Safety swimming pool apparatus

Abstract

Apparatus usable with a safety swimming pool incorporating a buoyant submersed rescue floor is described. In one instance, a winch coupling a gear motor to a cable drum via an electrically disengageable clutch is used as a device to re-deploy the buoyant floor to the bottom after a rescue. In another instance a solar powered dedicated power supply is used to power the trigger/sensor subsystem. In yet another instance an electro-mechanical circuit for sensing and triggering a rescue episode is described.

1 . A swimming pool safety device to prevent drownings in swimming pools wherein a buoyant safety rescue floor is released after a sensor detects the presence of a person in danger in the pool or a manual switch is engaged, wherein a trigger associated with said sensor causes said release of said buoyant safety rescue floor in a pool to bring the person up and out of the water, comprising:
 a power unit powering at least one low power winch actuator submerging the buoyant safety rescue floor downward to the pool bottom prior to use;   said at least one low power winch actuator incorporating an electrically disengagable clutch between a cable winding drum and said power unit;   said at least one low power winch actuator holding said buoyant floor to a position at a bottom of the pool, wherein, upon command, said low power winch actuator is disengaged from said power unit to permit said buoyant safety rescue floor to rise freely in an emergency after the alarm signal signifies the presence of the person in danger in the pool.   
     
     
         2 . The swimming pool safety device as in  claim 1  wherein said power unit is an electrical motor. 
     
     
         3 . The swimming pool safety device as in  claim 1  wherein said at least one low power winch actuator is a plurality of winches dispersed around a periphery of the swimming pool wails, wherein each said respective clutch of each said respective winch of said plurality of winches is simultaneously electrically disengaged. 
     
     
         4 . The swimming pool safety device as in  claim 3  wherein until each respective clutch is disengaged, the cable is under tension holding said buoyant safety rescue floor down through a direction reversing pulley near the pool bottom. 
     
     
         5 . The swimming pool safety device as in  claim 4  wherein power unit/gear friction associated with said power unit prevents backwinding by floor tension. 
     
     
         6 . The swimming pool safety device as in  claim 1  wherein said power unit/gear friction associated with said power unit preventing said backwinding by floor tension is a worm gear drive. 
     
     
         7 . The swimming pool safety device as in  claim 2  wherein said power unit is a uni-directional AC induction motor used to provide slow submersion of said safety floor wherein said at least one low power winch actuator, is used even though said submerged buoyant safety rescue floor stores significant potential energy for rapid release upon triggering by said trigger. 
     
     
         8 . The swimming pool safety device as in  claim 1  wherein for a small pool, said power unit is a hand crank cranking said at least one low power winch actuator, said at least one low power winch actuator being a single band cranked winch with an electrically disengageable clutch usable for deploying said buoyant floor downward to the pool bottom with a centrally attached cable. 
     
     
         9 . (canceled) 
     
     
         10 . (canceled) 
     
     
         11 . The swimming pool safety device as in  claim 1  wherein said at least one winch is a compact pod attached to an inside top edge pool edge above the water line of the swimming pool. 
     
     
         12 . The swimming pool safety device as in  claim 11  wherein a down tube encloses said cable, isolating said cable from contact with swimmers. 
     
     
         13 . The swimming pool safety device as in  claim 12  wherein a bottom pulley is attached to said down tube. 
     
     
         14 . The swimming pool safety device as in  claim 12  wherein said pulley is attached to the pool bottom of the swimming pool. 
     
     
         15 . The swimming pool safety device as in  claim 12  wherein said pulley is attached to a vertical wall near the pool bottom of the swimming pool. 
     
     
         16 . The swimming pool safety device as in  claim 1  wherein a cable loops around and attaches to a bracket attached to the buoyant floor. 
     
     
         17 . The swimming pool safety device as in  claim 3  wherein each said winch includes a gear motor coupled to an electrically releasable clutch attached to a cable drum, said cable drum being releasable during an emergency to de-couple from said motor and to turn freely while said buoyant rescue floor rises. 
     
     
         18 . The swimming pool safety device as in  claim 8  wherein said hand winch includes a worm gear coupled to an electrically releasable clutch attached to a cable drum, said cable drum being releasable during an emergency to de-couple and turn freely while the buoyant floor rises. 
     
     
         19 . A high reliability solar power supply to service the modest needs of a sensor/trigger subsystem of a swimming pool having a permanently buoyant safety rescue floor releasable by said trigger controlled by said sensor sensing the presence of a person in danger in the swimming pool, said solar power supply comprising, a solar panel and a storage battery to permit emergency pool rescue indefinitely even during an extended power outage of utility supplied AC power, wherein said solar panel charges said battery through a solar battery charger safely keeping said battery at an optimal state of charge, said battery supplying a low DC voltage capable of supplying short bursts of relatively high current to operate devices used in circuits controlled by said trigger. 
     
     
         20 . The solar power supply as in  claim 19  further comprising AC back-up with an AC input of 120 or higher AC mains voltage locally available, wherein a solid state relay is normally off, but said relay is triggered on by a low-voltage sensor denoting a problem with said solar/battery supply, wherein further, when triggered on, a step-down transformer is powered, supplying low voltage AC to a diode and a filter capacitor circuit creating an alternate source of low voltage DC substituting the AC supplied DC voltage at an output for the normally solar/battery supplied voltage and current. 
     
     
         21 . A sensor/trigger circuit incorporating a sensor and a trigger deploying releasing a buoyant rescue floor of a swimming pool upward, comprising a circuit having an input voltage of 12-24 volts DC, said circuit further comprising a system switch enabling the system when in an ON state, wherein, further, a series connection of limit switches each associated with a respective low power submerging actuator, which detects if each actuator has reached its respective bottom floor limit in the swimming pool, wherein further, if said switch is ON, then a status indicator glows unless at least one of said low power actuators has not reached its limit; and if so, corrective action is taken before said circuit is armed to detect an emergency, wherein further said sensor is a momentary contact floating tilt switch which detects ripples on the water surface denoting a person or other substantial entity entering the water. 
     
     
         22 . The sensor/trigger circuit as in  claim 21  wherein manual emergency switches are wired in parallel with said sensor and a relay is used to latch the intermittent signal from said parallel arrangement of said sensor and said manual emergency switches into a solid signal via feedback contacts, wherein fluffier a main relay contact drives the parallel circuit of respective triggering devices associated with each said submerging actuator.