Patent GB-766084-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in hose-reels with means for jettisoning the hose and sealing the hose connection
IPC: B64D39/06
Filed: 1955-02-04
Abstract: 766,084. Hose reels; hose couplings. FLIGHT REFUELLING, Ltd., GOODLIFFE, A. W., and MACGREGOR, P. S. Feb. 4, 1955, No. 3405/55. Classes 99(1) and 99(2) In a hose reel 10, e.g. used in flight-refuelling installations wherein in an emergency the fully-trailed hose. may be jettisoned, comprising a hose-carrying drum 13, Fig. 2, and a fluid-conveying conduit 14 terminating at one end in a rotary gland coaxial with the reel and for connection with a fixed external pipe, the other end of the conduit 14 terminates in a socket 17, Fig. 4, adapted to receive a plug 18 on the end of the hose 19, the plug being locked in the socket in a manner enabling the plug tu be rapidly released and by means comprising balls 21 loosely retained in the socket so as to be radially displaceable for engagement with and disengagement from an annular groove 22 in the plug. and a locking ring 23 mounted on and angularly displaceable about the axis of the socket. The ring 23 is moved between a position in which the balls are locked in engagement with the groove 22 and a position in which the balls are released from the groove by reception thereof in internal recesses 24, Fig. 8, of the ring by an actuator, e.g. a plunger 25a, remotely controlled by electrical means. A valve 41 is urged by a spring 44 on to a seating 40 in the socket 17 and pushed oft that seating by a spider member 45 in the plug 18 and against the effort of the spring. As shown in Fig. 2, the reel 10 comprises side flanges 12 cast integrally with the drum 13 and is mounted in bearings carried by a framework, Fig. 1 (not shown). The socket 17, Fig. 4, is internally tapered and is provided with radial openings 20 in which the balls 21 are located, the joint between the socket and the tapered plug 18 being rendered fluid-tight by a sealing ring 38 lodged in an annular groove in the socket. An ear 23a provided on the ring 23 is pivotally connected with the plunger 25a which is slidably mounted in a body 25 pivotally supported at 26, Fig. 2, within the drum 13, the plunger being substantially parallel to the axis of the reel, and loaded by a spring 47 so as to take up the position shown in Fig. 2. wherein the recesses 24 of the ring 23 are in register with the balls 21 and the latter recede into the openings 20 of the socket 17. Rotation of the locking ring 23 to the full-line position shown in Fig. 8 causes the inclined portions 24a of the ring to press the balls inwardly to engage the groove 22 of the plug 18. The plunger 25a can be locked in the full-line position of Fig. 8 by means of a spring-loaded, electromagnetically-releasable locking device comprising, a spindle 48, Fig. 7, having a flat 49 engageable with a shoulder 25b of the plunger to retain the latter in position and against the effort of the spring 47. A spring 50, Fig. 6, loads and tends to rotate the spindle 48 in a direction opposite to that indicated by the arrow A and the spindle is retained in the plunger-locking position by a locking member retaining element constituted by a spindle 52 engaging a quadrant 51, mounted on the spindle 48, and provided with a slot 53 which when the spindle -is rotated againstthe effort of a spring and through a small angle in the direction of the arrow B allows the quadrant to pass therethrough thus releasing the spindle 48 for rotation by the effort of the spring 47, transmitted by the shoulder 25b to the flat 49 and against the pressure of the spring 50 in the direction of the arrow A to release the plunger 25a. A spur 51a on the quadrant 51 limits rotation of the latter and by engagement with the spindle 52. A sawcut 54, Fig. 6, allows the spindle 52 to be rotated by a screwdriver into the quadrant-locking position shown in Fig. 7, and from this position the spindle is rotatable in the direction of the arrow B by an electromagnet enclosed in a housing 55 and electrically connected by conductors 27, 28 with slip rings 32, 34, Fig. 2, supplied by current from an external, switchcontrolled circuit. Release and retraction by the spring 47 of the plunger 25a rotates the ring 23 to the position shown in chaindotted lines in Fig. 8 so that the balls 21 are received in the recesses 24 of the ring, the plug 18 thereby being pulled out of the socket by the tension of the hose 19. Detachment of the hose from the reel during servicing or replacement is effected by releasing the locking device 48 and by operation of the electromagnet or by rotation of the spindle 52 when the ring 23 will be in the position indicated in chaindotted lines in- Fig. 8. To secure the plug 18 in the socket 17 the ring 23 is manually rotated against the effort of the spring 47 and by the engagement of a wrench in the recesses 39 provided in the ring, thus bringing the plunger 25a into the position shown in Fig. 7; the quadrant 51 is rotated by the spring 50 in a direction opposite to that indicated by the arrow A to allow the spindle 52 to be returned into the position shown. The spring 47, on release of the ring 23, brings the quadrant 51 against the spindle 52 to hold the quadrant and plunger in the lock-. ing position until the spindle is positively rotated by the electromagnet in the direction of arrow B. As shown in Fig. 4, the stem 42 of the valve 41 is slidable in the boss 43a of a spider 43 mounted in the conduit 14, the boss affording abutment for the valve spring 44 and the valve being forced off the seating 40 by the protruding boss 45a of the spider member 45 in the plug 18. A fairing 46 is carried by the spider 43 so that when the valve is open, the boss 45a, valve and fairing constitute a body of streamline profile surrounded by an annular gap for the passage of fluid.