GB2227066A

GB2227066A - Pipe connectors

Info

Publication number: GB2227066A
Application number: GB8928601A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Hepworth Refractories Limited; James Forbes Corsar
Original assignee: HEPWORTH REFRACTORIES
Current assignee: HEPWORTH REFRACTORIES
Priority date: 1988-12-29
Filing date: 1989-12-19
Publication date: 1990-07-18
Also published as: GB8928601D0; GB8830355D0

Abstract

In a connector particularly for thin walled pipes, in, for example, oxygen lancing of molten metal a construction comprises a body 7 with a through-bore 2, a cam means 9 located on the body and a means 10 of moving the cam means from a first position where the cam means lies clear of the bore in the body to a second position where the cam means extends into the bore to thus indent the pipe and provide for its positive locking to the body 7. <IMAGE>

Description

CONNECTORS This invention relates to connectors and is particularly, but not necessarily exclusively, concerned with connectors for securing a lance for the injection of gas or gas laden with particulate material into a molten metal bath to a holder ar;d a source of supply of gas or gas and particulate material.

In the field of gas lancing there are two types of lance predominantly employed, the relatively expensive type where a feed tube is heavily encased in a sleeve of appropriate refractory material difficult to handle and support for insertion in a molten bath but with the advantage of a relatively longer life than the relatively inexpensive type where thin-walled metal tube is employed and which has the advantage of easy handling, albeit a consumable item as oxygen lancing progresses.

With thin-walled metal tubes the two most common methods of securing them to a holder, which also serves as a connection to a supply of gas, are the provision of a threaded end to the tube to engage a threaded bore in the holder, or the provision of a clamping means involving a sliding bush and lever arrangement to compress a resilient sleeve on to a thinwalled tube inserted into the clamping means, the clamping means being adapted for connection to an injection rig. Both methods are effective in holding a lance and allowing its insertion in a molten bath, but both add noticeably to costs, in the first instance by virtue of the need to cut threads on the lance and in the bore of the holder, and in the second instance by virtue of the most of the clamping means itself.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive and effective connector means for tubes.

According to the present invention, a connector means for tubes comprises a body with a through-bore, a cam means located on the body and a means of moving the cam means from a first position where the cam means lies clear of the bore in the body to a second position where the cam means extends into the bore.

Preferably, the cam means is generally cylindrical with a flat to one side, and pivotally located on the body, it being further preferred that lever means are secured to the cam means, and whereby the cam means can be rotated from a first position where the flat to one side is generally coplanar with the wall of the bore of the housing to a second position where the cylindrical part of the cam means extends into the bore.

With the cam means provided towards one end of the body and which itself is preferably of cylindrical configuration, the other end of the body can be provided with external screwthreads for the connection of the body direct to e.g. an injection rig, or for connection to a holder that connects to the e.g. injection rig.

Thus, with the cam in its first position, a tube can be inserted into the body, to abut an internal shoulder in the bore of the body, or, when provided to abut a shoulder in the bore of a holder, and when the tube is in place, the cam means rotated by the lever means to cause the cylindrical part of the cam means to engage the tube and indent the tube as the cam means is rotated to its second position. There is then a positive locking of the tube in the body in a most simple, efficient and cost-effective manner. When it is a thin-walled lance that is involved, the positive locking of the tube to the body is more than sufficient to permit the manoeuvring of the lance and its insertion in a molten bath without the risk of disconnection and the loss of the lance.

To assist in the insertion of a tube into the body of the connector means of the invention, the cam means may be provided at one or both ends with a pinion engaging a rack formed in or located in the bottom of a channel formed in the body. Thus, as the cam means is rotated e.g. by lever means, engagement of the or each pinion with the rack causes the cam means to progress along the channel. With then a tube inserted in the bore of the body rotation of the cam means again brings the cam means into engagement with the tube, and further rotation again creating an indentation in the tube, but with the additional advantage that a force is applied to the tube to urge it inwardly of the body and into positive engagement with the shoulder in the bore of the body or in the bore of the holder when provided.At the end of e.g. a lancing operation, when much of the lance has been consumed, this form of construction of the invention has the further advantage that the remnant end can be assisted in its ejection from the body by the reverse rotation of the cam and the travel of the cam along the rack.

One embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of one form of connector in accordance with the invention; and Figure 2 corresponds to Figure 1 but shows a thinwalled tube locked by the connector.

In the drawings, a connector means for thin walled tubes has a holder 1 of generally cylindrical configuration and with a circular through-bore 2, externally threaded at one end 3 for connection e.g. to a gas injection rig. The bore 2 is internally shouldered at 4 for the location of a sealing ring 5, and further shouldered at 6 to provide an internal abutment.

Located in the holder such as by a screw-threaded connection is a cylindrical body 7 having an external partcylindrical housing 8 for a cam 9 the cam extending out of the housing to an operating lever 18. The cam is of circular section and provided with a flat 11.

Thus, as is shown in Figure 1, with the lever rotated to align the flat 11 on the cam 9 with the internal wall of the body 7, a thin walled tube 12 can be inserted through the body 7 and into contact with the shoulder 6 within the holder, with the sealing ring 5 engaging the external surface of the pipe. The lever IB is then rotated, to rotate the cam and bring its circular surface into contact with the tube, and indent the tube as is shown by Figure 2, to provide for the positive locking of the pipe to the body 7. Release is equally simple, an opposite rotation of the lever 18 bringing the cam clear of the indentation formed in the pipe and when the pipe or any remnant part of the pipe, can readily be removed.

The invention therefore provides a most simple and relatively inexpensive means of locking and unlocking thin walled tubes to an injection rig.

Claims

1. A connector means for tubes comprising a body with a through-bore, a cam means located on the body and a means of moving the cam means from a first position where the cam means lies clear of the bore in the body to a second position where the cam means extends into the bore.

2. A connector means as in Claim 1, wherein the cam means is generally cylindrical with a flat to one side, and pivotally located on the body.

3. A cam means as in Claim 2, wherein the lever means are secured to the cam means, and whereby the cam means can be rotated from a first position where the flat to one side is generally co-planar with the wall of the bore of the housing to a second position where the cylindrical part of the cam means extends into the bore.

4. A cam means as in any of Claims 1 to 3, wherein with the cam means provided towards one end of the body, the other end of the body is provided with external screwthreads for connection of the body direct to e.g. an injection rig.

5. A cam means as in any of Claims 1 to 3, wherein with the cam means provided towards one end of the body, the other end of the body is provided with external screwthreads for connection of the body to a holder that connects to an injection rig.

6. A cam means as in any of Claims 1 to 5, wherein an abutment is provided within the body or the holder to provide a location means for a tube.

7. A cam means as in any of Claims 1 to 6, wherein a pinion is provided at one or both ends of the cam to engage a pinion formed on the body or the holder, and whereby a rotation of the cam is accompanied by a movement of the cam along the body or the holder, to provide an applied force to the tube in the direction of movement of the cam.

8. A clamping means for tubes, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.