Pipe joints or couplings – With means blocking release of holding means – Auxiliary latch
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-30
2001-02-27
Arola, Dave W. (Department: 3627)
Pipe joints or couplings
With means blocking release of holding means
Auxiliary latch
C285S125100, C285S360000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06193281
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a mounting mechanism for fluid pressure members that can easily install or remove fluid pressure members such as pipe joints for piping connections, plugs used to occlude fluid holes that are no longer used, or pressure detectors, in or from a frame member providing two functions by operating a) as a mounting member to allow a fluid pressure apparatus such as a solenoid valve or a cylinder, or its control apparatus to be mounted and b) as a conduit that guides a pressurized fluid such as compressed air.
PRIOR ART
Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 9-100983, for example, discloses a well-known mechanism including equipment-mounting grooves in the outer surfaces of a frame member in the longitudinal direction, each groove having an interior width greater than the groove opening. Inside the mounting grooves, this mechanism includes fluid channels penetrating the frame member in the same direction as the grooves to guide a pressurized fluid, wherein various fluid pressure members such as pipe joints for piping connections, plugs used to occlude fluid holes that are no longer used, or pressure detectors are mounted on the frame member at the opening position of a connection hole drilled between the inner bottom of the mounting groove and the fluid channel.
The fluid pressure member mounted in the frame member has in a mounting portion of its body, a horizontal width smaller than the opening width of the mounting groove and a length larger than the opening width, and includes engaging locking portions that are inserted into the mounting groove and rotated through a specified angle in such a way as to be engagingly locked in the opening edges of the mounting groove; and a seal member for sealing the circumference of the connection hole when the engaging locking portions are engagingly locked in the opening edges of the mounting groove.
When the engaging locking portions provided in the mounting portion of the body are simply inserted into the mounting groove and rotated through the specified angle, the fluid pressure member may still slip due to vibrations after mounting. Thus, a lock mechanism is efficiently provided that includes a detent member having a protruding portion that is elastically fitted between the opening edges of the mounting groove to inhibit any slipping of the engaging locking portions due to rotation when the engaging locking portions are engagingly locked in the opening edges of the mounting groove.
This mechanism, however, must have a simple structure, must be prevented from slipping despite operational error, and must be easy to operate.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of this invention to provide a lock mechanism for engagingly locking the engaging locking portions of a mounting mechanism for a fluid pressure member, such as that described above, into the opening edges of a mounting groove, with said lock mechanism having a simple structure and being easy to operate.
To achieve this objective, this invention improves a mounting mechanism comprising a frame member including equipment-mounting grooves provided on its outer surfaces in a longitudinal direction, which have internal width greater than the groove opening, and including inside the mounting grooves, fluid channels penetrating the frame member in the same direction as the grooves to guide a pressurized fluid, the mounting mechanism mounting a fluid pressure member in the frame member at the opening position of a connection hole drilled between the inner bottom of the mounting groove and the fluid channel. This invention is characterized in that the fluid pressure member mounted in the frame member has in a mounting portion of its body, a horizontal width smaller than the opening width of the mounting groove and a length larger than the opening width, in that the fluid pressure member includes engaging locking portions that are inserted into the mounting grooves and rotated through a specified angle in such a way as to be engagingly locked in the opening edges of the mounting groove; and a seal member for sealing the circumference of the connection hole when the engaging locking portions are engagingly locked in the opening edges of the mounting groove, in that the body includes as a lock mechanism, a detent member having a protruding portion that is elastically fitted between the opening edges of the mounting groove to inhibit any slipping of the engaging locking portions due to rotation when the engaging locking portions are engagingly locked in the opening edges of the mounting groove, in that the detent member is composed of a pair of junction pieces of the same shape that are joined together so as to sandwich the body of the fluid pressure member, to slide in the axial direction of the body, and to be prevented from rotation, in that the junction pieces are connected together at winged portions protruding from the respective sides of the body, and in that springs are accommodated inside the winged portions between the body and the junction pieces in such a way as to urge the junction pieces toward the mounting groove in the frame member.
In the mounting mechanism of the fluid pressure member, spring seats are provided in the body of the fluid pressure member and the winged portions of the junction pieces, to receive the ends of the springs that urges the junction pieces toward the mounting groove in the frame member, and the spring seats provided on the body of the fluid pressure member are fitted in spring accommodating grooves formed in the junction pieces to disable the relative rotation between the body and the detent member.
The fluid pressure member is generally configured as a pipe joint but may be constructed as one of various fluid pressure members that are mounted in the frame member in connection with the connection hole in the bottom of the mounting groove.
In a mounting mechanism of the above configuration, when the mounting portion of the body of the fluid pressure member such as a pipe joint is inserted into the mounting grooves at the opening position of the connection hole formed in the inner bottom of each groove in the frame member and the body of the fluid pressure member is pushed in against the urging force of the spring while rotating the detent member to rotate the body through a required rotating angle, the fluid pressure member is mounted in the frame member in such a way that the engaging locking portions protruding from the respective sides of the mounting portion are engagingly locked in the opening edges of the mounting groove and that the seal member seals the circumference of the opening of the connection hole. Once the detent member has rotated the body through the required angel of rotation, the urging force of the spring causes the protruding portions provided on the pair of junction pieces constituting the detent member to advance elastically into the mounting grooves to inhibit the rotation of the body of the fluid pressure member, thereby locking the body in such a way that it is mounted in the mounting grooves. This configuration prevents the fluid pressure member from slipping out from the mounting groove due to vibrations after installation.
In addition, to remove the fluid pressure member mounted in the frame member, the detent member may be seized and pulled outward while rotating it, thereby detaching the protruding portions of the junction pieces from the mounting groove and rotating the body of the fluid pressure member with the detent member. Thus, the engaging locking portions protruding from the respective sides of the mounting portion can be directed toward the mounting groove to unlock the engaging locking portions from the opening edges of the mounting groove, thereby enabling the fluid pressure member to be removed from the mounting groove in the frame member.
The fluid pressure member can be configured as one of various instruments that are mounted in the mounting grooves in connection with the fluid channel inarhe frame member, including a pipe joint for piping connect
Nagai Shigekazu
Sugano Koji
Arola Dave W.
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
SMC Corporation
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