US2465857A - Suspension device for flexible pipes and the like - Google Patents

Description

March 29, 1949. s; J. ERLING 2,465,857.

SUSPENSION DEVICE FOR FLEXIBLE PIPES AND THE LIKE Filed Nov. 20, 1946 INVENTOR SVEN JOHAN ERLING Patented Mar. 29, 1949 SUSPENSION DEVICE FOR FLEXIBLE PIPES AND THE LIKE Sven Johan Erling, Nockeby, Sweden, assignor to Aktiebolaget Separator, Stockholm, Sweden, a corporation of Sweden Application November 20, 1946, Serial No. 711,132 In Sweden November 29, 1945 15 Claims. 1

This invention relates to devices for suspending elongated flexible members, such as electrical conductors, rubber tubing and the like, from a wire or other longitudinal support. More particularly, the invention has reference to an improved device of this character, by means of which the flexible member to be suspended may be transferred quickly and easily from one support to another.

It is often necessary, as in the use of a power driven currying apparatus in a cow barn, to suspend a long flexible connector from the power source to the currying apparatus, for instance an electric cable or a rubber tube, in such a way as to allow people and animals to move freely beneath it without the danger of coming into contact with it. For such purposes, a wire is often stretched from one wall to another above mans height, and the connector is suspended slidably or rollably on it in loops, which can at will be brought together or stretched out. Instead of the supporting wire, a supporting cable, a bar, or the like, may be used.

In many instances, it is desired to be able to suspend one and the same connector at will on any one of several supporting wires stretched as above described. In the use of electrically driven currying apparatus in cow barns, it may be practical to arrange such a supporting wire behind each row of animals, and a requirement for satisfactory use of such an arrangement is that the electrical connector or conductor should be easily movable from one wire to another. The arrangements by which flexible conductors have been suspended heretofore do not at all fulfill this requirement, it being too time-consuming to hook off and move the conductor loops slidably suspended on the stretched wire and hook them on another wire. Furthermore, the supporting wire should be arranged at such a height that it cannot be reached by a person standing on the floor, which with the prior arrangements increases the di'ficulty of transferring the conductor from one supporting wire to another.

The present invention, therefore, is directed to the provision of an improved suspension device, whereby the flexible connector may be readily removed from suspension on one support and suspended on another support in condition for use. A device made in accordance with the invention comprises a holder provided with a downwardly directed handle and having the shape of an inverted V which normally straddles the wire or other longitudinal support. Hookscarrying the loops of the connector to be suspended can, when the loops are pushed together, glide onto this holder so that the holder, the hooks and the suspended connector can be lifted oil the wire by means of the handle and suspended on another wire. If desired, one end of the suspended connector may be attached to another handle, which can likewise be suspended on the wire, in order to facilitate extending the suspended connector and pushing it together.

For .a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a side view of one form of the new suspension device;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of part of the device illustrated in Fig. 1, showing the holder mounted on the supporting wire, and one of the suspension hooks on the holder, and

Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the hooks depending from the supporting wire.

A supporting wire 2, or the like, is secured between two walls or other fixed parts by means of a securing device I at each end of the wire. The wire 2 carries a holder 3, which has the shape of a short V-shapecl channel turned upside down so as to straddle the wire with the latter closely received in the narrow upper portion of the holder. The holder 3 is connected rigidly to a handle 4 projecting downwardly from the holder. The different loops of a flexible conductor 5 are suspended on the holder 3 by means of suspension elements in the form of hooks B. The right end I of the conductor is connected to a wall socket (not shown), while its opposite end 8 is connected to a currying apparatus (not shown). The end 8 of the conductor can thus be moved along the supporting wire 2, so as to make it possible to use the apparatus at different places along the wire. At its end 8, the conductor is connected to a barshaped handle 9 adapted to be suspended on the wire. The handle 9 preferably has the form of a tube which encloses part of the conductor 5; that is, the conductor enters at the upper part of the tube 9 and leaves it at the lower end, as shown in Fig. 1. The upper part of the handle 9 is provided with a groove-wheel l0 adapted to roll on the wire, whereby the movement of handle 9 along the wire is facilitated.

As shown in Fig. 1, the loops of conductor 5 are pushed together on the holder 3. The hooks 6 then surround the holder except for an opening or passage 6a in each. hook underlying the holder, and the wheel IU of the handle 9 is also supported by the holder. is stretched out by means of the handle 5,. the

When the conductor 5..

3 wheel l rolls off the holder onto the wire 2, and one or several of the hooks 6 also glide off the holder 3 onto the wire. When the suspension arrangement is to be moved to another wire, the loops of the conductor are pushed together on the holder 3 by means of the handl 9, so that they take the position shown in Fig. 1. The hooks 8 thus glide onto the holder, the free end of which should for this purpose have, as nearly as possible, the same diameter as that of the wire. The wheel Ill follows onto the holder. Then the suspension arrangement can as a unit be lifted off the wire 2 by means of the handles i and B, the hook openings 6a being wide enough. for passage of the supporting wire. Thereafter, the suspension arrangement may be suspended on another wire or placed in a depository. In order to prevent one or more hooks 6, together with the handle 9, from sliding oil the holder 3, the latter is pro-- vided on its bottom with one or several recess... I in which the handle 9, or a part ilct fixed to it, enters at the lifting movement, thereby locking the handle 9 on the holder 3.

The hooks 5 should have such a form t1 cannot, after they have once been rnav d o the holder, be removed from it by lifting. T

that they can be lifted off the wire toget) the holder 3. Accordingly, the do rected opening 8a in each book is wid wire 2 but is narrower than the enlai of the holder 3, whereby parts of the hook underlie the opposite sides or the hold When the conductor ii is stretc hooks 5 should be capable of turning in relation to the carrying wire 2, since when conductor is stretched out it is parallel with the carrying wire, but when it is pushed together the loops of the conductor tend to place themselves crosswise in relation to the carrying wire. By making the hooks capable of turning on the wire through a substantial angle in a horizontal plane, as betv een the full line and dotted line positions in 3. locking of the hooks to the wire 2 or to holder 3 is prevented. To meet this requirement, the upper part of each hook 6 has the shape of a flat bow, as shown in Fig. 2. Below this part, however, the sicles of the hook extend downwardly in. diverging relation and in closely l to the opposite sides of the ll-shaped hold its in relation to each other in a horizontal or in a vertical plane at right to 't- W shaped part. This a desirable feature in the handling of the suspension arrangement.

In order to facilitate movement of the h oks and the handle 9 onto the holder the latter is pointed at its free end, as shown at i l in I If the hooks have the angular position relanv/ to the carrying wire 2 as shown by full lines in Fig. 3, when arriving at the holder the tapered end portion ll of the holder will force the hooks to assume the position shown in Fig. 2 when the hooks glide onto the holder. Thus, when the hooks are pushed together on the holder, they require the least possible space in the longitudinal direction of the holder 3 and of the wire.

The conductor 5 may be connected to the suspension hooks 6 in any desired manner. As illustrated, however, one side of each hook extends downwardly from its turned-in portion underlying the holder, as shown at 60, and is provided at its lower end with an opening through which a suitable clamp So for the conductor may be bolted or otherwise secured to the hook. It will be apparent that when the suspension arrangement is being applied to the supporting wire 2, the lower parts to of the hooks may serve to guide the wire toward and through the hook openings @a.

I claim:

1. A device for suspending an elongated flexible member from a longitudinal support, which comprises a holder mounted on the support and removable therefrom, and a plurality of suspension elements mounted on the support and movable along the-support and along the holder, the suspension elements being operable to suspend the flexible member from the support and being removable from the support, the holder being adapted to hold the suspension elements simultaneously, whereby said holder and suspension elements are removable as a unit from the support.

2. A suspension device as defined in. claim 1, in which the holder has a cross-section of inverted f-shape, said support being located in the apex of the holder.

3. A suspension device as defined in claim 1, in which the suspension elements are hooks each having an upper part in the shape of a relatively fiat bow adapted to project substantially beyond the underlying sides of the support and the holder, whereby each hook is turnable in a hori- Zontal plane through an angle sufficiently large to prevent locking between the hook and the support and between the hook and the holder.

i. A suspension device as defined in claim 1, in which the suspension elements are books each having an upper part in the shape or" a relatively flat bow adapted to project substantially beyond the underlying sides of the support and the holder, whereby each hook is turnable in a horizontal plane through an angle sufficiently large to prevent locking between the hook and the support and between the hook and the holder, the parts of each hook lying below said bow-shaped part extending close to the opposite sides of the holder to guide the hook on the holder.

5. A suspension device as defined in claim 1, in which the suspension elements are hooks each having parts underlying the opposite side portions of the holder, whereby the suspension elements are removable from the holder only by movement in the longitudinal direction of the holder.

6. A suspension device as defined in claim 1, in which the suspension elements are turnable on the support through a substantial angle in a horizontal plane, to prevent locking between the support and said elements, the holder having a part below the support adapted to extend between opposite sides of each element in closely spaced relation thereto, said part of the holder sloping upwardly at one end toward the support, whereby the suspension elements when moved onto the holder over said end are caused to assume a generally cross-wire position relative to the holder.

7. A suspension device as defined in claim 1, comprising also a rod suspended from the support and movable along the support and along the holder, the rod being connected to one end of the flexible member.

8. A suspension device as defined in claim 1, comprising also a grooved wheel adapted to roll along the support and along the holder, and a rod suspended from the wheel and movable therei with along the support and along the holder, the

rod being connected to one end of the flexible member.

9. A suspension device as defined in claim 1, comprising also a rod suspended from the support and movable along the support and along the holder, the rod and holder having interengageable parts operable to lock the rod to the holder when the rodand holder are lifted from the support, and means for connecting one end of the flexible member to the rod.

10. A suspension device as defined in claim 1, comprising also a rod suspended from the support and movable along the support and along the holder, the rod having a longitudinal passage therein, said flexible member entering the rod at its upper end portion near the support and extending down through said passage and the lower end of the rod.

11. In combination, a holder having an inverted trough shape and adapted to receive a support between the opposite sides of the holder, and a plurality of suspension elements mounted on and movable along the holder, each element having an upper part resting on the holder and also having sides extending downwardly along said opposite sides of the holder and in closely spaced relation thereto, each element also having parts underlying said holder and defining a passage narrower than the widest external dimension of the holder but wider than the narrowest internal dimension of the holder.

12. In combination, a holder, a plurality of suspension elements mounted on and movable along the holder, and a pair of handles projecting from the holder and adapted to confine the suspension elements on the holder between the handles, one handle being fixed to the holder at one end portion thereof, and the other handle being slidable along the holder and having means for connection to one end of a flexible member to be suspended from said elements.

13. In combination, a holder, a plurality of suspension elements mounted on and movable along the holder, a handle movable along the holder and projecting therefrom so that the handle is adapted to limit movement of said elements along the holder in one direction, means for connecting to the handle one end of a flexible member to be suspended from said elements, and releasable means on the handle and holder for locking the handle against longitudinal movement along the holder in said one direction.

14. A holder for hook-like suspension elements, which comprises an inverted trough-shaped member having a relatively narrow recess in its upper portion for receiving a support, the sides of the member extending downwardly in diverging relation, one end of the member being tapered, and a handle depending from said member.

15. A suspension element comprising a hooklike member having an upper part in the shape of a relatively flat bow, the member also having sides extending downwardly in diverging relation and then extending inwardly toward each other, said inwardly extending portions defining a passage between them, one of the sides terminating at said inwardly extending portion thereof and the other side projecting downwardly from said inwardly extending portion thereof.

SVEN JOHAN ERLING.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 934,808 Hiss Sept. 21, 1909 1,164,613 Jewell Dec. 14, 1915 1,521,987 Belfranci Jan. 6, 1925 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 364,789 Great Britain Jan. 14, 1932

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