Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
1~95S
CLIP FOR SECURING HOSEPIPES AMD OTElE~ ~TICLES
This inven-tion relates to a clip and more particularly
to a hose clip for securiny hosepipes and other ar-ticles.
A releasable clip is described in 3ritish Patent Speci
fication No. 1 600 601 which clip comprises a band for en-
circling the hose or other article to be secured, the band
carrying complementary coupling elements of a ratchet coupl-
ing for connecti.ng ends of the band and drawing them together
to contract the clip, the coupling elements consisting of
a serrated tongue on one end of the band and a pair of ser-
rated jaws on the other end of the band, which jaws define
a jaw mouth through which the tongue is insertible in its
longitudinal direction tip first into the jaws, the tongue
having serrations on opposite sides thereof adapted to inter-
lock with the serrations of the jaws respectively and thereby
form a double bond holding the inserted tongue to prevent
withdrawal movement thereof in its longitudinal direction,
the tongue and jaws being movable relative to each other
sideways such that the inserted tongue is disengageable side-
ways from the jaws to release the clip. The coupling ele-
ments or either of them such as particularly the jaws element,
will possess sufficient inherent resilient yieldability to
allow the tips of the serrations to pass over one another to
enable the serrations to be brought into interlocking relation.
According to the present invention a clip for securing
an article comprises a first generally flat member having a
first coupling element of male or female serrated form; a
second generally flat member having a second coupling element,
the second coupling element being of female form when the first
coupling element is of male form and the second coupling
element being of male form when the first coupling element
is of female form; the male coupling element having a longi-
tudinal axis; the first and second members each being provided
with a respective shaped clamping portion for receiving and
at least partially encompassing a said article; the first and
second coupling elements being inter-engageable with one an-
other in a ratchet-like manner when the first and second
members are juxtaposed and pushed together in a direction
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along the longitudinal axis of the male coupling element
so as to clamp an article between the clamping portions on
said first and second members; the female coupling element
having open sides so that the sa:id article is releasable by
movement of the first and second members rela-tively to one
another in a direction perpendic~lar to -the longitudinal
axis of the male coupling element.
Embodiments of the invention will be described, merely
by way of example, with reference to the accompanying draw-
ings, wherein:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodi-
ment of the present invention;
Figure 2 is an end view of one-half of another preferred
embodiment of the present invention; and
Figure 3 is an end view of a third embodiment of the
present invention.
Referring now to Figure 1, a clip comprises a first
member A and a second identical member B, each member being
moulded in one-piece from a plastics material. -
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The member A has first and second spaced apart coupling
elements lla and 12a, the element lla being of male serrated
form and the element 12a being of female serrated form. There
is a first clamping portion 13a betw0en the coupling elements
S lla and 12a and further clamping portions 14a and lSa outboard
of the coupling elements lla and 12a respectively. There is a
slit 16a formed adjacent the female serrated element 12a to render
the side wall 17a of the element 12a flexible and thus to facilitate
~he ratchet-like insertion of the associated male serrated element
10 llb of the member B.
As stated earlier, the member B is identical with the
member A, the corresponding elements and portions being marked
with the same reference numerals as member A but with the suffix
b instead of a.
The clip of Figure 1 is designed to clamp three elong-
ate members (e.g.fuel lines for a diesel engine, tubes, wires
or hoses) between the three pairs of clamping portions 13a, 13b;
14a, 14b; and lSa, 15b.
The clip can either be free-floating on the elongate
20 members it is clamping together or can be secured to a support.
The method of securing can take a variety of forms from
a screw, bolt or rivet through the body of either member
A or B or by means of a mounting bracket to which either
member A or B is itself secured.
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The two members A and B of the clip are separated and
one, say A, i9 placed adjacent to the article to be clamped
50 that the article is in regi~ter with one or more of the
clamping portions 13, 14 and 15. The sther member B of
5 the clip is then positioned so that its male and female
coupling ele~ents llb and 12b reepectively are in register
with the female and male coupling elements 12a and lla
respectively oi the member A.
The two halve~ A and B of the clip are then pushed
o together, either manually or with the aid of a tool, to
cause the male coupling elements lla and llb to move in a
ratchet-like manner into the female coupling elements 12b
and l~a respectively until juxtaposed clamping portions
13a, 13b; 14a, 14b; and 15a, 15b have clamped the said
15 article or articles therebetween.
To release the clip the two members A and B are slid
sideways (i.e. perpendicular to the direction of pushing
together) with respect to one another so that the inter-
engaging teeth on the interengaging pairs o~ male and
20 female coupling elements slide out of engagement with one
another.
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Variations can be made to the configuration o-t the
clip illustrated in Figure 1 including :
a) a reduction ~rom three to two or or.e ln the number
of clamping zones, or an increase above three to any
number desired;
b) an increase from two in the number o~ pairs of
interengaging male and female coupling elements in
association with the increase i~ a);
c) changes in the shape(s) o~ the clamping portion~
dependent upon the cross-sectional shape of the
article to be clamped;
d) a change in the relative positions o~ the coupling
elements and clamping portions, as shown in Figure 2
where the same reference numerals have been used to
indicate the equivalent parts to those shown in
Figure 1, but increased by 10.
Figure 3 illustrates a third. embodiment of the
invention where the clip comprises a first member A which
has only one coupling element 31a oi male serrated ~orm
and a second member B which has only one coupling element
31b of female serrated form, the latter being formed by
two internally serrated, spaced apart and mutually ~acing
upstanding lugs.
The ~ember A has two channel-sectioned clamping
portions 33a snd 34a and the member B also has two channel-
sectioned clamping portions 33b and 34b. A slit 36b is
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formed on each side of the female serrated coupliny element
31_.
Making a clip in two parts as described in accordance
with the described embodiments of the present lnventlon has an a~van-
tage in facilitating fittiny of such c]ip around a hose orother article or articles to be secured, which facility is
especially useful in the cases of the smaller sizes of clip.
A further advantage in cases of clips furnished with two
sets of coupling elements (two ratchet couplings) as described
above is that the range of sizes (diameters) of hoses or
other articles which a given clip is capable of encircling
is substantially increased, and in effect practically doubled,
since the two ratchet couplings of such clip can be operated
independently of each other to control the number of serra-
tions of the coupling elements of each coupling which arebrought into interlocking engagement.
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