Integrated poolscape comprised of pre-fabricated elements and related methods

Abstract

A poolscape is disclosed that comprises at least two of a plurality of pre-fabricated shell elements, each of said shell elements having a wall that conforms to a wall of one or more other shell elements comprising said plurality, wherein said at least two shell elements are conformably combined, and where the shell elements may be one of a swimming pool, a tanning ledge, a hot tub or spa, a fountain, a sun shelf, and a thermal ledge or variants thereof. The poolscape may include in-pool features, such as a pre-fabricated bench or pre-fabricated stairs.

Description

BACKGROUND[0001]1. Field[0002]The present invention relates generally to a poolscape formed by combining two or more pre-fabricated pool shell elements, and, in particular, it relates to a poolscape formed from shell elements that are a member of a set of shell elements such that a shell element in the set has a wall configured to be conformable with a wall of another shell element in the set.[0003]2. Description of the Related Art[0004]The desire to create artificial bodies of recreational water for swimming or landscape aesthetics has existed for centuries. The general concept of building a vessel in or above ground that can be used for swimming and other water sports has been a part of nearly every recorded society. Today, there are three basic categories of swimming pool construction methods. The oldest and largest method involves forming a concrete shell in an excavated hole. The concrete may be poured as a monolithic slab, sprayed onto a reinforcing steel cage using a “shotcre...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015]The present disclosure is directed to an integrated poolscape made from a collection of composite pool shells. These pool shells share common geometry and as such create an almost unlimited number of backyard poolscapes, using a fixed number of composite pool molds. As one designs a collection of pool molds, careful consideration is given to pool geometry such that two, three, or even four pool shells can be installed concurrently in the backyard. This creates the illusion of a larger pool, especially in width, but still satisfies the restrictions imposed by transportation. Further the present disclosure describes a similar modular approach of adding features within the pool geometry, such as bench seats or stairs, using components that do not require seals and are contained within the watertight geometry of the pool shell.

[0016]A primary objective is to provide a method and components to create a family of molds for creating pool shells such that the resulting pool molds can be mixed and matched in the field to create an almost unlimited number of backyard aquascape designs.

[0017]A further objective is to provide a method and components to create shallow bodies of water, more commonly referred to as tanning ledges, sunshelves, or thermal ledges, which do not have to be contained within the pool shell geometry or that require a fiberglass shell seam to be completed in the field.

[0018]Still another objective is to provide a method and components to produce a family of pool designs, each pool design within the family having mutually compatible geometries and identified by a coding system. Each design may be individually marketed as a stand alone pool shell, or the family of designs may be marketed in groups of two or more as integrated backyard poolscapes. A pool builder can easily determine which pool shell geometries can be used together by unique coding of shell elements.

Problems solved by technology

With this ease of construction, comes some design limitations.

First, there is a practical maximum limit on the width of the pool shell due to federal and state highway regulations.

Because of these design limitations placed by transportation, the FRP industry niche has received undue negative attention due to limited size and shapes and thus the market has not grown significantly in the past 40 years; composite pools represented only about 5.4% of the total inground market in 2004.

Further, because the inherent cost of a mold for a composite pool is so high, only a limited number of designs and shapes can be offered at any one time.

This is also compounded by the large size of the parts.

Equally important is the significant cost associated with pool and spa molds.

Each can cost 3-5 times a pool shell and has only a limited life expectancy.

This causes a visually distinct angle on the pool tile line, which is considered unaesthetic to many pool owners.

However, none of these overcome the problems associated with the manufacturing of large one-piece fiberglass pool molds and none address the range of sizes and shapes that can be achieved with the invention described here.

Nevertheless, it does not address the concern of providing the wide variety of designs, nor the positioning of in-pool features, among other shortcomings.

Images