Abstract:
A quick connect coupler for applications transmitting compressed fluid is disclosed, having a poppet valve mounted within a body. A body cap may be detachably threaded to the body, putting the poppet valve into an airflow position. The poppet valve is movable from a sealing position where it sits against a seat and O-ring, preventing the passage of compressed fluid through the valve, to an airflow position that permits air to flow through the valve. The poppet valve is biased to the sealing position by a spring, and in the airflow position the poppet is pushed away from the seat by a plunger mounted within the body cap. The poppet valve has a core and a head, and the core has at least one aperture therein for the passage of compressed fluids, and the head has at least one indentation corresponding to the aperture. The invention may be used for paintball with a described coiled air hose.

Description:
[0001]    This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/480,628, filed Apr. 29, 2011, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     FIELD 
       [0002]    This disclosure relates to a coupler assembly and, in particular, a coupler assembly for providing fluid from a compressed fluid source. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Paintball has been popular for over two decades. Teams of opposing players shoot paint-filled, gelatin paintballs at each other using a gas-powered paintball marker, or paintball gun, which is trigger-activated. 
         [0004]    Paintball markers are typically powered using compressed gas bottles, typically containing CO.sub.2 or air, wherein the pressure ranges from 1800 psi to 4500 psi. Those gas bottles are sometimes placed in a backpack worn by the player and connected to the paintball marker using a remote gas line. 
         [0005]    During play, a player may want to switch his gas bottle for a gas bottle containing a different gas or the same gas stored at a different pressure. This allows the player to give different effects and trajectories to paintballs fired from his paintball marker. As the gas bottle has a limited capacity, the player may also want to refill his gas bottle to raise the pressure provided to the marker. The player may further want to perform maintenance operations on his paintball marker, such as cleaning paintball debris out of the barrel of the paintball marker. 
         [0006]    All of the operations previously mentioned involve the disconnection of the gas bottle from the paintball marker. This operation can be hazardous and must be conducted with extreme care. Due to the high pressure present in the gas bottle, a gas bottle disconnected quickly from a paintball marker may be propelled through the air in a missile-like fashion by the pressure from the compressed fluid flowing freely from the gas bottle, potentially damaging structures and causing bodily harm to players or bystanders. 
         [0007]    It will also be appreciated that when a paintball marker is connected to gas bottle, the compressed fluid flowing into the paintball marker will cause a build-up of pressure inside the paintball marker. A paintball may thus still be accidentally fired from the paintball marker even after the gas bottle has been disconnected. 
         [0008]    Therefore, prior to the disconnection, the pressure of compressed gas built up inside the paintball marker must be relieved. Currently, paintball players are first closing the compressed gas input from the gas bottle, and then activating the trigger of the paintball marker without any paintball loaded. Each trigger activation lets out a small amount of pressure, until the pressure inside the paintball marker is equal to atmospheric pressure. 
         [0009]    The player can then safely unhook the gas bottle from the paintball marker. It will be appreciated that this task is cumbersome and time consuming, and may not be undertaken during paintball games where the play time is limited or key. 
         [0010]    During this whole process, the player is also prevented from using his paintball marker, which renders that situation highly undesirable during play. 
         [0011]    Previous attempts have been made at solving this problem, namely the inclusion of a coupler between the paintball marker and gas bottle. Examples of such couplers can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,260,821, U.S. Pat. No. 6,722,391, U.S. Pat. No. 6,941,938, US Patent Publication 2006/0032647 and US Patent Publication 2010/0031943. These references do not address all of the above-identified problems, either because they do not allow the player to relieve pressure from the paintball marker at all or because they do not allow quick relief of pressure from the paintball marker. 
         [0012]    There is therefore a need for a device that will overcome at least one of the above identified drawbacks, for paintball or any compressed fluid quick-connect application. In particular, there is a need for a device that enables connecting and disconnecting under pressure, that is secure in its attachment and reduces accidental disconnection, and that permits a high flow of a fluid such as air through the line and valve. 
         [0013]    Features of the invention will be apparent from review of the disclosure, drawings and description of the invention below. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0014]    A quick connect coupler for the passage of pressurized fluids is disclosed, comprising a body having threading, the body having an air passage therethrough, a body cap having a threaded inner diameter, a poppet movable from a downstream sealing position to an upstream airflow position, the poppet valve biased to the sealing position by a spring, the poppet valve having a core and a head, the core having at least one aperture therein for the passage of fluids from an upstream to a downstream direction and the head having at least one indentation corresponding in number and position with the at least one aperture; and a plunger having a tip for contacting the head of said poppet wherein the body and body cap are adapted to be sealingly threaded together, the poppet valve is positioned within the body and the plunger is positioned within the body cap. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0015]    The invention both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further aspects and advantages thereof, may be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings and text thereof in light of the brief description therefore. 
           [0016]      FIG. 1  is a view of the assembled coupling; 
           [0017]      FIG. 2  is a disassembled view of the coupling, showing two views of each of the body and the body cap; 
           [0018]      FIG. 3  is a side cut-away view of the quick-connect coupling; 
           [0019]      FIG. 4   a  is a front perspective view of the poppet; 
           [0020]      FIG. 4   b  is a rear perspective view of the poppet; 
           [0021]      FIG. 5  is a side view of the poppet; 
           [0022]      FIG. 6   a  is front perspective view of the plunger; 
           [0023]      FIG. 6   b  is rear perspective view of the plunger; 
           [0024]      FIG. 7  is a side cut-away view of the quick-connect coupling, as the threading is not yet started; 
           [0025]      FIG. 8  is a side cut-away view of the quick-connect coupling, as the coupling is partially threaded; 
           [0026]      FIG. 9  is a side cut-away view of the quick-connect coupling, as the coupling is fully mated; and 
           [0027]      FIG. 10  is a side-view of the fully-open poppet valve, showing the flow of air; 
           [0028]      FIG. 11  is a perspective view of an air hose to be used with the quick-connect coupling of the present invention; and 
           [0029]      FIG. 12  is a perspective view of an air hose having a quick-connect coupling attached to the air hose. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0030]    The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the present invention are shown. This invention may however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this application will be thorough in illustrations and brief explanation therefore to convey the true scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Some illustrations provided herein include detailed explanations of dimension and operation and as such should be not be limited thereto. 
         [0031]    With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the quick connect coupling  2  is shown assembled in  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 2  shows the coupling  2  disassembled into the body and body cap, with two views of each from differing angles. The quick connect coupling  2  is made up of a tubular body  5  with an air passage  8  therethrough, and tubular body cap  10 , which body  5  and body cap  10  are threaded so as to fit together. The body  5  has a narrow portion  7  and a wider portion  12 , which narrow portion  7  has threading  6 , passes through the threaded inner diameter  14  of the body cap  10  and is coterminous with the end  11  of the body cap  10  when the body  5  and body cap  10  are screwed together as shown in  FIG. 1 . The wider portion  12  and the body cap  10  are knurled so as to facilitate being turned by hand relative to one another. The wide portion  12  has a threaded inner diameter  9  where the air passage  8  passes through. The end of this portion emerges from the body cap  10 , and is threaded so as to engage with an air hose (not shown). With reference to  FIG. 2 , which shows each of the body  5  and body cap  10  from two different angles, the body  5  is generally a hollow cylinder having two different outside diameters, and the body cap  10  is a hollow cylinder also with a knurled outside diameter  13 , having the same or similar diameter to the knurled portion  12  diameter. The body cap  10  has a threaded inside diameter  14 , which fits over the body  5  and the threads engaging with threading  6 , adjoining the body  5  and body cap  10  as shown in  FIG. 1 . Not shown here, the body cap  10  has a plunger  40  which fits therein and engages with the internal components of the body  5 . 
         [0032]    With reference to  FIG. 3 , the assembled coupling  2  is shown in a cut-away view showing the inner workings of the invention. As described above, the body cap  10  is turned on to the threading  6  of body  5 . Within the body  5  is the air channel  8  running through the middle. The flow of air through the air channel  8  is managed by the poppet valve  20 , which mounted between the walls  22  of the inner diameter of the body  5  that define the air channel  8 . The arrow at the bottom of  FIG. 3  shows the direction of air flow through the valve, defining an upstream position and a downstream position. The walls  22  taper from a dilation  24  upstream to a constriction  23  downstream, with an inside-circumferential recess  26  at the base of the taper, before a step  27  to the dilation  24 . Within the constriction  23  is positioned a seat  25 , which is a protrusion uniformly around the inner circumference of the constriction  23 . The poppet  20  is movable from a downstream sealing position wherein it is in contact with the seat  25  to an upstream airflow position, such that there is an air space between the poppet  20  and the seat  25 . The positions of the poppet  20  are further described below with reference to  FIGS. 6-8 . The poppet  20  is biased against the seat  25  by a spring  30  which pushes on the support  32  of the poppet  20 , which spring  30  is mounted on a spring retainer  35 . The plunger  40 , which forms the internal component of the downstream fitting, is mounted within the body cap  10  by means of a retaining ring  38  which fits within the retaining groove  39  of the plunger  40 , which retaining ring  38  holds the plunger  40  within the body cap  10  while allowing it to rotate relative to the plunger  40 . The free rotation of the body cap  10  around the plunger  40  eases fastening the body  5  to the body cap  10  by means of threads  14 . The plunger  40  is in a hollow cylinder form, and has an air channel  43  diametrically therethrough, and has an O-ring groove  42  adapted to hold an O-ring (not shown) and form a seal between the walls  22  and plunger  40 . The poppet  20  has an O-ring groove  48  adapted to hold an O-ring (not shown), in order to seal between the walls  22  and the poppet  20 , when the poppet is positioned within the constriction  23 . The O-rings (shown in  FIGS. 7-9 ) are well-known in the art and may be manufactured of rubber or plastic, for example. 
         [0033]    With reference to  FIGS. 4   a  and  4   b , the poppet valve  20  is shown from two angles. The poppet  20  consists of a poppet core  45 , neck  49  and head  50 . The core  45  is formed of a hollow cylinder shape, having an outlet  55  and four equidistantly-spaced apertures  52 , each aperture  52  sitting within a depression  53  in the surface material of the core  45 . The apertures  52  form a passage for fluid to pass from the surface of the core  45  through the interior of the core  45 , which due to the hollow core  45 , allows passage out the outlet  55 . The head  50  has four equidistantly-spaced indentations  58 , each in-line with the depressions  53  surrounding the apertures  52 . The head  50  and core  45  are connected together as one piece by means of neck  49 , which by its presence forms O-ring groove  48 . The O-ring groove  48  in between the head  50  and core  45  holds a rubber O-ring (not shown) which interfaces with the constriction  23  to seal the air path. 
         [0034]    With reference to  FIG. 5 , the poppet  20  is shown from the side. The first set of arrows  54  show the preferred distance between the depression  53  and the edge of the O-ring groove  48 , and second set of arrows  56  show the preferred distance between the indentations  58  and the edge of the O-ring groove  48 ; these distances are preferable so that the O-ring (not shown) which fills the groove  48  does not suffer premature wear. 
         [0035]    With reference to  FIGS. 6   a  and  6   b , the plunger  40  is shown from two angles. The plunger  40  is a generally hollow cylindrical shape, with an air channel  43  therethrough. The plunger  40  has threading  44  at a wider end for engaging an air hose adapter (not shown). At the opposite end, a tip  62  is present which has four openings  71 , which openings provide a passage to the air channel  43  and through the plunger  40 . 
         [0036]    With reference to  FIGS. 7 ,  8  and  9 , the opening of the valve is shown as the body  5  and body cap  10  are fastened together.  FIG. 7  shows the coupling pushed together, but the threading not yet started.  FIG. 8  shows the coupling partially threaded, with the plunger  40  fully sealed and the poppet  20  not yet open.  FIG. 9  shows the coupling fully mated, wherein the poppet  20  is fully open. With reference first to  FIG. 7 , the poppet  20  is positioned within the constriction  23  against the seat  25 , to which position it is biased by the spring  30 . The O-ring  63  that fills the O-ring groove  48  produces a seal with the walls  22  of the constriction  23 , such that no air may pass. The recess  26  and step  27  receive air pressure while the valve is disconnected in a pressurized state, and consequently reduce the pressure on the O-ring. However, there is no seal yet between the O-ring  64  filling the O-ring groove  42  of the plunger  40 , and the walls  22 . As can be seen, there is a space  60  between the poppet  20  and the plunger  40 , such that they do not contact one another. 
         [0037]    With reference now to  FIG. 8 , as the coupling is partially threaded together, the plunger  40  and the spring-biased poppet  20  have made contact as they are pushed together. Specifically, the head  50  of the poppet touches on the tip  62  of the plunger  40 , and an interface  67  replaces the space  60 . While the O-ring  63  of the poppet  20  is still in contact with the walls  22  of the constriction  23  providing an airtight seal, the plunger  40  has entered the constriction  23  from the opposite end and the O-ring  64  is now also compressed against the walls  22  also forming an airtight seal. As shown by dimension  69 , the spring is still in a fully-extended position, wherein the spring-biased poppet  20  rests against the seat  25 . 
         [0038]    With reference to  FIG. 9 , as a result of the coupling fully threaded and mated together, the tip  62  of the plunger  40  pushes the poppet  20  back against the spring  30  such that the spring compresses, as shown by dimension  70 . The O-ring  64  is compressed within the walls  23  still providing an airtight seal, however O-ring  63  of the poppet  20  has now retreated out of the constriction  23 , and no longer seals within the dilation  24  as the diameter is too large. Furthermore, the head  50  is pushed away from the seat  25 . This combination allows a passage of air to open between the openings  71  of the plunger  40  and apertures  52  of the poppet  20 , shown more precisely by the line showing the airflow in  FIG. 10 . 
         [0039]    The advantage to the poppet  20  design is the laminar and therefore efficient airflow that develops due to the four equidistantly-spaced apertures  52 , each aperture  52  sitting within a depression  53  in the surface material of the core  45 , as well as the equidistantly-spaced indentations  58  of the head  50 , and the fact that each indentation  58  is in-line with the depressions  53  surrounding the apertures  52 . The smooth airflow continues from the poppet  20  through the openings  71  of the plunger  40 , the entire system being designed for reduced drag and higher resulting efficiency of the coupling. The advantage to the poppet  20  being positioned upstream the airflow, is that upon removal of the plunger, the airflow pressure will close the poppet  20  even if the spring  30  fails. The spring  30  acts as a guide for the poppet  20  to the seat  25 . The described valve therefore enables connecting and disconnecting under pressure, is secure in its attachment and reduces accidental disconnection, permits a high flow of air through the line and valve. 
         [0040]    With reference to  FIG. 11 , an air hose  100  is shown as would be used in conjunction with the quick-connect coupler of the present invention. The first and second end  110  and  120  of the air hose  100  has identical ends. Each end  110  and  120  have a threaded end secured to the hose  100 . The hose is secured to the threaded ends  110  and  120  by crimping the hose onto the threaded end and installing protective coverings  130  and  140 . The air hose has an inner diameter of approximately 2 mm and an outer diameter of 5 mm. The use of an air hose with these physical features allows for an increase efficient of the air through the coupler and eventually through the paint ball gun not shown. The outer coil diameter of air hose  100  is 8.75 millimeter and the inner coil diameter is 5.75 millimeter. A small coil allows for ease of use by an individual using the coupler of the present invention connected to an air tank reservoir (not shown). 
         [0041]    With reference to  FIG. 12 , the air hose  100  is shown with the coupler of the present invention attached to end  110 . The coupler can be interchangeable attached to either end of air hose  100 . 
         [0042]    Although the invention has been described above by reference to certain embodiments of the invention, the invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. Modifications and variations of the embodiments described above will occur to those skilled in the art in light of the above teachings. Moreover, with respect to the above description, it is to be repulsed that the optimum dimensional relationships for the component members of the present invention may include variations in size, material, shape, form, funding and manner of operation.