JP2021110426A - Fastening confirmation spacer of pipe joint - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a fastening confirmation spacer of a pipe joint which is easy in the confirmation of the fastening of the pipe joint by visual confirmation even from far away.SOLUTION: A fastening confirmation spacer 1 of a pipe joint for confirming whether or not the pipe joint for connecting pipes by fastening bolts 15 thereto is properly fastened comprises a spacer main body (spacer main body part 2) having fitment claws 3a fit to the bolts 15, and a transparent block 4 different from the spacer main body, and having transparency. The transparent block 4 is attached to a groove part 20 which is formed at the spacer main body, and opened in a fastening direction X of the bolts 15, and a color different from that of the spacer main body is applied on a bottom face 20a of the groove part 20, the transparent block 4 is pushed against the bottom face 20a of the groove part 20 by the fastening of the bolts 15, and air between the transparent block 4 and the spacer main body thereby escapes, thus enabling the visual confirmation of the color via the transparent block 4.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

The present invention relates to a spacer for checking the tightening of a pipe joint, which allows it to be easily visually checked whether or not the bolts of the pipe joint connecting the butted pipes are properly tightened.

Conventionally, in a pipe joint that connects butted metal pipes such as a coupling type pipe joint, a bolt is used to prevent the metal pipe from coming out due to the pressure of the fluid flowing in the pipe and leaking from the joint portion of the pipe joint. It is required to secure a certain tightening force. Therefore, various measures have been taken to secure the tightening force.

For example, in Patent Document 1, in a coupling type pipe joint, abutting portions 13 are provided at either or both of both ends 12 and 12 of the housing 11, and the abutting portions 13 are contacted with the other when the housing 11 is tightened. A pipe joint 10 that is brought into contact with the contact portion 13 or the other end portion 12 of the housing 11 is disclosed (claim 1, claims in the scope of claims of Patent Document 1, paragraphs [0015] to [0015] of the specification. 0022], see FIGS. 1 to 3 of the drawing).

The pipe joint 10 described in Patent Document 1 can certainly prevent forgetting to tighten. However, both the bolt portion and the contact portion 13 of the coupling type pipe joint are made of steel, and it is difficult to confirm whether or not the contact portions 13 are in contact with each other when visually observed from a distance. Therefore, in order to confirm whether or not the pipe joint is properly tightened, it is necessary to bring the face close to the pipe joint to check, and there is a problem that the inspection takes time.

Further, conventionally, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, in a coupling type pipe joint, a spacer is attached to a bolt for tightening, and tightening is performed depending on whether or not there is a gap between the spacer and the casing. Confirmation was also done. However, when confirming the tightening by the presence or absence of such a gap between the spacer and the casing, it is necessary to bring the face close to the pipe joint and confirm it as in the case of the pipe joint described in Patent Document 1. The problem that the inspection takes time has not been solved.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-172485

Therefore, the present invention has been devised in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a spacer for checking the tightening of a pipe joint, which makes it easy to visually check the tightening of the pipe joint even from a distance. To provide.

The spacer for checking the tightening of the pipe joint according to the first invention is a spacer for checking the tightening of the pipe joint for checking whether the pipe joint for connecting the pipes by tightening bolts is properly tightened. A spacer body having a fitting claw to be fitted to the bolt and a transparent block having a translucency separate from the spacer body are provided, and the transparent block is the bolt formed on the spacer body. The bottom surface of the groove is colored differently from that of the spacer body, and the transparent block is attached to the groove by tightening the bolt. It is characterized in that the air between the transparent block and the spacer main body escapes by being pressed against the bottom surface, and the coloring becomes visible through the transparent block.

The spacer for confirming tightening of a pipe joint according to the second invention is characterized in that, in the first invention, the transparent block is made of resin.

According to the first invention and the second invention, it is possible not only to prevent forgetting to tighten the bolts of the pipe joint, but also to see whether or not a colored portion different from the color of the spacer can be visually recognized through the transparent block of the pipe joint. You can easily check whether the bolts are properly tightened even from a distance. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the time required for checking whether or not the bolts of the pipe joint are properly tightened.

In particular, according to the second invention, the transparent block to which the tightening force is applied can be formed from a resin that is less likely to crack even if it is transparent, which is inexpensive and can improve durability.

It is a figure which shows the state which attached the spacer for tightening confirmation of the pipe joint which concerns on embodiment of this invention to a coupling type pipe joint. It is a rear perspective view which shows the spacer for tightening confirmation of the pipe joint of the same above. It is a front view which shows the spacer for tightening confirmation of the pipe joint of the same above. It is a top view which shows the spacer for tightening confirmation of the pipe joint of the same above. It is a rear view which shows the spacer for tightening confirmation of the pipe joint of the same above. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. It is a front perspective view which shows the spacer for tightening confirmation of the pipe joint of the same above. It is a figure which shows the state which fits the coupling type pipe joint which attached the spacer for tightening confirmation of the pipe joint to the pipe, and tightens a bolt. It is a figure which shows the state which tightened the bolt of the coupling type pipe joint of the same above. It is a figure which shows just before the completion of tightening of a bolt of the coupling type pipe joint of the same above. It is a figure which shows the tightening completion state of the bolt of the coupling type pipe joint of the same above. This is a photograph showing a state in which a conventional tightening confirmation spacer is attached to a coupling type pipe joint. It is a figure which shows the use state of the conventional tightening confirmation spacer, (a) is the figure which shows just before the bolt tightening completion, and (b) is the figure which shows the bolt tightening completion state.

Hereinafter, the spacer for confirming the tightening of the pipe joint according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

The spacer 1 for checking the tightening of the pipe joint according to the embodiment of the present invention is a spacer for checking the tightening of the pipe joint for checking whether the pipe joint for connecting the pipes by tightening bolts is properly tightened. be. Therefore, first, the coupling type pipe joint 10 which is a pipe joint to which the spacer for confirming the tightening of the pipe joint according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied will be briefly described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a state in which the spacer 1 for confirming tightening of the pipe joint according to the embodiment of the present invention is attached to the coupling type pipe joint 10.

<Coupling type pipe fitting>
As shown in FIG. 1, the coupling type pipe joint 10 to which the spacer for checking the tightening of the pipe joint according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied will be briefly described.

The coupling type pipe joint 10 shown in the figure includes a casing 11 that functions as a housing of the entire coupling type pipe joint 10, and the casing 11 is fitted and tightened so as to straddle the abutting pipe ends of two metal pipes. It is a coupling type pipe joint that is tightened by the attachment means 12 to connect these pipe ends to each other.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the casing 11 has a grip ring 13 which is a C-shaped ring having a comb-shaped cutting edge that bites into a metal tube, and a tube end interposed in the grip ring. A cylindrical rubber sleeve 14 made of synthetic rubber that seals the portion and the like are housed in the housing.

The casing 11 is a member that functions as a housing for the entire joint in which a slit-shaped opening 11a is formed along the axial direction of the cylindrical body by being bent from a steel plate into a C-shaped cross section. The casing 11 has a structure in which the slit-shaped opening 11a is tightened by the tightening means 12 to reduce the diameter and tighten the attached metal tube. As the casing 11 has a reduced diameter, the grip ring 13 mounted in the casing 11 is made to bite into the end of the metal pipe to grip it, and the metal pipes are connected to each other against the pressure in the pipe. Further, a part of the steel material at the end portion in contact with the slit-shaped opening 11a is folded back into a bag shape and fastened to the casing 11, and a pair of (upper and lower) tightening means accommodating portions 11b are formed.

The tightening means 12 includes a bolt 15 composed of two hexagon socket head bolts, and the bolt 15 is screwed and fixed to the soled bar 17 which is a rod nut via a hole bar 16 which is a rod washer. ing. The hole bar 16 and the solid bar 17 are respectively inserted in the above-mentioned tightening means accommodating portion 11b.

<Spacer>
Next, the spacer 1 for checking the tightening of the pipe joint (hereinafter, simply referred to as a spacer) according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 7. FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view showing a spacer 1 for confirming tightening of a pipe joint according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a front view showing the spacer 1. Further, FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the spacer 1, and FIG. 5 is a rear view showing the spacer 1. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 3 showing the configuration of the spacer 1 schematically disassembled, and FIG. 7 is a front perspective view showing the spacer 1. The front surface refers to a surface that can be seen from the outside when attached to the coupling type pipe joint 10 (see FIG. 1).

The spacer 1 according to the present embodiment is a plastic member integrally molded from a resin, and is attached to the tightening means 12 to confirm whether or not the tightening means 12 is properly tightened. In this embodiment, the spacer 1 is made of polyamide (nylon 66).

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 7, the spacer 1 according to the present embodiment is projected from the rectangular parallelepiped spacer main body 2 and the spacer main body 2 on both the left and right sides along the orthogonal direction Y, and is the above-mentioned bolt. It is composed of a pair of left and right bolt fitting portions 3 for fitting to 15. The spacer main body 2 is a rectangular parallelepiped member whose longitudinal direction is orthogonal to the tightening direction X, which is the axial direction of the bolt 15, and the orthogonal direction Y along the opening 11a is the longitudinal direction.

The spacer main body 2 is attached to the opening 11a which is tightened by the tightening means 12 and narrows the interval, and by occupying a certain space there, it is tightened depending on whether or not it is sandwiched between the openings 11a and abuts on the casing 11. It has a function of confirming whether or not the tightening of the means 12 is appropriate. Specifically, when the spacer main body 2 is sandwiched between the two tightening means accommodating portions 11b without a gap, it is confirmed that the tightening means 12, that is, the bolt 15 has been tightened. can do.

A groove portion 20 having a rectangular cross section is formed in the spacer main body portion 2, and a rectangular parallelepiped transparent block 4 made of a translucent resin, which is separate from the spacer main body portion 2, is attached to the groove portion 20. There is. The groove portion 20 is a groove opened in the tightening direction X, and when the bolt 15 is tightened in the tightening direction X, the transparent block 4 mounted on the groove portion 20 is attached to the bottom surface of the groove portion 20 along the tightening direction X. It is configured to be pressed against 20a.

The transparent block 4 is not limited to resin, and may be a solid having translucency such as glass. Here, having translucency means transmitting almost all or part of the irradiated visible light, and for example, having a characteristic that the light transmittance is 70% or more in the visible region. pointing. However, since the transparent block 4 is a member that is tightened with bolts or the like, it is preferably made of a translucent resin such as organic glass that is less likely to break than glass.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 4, and 7, the bolt fitting portion 3 is a pair of symmetrical L-shaped members in a plan view, and is flexible for sandwiching and fitting the bolt 15 from the outside. The fitting claw 3a having the above is projected inward. That is, the spacer 1 is attached to the tightening means 12 by sandwiching the shaft portion of the bolt 15 with the fitting claw 3a.

(Principle of checking the tightening of spacers)
Next, the principle of confirming the tightening of the spacer 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. As described above, the transparent block 4 of the spacer 1 is configured to be pressed against the bottom surface 20a of the groove portion 20 by tightening the bolt 15 in the tightening direction X. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, air exists in the space S between the transparent block 4 and the bottom surface 20a of the groove portion 20 before being tightened with the bolt 15.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, in the spacer 1, the seal 5 is printed with a (for example, circular) mark colored in a color different from the color of the spacer main body 2 between the transparent block 4 and the bottom surface 20a. Is pasted.

Here, the absolute refractive index of air is about 1 (general atmosphere is 1.000293), and the absolute refractive index of a translucent resin such as organic glass is solid, so that air is a gas. The big difference is about 1.5. For example, acrylic resin (1.49 to 1.53), polymethyl methacrylate resin (1.50 to 1.57), polycarbonate (1.59). Therefore, when air is present between the transparent block 4 and the bottom surface 20a, the light emitted from the transparent block 4 is greatly refracted according to Snell's law due to the difference in the relative refractive index. Therefore, the rate of light reflected at the interface between the transparent block 4 and the air is higher than that of the light emitted from the transparent block 4.

Therefore, when air is present in the space S between the transparent block 4 and the bottom surface 20a where the tightening means 12 is not properly tightened, the seal 5 is pressed from the front side of the spacer 1 via the transparent block 4. It cannot be seen.

However, when the bolt 15 is tightened and the transparent block 4 comes into contact with the tightening means accommodating portion 11b and is pressed against the bottom surface 20a, the air between the transparent block 4 and the bottom surface 20a escapes and the relative refraction occurs. The difference in rates is reduced. Therefore, the light emitted from the transparent block 4 is not greatly refracted, and as shown in FIG. 7, the seal 5 having a circular mark can be visually recognized from the front side of the spacer 1 through the transparent block 4. become.

Therefore, it is easy to determine whether the tightening means 12 (bolt 15) is properly tightened from a distance depending on whether or not the colored portion of the seal 5, which is different from the color of the spacer main body 2, can be visually recognized through the transparent block 4. Can be confirmed in. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the time required for checking whether or not the tightening means 12 of the coupling type pipe joint 10 is appropriate.

Of course, the mark provided between the transparent block 4 and the bottom surface 20a is not limited to a sticker or the like, and may be colored or engraved with paint or the like. In short, the mark or the like that serves as a mark may be any identifiable mark or the like via the transparent block 4. However, it is preferable that there is a colored portion having a hue significantly different from the hue (Hue) of the color of the spacer main body 2 because it is easy to visually recognize from the relative difference in hue.

(How to use the spacer)
Next, a method of using the spacer 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 11. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a state in which the coupling type pipe joint 10 to which the spacer 1 is attached is fitted to the pipe and the bolt is tightened, and FIG. 9 is a state in which the bolt of the coupling type pipe joint 10 is tightened. It is a figure which shows. Further, FIG. 10 is a diagram showing immediately before the completion of tightening the bolts of the coupling type pipe joint 10, and FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a state of completion of tightening the bolts of the coupling type pipe joint 10.

To use the spacer 1, first, the spacer 1 is attached to the coupling type pipe joint 10 described above (see FIG. 1). Then, as shown in FIG. 8, a coupling type pipe joint 10 to which the spacer 1 is attached is attached so as to straddle the two metal pipes P1 and P2, and the bolt 15 is turned with a hexagon wrench or the like to rotate the tightening means described above. Tighten 12 (not shown).

As the bolt 15 is turned, as shown in FIG. 9, the tightening means accommodating portion 11b of the casing 11 (not shown) described above comes into contact with the spacer 1. At this time, in the conventional spacer for checking tightening, it is necessary to turn the bolt 15 while checking whether or not there is a gap between the spacer and the casing by bringing the face close to each other many times.

However, in the spacer 1 according to the present embodiment, when the casing 11 shown in FIG. 10 is in contact with the spacer 1 immediately before the casing 11 is in contact with the spacer 1, the seal 5 (FIG. 11) is shown. The mark (not shown) can be confirmed through the transparent block 4. Therefore, it is possible to intuitively confirm the completion of tightening, it is not necessary to confirm it many times, and the tightening work can be performed in a short time.

Further, when the tightening means 12 (not shown) is loosened, the state shown in FIG. 10 is immediately obtained, and it is easy to confirm whether the tightening means 12 (bolt 15) is properly tightened even from a distance. can do. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the time required for checking whether or not the tightening means 12 of the coupling type pipe joint 10 is appropriate.

According to the spacer 1 according to the present embodiment described above, not only can it be prevented from forgetting to tighten the bolt 15 of the coupling type pipe joint 10, but also a colored portion different from the color of the spacer main body 2 of the spacer 1 is formed. Whether or not the bolt 15 of the coupling type pipe joint 10 is properly tightened can be easily confirmed from a distance by whether or not it can be visually observed through the transparent block 4. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the time required for checking whether or not the bolt 15 of the coupling type pipe joint 10 is properly tightened.

Although the spacer according to the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, all of the above-mentioned or illustrated embodiments merely show one embodiment embodied in carrying out the present invention. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed in a limited manner by these.

In particular, the coupling type pipe joint has been described as an example of the pipe joint, but the present invention is not limited to the coupling type pipe joint, and can be applied to a pipe joint that can be tightened by a tightening means such as a bolt.

1: Spacer (spacer for checking the tightening of pipe fittings)
2: Space body 20: Groove 20a: Bottom surface 3: Bolt fitting part 3a: Fitting claw 4: Transparent block 5: Seal 10: Coupling type pipe joint (pipe joint)
11: Casing 12: Tightening means 13: Grip ring 14: Rubber sleeve 15: Bolt 16: Hole bar 17: Soled bar P1, P2: Metal tube (tube)

Claims (2)

A spacer for checking the tightening of pipe joints to check whether the pipe joints that connect the pipes by tightening bolts are properly tightened.
A spacer body having a fitting claw to be fitted to the bolt and a transparent block having a translucent property separate from the spacer body are provided.
This transparent block is attached to a groove formed in the spacer body and opens in the tightening direction of the bolt, and is also attached to the groove.
The bottom surface of the groove is colored differently from the spacer body.
By tightening the bolt, the transparent block is pressed against the bottom surface of the groove, air between the transparent block and the spacer body escapes, and the coloring becomes visible through the transparent block. A characteristic spacer for checking the tightening of pipe joints. The spacer for confirming tightening of a pipe joint according to claim 1, wherein the transparent block is made of resin.

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