Background of the Invention Present sewer maintenance shafts are in the form of a joining chamber having at least an inlet port, an outlet port and a riser extending upwardly from the joining chamber. The sewer maintenance shafts are generally moulded of plastics in a predefined shape. In particular, the angle between the inlet port and the outlet port is fixed. Therefore, a different shape of maintenance shaft is required for different angles between the inlet and outlet pipes. To simplify the number of maintenance shafts that are moulded, they are cast with preset angles, such as 180°, 90° and 135°.

Often, however, the angle between the pipes does not correspond with the prefabricated angles. This results in the need for angled and elbow pipes in order to change the direction of the pipe to suit the sewer maintenance shaft. This is expensive and time consuming.

The present invention seeks to provide a pipe connector that overcomes the above mentioned problem.

Summary of the Invention According to the present invention there is provided a pipe connector including a joining portion having a port for connection of a first pipe thereto, the joining portion also having a wall for connection of a second pipe thereto, the second pipe being able to be connected to the wall by boring a hole through the wall and bonding the second pipe thereto, the wall having a shape such that the pipe may be bonded to the wall at a plurality of angles with respect to the port, whereby, in use, the pipe connector can connect the first pipe to the second pipe at a plurality of angles with respect to each other.

Preferably, the wall defines a cavity in the joining portion, the cavity in fluid communication with the first and second pipes.

Preferably, the joining portion is of a symmetrical shape. In one embodiment the joining portion is a hemisphere. In a second embodiment the joining portion is in the form of a cylinder having its longitudinal axis transverse substantially vertical.

In yet another embodiment, the joining portion is a polyhedron. In this embodiment, it is more preferable that the joining portion is a regular polygon in horizontal cross-section.

The regular polygon may be a hexagon or an octagon.

Preferably, the pipe connector is in the form of a maintenance shaft having a riser extending vertically from the joining portion.

Preferably, a third pipe may be connected to the wall by boring a second hole through the wall and bonding the third pipe thereto, whereby the third pipe may be connected to the first and second pipes at a plurality of angles relative to one another.

In order to provide a better understanding, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which; Figure 1 is an upper perspective view of a pipe connector in accordance with the present invention ; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the pipe connector of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a plan end view of the pipe connector of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a front elevation of the pipe connector of Figure 1; Figure 5A is a cross-sectional view of the bonding of a pipe to a joining portion of the pipe connector of Figure 1; Figure 5B is a cross-sectional view of an alternative bonding of a pipe to a joining portion of the pipe connector of Figure 8; Figure 6 is an upper perspective view of an alternative pipe connector according to the present invention;

Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view of the pipe connector of Figure 6; and Figure 8 is an upper perspective view of another alternative pipe connector according to the present invention.

Referring to Figures 1 to 4, there is shown a pipe connector in the form of a sewer maintenance shaft 10, which includes an inverted hemispherical joining portion 12. A port 14 horizontally extends substantially from the base of the hemispherical joining portion 12. The port 14 includes a large diameter section 20 that extends from the joining portion 12, which then is reduced to a smaller diameter section 22. The smaller diameter section 22 is of a diameter suitable for connection to a first pipe. Generally, the first pipe will be an outlet pipe with the direction of flow through the maintenance shaft 10 indicated by the arrow A in Figures 2 and 5. A large diameter pipe may be connected to the large diameter section 20. In this case the small diameter section 22 will be removed.

The joining portion 12 includes a wall 24 defining a cavity 15. The port 14 is in fluid communication with the cavity 15.

Extending upwardly from the cavity is a riser 18. The riser 18 is of a diameter suitable for connection to an inspection shaft. Connecting the riser 18 to the joining portion 12 is a frustoconically shaped portion 16. The portion 16 includes strengthening ribs 26 in Figures 2-4. At the interface between the portion 16 and the joining section 12 is a ledge 25 suitable for assisting in lifting and moving the pipe connector 10.

Referring to Figure 5A, there is shown a second pipe 28 which has been connected to the joining portion 12. The wall 24 of the joining portion 12 has been bored through to produce a hole having a diameter equal to the diameter of the pipe 28. The pipe 28 is then inserted into the bored hole and bonded by a bonding material 30, such as welded plastic.

The pipe 28 is flush with the inside of the wall 24. The pipe 28 is then in fluid communication with the cavity 15. The bonding 30 sealingly connects the pipe 28 with the joining portion 15. The pipe 28 is shown connected to a standard connector 32 which is, in turn, connected to another pipe 34. The pipe 28 generally is an inlet pipe.

Figure 5B shows a similar arrangement to Figure 5A. The main difference is that the connector 32 fits inside the pipe 28 rather than over the outside of the pipe 28, as is the case in Figure 5A.

Referring to Figure 6, an alternative form of pipe connector 10'is shown. The main difference with this pipe connector is that the interface between the joining section 12 and the portion 16 does not include a ledge 25 and the portion 16 is rounded. The pipe connector 10'is moulded from a single piece of plastics material. In Figure 7, a base section 30 is shown to assist the pipe connector to stand on a flat surface.

Figure 8 shows yet another preferred embodiment of a pipe connector 10". In this instance the joining portion 12 is substantially spherical with the riser 18 connecting directly to the joining portion 12. The spherical joining portion 12 allows a second pipe to be connected to the joining portion 12 at a plurality of angles relative to a horizontal plane.

The method of use and operation of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The angle between an inlet pipe and an outlet pipe (which the pipe connector connects together) is measured. This angle is then used to determine the position of the bored hole so that the pipe 28 and the smaller diameter section 22 of the port are arranged to be at the same angle as the angle measured between the pipes. The hole is then bored in the wall 24 of the joining portion 12 and the pipe 28 bonded to the joining portion. The sewer maintenance shaft 10 may then be bonded to the outlet pipe. The inspection shaft may be bonded to the riser 18.

It will be clear to the skilled addressee that the present invention has at least the following advantages: a) The pipe connector is suitable for connecting pipes having a range of angles therebetween; and b) Only one type of pipe connector need be produced for each diameter of pipe rather than a series of pipe connectors each having a particular angle between the inlet

and outlet port.

It will also be clear to the skilled addressee that modifications and variations can be made to the present invention without departing from the basic inventive concept. Examples of such modifications are: the joining portion need not be hemispherical or spherical in shape, a vertically extending cylinder may be suitable; in fact, a number of symmetrical shapes would be suitable, including a polyhedron, or a regular polygon in horizontal cross- section, such as a hexagon or an octagon, thereby allowing a plurality of angles between the inlet and outlet pipes.

Such modifications and variations are intended to be within the scope of the present invention, the nature of which is to be determined from the foregoing description.