Abstract:
A fitting sealing an intersection of a pipe passing through a wall includes an adapter assembly including an elongated threaded sleeve with an enlarged flange at one end, an adapter gasket, an O-ring and its support, and a nut threadedly joined to the sleeve to squeeze the O-ring and gasket against opposite sides of the wall. The adapter assembly fits concentrically around the pipe where it passes through the wall; and two generally hemispherical resilient covers enclose the portions of the adapter assembly on each side of the wall. Hose clamps at each end of each hemispherical cover connects the enlarged end portions to the adapter assembly and the other end portions to the pipe. One of the hemispherical covers has a pressure grease fitting thereon to allow the space between the covers and the adapter assembly to be filled with pressurized water repellent gel.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention relates to the plumbing technology, and particularly to means for sealing the intersection where a pipe passes through a wall and there is need to prevent leakage and/or corrosion at that intersection. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Environmental standards have tightened over the recent years in an effort to protect against soil pollution occurring because of leakage above and below ground levels of piping carrying pollutants, such as petroleum substances, wastes, acidic liquids, etc. In most instances underground containers are required to be increased in a second safety container that catches any leakage from the internal operating container. Pipelines leading into or out of the internal operating container must also be provided with special fittings to protect against leakage at the point of penetration of the container wall by the pipe. Some attempts have been made to develop fillings to prevent leakage into the soil where the pipe intersects the container wall, but they have been too costly, too bulky, or of poor quality. 
     It is an object of this invention to provide a novel bulkhead entry fitting. It is another object of this invention to provide a bulkhead entry fitting that employs a surrounding mass in the form of a water repellent gel to seal against leakage. Still other objects will become apparent in the following disclosures. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a fitting for sealing the intersection of a pipe passing through a wall comprising a threaded adapter, an adapter, gasket, an O-ring support, and a nut threadedly joined together to form an adapter assembly designed to fit concentrically around said pipe where it passes through said wall; two generally hemispherical resilient covers adapted to enclose the portions of said adapter assembly on each side of said wall, and hose clamps at each end of each said hemispherical cover, one of said hemispherical covers having a pressure grease fitting thereon to allow the space between said covers and said adapter assembly to be filled with pressurized water repellent gel. 
     In specific and preferred embodiments the adapter and the adapter gasket are clamped against the wall on one side of the opening where the pipe passes through, and the O-ring support and the nut are clamped against the other side of the wall, while the cover encloses the adapter parts on both sides and forms a snugly fitting enclosure by reason of hose clamps around the cover. In a preferred embodiment the adapter, the O-ring support, and the nut are made of a stiff plastic material while the cover, the O-ring, and the gasket are made of a resilient elastomeric material. In another preferred embodiment wherein the potential leakage might be in water or an aqueous liquid, the cover of the fitting is filled with petrolatum under pressure. In still another preferred embodiment each half of the cover is a combination of a central hollow conical portion joined at one end to a large diameter cylindrical portion, and at the other end to a small diameter cylindrical portion. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The novel features believed to be characteristic of this invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of the fitting of this invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the fitting of this invention; 
     FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the fitting of this invention; 
     FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of two fittings of this invention; 
     FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the adapter assembly of this invention; 
     FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken at 6--6 of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 7 is a bottom plan view of the adapter assembly of this invention; 
     FIG. 8 is a top plan view of the adapter of this invention; 
     FIG. 9 is a front elevational view of the adapter of this invention; 
     FIG. 10 is a top plan view of the O-ring support of this invention; 
     FIG. 11 is a front elevational view of the O-ring support of this invention; 
     FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view taken at 12--12 of FIG. 10; 
     FIG. 13 is a top plan view of the adapter gasket of this invention; 
     FIG. 14 is a front elevational view of the adapter gasket of this invention; 
     FIG. 15 is a top plan view of the nut of this invention; and 
     FIG. 16 is a front elevational view of the nut of this invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The features of this invention are best understood with reference to the numbers shown on the attached drawings. 
     In FIGS. 1-2 there is shown the fitting of this invention applied to a pipe where it passes through a wall or bulkhead. Wall 22 is pierced by an opening 45 through which a pipe 20 passes. The fitting of this invention is applied to seal this intersection of pipe 20 and wall 22. 
     An internal adapter assembly is placed concentrically around longitudinal axis 32 of pipe 20, including adapter 25, adapter gasket 28, O-ring support 29, and nut 30. A two piece cover 21A and 21B is placed around the adapter assembly snugly against each side of wall 22 and clamped around pipe 20. The vacant spaces inside covers 21 A and 21 B are then filled with a water repellent gel through pressurized grease fitting 31, and the sealed fitting is complete. 
     In FIGS. 1-2 there is shown the entire fitting applied to a wall 22 to permit a pipe 20 to pass through. The adapter assembly is applied to pipe 20 on both sides of wall 22. Shoulder portion 26 of adapter 25 pushes adapter gasket 28 against the lower surface of wall 22. Tail portion 27 of adapter 25 extends through hole 45 in wall 22 to nut 30 which is connected to tail portion by reason of mating screw threads. O-ring support 29 is pushed against the upper face of wall 22 by tightening nut 30 against the upper surface of O-ring support. The two hemispherical covers 21 A and 21 B are placed over the adapter assembly on both sides of wall 22 and tightened in place by tightening hose clamps 23 above and below the fitting. This pushes the larger ends of hemispherical cover 21 A and 21 B snugly against opposite sides of wall 22. Large hose clamps 24 are then tightened around the interior structures of the adapter assembly; namely O-ring support above wall 22 and shoulder portion 26 of adapter 25 below wall 22. Finally a grease gun is applied to grease fitting 31 and the interior spaces of the fitting are filled with a water repellent gel. It may be necessary to temporarily loosen one or both small hose clamps 23 to allow the escape of interior air while filling the interior with a water repellent gel. Of course, when the water repellent gel begins to exude from the slightly loosened hose clamp area, it is again tightened so that additional water repellent gel under pressure is applied to fitting 31 so as to maintain the space filled with the pressurized water repellent gel. The grease fitting 31 is normally disposed in an accessible internal space for convenience of checking and making repairs which may require reapplication of pressurized water repellent gel. Petrolatum has been found to be an acceptable water repellent gel for the purposes of this invention, but other gels may be found to be effective in differing conditions. 
     FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the fitting applied to a through pipe 20 where it intersects a wall 22. This drawing shows the internal pieces forming the adapter assembly; namely a sleeve adapter 25, sealing means in the form of adapter gasket 28, and another sealing means including O-ring 37 and its support 29 and nut 30; and additionally shows the two covers 21 A and 21 B with clamping means in the form of hose clamps 23 and 24 on each. Only one grease fitting 31 is needed and may be present on either cover 21 A or 21 B. Although not needed, a grease fitting 31 may be on each of covers 21 A or 21 B, if desired. 
     FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of a pump 46 in a safety containment characterized by two intersecting walls 22. The inlet line 20 IN and the outlet line 20 OUT must pass through walls 22 in order to connect pump 46 to appropriate parts of an apparatus. The fitting of this invention serves to cover each place where the pipe passes through the wall so as to seal it from leakage into or out of the containment represented by the walls 22. Many other instances of application for this invention are well known, such as any piping carrying liquids, gases, electric cables, mixtures of solids with liquid or gas, etc., which pass through walls and where that passage must be sealed so as to prevent leakage passing along the piping from one side of the wall to another. Each of these possible intersections is contemplated for sealing by the fitting of this invention. 
     The adapter assembly of this invention is shown in FIGS. 5-7, and each component of the adapter assembly is individually shown in FIGS. 8-16. In FIGS. 5-7 there is seen a wall 22 having an opening 45 therein large enough to allow the externally threaded sleeve or tail portion 27 of adapter 25 to pass through and sufficiently small to prevent shoulder portion 26 of adapter 25, sealing means in the form of adapter gasket 28, or another sealing means in the form of an O-ring 37 or its support 29 to pass through. As has been described above it may be seen that shoulder portion 26 of adapter 25 and adapter gasket 28 press against wall 22 from one side (left side in FIG. 6) while O-ring 37 via its support 29 and nut 30 press against wall 22 from the other side (right side in FIG. 6) about opening 45. All components of the adapter assembly have an internal hollow or passageway not less in diameter than that of hollow 34 of tail portion 27 of adapter 25. This permits the straight through passage of a pipe (not shown in FIG. 6, but shown as 20 in FIGS. 1-3). The tightness of nut 30 determines the tightness of the sealing components, i.e., gasket 28 and O-ring 37, of the adapter assembly against wall 22. 
     FIGS. 8-9 depict the adapter component 25, which is a sleeve or tube with external threads smaller in diameter than that of the opening 45 in wall 22 and having a head or shoulder portion 26 which has a larger diameter than that of the opening 45 in wall 22. Shoulder portion 26 remains on one side of wall 22 while sleeve portion 27 extends through wall 22 and beyond for an appropriate distance on the other side of wall 22. Shoulder portion 26 is a short length of a tubular cylinder having a flange 47 with a planar wall 48 to lie parallel to wall 22 as a support for gasket 28 which lies directly against wall 22. The outside perimeter 49 of shoulder portion 26 forms a seat between flange 47 and small circular lip 51 for a similarly sized portion of cover 21 A or 21 B around which a large hose clamp 24 is tightened. Threads 39 are of any appropriate size and may be formed when the adapter is molded from plastic or may be machined or cut from a molded blank surface. These threads mate with those on the inside diameter of nut 30. Materials of construction preferably include moldable thermoplastic materials such as polyolefins, polyacetals, polycarbonates, polyamides, etc. Stainless steel or other noncorrodable metals are useful, but are costly and not preferred. 
     FIGS. 10-12 show the details of the O-ring support 29 which is a shallow cup-like component with a transverse surface 36 perpendicular to central axis 32 of the adapter assembly (see FIGS. 5-7), and of the fitting assembled around pipe 20 (see FIGS. 1-3). Transverse surface 36 has a circular groove molded or machined into it to function as a seat for an O-ring 37 which is partly enclosed by the O-ring adapter, but leaves a portion of the O-ring 37 to protrude outwardly from surface 36 so as to form a seal against wall 22 when nut 30 is tightened. There is a perimetral surface 35, generally concentric and cylindrical around axis 32 and perpendicular to transverse surface 36 forming a seat with circular lip 50 for cover 21 A or 21 B which is clamped thereto by a large hose clamp 24 (see FIGS. 1-3). Lip 50 of support 29 and lip 51 of adapter 25 are outwardly directed from the respective seats so as to inhibit removal of the respective cover 21 A or 21 B until release of respective hose clamps 24. In order to strengthen this component it may be desirable to have corner reinforcements 41 at the inside corner where the wall containing transverse surface 36 meets the wall having perimetral surface 35. This component, like adapter 25 preferably is made of a moldable thermoplastic material, or if desired, may be made of metal. 
     FIGS. 13 and 14 show the adapter gasket 28 of the adapter assembly. This component is a simple washer-like gasket of thin resilient sheet material having an internal passageway 40 slightly larger in diameter than sleeve portion 27 of adapter 25, so that sleeve portion 27 may pass through easily. This gasket 28 lies flat against wall 22 and is backed by surface 48 of adapter 25 so as to form a tight seal. This gasket component is preferably made of a thin elastomeric material that will distort easily so as to fit tightly against any deformities in wall 22. 
     FIGS. 15 and 16 show nut 30 which has internal threads that will mate with external threads 39 on tail portion 27 of adapter 25. The outer contour of nut 30 can take any shape that is convenient, generally a polygon of parallel flat sides such as a square, hexagon (as shown in FIG. 15), octagon, etc., that can receive a wrench for turning nut 30 in tightening or loosening it. Nut 30 generally is tightened against O-ring support 29, specifically contiguous to surface 49 thereof so as to tighten O-ring 37 against wall 22 on one side thereof and to tighten by pulling shoulder portion 26 of adapter 25 and gasket 28 against the other side of wall 22. This nut component, like adapter 25 and O-ring support 29, is preferably made of a stiff thermoplastic material, or alternatively, of a metal. 
     While the invention has been described with respect to certain specific embodiments, it will be appreciated that many modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is intended, therefore, by the appended claims to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.