Expanded – threaded – driven – headed – tool-deformed – or locked-thr – Headed fastener element with nut – washer – securing means or cap – Headed bolt or screw with threads and complementary nut
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-15
2002-02-12
Wilson, Neill (Department: 3627)
Expanded, threaded, driven, headed, tool-deformed, or locked-thr
Headed fastener element with nut, washer, securing means or cap
Headed bolt or screw with threads and complementary nut
C411S340000, C411S344000, C411S539000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06345945
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and devices used to repair damaged pipelines, walls of physical structures and holding tanks. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field repair and patching of undesirable ruptures, holes or punctures in a previously constructed and/or installed wall of a pipeline, tank or other physical structure.
2. Description of Related Art
The repair, and especially the field repair, of punctures in pipelines, storage or chemical processing tanks, and other physical structures is a matter of considerable import in numerous industrial and domestic settings, e.g. septic tanks and petroleum pipelines. The approach by a repair technician to the puncture is often limited to an interior side of the puncture, and a timely repair is best executed from an exterior side only. Welding tools and techniques are sometimes effective, but only where the pipeline, structure or tank is made of a relatively few appropriate materials, e.g. steel or aluminum. Welding can be dangerous to apply, requires rigorous technical training and expensive tooling, can cause obvious and non-obvious structural damage to the pipeline, structure or tank, is difficult to monitor for quality and may be difficult to perform in remote areas away from required facilities.
A variety of expanding element assemblies, generally referred to as molly bolts, are used to establish an opposing surface against an interior side of a wall. The molly bolt includes an expanding element and a threaded bolt, where the expanding element is initially passed through a puncture and the threaded bolt is then rotatably driven into the expanding element. It is intended by the design of the molly bolt that the shape of the expanding element changes to form a surface as the threaded bolt is advanced into the expanding element and through the puncture, and where a perimeter of the formed surface grows larger than the puncture. The perimeter of the formed surface is then forced against the interior side of the pipeline or wall as a result of the advance of the bolt into the expanding element. Molly bolts are often used to establish load bearing anchor points in drywall and other materials.
Molly bolts do not establish sealing surfaces of continuous perimeter around a puncture, hole or rupture. Molly bolts are, therefore, not useful as hole plugs to repair and seal holes in physical structures, such as tanks and pipelines, that process, contain or store chemicals or materials, to include vapors or liquids.
There is, therefore, a long felt need in various domestic and industrial arts to provide a widely applicable and easily attached hole plug of simple and inexpensive construction and that requires access to only one side of the hole for installation.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus to repair a rupture, hole or puncture in a wall of a pipeline, a tank or other physical structure, optimally in a permanent and leak-proof manner;
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus constructed with simple and inexpensive materials to repair a rupture, hole or puncture of a wall of a pipeline, a tank or other physical structure;
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide an apparatus to repair ruptures, holes and punctures in a wall of a pipeline, tank or other physical structure, where the apparatus is usable with a wide variety of pipeline, tank and structural materials;
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method of installation of the apparatus that enables the repair of a rupture, hole or puncture of a wall of a pipeline, tank or other physical structure where access by a repair technician to only one side, or an exterior side, of the wall is desirable, possible or required;
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method to effectively repair a rupture, hole or puncture in a wall of a pipeline, tank or other physical structure without the use of high temperature tools, such as welding equipment, and whereby the repair is executed at an ambient temperature, thereby reducing a risk of uncontrolled fire and/or of heat induced structural damage of the wall;
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that is manufacturable in a variety of sizes, whereby an appropriately sized embodiment is selected and used in view of the magnitude of the specific rupture, hole or puncture under repair; and
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that is quickly executable in a field environment and enables a rapid repair of ruptures, holes or punctures in a wall of a pipeline, tank or other physical structure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention are achieved by providing an apparatus and method to repair ruptures, holes and punctures through a wall of a pipeline, tank or other physical structure. Generally speaking, the present invention provides a set of apertured washers secured about a threaded shank of a bolt and captured between a head of the bolt and a threaded nut. The set of washers includes at least two notched washers, a sealing washer and an exterior washer. The aperture of each washer is dimensioned to allow passage of the threaded shank through each washer. In operation, all of the washers are located about the threaded shank of the bolt. The set of washers is positioned along the threaded shank, in order from the head of the bolt to the nut as follows: a first notched washer, a second notched washer followed by any additional washers, one or two sealing washers and the exterior washer.
The method of the present invention includes the steps of identifying a hole for repair and optionally preparing the hole, by cleaning and filing for example, to create a prepared hole having a solid edge with a substantially flat interior side and a substantially flat exterior side to which the present invention may be secured. The size and shape of the hole may be increased to form a prepared hole in order to allow a passage through the wall of the head of the bolt, notched washers and optionally an internal sealing washer. The method of the present invention allows for the preparation and/or selection of varying sizes of the elements of certain alternate preferred embodiments, where a best fit preferred embodiment may be especially dimensioned and prepared, or selected from an inventory of preferred embodiments to most closely match the size and shape of the prepared hole.
The size of the prepared hole allows passage of the bolt head, the washers and the optional internal sealing washer. The prepared hole can be oval in shape with a minimum first axial dimension that allows passage of the bolt head and a minimum second axial dimension that allows passage of the washers. Although the optional internal sealing washer, and/or an optional external sealing washer, present a sealing surface area that is larger than the prepared hole, the internal sealing washer is elasticity deformable to allow bending and compressing of the internal sealing washer during insertion through the hole.
The preferred embodiment of the notched washers is shaped as a flattened sheet with a circular internal aperture and an essentially circular periphery. The periphery of the preferred embodiments is formed as a circle cut along a chord and with the chordal segment removed. The resultant periphery therefore present a major axis and a minor axis, where the major axis is longer than the minor axis. In certain preferred embodiments, the chordal cut passes through the internal aperture and creates an open gap of the internal aperture. This gap is smaller in length than the diameter of the bolt shank in order maintain the captivation of the notched washer by the bolt shank. The notched washers may be identical within a particular embodiment in order to reduce manufacturing costs.
In some embodiment
Leary James J.
Titus Carol D.
Wilson Neill
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