Tool and method for garbage disposal installation
Brian L. Nelson
A tool aligns a snap-ring with a sink-flange tailpiece of a garbage disposal, and is used to slide the ring up along the tailpiece outer surface to a groove. The tool expands the snap-ring, prior to installation on the tailpiece, by an expansion mechanism, to a diameter that is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the tailpiece. The tool receives a stack of conventional disposal components on the tool top end, so the user with one hand can raise the tool and the stack to the tailpiece, and the fingers and thumb of the one hand can push the expanded snap-ring upward to reach and snap into the groove. The expansion mechanism may be a tapered tool bottom end, an expander tab, and/or an adaptation wherein the tool is reduced in diameter to fit inside a relaxed snap-ring and then increased in diameter to expand the snap-ring.
1ClaimsFirst of 20
- 1
A combination of a generally cylindrical snap-ring having two ends, a sink flange of an in-sink garbage disposal system having a tailpiece with a tailpiece outer diameter, and a tool for installing the snap-ring in a groove of the tailpiece, the tool comprising: a generally cylindrical main portion having a top end comprising a contoured upper surface adapted to mate with a bottom end of the tailpiece, an outer cylindrical surface with an outer diameter; and a protrusion extending radially…
2Description
The invention relates to tools and methods for assisting a plumber or other user to install a conventional garbage disposal under a sink. More specifically, the tool and methods improve ease, speed, and comfort of the step of installing the snap-ring onto the sink flange. More specifically, the tool and methods are simplified and streamlined, compared to the prior art, for example, because…