AU770065B2 - A structural joint - Google Patents

Description

WO 01/07817 PCT/AU00/00874 TITLE: A STRUCTURAL JOINT FIELD OF INVENTION This invention relates to a structural joint and more particularly a joint between a pipe or tube and a pipe or tube connector.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Many forms of connection have been proposed between pipes and their connectors. Such joints may be used as connectors between pipes and angle fittings in the assembly of display stands, support racks and the like. The structural joint generally includes a socket fitting for the pipe into a connector or a plug fitting onto a connector which fits into the pipe.

It is desirable in many cases not to use adhesives in such structural joints because the structures may be demountable.

These connections, however, have a problem of stability as there can often be a certain degree of flex in the joint which can be magnified over the length of a structure so that the entire structure becomes unstable.

The invention does not relate to connections for pipes or tubes used for the conveyance of liquids or fluids but to joints formed in the formation of structures.

It is the object of this invention to provide a structural joint or connection arrangement which avoids some of the aforesaid problems.

WO 01/07817 PCT/AU00/00874 2 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In one form therefore the invention is said to reside in a structural joint providing a connection between a pipe and a fitting, the pipe having a plurality of longitudinal ridges or grooves at least adjacent the end of the pipe and the fitting having a plurality of co-acting longitudinal complementary grooves or ridges.

The provision of the grooves or ridges and co-acting ridges or grooves appears to provide a greatly increased area of contact preventing lateral movement between the pipe or tube and the connector. The greatly increased area of contact also appears to prevent relative rotational movement between the pipe or tube and the connector.

The ridges may be provided on the pipe with the grooves provided on the fitting or vice versa.

The ridges may be provided internally or externally on the pipe and externally or internally on the fitting or alternatively there may be grooves internally or externally on the pipe and the grooves externally or internally on the fitting.

The pipe or tube to which this invention may be provided may be circular, rectangular, square or other shape in cross section.

Where the grooves or ridges are provided internally on the pipe or tube, they may extend the full length of the pipe, for instance the pipe may be extruded with such internal grooves or ridges provided in it. Where the grooves or ridges are provided externally on the pipe they may be moulded or machined into a end portion of the pipe only. Alternatively the grooves or ridges may be provided on the full length of the external surface of the pipe.

WO 01/07817 PCTAU00/00874 3 In an alternative form the invention may be said to reside in a connector for use in connecting a pipe to another pipe or to a fitting, the connector including at least one plug extending there from adapted to fit into the pipe, the connector having on the surface of the plug a plurality of longitudinal ridges or grooves.

Such a connector may have a second plug which is adapted to be secured into a pipe by adhesive or a glue so that there is provided a pipe with a connector joined to it so that the assembly is demountable when joined to another pipe of fitting.

In a further form the invention may be said to reside in a connector having at least one socket thereon, the socket being adapted to have a pipe fit therein and the socket having on an internal surface a plurality of longitudinal ridges or grooves.

Similarly such a connector may have a second socket which is adapted to be secured into a pipe by adhesive or a glue so that there is provided a pipe with a connector joined to it so that the assembly is demountable when joined to another pipe of fitting.

In a further form the invention may be said to reside in a pipe having a plurality of longitudinal internal ridges or grooves at least at each end thereof.

In a still further form the invention may be said to reside in a pipe having at least the ends thereof a portion with longitudinal ridges or grooves on an outer surface thereof.

The connector may be suitable for connecting pipes in a number of different configurations. It may provide a longitudinal connection between pipes with opposed plugs or sockets to receive the ends of the pipe. Alternatively it may be a T connector, a cross connector, a 5 star connector, a 6 way star, and elbow, a four WO 01/07817 PCT/AU00/00874 4 way planar connection or any other angled connection depending upon the type of structure to which the device is to be applied.

In another form the invention may be said to reside in a structural joint providing a connection between a pipe and a fitting, the pipe having a substantially square cross section having a plurality of longitudinal ridges formed on an internal surface of the pipe and a fitting which has a substantially square cross section plug portion adapted to be inserted into the pipe and having a plurality of longitudinal grooves adapted to co-act with the longitudinal ridges in the pipe to thereby provide a rigid structural joint.

Alternatively it may reside in a structural joint providing a connection between a pipe and a fitting, the pipe having a substantially square cross section having a plurality of longitudinal grooves formed on an internal surface of the pipe and a fitting which has a substantially square cross section plug portion adapted to be inserted into the pipe and having a plurality of longitudinal ridges adapted to co-act with the longitudinal grooves in the pipe to thereby provide a rigid structural joint.

In another form the invention may be said to reside in a connector for use in connecting a pipe to at least one other pipe, the connector including at least two plugs extending therefrom and adapted to fit into respective pipes, each plug having on surface thereof a plurality of longitudinal ridges or grooves, the ridges or grooves adapted to co-act with corresponding grooves or ridges respectively in the pipe in use.

The plurality of plugs extending from the connector may be in a configuration selected from the group comprising longitudinal, elbow, tee, cross, 5 way and 6 way.

WO 01/07817 PCT/AUOO/00874 Each of the plugs may have a substantially square cross section adapted to fit in to a substantially square cross section pipe.

Although the reason why the connector according to this invention is particularly effective to provide stability in structures manufactures using such a connection is not clear, one theory to which the applicant does not wish to be bound is as follows: When a structure is made up using connectors of the present invention the complementary grooves and ridges engage to provide a much larger surface area which prevents lateral or rotational movement of the pipe with respect to the connector.

Even where the pipe is a circular pipe and the plug for instance is a circular plug nearly always at least one ridge and co-acting groove will be connected so that longitudinal support for the joint is provided for flexural movement in any angle transverse to the connector.

By this means much stronger joints may be provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS This then generally describes the invention but to assist with understanding reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which show preferred embodiments of the invention.

In the drawings Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a straight through connector of one embodiment of the present invention; WO 01/07817 PCT/AU00/00874 6 Figure 2 show a perspective view of an elbow joint connector of one embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 shows a perspective view of a T joint connector of one embodiment of the present invention; Figure 4 shows a planar four way connector of another embodiment of the present invention; Figure 5 shows a five way connector; Figure 6 shows an alternative arrangement of a four way connector; Figure 7 shows an alternative embodiment of straight through connector according to the present invention; Figure 8 shows an elbow connector in an altemrnative embodiment; Figure 9 shows a four way connector in an alternative embodiment; Figure 10 shows an alternative embodiment of straight through connector according to the present invention; Figure 11 shows an alternative embodiment of elbow connector according to the present invention; Figure 12 shows an alternative embodiment of a T connector according to the present invention; Figure 13 shows an embodiment of a connector according to the present invention which is adapted to be mounted into a pipe or similar using a plug fitting; Figure 14 shows one embodiment of a pipe according to this invention with internal ridges; WO 01/07817 PCT/AU00/00874 7 Figure 15 shows a cross sectional view of the embodiment shown in Figure 14; Figure 16 shows a cross sectional view of a pipe suitable for use with connectors according to the present invention but with grooves on the inside surface rather than ridges; Figure 17 shows a pipe according to the present invention with connectors at each end; Figure 18 shows an end on view of one end of the pipe shown in Figure 17; Figure 19 shows an end on view of the other end of Figure 17; and Figure 20 shows a view of a structure using joints of the present invention.

Now looking more closely at the drawings and in particular Figure 1 it will be seen that the connector generally shown as 1 has a central body 2 of substantially cubical shape with connectors 3, 4 extending in opposite directions from the central body 2. Each connector portion 3, 4 has a plurality of longitudinal grooves 5 which extend along the full length of the connector portion and on all surfaces of the substantially square connector portion. The connector portions 3 and 4 are adapted to fit into a pipe of the type shown in Figure 14 as will as be discussed later.

Figure 2 shows an elbow connector with a body portion 10 and two connector portions 11 and 12. Each connector portion 11 or 12 has a plurality of longitudinally extending grooves 13. The connector shown in Figure 2 is adapted to make a right angled joint in a structural framework.

Figure 3 shows a T section connector adapted to make a T section connection in a structural framework made out of plastic pipes. In the T connector shown in Figure 3 there is a central body portion 20 and three connector portions 21, 22 and 23.

WO 01/07817 PCTAU00/00874 8 Each connector portion 21, 22, 23 has longitudinal grooves 24 for the same reasons as discussed in relation to Figure 1.

Figure 4 shows a four way flat connector in which a central body portion 25 has four connector portions 26, 27, 28 and 29 extending out mutually at right angles in a single plane. Each connector portion has longitudinal grooves as similar in construction as discussed in Figure 1.

Figure 5 shows a three way connector adapted to form a comer in a structural component. The three way connector has a main body portion 30, two connector portions 31 and 32 at right angles to each other and in a first plane and a further connector 33 extending at right angles out of the plane of the first two connectors.

By this means a comer in a structural framework can be formed. In each case the connectors have longitudinal grooves 35 for the same reasons as discussed in Figure 1.

Figure 6 shows a four way connector which has a central body 40 and two connector portions 41 and 42, mutually at right angles in a single plane and connector portions 45 and 46 extending in opposite directions out at right angles to the plane of the portions 41 and 42. Once again each connector portion has longitudinal grooves 47 as discussed in relation to Figure 1.

While Figures 1 to 6 have involved connectors in which the connector portion has an outside surface with grooves the connector portion can be an internal portion as shown in Figures 7, 8 and 9. Figure 7 shows a straight through connector, Figure 8 shows a right angle connector or elbow connector and Figure 9 shows a square cross connector. In each case the outer surface of the connector is substantially smooth and longitudinal ridges 50 are provided on the bore of the connector to connect with a corresponding plug portion on a pipe with the plug portion having a plurality of longitudinal grooves of the type for instance shown in Figure WO 01/07817 PCT/AU00/00874 9 Figure 10 shows a similar embodiment to that shown in Figure 1 except that extending from the body portion 60 are connector portions 61 and 62 with each of the connector portions 61 and 62 having longitudinal ridges 63 rather than the longitudinal grooves 5 shown in Figure 1. In use the longitudinal ridges mate with corresponding longitudinal grooves of the type shown in a pipe as shown in Figure 16.

Figure 11 shows an elbow arrangement 65 utilising connector portions mutually at right angles with longitudinal ridges as shown in Figure Figure 12 shows a similar embodiment to Figure 10 and Figure 11 except that it is a T connector with connector portions 66, 67 and 68 extending from a body 69 and having longitudinal ridges 70 on each connector portion.

Figure 13 shows a connector piece which can be joined by adhesive into a piece of square cross section pipe with the pipe being fitted over the plug portion 75 which is a plain section so that the connector portion 76 with longitudinal ridges 77 (which also may be longitudinal grooves) is adapted to fit into the respective sockets in the connector pieces of the type shown in Figures 7, 8 and 9. The connector portion 13 may also be joined to a plain pipe using the plug portion 75 and into a pipe provided with grooves of the type for instance shown in Figure 16.

Figure 14 shows a pipe suitable for use with the connectors shown in Figures 1 to 6. The pipe is of substantially rectangular cross section but preferably for asthetic reason having slightly rounded comers. The outer surface of the pipe 80 is substantially planar on each of the faces but the inner surface has a plurality of longitudinally extending ridges 81 on each internal surface. In use when the elbow joint shown in Figure 2 for instance is inserted into the end of the pipe as shown in Figure 14 each of the ridges 81 mates into a corresponding groove 13 in the connector piece shown in Figure 2 and the outer planar surface 80 of the pipe aligns substantially with the body 10 of the connector shown in Figure 2. The WO 01/07817 PCT/AU00/00874 mating grooves and ridges provide a larger surface area which prevents lateral or rotational movement of the pipe with respect to the connector thereby providing a more rigid structural joint.

Figure 15 shows a cross sectional view of the pipe shown in Figure 14 and it can clearly be seen that there four ridges on each inner surface of the pipe. The pipe would normally be formed with these ridges as it is being extruded.

Figure 16 shows an altemrnative embodiment of pipe in cross section and in this embodiment again the outer surface 85 of the pipe 84 is substantially planar in each of its faces but on the inner surface there are a plurality of longitudinally extending grooves 86. The grooves are adapted to co-act with longitudinally extending ridges on a connector piece to provide a more rigid structure or joint.

Figure 17 shows a pipe of a selected length with connector pieces formed at each end of it. In this embodiment there is a connector piece having longitudinally extending ridges 91 at the end 90 and longitudinally extending grooves 92 at the ends 93. It will be realised of course that normally only ridges or grooves would be provided at each end and not both.

Figure 18 is an end view of the end 93 of the pipe 94 and Figure 19 is an end view of the end 90 of the pipe 94.

When connected the ridges and grooves interconnect to provide a very stable joint in the various embodiments of the invention.

Figure 20 shows a construction using some of the connectors and pipes of the present invention. In this construction there are a plurality of horizontal and vertical pipes of the type shown, for instance, in Figure 14 with connectors of the type shown in Figures 1 to 6. For instance the portion having pipe 100 is joined into a corner piece 101 of the type shown in Figure 5 which has another pipe portion 102 joining to another comer piece 103.

WO 01/07817 PCT/AU00/00874

II

Depending from that corner piece 101 is another pipe 107 to a side structural joint connector 106 which is of the type shown in Figure 6. At the middle of the front side of the construction is a three way piece 104 of the type shown in Figure 3.

Also in the middle on the lower rail is a connector 105 of the type shown in Figure 4. The ridges and grooves of the present invention interlocking at each joint provides a more rigid structure without the necessity of use of adhesives. This allows the structure to be demountable.

It will be realised generally that by creating a construction according to the present invention using the connectors and pipes of this invention a rigid structural arrangement can be formed which can be useful for forming work benches, display counters and the like.

The connection according to this invention may be formed from any suitable material depending upon the type of application to which it is to be applied. For instance both the pipe and the connector may be formed from plastics material by suitable moulding and extrusion techniques or altemrnatively at least one of the pipe or connector may be formed from metal.

The pipe and connector may have any desired cross sectional shape such as be circular, square, rectangular or any other shape depending upon the finished product required.

Throughout this specification various indications have been given as to the scope Sof this invention but the invention is not limited to any one of these but may reside in two or more of these combined together. The examples are given for illustration only and not for limitation.

Throughout this specification unless the context requires otherwise, the words 'comprise' and 'include' variations such as 'comprising' and 'including' will be WO 01/07817 PCT/AUOO/00874 understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or group of integers but not the exclusion of any other integer or group of integers.

Claims (14)

1. A connector for use in connecting a pipe or pipes to another pipe or pipes or fittings, said connector including at least one plug extending therefrom and each adapted to fit into a respective pipe, the connector having on a surface of the plug or plugs a plurality of longitudinal grooves or ridges, the grooves or ridges adapted to co-act by longitudinal movement only with ridges or grooves on a surface of the respective pipe.

2. A connector as defined in claim 1 wherein the said surface on said plug is an external surface and the said surface on the pipe is an internal surface.

3. A connector as defined in claim 1 wherein the said surface on the said plug is an internal surface and the said surface on the pipe is an external surface.

4. A connector as defined in any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the said surface of said plug has longitudinal ridges and the said surface of the pipe has longitudinal grooves.

A connector as defined in any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the surface of said plug has longitudinal grooves and the said surface of said pipe has longitudinal ridges.

6. A connector as defined in any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the plug and pipe are square in cross section.

7. A connector as defined in anyone of claims 1 to 5 wherein the plug and pipe are circular in cross section. AMENLED SHEET !PEA/AU PCT/AU00/00874 Received 29 May 2001 14

8. A structural joint providing a connection between a pipe and a connector, the connector having an extending plug portion, a series of longitudinally extending series of ridges or grooves on a surface of said plug portion, said pipe having a series of longitudinally extending longitudinally on a surface, whereby when said plug and pipe are inter-engaged the pipe and plug are frictionally engaged by longitudinal movement only to provide a structural joint free from any tendency to rotate or be loosened.

9. A connector as defined in claim 9 wherein the said surface on said plug is an external surface and the said surface on the pipe is an internal surface.

A connector as defined in claim 9 wherein the said surface on the said plug is an internal surface and the said surface on the pipe is an extemrnal surface.

11. A connector as defined in any one of claims 9 to 10 wherein the said surface of said plug has longitudinal ridges and the said surface of the pipe has longitudinal grooves.

12. A connector as defined in any one of claims 9 to 11 wherein the surface of said plug has longitudinal grooves and the said surface of said pipe has longitudinal ridges.

13. A connector as defined in any one of claims 9 to 12 wherein the plug and pipe are square in cross section.

14. A connector as defined in anyone of claims 9 to 12 wherein the plug and pipe are circular in cross section. AMENItED SHEET !PEA/AU