retain in place the upper peripheral bead of a swimming pool liner. 
     The coping is one of the most important elements in a swimming pool structure, particularly in inground or onground swimming pool construction. It is essential to have a reliable and durable coping and important also that the coping be easily secured and useful for a variety of functions including a reliable attachment means for the vinyl liner in pools that use a liner and to attach other accessories such as pool covers and lighting. The coping is subject to much use and frequent abuse because it is invariably stepped on, jumped on and often abused by equipment carried in or near the pool by those using the pool and often bumped by equipment used in servicing the pool. Because of its prominent position just above and surrounding the pool surface, the coping is alway in view by those in the vicinity of the pool and therefore, should present a neat and undistorted appearance. 
     THE PRIOR ART 
     It is known that a wide variety of swimming pool copings are in use, including stone, tile, concrete, metal and plastic, each of which is secured to the deck and/or the wall of the pool by a variety of mechanisms, including mechanical attachment, adhesive or being retained with poured concrete. Illustrated prior art copings for example, are those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,901,492, 5,680,730, 5,170,517. 
     While prior art copings including those disclosed in the above patents have been available in rigid, semi-rigid and flexible materials such copings have been either too cumbersome and have required substantial work to install on the pool on the one hand or in the case of the lighter weight construction copings of the prior and had a tendency to distort and present an unsightly appearance. In addition, all of the prior art coping systems, require installation in sections with seams along the coping. There is no system currently available which can be formed out of one uniform continuous piece of coping around the entire periphery of the pool. In addition, there are currently demands for installing lighting around the coping of the pool in the form of fibre optic lighting which normally is housed within a groove within the coping. The difficulty with lighting is that some pools are installed with lighting and other pools are installed without lighting, thereby giving rise to the need for coping systems which incorporate both options. 
     There is accordingly a need for coping which is readily installed which affords definite advantageous of versatility which presents an undistorted appearance and promotes maintenance of the swimming pool and which supplies a convenient means for the attachment of a plurality of protective and functional accessories for the pool. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention a coping for use in a swimming pool, said coping oriented along a longitudinal direction, said coping comprises: 
     (a) a web disposed along said longitudinal direction, including a means for attaching said web to a side wall of a pool; 
     (b) wherein said web including a strip section integrally part of said web; and, 
     (c) a means for irreversibly removing said strip section from a facia of said web to expose an accessory slot defined behind said removed strip section, wherein said accessory slot adapted for attaching accessories to said coping. 
     Preferably wherein said strip section preferably irreversibly removable by shearing off a longitudinal strip section from said web. 
     Preferably wherein said facia and strip section preferably made from a flexible plastic material. 
     Preferably said web including a base including a means for connecting said coping to a sidewall of a pool. 
     Preferably wherein said web including a first slot oriented along said longitudinal direction and for receiving and retaining a pool liner bead therein. 
     Preferably wherein said web including a second slot oriented along said longitudinal direction, and for receiving and retaining other pool accessories therein. 
     An alternate embodiment to the present invention includes a cap for a coping having a longitudinal direction for use in a swimming pool, said cap of the type for co-operatively attaching to a backer, said cap comprises; 
     (a) a flexible cap web being flexible enough to be installed in one continuous piece onto a backer and around a periphery of a pool. 
     Preferably wherein: 
     (a) said cap web including a strip section integrally part of said cap web and a means for irreversibly removing said strip section from a facia of said cap web to expose an accessory slot defined behind said removed strip section, wherein said accessory slot adapted for attaching accessories to said coping. 
     Preferably wherein said strip section being preferably irreversibly removable by shearing off a longitudinal strip section from said cap web. 
     Preferably wherein said cap and strip section preferably made from a flexible plastic material. 
     An alternate embodiment to the present invention includes in combination a coping for use with a swimming pool including a cap and a backer, said coping comprising: 
     (a) a cap for co-operatively attaching to a backer for supporting and retaining said cap in place; and 
     (b) a flexible cap web being flexible enough to be installed in one continuous piece onto said backer and around a periphery of a pool. 
     Preferably wherein: 
     a) said cap web including a strip section integrally part of said cap web and a means for irreversibly removing said strip section from a facia of said cap web to expose an accessory slot defined behind said removed strip section, wherein said accessory slot adapted for attaching accessories to said coping. 
     Preferably wherein said strip section being preferably irreversibly removable by shearing off a longitudinal strip section from said cap web. 
     Preferably wherein said cap and strip section preferably made from a flexible plastic material. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention will now be described by way of example only, with references to the following drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a cap. 
     FIG. 2 is a front plan elevational schematic view of the cap. 
     FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the cap. 
     FIG. 4 is a back plan elevational schematic view of the cap. 
     FIG. 5 is a top perspective schematic view of the cap. 
     FIG. 6 is a bottom schematic perspective view of the cap. 
     FIG. 7 is a top perspective view of the backer. 
     FIG. 8 is a bottom perspective view of the backer. 
     FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the cap together with the backer. 
     FIG. 10 is a back plan elevational view of the backer. 
     FIG. 11 is a top perspective schematic view of the cap and backer. 
     FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of the cap and backer showing the strip section irreversibly sheared away exposing the accessory slot. 
     FIG. 13 is a top plan view showing the strip section partially sheared away. 
     FIG. 14 is a schematic side perspective view showing in schematic fashion the shearing away of the strip portion, by pulling off the strip section. 
     FIG. 15 is a schematic view of an in ground swimming pool showing in schematic fashion how the coping is installed together with the cap and the backer around the outer periphery of a pool. 
     FIG. 16 is a schematic perspective front view of a fibre optic lighting strip. 
     FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view of the cap and the backer together with the fibre optic strip located in the slot. 
     FIG. 18 is a front side schematic view of the cap and the backer together with the fibre optic strip located in the slot. 
     FIG. 19 is an enlarged cross-section view of the cap together with the backer with the strip section in place. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The present invention a coping which is shown generally as  30  to be used at the juncture of a vertical swimming pool wall and a horizontal deck circumscribes the swimming pool and forms the transition piece there between. Coping  30  includes the following major components, namely backer  32 , upon which cap  34  is mounted wherein preferably backer  32  is manufactured from a metallic ductile material such as aluminum and cap  34  is preferably manufactured from a flexible plastic material such as PVC. It should be understood from the outset that it is possible to produce coping  30  as a single unit, wherein backer  32  and cap  34  are integrally the part of one piece having one integral web  98 , either extruded in plastic or in aluminum, having a different cross-sectional profile as shown in FIG.  19 . 
     Backer  32  includes a base  40  having a base bottom surface  86 , base flange  82 , an anchor aperture  84 , which initially is an indentation  83  for guiding a self taping screw wherein in a fastener  80  preferably a self taping screw fastener passes there through for anchoring said backer  32  onto a swimming pool vertical wall. Backer  32  includes a wall section  42  integrally connected to base  40  defining backer web  102  including a first slot  50  a second slot  52 , lower support  44 , slot support  48 , an anchor flange  54 , an upper support  46 , all of which are integrally connected and normally made of ductile extruded aluminum alloys. The front side of wall section  42  of backer  32  defines a wall facia  43  for receiving of backside  91  of cap  34  thereon. 
     In the case that coping  30  is made one integral piece, meaning backer  32  and cap  34  are cohesively made from one extruded section, then coping  30  is defined by a single web  98  and as previously described above can be extruded out of metal or plastic materials, and or be made of a composite extension. 
     Preferably coping  30  is constructed in two pieces, namely backer  32  which is made out of a stiffer metallic and/or plastic material and cap  34  which is mounted onto backer  32  made of a more flexible, preferably plastic and/or PVC material. In this manner, backer  32  provides the structural, strength and retaining support for the more flexible cap  34  which is mounted onto backer  32 . 
     Cap  34  includes cap web  100  including a hook bottom end  70 , a lower section  60 , a strip section  64 , with a lower shear section  68  and an upper shear section  66 , an upper section  62  and a hooked top end  72 . A backside  91  of cap  34  comes into contact with wall fascia  43  of wall section  42 , of backer  32 . 
     The front side or exposed portion of cap  34  is shown as fascia  90  which is the visible portion of cap  34  once the construction of the pool has been completed. 
     Cap  34  includes strip section  64  integrally part of cap web  100  which can be left in situ as shown in FIG.  19  and/or can be sheared along upper shear section  66  and lower shear section  68  by pulling away on one end of strip section  64 , thereby shearing off strip section  64  from cab web  100  and exposing a accessory slot  47  defined by cap  34  once strip section  64  has been removed as shown in FIG. 12,  13  and  14 . 
     First slot  50  is usually used for fastening the bead of pool liner to coping  30  and second slot  52  is often used for fastening a pool cover in a releasable fashion, or other pool accessories. 
     With strip section  64  removed, accessory slot  47  is exposed and normally is used to house fibre optic lighting within accessory slot  47  which extends around the outer periphery of the swimming pool. 
     As already mentioned, cap  34  is normally made of a flexible material such as PVC having an approximate durometer of 93 and being flexible enough such that hook top end  72  can be installed around a rigid upper support  46  as shown in FIG.  19  and hook bottom end  70  can be installed around rigid lower support  44  as shown in FIG.  19  and tabs  71  of cap  34  snap into position in behind upper support  46  and lower support  44  of backer  32 . Cap  34  is flexible enough to install onto backer  30  without special tools and without damaging or breaking hooked ends  70  and  72 . Wherein cap  34  is preferably and normally produced from an extrusion process forming indefinitely long continuous lengths of capping  34 . 
     In Use 
     Referring now to all the Figures and in particular referring to FIGS. 15 to  19 , base  40  of backer  32  is mounted onto vertical wall  120  of a swimming pool  118 . Fasteners  80  tap through indentation  83  thereby creating anchor aperture  84  which fastens backer  32  onto vertical wall  120 . Vertical wall  120  can be of various construction, including metal frame work, concrete and/or other materials. Backer  32  being relatively inflexible is normally cut and installed in sections along pool periphery  122 . Backer  32  is ductile and enough to be able to be bent around corners which may exist around the outside pool periphery  122  of a swimming pool  118 . Prior to installing decking  124  which often is poured concrete around the outer periphery  122  of swimming pool  118 , cap  34  is installed onto backer  32  as shown in FIG.  15 . It is possible to use one continuous piece of capping  34  around the entire pool periphery  122  thereby ensuring a seamless installation of one continues piece of capping  34  around the entire pool periphery  122  which butt up on each side to stairs  126  as shown in FIG.  15 . With backer  32  and cap  34  in place, decking  124  is normally installed by pouring concrete around the outer pool periphery  122  as shown in FIG.  15 . 
     Cap  34  has strip section  64  in situ and one can select whether or not to remove strip section  64  by shearing and removing it from cap  34 . Shearing strip section  64  along upper shear section  66  and lower shear section  68  exposes accessory slot  47  in behind strip section  64 . Strip section  64  is irreversibly removed in this matter since the material from cap  34  is sheared away from itself, thereby leaving an open accessory slot  47 . There is no reason why accessory slot  47  could not later on be covered with some other material other than strip section  64  which has been removed. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 16,  17  and  18 , preferably with strip section  64  removed from cap  34 , fibre optic lighting  130  having optic fibres  134  housed with in a fibre optic sheath  132  are fed into accessory slot  47  and extends around the entire periphery  122  of swimming pool  118 . In this manner, the user can decide whether or not to install fibre optic lighting and should the user not wish to have fibre optic lighting, strip section  64  remains in place integrally part of cap  34  providing a water proof, water tight seal. Should the user decide to install a fibre optic lighting or some other accessory at any time, strip section  64  could be removed shearably and fibre optic lighting thereafter installed in the exposed accessory slot  47 . 
     It should be apparent to persons skilled in the arts that various modifications and adaptation of this structure described above are possible without departure from the spirit of the invention the scope of which defined in the appended claim.

Technology Classification (CPC): 4