Indexer system for use with a plastic pipe butt-fusion machine

Details Indexer system for use with a plastic pipe butt-fusion machine Indexer system for use with a plastic pipe butt-fusion machine

2000-10-25

2003-04-22

Ball, Michael W. (Department: 1733)

Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture

Surface bonding means and/or assembly means therefor

With separate heating means for work

C156S503000, C156S535000, C156S304200

Reexamination Certificate

active

06550514

ABSTRACT:

REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX
This application is not referenced in any Microfiche Appendix.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Thermoplastic pipe is a popular type of pipe for use in conveying liquids and gases underground. Much of the gas distribution piping now being installed in the United States and many other countries of the world today for underground burial is formed of thermoplastic pipe. An increasing amount of piping for water and sewages is formed of thermoplastic pipe. Thermoplastic pipe has a great advantage when used for conducting gases and liquids, particularly when buried underground since it is inert and therefore not subject to corrosion or galvanic action in the earth as is most metallic piping.
An additional and important advantage of thermoplastic pipe is that lengths of pipe can be easily and effectively joined end-to-end by thermal fusion. For this reason butt-fusion machines have been developed for supporting and joining lengths of plastic in an axial end-to-end relationship. The ends of the pipe are faced and then heated. While in a molten state the ends of two lengths of pipe are axially advanced to engage each other. The engaged pipe is held in position until the molten ends solidify, effectively joining the pipe. This method of joining thermal plastic pipes end-to-end is commonly referred to as “butt-fusion”.
Butt-fusion of thermal plastic pipe is highly effective in that the tensile and bursting pressure strengths of a properly formed joint are usually equal to or greater than the tensile and bursting pressure strengths of the plastic pipe itself. Further, butt-fusion is very economical compared to joining pipe in other ways such as by the use of couplings by which pipe is threaded together or by the use of solvents to weld couplings to plastic pipe. Further, butt-fusion allows pipes of constant diameter to be joined end-to-end without the necessity to enlarge one end of a pipe or reduce the diameter of one end of a pipe to permit it to be joined to an adjacent pipe.
Butt-welding or butt-fusion of plastic pipe is typically carried out employing a machine that has facilities for grasping end portions of first and second lengths of plastic pipe in clamps. After the opposed end portions of two lengths of plastic pipe are grasped by clamps, it is a common procedure to then prepare the end faces of the pipes to be joined so that the ends are each in a plane that is perpendicular the axis of the pipe and therefore so that the ends are parallel to each other. For this purpose, a facer is employed. A facer is a rotatable device having a cutting face on each opposite side. After the pipes are grasp by clamps, the facer is interposed between the opposed ends of the pipes and the pipes are moved one toward the other. In the typical butt-fusion machine, one of the clamped end portions of a length of the pipe is held stationary while the other end portion is moved toward the stationary end. Rather than holding one pipe stationary and moving the opposed adjacent pipe, the system can be operated in which both clamp systems are movable toward each other. Whether one pipe or both pipes are moved the only important action is that the ends to be joined are movable with respect to each other. With a facing machine positioned between opposed ends, the pipes are moved so that the opposed ends of the pipes to be joined simultaneously engage rotating cutters. The cutters shave both opposed ends of the pipes simultaneously to shape the opposed ends so they are in parallel planes and free of voids or irregularities.
After the opposed ends of the pipes have been shaped, the pipes are moved apart from each other to allow the cutter head to be withdrawn.
Next, a heater platen is interposed between the opposed ends of the pipe. A heater platen is a device to heat the ends of the pipes to a temperature in the range of about 375° F.-500° F. The opposed ends of the pipes are held in contact with the heated platen until the opposed end surfaces reach a molten state. Thereafter the pipes are withdrawn away from each other to allow the heater platen to be removed. The pipes are then immediately moved toward each other without any intervening apparatus so that the molten ends of the pipes abut each other. The pipes are advanced toward each other so that the molten thermoplastic at the ends form an internal and external circumferential bead as the plastic flows as the pipes are forced against each other. The pipes are held in this position a sufficient length of time to allow the molten ends to cool to a temperature that is below the molten state—that is, to cool to a temperature at which the plastic joining the pipes is solid. The pipes are then welded to each other or “butt-fused” to each other.
The clamps holding the opposed end portions of adjacent length of the pipe can then be removed and the butt-fusion machine then relocated to repeat the procedure as required to initiate a new butt-fusion procedure. By sequentially butt-fusing lengths of pipe, a total integral pipeline of any preselected length can be provided.
For background information relating to butt-fusion of thermoplastic pipe, reference may be had to the following previously issued United States patents:
PAT. NO.
INVENTOR
TITLE
3,013,925
Larsen
Method and Means for
Welding Thermoplastic Pipes
3,552,265
Lucas
Method and Apparatus for
Facing Thermoplastic Pipe
3,723,705
Province
Fusion Heater
3,729,360
McElroy
Portable Thermoplastic Pipe
Fusion Apparatus
3,789,493
Province
Hydraulic Actuated Fusion
Unit for Plastic Pipe
3,793,119
Province
Facing Tool for Plastic Pipe
Fusion Apparatus
3,828,413
Province et al.
Pipe Alignment Device
4,008,118
Wesebaum et al.
Butt Fusion Machine
4,352,708
McElroy
Defined Force Fusion
Machine for Joining Plastic
Pipe
4,640,732
Stafford
Apparatus for Fusion Joining
of Thermoplastic Pipes
4,957,570
Jenkins et al.
Butt-Welding of Pipes
5,013,376
McElroy, II et al.
Programmable Computer
Controlled Pipe Fusion
Device
5,464,496
Wilson et al.
Plastic Pipe Butt Fusion
Machine
5,527,406
Brath
Method, A Heating Device
and an Apparatus for Fusing
Separate Thermoplastic
Bodies
5,725,724
Andrew et al.
Plastic Pipe Facer for Butt
Fusion Application
5,770,006
Andrew et al.
Butt Fusion Machine for
Manufacturing Full Size
Segmented Pipe Turns
5,788,790
Andrew
Method for Butt Welding
Thermoplastic Pipe Including
Automatic Drag
Compensation
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An improved butt-fusion machine for joining end to end relationship thermal plastic pipes includes an improved indexing system, an improved gland for closing the end of a cylinder piston, a mechanism for simultaneously controlling the position of two valves to thereby allow an operator of a butt-fusion machine to more effectively heat the ends of opposed lengths of plastic pipe and to move the ends while in heated state, in juxtaposed position for fusing the pipe and a circuit for detecting the failure of heating elements in a heating element powered by three phase power source.
The system for effectively joining the opposed ends of two lengths of plastic pipe includes a super-structure for manipulating lengths of the plastic pipe. The super-structure frequently includes a frame having wheels affixed thereto so that the frame and the supporting super-structure can be moved about as required for adjoining lengths of plastic pipe. The super-structure supports a first support shaft and a spaced apart horizontal parallel second support shaft. A first clamp system is supported on the opposed shafts, the first clamp system being arranged to removably grasp an end portion of a first length of plastic pipe. A second clamp system is supported on the support shafts for removably grasping the end portion of a second length of plastic pipe. An actuator system, usually a hydraulic cylinder piston is employed for moving the clamp systems with respect to each other. In a typical arrangement, the first clamp system is maintained stationary on the support shafts while the second clamp system is moved laterally on the support shafts with respect to the first cla

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