WO1988004487A1

WO1988004487A1 - Adjustable closure means

Info

Publication number: WO1988004487A1
Application number: PCT/AU1987/000415
Authority: WO
Inventors: George Peter Bonnell; John Barry Fitzgibbon; Reginald Grocott
Original assignee: Domus International Pty. Ltd.; Deak Morgan Limited
Priority date: 1986-12-05
Filing date: 1987-12-07
Publication date: 1988-06-16
Also published as: AU1048288A; AU621037B2

Abstract

Adjustable closure means (16) for closing an opening or for retaining an article such as a lead (14) within an opening. The closure means (16) has a flexible sleeve (21) supported between opposed mountings (17 and 18) supporting opposite end portions of the sleeve (21). The opposed mountings (17 and 18) are rotatable with respect to one another to twist the flexible sleeve (21) whereby the portion (23) of said sleeve intermediate the opposed mountings may be contracted towards a closed position across said opening. Holding means is provided for holding the opposed annular mountings (17 and 18) in their selected rotational positions.

Description

"ADJUSTABLE CLOSURE MEANS"

This invention relates to adjustable closure means. In particular this invention relates to adjustable closure means for an aperture whereby articles which pass therethrough may be located or retained or whereby fluid flow therethrough may be selectively varied. However, the adjustable closure means of this invention is not limited to such applications, and for example, it may be used as a closure for an opening.

In many industries articles such as cables and tubes pass through apertures in walls and various retaining means are utilized to support the article within the aperture. For example, rubber gronunets and the like are utilized for a non-chafing retention of electrical cables in wall apertures. In installations where an airtight or watertight seal is required to be made about the article passing through a wall, gland fittings are incorporated in the wall to lead the article therethrough and to provide a releasable seal about the outer surface of the article to form the airtight or watertight connection therewith.

A disadvantage associated with the above and other types of the presently available retaining means is that most are adapted to suit a particular size article or to suit a relatively small range of sizes, while others are complex or inefficient in operation. Furthermore, suppliers must stock a large range of such retaining means to suit the many applications. A further disadvantage associated with such retaining means is that the end connections formed on the articles which pass therethrough are invariably of larger diameter than the article itself. Accordingly, the article must be placed through the adjustable retaining means before the end connection is formed at the opposite side of the wall. This has the disadvantage, for example, that when it is necessary to wire a plug to an electrical cable which passes through a side wall of a chassis, there is only limited space available in which to perform the necessary wiring. Furthermore, if terminal connections have to be changed, they must be removed prior to the cable being removed through the wall aperture.

Conventional gland fittings for sealing an aperture about a shaft rely upon the operation of seals which may have little tolerance to shaft diameter variations. Such gland fittings are also relatively complex and expensive to manufacture.

Various types of valves are known which provide adjustable flow restriction for an aperture for regulating the flow of fluid therethrough. However most valves do not maintain a central orifice and those that do are of relatively complex construction.

The present invention aims to alleviate the above-mentioned disadvantages and to provide adjustable closure means which will be reliable and efficient in use. Other objects and advantages of this invention will hereinafter become apparent.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, this invention in one aspect resides broadly in an adjustable closure means for an opening, said adjustable closure means including:- a flexible sleeve; opposed mountings supporting opposite end portions of said sleeve in their open attitude whereby said flexible sleeve may define a passage through said opening, one said opposed mounting being selectively rotatable with respect to the other said opposed mounting to twist said flexible sleeve whereby the portion of said sleeve intermediate said opposed mountings may be moved from an open position towards a closed position across said opening, and there being provided holding means for holding said opposed annular mountings in their selected rotational positions.

The flexible sleeve may be in the form of a plurality of bars or cables extending between, and each pivotally connected to, the respective opposed mountings. The flexible sleeve may be in the form of a flexible annular membrane which may extend loosely between the opposed mountings to permit relative rotation therebetween or the opposed mountings may be axially moveable to permit the membrane to move between its open and closed position. Alternatively a flexible membrane may be reinforced with bars or cables to permit sealing in the presence of high pressures. Preferably however, the sleeve is formed of resilient material whereby the intermediate portion thereof may distort to enable it to gather towards said closed position. The intermediate portion may move inwardly to engage about an article such as a tube or cable, to retain, locate or seal about the article or it may move inwardly to seal upon itself and retain a fluid barrier across a wall or the like or to provide an adjustable aperture for any suitable application and including an adjustable common aperture.

The adjustable closure means may be in the form of a seal adapted to be fitted about the end of a pipe or tubular spigot and be held captive therein by a retaining cap or it may be incorporated integrally in the end of a spigot or tube or about an aperture in a wall or the like.

In a further aspect this invention resides broadly in an adjustable seal assembly including a pair of opposed mounting rings; a resilient sleeve extending through said mounting rings and having its opposed end portions maintained in their open attitude by said respective mounting rings and an intermediate portion which may be twisted by relative rotation of said mounting rings about a common axis to contract said intermediate portion towards said mounting axis. Preferably the mounting rings are flanged rings arranged with their adjacent flanged ends in face-to-face abutting relationship.

Preferably the mounting rings include conical mounting portions which converge outwardly from the abutting flanged ends thereof. Of course, the mounting portions could be cylindrical or of other tubular configuration if desired. It is also preferred that the adjacent ends of said flanged ends be provided with thrust bearing faces or flanges and that each portion be substantially identical with the other.

However, the respective mounting portions can be of different configurations and their centre of rotation may be offset with respect to one another. If desired, the flanged ends of the mounting portions may form the innermost extremity of each ring but if desired, one ring may extend beyond and engage rotatably within the other ring such^'that each mounting ring is adapted for rotation about a common axis.

The mounting rings may also be provided with complementary clutch faces which are drawn together in an interlocking relationship by the resilient sleeve but which may be disengaged by axially displacing the mounting rings to permit relative rotation therebetween to a desired extent whereupon the clutch faces will automatically engage and hold the mounting rings in their selected positions. In another embodiment the innermost end of one mounting ring may be adapted to distort the adjacent end of the resilient sleeve such that when the latter is stretched tightly across the inner end, the latter is frictionally restrained from rotation. Locking of the opposed mounting rings in desired relative rotational positions may also be provided by external mechanical locking of the respective mounting rings.

In another aspect this invention resides broadly in a method of retaining an article in an aperture, the method including fixing one end of a flexible sleeve about the aperture, passing the article through the flexible sleeve, rotating the other end of the flexible sleeve to cause its intermediate portion to gather inwardly about the article, and locking said other end in its rotated position so that the article is retained in said aperture.

In yet another aspect, this invention resides broadly in cable coupling mounting, including:- a housing within which the engaged cable connectors may be located with the cables passing outwardly through an aperture or respective apertures therein; adjustable closure means as defined above arranged in said aperture(s) and adapted for releasable connection with the cables extending therethrough.

In order that this invention may be more readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate typical embodiments of the present invention and wherein:-

FIG 1 is a partly cut away perspective view of a cable coupling mounting; FIGS 2 and 3 are corresponding end views of the cable connector housing in the open and closed positions respectively;

FIG 4 is a perspective view of the adjustable closure means utilized in the connector housing of FIG 1; FIG 5 is a typical cross-sectional view illustrating the mounting of the closure means in an end portion of the housing;

FIG 6 and 7 are typical cross-sectional views showing an alternate form of adjustable flow control means; FIG 8 is a perspective view of a further embodiment of the invention, and

FIG 9 illustrates diagrammatically a fluid flow control valve according to this invention. Referring to FIGS 1 to 5 of the drawings there is shown the end portion of a cable connector mounting 10 comprising a cylindrical housing 11 suitably formed of a length of plastic conduit in which interconnected plug and socket connectors 12 and 13 respectively and respective leads 14 and 15 may be located.

The ends of the housing 11 are each provided with adjustable closure means 16 which, in this embodiment, comprises a pair of identical flanged collars 17 and 18 in which the opposing faces of the flanges 19 and 20 form thrust-bearing faces which permit free relative rotation of the collars 17 and 18 when disposed in abutting relationship. An elastomeric sleeve 21 provided with beaded annular end portions 22 extends through the collars with its beaded end portions 22 stretched about the flanged collars 17 and 18 and retained in annular grooves 25 formed at the base of the flanges 19 and 20. The intermediate portion 23 of the elastomeric sleeve 21 is stretched between the spaced rolled outer ends 24 of the collars 17 and 18. The beaded end portions 22 engage between and frictionally with the rear faces of the flanges 19 and 20, the inner faces 26 of the screw-on caps 27 and the outer ends 28 of the housing 11 respectively, whereby rotation of the caps 27 causes relative rotation of the sleeve ends 29 and consequent inward gathering of the sleeve 21. The caps 27 may be rotated until they are tightly retained on the housing 11 to hold the sleeve 21 in its twisted attitude at which it will engage sealably about an article which passes therethrough. If desired, a plain sleeve may be used in lieu of the beaded sleeve, suitably by using o-ringε placed about the plain ends to clamp the ends in the grooves 25. Suitably the collars 17 and 18 are tapered so that they may be accommodated on the end of housings of various diameters. Furthermore, the outer end portions of the collars are rolle to provide effective end mountings for the sleeve 21 so that the outer end portions will not cut into the sleeve 21.

In use, the rotatable end caps 27 are normally retained i an open position so that the leads, with plugs attached, may be inserted therethrough. The end caps 27 may then be rotated to a position at which the sleeve 21 gathers inwardl to engage tightly about the lead 14 or 15. The end cap 27 and the associated collars 17 and 18 will be held automatically in that rotated position by functional restraint to retain the sleeve 21 sealably engaged about the leads 14 and 15 as shown in FIG 1. The sleeve 21 can be released by rotating the cap 27 so as to unwind the sleeve 2 and free it from the lead 14 or 15. It will be seen that the open diameter of the sleeve 21 i greater than the outside diameter of the plugs 12 to be concealed in the housing 11 so that they may be easily passe through the adjustable closure means into the interior portion of the housing 11. It will also be seen that the sleeve 21 can be drawn inwardly to engage sealably against a lead of any suitable diameter. The adjustable closure means 16 also holds the leads 14 and 15 against relative axial movement and thus maintains the plugs connected together. The connector mounting 10 also provides a waterproof cover for the plug 12 and sockets 13.

The closure means 30 illustrated in cross-section in FIG 6 and 7 is adapted to control fluid flow through a pipe 31. The closure means includes a fixed mounting collar 32 adapte to sandwich one end portion 33 of an elastomeric sleeve 34 between the collar 32 and the inner face of the pipe 31. An inner collar 35 rotatable within the mounting collar 32 has an outer end portion 36 about which the resilient sleeve 34 is stretched. The inner end 37 of the inner collar 35 is provided with an outwardly extending flange 38 which is retained behind a corresponding step 39 provided on the inner face of the fixed mounting collar 17.

The annular end face 40 of the inner collar 35 is formed as a friction face which is adapted to engage non-rotatably with the adjacent portion of the resilient sleeve 34 when the latter is tensioned so as to hold the inner collar 35 in a selected rotational position relative to the mounting collar 17, and thus maintain the gathered sleeve in a selected adjusted position for controlling the flow of fluid therethrough. A ring gear 41 driven through a pinion gear 42 by a reversible electric motor 43 is mounted on the inner collar 35 whereby rotation of the latter may be remotely controlled. In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS 8 and 9, the resilient sleeve 50 is supported at its inner end on the inside face of a flanged mounting spigot 51 which is adapted to be bolted to an apertured wall 52. The outer end of the sleeve 50 is fixed to an outer nut 53 which is threadedly engaged with the mounting spigot 51. In this embodiment the opposed end faces 54 and 55 of the nut and spigot respectively are spaced apart when the sleeve 50 is in its untensioned position and abutting when the sleeve 50 is rotated through approximately one half to one revolution so as to lock the nut 53 to the spigot 51 and thus retain the outer rotatable end of the sleeve in a locked position at which the intermediate portion of the sleeve 50 is gathered about an article passed therethrough as shown in FIG 9.

The closure means 60 .^'.llustrated in FIG 10 may be utilized as a centering device for holding articles spaced from the side walls of an aperture within which the closure means 60 is mounted. The closure means 60 includes a pair of mounting rings 61 provided with a plurality of ball socket mountings 62 around their inner faces and in which ball ends 63 on the opposite ends of rods 64 engage. The mounting rings 61 are adapted to be supported slidably in a housing (not shown) supported about the aperture whereby the mounting rings «ay be selectively rotated relative to one another about a common axis. Such rotation will move the rods 64 between an axially aligned attitude adjacent the housing and a spiral attitude at which their central portions will be disposed adjacent the axis of the mounting rings 61. In the latter position, the rods 64 will support an article substantially co-axially with the mounting rings 61.

The closure assemblies described above may be used in very many applications including applications in which a watertight connection is required where a lead or pipe passes through an aperture in a wall or as an adjustable aperture for regulating flow or retaining a desired quantity of liquid at one side of the adjustable closure means. Alternatively it may be used as a paint tin seal which can be adjusted to close the tin or support a brush therein in sealed relationship.

The closure assembly may also be used as a resilient mounting for isolating an article against vibration. However, it is to be understood that while the above has been given by way of typical example of the present invention all such modifications and variations thereto as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of this invention as is defined in the appended claims.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:-

1. Adjustable closure means for an opening, said adjustable closure means including:— a flexible sleeve; opposed mountings supporting opposite end portions of said sleeve in their open attitude whereby said flexible sleeve may define a passage through said opening, one said opposed mounting being selectively rotatable with respect to the other said opposed mounting to twist said flexible sleeve whereby the portion of said sleeve intermediate said opposed mountings may be moved from an open position towards a closed position across said opening, and there being provided holding means for holding said opposed annular mountings in their selected rotational positions.

2. Adjustable closure means according to Claim 1, wherein said flexible sleeve is in the form of a flexible annular membrane which extends between said opposed annular mountings.

3. Adjustable closure means according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein said opposed mountings are coaxially reciprocable to permit said membrane to move between said open and closed positions.

4. Adjustable closure means according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein said sleeve is formed of resilient material whereby the intermediate portion thereof may distort to enable said intermediate to gather towards said closed position.

5. Adjustable closure means according to any one of the preceding Claims, wherein said sleeve is formed from an elastomeric material.

6. Adjustable closure means according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said sleeve has an annular cross- section and said opposed mountings are rigid annular members arranged with their axis coincident with the axis of said sleeve.

7. An adjustable seal assembly including a pair of opposed mounting rings; a resilient sleeve extending throug said mounting rings and having its opposed end portions maintained in their open attitude by said respective mountin rings and an intermediate portion which may be twisted by relative rotation of said mounting rings about a common axis to contract said intermediate portion towards said mounting axis.

8. A seal assembly according to Claim 7, wherein said mounting rings are flanged rings arranged with their adjacen flanged ends in face-to-face abutting relationship.

9. A seal assembly according to Claim 8, wherein said mounting rings include conical mounting portions which diverge outwardly from said flanged ends.

10. A seal assembly according to Claim 7 or Claim 8, wherein said mounting rings are provided with complementary engaging faces which are drawn together in an interlocking relationship by said resilient sleeve.

11. A method of retaining an article in an aperture, the method including fixing one end of a flexible sleeve about the aperture, passing the article through said resilient sleeve, rotating the other end of said resilient sleeve to cause the intermediate portion of said sleeve to contract inwardly about the article, and locking said other end in its rotated position to retain the article in said aperture.

12. A cable connector mounting, including:- a housing within which the engaged cable connectors may be located with the cables passing outwardly through an opening or respective openings therein; adjustable closure means as defined in any one of claims 1 to 6 and arranged in said opening(s) whereby said intermediate portion may be moved from said open position towards said closed position to engage releasably about the cables extending therethrough.