Patent Publication Number: US-2009230370-A1

Title: Quick connect coupler

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS: 
     This application claims the benefit of the U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/036,382 filed Mar. 13, 2008 by the present inventor. This provisional patent application is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to devices that facilitate the tight mating of hose couplers such as air hoses and hydraulic hoses; in particular to devices that tightly mate and release hose couplers quickly. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     There are many devices that facilitate the mating of hose or pipe couplers. Some are designed with clamps that are joined to the hose coupler components and have screw-based guides that when rotated urge the male and female ends together. Others have cam devices temporarily or permanently joined to the pipe or hose components that can be ratcheted to urge the coupler components together. Still others require that the hose couplers have a proprietary design that will accommodate the device. Still others have a wrench-like design that will work with hose couplers of a particular diameter only. 
     While each of these devices are appropriate for some applications, they have limited applicability in meeting all the design requirements of the invention presented herein. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The inventive solution presented herein is a quick connect coupler device that works with hose male/female hose coupler components. The quick connect coupler engages and tightly mates the hose coupler by a quick insertion of the coupler components into open-ended slots disposed on the device and then rotating the device&#39;s hexheaded screw with a standard wrench. The device quickly releases the coupler components by reversing this procedure. It ensures a tightly mated coupler that prevents leaks in a high-pressure environment and may be applied to hoses of varying diameters using a pair of auxiliary components. What is novel is that the hose coupler components may be inserted in the device easily, turning a single screw with a standard wrench tightly mates the coupler, and the auxiliary components allow couplers of smaller diameters to be used with the device. The hose coupler is not part of the invention. 
     The embodiment of the invention presented herein is a device comprising a male inverted L-shaped assembly, a female inverted L-shaped assembly, a hexheaded screw that connects the two assemblies together, and an additional pair of components that allows the invention to be used with smaller diameter hose couplers. The assemblies have guides that, together with the screw, snugly restrict motion of the male and female assemblies in-line along a single axial direction. The side subassembly component of each assembly has an open-ended slot that rapidly engages and constrains a hose coupler component. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a perspective view of a prior art hose coupler with female and male components. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a perspective view of the embodiment with the hose coupler female and male components positioned in a disengaged mode. 
         FIGS. 3 and 3A  illustrate a perspective view of the embodiment with the hose coupler tightly mated. 
         FIGS. 4A and 4B  illustrate a perspective view of the female and male assemblies respectively of the embodiment. 
         FIGS. 5A and 5B  illustrate exploded views of the components of the female and male assemblies respectively of the embodiment. 
         FIG. 6A  illustrates a front cross sectional view of the female assembly of the embodiment. 
         FIG. 6B  illustrates a left side cross sectional view of the male assembly of the embodiment. 
         FIG. 7  illustrates the hexheaded screw and washer. 
         FIG. 8  illustrates a perspective view of the embodiment with cross section indicators. 
         FIG. 9  illustrates a left side cross section of the embodiment. 
         FIG. 10  illustrates a front cross section view of the embodiment. 
         FIG. 11  illustrates an auxiliary component that allows the embodiment to be used for hose couplers of smaller diameter. 
         FIG. 12  illustrates two perspective views of the use of auxiliary components. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIGS. 1 through 3  illustrate an overview of an embodiment of the invention applied to a hose coupler. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a prior art mateable coupler comprising a female hose coupler component  102  and a male hose coupler component  108 . In normal use, the male end  110  of coupler component  108  is inserted into the female end  104  of the hose coupler component  102  thereby mating the coupler. The hose coupler components shown in  FIG. 1  have hex nuts  106  and  112  located on the female and male coupler components respectively. In a high-pressure environment, the mated coupler may leak. This invention is directed to a device that quickly tightly mates the hose coupler components. The invention applies to hose or pipe couplers that may depart from the design shown in  FIG. 1 . For example the hex nuts may be replaced by knurled rings. The mateable coupler is not part of the invention. 
     In the following description, the embodiment is directed to a coupler that has a hose diameter of a fixed dimension, for example, a hose diameter of 2.54 cm (1 inch). The embodiment is dimensioned to fit this hose coupler diameter. This embodiment may be modified apply to a hose coupler of a different diameter. Furthermore, although the embodiment shows the female hose component  102  being used with the female assembly  114 ; this may be reversed such that the male hose component  108  is used with the female assembly  102 . 
       FIG. 2  illustrates the embodiment with the hose coupler in a disengaged mode. The embodiment consists of a female assembly  114  and a male assembly  116  with guides  122  that snugly restrict the relative motion of the two assemblies in-line along a single axial direction A. The female  114  and male  116  assemblies each have an open-ended slot  124  and  126  respectively as illustrated in  FIG. 2 . The width W 1  of the open-ended slot is dimensioned to accommodate the hose coupler such that the assemblies constrain the hex nuts  106  and  112  from sliding through these open-ended slots, yet allow the hose coupler components to fit in the open-ended slots. The embodiment has a hexheaded screw  118  that connects the female and male assemblies  114  and  116  and is used to adjust the distances between the two open-ended slots  124  and  126 . The assemblies are dimensioned to accommodate unmated coupler components and allow the tight mating of the coupler. 
     Refer now to  FIGS. 2 and 3 . To use the embodiment, the assemblies are disposed as shown in  FIG. 2  to accommodate the female and male components when they are inserted in the open-ended slots  124  and  126 . The coupler component hex nuts  106  and  112  are constrained by the open-ended slots  124  and  126  with the female  104  and male  110  ends of the coupler facing each other. The user then rotates the screw hexhead  120  in a first rotational direction so that the two open-ended slots constraining the coupler hex nuts are urged towards each other. The user continues to turn the hexhead so the female and male ends mate as shown in  FIG. 3 . The screw hexhead  120  is rotated further in the first rotational direction until the coupler tightly mates.  FIG. 3  illustrates the embodiment in a tightly mated mode. To release the mated coupler from the embodiment, the hexhead is rotated in a second rotational direction opposite to the first rotational direction, releasing the pressure on the coupler components. The coupler is then removed from the embodiment and separated manually.  FIG. 3A  shows a detail of a portion of  FIG. 3 . In  FIG. 2 , the hose coupler component ends  104  and  110  are shown to be completely separated. The embodiment functions equally well if the hose coupler ends are loosely mated before inserted in the embodiment. 
       FIGS. 4A and 4B  illustrate the components and configuration of the female and male assemblies.  FIGS. 5A and 5B  present an exploded view of the assemblies.  FIG. 6A  illustrates a front sectional view of the female assembly  114 .  FIG. 6B  illustrates a left side sectional view of the male assembly  116 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 4A ,  5 A and  6 A, the female assembly  114  is constructed from three components: a bottom component  202 , a top component  204 , and a hex nut  206 . The bottom component  202  is L-shaped with a top subcomponent  202 T shaped as a rectangular solid and a side subcomponent  202 S shaped as a rectangular solid. They are joined at approximately right angles to form the bottom component  202 . The side subcomponent  202 S has an open-ended slot  124 . The open-ended slot  124  has width W 1  so it can accommodate the hose coupler component  102  but will constrain the hose hex nuts  106  from passing through. The top component  204  has a top subcomponent  204 T shaped as a rectangular solid and a side component  204 S shaped as rectangular solid The two components  204 T and  204 S meet at right angles. The three components  206 ,  204  and  202  of the female assembly  114  are joined as shown in  FIGS. 4A and 6A . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 ,  4 B,  5 B and  6 B, the male assembly  116  is composed of four components: an L-shaped component  208 , a flat component  210 , and two three-sided brackets  212  and  214 . The L-shaped component  208  is composed of a top subcomponent  208 T having a rectangular solid shape and a side subcomponent  208 S also having a rectangular solid shape. They are joined at approximately right angles to form the single component  208 . The side subcomponent  208 S has an open-ended slot  126  of width W 1 . The open-ended slot  126  is open at the bottom so it can accommodate the hose coupler component but will prevent the hose hex nut  112  from passing through. The two three-sided brackets  212  and  214  are joined to the top subcomponent  208 T on either side. The flat component  210  is joined to the side subcomponent  208 S of the male assembly  116  as shown in  FIG. 4B . It has an aperture  216  that allows the screw  118  to pass through. 
       FIG. 6A  illustrates a front cross-section of the female component  114 .  FIG. 6B  illustrates a left side cross-section view of the male component  116 . The space between the top subcomponent  204 T and the bottom subcomponent  202 T of the female assembly  114  is dimensioned so it will accommodate the top subcomponent  208 T of the male assembly  116 , and snugly fits slidingly between the top subcomponent  204 T and the bottom subcomponent  202 T. The three-sided brackets  212  and  214  are joined at the top and sides of the subcomponent  208 T of the L-shaped subcomponent  208  of the male assembly  116  as shown in  FIGS. 4B and 6B . 
       FIG. 7  illustrates the hexheaded screw  118  and a washer  218  used in the embodiment. 
       FIG. 8  illustrates the assembled embodiment of the invention with two cross section indicators.  FIG. 9  illustrates a left side cross-section of the embodiment.  FIG. 10  illustrates a front cross-section of the embodiment. Referring to  FIG. 9 , the top subcomponent  204 T of the female assembly  114  has width W 2  so it fits between the top  212 T and  214 T of the three-sided components  212  and  214  with enough clearance so it slides snugly and freely in-line along the axial direction A. The widths of the subcomponents  208 T and the bottom subcomponent  202 T are the same. The thickness of the subcomponent  202 T is dimensioned so it fits between the top subcomponent  208 T and the bottom  212 B and  214 B of the three-sided brackets  212  and  214 . The five components  212 ,  214 ,  202 T,  204 T, and  208 T function together as guides to keep the two assemblies  114  and  116  in-line such that the assemblies are constrained to slide along a single axial direction A. The dimensions of the five components are configured so the two assemblies snugly slide along the single axial direction. 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 2 ,  8  and  10 , the lengths L 1 , L 2  and L 3  of the subcomponents  204 T,  202 T and  208 T respectively are dimensioned such that when the embodiment is in the disengaged mode as shown in  FIG. 2 , the male and female assemblies may accept the two hose coupler male/female components, and when in the tightly mated configuration of  FIG. 3 , the assembly will tightly mate the coupler.  FIG. 10  also shows the use of the washer  218  that facilitates the rotation of the screw. 
       FIG. 11  illustrates an auxiliary component  402  with a rectangular open-ended slot  404 . A pair of these auxiliary components allows the embodiment, that is dimensioned to accept hose couplers of a specified diameter, to be used with hose couplers of a smaller diameter. For example, suppose the embodiment discussed above is dimensioned such that it accommodates hose couplers of a diameter 2.54 cm (1 inch). Referring now to  FIG. 12 , to accommodate hose couplers of diameter 1.9 cm (¾ inch), the auxiliary component has an open-ended slot  404  dimensioned to accommodate hose couplers of a diameter 1.9 cm (¾ inch). The component  402  is dimensioned such that it will be constrained by the sides  202 S and  208 S as shown in  FIG. 12  when the auxiliary components are disposed as in  FIG. 12 . When the pair of auxiliary components  404  and hose coupler components  102  and  108  are disposed as shown in  FIG. 12 , the embodiment tightly mates the hose coupler with a smaller diameter. 
     The embodiment presented herein is considered as only illustrative of the invention and not a limitation of the scope of the invention. Various variations and extensions of this embodiment are considered to fall within the scope of this invention. The invention applies to air hoses, hydraulic hoses and other hoses and pipes with a similar coupler mechanism. It may be dimensioned to apply to hoses of any specified diameter. The in-line mechanism that snugly restricts assembly movement in a direction along a single axis may be replaced by other in-line mechanisms that accomplish the same function. The hexheaded screw may be replaced by a threaded shaft of a different design the performs the same function; for example a screw having a crank instead of a hexhead. The nut may be replaced by a threaded component that engages the threaded shaft. The auxiliary components may have stepped slots to accommodate couplers of more than one diameter. Therefore the scope of this invention should be determined with reference to the claims and not just by the embodiment presented herein.