US2695667A - Combination tube splitting and constricting tool - Google Patents

Description

NOV. 30, 1954 c b L 2,695,667

COMBINATION TUBE SPLITTING AND CONSTRICTING TOOL Filed Jan. 29 1951 INVENTOR. Y 6707/7 647/0 BYJLAZI ATTO/PMSK United States Patent COMBINA'I'HON TUBE SPLITTING AND CONSTRIC'IlNG TOOL Glenn H. Carroll, Overland Park, Kans. Application January 29, 1951, Serial No. 208,390 3 Claims. c1. 164-73) This invention relates to a splitting device for tubular stock adapted additionally to serve the secondary function of holding the tube in vice-like fashion after splitting thereof so as to bring the split edges together and hold the same in juxtaposition during other operations that may be necessary with respect to the tube.

This invention relates particularly to the splicing of telephone cables and while the device hereof may well be applied in other fields, a particular problem is present relative to the splitting of lead splicing tubes preparatory to placing the same on a cable such as telephone wires and analogous operations. I-Ieretofore it has been a common practice to split such lead pipe sections by utilizing a small handsaw and through relatively short strokes eventually form a longitudinal slit in the lead tube. Such method is not only time-consuming but awkward and likely to cause injury to the operator by slippage and consequent cutting of the workmens hands or fingers.

Other methods have been proposed such as utilization of a thin wire upon which the lead tube is threaded and by holding the wire in a taut condition, forcing the tube thereagainst and thereby forming the slit. Here again, extreme danger to the Workman is always present in following the wire principle. In any event, lead by its in herent nature, presents a problem of binding during the cutting operation irrespective of the method employed.

Accordingly, it is the most important object of the present invention to provide a relatively small, inexpensive and highly eflicient tool for permitting rapid splitting of lead tubes of varying lengths and diameters and eliminating not only the aforesaiddangers but presenting a clean-cut and eliminating entirely the waste of time now present in this field.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a tube splitting device that comprises a small cutter that is formed in a particular manner to avoid the binding above mentioned and to present a smooth, clean cut extending longitudinally of the lead pipe.

A further object or" the present invention is the proviion of a pipe cutting device in the nature of a body that may be rigidly mounted upon any suitable support and having an elongated chain that is threaded through the pipe to be cut and having a cutter at one free end thereof, there being structure within the body that may be manually operated to impart force to the chain and thereby draw the cutter longitudinally through the lead pipe to be split.

Other objects of this invention include the Way in which the knife or cutter itself is formed in the nature of a U-and having a cross-sectional contour that may properly be termed tear-drop so as to eliminate binding;

to provide means for operating the chain and the cutter i thereon that presents sufiicient leverage to render the cutting operation easy; to present a tool that makes use of the mounting body itself as a receiver for one end of the tube to be cut; and to provide means for receiving the cutter Within the body and adapting the tool for use as a vise while protecting the cutter itself against damage during such use.

Many additional objects including details of construction will be made clear'or become apparent as the following specification progresses, reference being had to the accompanying drawing therein:

Figure l is a top'plan view of a combination tubesplitting and constricting tool made pursuant to my present invention.

Fig. 2 is a substantiallycentral, vertical, sectional Walls 14 and 16 of the body 2,695,667 Patented Now 30, 1954' view taken on line IlII of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is an end view with the chain cutter entirely Fig. 6 is an enlarged, fragmentary, detailed, cross-.

sectional View taken online VI- -VI of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 7 is an enlarged, fragmentary, detailed, crosssectional View taken on line VIIVII of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows.

A hollow body broadly designated by the numeral 10 illustrated in the drawing serves not only'as a support for all of the operating mechanism of the tool about to be described, but is adapted to receive one end of a tube 12 to be split and/ or held in position thereby, all as will hereinafter be made clear.

Body 10 includes a pair of opposed side walls 14 and 16, opposed end walls 18 and 20, a top Wall 22 and a bottom wall 24. The interior of the body 10 is preferably rendered accessible by making the wall 16 in the nature of a removable plate held in place by a plurality Bracket 32 is provided with opposed U-shaped channel portions 34 for slidably receiving the flanges 28 and the extent of movement of the body 10 in one direction with respect to the bracket'32 is limited by an up-turned stop 36 on the bracket 32. Bracket 32 is in turn rigidly mounted to a support 39 by screws or the like 38.

An elongated shaft 46 is rotatably mounted within 10 and extends outwardly beyond the wall 16 to receive a manually operable crankarm 42. A worm 44 within the body 10 between walls 14 and 16 is rigidly secured to the shaft 40 for rotation therewith upon manipulation of the handle 42. Similarly, the walls 18 and 20 rotatably receive an elongated shaft 46 below the worm 44 and adapted for rotation on an axis transverse to the axis of rotation of shaft 40. The shaft 46 carries a gear 48 in meshing relationship to the worm 44 together with a sprocket wheel 50 that is adapted to receive an elongated chain 52.

The wall 14 of body 10 is provided with an opening 54 near the top wall 22 thereof having much the same shape as a keyhole slot and in the present form of my invention such slot 54 for clearing chain 52 and a cutter 56 thereon is formed within an insert 58 in wall 14. The provision of insert 58 permits formation of the major part of body 10 out of relatively inexpensive material and it is contemplated that the insert 58 itself be of a more rigid substance having a high tensile strength. However, in lieu of such construction, the entire body 10 may be made of a material that will withstand the abuse the tool may undergo during use.

The form and construction of the cutter 56 is of extreme importance and to this extent the same is substantially U-shaped presenting a long leg 60 and a relatively short leg 62. The leg 60' is preferably clamped between a pair of elongated bars 64 that are in turn joined to the chain 52 at one end thereof with the leg 62 and the bight of the cutter 56 extending above the uppermost faces ofthe bars 64. Likewise, bars 64 are joined by a transverse pin 66 that may also extend through the cutter 56 as illustrated in Fig. 7. The particular and highly important cross-sectional contour of the cutter 56 is adequately illustrated in Fig. 7'of the drawing and it is specially important that the same have the tear-drop cross-sectional configuration shown at the bight thereof with that edge of the cutter 56 which cuts the tube 12 rounded and the trailing edge of the cutter 56 tapered to a relatively sharp, upright edge. With such configuration of the cutter 56, the opening 54 within wall 14 or insert 58 as the case may be, formed as illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawing, the lower portion of such opening 54 will adequately clearthe chain 52 during operation of the tool and the upper elliptical portion of the opening 54 will receive the cutter 56. In order to obviate possible breakage of the cutter 56 as the same approaches the body 10, the opening 54 should be beveled outwardly throughout its periphery as at 68.

An elongated, vertical slot 70 formed centrally in the wall 14 immediately below the insert 58, is provided with a number of transverse slots 72 and stop means 74 is provided on the inner face of wall 14 for each slot 72 respectively slightly spaced therebelow for use when the device is utilized in the manner illustrated in Fig. 4 and as will hereinafter be fully set forth. The chain 52 is normally held in operative engagement with the sprocket wheel 50 on shaft 46 by its inherent weight since wall 16 is provided with a vertical slot 76 for receiving the chain 52 and permitting the latter to depend from the sprocket 50 in the manner shown in Figs. 2 and 4. In order to positively assure that the chain 52 will not become entangled with any parts of the device and particularly to obviate any possibility of the chain wrapping around the sprocket 50, wall 16 is provided with an in-turned, inclined tab 78 within slot 76 that in turn receives a substantially L-shaped guide 80 that extends upwardly at an angle from the tab 78 to which it is attached and over the shaft 46 in underlying relationship to the horizontal stretch of the chain 52.

The elongated, plate-like guide 80 is bifurcated at its uppermost end (not shown) to clear the sprocket wheel 50., The openings 54 and 76 for clearing chain 52 are sufliciently large to permit disengagement of chain 52 with respect to sprocket wheel 50 by lifting the same therefrom and thereby permitting movement of the cutter 56 away from the body without necessitating the manipulation of crank-arm 42. Opening 54 however, should be sufficiently restrictive to prevent immersion of chain 52 or other angular displacement thereof relative to sprocket wheel 50.

Accordingly, such chain movement operation constitutes the first step of forming a longitudinal split 82 in tube 12. The operator thereupon places one end of the tube 12 against the Wall 14 and hooks the cutter 56 over the opposite end of the tube 12. If desired, an indicating line may be formed on the tube 12 to serve as a guide for positioning the tube 12 with respect to the vertical center of opening 54 and the cutter 56. After cutter 56 has thus been hooked over the outer end of tube 12, turning of the handle 42 brings the tube 12 into tight engagement with the wall 14 of body 10 and as handle 42 is further manipulated in one direction, cutter 56 will be advanced toward the wall 14 and a smooth, straight out 82 will be formed in tube 12. It is clear that rotation of shaft imparts like movement to the worm 44 which rotates gear 48 and thus sprocket wheel 50, to manipulate chain 52. As the cutter 56 is advanced toward the body 10, the chain 52 will be guided downwardly by gravity along the guide 80 and through the slot 76 of wall 16. As soon as the cutter 56 approaches the body 10, it will pass into the opening 54 until stop pin 66 strikes wall 14 and the cut 82 is completed throughout the longitudinal length of tube 12. If for any reason the tube 12 becomes slightly displaced so that cutter 56 is not guided directly into the center of opening 54, the beveled edge 68 of the slot 54 will guide the cutter 56 into the body 10 and thereby eliminate breakage of the cutter 56.

It is oftentimes desirable to clamp the tube 12 in place in vise-like fashion in the manner illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings. For instance, when the tube 12 to be used as a cable splice has a diameter larger than necessary, it is possible through use of the cutter 56 to remove a portion of the tube 12 by forming two longitudinal cuts therein and thereby presenting a relatively large slot 84 as shown in Fig. 4. Thereupon the tube 12 may be placed against the wall 14 in transverse relationship thereto and the chain 52 wrapped therearound after placing the cutter 56 almost entirely within the body 10. Cutter 56 will pass through the slot 70 and one of the transverse slots 72 will clear the pin 66. Pin 66 thereupon falls downwardly within the body 10 along the inner face of wall 14 and will come to rest upon the proximal stop 74, all as clearly shown in Fig. 4 of the drawing.

'With the tube 12 in the position illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawing, manipulation of crank-arm 42 to impart advancingaction. to the chain 52, will clamp the tube 12 in place against wall 14 and draw the edges forming slot 84 together, and thereby reform the tube 12 with a smaller diameter while maintaining its cylindrical crosssectional contour.

It is important to note that during the use of the tool in the manner shown in Fig. 4 of the drawing, the cutter 56 is adequately protected against damage by virtue of the fact that it is entirely disposed within the body 10. It is also clear that either of the slots 72 may be used depending upon the initial diameter of tube 12. Accordingly, the tube may be used alternately as a splitting device and as a means for constricting the tube and is adapted for use with tubes of varying lengths and varying diameters.

Referring again to the particular cross-sectional contour of the cutter 56 as shown in Fig. 7 of the drawing, the rounded leading edge of the bight thereof operating in combination with the relatively sharp trailing edge, presents a smooth straight out and eliminates binding that is inherently present in elongated tubes and which takestplace during longitudinal cutting thereof particularly when the tubes are formed of lead.

It is now clear to those skilled in the art that all of the disadvantages of present methods of splitting tubes and holding the same in a position for additional operations thereon are eliminated through use of the combination tool above described and that the entire device is inexpensive to manufacture and capable of long life over continued use.

Accordingly, while the above description was necessarily limited to use of the tool in the field of splicing tubes, it is also apparent that the same may be adapted for other uses, all within the spirit of the present invention. It is accordingly manifest that it is desired to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A hand tool for severing tubes longitudinally thereof, said tool comprising a support having a side wall provided with an opening; a sprocket wheel on one side of said side wall; an elongated chain trained around said sprocket wheel and extending through said opening, said chain having a cutter on one end thereof engageable with one end of a tube to be severed upon extending the chain through the tube and when the opposite end of the tube is hearing against said side wall; means rotatably mounting the sprocket wheel on the support for drawing the cutter toward said side wall upon rotation of the sprocket wheel in one direction, said cutter being hookshaped, presenting a fing'er overlapping the tube exteriorly thereof whereby to cooperate with the side wall in providing a sole support for the tube as the sprocket wheel is rotated to draw upon the cutter and force the tube tightly against the side wall, and to hold the cutter and the chain against radial movement inwardly relative to the tube as the cutter moves toward the side wall; and structure carried by the support, operably connected with the sprocket wheel and including a manually manipulable member for rotating the sprocket wheel.

2. A hand tool as set forth in claim 1, wherein is provided a cross-pin carried by the cutter within the tube for engagement therewith to guide the cutter along a rectilinear path of travel and against tilting whereby the line of severance is radial with respect to the tube.

3. A hand tool as set forth in claim 2, wherein said opening is disposed to receive the finger and the side wall is disposed for engagement by the cross-pin when the same has been drawn to said opposite end of the tube whereby the tube is severed throughout its length and the cutter is held from engagement with the support, the sprocket wheel and said structure.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 658,474 Sparks Sept. 25, 1900 700,118 Hathorn May 13, 1902 1,006,574 Lorenz Oct. 24, 1911 1,555,391 Surfus Sept. 29, 1925 2,010,308 Leonard Aug. 6, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 10,013 0 Great Britain May 12, 1899

Images