Measuring and testing – Fluid pressure gauge – Mounting and connection
Utility Patent
1998-12-28
2001-01-02
Oen, William (Department: 2855)
Measuring and testing
Fluid pressure gauge
Mounting and connection
Utility Patent
active
06167762
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a fluid-pressure indicating apparatus that is mounted on a rail, and in particular, to a fluid-pressure indicating apparatus including a mounting mechanism with a lock function for preventing the apparatus from slipping out from the rail when it does not need to be removed therefrom.
PRIOR ART
There are well-known techniques for mounting a plurality of control valves on a rail directly or via manifolds in order to control these valves collectively.
For example, Japanese Patent Publication NO. 8-2536 discloses a mounting mechanism conventionally used to mount fluid-pressure indicating apparatuses, such as directional control valves or manifolds, onto a rail. In this mounting mechanism, a mounting groove
4
in which a rail
3
is fitted is provided at the bottom surface of the body
2
of a directional control valve
1
. On one side of the walls of the mounting groove
4
, a recessed portion
5
is formed in which one (
3
a
) of the flanges of the rail
3
is fitted and locked, and an elastic locking piece
6
including a jaw portion
6
a
with which the other flange
3
b
is engaged is provided on the other side wall, as shown in FIG.
7
.
The directional control valve
1
, mentioned above, is mounted on the rail
3
by fitting one (
3
a
) of the flanges of the rail
3
in the recessed portion
5
, and then pressing the rail
3
into the mounting groove
4
while allowing the other flange
3
b
to elastically deform the elastic locking piece
6
, thereby engaging the flange
3
b
with the jaw portion
6
a
of the elastic locking piece
6
. Conversely, the directional control valve
1
is removed from the rail
3
by elastically deforming the elastic locking piece
6
to remove one (
3
b
) of the flanges from the jaw portion
6
a,
and then pulling the other flange
3
a
out from the recessed portion
5
.
Such a mounting mechanism has the advantage of enabling the directional control valve
1
to be mounted on the rail
3
at an arbitrary position and to be removed therefrom; the mechanism even enables a directional control valve located in the middle of a plurality of directional control valves to be simply detached therefrom.
This mechanism has no problems under normal operating conditions, but if an unexpected force is applied to the directional control valve via a pipe connected to the valve in such a way that the valve is pulled off from the rail, the valve may slip out from the rail. Thus, when the directional control valve does not need to be removed from the rail, it must be prevented from slipping out accidentally.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
It is a technical object of this invention to provide a fluid-pressure indicating apparatus including a mounting mechanism with a lock mechanism which can be simply removed from a rail when used alone but which cannot be removed from the rail when coupled to adjacent apparatuses.
To achieve this object, a fluid-pressure indicating apparatus according to this invention is characterized in that a first and a second recessed portions in which locking flanges on the respective sides of a rail are fitted and engaged are formed in the opposed groove walls of a rail mounting groove. An elastic piece that defines the depth of the first recessed portion is provided on the first recessed portion side in such a way as to be elastically shifted. A stopper that engages the elastic piece of the adjacent fluid-pressure indicating apparatus to regulate its shifting when the apparatus is coupled to this adjacent fluid-pressure indicating apparatus is also provided on the first recessed portion side.
The fluid-pressure indicating apparatus of this configuration is mounted on the rail by fitting one of the flanges of the rail in the first recessed portion
1
of the mounting groove, allowing the flange to press the elastic piece so that the rail moves toward the first recessed portion, fitting the rail in the mounting groove, and then moving it in the horizontal direction toward the second recessed portion so that the other flange is engaged in the second recessed portion. On the other hand, the fluid-pressure indicating apparatus can be removed from the rail by performing the same operations in the reverse order.
When a number of fluid-pressure indicating apparatuses are mounted on the rail and adjacent apparatuses are coupled together, the stopper of one fluid-pressure indicating apparatus engages and locks with the elastic piece of the adjacent apparatus to regulate its shifting. In this way, the lock function acts on the adjacent fluid-pressure indicating apparatus to prevent it from being removed from the rail. This prevents the fluid-pressure indicating apparatus from slipping out from the rail even if a large external force is applied to the apparatus via a pipe.
According to a specific configuration, the elastic piece is mounted in a hollow space formed on one of the sides of the fluid-pressure indicating apparatus, and the stopper is provided on the other side in such away as to protrude outward.
According to a preferred embodiment, the elastic piece extends from a place for mounting and fixing a stopper so as to be elastically deformed, and a space into which the stopper is inserted is formed behind the elastic piece.
According to one embodiment of this invention, the mounting groove, two recessed portions, and a stopper are directly formed in the body of the fluid-pressure indicating apparatus.
According to another embodiment of this invention, a rail fixture that is separate from the body of the fluid-pressure indicating apparatus is mounted on the body, and the mounting groove, two recessed portions, and stopper are provided in the fixture. In this case, at least one of the elastic piece and stopper can be integrated with the rail fixture.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3824553 (1974-07-01), Glover et al.
patent: 3927739 (1975-12-01), Katzer
patent: 5529088 (1996-06-01), Asou
patent: 0 703 391 (1996-03-01), None
patent: 8-2536 (1996-01-01), None
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
Oen William
SMC Corporation
LandOfFree
Rail-mounted fluid-pressure indicating apparatus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Rail-mounted fluid-pressure indicating apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Rail-mounted fluid-pressure indicating apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2480618