Pop-up drain assembly

Abstract

A pop-up drain assembly that opens and closes via a spring-biased mechanism. To close the drain, the user presses down on the stopper, forcing teeth on an actuator to engage with teeth inside a pop-up body to hold the actuator in a lowered position. Pressing the stopper down again causes the actuator to rotate until the actuator teeth are aligned with spaces between the pop-up body teeth, allowing the actuator to be pushed upward by the spring-biasing force. The upward movement of the actuator pushes the stem and stopper upward to open the drain.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A drain assembly, comprising: 
 a stopper;    an actuator operationally coupled to the stopper such that the actuator and the stopper move together linearly between an open drain position and a closed drain position, the actuator comprising at least one actuator tooth;    a resilient member that biases the actuator and the stopper in an open drain position; and    a body portion comprising at least one body tooth having an edge, wherein said at least one actuator tooth and said at least one body tooth are engaged in the closed drain position and are disengaged in the open drain position and wherein the edge urges the actuator in a rotational direction when the actuator is moved in the linear direction.    
     
     
         2 . The drain assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the edge on said at least one body tooth comprises a jagged edge.  
     
     
         3 . The drain assembly of  claim 2 , where said jagged edge comprises a low-tooth portion that engages with the actuator in the closed drain position and a high-tooth portion that guides the actuator toward the open drain position.  
     
     
         4 . The drain assembly of  claim 1 , wherein said actuator comprises a plurality of actuator teeth and said body portion comprises a plurality of body teeth, wherein said plurality of body teeth are arranged in a spaced relationship to form spaces between said body teeth, and wherein said actuator teeth travel in the spaces when moving between the open drain and closed drain positions.  
     
     
         5 . The drain assembly of  claim 1 , further comprising a stem connected to the stopper, wherein the stem contacts the actuator such that the stem presses downward against the actuator when the stopper is moved to the closed drain position and the actuator presses upward against the stem to move the stopper to the open drain position.  
     
     
         6 . A drain assembly, comprising: 
 a stopper;    a stem connected to the stopper;    an actuator that contacts the stem such that the stem presses in a first direction against the actuator when the stopper is moved to the closed drain position and the actuator presses in a second direction opposite the first direction against the stem to move the stopper to the open drain position, the actuator comprising a plurality of actuator teeth;    a resilient member that biases the actuator and the stopper in the open drain position; and    a tubular body portion that houses the actuator, stem and resilient member, the body portion having a plurality of body teeth disposed in a spaced relationship inside the body portion,    wherein each body tooth having a jagged edge with a low-tooth portion and a high-tooth portion, wherein the low-tooth portion engages the actuator teeth when the actuator is in the closed drain position and wherein the high-portion guides the actuator teeth toward spaces between the body teeth when the actuator is moved toward the open drain position.    
     
     
         7 . The drain assembly of  claim 6 , wherein said actuator teeth travel in the spaces when moving between the open drain and closed drain positions.  
     
     
         8 . The drain assembly of  claim 6 , wherein the stem comprises a plurality of stem teeth that contact said plurality of actuator teeth when the actuator and stem move between the open drain and closed drain positions.  
     
     
         9 . A method of manufacturing a drain assembly, comprising: 
 attaching a stopper to a stem;    inserting the stem, an actuator, and a resilient member inside a tubular body;    attaching a drain flange, sleeve adapter, and tail piece together to form a pipe; and    inserting the tubular body holding the stem, the actuator, and the resilient member inside the pipe.