CN111769421B - Multi-end synchronous crimping tool for power transmission conductor - Google Patents
Multi-end synchronous crimping tool for power transmission conductor Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- CN111769421B CN111769421B CN202010504623.8A CN202010504623A CN111769421B CN 111769421 B CN111769421 B CN 111769421B CN 202010504623 A CN202010504623 A CN 202010504623A CN 111769421 B CN111769421 B CN 111769421B
- Authority
- CN
- China
- Prior art keywords
- disc
- guide rail
- movable
- tool
- rail disc
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Active
Links
- 238000002788 crimping Methods 0.000 title claims abstract description 42
- 239000004020 conductor Substances 0.000 title claims abstract description 28
- 230000001360 synchronised effect Effects 0.000 title claims abstract description 25
- 230000005540 biological transmission Effects 0.000 title claims abstract description 24
- 230000006835 compression Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 20
- 238000007906 compression Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 20
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 7
- 210000002105 tongue Anatomy 0.000 claims description 10
- XAGFODPZIPBFFR-UHFFFAOYSA-N aluminium Chemical compound [Al] XAGFODPZIPBFFR-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 abstract description 7
- 229910052782 aluminium Inorganic materials 0.000 abstract description 7
- 238000007789 sealing Methods 0.000 description 2
- 229910000831 Steel Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 230000009286 beneficial effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 210000000080 chela (arthropods) Anatomy 0.000 description 1
- 150000001875 compounds Chemical class 0.000 description 1
- 230000007547 defect Effects 0.000 description 1
- PCHJSUWPFVWCPO-UHFFFAOYSA-N gold Chemical compound [Au] PCHJSUWPFVWCPO-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 239000010931 gold Substances 0.000 description 1
- 229910052737 gold Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 238000012986 modification Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000004048 modification Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000000465 moulding Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000010959 steel Substances 0.000 description 1
Images
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
- H01R43/00—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing, assembling, maintaining, or repairing of line connectors or current collectors or for joining electric conductors
- H01R43/04—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing, assembling, maintaining, or repairing of line connectors or current collectors or for joining electric conductors for forming connections by deformation, e.g. crimping tool
- H01R43/048—Crimping apparatus or processes
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
- Manufacturing Of Electrical Connectors (AREA)
Abstract
The application relates to a multi-end synchronous crimping tool for a transmission conductor, which can carry out synchronous crimping on each surface of a polygon through a movable compression bar and a fixed compression bar, and reduce the probability of flash generation in the crimping process; the pressure heads with different sizes can be replaced to realize the compression joint of the leads with different sizes; meanwhile, an opening is formed in the upper guide rail disc, the lower guide rail disc and the guide disc, the fixing pressing rod is arranged at the opening, the fixing pressing rod is disassembled, and the lead and the aluminum pipe can be conveniently placed in and taken out, so that the lead and the aluminum pipe can be conveniently crimped.
Description
Technical Field
The application belongs to the technical field of hardware crimping, and particularly relates to a multi-end synchronous crimping tool for a transmission conductor.
Background
The existing hardware crimping method for the transmission line conductor comprises the following steps: the hydraulic pump drives the crimping pincers, and the mode crimping gold utensil of two upper and lower half hexagon mould compound dies, its shortcoming is: 1) the contact in the crimping process is asymmetric, so that burrs are easily generated, and the transmission of a crimping force value is influenced; 2) the half hexagonal die is easy to form self-locking with a workpiece after being pressed and connected, and the workpiece is difficult to pull out from the die; 3) the crimping efficiency is low, a single steel anchor or a strain clamp needs to be crimped for many times, and the multiple crimping is not easy to be accurately centered.
Chinese patent document CN110323016A discloses a synchronous pressing and forming device for electric power fittings, in which a workpiece to be pressed is placed among a plurality of pressing molds, and all the pressing molds can be close to or far from the workpiece to be pressed at the same time; all the pressing dies are close to the workpiece to be pressed together to finish pressing; and returning the pressing die to the position before pressing, and taking down the pressed workpiece. However, the press molding apparatus is difficult to place the pressed wire and aluminum tube in the middle of the pressing die, resulting in difficulty in use.
Disclosure of Invention
The technical problem to be solved by the invention is as follows: in order to solve the defects in the prior art, the multi-end synchronous crimping tool for the transmission conductor is convenient to use.
The technical scheme adopted by the invention for solving the technical problems is as follows:
a multi-end synchronous crimping tool for a power transmission conductor,
the method comprises the following steps: the guide plate comprises an upper guide rail plate, a lower guide rail plate and a guide plate positioned between the upper guide rail plate and the lower guide rail plate;
the upper guide rail disc and the lower guide rail disc are both provided with a plurality of guide rail grooves, the guide disc is provided with a plurality of guide grooves, the central axes of all the guide grooves are intersected with one point, movable pressure rods are arranged in the guide grooves, one end of each movable pressure rod is provided with a pressure head, and the top surface and the bottom surface of each movable pressure rod are both provided with slide blocks which respectively extend into the guide rail grooves of the upper guide rail disc and the lower guide rail disc;
when the upper guide rail disc and the lower guide rail disc rotate relative to the guide disc, all the movable pressing rods can be driven to mutually approach or keep away from each other, and after all the movable pressing rods approach each other, all the pressing heads on the movable pressing rods and the pressing heads on the fixed pressing rods form a regular polygon.
Preferably, in the tool for synchronously crimping multiple ends of a power transmission conductor, the guide disc, the upper guide disc and the lower guide disc are provided with openings, a detachable fixed compression bar is arranged in the opening of the guide disc, one end of the fixed compression bar is provided with a pressure head, and when all the movable compression bars are far away from each other, the openings of the guide disc, the upper guide disc and the lower guide disc are aligned.
Preferably, the power conductor multi-end synchronous crimping tool of the present invention,
the fixed pressing rod comprises two spring bolts positioned on the side face, a lock groove is formed in the side wall of the opening of the guide disc, and the spring bolts can stretch into the lock groove when stretching out, so that the fixed pressing rod is fixed with the guide disc.
Preferably, in the multi-end synchronous crimping tool for the power transmission conductor, the bolt is connected with the rack, and the gear drives the rack to move so as to drive the bolt to extend into or extend out of the rack.
Preferably, in the tool for synchronously crimping the multiple ends of the power transmission conductor, an inner hexagonal gear shaft is arranged in the middle of the gear, and the gear is driven to rotate by driving the inner hexagonal gear shaft.
Preferably, in the multi-end synchronous crimping tool for the power transmission conductor, the two racks are respectively connected with the locking tongues on the two sides, and the gear drives the two racks to move simultaneously.
Preferably, in the multi-end synchronous crimping tool for power transmission conductors of the present invention, the outer side wall of the guide plate is provided with a projection protruding from the upper guide plate and the lower guide plate.
Preferably, in the multi-end synchronous crimping tool for the power transmission conductor, the bumps are uniformly arranged.
Preferably, in the tool for synchronously crimping multiple ends of a power transmission conductor, the number of the guide grooves and the number of the movable compression bars are 5, and the pressure heads on all the movable compression bars and the pressure heads on the fixed compression bars form a regular hexagon.
Preferably, in the multi-end synchronous crimping tool for the power transmission conductor, the upper guide rail disc and the lower guide rail disc are further connected with a force arm, and the upper guide rail disc and the lower guide rail disc are driven to rotate by the driving force arm.
The invention has the beneficial effects that:
according to the multi-end synchronous crimping tool for the power transmission conductor, synchronous crimping of each surface of a polygon can be carried out through the movable compression bar and the fixed compression bar, and the probability of generation of flash in the crimping process is reduced; and can realize the crimping to different size wire through changing different size pressure heads.
The upper guide rail disc, the lower guide rail disc and the guide disc are provided with openings, the openings are provided with fixing pressure rods, the fixing pressure rods are disassembled, and the wires and the aluminum pipes can be conveniently put in and taken out, so that the wires and the aluminum pipes can be conveniently crimped.
Drawings
The technical solution of the present application is further explained below with reference to the drawings and the embodiments.
Fig. 1 and 2 are a front view and a perspective view, respectively, of a power conductor multi-end synchronous crimping tool of an embodiment of the present application;
FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 are front, rear and perspective views, respectively, of a movable compression link in accordance with an embodiment of the present application;
FIG. 6 is a front view of a steering wheel of an embodiment of the present application;
FIG. 7 is a front view of an upper and lower guide plate of an embodiment of the present application;
fig. 8a and 8b are a perspective view and a front view, respectively, of a movable pressure lever of an embodiment of the present application.
The reference numbers in the figures are:
1, mounting a guide rail disc;
2, a movable pressure lever;
3, fixing the compression bar;
4, guiding a disc;
5 moment arm;
6, a lower guide rail disc;
7, a pressure head;
8, a lock tongue;
9 hexagonal gear shafts;
10 racks;
11 sealing the cover plate;
12 gears;
21 a slide block;
41 a guide groove;
61 guide rail grooves.
Detailed Description
It should be noted that the embodiments and features of the embodiments in the present application may be combined with each other without conflict.
In the description of the present application, it is to be understood that the terms "center," "longitudinal," "lateral," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," and the like are used in the orientation or positional relationship indicated in the drawings for convenience in describing the present application and for simplicity in description, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the referenced devices or elements must have a particular orientation, be constructed in a particular orientation, and be operated in a particular manner, and are not to be considered limiting of the scope of the present application. Furthermore, the terms "first", "second", etc. are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first," "second," etc. may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of the invention, the meaning of "a plurality" is two or more unless otherwise specified.
In the description of the present application, it is to be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, e.g., as meaning either a fixed connection, a removable connection, or an integral connection; can be mechanically or electrically connected; they may be connected directly or indirectly through intervening media, or they may be interconnected between two elements. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art through specific situations.
The technical solutions of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings in conjunction with embodiments.
Example 1
The embodiment provides a synchronous crimping tool of transmission line multiple ends, includes:
the guide rail device comprises an upper guide rail disc 1, a lower guide rail disc 6 and a guide disc 4 positioned between the upper guide rail disc 1 and the lower guide rail disc 6, wherein the upper guide rail disc 1 and the lower guide rail disc 6 are both provided with a plurality of (five as shown in figure 7) guide rail grooves 61, the guide disc 4 is provided with a plurality of (five as shown in figure 6) guide grooves 41, the central axes of all the guide grooves 41 are intersected with one point, a movable pressure rod 2 is arranged in each guide groove 41, one end of each movable pressure rod 2 is provided with a pressure head 7, and the top surface and the bottom surface of each movable pressure rod 2 are both provided with a slide block 21 which respectively extends into the guide rail grooves 61 of the upper guide rail disc 1 and the lower guide rail disc 6;
when the upper guide rail disc 1 and the lower guide rail disc 6 rotate relative to the guide disc 4, all the movable pressing rods 2 can be driven to be close to or away from each other, and after all the movable pressing rods 2 are close to each other, the pressing heads 7 on all the movable pressing rods 2 form a regular polygonal pressing surface (a regular hexagon is formed when five movable pressing rods 2 are arranged).
Example 2
The present embodiment provides a power transmission conductor multi-end synchronous crimping tool, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, including:
the guide rail device comprises an upper guide rail disc 1, a lower guide rail disc 6 and a guide disc 4 positioned between the upper guide rail disc 1 and the lower guide rail disc 6, wherein the upper guide rail disc 1 and the lower guide rail disc 6 are both provided with a plurality of (five as shown in figure 6) guide rail grooves 61, the guide disc 4 is provided with a plurality of (five as shown in figure 7) guide grooves 41, the central axes of all the guide grooves 41 are intersected with one point, a movable pressure rod 2 is arranged in each guide groove 41, one end of each movable pressure rod 2 is provided with a pressure head 7, and the top surface and the bottom surface of each movable pressure rod 2 are both provided with a slide block 21 which respectively extends into the guide rail grooves 61 of the upper guide rail disc 1 and the lower guide rail disc 6;
the guide plate 4, the upper guide plate 1 and the lower guide plate 6 are provided with openings, a detachable fixed pressure rod 3 is arranged in the opening of the guide plate 4, one end of the fixed pressure rod 3 is provided with a pressure head 7, and the movable pressure rod 2 and the pressure head 7 are assembled together as shown in fig. 8a and 8 b;
when the upper guide rail disc 1 and the lower guide rail disc 6 rotate relative to the guide disc 4, all the movable pressing rods 2 can be driven to approach or separate from each other, and after all the movable pressing rods 2 approach each other, the pressing heads 7 on all the movable pressing rods 2 and the pressing heads 7 on the fixed pressing rods 3 form a regular polygonal pressing surface together (a regular hexagon is formed when five movable pressing rods 2 are arranged);
when all the movable pressing rods 2 are far away from each other, the openings on the guide plate 4, the upper guide plate 1 and the lower guide plate 6 are aligned to allow the wires to be loaded from the moment.
According to the multi-end synchronous crimping tool for the power transmission conductor, each surface of a polygon can be synchronously crimped through the movable compression bar 2 and the fixed compression bar 3, and the probability of flash generation in the crimping process is reduced; the pressure heads with different sizes can be replaced to realize the compression joint of the leads with different sizes; meanwhile, an opening is formed in the upper guide rail disc 1, the lower guide rail disc 6 and the guide disc 4, the fixing pressing rod 3 is arranged at the opening, the fixing pressing rod 3 is disassembled, and the lead and the aluminum pipe can be conveniently placed in and taken out, so that the lead and the aluminum pipe can be conveniently pressed and connected.
As an embodiment, the fixing pressure lever 3 includes two locking tongues 8 located on the side, a locking groove is formed on the side wall of the opening of the guiding disc 4, the locking tongues 8 can extend into the locking groove when extending out, so that the fixing pressure lever 3 and the guiding disc 4 are fixed, and the fixing pressure lever 3 and the pressure head 7 are assembled together, as shown in fig. 5.
In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 4, the latch tongue 8 is connected to a rack 10, and a gear 12 drives the rack 10 to move so as to drive the latch tongue 8 to extend into or extend out. As a further improvement, the two racks 10 are oppositely arranged, the two racks 10 are respectively connected with the locking tongues 8 on two sides, and the gear 12 drives the two racks 10 to move simultaneously.
As an embodiment, as shown in fig. 3, a hexagon socket head gear shaft 9 is arranged in the middle of the gear 12, and the gear 12 is driven to rotate by driving the hexagon socket head gear shaft 9.
In one embodiment, the gear 12 and the rack 10 are disposed in a cavity in the middle of the fixed compression bar 3, and both ends of the cavity are sealed by sealing cover plates 11.
As an embodiment, a plurality of uniformly arranged protrusions protruding from the upper track plate 1 and the lower track plate 6 are disposed on the outer side wall of the guide plate 4, and the guide plate 4 can be fixed by fixing the protrusions, so as to facilitate driving the guide plate 4 to rotate.
As an implementation mode, the upper track disc 1 and the lower track disc 6 are further connected with an arm of force 5, the upper track disc 1 and the lower track disc 6 are driven to rotate by the driving force arm 5 (at this time, the guide disc 4 needs to be fixed), and the upper track disc 1 and the lower track disc 6 can be driven to rotate by the hydraulic driving force arm 5. One end of the force arm 5 is provided with a round hole for connection so as to be connected with a hydraulic press.
In light of the foregoing description of the preferred embodiments according to the present application, it is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The technical scope of the present application is not limited to the contents of the specification, and must be determined according to the scope of the claims.
Claims (8)
1. A multi-end synchronous crimping tool for power transmission conductors is characterized in that,
the method comprises the following steps: an upper guide rail disc (1), a lower guide rail disc (6), and a guide disc (4) positioned between the upper guide rail disc (1) and the lower guide rail disc (6);
the guide rail device is characterized in that the upper guide rail disc (1) and the lower guide rail disc (6) are respectively provided with a plurality of guide rail grooves (61), the guide disc (4) is provided with a plurality of guide grooves (41), the central axes of all the guide grooves (41) are intersected at one point, a movable pressure rod (2) is arranged in each guide groove (41), one end of each movable pressure rod (2) is provided with a pressure head (7), and the top surface and the bottom surface of each movable pressure rod (2) are respectively provided with a slide block (21) which respectively extends into the guide rail grooves (61) of the upper guide rail disc (1) and the lower guide rail disc (6);
when the upper guide rail disc (1) and the lower guide rail disc (6) rotate relative to the guide disc (4), all the movable pressing rods (2) can be driven to approach or separate from each other, and after all the movable pressing rods (2) approach each other, the pressing heads (7) on all the movable pressing rods (2) and the pressing heads (7) on the fixed pressing rods (3) form a regular polygon;
the guide disc (4), the upper guide rail disc (1) and the lower guide rail disc (6) are provided with openings, a detachable fixed compression rod (3) is arranged in the opening of the guide disc (4), one end of the fixed compression rod (3) is provided with a pressure head (7), and when all the movable compression rods (2) are far away from each other, the upper openings of the guide disc (4), the upper guide rail disc (1) and the lower guide rail disc (6) are aligned;
and the outer side wall of the guide disc (4) is provided with a convex block which protrudes out of the upper guide rail disc (1) and the lower guide rail disc (6).
2. The power conductor multi-end synchronous crimping tool of claim 1,
fixed depression bar (3) are including two spring bolts (8) that are located the side, the locked groove has on the lateral wall of the opening part of positioning disk (4), and spring bolt (8) can stretch into the locked groove when stretching out in, so that fixed depression bar (3) with positioning disk (4) are fixed.
3. The tool for synchronously crimping the multiple ends of the power transmission conductor according to claim 2, wherein the locking tongue (8) is connected with a rack (10), and a gear (12) drives the rack (10) to move so as to drive the locking tongue (8) to extend into or extend out of the tool.
4. The tool for multi-end synchronous crimping of power conductors according to claim 3, characterized in that a socket head gear shaft (9) is arranged in the middle of the gear (12), and the gear (12) is driven to rotate by driving the socket head gear shaft (9).
5. The tool for multi-end synchronous crimping of power conductors according to claim 4, characterized in that two racks (10) are respectively connected to the locking tongues (8) on both sides, and the gear (12) drives the two racks (10) to move simultaneously.
6. The power conductor multi-end synchronous crimping tool of claim 1, wherein the bumps are a plurality of evenly arranged bumps.
7. The tool for multi-end simultaneous crimping of power transmission conductors according to claim 1, characterized in that said guide slots (41) and said movable struts (2) are 5, the indenters (7) on all said movable struts (2) forming a regular hexagon with the indenters (7) on the fixed struts (3).
8. The tool for synchronously crimping the multiple ends of the power transmission conductor according to claim 1, wherein the upper guide plate (1) and the lower guide plate (6) are further connected with a force arm (5), and the upper guide plate (1) and the lower guide plate (6) are driven to rotate by the driving force arm (5).
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CN202010092738 | 2020-02-14 | ||
| CN2020100927380 | 2020-02-14 |
Publications (2)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CN111769421A CN111769421A (en) | 2020-10-13 |
| CN111769421B true CN111769421B (en) | 2022-04-08 |
Family
ID=72720218
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CN202010504623.8A Active CN111769421B (en) | 2020-02-14 | 2020-06-05 | Multi-end synchronous crimping tool for power transmission conductor |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CN (1) | CN111769421B (en) |
Family Cites Families (5)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FR2743449B1 (en) * | 1996-01-10 | 1998-02-06 | Euritech Sarl | PORTABLE TOOL FOR CRIMPING CONNECTION PIN ON ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS |
| CN201038579Y (en) * | 2007-04-20 | 2008-03-19 | 富港电子（东莞）有限公司 | Terminal crimping machine |
| CN107069375B (en) * | 2017-04-20 | 2023-05-30 | 鹤壁海昌智能科技股份有限公司 | Six-point crimping die |
| CN110323016B (en) * | 2019-06-18 | 2020-08-28 | 国网河南省电力公司电力科学研究院 | Electric power fitting synchronous compression molding method |
| CN211605614U (en) * | 2020-02-14 | 2020-09-29 | 国网河南省电力公司电力科学研究院 | Multi-end synchronous crimping tool for power transmission conductor |
-
2020
- 2020-06-05 CN CN202010504623.8A patent/CN111769421B/en active Active
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| CN111769421A (en) | 2020-10-13 |
Similar Documents
| Publication | Publication Date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| CN211101156U (en) | Stamping die is used in production of inner panel under car D post | |
| CN110355244B (en) | Four-corner frame bending machine and production control method thereof | |
| CN211605614U (en) | Multi-end synchronous crimping tool for power transmission conductor | |
| CN115582462B (en) | Fixed metal frame former of glass is inlayed to cavity | |
| CN111769421B (en) | Multi-end synchronous crimping tool for power transmission conductor | |
| CN106623485A (en) | Turbocharging oil return pipe forming device and process | |
| CN111842707B (en) | Open-arm type lead bending device | |
| CN209766144U (en) | Single-arm rotating power-assisted multi-angle synchronous pressing device and equipment | |
| CN111346938A (en) | Aluminium alloy extrusion draw gear with support function | |
| CN215989601U (en) | Terminal crimping machine cutting die structure convenient to dismantle | |
| CN110323016B (en) | Electric power fitting synchronous compression molding method | |
| CN210966523U (en) | Double-arm rotating power-assisted multi-angle synchronous pressing device | |
| CN212258727U (en) | Motor stator outer winding mold | |
| CN220857477U (en) | Integrally formed cable middle head compression molding device | |
| CN117020068B (en) | Bending and shearing die for miniature transformer welding lug and use method thereof | |
| CN112091042A (en) | Single-arm rotating power-assisted multi-angle synchronous pressing device and equipment | |
| CN213002259U (en) | Aluminum pipe crimping die | |
| CN216540542U (en) | A assembly fixture that is used for steel wire and crimping pipe of stomach fundus scope | |
| CN106111837B (en) | A kind of machine-shaping device for magnesium crystallizer | |
| CN115213664B (en) | Assembling device convenient for motor gear box and using method thereof | |
| CN212976935U (en) | Gear key groove pulling clamp | |
| CN219443308U (en) | Multi-branch-wire simultaneous clamping mechanism | |
| CN218080195U (en) | Forging device of movable contact point axle for railway | |
| CN220943026U (en) | Aluminum profile for cold heading convenient to location | |
| CN221303105U (en) | Metal corrugated pipe bending device |
Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| PB01 | Publication | ||
| PB01 | Publication | ||
| SE01 | Entry into force of request for substantive examination | ||
| SE01 | Entry into force of request for substantive examination | ||
| GR01 | Patent grant | ||
| GR01 | Patent grant |