Cementious washout container and method for same

Abstract

A cementious washout container includes a container body having a container reservoir. A hinged chute assembly is rotatably coupled with an upper portion of the container body. The hinged chute assembly includes a chute panel, and a hopper screen coupled with the chute panel. The hopper screen includes perforations overlying the container body. A container drain is positioned at a lower end of the container body, and a container valve is movably coupled over the container drain. The cementious washout container retains and stores washout water and fine particles from multiple loads of cement or concrete and consolidates the washout water and fine particles for a single delivery of the same without requiring multiple separate deliveries of these wastes in multiple trucks.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A cementious washout retention and delivery container comprising:
 a container body including a container reservoir;   a hinged chute assembly rotatably coupled with an upper portion of the container body, the hinged chute assembly comprising:
 a chute panel, and 
 a hopper screen coupled with the chute panel, the hopper screen including perforations overlying the container body, a container drain positioned at a lower end of the container body; and 
   a container valve movably coupled over the container drain.   
     
     
         2 . The cementious washout retention and delivery container of  claim 1 , wherein the hopper screen extends into the container reservoir from a joint rotatably coupling the hinged chute assembly with the container body. 
     
     
         3 . The cementious washout retention and delivery container of  claim 1 , wherein the hinged chute assembly is movable between at least two positions including:
 a first receiving position where cementious waste is deposited on the hopper screen, and washout water and fine particles of the cementious waste are filtered through the hopper screen into the container body leaving aggregate particles on the screen, and   a second discarding position where the hinged chute assembly is rotated relative to the first receiving position and the aggregate particles are discarded away from the container body over the chute panel.   
     
     
         4 . The cementious washout retention and delivery container of  claim 1 , wherein the container valve includes a flapper container valve configured for engagement along a perimeter of the container drain. 
     
     
         5 . The cementious washout retention and delivery container of  claim 4  comprising a drain shroud extending around at least a portion of the container drain, and the drain shroud is configured to intercept fluid. 
     
     
         6 . The cementious washout retention and delivery container of  claim 1  comprising a valve operating mechanism extending from a perimeter of the container body to the container valve. 
     
     
         7 . The cementious washout retention and delivery container of  claim 6 , wherein the valve operating mechanism includes two or more linkage bars configured to bias the container valve into a closed configuration that closes the container drain. 
     
     
         8 . The cementious washout retention and delivery container of  claim 1 , wherein the container body tapers to the container drain, and the taper begins adjacent to a lower end of the container and the taper is remote from the upper end of the container. 
     
     
         9 . A cementious washout retention and delivery container comprising:
 a container body including a container reservoir;   a hinged chute coupled with the container body, the hinged chute includes a hopper screen having a plurality of perforations configured to screen aggregate particles from cementious waste;   a drain assembly comprising:
 a container drain positioned at a lower end of the of the container body the container drain including a drain perimeter, and 
 a flapper container valve coupled with the container drain; and 
   a valve operating mechanism coupled with the flapper valve, the valve operating mechanism includes a linkage extending away from the flapper container valve, the valve operating mechanism is positionable between an open and a closed configuration:
 in the open configuration, the valve operating mechanism opens the container drain, and 
 in the closed configuration, the linkage biases the flapper container valve into clamping engagement around the drain perimeter and closes the container drain. 
   
     
     
         10 . The cementious washout retention and delivery container of  claim 9 , wherein the linkage includes first and second linkage bars, the first and second linkage bars are rotatably coupled together, the first linkage bar is rotatably coupled at a first joint with the flapper container valve, and the second linkage bar is rotatably coupled with a valve lever near a container body perimeter at a second joint. 
     
     
         11 . The cementious washout retention and delivery container of  claim 10 , wherein the first and second linkage bars have a combined length greater than a length between the first and second joints, and the linkage is deflected beyond the length between the first and second joints in the closed configuration. 
     
     
         12 . The cementious washout retention and delivery container of  claim 9 , wherein the hinged chute includes a chute panel adjacent to the hopper screen and the hinged chute is movable between at least two positions including:
 a first receiving position where cementious waste is deposited on the hopper screen, and washout water and fine particles of the cementious waste are filtered through the hopper screen into the container body leaving aggregate particles on the screen, and   a second discarding position where the hinged chute is rotated relative to the first receiving position and the aggregate particles are discarded away from the container body over the chute panel.   
     
     
         13 . The cementious washout retention and delivery container of  claim 9  comprising a drain shroud extending around at least a portion of the container drain, and the drain shroud is configured to intercept fluid from the container drain. 
     
     
         14 . The cementious washout retention and delivery container of  claim 13 , wherein the linkage extends through the drain shroud to the flapper container valve. 
     
     
         15 . The cementious washout retention and delivery container of  claim 13 , wherein the flapper container valve is within the drain shroud. 
     
     
         16 . The cementious washout retention and delivery container of  claim 9 , wherein the container body tapers proximate a lower end of the container body. 
     
     
         17 . A method for using a cementious washout container comprising:
 depositing cementious waste including washout water, aggregate particles and fine particles on a hopper screen of a hinge chute, the hopper screen overlies a container reservoir of a container body;   screening the washout water and fine particles through the hopper screen into the container reservoir and leaving the aggregate particles on the hopper screen;   rotating the hinged chute and diverting the aggregate particles away from the container body along a chute panel included with the hinged chute;   accumulating washout water and fine particles in the container reservoir; and   dispensing the accumulated washout water and fine particles to a cement or concrete chute through a container drain of the cementious washout container.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein accumulating washout water includes repeating deposition of the cementious waste and screening at least once. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein dispensing the accumulated washout water and fine particles to a cement or concrete chute includes consolidating a plurality of cementious waste deposits each including washout water and fine particles into a single volume of washout water and fine particles. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein screening the washout water and fine particles includes retaining the hinge chute at a first receiving position with the hopper screen extending across a chute opening of the container body. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein rotating the hinged chute and diverting the aggregate particles includes rotating the hinged chute to a second discarding position with the chute panel slanted away from the container body. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein dispensing the accumulated washout water and fine particles includes opening a container valve. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein opening the container valve includes disengaging a flapper container valve from a drain perimeter. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein dispensing the accumulated washout water and fine particles includes intercepting splashed washout water with a drain shroud extending at least partially around the flapper container valve. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein opening the container drain includes operating a valve operating mechanism extending from the container valve to a container body perimeter. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 17  comprising biasing a container valve including a flapper container valve into a closed configuration with a valve operating mechanism.