Watertight sealing system for manhole

Abstract

A sealing assembly for sealing a manhole against entering liquid includes a guide ring with an adjustable diameter and set screws for pressing against interior walls of the manhole when the diameter of the guide ring is set to approximately the diameter of the manhole walls, a sealing ring for resting on top of the guide ring and an expandable ring disposed at the inner periphery of the sealing ring and expanded to compress the sealing ring against the walls of the manhole to provide a liquid-tight seal. The sealing assembly also includes a lid positioned on top of the sealing ring. The lid preferably has a removable portion to allow access through the lid without taking the lid off of the sealing ring and without destroying the integrity of the caulking. In a method of sealing a manhole, there is a step of fixing a guide ring to the interior walls of the manhole, placing the sealing ring on top of the guide ring, placing an expandable ring at the interior of the sealing ring and expanding the expandable ring so that it presses against the sealing ring to compress the sealing ring against the walls of the manhole to provide a liquid-tight seal, and placing a lid on top of the sealing ring. A simplified version of the sealing assembly and method involves using the weight of the manhole cover to compress a gasket against the interior walls of the manhole.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.