Indexed modular dike wall

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to structures for containing leakage from storage devices and, in particular, to dike walls.

Dike walls are used to contain a material (typically a liquid) within a closed area on the ground or other substantially horizontal surface.

Typically, a sheet of impervious material is laid on the closed surface area defined by the dike wall, as well as over at least a portion of the dike wall, thus forming an open containment vessel. The impervious material is often a sheet of flexible plastic or other material suitable for containing the substance of interest.

Dike walls can be conveniently formed from connectable sections. Such sections are disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 8,540,456, issued Sep. 24, 2014, which is incorporated herein by reference.

In the above cited patent, the dike wall is formed from a combination of straight sections and curved sections. This places substantial limits on the possible shape of the dike. In particular, it makes it difficult to go around obstructions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention includes an improved dike wall section. A dike wall section has an elongate body, a pin at a male end of the body; and a socket at the female end of the body, the pin and socket being operable to connect additional sections to the first section by a pin-in-socket connection having a vertical axis.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view from above of a completed dike wall formed from exemplary individual sections;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of an example of a dike wall section according to an aspect of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a rear elevation view of the dike wall section of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front elevation view of the dike wall section of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a left end elevation view of the dike wall section of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a right end elevation view of the dike wall section of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a bottom plan view of the dike wall section of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a partial rear elevation view of two of the dike wall sections of FIG. 2 joined at a zero degree horizontal angle;

FIG. 9 is a partial top plan view of the joined dike wall sections of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a partial bottom plan view of the joined dike wall sections of FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a partial top plan view of two of the dike wall sections of FIG. 2 joined at a plus (or minus) forty-five degree horizontal angle; and

FIG. 12 is a partial top plan view of two of the dike wall sections of FIG. 2 joined at a plus (or minus) ninety degree horizontal angle;

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 2-7, a dike wall section 10 includes an elongate body 12 having a male end 14 and a female end 16. The male end 14 has a downwardly extending pin 18. The female end 16 has a socket 20 for receiving the pin 18 of an additional section 10. When a pin 16 and a socket 18 are engaged, they form a pin-and-socket connection having a vertical axis.

The section 10 may be, for example, formed of plastic using rotational molding. An example of a commercially useful size includes a six foot length, a one foot height and a one foot base width.

The male end 14 and the female end 16 may advantageously include vertical index surfaces to establish a limited number of discrete horizontal angles at which a pair of sections may be joined by a pin 18 inserted in a socket 20. This provides easy layout of the desired dike shape during assembly. The examples in the drawings are limited to five angles: plus or minus zero, forty-five and ninety degrees.

It is of course possible to choose other angles. The number of useful angles is influenced by the material of the sections and the method of manufacture, as both the precision of joints and strength of the modules affect the choice. More precision and strength would allow for additional angles.

Referring to FIGS. 8-10, two of the sections are connected at a zero degree horizontal angle. The index surface 22 of the female end 16 engages the index surface 24 of the male end 14 once the pin 18 and socket 20 are engaged. This locks the connection at zero degrees.

Referring to FIG. 11, two of the sections are connected at a plus ninety (minus ninety) degree horizontal angle. The index surface 22 of the female end 16 engages the index surface 26 (28 for minus) of the male end 14 once the pin 18 and socket 20 are engaged. This locks the connection at plus ninety (minus ninety) degrees.

Referring to FIG. 12, two of the sections are connected at a plus forty-five (minus forty-five) degree horizontal angle. The index surface 22 of the female end 16 engages the index surface 30 (32 for minus) of the male end 14 once the pin 18 and socket 20 are engaged. This locks the connection at plus forty-five (minus forty-five) degrees.

It is of course possible to have other embodiments that interchange the peg and socket between top and bottom and/or the index surfaces as well.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example dike wall 30 formed with dike wall sections 10.

It should be evident that this disclosure is by way of example and that various changes may be made by adding, modifying or eliminating details without departing from the fair scope of the teaching contained in this disclosure. The invention is therefore not limited to particular details of this disclosure except to the extent that the following claims are necessarily so limited.