NZ194386A - Valve actuating tailpiece for valved hose coupling - Google Patents

Description

New Zealand Paient Spedficaiion for Paient Number 1 94386 i94m Patents Form No. 5 NEW ZEALAND PATENTS ACT 1953 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION after Provisional No. 194386 dated 18 July,1980 "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO COUPLINGS AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURE THEREOF." X/WE HARDWARE MANUFACTURING COMPANY LIMITED, a New Zealand company, of 447 -Rosebank Road, Avondale, Auckland, New Zealand, hereby declare the invention, for which /2"/we pray that a patent may be granted to u^/us , and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement /94j This invention relates to couplings and methods of manufacture thereof and more particularly to coupling tail pieces and the manufacturing thereof. Hose couplings, particularly fluid couplings for example gas or liquid couplings have in the main been provided with a socket portion normally mounted on an upstream end of a hose or like conduit and have incorporated an internal bore therein couplable to the conduit but controlled via a valve means which is movable away from a seat upon engagement of an elongate tail piece into the coupling, the tail piece normally pushing the valve away from a seat within the coupling and enabling fluid flow through the coupling socket and outwardly of the coupling via the tail piece which is also connected to a hose or like conduit. As it is necessary for the hose tail piece to both push the valving apparatus of the coupling socket away from the seat and also to provide an aperture or apertures to enable fluid to flow from the coupling socket to the coupling tail piece, it will be appreciated that substantial back pressure, restriction or inefficiency of the coupling can result in use.

In particular instances, it has been found that such restrictions occur as to create sufficient back pressure to render the apparatus coupled with the coupling to be relatively inefficient in the passage of fluid therethrough and therefor, in many cases, couplings are dispensed with and direct coupling of conduits to apparatus have been provided however, this has the inherent disadvantage in that each apparatus must be individually coupled to the •• '• ■ •' 194386 conduit in a relatively permanent nature and thus the convenience of having a fluid coupling between a fluid supply and a fluid using apparatus is lost.

Numerous attempts have been made to overcome the problems of back pressure however, these have largely resulted in extremely complicated constructions which are both expensive to manufacture and maintain and furthermore, have resulted in relatively fragile couplings which are ill adapted to accommodate the riggors of general usage without damage resulting and therefore inefficiency.

It is therefor an object of this invention to come some way in overcoming the abovementioned problems or * at least provide the public with a useful choice.

Other objects of this invention which should be considered in all its novel aspects will become apparent from the following description. Modifications are envisaged within the scope or spirit of the invention.

According to one aspect of this invention there is provided a tail piece for a fluid coupling including a body portion having a bore therein extending from, an inlet end portion to an outlet end portion,.said outlet end portion connectable with a fluid supply means and said inlet end portion engageable with a coupling body to facilitate communication of said fluid supply means with said coupling body via said bore, characterised in that said inlet end portion is provided to have at least one recess therein, said recess providing an opening through said inlet end portion of said tail piece to said bore.

According to a further aspect of this invention there is provided a method of forming a hose tail piece including the steps of, 194386 forming a tail piece body having a blind bore therein, blind adjacent an inlet end portion thereof, forming at least one recess across said blind end at a depth that an opening of predetermined dimensions is formed through said proposed inlet end portion to said bore. , Other aspects of this invention which should be considered in all its novel aspects will become apparent from the following description. Modifications are envisaged and may be incorporated without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

The preferred form of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings, which accompanied the provisional shows, substantially diagrammatically an inlet end of said hose tail piece formed in accordance with this invention, is a substantially diagrammatic cross sectional view of the tail piece engaged within a coupling socket witl\ the coupling assembly (both tail piece and coupling socket in an open position for passage of fluid therethrough).

In this preferred form of the invention, and with reference to figure 2 primarily, the coupling as generally indicated by arrow 1 is formed with an inlet 3 and an outlet 4 providing a bore 5 through said socket, controlled by a valve 6 biassed by biassing means 7 against a seat 8 to control passage of fluid in direction of arrows F through the coupling 1 when said valve 6 is in an open position as is shown in Figure 2. The outlet 4 is provided as a bore capable of engaging a spec if ica tion. Figure 1: Figure 2: 19458 hose tail piece 10 therein, an inlet end 11 of said hose tail piece provided to engage a projection 9 on said valve 6 to push said valve 6 away from said seat 7 upon engagement of the tail piece 10 within the inlet 4 to enable flow F of fluid from the inlet 4 to the tail piece 10. It will be appreciated that when the tail piece 10 is removed from the inlet 4, the valve 6 will close upon the bias to seal the bore 5 through the coupling.

The coupling is preferably formed in any desired material, such as metals being brass, bronze, steel and the like however, it is envisaged that other materials could alternatively be utilized for example some plastics materials suitably resistant against corrosion and deterioration in use (depending on the type of fluid likely to be encountered).

With reference to Figures 1 and 2, the hose tail piece 10 is formed as a substantially tubular member having the inlet end 11 engageable within the bore. In this form of the invention a sealing means 12 in the form of an O-ring is engaged within a recess 13 of said tail piece adjacent said inlet end to provide a seal between adjacent bore portions 4 and the tail piece 10 when engaged within the bore 4. Furthermore, preferably, an engaging ring 14 is provided to be rotatable about said tail piece 10 within a recess 15, said ring 14 being externally screw threaded at 16 and capable of engagement with internally screw threaded portions 17 adjacent an outer end of said outlet 4. An outlet end 18 of said coupling is preferably provided in a substantially annularly barbed manner so as to facilitate engagement of a hose or like conduit thereon, in the substantially known manner. 19451 Turning particularly to Figure 1 and also with reference to Figure 2, the inlet end portion 11 of the tail piece 10 is formed to have apertures 20 therein of a predetermined and desired size, preferably equal to or most preferably substantially greater than a cross sectional area of said inlet bore 3 however, this is in no way essential to operation of the invention. The inlets 20 are preferably provided in the inlet end portion 11 as a pair of recesses 21 provided across the end portion 11 flanking a remaining span portion 22 which provides an acutating member 23 on a projection line of the valve 6. Preferably, a dimple or small depression 24 is provided substantially medially of the actuating member 23 to provide positive engagement of the projection 9 therewith in use. It will be appreciated that the apertures 20 provide a communication from the coupling socket bore 5 into a bore 25 of the tail piece 10 to facilitate passage of fluid through the coupling 1 when the tail piece is engaged as is shown in Figure 2.

The tail piece inlet portion 11 is preferably formed in this form of the invention by forming the body of the tail piece as a substantially elongate member having a substantially blind inner end. Thereafter, the inner end 11 is milled or otherwise formed to create the recesses 21 spaced from one another so as to break into the bore 25 and provide the apertures 20, the remaining portion 22 provided between the recesses 21 provided the acutating member 23 for actuating valve 6.

It will be appreciated that owing to the substantially axially aligned nature of the plane or cross sectional area of the apertures 20, rather than transverse to the longitudinal axis of the tail piece 10, a substantially large mm cross sectional area of aperture 20 is able to be provided thereby avoiding restrictions which might normally occur with other aperture orientations.

Whilst one preferred embodiment of the invention describes the provision of two spaced apart apertures, in other embodiments of the invention one aperture or a plurality^of spaced apart apertures are provided depending on the actual requirements of use, and material from which the tail piece is manufactured.

In view of the relatively simple nature of the inner end portion 11, it will be appreciated that the tail piece 10 is substantially robust and resistant to damage in use. .

Thus by this invention there is provided a coupling and a method of manufacture thereof. -8^ 194380

Claims (15)

WHAT WE CLAIM IS;

1. A tail piece for a fluid coupling including a body portion having a bore therein extending from an inlet end portion to an outlet end portion of the body portion, said outlet end portion having a formation providing for the releasable connection of the tail piece to a fluid conduit and said inlet end portion being axially engage-able with a coupling body to provide for the flow of fluid to said conduit from said coupling body via said bore, characterised in that said inlet end portion is provided to have at least one outwardly directed recess therein, said recess providing a port through said inlet end portion to said bore, more than half of the port being oriented at an angle to a longitudinal axis of said bore.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said more than half of the port is oriented substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said bore.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the tail piece is integrally formed.

4. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the area of the port or ports is substantially equal to or greater than the cross-sectional area of said bore.

5. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein a remaining, span portion of the said inlet end portion extends across said inlet end portion to engage with &. yalye/yalve actuating member of said coupling when said -9- 19438G tail piece is engaged therewith.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein the span portion is provided with a centrally located formation for engaging a complemental formation on the valve for centralising the valve on engagement of the tail piece in the coupling body.

7. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein two oppositely arranged recesses and openings are provided, on said inlet end portion.

8. Apparatus as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings which accompanied the provisional specification.

9. A method of forming a tail piece for engagement with a coupling including the steps of; forming a tail piece body having a blind bore therein, blind adjacent an inlet end portion thereof, forming at least one recess across said blind end at a depth that an opening of predetermined dimension is formed through said inlet end portion to said bore.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9 including forming the recess on said inlet end portion from the blind end of said tail piece and extending a predetermined distance along said tail piece away from said blind end.

11. A method as claimed in claim 9 or claim 10 including forming the recess to a predetermined depth along a ]johgitudinal axis of said inlet end portion to position Hi] opening having a general transverse plane thereof -10- 194386 aligned with a longitudinal axis of said bore,

12. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 9 to 11 wherein a pair of spaced apart recesses are formed on the inlet end portion,

13. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 9 to 12 including leaving a remaining span portion on said end portion.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13 including the step of forming an engaging means on said remaining span portion for engaging a valve/valve actuating means therewith.

15. A method as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings which accompanied the provisional specification. .NUFACTURING COMPANY LIMITED.