Abstract:
A method and apparatus is disclosed for removably coupling a sleeve of a vehicle exhaust extraction system to a vehicle tailpipe. This apparatus includes an adapter which is secured to the vehicle tailpipe with a removable collar. After the removable collar is tightened around the exterior of the adapter, the adapter is fixed to the vehicle tailpipe so the adapter moves with the vehicle. The collar is configured to mate with the adapter so it may quickly and easily separate from the adapter when the vehicle pulls away.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    This invention relates generally to vehicle exhaust extractions systems for emergency vehicles, such as a fire truck or ambulance. More particularly, this invention relates to an apparatus for attachment to a tailpipe of an emergency vehicle and the method of using such apparatus. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Emergency vehicles, such as fire trucks, create a challenge due to the nature of their use. A fire truck is usually backed into a firehouse garage bay and readied for the next emergency call. When an emergency call comes in, the fire truck must be started by one of the firefighters while he waits for everyone to get properly dressed and board the vehicle in their appropriate locations. During this time interval in which the engine is running, exhaust gases exit the tailpipe of the vehicle. Due to the closed nature of the fire bay, these exhaust gases must be vented outside the building to the atmosphere for health and safety reasons. 
         [0003]    There are many known emergency vehicle exhaust extraction systems, many of which include a flexible hose which vents to the atmosphere at one end and at the other end is secured to an apparatus or adapter for securement to the tailpipe of the vehicle. 
         [0004]    One known system utilizes magnets to removably secure an apparatus located at the end of the hose to the vehicle tailpipe. In such a system, the firefighters need not manually disconnect the hose assembly from the tailpipe. Rather instead, once the garage door to the fire bay is opened, the fire truck may merely exit the building, and the pulling force of the hose pulls the apparatus off the vehicle tailpipe once the vehicle has sufficiently exited the building. This system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,609,298 and 5,927,759, which are both fully incorporated by reference herein. 
         [0005]    To date, the exhaust pipes of such fire trucks have commonly been five inches in diameter. However, new diesel engine regulations have required the truck manufacturers to increase the diameter of the vehicle tailpipe; an end portion of the tailpipe is now as large as seven inches in diameter. Therefore, there is a need for an adapter which enables known exhaust extraction systems to couple to a larger diameter tailpipe. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    The apparatus of this invention which accomplishes these objectives and one aspect of this invention comprises an apparatus for joining a vehicle exhaust evacuation system to a vehicle tailpipe. The apparatus comprises: 1) an adapter for securement to a vehicle tailpipe and 2) a removable collar which is used to secure the adapter to the vehicle tailpipe. 
         [0007]    The adapter comprises a generally cylindrical outer member and a generally cylindrical inner member having a common longitudinal center axis. The inner member is spaced from the outer member by a plurality of spacers secured to the inner and outer members. More specifically, four spacers are secured to the inner and outer members of the adapter and extend therebetween. A portion of the inner member extends outwardly beyond an outer edge of the outer member. 
         [0008]    The removable collar is adapted to surround the outer member of the adapter which upon being tightened secures the adapter to the tailpipe. 
         [0009]    In one embodiment, a plurality of alignment members are secured to an outer surface of the outer member. These alignment members are located and sized to be received inside corresponding slots in a sleeve of a vehicle exhaust evacuation system to properly align the sleeve of a vehicle exhaust evacuation system so that upon being subject to sufficient force, the sleeve pulls away from the adapter of the present invention. 
         [0010]    In the practice of this invention, the adapter is secured to the vehicle tailpipe and travels with it. Therefore, when the vehicle pulls out of the firehouse or similar building, the adapter separates from the sleeve of the vehicle exhaust evacuation system and goes with the vehicle. In one embodiment, the adapter has three alignment members which function to prevent the adapter from extending too far into the sleeve of the vehicle exhaust evacuation system. These alignment members, which are sized and shaped to fit into slots in the sleeve of the vehicle exhaust evacuation system, further function to align the adapter and sleeve properly relative to each other to facilitate quick and easy separation when the vehicle pulls away from the building. These alignment members are welded or otherwise secured to the outer surface of the outer member of the adapter and extend outwardly beyond an outer edge of the outer member of the adapter. The present invention may be used with different sleeves of vehicle exhaust evacuation systems; it is not intended to be limited to sleeves having magnets on the inside thereof such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,609,298 and 5,927,759. For example, another sleeve suitable for use with the present invention is a pneumatically inflatable sleeve lacking magnets. One advantage of the adapter of this invention is the ability to provide a suitable coupling which may be quickly and easily attached and then separated properly from an emergency vehicle exhaust tailpipe which the vehicle pulls away from the fire bay or building. 
         [0011]    These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become more readily apparent from the following description of the drawings. 
     
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a partially diagrammatic perspective view of an apparatus for joining a vehicle exhaust evacuation system to a vehicle tailpipe with portions of the vehicle shown in phantom. 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is disassembled view of the apparatus of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0014]      FIG. 2A  is disassembled view of an alternative embodiment of apparatus; 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  is a view taken along the line  3 - 3  of  FIG. 2 ; 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  is a view taken along the line  4 - 4  of  FIG. 2 ; 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of a portion of a vehicle exhaust evacuation system which comprises part of the present invention; and 
           [0018]      FIG. 5A  is a perspective view of a portion of a vehicle exhaust evacuation system according to an alternative embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0019]    Referring to the drawings, the apparatus  10  of this invention comprises an adapter  12  and a collar  14  for joining a vehicle exhaust evacuation system  16  to a vehicle tailpipe  18  extending outwardly from a vehicle (shown in phantom in  FIG. 1 ). The adapter  12  is shown secured to the vehicle tailpipe  18  in  FIG. 1  and remains attached to the vehicle tailpipe  18  until one loosens the collar  14  by loosening the fastener  20  which functions to tighten and loosen the collar  14 . As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the collar  14  is a one piece band of metal having two aligned flanges  22 , each having a hole  24  therethrough. The fastener  20  extends through these holes  24  and may be used to tighten the collar  14  around the portion of the adapter  12  which surrounds the exterior of the vehicle tailpipe  18 . 
         [0020]      FIGS. 2-4  show the details of one embodiment of adapter  12 . The adapter  12  comprises a generally cylindrical outer member  26  having an interior  28  and being open ended at both ends. This outer member  26  has an outer edge  30  (furthest away from tailpipe  18 ) and an inner edge  32 , the linear distance between which defines a length L 1  of the outer member  26  of the adapter  12 . See  FIG. 3 . The outer member  26  has an outer surface  34  and an inner surface  36 , the distance therebetween which defines the thickness T of the outer member  26  of the adapter  12 . The outer member  26  of the adapter  12  has an outer portion  38  having a first inner diameter, an inner portion  40  of a second inner diameter larger than the first inner diameter and a neck portion  42  between the outer and inner portions  38 ,  40 . Both outer and inner portions  38 ,  40 , respectively have the same longitudinal central axis A. See  FIGS. 3 and 4 . 
         [0021]    The inner diameter of the inner portion  40  of the outer member  26  of the adapter  12  is sized to fit over the vehicle tailpipe  18 . A plurality of spaced slots  44  extend inwardly from the inner edge  32  of the outer member  26  of the adapter  12  and aid in fitting the outer member  26  of the adapter  12  and more particularly, the inner portion  40  of the outer member  26  of the adapter  12  over the vehicle tailpipe  18 . Although  FIG. 2  shows two slots  44  and  FIG. 3  shows only one slot  44 , the adapter  12  may have any number of slots  44  to aid in securing the inner portion  40  of the outer member  26  of the adapter  12  over the vehicle tailpipe  18 . 
         [0022]    The adapter  12  further comprises a generally cylindrical inner assembly  45  having an interior  48  and being open ended at both ends. This inner assembly  45  comprises a generally cylindrical inner member  46  and an end ring  58  secured together via welding or any other suitable means. In certain applications, the end ring  58  may be omitted, for example when a non-magnetized sleeve is being used. 
         [0023]    The inner member  46  has an outer edge  50  (furthest away from tailpipe  18 ) and an inner edge  52  (shown in  FIG. 3 ), the linear distance between which defines a length L 2  of the inner member  46  of the adapter  12 . The inner member  46  has an outer surface  54  and an inner surface  56 , the distance therebetween which defines the thickness T 1  of the inner member  46  of the adapter  12 . 
         [0024]    At its outer end, the end ring  58  comprises a cylindrical portion  60  and a flared portion  62  which is flared outwardly to create a flare  64  extending circumferentially outward away from the longitudinally extending central axis A of the adapter  12 . The end ring  58  has an outer edge  59  and functions to aid in the release of the sleeve  66  from the adapter  12  in certain applications. The inner and outer members  46 ,  26  are secured together in an aligned manner to be coaxial, i.e. have the same central axis A. 
         [0025]    The inner member  46  is spaced from the outer member  26  of the adapter  12  by four spacers  68  as shown in  FIG. 4 . The spacers  68  are each secured to the inner surface  36  of the outer member  26  and to the outer surface  54  of the inner member  46 , preferably via welding, and extend therebetween. 
         [0026]    As shown in  FIG. 3 , the length L 2  of the inner member  46  is greater than the length L 1  of the outer member  26 . However, the inner and outer member  46 ,  26 , respectively may be any desired length. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the inner edge  52  of the inner member  46  is inside the interior  28  of the outer member  26  and the outer edge  50  of the inner member  46  is outside the interior  28  of the outer member  26 . 
         [0027]    In one embodiment, the adapter  12  further comprises three alignment members  70  which are secured via welding to the outer surface  34  of the outer member  26 , as shown in  FIG. 4 . Each of these alignment members  70  is located, sized and shaped to fit into one of the slots  72  extending inwardly from an edge  74  of the sleeve  66  of the vehicle exhaust extraction system  16 . As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , each of these alignment members  70  extends outwardly beyond the outer edge  30  of the outer member  26  of the adapter  12 . Although three alignment members  70  are illustrated, the adapter  12  may have any number of alignment members at any desired locations. 
         [0028]      FIG. 5  illustrates the interior of sleeve  66  of one embodiment of the vehicle exhaust evacuation system  16 . The sleeve  66  has an interior  76  with multiple magnet assemblies  78  (three being shown) secured with fasteners  80  to the sleeve  66 . The vehicle exhaust evacuation system  16  further comprises a rigid pipe  82  and a flexible hose  84 . As shown in  FIG. 5 , a stop  86  in the form of a wire formed into a clover shape is secured inside the pipe  82  and functions to prevent unwanted objects from being pulled into the hose  84 . 
         [0029]      FIGS. 2A and 5A  illustrate an alternative embodiment of apparatus  10   a . In this embodiment, the collar  14  is the same as in the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 1-5  and described herein. For simplicity, the numbers of the elements remain the same. However, the adapter  12   a  and sleeve  66   a  of this embodiment are slightly different that the adapter  12  and sleeve  66  of the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 1-5  and described herein. More particularly, the adapter  12   a  is otherwise identical to the adapter  12 , but has no alignment members  70 . The sleeve  66   a  of the vehicle exhaust evacuation system  16   a  has an interior  76  without multiple magnet assemblies. Instead this sleeve  66   a  has an inner member  88  and an outer member  90  between which air is introduced in a pneumatic operation, known in the industry. Sleeve  66   a  lacks any slots extending inwardly from the edge  74   a  of the outer member  90 . The vehicle exhaust evacuation system  16   a  further comprises a rigid pipe  82   a  and a flexible hose  84   a . As shown in  FIG. 5A , a stop  86  in the form of a wire formed into a clover shape is secured inside the pipe  82   a  and functions to prevent unwanted objects from being pulled into the hose  84   a.    
         [0030]    While we have described only two embodiments of this invention, persons skilled in this art will appreciate changes and modifications which may be made without departing from the spirit of this invention.