Abstract:
A hydrant for use with a plumbing outlet pipe has a fluid passage passing from an inlet end to an outlet end and a retention body connected to the inlet end. A slip clutch adapted to contractibly receive the pipe and prevent reverse pipe movement therethrough is located within the retention body. The slip clutch comprises a retaining ring having a plurality of sloped spring fingers normally allowing pipe movement in a linkage-contracting direction but preventing reverse pipe movement.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention relates to faucet mechanisms, also known as hydrants, and more particularly to faucet mechanisms having a slip clutch assembly for connecting to an outlet pipe of a plumbing system. 
   Hydrants or faucets known for decades typically have an inlet fitting for connecting the inlet end of the hydrant or faucet to an outlet pipe of a plumbing system. The inlet fitting and plumbing outlet pipe connection has usually taken the form of an externally threaded portion, or solder, on either one of the inlet fitting or plumbing outlet pipe, with a matable internally threaded portion on the other end of the connection. 
   These conventional means for installing a faucet to an outlet pipe of a plumbing system require that the installer modify the outlet pipe to mate with the inlet fitting of the faucet. This modification of the outlet pipe requires an expenditure of labor and time. Therefore, there is a need for a simplified means of installing a faucet on an outlet pipe of a plumbing system. 
   An object of this invention is to provide a hydrant with a slip clutch assembly which is fully effective, adjustable-in-place, and sufficiently low in manufacturing cost to enable its use in low end plumbing as well as high end plumbing. 
   Another object of this invention is to provide such a slip clutch assembly which can be readily installed even as a retrofit unit on existing faucets. 
   It is a further object of this invention to provide such a slip clutch assembly which can be readily contractibly and expandibly adjusted a controlled amount utilizing a release device. 
   These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   A hydrant for use with a plumbing outlet pipe has a fluid passage passing from an inlet end to an outlet end and a retention body connected to the inlet end. A one-way slip clutch adapted to contractibly receive the pipe and prevent reverse pipe movement therethrough is located within the retention body. The slip clutch comprises a retaining ring having a plurality of sloped spring fingers normally allowing pipe movement in a linkage-contracting direction but preventing reverse pipe movement. The retention body is optionally integrally formed as a portion of the hydrant, placed within a cavity in the hydrant, or includes a threaded fitting removably mated with a corresponding threaded surface on the inlet end. A deactuator has a nose sized to engage the fingers to shift the fingers against their inherent bias to allow reverse pipe movement. A second retention body may be connected to the outlet end. 

   
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of one embodiment of this invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a partial cross sectional side view of this invention taken on line  2 — 2  of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  is a partial cross sectional side view of another embodiment of this invention taken on line  2 — 2  of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 4  is a top view of the retaining ring portion of the slip clutch of this invention; 
       FIG. 5  is a cross sectional side view of the retaining ring of this invention taken on line  5 — 5  of  FIG. 4 ; 
       FIG. 6  is a side view of the slip clutch deactuator of this invention with hidden lines; 
       FIG. 7  is a partial cross sectional side view of another embodiment of this invention, where the slip clutch of this invention is internally threaded and removably attached to the inlet of a freeze protected faucet; and 
       FIG. 8  a partial cross sectional side view of another embodiment of this invention taken on line  2 — 2  of  FIG. 1 , where the slip clutch of this invention is externally threaded and removably attached to the inlet of faucet of  FIG. 1 . 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   With reference to  FIG. 1 , a wall hydrant  10  has an inlet end  12  and a threaded nozzle outlet  14 , shown here as including a vacuum breaker  15 . The threads on nozzle  14  are designated by the numeral  16 . A valve control handle  18  extends outwardly from hydrant or faucet  10  and its rotation in one direction closes fluid flow, and rotation in the other direction opens the hydrant or faucet  1 o to allow fluid flow through nozzle  14 . 
   As used herein the terms faucet and hydrant include, but are not limited to faucets, hydrants, and the like. Additional description of the hydrant  10  of the present invention is found in: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,532,953; 5,246,028; 5,590,679; 5,632,303; 5,701,925; 6,135,359; 6,142,172; 6,206,039; 6,532,986; 6,883,534; 6,857,442; 6,830,063; 6,805,154; the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. For example, hydrant  10  may be a freezeless wall hydrant as shown in  FIG. 8 , or any other suitable hydrant design. 
   To be installed, the wall hydrant  10  is fastened to plumbing outlet pipe  20 . Once installed, water will flow from the plumbing outlet pipe  20 , into the inlet end  12  and out nozzle outlet  14  when the valve control handle  18  is actuated. 
   With reference to  FIG. 2 , a slip clutch assembly  21  includes a retention body  22  formed to be matably received within a cavity  23  located within the inlet end  12  of the wall hydrant  10 . The slip clutch retention body  22  is shown to be generally cylindrical on its exterior, and formed to have an axial passage  24  therethrough. The inlet end of body  22  includes an annular, frustoconical, radially-inwardly tapered cavity portion  28  and a generally cylindrical cavity  30  formed adjacent thereto. At the inlet end the body has an internally extending flange  32  defining part of the cavity  30 . One skilled in the art will understand that the cavity portion  28  does not have to taper and could be in any shape that allows the functional advantages of this device. During assembly, an O-ring  36  is placed within frustoconical cavity  28 , and a retaining ring  42  is placed between the O-ring  36  and the flange  32 . Flange  32  is peened radially inwardly over the retaining ring  42  to capture the retaining ring  42  and O-ring  36  in a compressed fashion causing the O-ring  36  to be axially and radially compressed so as to bear against the adjacent plurality of upwardly, radially-inwardly extending, sloped spring fingers  44  (See  FIGS. 4 and 5 ). The tapered upper surface of the frustoconical cavity  28  tends to compress the O-ring  36  axially and radially against the outside surfaces of the sloping spring fingers  44 . 
   With reference to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the spring fingers  44  are shown at equally spaced ninety degree intervals around the retaining ring  42 ; however, additional spring fingers  44  may be used at any given interval around the retaining ring  42  without departing from the present invention. The plurality of spring fingers  44 , integral with the retaining ring  42 , have inherent resilience to be biased into tight engagement with the peripheral surface of plumbing outlet pipe  20 . The angularly oriented spring fingers  44  will allow the plumbing outlet pipe  20  to move horizontally through the fingers  44  in one direction, but will frictionally engage into the surface of the plumbing outlet pipe  20  retain the outlet pipe  20  and to resist the removal of the plumbing outlet pipe  20 . 
   With reference to  FIG. 2 , positioned between the retaining ring  42 , and specifically the spring fingers  44  thereof, and the frustoconical cavity  28  is the other biasing means shown in the form of a resilient object such as a compressible O-ring  36 , or any other such resilient object, which is compressed between the frustoconical surface  28  and the fingers  44 . The compressed O-ring  36  forms a seal against the outer surface of plumbing outlet pipe  20 , when the pipe  20  is inserted into slip clutch assembly  21 . Additionally, the compressed O-ring  36  has been found to not only add further bias to the fingers  44  radially inwardly into engagement with the peripheral cylindrical surface of plumbing outlet pipe  20 , but to also act as a balancing means to cause the stress on each of the plurality of fingers  44  to be substantially equal. The function and useful life of the retaining ring  42  have been found to be significantly better and longer, respectively, when the O-ring  36  was combined with the retaining ring  42  in the assembly. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the pipe can be releasably secured by the fingers  44  or permanently secured within the fingers  44 . 
   With reference to  FIG. 6 , also positioned around plumbing outlet pipe  20  exterior to body  22  and retaining ring  42 , and movable axially along the plumbing outlet pipe  20 , is a slip clutch deactuator  50  which is shown to be a ring which includes an annular lower portion  52  and an upwardly protruding frustoconical upper portion  54  (or nose) which tapers radially-inwardly-upwardly. This deactuator has a central orifice  56  that receives plumbing outlet pipe  20  so that the deactuator  50  can be manually moved along plumbing outlet pipe  20  to engage the tapered inside surfaces of spring fingers  44 . The axial force of deactuator  50  against the spring fingers  44  causes the spring fingers  44  to move radially outwardly and upwardly to release their compressive force on plumbing outlet pipe  20 , to allow the plumbing outlet pipe  20  and body  22  to be withdrawn from the slip clutch assembly  21 , i.e., to remove the wall hydrant  10  from the plumbing outlet pipe  20 . 
   With reference to  FIG. 3 , an alternative structure for slip clutch assembly  21  is shown. In this embodiment, the slip clutch assembly  21  includes retention body  22  formed integrally within the inlet end  12  of the wall hydrant  10 ; whereas in  FIG. 2  the retention body  22  is independently formed and is matably received within a cavity  23  in the wall hydrant  10 . As in the embodiment of  FIG. 2 , the slip clutch retention body  22  is formed to have an axial passage  24  therethrough. The inlet end of body  22  includes an annular, frustoconical, radially-inwardly tapered cavity portion  28  and a generally cylindrical cavity  30  formed adjacent thereto, cavity  30  being partially defined by flange  32 . During assembly, an O-ring  36  is placed within frustoconical cavity  28 , and a retaining ring  42  is placed between the O-ring  36  and the flange  32 . Flange  32  is formed as a part of the inlet end  12  of the wall hydrant  10  to capture the retaining ring  42  and O-ring  36  in a compressed fashion causing the O-ring  36  to be axially and radially compressed so as to bear against the adjacent plurality of upwardly, radially-inwardly extending, sloped spring fingers  44 . 
   With reference to  FIGS. 7 and 8 , an alternative structure for slip clutch assembly  21  is shown. In this embodiment, slip clutch assembly  21  includes a retention body  22  formed as a separate piece to be matably and removably attached to a threaded surface  60  of the inlet end  12  of the wall hydrant  10 . 
   The slip clutch retention body  22  is shown to be generally cylindrical on its exterior, and formed to have an axial passage  24  therethrough. The inlet end of body  22  includes a generally cylindrical cavity  30  extending from the inlet end to an end wall  62  extending annularly from the cavity  30 . The end wall  62  includes a rib portion  64  extending annularly from the end wall  62 , which forms a barrier to stop a plumbing outlet pipe  20  from being inserted past the rib portion  64 . The cavity  30  is partially enclosed being surrounded by rim  71 , formed as a plastic ring affixed to the inlet end of cavity  30 . 
   During assembly, an O-ring  36  is placed within cavity  30  adjacent the end wall  62 . An annular, frustoconical, radially-inwardly tapered ring  66  having a frustoconical, radially-inwardly tapered surface  68  is placed within cavity  30  adjacent the O-ring  36 . The frustoconical ring  66  is affixed to the inlet end of cavity  30  to capture the O-ring  36  between the frustoconical ring  66  and the end wall  62 , causing the O-ring  36  to be axially and radially compressed. 
   A retaining ring  42  is placed within cavity  30  adjacent the frustoconical ring  66  to place the frustoconical ring  66  between the retaining ring  42  and the O-ring  36 . A slip clutch deactuator  50  is placed within cavity  30  adjacent the rim  71  so as to be positioned between the rim  71  and the retaining ring  42 . Rim  71  is affixed to the inlet end of cavity  30  to capture the deactuator  50  and retaining ring  42  between the rim  71  and the frustoconical ring  66 . 
   The tapered surface  68  of the frustoconical ring  66  prevents the sloping spring fingers  44  from being deformed when plumbing outlet pipe  20  is inserted into slip clutch assembly  21 . As described in greater detail above, with reference to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , these spring fingers  44  allow the plumbing outlet pipe  20  to move through the fingers  44  in one direction, but will frictionally engage into the surface of the plumbing outlet pipe  20  to retain the outlet pipe  20  and to resist the removal of the plumbing outlet pipe  20 . 
   Positioned between the frustoconical ring  66 , and the end wall  62  is a resilient material such as rubber that in this embodiment forms compressible O-ring  36 , which is compressed between the frustoconical ring  66  and the end wall  62 . The compressed O-ring  36  forms a seal against the outer surface of plumbing outlet pipe  20 , when the pipe  20  is inserted into slip clutch assembly  21 . 
   The slip clutch deactuator  50  is shown in this embodiment to be formed of a cylindrical body  70 , with an external ring  72  on the inlet end of the cylindrical body  70  extending beyond a rim  71 , a deactuation ring  74  (or nose) on the outlet end of the cylindrical body  70  adjacent the retaining ring  42 , and formed to have an central orifice  76  therethrough passing from the external ring  72  to the deactuation ring  74 . The central orifice  76  receives plumbing outlet pipe  20  so that the plumbing outlet pipe  20  may be received within the slip clutch assembly  21 . The deactuator  50  can be readily manually moved along plumbing outlet pipe  20  so as to be placed into engagement with the tapered inside surfaces of spring fingers  44 . By applying axial force to the external ring  72  of the deactuator  50 , the deactuation ring  74  will move against inherent bias of the spring fingers  44 , causing the spring fingers  44  to move radially outwardly and upwardly to release their compressive force on plumbing outlet pipe  20 , and to allow the plumbing outlet pipe  20  and body  22  to be withdrawn from the slip clutch assembly  21 , i.e., to remove the wall hydrant  10  from the plumbing outlet pipe  20 . The deactuator  50  also includes a lip  78  extending annularly from the outer surface of the cylindrical body  70  adjacent the deactuation ring  74 . The lip  78  is positioned between the rim  71  and the retaining ring  42 , so as to slidably retain the deactuator  50  within the cavity  30  of retention body  22 . 
   With reference to  FIG. 8 , as discussed above, the hydrant  10  may be a freezeless wall hydrant, or any other suitable hydrant design. The slip clutch assembly  21  as shown is designed be matably and removably attached to the freezeless wall hydrant  10  by a male threaded fitting  80 . Alternatively, a female threaded fitting  81  ( FIG. 7 ) is used. However, any other means disclosed herein may be used to adapting the freezeless wall hydrant  10  to include the slip clutch assembly  21 , such as:  1 ) forming the slip clutch assembly  21  integrally with the freezeless wall hydrant  10  (as illustrated in  FIG. 3 ),  2 ) inserting the slip clutch assembly  21  within a cavity  23  within the freezeless wall hydrant  10  (as illustrated in  FIG. 2 ), or  3 ) providing a slip clutch assembly  21  designed be matably and removably attached to the wall hydrant  10  by a male threaded fitting  80  (as illustrated in  FIG. 8 ) 
   With reference to  FIGS. 7 and 8 , the slip clutch assembly  21  is designed be matably and removably attached to the wall hydrant  10  by a fitting  80  or  81 . In the embodiment of  FIG. 7 , the fitting  81  is formed as a female threaded surface  83  along a cylindrical outlet end  84  of the slip clutch assembly  21 . The female threaded surface  83  removably mates with a corresponding male threaded surface  60  on the inlet end  12  of the wall hydrant  10 . Likewise, in the embodiment of  FIG. 8 , the fitting  80  is formed as a male threaded surface  82  along a cylindrical outlet end  84  of the slip clutch assembly  21 . The male threaded surface  82  removably mates with a corresponding female threaded surface  60  on the inlet end  12  of the wall hydrant  10 . 
   With reference to  FIG. 7 , the slip clutch assembly  21 , in addition to being associated with the inlet end  12  of the wall hydrant  10 , may additionally or alternatively be associated with the outlet nozzle  14  of the wall hydrant  10 . As shown, the fitting  81  is formed as a female threaded surface  83  along a cylindrical outlet end  84  of the slip clutch assembly  21 . The female threaded surface  83  removably mates with a corresponding male threaded surface  16  on the outlet nozzle  14  of the wall hydrant  10 . Alternatively, the slip clutch assembly  21  may be associated to the outlet nozzle  14  of the wall hydrant  10  in a manner similar to that illustrated in  FIG. 2  (as an insert within in the outlet nozzle  14 ),  FIG. 3  (as an integral portion of the outlet nozzle  14 ), and  FIG. 8  (with a male threaded fitting  80  mated with a corresponding female threaded fitting on the outlet nozzle  14 ) . The use of slip clutch assembly  21  on outlet nozzle  14  of the wall hydrant  10  advantageously allows a pipe  20  (or similarly shaped tubing portion) to be slidably attached to the outlet nozzle  14  by slip clutch assembly  21 . 
   In operation, the wall hydrant  10  and slip clutch assembly  21  permit quick and easy installation of the wall hydrant  10  onto the plumbing outlet pipe  20 . To be installed, the wall hydrant  10  is fastened to plumbing outlet pipe  20 . Once installed, water will flow from the plumbing outlet pipe  20 , into the inlet end  12  and out nozzle outlet  14  when the valve control handle  18  is actuated. The retention body  22  of slip clutch assembly  21  removably receives and affixes to plumbing outlet pipe  20  when the plumbing outlet pipe  20  inserted into the axial passage  24  in the retention body  22 . As the plumbing outlet pipe  20  is inserted into axial passage  24 , the spring fingers  44  of retaining ring  42  flex to allow the plumbing outlet pipe  20  to pass within the retaining ring  42 . The spring fingers  44  of retaining ring  42  have inherent resilience to be biased into tight engagement with the peripheral surface of plumbing outlet pipe  20 . The angularly oriented spring fingers  44  allow the plumbing outlet pipe  20  to move through the fingers  44  in one direction, but frictionally engage into the surface of the plumbing outlet pipe  20  to retain the outlet pipe  20  and to resist the removal of the plumbing outlet pipe  20 . Once the plumbing outlet pipe  20  is inserted into axial passage  24 , the compressed O-ring  36  forms a seal against the outer surface of plumbing outlet pipe  20 . Thus the wall hydrant  10  and slip clutch assembly  21  permit quick and easy installation of the wall hydrant  10  onto the plumbing outlet pipe  20 . For removal of the wall hydrant  10  and slip clutch assembly  21  from the plumbing outlet pipe  20 , the slip clutch deactuator  50  is manually moved along plumbing outlet pipe  20  so as to be placed into engagement with the tapered inside surfaces of spring fingers  44 . By applying axial force of deactuator  50  against the spring fingers  44 , against the inherent bias of the spring fingers  44 , the spring fingers  44  are caused to move radially outwardly to release their compressive force on plumbing outlet pipe  20 , to allow the plumbing outlet pipe  20  and body  22  to be withdrawn from the slip clutch assembly  21 , i.e., to remove the wall hydrant  10  from the plumbing outlet pipe  20 . 
   The novel combination has been found to work very effectively, and moreover is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, as well as being easily assembled and disassembled as needed. Conceivably those skilled in this field will readily see additional advantages and features, as well as certain minor modifications to suit particular installations. Hence, the invention is not intended to be limited specifically to the preferred embodiment set forth above as exemplary of this invention, but only by the scope of the appended claims and the reasonably equivalent structures to those defined therein. 
   It is therefore seen that this invention will accomplish at least all of its stated objectives.