GB1559645A

GB1559645A - Flexible joint assembly

Info

Publication number: GB1559645A
Application number: GB3684477A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: LAMAGUCHI S
Current assignee: LAMAGUCHI S
Priority date: 1977-09-02
Filing date: 1977-09-02
Publication date: 1980-01-23

Description

(54) A FLEXIBLE JOINT ASSEMBLY (71) I, SEICHI YAMAGUCHT, a Japanese citizen, of No. 11-2,1-Chome, Asagaya Minami, Suginami-Ku, Tokyo, Japan, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement : This invention relates to a flexible tubular joint assembly for detachably but fluidtightly connecting pipes in a piping system for drainage of sanitary fixtures.

H : therto, in constructing water supply and drainage facilities such as by the laying of the piping system for wash basins, bath tubs, water closets and the like sanitary fixtures, it has been general practice that the inner surfaces of the ends of pipes in the piping system to be connected together are provided with female threads, a connection tube having male threads at its opposite ends is screw-threaded into the threaded pipe ends at the threaded opposite ends of the tube to connect the pipes together, and a suitable adhesive or adhesive is applied to each of the thread-connected areas.

However, wash basins, bath tubs and water closets are usually installed at areas in buildings where the operation for connecting pipes in the piping system for such faciiities cannot be easily performed and such operation requires a great deal of time and highly skilled labour. Furthermore, since wash basins, bath tubs and water closets are generally formed of ceramics, they are quite often insufficiently connected to its piping system and as a result, fluid leakage frequently occurs in the insufficiently formed connection. Whenever the fluid leakage area or areas are to be repaired, the building floor where the wash basins, bath tubs and water closets are installed has to be removed and replaced after the repair operation has been completed. Such removal and replacement are time-consuming and troublesome operations. Especially, since Western-style water closets are aenerally installed on the floor of a building, the pipes in the piping system for such facilities are essentially required to be connected together at areas of very short length, which makis té connecting operation very difficult and imperfect connections are frequently formed which result in leakage of liquid at the conncetions.

Tn case of bath tubs and water closets, if and when the drain pipe of the bath tub or the excretory pipe of the water closet (the drain and excretory pipes will be referred as"discharge pipes"hereinbelow) collapse under the weight of the user, the connection between the discharge pipe and the adjacent pipe in the piping system connected to the discharge pipe comes loose, which leads to leakage of liquid.

Especially, in the piping system for wash basins, both tubs and Western-style water closets through which a great amount of water flows or in which at least a certain amount of water is always standing, fluid leakage through the connection between pipes in the piping system is quite undesirable from the view point of sanitation.

Thus, there is a great need for leak-proof joints for use in rapidly and easily connecting pipes in the piping system for the facilities of the above-mentioned type.

In another type of arrangement, a joint rigidly connects a riser, which extends up- wardly from a base pipe position below a building floor, or a branch pipe connected to the riser to the discharge pipe of a bath tub, wash basin or water closet. However, the connecting operation by the use of such a joint requires welding in the connection between the connected pipes and has been found inconvenient because such operation has to be performed under the floor.

Furthermore, when the piping system including the pipes connected together by such a prior art joint is subjected to high shock such as high or anormal vibration or earthquake, a crack or cracks develop in the connection and/or damage occurs in one or both of the connected pipes, resulting in leakage of fluid from the joint. Especially, when the floor where the wash basin, bath tub or water closet is installed is made of concrete, the repairing of such leaking connection and/or damaged pipe is not easy 0 requires a great deal of labour and expense.

And it has been also proposed to use a flanged metal joint to make a connection between metal or synthetic resin pipes, but to make a connection by the use of such flanged metal joint is time-consuming and the metal joint tends to rust to a degree that the joint becomes unserviceable prematurely due to fluid leakage.

Therefore, the present invention relates to a novel and improved joint assembly with which a connection can easily be made between pipes in the piping system for drainage, of a sanitary fixture such as a wash basin, bath tub, or water closet, and which connection is not subject to fluid leakage of fluid nor is damaged by mech- anical shock or earthquake, to thereby ensure long service life to the connection and, accordingly, the piping system.

According to the present invention we provide a flexible joint assembly suitable for connecting the discharge pipe of a sanitary fixture to a drainage pipe, which assembly comprises three pieces adapted to be interconnected in the following order : (a) a tubular first end piece adapted to be detachably connected to the drainage pipe of said fixture and to be snuo-connected over an end portion of piece (b); (b) a hose piece having two integral terminal tubular portions adapted to be snapconnected into pieces (a) and (c) and a flexible hose section of bellows construction between the terminal portions ; and (c) a tubular second end piece adapted to be snap-connected over an end portion of piece (b) and having internal annular ribs adapted for tightly gripping around a drainage pipe, the pieces being made of a material which connections to be made whilst ensuring is sufficiently resilient as to allow said snap nuid-tight joints at said connections.

These three parts are formed separately and, in use, are detachably connected to each other and to the pipes.

Preferably, to allow said snap-connection, each terminal portion of the hose piece (b) has an annular projection which fits into a corresponding annular recess adjacent the end of the piece (a) or (c).

Preferably, to hold the joints firmly, on the outer surface of the end piece (a) and ; or (c) is provided, over the part where the hose piece is received, an annular recess for receiving a band for tightening the joint.

Thereby there is formed a liquid-tight connection between the two pipes.

In one embodiment, a plurality of annular projections or ribs are formed inside the first end piece (a), preferably of angleshaned cross-section, to ensure close connection with the outer surface of the discharge pipe of the santitary fixture, so that the joint assembly is not inadvertantly disconnected from the discharge pipe to thereby maintain the connection fluid-tight.

In another embodiment of the joint assembly of the invention, the hollow cylindrical first joint section is provided at one end with a flange of substantially reversed Lshaped cross-section curving radially and outwardly, then extending substantially uprightly and finally curving radially and inwardly and having fins on the under-surface of the flange so that the joint section can firmly and yielding abut against the top of the discharge pipe of the sanitary fixture by means of the flange and abut against the floor in which the discharge pipe is embedded by means of the fins, to thereby form a fluid-tight connection between the joint and discharge pipe.

By use of the joint assembly of the invention, even when a water closet or bath tub is depressed under the weight of the user, or subjected to shock from vibration or earthquake, the flexible hose section flexes to yieldingly absorb such depression or shock lo thereby protect the connection between the joint assembly and the discharge pipe of the water closet or bath tub against possible fluid leakage and/or damage.

The present invention will be further described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which show preferred embodiments of the present invention and wherein : Fig. 1 is an elevational view of one preferred embodiment of flexible tubular joint assembly of the present invention; Fig. 2 is an exploded elevational view of the joint assemblv of Fig. I showing a portion of the assembly in section ; Figure 3 is a schematic elevational view on a reduced scale of said joint assembly showing its use for the drainage of a water closet; Fig. 4 is similar to Fig. l, but shows another embodiment of flexible tubular joint assembly in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 5 is an exploded, partly sectioned, elevational view of the joint assembly shown in Fig. 4; and Fig. 6 is a schematic elevational view on reduced scale of the joint assembly of Fig.

4 showing its use in drainage of a water closet.

In both embodiments, all three parts of the joint assembly are made of a resilient material such as a natural or synthetic rubber. The parts are described herein in their unstressed condition. The end sections must have sufficient resilience to allow assemblage and joint formation by the snapconnections described.

The hose portion may be of a softer and more resilient material to allow it to be flexible and bendable e. g. as shown in Fig. 3.

The embodiment of the assembly shown in Figs. 1 to 3 is adapted to be employed for interconnecting adjacent pipes in the drainage piping system of a bath tub or water closet. Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the joint assembly is generally designated as A and comprises three tubular pieces, namely (a) an uppermost joint section 1 the diameter of which diminishes from the upper edge to the lower edge, (b) an intermediate houe section 2 detachably connected at one end to the lower end of the joint section 1 and (c) a lowermost joint section 3 detachably connected at its upper end to the lower end of the joint section 2.

The first joint section 1 has at the upper edge a radially and outwardly extending flexible flange 4 integrally formed therewith and the flange has a substantially reversed I.-shaped cross-section as seen in vertical section as more clearly shown in Fig. 2.

The v. all of the Range 4 tapers gradually from the base 5 to the upper edge 6 of the flange for the purpose to be described hereinafter in connections with Fig. 3. More particularly, the outer surface of the flange wall extends substantially uprightly and then curves radially and inwardly from the base to the upper edge of the flange and the inner surface of the flange wall first curves radially and outwardly, then extends substantially uprightly and finally curves radially and inwardly from the base to the upper edge of the flange.

An annular recess 8 is provided in the outer surface of the flange 4 adiacent to the base 5 of the flange for connection with a separate risid floor flange 27 of which description will be made hereinafter. A plurality of spaced fins 9 are provided on the undersurface of the flange 4 in concentric relationship with the axis of the joint section 1 for the purpose to be described hereinafter.

The inner surface of the joint section 1 is provided with an annular recess 11 adjacent to the lower edge of the joint section and the annular recess has an arcuate crosssection. The outer surface of the joint section 1 is provided with an annular recess 12 of arcuate cross-section in a position below the annular recess 11 for receiving a tightening band, as described hereinafter. An annular projection 13 extends radially and inwardly from the inner surface of the joint section I in a position just above the annular recess 11 and the undersurface of the projection 13 is formed with an annular recess of arcuate cross-section to thereby form an annular abutment 14 for sealing engagement with the end of the hose section 2.

The second or intermediate hose section 2 is in the form of a flexible hose or bellows having a uniform diameter throughout its length. A pair of annular projections 15,15a of arcuate cross-section are formed on the outer surface of the second joint section 2 adjacent to the upper end lower edges thereof, respectively and a bellows portion 16 is formed between the upper and lower end portions on which the annular projections 15,15a are formed. The annular projection 15 has an outer diameter substantially equal to the diameter of the annular recess 11 in the first joint section.

The third and lowermost joint section 3 is in the form of a hollow cylinder the inner surface of which includes a pipe-connecting portion 18 extending from the lower end for most of the length of the section 3 and including internal annular recesses 18a...

18a of arcuate cross-section to form therebetween annular resilient ribs of triangular cross-section for gripping a pipe. The upper end portion of the third joint section 3 is reduced in diameter and has an annular recess 20 having an arcuate cross-section in its inner surface. The annular recess 20 has a diameter substantially equal to the outer diameter of the annular projection 15a of the second joint section 2. The inner surface of the upper end of the third joint section 3 is also formed with a radially and inwardly extending annular projection or flange 21 between the pipe-connecting portion 18 and annular recess 20. The opposite (upper and lower) surfaces of the flange 21 are formed with notches of arcuate cross-section, the upper one of which (21a) serves for sealing engagement with the end of the hose section 2 and the lower one (21b) for engagement with the end of a pipe. The reduced diameter upper end portion of the third joint section 3 has formed in its outer surface an annular recess 22 of arcuate cross-section for receiving a tightening band, in a position just above the internal annular recess 20.

In assembling the joint sections 1,2 and 3 to make the flexible joint assembly of the invention, first of all, the annular projection 15 on the second joint section 2 is snapped into the annular recess 11 in the joint section 1 and the annular projection 15a on the hose section 2 is snapped into the annular recess 20 in the third joint section 3 to thereby interconnect the three joint sections 1, 2 and 3 together into a sealed joint assembly. Then rubber bands 23 are placed into the annular recesses 12,22 in the first and third joint sections 1,3, respectively to firmly hold the three joint sections in their assembled condition. A suitable adhesive can be applied to the connection areas of the joint sections, so that the joint sections can be more firmly connected together.

When the thus obtained joint assembly A is employed for interconnecting pipes of the piping system for a water closet system 25 installed on the floor 29 as shown in Fig. 3 for example, the annular recess 8 in the outer surface of the fiange 5 on the first joint section 1 is snapped on the annular projection 28 of the annular floor flange 27 so that the flange 4 may be flexed inwardly and sealingl abut against tlie end of the excretory pipe or discharge pipe 30 extending downwardly from the lower end of the water closet 25. Thereafter, the floor flange 27 is secured to the floor 29 by means of set screws 31, bolts 32 which are attached to the floor flange 27 are screw-threaded into the threaded holes in the anchoring brackets 33 of the water closet 25, nuts 34 are tightened onto the bolts 32 to secure the flange 4 on the joint section I to the discharge pipe 30 and the connection portion 18 of the joint section 3 is fitted on the outer surface of a pipe 26 in the drainage piping system for the water closet to thereby completely innerconnect the discharge pipe 30 and pipe 26 in the piping system.

The above-mentioned assembling order can be altered as desired depending upon a particular circumstance. For example, the joint assembly A is first formed bv connecting the three joint section 1, 2 and 3 together and the thus formed joint assembly is then connected between the adjacent pires 30, 26 in the piping system associated with the water closet or the first joint section is connected to the discharge pipe 30 connected to the water closet, the third ioint section is then connected to the pipe 26 in the piping system and the second joint section is connected between the first and third joint section 1, 3 in the manner mentioned hereinabove.

Fis-. 4 and 5 show another embodiment of joint assembly constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Tn the second embodiment, the joint asemb'y A'also comnrises the three sections, that is, the first pipe section 1', second pipe section 2 and third pide section 3 connected together as in the first embodiment.

The second embodiment of joint assembly differs from the first embodiment only with respect to the construction of the first ioint section and tilts. the parts of the second embodiment which are the same as or similar to the corresponding parts of the first embodiment are assigned the same or similar numerals thereto and description of the second and third joint pipes will be omitted herein.

The hollow cvlindrical first joint section !'comprises a larger diameter portion lal and a smaller diameter portion lbl con- nected together by means of an intermediate smallest diameter portion 30 the outer surface of which is provided with an annular groove 31 of arcuate cross-section. As more clearly shown in Fig. 5, the inner surface of the larger diameter portion lal is provided with a connection portion 33 including a plurality of annular resilient projections or ribs 32 of triangular cross-section for gripping a pipe. The inner surface of the intermediate portion 30 is integrally formed with a radially and inwardly extending flange 34 of substantially square cross-section and the undersurface of the flange is formed with an annular recess 35 of arcuate cross-section to form an abutment against which the upper edge of the intermediate or second joint section abuts.

The inner surface of the smaller diameter portion I b'is formed substantially in the center of the length or height of the smaller diameter portion with an annular recess 36 of arcuate cross-section and the outer surface of the smaller diameter portion lu'ils formed with an annular recess 37 in a position substantially opposite to the annular recess 36.

In assembling the three joint sections 1', 2 and 3 together, first of aD, the annular projection 15a formed on the outer surface of the lower end portion of the second or intermediate joint section 2 in the upper end portion thereof is snapped into the annular recess 20 formed in the inner surface of the second or intermediate joint section 2 adjacent the upper end thereof and the annular projections 15 formed on the outer surface of the second or intermediate joint section 2 adjacent the upper end thereof is snapped into the annular recess 36 formed in the inner surface of the smaller diameter portion I b1 of the first joint section 1'to thereby form a unitary joint assembly A'.

After the joint assembly has been formed in the manner mentioned hereinabove, tightening rubber bands 23 are placed into the annular recesses 37 and 22 formed in the outer surfaces of the smaller diameter portion 16'of the first joint section 11 and of the third joint section 3, respectively to firmly hold the three joint sections in their assemble condition. Also, in the second embodiment, any suitable adhesive can be applied to the connection areas of the three joint sections to ensure more firm connection between the joint sections.

When the thus formed joint assembly A' is employed for interconnecting adjacent pipes in the piping system for a water closet for example, as shown in Fig. 6, the first joint section 11 is fitted on the excretory or discharge pipe 42 directly connected to the water closet 40 and the third joint section 3 is fitted on a Al )'tl,, drainage piping system associated with the water closet. As in the case of the first embodiment of joint assembly, the order for interconnecting the three joint sections and the order for connecting the joint assembly to the water closet and the adjacent pipe in the piping system can be altered as desired depending upon a particular circumstance.

As is clear from the foregoing description, according to the present invention, the individual joint sections 1,2,3 can be snapconnected together in any desired order by means of the cooperating annular recesses 20,36 and projections 15,15a; the joint sections can thus be rigidly and fluid-tightly connected together to form the joint assembly, without resorting to conventional connection means such as screws. The two end joint sections 1, 3 can be even more firmly secured to the flexible hose section 2 by rubber bands 23 placed in the annular recesses 22 in the end sections. Since the assembly is formed by snap-connection of resilient pieces, the joint assembly can be easily and rapidly installed in a retsricted space or inconvenient job site where pipe laying or repair operation is conventionally not easy. Furthermore, since the assembly inclues the flexible hose section, the joint assembly can accommodate varying distances between the exretory end of a water closet and the associated drainage pipe and, when the excretory end is depressed by the weight of the user who sits on the water closet the joint is not damaged.

The excretory end of the water closet is positively and air-tightly sealed by the provision of the flanges on the uppermost joint section 1 and the annular fins 5 on the flange to thereby effectively prevent occurrence of any fluid leakage at the excretory end.

Claims

WHAT WE CLAIM IS :-

1. A flexible joint assembly suitable for connecting the discharge pipe of a sanitary fixture to a drainage pipe, which assembly comprises three pieces adapted to be interconnected in the following order: (a) a tubular first end piece adapted to be detachably connected to the drainage pipe of said fixture and to be snap-connected over an end portion of piece (b); (b) a hose piece having two internal terminal tubular portions adapted to be snapconnected into pieces (a) and (c) and a flexible hose section of bellows construction between the terminal portions ; and (c) a tubular second end piece adapted to be snap-connected over an end portion of piece (b) and having internal annular ribs adapted for tightly gripping around a drainage pipe, the pieces being made of a material which is sufficiently resilient as to allow said snapconnections to be made whilst ensuring fluid-tight joints at said connections.

2. An assembly as claimed in Claim 1, wherein each terminal portion of the hose piece (b) has an annular projection which fits into a corresponding annular recess adjacent the end of the piece (a) or (c).

3. An assembly as claimed in Claim 2, wherein each said projection and recess is of arcuate cross-section.

4. An assembly as claimed in Claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein on the outer surface of the end piece (a) and/or (c) is provided, over the part where the hose piece (b) is received, an annular recess for receiving a band for tightening the joint.

5. An assembly as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the end piece (a) and/or (c) is provided internally with an annular flange against which the end of the hose piece (b) and optionally the end of a pipe may be sealingly abutted.

6. An assembly as claimed in any of Claims I to 5, wherein the first end piece (a) is provided at one end with a flexible peripheral flange adapted to be flexed inwardly for sealing engagement against the discharge pipe of a water closet.

7. An assembly as claimed in Claim 6, wherein said flange tapers gradually in thickness from its base to its top.

8. An assembly as claimed in Claims 6 or 7, wherein the end piece (a) is provided externally with a groove, adjacent to the base of said flexible flange, for receiving a separate annular flange adapted to be fixed to a floor for supporting a water closet.

9. An assembly as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 5, wherein the end piece (a) is provided internally with annular ribs adapted for tightly gripping around the discharge pipe of said fixture.

10. An assembly as claimed in any preceding claim which is made of natural or synthetic rubber.

11. A flexible joint assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1-2 or Figs. 4-5 of the accompanying drawings.

12. A joint when made substantially as herein described with reference to Fig. 3 or 6 of the accompanying drawings.