US3256891A

US3256891A - Pipe bowl reamer

Info

Publication number: US3256891A
Application number: US329701A
Authority: US
Inventors: Paul J Katt
Original assignee: NEW PRODUCTS ENTERPRISES
Current assignee: NEW PRODUCTS ENTERPRISES
Priority date: 1963-12-11
Filing date: 1963-12-11
Publication date: 1966-06-21
Anticipated expiration: 1983-06-21

Description

June 21, 1966 P. J. KATT 3,256,891

PIPE BOWL REAMER Filed Dec. 11, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. PAUL J. KATT ATTORNEY June 21, 1966 P. J. KATT PIPE BOWL REAMER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 11, 1963 IN VENTOR *0 J L w P 3,256,891 PIPE BOWL REAMER Paul J. Katt, Sun Prairie, Wis, assignor to New Products Enterprises, Sun Prairie, Wis, a corporation of Wiscousin Filed Dec. 11, 1963, Ser. No. 329,701 2 Claims. (Cl. 131-246) This invention relates to a pipe bowl cleaner or reamer and more particularly to such a device comprising two interlaced loops of spring steel.

The invention represents an improvement upon the de vices shown and described in United States Patents 867,- 885, 1,117,236 and 2,086,738.

It is an object of the device to provide an improved pipe bowl cleaner or reamer.

It is another object to provide such a reamer or cleaner in which two loops of spring steel are provided and wherein the respective lengths and the respective'widths ofthe loops may be varied at will.

Other objects will become apparent from the drawings and from the following detailed description in which it is intended to illustrate the applicability of the invention without thereby limiting its scope to less than that at all equivalents which will be apparent to one skilled in the art, In the drawings like reference numerals refer to like parts and:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on the longi tudinal axis of the embodiment of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on lines 33 in FIGURE 2 with

parts

2 and 3 omitted;

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view of a modification of an embodiment of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional view of the device of the invention in use in a pipe bowl in one manner;

FIGURE 6 is a cross-sectional view of the device of the invention in use in the pipe bowl in another manner;

FIGURE 7 is a cross-sectional view showing another manner of use.

Referring now to FIGURES 1, 2 and 3, the device indicated generally as 1 comprises

elongated loops

2 and 3 of spring steel interlaced or interlocked so that their outer or lower ends at 4 and 5 are near each other or may be in contact with each other. The ends 2' and 3' respectively of

loops

2 and 3 are received in outer handle member 6 and are provided respectively with outwardly extending portions 8 and 9 which are received on shoulder portions 10 of handle member 6. Handle member 6 is prefenably made of synthetic resin such as polyethylene, polystyrene, cellulose acetate or the like, and at its lower end, i.e., the end 13

nearest loop tips

4 and 5, it is provided with an opening indicated as 11 through which

loops

2 and 3 pass. Opening 11 is preferably square or rectangular near shoulder 10 as shown, and is provided with ramps 12 which guide extending portions 8 and 9 into place as the loops are inserted into member 6 so that at the end 13 of member 6 opening 11 has a cuneiform shape as shown, whereby rotation of

loops

2 and 3 with respect to the handle is prevented.

Adjacent end 13 there is provided, as a critical element of the invention, metal member 14 wihch may have any suitable shape such as that of a circle or polygon at its outer periphery 15 and which engages the outer surfaces of loops 2 anad 3 at its inner periphery 16 which may be circular in form but is preferably square or is cuneiform and of the same size and shape as opening 11 in end 13. Member 14 is retained in place by the outward spring biasing action of the metal of

loops

2 and 3 and is thereby maintained adjacent to end 13 of member 6 except when In use.

vUnited States Patent 0 For use it is slidably moveable downward on 3,256,891 Patented June 21, 1966

ice blades

2 and 3 to cause the effective length and shape of blades or

loops

2 and 3 to be changed as described more fully hereinafter. If desired, the end of member 6 which is opposite end 13 may be solid, but if desired it may have an opening therein as shown into which there may be inserted member 18 which may be held in place by adhesive 19. The outer end 20 of member 18 may be spheroidal as shown for the sake of appearance or may have any other decorative form desired.

Referring now to FIGURE 4, there is shown a modification wherein blades or loops 2' and 3 and member 14 are like those'of the embodiment of FIGURES 1 to 3, and wherein end 13 of handle member 33 may have ramps 12 and opening 11 of cuneiform shape, just as in the embodiments of FIGURES 1, 2 and 3. The other end of handle member 26 may have a different form and may be provided with internal threads 27 into which there may be threadedly inserted and engaged top member 28 which may have a lower end 29 which extends downwardly into nearly abutting or engaging relation with extending portions 8 and 9 to hold

blades

2 and 3 into place and prevent upward displacement past end '29 of portions 8 and 9 when pressure is exerted against

loops

2 and 3, for example, at

tips

4 and 5.

Advantages and operation The lengths of the loops are slightly different and the shapes of the loops therefore differ slightly by reason of

ends

4 and 5 not being quite, the same distance from

handle meniber

6 or 27. The device therefore readily conforms to a wide variety of shapes of pipe bowls.

Thus, the action of tip 5 of loop 2 may be utilized to clean the bottom of a pipe bowl while the sides of loop 3 clean the sides of the bowl and the portion of loop 3 at tip 4 is substantially inactive.

The ends 2' and 3' of

loops

2 and 3 are adjacent each other as shown, and therefore the loops react more readily to downward pressure exerted on the handle member so that they more readily extend outward in their normal position as indicated by dotted lines 30 in FIG- URE 5 to the position indicated in solid lines at 31 in FIGURE 5 to clean the relatively large bowl of pipe 32 of FIGURE 5.

Such action is made possible by the structural characteristics of providing the device with the free ends of the loops adjacent each other and providing substantially fiat cross-sectional configuration of the strip of which the loops are made throughout, that is, an absence of reinforcement such as would prevent the loops from freely flexing and providing ramp portions 12 whereby torsional force may be applied to the loops over a long span by shoulders 12 of ramp portions 12 but the loops are allowed to flex in the manner indicated by dotted lines 33 in FIGURE 4 within the handle portion. Thus, a

portion of each loop is thoroughly gripped by the handle portion to exert force on

loops

2 and 3 in one direction and prevent fiexure of the loops in this direction while at the same time the same loop portions are only loosely held in a direction at to the first, to permit flexure of these loop portions in the direction necessary to provide the flexure indicated by lines 31 in FIGURE 5.

By sliding metal member 14 downward on the blades, the blade or loop shape may be changed from that shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 4 and indicated by dotted lines 40 in FIGURE 6 to a narrower shorter configuration as indicated by full lines 41 in FIGURE 6 whereby a relatively small bowl 43 of pipe 44 may be properly cleaned as shown in FIGURE 6.

By the combined use of downward pressure exerted on

handle member

6 or 27, and the operation of sliding meta-l member 14 downwardly on

blades

2 and 3. As shown in FIGURE 7, the blades may be caused to have the form shown in solid lines 51 instead of the form which they normally have as shown in dotted lines 52 so that the bottom portion of the cake which is formed inthe bowl by the use of a pipe such as pipe 53, is cut away only at the bottom portion indicated at 54 and cake 55 is left at the upper portion in order to leave a relatively small opening 56 at the top of the bowl. By thus keeping the top of the bowl narrow, ashes are prevented from falling from the pipe when it is used and it is made possible to more readily operate the pipe in a high Wind or even operate it upside down as in a rain.

Thus the device of the invention makes it possible to fully control the amount of cutting and the shape of cavity which is cut in a bowl with the device, in order to make possible the most efficient cleaner or reaming of pipe bowls of varying shapes and in order to make it possible to create cavities of various desired shapes within the cake which is formed Within the bowl of a pipe. It may thus be seen that the invention is broad in scope and includes such modifications as will be apparent to those skilled in the art and is to be limited only by the claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim: 1. A pipe bowl cleaner comprising a handle and two loops of spring steel,

said handle being provided with a socket, said socket being cross-shaped, said shape being provided by four grooves, each groove having two lateral walls, said loops each comprising two blades, each blade extending into said socket in said handle and having an end received in said handle, said blades beingreceived in said cross shaped socket, such that rotation of said handle causes similar rotation of each blade through pressure applied at one edge of each blade by a lateral wall of each of said grooves,

each end of each blade having a radially outwardly extending portion,

the blades being fixed in the handle at said end portions and supported only at said radially extending portions and only within the interior of the length of the handle,

said blades being merely braced at the portions of the blades adjacent the ends,

so that blades are received in said grooves to provide for unhindered radially inward movement of said blades in said grooves and adapted for opposite flexing of said blades at the p01- tions of the blades adjacent the ends with respect to the direction of flexing of the portions of the blades received most deeply in a pipe bowl.

2. The device of claim 1 provided with a washer slidable on said loops to change the configuration of said loops, said washer having a central aperture for receiving said blades.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,510,499 10/ 1924 Pfabe 131--246 1,651,593 12/1927 Goldstein 131-246 2,086,738 7/1937 Possinger 131246 2,248,224 7/ 1941 Fernberg 24-213 2,703,428 3/ 1955 Redmond et al. 24-213 FOREIGN PATENTS 68,972 4/ 1949 Denmark.

9,119 6/ 1887 Great Britain. 581,612 10/ 1946 Great Britain.

SAMUEL KOREN, Primary Examiner.

JOSEPH S. REICH, Examiner.

Claims

1. A PIPE BOWL CLEANER COMPRISING A HANDLE AND TWO LOOPS OF SPRING STEEL, SAID HANDLE BEING PROVIDED WITH A SOCKET, SAID SOCKET BEING CROSS-SHAPED, SAID SHAPE BEING PROVIDED BY FOUR GROOVES, EACH GROOVE HAVING TWO LATERAL WALLS, SAID LOOPS EACH COMPRISING TWO BLADES, EACH BLADE EXTENDING INTO SAID SOCKET IN SAID HANDLE AND HAVING AN END RECEIVED IN SAID HANDLE, SAID BLADES BEING RECEIVED IN SAID CROSS SHAPED SOCKET, SUCH THAT ROTATION OF SAID HANDLE CAUSES SIMILAR ROTATION OF EACH BLADE THROUGH PRESSURE APPLIED AT ONE EDGE OF EACH BLADE BY A LATERAL WALL OF EACH OF SAID GROOVES, EACH END OF EACH BLADE HAVING A RADIALLY OUTWARDLY EXTENDING PORTION, THE BLADES BEING FIXED IN THE HANDLE AT SAID END PORTIONS AND SUPPORTED ONLY AT SAID RADIALLY EXTENDING PORTIONS AND ONLY WITHIN THE INTERIOR OF THE LENGTH OF THE HANDLE, SAID BLADES BEING MERELY BRACED AT THE PORTIONS OF THE BLADES ADJACENT THE ENDS, SO THAT BLADES ARE RECEIVED IN SAID GROOVES TO PROVIDE FOR UNHINDERED RADIALLY INWAND MOVEMNT OF SAID BLADES IN SAID GROOVES AND ADAPTED FOR OPPOSITE FLEXING OF SAID BLADES AT THE PORTIONS OF THE BLADES ADJACENT THE ENDS WITH RESPECT TO THE DIRECTION OF FLEXING OF THE PORTIONS OF THE BLADES RECEIVED MOST DEEPLY IN A PIPE BOWL.