Patent ID: 8286275

Claim:
In a drain clean-out assembly meeting plumbing industry standards and adapted for draining sewage from a plumbing industry standard sewage drain line of a residential or commercial building, the drain clean-out assembly having a housing and a clean-out plug, the housing having at least one mounting end and a clean-out port, the housing defining at least a portion of an interior of the drain clean-out assembly that is fluidically connected to the mounting end and to the clean-out port of the housing, the mounting end being configured and sized to attach to the sewage drain line, the clean-out port defining a clean-out access therein that is configured and sized to have a plumbing industry standard diameter to permit insertion of a rod or cable therethrough to remove an obstruction in the sewage drain line to which the drain clean-out assembly is attached with the mounting end, and the clean-out plug being removably threaded to the clean-out port of the housing so as to prevent the sewage within the interior of the drain clean-out assembly from exiting the interior through the clean-out access and being removable from the clean-out port to expose the clean-out access and enable a rod or cable to be inserted through the clean-out access to remove an obstruction in the sewage drain line to which the drain clean-out assembly is attached with the mounting end, the improvement comprising: a drain port that is in fluidic communication with the interior of the drain clean-out assembly and is separate from and in addition to the clean-out access, the drain port having a diameter of about half the size or larger than the diameter of the clean-out access and being located at or below the lowest edge of the clean-out access in order to sufficiently drain sewage from the interior of the housing as well as the interior of the sewage drain line so that the sewage will not rapidly drain from the housing as the clean-out plug is removed from the clean-out port; means located within the drain clean-out assembly for selectively preventing and permitting flow of the sewage out of the interior of the drain clean-out assembly through the drain port thereof; and means outside the housing for operating the preventing and permitting means while the clean-out plug is attached to the clean-out port of the housing and prevents the sewage within the interior of the drain clean-out assembly from exiting the drain clean-out assembly through the clean-out access; wherein the drain clean-out assembly enables the sewage drain line to be drained through the drain port and yet the housing, mounting end and clean-out access are configured and sized to have plumbing industry standard diameters that permit the insertion of a rod or cable through the housing, mounting end and clean-out access to remove an obstruction in the sewage drain line.