Pipe joints or couplings – Essential catch – Resilient ring
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-12
2002-01-22
Browne, Lynne H. (Department: 3629)
Pipe joints or couplings
Essential catch
Resilient ring
C285S903000, C052S020000, C052S220800
Reexamination Certificate
active
06340181
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bellmouth which, mainly when a cable protection pipe passage for an electric wire, a telephone wire, an optical cable and the like is buried into the ground, is mounted on the side wall of a hand hole and a manhole to be installed as a cable relay station and allows a pipe for forming a pipe passage to be connected thereto. The present invention also relates to a concrete body using the bellmouth. The present invention further relates to a handhole or manhole using the bellmouth.
2. Description of the Related Prior Art
Conventionally, when a cable pipe passage is laid down in the ground, as a cable relay station, there are set up hand holes and manholes at every proper intervals in the cable pipe passage.
Note that in the specification and claims, both of the hand hole and the man hole are represented by simply hand holes, because these holes are similar in configuration and shape which are easily understandable by a person skilled in the art.
In setting up such hand hole, as known well, there are employed two types of setting-up-processes. The one of the setting-up-processes is that the ground is dug by a required depth to form a hole, and concrete is placed into the hole to thereby produce the peripheral wall body of the hand hole on site. The other of the seeting-up-processes is that a hand hole previously formed in a factory or the like is carried to the installation site and buried there.
Also, in either case, generally, at the same time when the peripheral wall of the hand hole is formed, there is formed in the side wall of the hand hole a through bore which communicates with the inside and outside of the hand hole and is necessary to mount a bellmouth to which a pipe for forming a cable pipe passage can be connected. However, in the former case, that is, in the member for forming the hand hole on site, it is also known to mount the bellmouth on the peripheral wall at the same time when the hand hole is formed.
Thus, in either case, the bellmouth to be mounted on the hand hole is formed as a substantially simple, cylindrical-shaped member including on one end side thereof a trumpet-shaped portion which is to be disposed inside the hand hole.
Therefore, to connect the pipe passage forming pipe to such cylindrical-shaped bellmouth, the end of the pipe is inserted into or fitted over the projecting portion of the bellmouth which projects externally from the hand hole, and a hardening agent solution for stopping the water is poured into between them or water stopping tape is wound around them.
However, the above operations respectively take time and labor and, especially, there are not found many cases in which only one bellmouth is mounted on a hand hole; but, in many cases, three mutually adjoining bellmouth, which are arranged in the horizontal direction, are mounted in two upper and lower stages, adding up to six bellmouths (that is, 3×2=6), or, three mutually adjoining and horizontally arranged bellmouths are mounted in three vertical stages, adding up to nine bellmouths (that is, 3×3=9). In these cases, it is difficult to connect all pipes to the bellmouths in a perfectly watertight condition and such connecting operation requires a lot of time and labor. Also, even if an operation to connect the pipes to the bellmouths is completed, unless hardening agents used for mounting cement mortar harden perfectly, it is not possible to insert electric wires or the like into the pipes.
Especially, in the conventional member for connecting a pipe to a bellmouth, it is difficult to connect the pipe to the bellmouth in such a manner that, after a pipe passage is formed, when an external pressure such as the earth pressure or the like acts on the pipe to thereby apply a tensile force to the pipe in the axial direction of the pipe, such connection can overcome this tensile force to thereby allow the connected portion between the bellmouth and pipe to be free from the damage, that is, the watertight connected condition between them can be prevented against destruction. In other words, according to the conventional pipe and bellmouth connecting member, it is difficult to give the pipe and bellmouth connected portion sufficient resistance to the external force which is applied thereto in the connection removing direction thereof. Also, when there arises a need to detach the pipe from the bellmouth for one reason or another, it is difficult to detach the pipe from the bellmouth; and, as in a case in which a pipe is connected to a bellmouth using a hardening agent solution, it is difficult to detach the pipe in such a manner that the detached pipe can be connected again to the bellmouth without damaging the bellmouth and pipe.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks found in the conventional connecting member for connecting a pipe to a bellmouth mounted on a hand hole or the like.
Note that the reference numerals given in the drawings corresponding to the embodiments of present invention are added in the explanation below only for the purpose of making an understanding easier.
Accordingly, it is a first object of the invention to provide a bellmouth structured such that the bellmouth itself includes a joint portion formed integrally with an opening thereof to be disposed outside a hand hole, while a pipe to be connected to the bellmouth includes in its connecting end a joint portion corresponding to the joint portion of the bellmouth, and connection of the pipe to the bellmouth can be completed by a very simple one-touch operation, that is, simply by inserting the pipe in the axial direction of the pipe into the bellmouth.
Also, it is a second object of the invention to provide a bellmouth to which a pipe can be connected in a watertight condition by such one-touch operation.
Further, it is a third object of the invention to provide a bellmouth which, it the need arises, allows the connected condition between the pipe and bellmouth to be removed by a very simple operation in such a manner that the thus detached pipe can be connected again to the bellmouth with no fear of being damaged.
The above object can be achieved by a bellmouth with joint, according to a first aspect of the present invention, comprises:
a bellmouth main body X and an engaging ring R produced separately from the bellmouth main body M; the bellmouth main body M including a cylindrical-shaped portion
15
having one opening
16
formed so as to spread in a trumpet-like shape, the other opening of the cylindrical-shaped portion
15
including a guide cylinder
11
capable of connecting a pipe thereto, a large-diameter cylinder portion
12
so formed in the deeper portion of the other opening as to be continuous with the guide cylinder
11
and having a larger diameter than front and rear walls respectively formed before and behind the large-diameter cylinder portion
12
in the axial direction of the pipe, and an outwardly facing projection
14
provided on a portion of the large-diameter cylinder portion
12
; the engaging ring R including a guiding inclined surface
31
formed so as to have a C-like non-annular shape when viewed from the side surface thereof, the guiding inclined surface
31
being formed such that the inside diameter of one end face
31
a
side thereof is large but the inside diameter of the deep side thereof is small, the engaging ring R further including a securing stepped portion
32
formed on the deep side thereof, a plurality of notches
33
respectively formed by cutting out the inclined surface
31
, and a projection
34
provided on and projected from a portion of the outer peripheral surface of the engaging ring R, wherein the engaging ring R is inserted into the inside portion
13
of the large-diameter cylinder portion
12
of the bellmouth main body M in such a manner that the large-diameter side end face
31
a
of the guiding inclined surface
31
is situated on the entrance side of the inside portion
13
Bochna David E.
Browne Lynne H.
McGinn & Gibb PLLC
Totaku Industries, Inc.
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