US3833969A

US3833969A - Circular hose clamp

Info

Publication number: US3833969A
Application number: US00392492A
Authority: US
Inventors: E Hollingsworth; L Storlie
Original assignee: Deco Products Co
Current assignee: Deco Products Co
Priority date: 1973-08-29
Filing date: 1973-08-29
Publication date: 1974-09-10
Anticipated expiration: 1991-09-10
Also published as: CA982327A

Abstract

An elongated strap is secured in a spiral form by a band. The band engages a shoulder formed at a first portion of the strap and a second end portion of the strap extends tangentially from the spiral at the band. Aligned apertures are formed in the band in alignment with one aperture formed in the strap adjacent the shoulder. This exposes, in the apertures, strap material from the other strap convolutions which is deformable to secure the clamp in a clamped condition.

Description

nited States aten ollingsworth et al.

[ Sept. 10, 1974 CIRCULAR HOSE CLAMP [75] Inventors: Elmont E. Hollingsworth, Winona,

Minn.; Llewellyn 0. Storlie, Decorah, Iowa 7 [73] Assignee: Deco Products Company, Winona,

[58] Field of Search 285/365; 24/20 R, 21, 22, 24/23 W, 20 W, 20 "IT, 20 CW, 20 LS, 23 R,

[56] References" Cited UNITED STATESPATENTS 190,641 5/1877 Stouffer' .l 24/23 W 193,946

8/1877 Hamilton 24/21 2,312,575 3/1943 McKee 24/23 W 2,727,720 12/1955 Barth 24/21 3,235,925 2/1966 Gerhardt et a]... 24/20 C W 3,588,965 6/1971 Terkel et al.... 24/23 W 3,754,303 8/1973 Pollock 24/23 W Primary Examiner-Donald A. Griffin Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Merchant, Gould, Smith & Edell 5 7 ABSTRACT An elongated strap is secured in a spiral form by a band. The band engages a shoulder formed at a first portion of the strap and a second end portion of the strap extends tangentially from the spiral at the band. Aligned apertures are formed in the band in alignment with one aperture formed in the strap adjacent the shoulder. This exposes, in the apertures, strap material from the other strap convolutions which is deformable to securethe clamp in a clamped condition.

12 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures s'msas PAIENIED sin 0am /5 Prlor Art /8 PIIOF Art 9 k w t 2% H, r. 53/ A m f w. n a w 1 CIRCULAR HOSE CLAMP BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. .Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to clamps and specifically to a spirally wound circular hose clamp.

2. Description of the Prior Art Prior art hose clamps of the above-character are disclosed in FIGS. 1-3 of the drawings. Each includes a spirally wound strap which is held in a spiral form by a transverse band or buckle. One end of the strap is anchored to the band by backfolding it over a portion of the band disposed interiorly of the spiral form. The outer end of the strap extends tangentially from thespiral form at the band. Normally, a tool is provided for imparting relative movement to the outer, tangentially extending end of the strap away from the band to cause clamping movements of the spiral form on a hose or the like and then, the portions of strap underlying the band are deformed to securethe clamp in a clamped condition. The clamps may also be secured by bending the outer end of the strap to extend generally radially from the spiral form to form a stop shoulder and then removing the excess strap.

The above clamps have become extremely popular for clamping operations. However, such priorart clamps have disadvantages which make clamping operations extremely difficult and which often result in either partial or complete failure of the clamp. By way of example, FIG. 1 illustrates a clamp wherein at-least four thicknesses of material must be deformed to adequately secure the clamp in a clamped condition. This, of course, requires relatively heavy deformation forces. Quite often such hose connections are not adequately supported to be able to withstand such forces. In addition, folding back the inner end of the strap to anchor the band, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, provides a protrustion interiorly of the clamp. Such a protrusion requires that a greater force be applied in order to achieve an effective clamping condition of the spiral form. Since the tool used in the clamping operation mediate portion of the strap is wound into a spiral form with the second end portion extending tangentially therefrom. An elongated band extends transversely of the longitudinal axis of the strap and is formed to engage the shoulder and secure the strap in the spiral form. Aligned apertures are formed in the band which are in alignment with the aperture in the strap throughout clamping movements of the spiral form to expose a minimum thickness of material to be deformed to secure the spiral form in a clamped condition. The first end portion of the strap adjacent the shoulder is disposed in juxtaposition with an adjacent convolution of the spirally formed intermediate portion to provide a nearly circular configuration to reduce the force necessary to effect a clamped condition.

. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring to the drawings wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the views:

FIG. 1 isa sectional view illustrating the construction of a prior art circular hose clamp;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating the construction of another prior art circular hose clamp;

FIG. 3 is'a fragmentary plan view of a securing band or buckle of the clamp of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view in perspective of a circular hose clamp constructed in accordance with the present invention, mounted on a hose; 4

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view as seen generally from the line 5-5 of FIG. 4; 7

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view in perspective of a portion of the clamps of FIGS. 4 and 5; and

must bear against the band to draw the spiral form tight, the bandoften becomes deformed or tears to render the clamp useless.

FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings illustrate a prior art force required to secure the clamp by reducing the a thickness of the material at the center of the band. However, this clamp-still presents four thicknesses of material to deform. This thickness is substantially equal to that of FIG. 1 and requires substantially equal force to deform. I

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a circular hose clamp including an elongated strap having a shoulder formed therein at the juncture of a first or inner end portion and an intermediate portion. An aperture is formed in the strap spaced from the shoulder in the direction of a second or outer end portion of the strap. The inter- FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary. sectional view similar to a portion of FIG. 5 illustrating an alternate embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring initially to FIGS. 1 3 of the drawings, two generally similar prior art devices are illustrated and are indicated by the reference numerals 10a, 10b. Inasmuch as the clamps 10a, 10b are generally similar in construction, like parts thereof will carry like numerals. As shown, each of the clamps 10a, 10b includes an elongated spirally wound strap 11 and a transversely extending band or buckle 12 which maintains the spirally wound strap 11 in its spiral form. The buckle 12 includes a portion 13 disposed exteriorly and a portion 14 disposed interiorly of the spiral form of the strap 11. The interior portion 14 has an opening 15 formed therein. An inner end of the strap 11 is bent back upon the interior portion 14 of the buckle 12 to anchor the buckle 12 with respect to the inner end portion 16. The outer end 17 of the strap 11 extends generally tangentially from the buckle l2 and the spiral form of the strap 11. The clamps 10a, 10b are shown as being positioned on a conduit 18 and a hose 19 telescopically received on the conduit 18.

Referring specifically to clamp 10a in FIG. 1, it is normally moved to a clamped position on the conduit 18 and hose 19 by use of a tool, not shown, but which is disclosed in US. Pat. No. 3,067,640, issued to V. Lodholm, Dec. 11, 1962. Briefly, the tool is engaged between the buckle l2 and the tangentially extending end 17 to move the tangential end in a direction away from the buckle l2 and to draw the spiral form into tight engagement with the hose 19. Thereafter, the end 17 may be bent to a position wherein it extends radially from the hose clamp a and then excess material is completely removed as disclosed in the above patent. As shown in FIG. 1, anchoring the band 12 by the inner end portion 16 results in a projection which protrudes into the hose 19. Thus, a greater force must be exerted between the buckle l2 and outer end portion 17 to effect a seal in this area. As it is desirable to limit this projection to a minimum, the thickness of the material forming the buckle 12 must also be held to a minimum. Consequently, the force applied between the buckle l2 and outer end portion 17 often deforms or tears the material of the buckle 12, causing failure of the clamp 10a.

An alternate method of securing the clamp 10a in its clamped condition is through the use of a center punch or the like 20. The punch-20 deforms the exterior portion 13 of buckle 12 and underlying portions of the strap 11, causing the deformed portions to protrude into the recess formed by the opening 15. Due to the particular construction of the clamp 10a, it can be seen that at least four thicknesses of material must be deformed to adequately secure the clamp in its clamped position. This, of course, requires that relatively heavy blows be applied to the punch with a hammer, or the application of considerable force by some other tool. Often, the lack of backing for the hose 19 and clamp 10a, or space restrictions, prevent such forces from being delivered.

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate a prior art clamp 10b which was designed to overcome the problem of the buckle 12 being deformed or otherwise damaged during clamping operations by increasing the thickness of the material in the buckle 12. This increased the strength of the buckle 12 but also increased the size of the protrusion into the hose 19 and the combined thickness of the portions which are to be deformed to protrude into the opening 15. An attempt to reduce the force necessary to accomplish such deformation was made by reducing the thickness of the exterior portion 13 of the buckle 12, as at 21. However, this did little to reduce the force necessary to deform the strap 11 as compared to that required to deform the structure of FIG. 1.

The present invention, indicated generally at 25, is constructed to eliminate the problems described above. An elongated strap 26, having an intermediate portion 27 and first and

second end portions

28 and 29, is provided. A shoulder 30 is formed in the strap 26 at the juncture of first end portion 28 and the intermediate portion 27. An aperture 31 is formed in the strap 26 and is spaced from the shoulder 30 in the direction of the other or second end portion 29. The intermediate portion 27 is wound upon itself into a spiral form with first end portion 28 being the inner end of the spiral. The second end portion 29 extends tangentially from the spiral as shown in FIG. 5.

Retainer means in the nature of an elongated band 33 maintain the intermediate portion 27 in its spiral form. The band 33 extends transversely of the longitudinal axis of the strap 26 and includes portions disposed exteriorly and interiorly of the spiral form which are indicated respectively by the

numerals

34, 35. The interior portion 35 is normally in engagement with the shoulder 30 as shown in FIG. 5. The exterior and

interior portions

34, 35 have aligned apertures 36, 37 respectively formed therein. The aligned apertures 36, 37 are positioned in alignment with the aperture 31 in the strap 26 throughout clamping movements of the spirally wound intermediate portion 27 as long as the interior portion 35 remains in engagement with the shoulder 30.

To overcome the problem of deformation or tearing of the band 33 during clamping operations of the clamp 25, the band 33 is constructed from a material which has a thickness dimension substantially greater than that of the strap 26 and greater than that of the buckle 12 of the clamp 10a illustrated in FIG. I. This increased thickness of the band 33 is compensated for by positioning the first end portion 28 circumferentially of the band 33 in juxtaposition with an adjacent convolution of the spiral form. This reduces the size of the inwardly projecting portion, as compared to the buckle l2 and end portion 16 of the prior art and results in a more nearly circular configuration of the clamp 25. Typically, clamps of the present invention have either two or three thicknesses of strap material disposed between the exterior and

interior portions

34, 35 of the band 33. In either case, providing aligned

apertures

31, 36 and 37 in the strap 26 and band 33, respectively, assures that only two thicknesses of strap material will be exposed in alignment with the

apertures

31, 36 and 37 through all clamping movements of the spirally wound intermediate portion 27 regardless of the size of the hose 39 and conduit 40 on which the clamp is mounted. The structure of the present invention provides an enlarged cavity formed by the combined apertures 31, 37 into which the two thicknesses of material may be deformed with an expenditure of much less force than heretofore possible. In addition, the more nearly circular configuration of the clamp 25 requires the application of less force between the buckle 33 and the end 29 to move the spiral form into sufficient clamping engagement with the hose 39 and conduit 40. The increased thickness of the material forming the band 33 provides structure which is sufficiently durable to withstand such forces. In FIG. 7 of the drawings, an alternate embodiment of the clamp 25 is illustrated and is generally indicated by the reference numeral 25'. Clamp 25 is generally similar to clamp 25 and like parts thereof will carry like numerals with a prime mark added. As shown, Clamp 25' differs from clamp 25 in that the first end portion 28' of strap 26' is folded backwardly upon itself as at 45. Backfolding the first end portion 28' causes the free end thereof to be moved into a position wherein it can form the shoulder 30. The shoulder 30', like shoulder 30 of clamp 25, is engageable by the interior portion 35 of band 33' to maintain the

apertures

31, 36 and 37 in alignment throughout clamping movements of the spirally wound intermediate portion 27'. The above-described clamp 25 provides structure which overcomes the objections heretofore described as being present in the prior art clamps illustrated in FIG. l-3 of the drawings.

We claim:

1. A circular hose clamp comprising:

a. an elongated strap having an intermediate portion and first and second end portions;

b. a shoulder formed by said strap at the juncture of said first end portion and said intermediate portion;

0. said intermediate portion being wound upon itself into a spiral form and having a plurality of convolutions, with said first end portion inside the spiral and with said second end portion extending tangentially therefrom;

d. retainer means engageable with said shoulder and maintaining said intermediate portion in said spiral form so that relative movements of said second end portion away from said retainer means imparts clamping movements to said intermediate portion; and

e. said first end portion being disposed circumferentially from said retainer means in juxtaposition with an adjacent convolution of said'spiral form.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said retainer means is an elongated band extending transversely of the longitudinal axis of said strap and including portions disposed exteriorly and interiorly of said spiral form, said interior portion being in engagement with said shoulder.

3. The structure of claim 2 wherein said band has a thickness dimension substantially greater than that of said strap.

4. The structure of claim 2 in which said exterior portion of said band has an aperture formed generally cen trally therein.

5. The structure of claim 4 wherein said interior portion of said band has an aperture formed therein in alignment with said aperture in said exterior portion whereby thicknesses of strap material exposed in alignment with said aperture in said exterior portion can be deformed into said aperture in said interior portion.

6. The structure of claim 4 wherein said strap has an aperture formed therein, said aperture being spaced from said shoulder in the direction of said second end portion whereby said aperture in said strap is in alignment with said aperture in said exterior portion throughout clamping movements of said intermediate portion when said band is in engagement with said shoulder.

7. The structure of claim 5 wherein said strap has an aperture formed therein, said aperture being spaced from said shoulder in the direction of said second end portion whereby said aperture in said strap is in alignment with said apertures in said exterior and interior portions throughout clamping movements of said intermediate portion when said interior portion is in engagement with said shoulder.

8. The structure of claim 7 wherein said intermediate portion is wound upon itself to form at least three thicknesses of strap material at said band, wherein two thicknesses of strap material are exposed in alignment with said apertures in said strap and band and wherein said two thicknesses are deformable to protrude into said apertures in said strap and interior portion of said band to lock said circular hose clamp in a clamped condition.

9. The structure of claim 1 wherein said first end portion is folded backwardly upon itself and in which the free end of said first end portion forms said shoulder.

10. A circular hose clamp comprising:

c. said intermediate portion being wound upon itself into a spiral form and having a plurality of convolutions, with said first end portion inside the spiral and with said end portion extending tangentially therefrom;

d. retainer means engageable with said shoulder and maintaining said intermediate portion in said spiral form so that relative movements of said second end portion away from said retainer means imparts clamping movements to said intermediate portions; and

6. said strap having an aperture formed therein, said aperture being spaced from said shoulder in the direction of said second end portion and positioned to underlie said retainer means.

11. The structure of claim 10 wherein said retainer means is an elongated band extending transversely of the longitudinal axis of said strap and includes portions disposed exteriorly and interiorly of said spiral form, and wherein said interior and exterior portions have apertures formed generally centrally therein.

12. A circular hose clamp comprising:

c. said intermediate portion being wound upon itself into a spiral form and having a plurality of convolutions, with said first end portion inside the spiral and with said second end portion extending tangentially therefrom;

. said retainer means being an elongated band extending transversely of the longitudinal axis of said strap and including portions disposed exteriorly and interiorly of said spiral form, said interior portion being in engagement with said shoulder and said exterior portion having a generally centrally disposed opening formed therein, said opening being sufficiently large to accommodate a punchingtool.

Claims

1. A circular hose clamp comprising: a. an elongated strap having an intermediate portion and first and second end portions; b. a shoulder formed by said strap at the juncture of said first end portion and said intermediate portion; c. said intermediate portion being wound upon itself into a spiral form and having a plurality of convolutions, with said first end portion inside the spiral and with said second end portion extending tangentially therefrom; d. retainer means engageable with said shoulder and maintaining said intermediate portion in said spiral form so that relative movements of said second end portion away from said retainer means imparts clamping movements to said intermediate portion; and e. said first end portion being disposed circumferentially from said retainer means in juxtaposition with an adjacent convolution of said spiral form.

4. The structure of claim 2 in which said exterior portion of said band has an aperture formed generally centrally therein.

10. A circular hose clamp comprising: a. an elongated strap having an intermediate portion and first and second end portions; b. a shoulder formed by said strap at the juncture of said first end portion and said intermediate portion; c. said intermediate portion being wound upon itself into a spiral form and having a plurality of convolutions, with said first end portion inside the spiral and with said end portion extending tangentially therefrom; d. retainer means engageable with said shoulder and maintaining said intermediate portion in said spiral form so that relative movements of said second end portion away from said retainer means imparts clamping movements to said intermediate portions; and e. said strap having an aperture formed therein, said aperture being spaced from said shoulder in the direction of said second end portion and positioned to underlie said retainer means.

12. A circular hose clamp comprising: a. an elongated strap having an intermediate portion and first and second end portions; b. a shoulder formed by said strap at the juncture of said first end portion and said intermediate portion; c. said intermediate portion being wound upon itself into a spiral form and having a plurality of convolutions, with said first end portion inside the spiral and with said second end portion extending tangentially therefrom; d. retainer means engageable with said shoulder and maintaining said intermediate portion in said spiral form so that relative movements of said second end portion away from said retainer means imparts clamping movements to said intermediate portion; and e. said retainer means being an elongated band extending transversely of the longitudinal axis of said strap and including portions disposed exteriorly and interiorly of said spiral form, said interior portion being in engagement with said shoulder and said exterior portion having a generally centrally disposed opening formed therein, said opening being sufficiently large to accommodate a punching tool.