CA1143108A - Swimming pool construction - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A swimming pool wall, for placement in an excavation, is made up of a series of bendable plates having only vertical flanges for stiffening while permitting shaping the wall to a selected outline. A resilient coping strip embranes the upper edge of the wall and houses a rigid metal bar to retain the upper edge of the wall in the desired configuration while other braces, at the lower edge of the wall extend from the plates to the outer edge portions of the flanges to securely maintain the lower edge of the wall in the desired configuration. Vertical Z-shaped bars are secured to certain of the plates to further stiffen them and further braces, secured to the flanges, ex-tend diagonally upward into a concrete apron, selected ones of the diagonal braces carrying a form plate for defining the outer edge of the apron. Rigid bars are used to hold corner plates to a desired curvature during assembly of the pool wall and its placement in the excavation. After back-filling and forming the apron, those bars are removed.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVE~TION

This invention is in the field of swimming pools.

This application is a division of Application No. 356,789.

In constructing a popular form of swimming pool~ an excava~
tion is first made at the site, and an upstanding wall is erected to define the desired outline of the pool. The wall must.be sufficien~ly self-sustaining to hold its shape and of the desired outline even before any backfilling occurs around the outer periphery of the excavation. It is also desirable to form the upstanding wall of as inexpensive material as possible, and it is customary to construct such walls of sheet metal or the like. However, in erecting the : wall it is essential that its outline be accurately maintained and to insure such accurate outline, it has been cu~tomary to provide the p.lates of the ~all with.upper and lower:~flanges a~d in most cases end flanges~to:.bolt the units'~toyether. Such-units, ~ ho~everj are''of a predetermined and fixed shape, whieh cannot be : altered to.:construct'pools~.of dif~erent outlinés.. See,-for exam-ple,. U..S,'Patents- 3,518-,704,:'3~798f857, 4,1Q9,324 and 4',124,907.
The above patents all disclose swimming pools of the general ~: type mentioned in which the~wall units are provided with either upper and lower flanges or are pan-shaped having flan-gesl all the way around. Patent No. 3,518,704 also discloses : : the use of brace`~ to support a deck:extending outwardly fr~
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the upper ed~e of the pool.

The present invention provides means for Eorming a swimminy pool of any desired shape from identical modular units, each comprising a sheet of metal having a single flange at one vertical edge to extend outwardly of the pool, and thus provides vertical stiffening. The plates are thus bendable to any desired shape. To maintain the plates in their de-sired configuration until final completion of the pool, applicant provides a stiffening coping extending around the upper edge of the pool wall which coping not only provides a finished edge, but provides by means of a steel or other rigid bar therein, stiffening to maintain straight sections of the pool wall truly straight, and curved sections in the desired curvature. The pool is also provided with an out~
wardly extending deck around the upper edge which is braced to the sidewalls of the pool by means of bracing secured to the sidewalls and particularly the rearwardly extending flan-~es. It is preferred that a pair of braces, vertically spaced, be provided at each flange, the upper ends of those braces being adapted to have a mould plate secured thereto to define the outer edge of a concrete deck to be poured later. The invention also contemplates the provision of bottom braces to hold the bottom edge of the upstanding wall in the desired accurately maintained shape during construction of the pool.
Applicant also contemplates the provision of additional Z-shaped bars which may be attached to the modular plates in-termediate the main flanges of the pool wall to further assist in stiffening the same and a novel means and method is contemplated for maintaining curved sections to the desi-red curvature, without influencing adjacent modules, untilthe pool has been rigidly secured in place in its excavation.

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3~ 8 More par-ticul~rly, the presen-t invention relates to a swimming pool construction having an upstandilly wall de-fined by a plurality of subs-tantia].ly identical modular units, with each unit including a sheet of hendable material having an integral vertical flange at one end -thereof extend-iny perpendicular thereto and outwardly of the pool for a substantial distance, the improvement comprising: a pool apron of concrete extending outwardly from the upper edge of the wall; a plurality of vertically spaced substantially parallel bracing members secured at their lower ends to and extending upwardly and outwardly from each flange substan-tially below the upper edge thereof, with the upper ends of the bracing members being embedded in the concrete of the apron; and at least one reinforcing rod extending through the upper ends of the bracing members and being embedded in the concrete of the apron.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
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Figure 1 is a fraymentary plan view of the swimming pool of the present invention;
Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view, taken along the line 2-2 of Figure l;
Figure 3 is a further enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view, taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.
Figure 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the framework struc-ture of Figure 2, the concrete decking being omitted for purposes of clarity;
Figure 5 is a further enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional view, taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 2;
Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view through the coping showing particularly the Z-shaped rein-forcing brace;
Figure 7 is a fragmentary plan view of the framework structure . at a corner of the swimming pool, on a reduced scale;

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Figure 8 is an elevational view of the corner of the pool, partly in section, showing the struts for temporarily hol-ding the curved corners, taken on the line 8-8 of Figure 7;

Figure 9 is a fragmentary isometric view taken at a panel joint, showing the slot in the rearwardly extending flange to receive the depending leg of the coping; and Figure 10 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken on the line 10-10 of Fi~ure 9.

DESCRIPTION~OF A PREFERRED EM~ODIM:ENT

Figure 1 is a plan view of the end portion of an exemplary swimming pool wherein the upstanding wall of the pool is provided with a coping 2 extending the entire length thereof to provide a finished corner edge between the upstanding sidewall and a concrete apron 4 extending outwardly therefrom.

The pool wall is constructed of modular plates 6, of sheet metal or other suitable material, each having a rearwardly extending flange 8 bent therefrom (see ~igure 9). Each flange 8 is at the edge of a stepped portion 10 of the adjacent end of a plate 6 which stepped portion is substantially equal to the thickness of a plate 6, so that when the plates are assem-bled with the type of joint shown in Figure 9, the inner sur-faces of those plates define a continuous coplanar surface.

The free edge of one plate 6 is seated in the step 10, and bolted to the adjacent plate by means of fasteners 12 seated 2S in embossed recesses 14. The recesses 14 are pro~ided in both the plates 6 by pressing a small area of the plates outwardly and serve to house the fasteners 12 without protrusions in-wardly of the pool.

According to the present invention, the upper edge of the up-standing wall defined by plates 6 is capped by a resilient copin~ member 16 (Figure 6), ha~ing a recess therein to ~3~

receive and hold the bead 1~ of a flexible pool liner 20.
The use o e such liners is conventional and need not be des-cribed fur-ther. The coping 16 is provided with depending flanges 22 and 24 embracing the upper edge portions of the plates 6 and a rearwardly extendiny portion defining an up-wardly facing channel in which a rigid steel bar 26 is placed to rigidify the structure. As shown, the rearwardly exten-ding portion containing the bar 26 rests directly on the reinforcing flanges 8 previously dlescribed and on any Z-shaped bars which will be described. The coping member 16is also provided with an upper curved corner defining portion and a depending flange 28, which may be interlocked with any suitable deck structure, such as the concrete slab 30 shown in Figure 6. As best seen in Figure 9 the upper end portion of step 10 and flange 8 are notched, as at 31 to accommodate the continuous outer flange 24 of the coping 16. Numeral 17 designates a connector element spanning the joint between abutting ends of lengths of coping 16.

Referring now to Figure 2, numerals 32 and 34 denote stakes that may be provided and driven through openings in the flange 8 for the purpose of anchoring the edges of those flanges to the-ground while the pool is being constructed.
Also shown in Figure 2 are diagonally upwardly and rearwardly extending braces 35 and 36. These braces are shown as being of sheet metal and of channel shapa, and are bolted to the flanges 8 to extend upwardly and rearwardly in substantially parallel relation and a tension member 38 secured to each of the braces principally to support brace 35, when present, since it is a longer cantilever than brace 36. At their up-per ends, the braces 35 and 36 are configured to define ver-tical end faces 40, which may be in the form of flanges extending from the sidewall of the braces and in constructiny the pool, concrete reinforcing rods 42 are extended through-out the upper ends of the braces to provide metal reinforce-ment for the concrete slab 30. The vertical faces 40 andthe braces serve to selecti~eIy position a form plate 44 constituting an outer mould surface for the concrete s~ab 30, . ' , 3~

thus determining its wid-th. ~he form plates may be selec-tively mounted on the brace 35 for a slab of maximum width or may be mounted on ~he end of brace 36 and brace 35 may be omitted when an intermediate width slab is desired. Also, both braces 35 and 36 may be om.itted and plate 44 mounted directly on the rear edges of flanges 8 when a narrow apron is desired.

To maintain the lower edge of the upstanding wall of the pool in the desired configuratian during construction, appli-cant also pxovides general~y V-shaped braces 46 (see Fiyure 4), having their central portions bolted to the plates 6 at approximately their mid regions and hav.ing arms extending diagonally and rearwardly therefrom to the rear edge portions of the Elanges 8. At their rear ends, the braces 46 are secured to the Elanges 8 and thus constitute a rigidifying means which can be adapted to positively hold the lower edge of the pool wall in any desired configuration during construc-tion, either straight or curved in either a horizontal or ver-tical plane, or both. Figure 4 also shows a generally Z-shaped stiffener bar 48 having its ~orward edge secured tothe plates 6 and having a rear narrow flange 50. Thus, the bar 48 ~s~rves to further rigidify and stiffen the sidewall plates~ As shown in Figure 4, the lowe.r end of the reinfor-cing or stiffening bar 48 may have an anchor rod 52 at its lowex end to be embedded in concrete as will be described later.

It is also customary to form swimming pools of this type with curved rather than square corners, such as shown at 54 in Figure 1. In initially constructing the s~imming pool wall with such curved corners, it is difficult -to maintain the corner at the proper curvature~ without transmi$ting bending forces to the adjacent plates of the sidewall which should be maintained in straight condition and truly tangent to the curve. Figures 7 and 8 herein depict applicant's method and means for properly forming the curved corner por-tion S4. As shown, a plate 6 to be curved is secured to adjacent plates 6 intended to extend tangentially from the curved plate in the finished pool without residual curvature in those plates. To effect proper forming of the corner, applicant secures the three plates together, the middle one of which is to be curved and by applying ~orces to the outer plates, the curvature of the plate 6 in the middle is pro-duced. To maintain that curvature while relieving the end plates of all stress, applicant prGvides a strut or bar 56 having end portions 58 provided with openings through which fastening means 12 may pass to sec~re the strut to the ends of the middle plate 6 after it has been curved in the desired amount. Thereafter, the stress on the bending forces on the ad~acent plates 6 may be relieved and they will then assume a true straight line configuration tangent to the curve of the median plate 6. Those struts are held to the structure by selected fasteners 12 which are also employed to secure adjacent plates together. After the pool has been completed, as will be described, the struts 56 may be removed and the selected fasteners 12 replaced in the plates and the desired curve at the corner of the pool is maintained. ~s shown in Figure 8, at least two of the struts 56 are employed, an upper one ad~acent the upper edge of the wall and a lower one adja-cent the lower edge thereof.

In constructing a swimming pool of the type described herein, an excavation is first formed at the site, the excavation be-ing large enough to provide excavated areas outside theintended position of the pool wall. Thus, the builder has room to work in that region outside of the wall to assemble the various plates as described. When the entire pool wall has been assemb]ed as described herein, it can be placed on suitable blocks 60 (see Figure 2), or otherwise supported, for maintaining the wall at the desired elevation and level, concrete may be poured about the lower edge portion of the pool, such as shown at 62 in Figure 4. This concrete then permanently and positively rigidifies the lower edge of the pool wall and holds the same rigidly in the desired configu-ration. Thereafter, earth backfill 64 may be placed (see Figure 2) to back up and further support the plates 6 on ~ ~3~

their ou-ter sides. Thereafter, the concrete apron 30 may be poured and the pool is then completed.

While a single specific embodiment o-f the invention has been shown and described herein, the same is merely illustrative of the principles involved and further embodiments may be adopted within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (3)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. In a swimming pool construction having an upstanding wall defined by a plurality of substantially identical modular units, with each unit including a sheet of bendable material. having an integral vertical flange at one end thereof extending perpendicular thereto and outwardly of the pool for a substantial distance, the improvement comprising:
a) a pool apron of concrete extending outwardly from the upper edge of the wall;
b) a plurality of vertically spaced substantially parallel bracing members secured at their lower ends to and extending upwardly and outwardly from each flange substantially below the upper edge thereof, with the upper ends of the bracing members being embedded in the concrete of the apron; and c) at least one reinforcing rod extending through the upper ends of the bracing members and being embedded in the concrete of the apron.

2. The swimming pool construction of Claim 1 further including an upstanding plate for defining a boundary form for the apron, with the upper ends of the bracing members being selectively engageable by the upstanding plate to permit forming an apron of a desired width.

3. The swimming pool construction of Claim 1 further including means extending between and secured to the bracing members of each flange for maintaining the bracing members in their parallel relationship during construction of the pool.