FORM 2
THE PATENT ACT 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
The Patents Rules, 2003
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
(See section 10 and rule 13)
1. TITLE OF THE INVENTION
PORTABLE DEVICE FOR DRAINING FLUID


2. APPLICANT
MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA LTD.
1, GATEWAY BUILDING, APOLLO BUNDER, MUMBAI - 400001.
AN INDIAN COMPANY.
The following specification describes the invention.


FIELD OF THE INVENTION:
The present invention relates to draining of fluids, such as lubricants from sump of internal combustion engines and like, and more particularly to a device for removing drain plug provided at the bottom of the sump conveniently without need of direct manual handling as in the case of present draining methods, thereby to have a controlled and convenient draining method avoiding oil spillage or inconvenience to operator/mechanic in fluid-draining process.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:
Presently, oil sump of internal combustion engines is provided with a drain plug underneath thereof, in such case the vehicle owner/operator/mechanic has to slide under the vehicle to remove the plug so as to drain the crank case oil from the sump. In this process, when the plug is partially loosened or removed from the sump, oil starts coming out, and spills making the place messy, also causing inconvenience to the vehicle owner/operator/mechanic in draining the oil, also, the oil spilling goes waste since no provision for effective collection of the same.
Some manufactures are providing internal combustion engines with oil drain valve to avoid aforesaid disadvantages of oil drain plug, for controlled draining of crankcase oil without any oil spillage or causing any mess at the place. However, operation of the oil drain valve requires to be done by the vehicle owner/operator/mechanic, which requires the operator/mechanic to slide under the vehicle due to poor access and operate the valve for removing crank case oil. The
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shortcoming of oil drain valve over the oil drain plug is that the flow rates of the oil will be very less. This may be time consuming drainage process and make the operator/mechanic uncomfortable to operate the valve.
Another pain area in draining of crank case oil from the sump of internal combustion engines and like is because of its vide applications for other commercial purposes, like use with generator set for electrical appliance and telecommunication applications. In such cases, engines are kept in an enclosure/canopy for operation thereof. Here, operator/mechanic has poor access to the engine and within limited space the operator/mechanic has to perform draining of crankcase oil from sump of engine.
Hence, there has been a need to drain oil from the engine-sump having poor access to the drain plug, and without causing oil spillage or inconveniencing the operator/mechanic, and also controllably removing the crankcase oil from the sump and collecting it from better accessible area.
There have been lots of inventions to resolve aforementioned disadvantages and shortcomings with oil drain plug and valves, which may perform according to the intended objectives or requirement, but to meet our objective we had to overcome the disadvantages and shortcomings described in the following prior arts;
US patent 6581905 discloses a Brake Bleed Tool having a plastic tube sealingly engaged with a bleed fitting and a bleed wrench which slides along the axis of bleed tool to engage with the bleed fitting thereby
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loosening the bleed fitting to allow the oil to come out through plastic tube. However, the present invention has shortcomings such as time consumption, which will be more for draining equal amount of oil compared with our invention, complicated design and manufacturing of bleed fitting, free sliding of bleed wrench along the length of the plastic tube without any constraint. Also, uncontrolled rotation of the bleed wrench may cause the bleed fitting to come out of the housing entirely which will further cause difficulty in refitting the drain plug or drain valves.
US Patents 3677513 and 3809359 disclose bleeding tools having bleed fitting of similar kind as mentioned in US6581905 and different bleed wrench adapted to engage with the bleed fitting. The bleed wrenches described herein are more complex in design and consist of more number of parts than the bleed wrench described in US6581905. The wrenches described in the present inventions are very complex to manufacture and assembly becomes a cumbersome process. This will lead to difficulty in serviceability also.
US Patent 3727638 discloses a drain plug assembly having two members, first member of which is adapted to be received by oil pan outlet and second member having tubular portion is tightly adapted to be received by said first member and by loosening it, oil is allowed to flow outside via a hose that is tightly connected to the second member to reservoir. This invention may avoid oil spillage or mess but inconvenience to operator/mechanic still remains same as any other invention describing a simple drain plug or drain valves to drain the oil. Also, the present invention is not preferable or suitable to the kind of application we intend.
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US Patent 6003635 discloses a portable device for enhanced recovery of lubricants from engine sumps and method thereof, includes a first coupling connectable to drain outlet of reservoir and a conduit having one end connected to said coupling and another end connected to a valve to control fluid flow through the conduit, and a probe having a tip portion for actuating the valve so as to drain the fluid from the sump. However, the present invention also has shortcomings that it comprises more number of parts and involves intricate design of valve coupling, also comprises of different components to perform draining operation.
Considering aforementioned disadvantages and shortcomings of prior arts, there still remains a need to have a device to facilitate controlled and enhanced removal of oil from sump of engines used for diverse applications and requiring less access-area to perform drainage of oil without any oil spillage or inconveniencing the vehicle owner/operator/mechanic.
OBJECTIVE OF THE INVENTION:
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings associated with the background art and achieves other advantages not realized by the background art.
The main object of the present invention is to provide a device for controlled and enhanced removal of fluids such as lubricants from fluid reservoir such as sump of internal combustion engines and like, without oil spillage and with ease, comfort and convenience to vehicle
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owner/operator in accessing the oil drain plug, and collecting the drained oil.
Another object of the present invention is to facilitate controlled removal of fluids from reservoir having poor accessibility to reach the drain plug for draining of oil such as in applications like gensets for telecommunications wherein the internal combustion engine is kept in an enclosure/canopy making it inconvenient or dificult for the operator/mechanic to access the drain plug.
Yet another object of the invention is to drain oil from the reservoir and collect it conveniently with easy accessibility via a conduit by connecting one end thereof to the device.
Yet another object of the invention is to quickly finish the task of draining the reservoir completely.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a fluid drain device which is simple to operate and easy to handle, with least efforts.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a fluid drain device that is portable.
Yet another object of the invention is providing a fluid drain device having lesser number of parts and simple to manufacture and/or assemble.
Yet another object of the invention is providing an easily serviceable fluid drain device.
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Yet another object of the invention is providing a fluid drain device which, after draining the entire fluid from the reservoir, will facilitate the drain plug to be tightly refitted on the drain outlet effortlessly.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the drain
device comprises a substantially elongated hollow body and a
substantially elongated rod,
wherein
first end of the hollow body is positively connected to a first adapter
for engaging with a second adapter which is mounted on drain outlet,
and second end thereof is rigidly connected with a plate for supporting
said rod and provided with a hole near first end for draining oil
therethrough,
wherein
first end of rod is rigidly connected to a holder means for engaging
with cap of drain plug, and second end is connected to a handle that is
rotated/ moved fore & aft for engaging and disengaging the holder
means with the drain plug cap; also provided is a plate at an
intermediate position inside the hollow body, through which the rod
passes so as to maintain concentricity of the rod with the body and
also for serving as a stopper/ check for ensuring complete removal of
the drain plug from the drain outlet.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific
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examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:
The invention will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 is longitudinal sectional view according to the present invention FIG. 2 shows assembled position of oil drain plug in oil drain outlet.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT:
While this invention is susceptible to embodiments in many different forms, this is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail specific embodiments, with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an example of the principles of the invention and not intended to limit the invention or its applications to the specific embodiments shown and described. In the description below, like reference numerals are used to describe the same, similar or corresponding parts in the several views of FIG. 1- 2.
Referring to FIG. 1, the engine oil drain device according to the present invention is being designated using reference numeral 1. The engine oil drain device 1 comprises a substantially elongated hollow body 7 having first end 18 and second end 19 open to exterior and a
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substantially elongated rod 10 having first end 20 and second end 21, The first end 18 of the said body 7 is rigidly connected to a first adapter 6 which is also a hollow body throughout its length and provided with threading on the inner peripheral surface thereof. Said first adapter 6 is coaxially and longitudinally welded to first end 18 of body 1 with backward end thereof. Second end 19 of body 7 is welded with a plate 12 having sufficient thickness to support the rod 10 and a hollow portion having inner diameter adapted to receive the rod 10 along the axis of body 7 and said inner diameter is also provided with threading. Near to its first end 18, the body 7 is provided with a hole 23, large enough for draining oil, from the outer peripheral surface of body 7 and a pipe portion 24 is welded thereto radially substantially perpendicular to the body 7. The outer end of said pipe portion 24 is then connected with a flexible tube 16 such as hose.
The second end 21 of the rod 10 is provided with threading for slideably/rotatably engaging with the internal threading of plate 12 towards the center thereof extensively. The second end 21 of the rod 10 is also provided with a hollow portion longitudinally and coaxially towards the center with internal threading for mounting a handle/knob with the help of bolt 22. First end 20 of the rod 10 is rigidly connected with a holder means 8 adapted to engage with the cap 15 of oil drain plug 5 which is tightly assembled to the oil drain outlet 4 (referring to FIG. 2). A magnet 9 is fixed on the bottom surface of the hollow section of the holder means 8. The rod 10 is also provided with a support plate 14 along the axis of the rod 10 in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the rod 10. The plate 14 is having outer diameter slideably less than inner diameter of the body 7 so as to give support to the rod 10 as well as for maintaining the rod 10 coaxially with the
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body 7 to avoid any misalignment while engaging the holder means 8 with cap 15 of drain plug 5 during draining operation.
In conventional practice, oil drain outlet is provided exactly on bottom surface of sump of the internal combustion engine and oil drain plug is leakage-freely fixed to the oil drain outlet. In accordance with the present invention, the oil drain outlet is slightly modified by connecting one end of a V shape hollow tube to the bottom surface of the sump and another end of that hollow tube is positioned laterally and substantially horizontal towards outside and connected with a second adapter 3 which is provided with threading on the outer peripheral surface adapted to engage with first adapter 6. The second adapter 3 and oil drain plug 5 are assembled in such a way that while performing draining operation, first adapter 6 will engage with second adapter 3 and cap 15 of drain plug 5 will engage with holder means 8.
According to the present invention, draining operation will be described in details herein below with reference to FIG. 1 & FIG. 2. During draining operation, the first adapter 6 will be made to engage with the second adapter 3, so that the oil drain device 1 is removably connected and supported with the drain outlet 4. Now, without any further support to drain device 1, an operator/mechanic can engage the holder means 8 with the cap 15 of the drain plug 5 by rotating the handle/knob 11 towards forward end of the device 1. After ensuring proper engagement of the holder means 8 with the cap 15 of drain plug 5, the handle can be rotated to loosen the drain plug 5 from the drain outlet and completely remove the drain plug 5 from the drain outlet 4 there by allowing oil to drain from the sump to another
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(collecting) reservoir (not shown) via oil outlet 23 and flexible tube 16. The magnet 9 provided on the holder means 8 serves to hold the drain plug 5 from falling off and also hold in place maintaining proper alignment of drain plug 5 with the drain outlet 4 while refitting the drain plug 5 post oil draining process conveniently. The plate 14 also acts as a stopper to ensure complete removal of drain plug 5 from the oil drain outlet. After entire oil 2 is drained from the sump 13, the drain plug 5 is refitted on the drain outlet 4 tightly and disengages the drain device from the second adapter 3. This is the best method of performing draining operation according to the present invention.
Date: September 16 , 2009 Mr.GAUTAM/NAGWEKAR
(Chif DperatINg Officer - FES) Mahindra & Mahindra Limited