Buckles – buttons – clasps – etc. – Bale and package ties – hose clamps – Metal bands
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-13
2001-06-05
Brittain, James R. (Department: 3626)
Buckles, buttons, clasps, etc.
Bale and package ties, hose clamps
Metal bands
Reexamination Certificate
active
06240603
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to hose clamps provided with internal clamping surfaces devoid of any step, discontinuity or gap and to a method for determining optimum length of the blanks for such hose clamps.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
With the use of new, relatively harder and thinner plastic hose materials, it became essential with so-called open hose clamps made from galvanized or stainless steel band material to provide internal clamping surfaces devoid of any step, gap or discontinuity, particularly at the end of the inner overlapped clamping band portion. Equally important remained the need to prevent the deflection or escape of the underlying inner band portion into the ear during plastic deformation of the ear and to reliably bridge any remaining gap underneath the plastically deformed ear of a so-called “Oetiker” ear. An effective solution which proved commercially immensely successful and which was used in hundreds of millions of clamps is described in U.S. Patent 4,299,012 which, as shown in
FIG. 1
of this application and corresponding to FIG. 19 of this patent, includes a narrow tongue-like extension (
61
) at the end of the full-width inner band portion (
11
b
) adapted to engage through an opening (
62
) that commences in the outer band portion (
11
a
) at the beginning of a step-like portion (
67
). In addition to a typical “Oetiker” ear generally designated by reference numeral (
13
), which consists of two parallel outwardly extending leg portions
14
and
15
interconnected by a bridging portion (
16
) and provided with a reinforcing groove (
17
),
FIG. 1
also shows the then-improved mechanical connection consisting of a so-called guide or suspension hook (
31
) and of two cold-deformed, deep-drawn support hooks (
32
) adapted to engage in apertures (
35
) in the outer band portion (
11
a
) as also more fully described in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,299,012. According to this patent, a channel is formed by the cuts for the elongated opening and by then pressing-out the center part (
63
) extending over and externally covering the tongue-like portion (
61
). However, the cover (
63
) can also be omitted by simply cutting off the material forming the opening so that the tongue-like extension (
61
) is then freely exposed to the outside as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,348 and as shown in
FIG. 2
herein, corresponding to
FIG. 12
of this last-mentioned patent. Reference numeral (
20
) also generally designates in
FIG. 2
a different type of connection with the use of a tab-like member (
20
) bent-out from the inner band portion (
11
b
) and extending through a corresponding aperture in the outer band portion (
11
a
).
With annual productions of clamps utilizing these features exceeding several 100 millions per year, it is of interest to analyze these clamps with a view to rationalize production in order to cut material costs involving the clamping band as such. In other words, even small amounts in the length of the blank of clamping band required for a given size clamp become significant. For example, with a saving of as little as 0.25 inches in the average overall length of the blank, such saving is significant with a production of 100,000,000 clamps a year in which case the total savings would be 25,000,000 inches or 283,333 feet or 94,444 yards.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a clamp having an internal clamping surface devoid of any gap, discontinuity or step which optimizes the length of the blank necessary for making a given clamp size.
According to this invention, this is achieved by determining the minimum length of the blank of clamping band necessary to achieve reliable operation of the clamp which involves locating certain key points of the clamp at well-defined, readily ascertainable distances. This includes locating the end of the full-width inner clamping band portion at a small distance from the one of the leg portions of the pair of leg portions of the plastically deformable ear away from the free end of the outer clamping band portion and to coordinate the location of the step-like portion and the length of the tongue-like portion in dependence of the length of the gap underneath the ear in its non-deformed condition.
REFERENCES:
patent: Re. 33639 (1991-07-01), Oetiker
patent: 4299012 (1981-11-01), Oetiker
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