Pipe joint

Details Pipe joint Pipe joint

1998-09-22

1999-09-14

Knight, Anthony

Pipe joints or couplings

With assembly means or feature

Molded joint facilitator

285104, 285339, 285374, F16L 1306

Patent

active

059510587

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
This is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/GB96/01879, with an international filing date of Aug. 2, 1996, now pending.
This invention relates to pipe joints, and more particularly to a pipe joint comprising a hollow body member having a passageway therethrough for receiving a pipe into engagement therewith.
A very large number of pipe joints have been proposed comprising a hollow body member having a passageway therethrough for receiving a pipe, and gripper means positioned circumferentially in the passageway, comprising contractile rings, split locking rings, moveable resilient rings, and the like. Exemplary of such proposals are those described in GB2035495, GB2166508, GB2180310, GB2035495, GB1334339, GB1153177, GB1266603, U.S. Pat. No. 3,534,776, U.S. Pat. No. 3,600,010, U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,336 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,866, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
Many of the prior proposals incorporate gripping means comprising an annular ring which can move axially within the passageway and is positioned within a circumferential tapered channel in the hollow body member, so that, when forces act on the pipe tending to disengage it from the body member, the annular ring moves axially along the tapered channel so as to grip the pipe with a wedging action.
Typically such annular gripper rings give rise to problems in practice. For example, where the ring is a split resilient ring, it is difficult to insert it into the circumferential tapered channel, and when inserted it can easily become twisted so that it impedes the insertion of the pipe into the hollow member. In such circumstances, if the gripper ring becomes jammed, the pipe joint is useless and must be discarded. Even if the gripper ring does not jam, if it becomes twisted, or does not ride up to the top of the tapered channel properly, the external surface of the pipe may still become scored and damaged on entry.
According to the present invention, the above difficulties are obviated by the use of a segmented gripper means.
In a first aspect, the present invention provides a pipe joint comprising a hollow body member having a passageway therethrough for receiving a pipe, a segmented gripper means positioned in a first circumferential tapered channel in the hollow body member and moveable axially within the passageway, the arrangement being such that, in use, when forces are applied tending to separate the pipe from the hollow body member the segmented gripper means can move axially along the tapered channel into gripping engagement with the pipe.
Preferably the pipe joint is provided with sealing means which is preferably located in a second circumferential channel in the hollow body member.
The pipe joint can be used, for example, to join a pipe to another pipe, in a pipe coupling, or to join a pipe to a pipe fitting, or to another piece of apparatus. The invention can be used to join pipes of dissimilar materials, and, in a particularly preferred embodiment, the pipe joint can form part of a novel electrofusion fitting as will be more particularly described hereinafter.
The invention can be used to join pipes made from metal or plastics, but is particularly useful for joining plastic pipes, for example those used for carrying fluids such as gas or water, in, for example, utilities service pipe systems.
The hollow body member is preferably of generally cylindrical shape, and can, for example, comprise a generally cylindrical sleeve made from metal or plastics materials, or a combination thereof. Preferably the body member is made from a plastics material, which may be moulded, extruded, or otherwise formed into the desired shape. Suitable plastics materials include, for example, those made from olefin polymers, especially alpha olefins, such as, for example, homo-polymers and co-polymers of alpha olefins, for example, ethylene, propylene, butene-1 or 4-methylpentene-1; olefin co-polymers, for example, ethylene-propylene co-polymers; polymers of substituted olefins, for example,

REFERENCES:
patent: 4530520 (1985-07-01), Nyffeler et al.
patent: 4727242 (1988-02-01), Barfield
patent: 5188401 (1993-02-01), Staniforth
patent: 5269569 (1993-12-01), Weber et al.
patent: 5297824 (1994-03-01), Imhof et al.

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