Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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The present invention relates to a female
element for quick-coupling connection for flexible pipes.
The conventional technique for elements of this
kind is that the basic tubular body intended to receive
the male element o~ the connection has associated thereto
three pieces destined to cooperate with each other in
order to realize a releasable coupling between he two
male and female elements. ~ first piece substantially
consists of a pair of teeth which pass through lateral
diametrally opposed windows of the tubular body of the
female element, a second piece consists of a retaining
ring which retains said teeth radially and is axially
slidingly mounted on said tubular body, and the third
piece consists of a helical spring which is in turn mounted
on said tubular body with the purpose of resiliently hold-
ing said ring in a rest position in which the same ring
forces said teeth to protrude within said tubular body in
suitable position for locking engagement with a male ele-
ment possibly introduced into the female element.
Such a conventional technique has the drawback
of requiring rather long and difficult assembling opera
tions, which cause too hign production costs. Moreover, it
should be noted that not only during the extraction of the
male element but also during the insertion thereof it is
necessary to move the retaining ring manually from the
rest position in order to allow the
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teeth to go out of the internal space of the -tubular
body of the femal.e.element; this is an operational
complication which is r.a-ther bothersome for the user.
According to .some more recent solutions, the
manufacturers have tried to combine variously the
functions oE the three conventional pieces in order to
reduce the number of the pieces and consequen-tly to
facilitate, at least in the expectations, the assembling
operations. The attempts made up to now, however, have
not produced satisfactory results, since -the assembling
operations have remained finally ra-ther complica-ted and
a high increase of cost has sometimes been noticed. This
is the case of a connection element of recent production,
in which the retaining ring directly includes the
locking teeth and further performs the functions of
thrusting means; to this end, the retaining ring must
be made with a special material wi-th good resilient
properties (in particular, acetalic resin) and is
therefore very expensive.
The object of the present invention is to realize
a female element for quick-coupling connection for
flexible pipes, which is of low cost and easy assembling
and obviously capable of perfect operation, particularly
allowing the insertion and the locking of the male
element without any necessity of handling previously
the retaining ring.
The present invention, as herein broadly claimed,
is a female coupling for a quick-coupling connection
comprising: a stiff tubular body having a bore adapted to
receive a male element of the connection and having two
windows therein at diametrically opposite locations; a
retaining ring concentric with and surrounding said tubular
body and means retaining said ring on said body, said ring
being axially movable relative to said body; and
positioned in a space between said tubular body and said
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retaining ring, a single-piece connectlon element for
selectively locking a male element in the bore of said
tubuIar body and releasing the male element from said
bore, said connection element including first and second
semi-circular connector portions each havinc~ two opposite
ends each of which is adjacent an end of the other semi-
circular portion, said semi-circuIar portions facing each
other and together surrounding said tubuIar body so as to
be coaxial with the axis oE said tubular body, each con-
nector por-tion including intermediate its ends at least
one tooth which projects radially inward into a cox-
responding window in said tubular body for engagement
with and disengagement from a recess in the male element
of the connection, said connection element further
including two resilient spring portions disposed axially
adjacent said semi-circular connector portions for
yieldably urging said teeth to protrude inside said
tubular body, each said resilient spring portion being
generally C-shaped and having opposite ends one of which
is integral with one end of said first connector portion
and -the other of which is integral wi-th the adjacent end
of said second connector portion, each spring portion
lying in a general.ly semi-circular plane so as to exhibit
a convex surface and having an axis transverse to the
axis of the two connector portions, said convex surfaces of
the two spring portions facing toward each other, said
tubular body having stop surfaces engaging said spring
portions and limiting axial movement thereof and said
~ retaining ring having surfaces engageable with said con-
30. nector portions to press said connector portions toward
said spring portions upon manual axial movement of said
retainer ring whereby said teeth are moved radially out-
ward against the bias of said spring portions.
The connection elemen-t according to -the
invention is very convenient as regards both the assembling
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simplicity and the cost. Since -the connection elemen-t
includes a single body whlch performs the functions of
the locking teeth:and the resilient -thrusting means and
is arranged in such a way as to surround the tubular body
of -the connection element, i-t appears in fact of very
easy assembling, because only one piece is to be
assembled in addition to the retaining ring and because
said piece remains autonomously in position once it has
been mounted and awaitiny the mounting of the retaining
ring. Since the latter is a separate piece exempt from
functions which require material and shape of
exceptional type, it is apparent,
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on the other hand~ that the retaining rin~ ~ay be con
structed in conventional manner, i.e. with very simple
shape and low cost material, and thus may maintain it
self at a very much limited level of cost. The whole
connection element may be relativel~ unexpen~ive~ in
particular, even considerin..~ the higher cost of the
single hody including the teeth and the resilient
means (which body i9 to be made of acetalic resin or
the like), it may be cheaper than the known connect-
ion element which combines only in the retainin~ rin~
all the functions which are conventionally performed
by the three pieces consistin~ of teeth, spring and -
ring. It should finally be noted -that, by giving
said sin.gle body suitable shape and capacity of re-
silient deformation, it become possi.ble to inser-t the
male element of the pipe connection into -the female
element without any necessity of handling the retai-
nin~ rin~, which is therefore used only for the relea
se.
The features of the ~resen-t invention will be made
more evident by the following detailed description
of a possible embodiment thereof, which is illustra-
ted by wav o:f example in the accompanying drawings,
in which:
Fi.s9 1 shows a connection element according to the
invention in lon~itudinal section alon~ the line I-I
of Fi~. 3;
Fig. 2 shows said connection element in longitudi~
nal section along the line II-II of Fi~. 3;
Fig. 3 shows said connection element in trasversal
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section alon.~ the line III-III of Fi~. 2;
Fi~. 4 shows said connection element in lon~itudi-
nal section as in Fi~ 2, durin~ the insertion of the
male element of the connection;
Fi~. 5 ~hows in perspective view the sin~,le body
which, in said connec-tion element, perf'orrns the douhle
function of locking teeth and resilient thrust means,
With re-ference to the drawin~s, there is illustra-
ted a female element 1 for quick-couplin~,~ connection
for flexible pipes. Said female element comprises a
tubular body ~ of stiff plastic material, which has
an open end (the upper end in Fi~s~ 1, 2 and 4~ for
receivin~ the male element 3 of the connection (illu-
strated in dash-dot lines in Fi~s~ 2 and 4~ and the
other end hydraulically controlled by a non-rettlrn
valve 4 and provided with a circular succession of
circumferentially spaced lon~itudinal reeds 5, on
which a flexible pipe can be mounted and locked by
means of a suitable locking nut which can be screwed
on a threated portion 6 of the tubular body 2.
On the receiving part (the upper part as seen in
Fi~,s. 1, 2 and ~ of the tubular body 2 there is moun
ted a sin,gle body 7 of resiliently flexible pla~tic
material (preferably acetalic resin), which is substan
tially formed by two semicircular thickened portions
8 havin~ their ends connected to each other by two
circular thinned portions 9 havini~ performed bendin.~
with convexity looking at the correspondin,.~ convexity
of the other thinned portion.
The described preordered confi.rruration of the sin
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gle body 7, particularly of the two resilien-tly flexible
thinned portions 9 thereof, allows the same single body
to remain resiliently grasped around the tubular body 2
without any necessity of additional holding members, once
the single body has been mounted on the stiff tubular body
2 by taking advantage of the separation existing between
the two thinned portions 9 and between the two -thickened
portions 8.
With the resiliently flexible single body 7 so
grasped around the stiff tubular body 2, two slanting
teeth 10 located at the center of the thickened portions
8 are resiliently urged to protrude, through respec-tive
diametrally opposed windows 11, inside the tubular body 2
in suitable position for the enyagement with corresponding
parallel circumferential grooves 12 and 13 of the male
element 3 for locking the latter in coupling position
(Fig. 2).
Around the receiving part of the stiff tubular
body 2 and the resiliently flexible body 7 there is finally
arranged in axially sliding manner a retaining ring 14,
which includes a pair of inner projections 15 abutting on
the semicircular thickened portions 8 of the flexible body
7. The latter thus urges the retaining ring 14 towards a
rest position, which is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 and
is defined by the abutment of further inner projections 16
of the ring on corresponding outer projections 17 of the
tubular body 2. With the ring 14 in said rest position,
the flexible body 7 also is at rest and its teeth 10 freely
protrude inside the tubular body ~ r:~ 2~
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In order to insert th0 male elernent 3 into the fe-
male element 1 it is sufficient to push axially the
male element without moving the ring 14. By so doin~,
firstl~ the end 18 of the male element 3 and -then an
annular projection 19, intermediate between the groo-
ves 12 and 13, of the ~ame male element meet with the
teeth 10 of the flexible body 7, thereby causing, as
a result of the separation of the two ~hickened port-
ions 89 firstly the radial movement of said teeth away
from one another up to the abutment on the inner wall
of the ring~ 14 and then, as a result of the slantin~
shape of the teeth 10, the rotation of the same about
the points of abutment on the ring 14 (~ig. 4)O Both
the end 18 and the annular projection 19 of the male
element are thus allowed to overcome the restriction
created by the two teeth 10, which finally snap in u-
nidirectional holding engagement into the annular ~roo
ve 13 of the same male element (~ig. 2)~ The latter
thus remains locked in coupled position.
For the release of the male elemen-t it is necessa
ry to move the ring 14 axially (downwards,lookin~ at
Figs. 1, 2 and 4) against the resilient reaction of
the flexible body 7, particularly of the thinned port
ions 9 thereof. With such a movement the inner pro-
jections 15 of the ring 14 move downwards the thicke_
ned portions 8 of the flexible body 7, causing a~ain
a radial movement o~ the ~eeth 10 away from one ano-
ther and a rotation thereof, in the same way as de-
scribed for the coupling operation. The teeth 10 thus
clear the entire inner cross-section of ths tubular
body 2 and the male element 3 can easily be extracted.
