Pipe joints or couplings – Pipe to discreet nipple or sleeve to plate – Expandable detent engages plate to hold nipple
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-05
2001-01-30
Browne, Lynne H. (Department: 3629)
Pipe joints or couplings
Pipe to discreet nipple or sleeve to plate
Expandable detent engages plate to hold nipple
C439S555000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06179340
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention involves a connection fitting, such as an angular fitting or T-shaped fitting, for attaching oblong bodies, for example, tubes, corrugated hoses, pipes, cables or the like, at an opening or a breach or a hole, for example in a wall of a housing or the like. The connection fitting has at least one attachment projection that is divided by open slots into abutment contact studs, on the open ends of which are arranged radially outwardly projecting retaining projections. The abutment contact studs can be radially inwardly deformed by the hole edge when the attachment projection is pressed into the opening, the breach or equivalent hole. Behind the edge, the abutment contact studs move into the mounting position in which the retaining projections at least partially grasp behind this edge, and where at least one stopper is arranged at a distance from these retaining projections and, in the usage position, lies on the hole edge or the opposite edge of the hole that is grasped.
A connection fitting of this general type—but only in the form of a connection piece, i.e. not in the angular or T-shaped design—is known from the U.S. Pat. No. 5,068,496. The radially outwardly projecting retaining projections of the abutment contact studs are practically no longer able to be detached because of their elasticity and shape after catching behind the edge of the hole or breach, rather the retaining projections take on their mounting position in the usage position automatically after the retaining projections have been inserted into the hole or breach. The abutment surfaces of the retaining projections are thereby arranged in an approximately radial plane, so that they grasp behind the hole edge with their entire surface so that when a clamping nut functioning as a stopper is tightened, they can not be pulled back again in an undesired way into the hole or breach. Moreover, they must be able to resist, on the one hand, this tensile force coming from the clamping nut and on the other hand, also be able to resist a possible stress of the cable, hose or similar oblong body.
This means, however, that in the case of a disassembly of this connection fitting, the abutment contact studs must be pushed inward with a tool, which is only possible from the inside of the housing or the wall, on which the hole or the breach is located. A disassembly is then thus only possible when this rear side of the wall that has the breach or the like is accessible, which is not the case for some housings or arrangements of these types of walls. Even in the case where it is accessible, however, this type of disassembly remains difficult because manipulations must be made from both sides of the wall.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, the purpose of the invention is to create a connection fitting of the above-described type, with which on the one hand, a firm seating can be obtained on a breach or a hole in a wall, for example, a housing wall, and in spite of this, however, a simple mounting is possible from the outside of such a housing, namely from the side of the entrance of the oblong body into the breach or the hole.
To achieve this apparently contradictory task, the previously defined connection fitting is characterized in that the abutment contact studs and the radially projecting catching or retaining projections opposite it are shaped and/or dimensioned in such a way that they catch on the edge so that they can be detached after insertion into the opening or the like, and can be moved out or pulled back again out of the opening or the like under loading acting opposite the insertion direction or under tensile and/or pivoting load, and that an axially movable lock is located inside the connection fitting that is arranged in the detaching position outside of the area of the abutment contact studs or retaining projections and is arranged in the usage position so as to engage between them, and locks the retaining projections in this usage position against a radial inward deformation.
In this manner it is possible to dismount the connecting fitting from the outside of a housing or from the side of a wall—not including its attachment projection—on which it is arranged. After the release of the lock, the connecting fitting can be pulled out. However, it is seated firmly in the usage position when the lock is located in the functioning position, i.e. moved in the axial direction between the catch studs and the retaining projections, and can absorb tensile forces exerted on the oblong body, i.e. a pipe, a hose, a cable or the like. If the lock, on the other hand, is moved back or pushed back axially out of its usage and functioning position, the retaining projections can be deformed in the radially inward direction under force or loading, particularly tensile loading acting opposite the insertion direction, possibly during the simultaneous pivoting of the connection fitting, so that in this way the attachment projection of the connection fitting can be pulled out again from the breach or the hole.
An embodiment possibility can therefore comprise the catch surfaces of the retaining projections, which in the usage position grasp behind the inside edge of the hole or the breach and rest on this edge, are beveled with respect to a plane running radially to the connection fitting such that the slope runs from the inside to the outside away from the edges of the breach so that a cone expanding in a direction away from the inside of the hole results. During a pulling back of the connection fitting for disassembly, this cone then causes the radially inward bending of the abutment contact studs, which however, is only possible when the lock has been previously moved back out of its area.
The sloped surfaces of the retaining projections facing the edge of the breach in the usage position can run in a concave or spherically convex manner and/or in some sections, straight. There could thus be, depending on the requirements for the retaining force, differently shaped sloped surfaces provided as catch surfaces on the retaining projections. In this way, the resistance against a withdrawal can be increased or decreased. This can then be advantageous when at first, as the locking catch can be lifted again by pulling it back, the assembly should be able to readily transfer certain forces.
Another or additional embodiment possibility includes the abutment contact studs, on their area located within the breach or hole in the usage position, having a smaller outer dimension, in particular a smaller outer circumference or diameter than the breach or the hole, and via the lock that can be moved in the axial direction between them, can be spread apart or expanded. In this way, for abutment contact studs that have not yet been spread apart, a smaller, namely only partial contact of the abutment or catch surfaces of the retaining projections results on the edge of the hole or breach that is grasped from behind by them. The retaining projections thus do not grasp behind the hole or the breach with a dimension sufficient for a fixed anchoring and/or do not grasp with their entire dimension, but instead to a certain extent only by their radially outside end area, so that without the lock moved between them, an ordinary or relatively small tensile force is sufficient in order to pull them out of the hole or breach again. Thus, they are initially held on the hole or the breach. Only through the insertion of the lock into its functioning position are the abutment contact studs or fingers then expanded to such an extent that their catch or abutment surfaces can be sufficiently or completely effective and can no longer be pulled out without any sort of damage, without removing the lock.
In an expedient way, the connection fitting is thus designed so that the retaining surfaces of the abutment contact studs only extend beyond the circumference of the breach or hole by a portion of their dimension in such a way that, when the abutment contact studs are not spread apart by the lock when the lock is located outside of t
Adolf J{umlaut over (u)}rgen
Bartholom{umlaut over (a)} Mario
Gotz Volker
Z{umlaut over (u)}gel Fritz
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld L.L.P.
Anton Hummel Verwaltungs - GmbH
Browne Lynne H.
Dunwoody Aaron M
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