GB1198746A - Conduit Cleaning Apparatus. - Google Patents

Abstract

1,198,746. Cleaning pipes and tubes. CONCO Inc. 27 Sept., 1968 [6 Nov., 1967 (2)], No. 46096/68. Heading F2N. A conduit cleaning apparatus, e.g. for sewer pipes, comprises a tool 20 adapted to be rotatably and longitudinally moved through a pipe to clean the same, a rotatable drum 16, a length of cable 18 connected to the tool 20 and carried by the drum to rotate therewith about its longitudinal axis and a mechanism 24 for feeding the cable 18 to and from the drum during rotation thereof, comprising at least one roller drivingly engaging, when operable, the periphery of the cable 18 and with the axis of rotation of the roller and the longitudinal axis of the cable disposed in different planes. As shown, the drum 16, driven by a motor 22, and the feeding mechanism 24, are carried on a yoke 14 mounted on a base 10 the feeding mechanism comprising a tube 32 with end caps 34, 34 and accommodating a pair of cable-engaging rollers 42, 54 mounted-, respectively on axes 44, 56 in bifurcated 40, 52 on the inner ends of a pair of cylindrical rollers 36, 46 located, one at each side, of the cable 18. The latter passes between the nip of the rollers 42, 54, being located by upper and lower guides 86 and accommodated in the horizontal portions 84 of a double bayonet slot 82 in the tube 32. The cylindrical roller 46 is urged toward the cable 18 by a spring 70 the force of which is adjustable by means of a thumbscrew 66 threaded into an end plate 34. The cylindrical roller 46 is rotatable to a limited extent by a handle 62 which passes through a slot 58 in the tube 32, the rotation of the roller 42 being imparted to the other roller 36 in the opposite sense by means of an endless cable 76 which passes through apertures 74 in a handle 72 and which is secured to the cylindrical roller 46 at 80. In use, with the handle 60 upright the axes of the rollers 42, 54 are parallel and the cable, 18, continuously rotated by the motor 22, has no axial feed. Tilting the handle 60 either one way, or the other, alters the relative inclinations of the axes (90), (92) of the rollers (42), (54) to feed out the cable (18), Fig. 6 (not shown), or feed in the cable (18), Fig. 7 (not shown). The cable 18 can be introduced into the keyhole slots 82 by slackening off the thumbscrew 66. In a modification, Figs. 9, 10 (not shown), the cable (118) is nipped between rollers (144), (148) one roller (148) being rotatable on a boss (150) fixed to the yoke (114) and the other (144) on a boss (140) on a pivotal lever (136) which can be lowered to engage the cable (118). With the lever (136) lowered the cable (118) is fed in or out depending upon the direction of the motor (122) no feed being obtained when the roller (144) is raised off the cable (118).