Connector for freon hose assembly

A connector body at the end of a freon line, of the type which is freely rotatable on the line, and is able to move from a first position adjacent the freon hose surrounding the line to a second position at the end of the line for threadably engaging an air conditioner or the like, the nut in its passage moving past an elbow bend in the line. The connector would comprise at least a connector body having a width substantially wider than the width of a grasping forefinger and thumb, and further comprising a counter bore along its rear end portion, so that as the connector moves from its first position through the elbow of the line, the bend in the line would travel within a portion of the counter bore and allow the nut to slide between its first and second positions without jamming in its passage along the elbow bend.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The apparatus of the present invention relates to connectors. More 
particularly, the present invention relates to a threaded connector which 
provides for a safer yet more efficient connector for a freon hose, 
particularly when the hose is being disconnected from the source of 
pressurized freon. 
GENERAL BACKGROUND 
In the field of air conditioning, air conditioning systems must be 
initially pressurized with freon, or the system must, from time to time, 
be repressurized due to a loss of freon in the system. Additionally, 
testing of the system must be undertaken from time to time while the 
system is under pressure. In each of these instances, it is necessary that 
a threaded connection be established between the source of freon and 
either the testing unit or the air conditioning system itself. Such a 
connection is quite common in the art, and is generally a threaded collar 
which is able to slide along the end of the freon line, and as it 
threadably connects to the system or the testing unit, the connector 
establishes a connection which is fluid proof, and does not leak either 
during testing or pressurization. 
Such a test as was stated earlier is done under somewhat high pressure, so 
that following the task of either pressurizing the air conditioning system 
or undergoing the testing of the system, the pressurization in the freon 
line would remain. When this occurs, when one manually threadably 
disconnects the connector from the testing unit, freon, under pressure, 
would escape quite rapidly when the fluid connection is broken. Because of 
the nature of freon, which is a fluid that is extremely cold, the escaping 
freon would serve as a potentially dangerous substance, should it make 
contact with the human skin. Under the current state of the art, the 
connector at the end of the line is substantially the width of the human 
finger. This is so because the connector which slides along the freon line 
must slide past an elbow in the line, so as to give the end of the line 
more adaptability to certain positions as it is making a connection on to 
the system of the testing unit. Because of the fact that it must be no 
wider than that particular width, when a person would grasp the connector 
surface, very often the escaping freon would make contact with the human 
skin and cause a burn either on the forefinger or the thumb which is 
uncomfortable and may result in a serious injury. 
Therefore, it would be of importance to have a connection nut at the end of 
the line which is substantially wider than the human finger so that as one 
would manually disconnect the nut from the line, the grasping surface of 
the nut would be sufficient wide so that as one's forefinger and thumb 
grab the surface, the surface would be wider at both edges and therefore, 
when freon would excape, there would be no problem with the escaping freon 
making contact with the human skin. 
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
The present invention would solve the problems in the art in a simple and 
straight forward manner. What is provided is a connector at the end of a 
freon line, of the type which is freely rotatable on the line, and is able 
to move from a first position adjacent the freon hose surrounding the line 
to a second position at the end of the line for threadably engaging an air 
conditioner or the like, the nut in its passage moving past an elbow bend 
in the line. The connector would comprise at least a connector body having 
a width substantially wider than the width of a grasping forefinger and 
thumb, and further comprising a counter bore along its rear end portion, 
so that as the connector moves from its first position through the elbow 
of the line, the bend in the line would travel within a portion of the 
counter bore and allow the nut to slide between its first and second 
positions without jamming in its passage along the elbow bend. 
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide an 
improved connector for a freon line, which may be grasped between the 
forefinger and the thumb safely, without the forefinger and thumb 
overlapping the edge of the connector body; 
It is a further principal object of the present invention to provide an 
improved connector for a freon line, which has a counter bore along its 
rear end, so that it may travel along a freon line which has an elbow bend 
in the line and slide past the elbow without jamming at the point of the 
elbow bend; 
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a safer and more 
improved connector for a freon line so that the connector enables one to 
grasp the connector without making contact with escaping freon under 
pressure, yet allows the connector to move past an elbow bend in the freon 
line thus giving it more adaptability towards uses in all situations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
FIGS. 1-5 illustrate the preferred embodiment of the apparatus of the 
present invention, with FIG. 6 illustrating the current state of the art. 
Prior to a discussion of the present invention, reference is made to FIG. 
6, which illustrates a connector body 10 currently on the market being 
circular in cross section, and having a first threaded end 12, a second 
free end 14, and an outer gripping knurled surface 16 which may be gripped 
between a thumb 18 and a forefinger 20 as illustrated. As seen in FIG. 6, 
the body portion 10 is a certain width W which is substantially less than 
the width of the thumb 18 and forefinger 20, as illustrated. As seen in 
FIG. 6, the body 10 is being threadably disengaged from a threaded 
connector 22 of a line 24 where there is maintained freon under pressure. 
When the body is disengaged to a certain point, the freon under pressure 
escapes (lines 26) and in doing so makes contact with the skin 30 of the 
operator, thus causing burn or injury to the skin on both the thumb and 
the forefinger. The reason that the body member 10 is of that particular 
width W is that when the body is finally disengaged from threaded 
connector 22, the body 10 would slide rearward in the direction of arrow 
32 along line 34 and would have to pass an elbow 36 as seen in phantom 
view in FIG. 6. In order for the body 10 to pass that elbow as it moves 
rearward along line 34, the width is critical since if it were to be a 
wider width, it could not slide past elbow 36, but would get jammed up at 
that point. 
Reference therefore is made to FIGS. 1 and 5 where there is seen improved 
connector body 40 of the present invention, circular in cross-section, 
having again a first threaded end 42 and a second non threaded end 44. As 
seen in FIG. 1, connector body is again freely movable in the direction of 
arrow 46 along line 34 which is a typical copper or other metallic line, 
housed within an insulation layer 35 as is found in the art. As is seen 
again in FIG. 1, line 34 again includes an elbow bend 36 along its path. 
Parenthetically, the reason that elbow bend 36 is present is that the bend 
in the line gives the installer of the line more flexibility in installing 
the line onto connectors 22 which are found in more tight fitting places 
and because of the bend or the elbow 36 in the line, it is easier to 
accommodate this type of connection. 
FIG. 2 illustrates a cross section of the connector for the improved 
connector body 40 as seen in FIG. 1. Again, it is noted that there is a 
threaded end 42, a non-threaded end 44 with the connector body engaged 
upon line 34. Prior to a discussion of a certain feature of the apparatus, 
reference is made to FIG. 5 where there is illustrated the improved 
connector body 40 being engaged upon a threaded connector 22 through its 
threaded first end 42. As is illustrated, the width of connector body 
noted as W1 is substantially longer in length than the width W of the 
prior art connector body 10 (FIG. 6) and also including an additional 
length of a knurled surface 16 for gripping the connector body between the 
thumb 18 and the forefinger 20. This increased width W1 of surface 16 is 
important because, as is illustrated in FIG. 5, the operator who is 
manually disengaging body 40 from the threaded line 22 is able to grip the 
connector body a certain distance D from both ends 42, 44 of the body 
which are distances sufficient to prevent the skin 30 of the operator from 
making contact with the escaping freon from each end 42, 44 (lines 26) as 
seen in the FIGURE. Therefore, while the operator may still fully grasp 
surface 16 with the thumb 18 and forefinger 20, and disconnect it from 
threaded connector 22, because of the increased width W1 of the knurled 
surface 16, one is able to positioned the thumb 18 and forefinger 20 at a 
distance rearward of the end 42 sufficient to prevent that contact with 
freon 26. 
However, it would be beneficial to have the connector body slide in the 
direction of arrow 32 as does the prior art body, past elbow 36 in line 34 
for the same reasons as expressed earlier. However, were the connector 
body 40 made in the same manner as the prior art connector body 10, due to 
its increased width W1, it would in all likelihood jam at the elbow 36 and 
be unable to move rearward of the elbow because of its increased width W1. 
In order to overcome this problem, reference is made to FIGS. 2-4 which as 
seen in cross section, improved connector body again having its threaded 
end 42, its rear end 44, and at the end of the line 34, which also shows 
elbow joint 36. At the end of line 34, there is illustrated enlarged end 
33 as it rests within body 40. In FIG. 2, enlarged end 33 includes a 
collar portion 37 which rests within an enlarged opening 39 as seen in 
FIG. 2. Opening 39 is slightly greater than the width of inner metal tube 
36, and therefore as seen in FIG. 4, when elbow 36 is moving through the 
opening 39 as illustrated in FIG. 3, the enlarged opening accommodates the 
elbow as does the counter bore 50 and the enlarged opening 39 of body 40. 
If one would want to move the connector body rearward in the direction of 
line 32, the rear end 44 of the body has been formed with a counter bore 
50 which is of a particular depth of body 40, so that as the body 40 moves 
in the direction of arrow 32, a portion of the counter bore 50 is occupied 
by the elbow 36 as seen in FIG. 32, and therefore body 40 is able to slide 
along line 34 rearwardly to the position as seen in FIG. 4. Therefore, 
although there is an elbow joint 36 in line 34, because of the counter 
bore 50 in the rear end 44 of body 40, the counter bore serves as a means 
for allowing the bend or elbow 36 in line 34 to fill a part of the counter 
bore and enable the body to slide easily along the line past the elbow of 
bend 36 and be comfortably resting against the end of the insulation 35 as 
seen in FIG. 3. It is with this particular feature that allows the body 40 
to have the increased width W1 of the knurled surface 16 which allows the 
operator to firmly grasp the body without getting burned by the freon yet 
also allow the body to slide in the direction of arrow 32 and return in 
the direction of arrow 52 to its operating position where it would be 
threaded onto a line as seen in FIG. 5. 
The following table lists the part numbers and part descriptions as used 
herein and in the drawings attached hereto. 
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TS LIST 
Description Part No. 
______________________________________ 
connector body 10 
threaded end 12 
free end 14 
knurled surface 16 
thumb 18 
forefinger 20 
threaded connector 
22 
line 24 
freon 26 
skin 30 
arrow 32 
line 34 
insulation layer 35 
elbow 36 
connector body 40 
first threaded end 
42 
non threaded end 44 
counter bore 50 
distance D 
width W 
width W1 
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Because many varying and different embodiments may be made within the scope 
of the inventive concept herein taught, and because many modifications may 
be made in the embodiments herein detailed in accordance with the 
descriptive requirement of the law, it is to be understood that the 
details herein are to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting 
sense.