US20160023262A1

US20160023262A1 - Tube expander with positioning structure

Info

Publication number: US20160023262A1
Application number: US14/341,613
Authority: US
Inventors: Hui-Chen Chen
Original assignee: CHAMP-AIR REFRIGERATION HARDWARE Co Ltd
Current assignee: CHAMP-AIR REFRIGERATION HARDWARE Co Ltd
Priority date: 2014-07-25
Filing date: 2014-07-25
Publication date: 2016-01-28

Abstract

A tube expander with positioning structure includes a base, a tube clamp, a positioning device, and an adjusting thread rod. Therein, the base has a body and a neck. The body has a guiding groove and the neck is inserted with a rotating thread rod capable of vertically moving. An expanding cone facing the guiding groove is on one end of the rotating thread rod. The tube clamp having tube bores is slidingly disposed in the guiding groove. The positioning device is on one side of the guiding groove, thereby engaging and positioning the tube clamp and positioning the tube bores under the expanding cone. The adjusting thread rod is pivotally disposed on the body for fastening the tube clamp.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to tube expanders, and more particularly, to a tube expander provided with a positioning structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a tube is to be connected to extend or to be installed in a curved section, a tube expander is utilized in a tube expanding process. In most tube expanders, a tube member is usually clamped and fastened by a clamp, and the clamp is placed in a guiding groove of the tube expander, while a cone head of the tube expander is in alignment with the tube member, whereby a handle of the tube expander is rotated for driving the cone head to expand the end part of the tube member, thus expanding the tube orifice of the tube member into a cone shape for facilitating the tube connecting operation.
However, the above mentioned tube expander is not provided with any positioning structures for positioning the clamp. Although an adjusting thread rod is provided to position the clamp in the guiding groove, the cone head is usually off-centered and kept from accurately being aligned with the orifice of the tube member. Under the circumstance, if the user still uses the cone head to expand the orifice of the tube member, the tube member tends to be damaged easily. As a result, known tube expander requires additional man power and time cost for accurately aiming the cone head at the orifice of the tube member for preventing such damage from happening, thus failing to meet the demand of being conveniently operated.
Therefore, an expander with positioning device capable of positioning the clamp in the guiding groove is needed to be developed in the industry.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

For improving aforementioned disadvantages, the present invention discloses an expander with positioning structure, which is provided with a positioning structure for positioning a tube clamp seat in a guiding groove of the base, whereby different tube bores are allowed to be positioned under the expanding cone, respectively.
For achieving such objective, the present invention provides an expander with positioning structure, comprising:
a base, provided with a body and a neck connected to the top end of the body, wherein the body has a guiding groove, and the neck has a rotating thread rod capable of moving upward and downward, while one end of the rotating thread rod is provided with an expanding cone facing the guiding groove;
a tube clamp, slidingly disposed in the guiding groove and provided with plural tube bores, with one side of the tube clamp provided with plural positioning recesses corresponding to each of the tube bores;
a positioning device, disposed on one lateral wall of the body and on one side of the guiding groove, wherein the positioning device pushes the positioning recesses, thereby engaging the tube clamp and positioning each of the tube bores under the expanding cone, respectively; and
an adjusting thread rod, pivotally disposed on the body and on the other side of the tube clamp for fastening the tube clamp.
With such configuration, the present invention is provided with a positioning device for engaging different sections of the tube clamp in the guiding recess and thus positioning each of the tube bores under the expanding cone, respectively. When a tube member is clamped in one of the tube bores of the tube clamp, the tube bore clamping the tube member is allowed to be rapidly and accurately moved and positioned under the expanding cone, whereby the expanding cone is in alignment with the orifice of the tube member, preventing the tube member from being damaged by the expanding operation afterward. Therefore, man power and time cost is saved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the tube expander with positioning structure in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view illustrating the appearance of the tube clamp and the base of the tube expander in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the tube clamp of the tube expander in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partially exploded schematic view of illustrating the configuration of the tube expander in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating the operation of the tube expander in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 6 is another schematic view illustrating the operation of the tube expander in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The aforementioned and further advantages and features of the present invention will be understood by reference to the description of the preferred embodiment in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Referring FIG. 1 to FIG. 5, the present invention provides a tube expander 100 with positioning structure, comprising a base 10, a tube clamp 20, a positioning device 30, and an adjusting thread rod 40.
The base 10 is made of aluminum, provided with a body 11 and connected to a neck 12 on the top end of the body 11. A guiding groove 13 is transversely disposed on the body 11. A positioning bore 14 is disposed on the wall of the body 11 and at the same time disposed on one side of the guiding groove 13, wherein the positioning bore 14 is connected to the outer face of the body 11 and the guiding groove 13, respectively. An inner thread 15 is disposed on one end of the positioning bore 14 connected with the outer face of the body 11 for receiving a nut 16. A rotating thread rod 17 capable of moving upward and downward is inserted through the neck 12, while an expanding cone 18 facing the guiding groove 13 and a hand grip 19 are disposed on two ends of the rotating thread rod 17, respectively. The hand grip 19 is allowed to be rotated for driving the rotating thread rod 17 to move upward and downward against the base 10.
The tube clamp 20 is made of aluminum and slidingly disposed in the guiding groove 13, wherein the tube clamp 20 is formed by a first portion 21 and a second portion 22 pivotally combined together on one end of the first and second portions 21, 22 with plural tube bores 23 disposed between the first and second portions 21, 22. Plural positioning recesses 24, which are in a shape of a column and corresponding to the tube bores 23, are disposed on one side of the first portion 21 away from the second portion 22, whereby centers of each of the positioning recesses 24 overlap the centers of the each of the tube bores 23, respectively, as showed in FIG. 3. Also, each of the positioning recesses 24 is internally provided with a positioning member 26 made of iron, respectively, and the positioning member 26 has a cone-shaped recess 27 which tapers from the periphery toward the central point thereof. Plural fastening recesses 25 corresponding to the tube bores 23 are disposed on one side of the second portion 22 away from the first portion 21, whereby centers of each of the fastening recesses 25 overlap the centers of each of the tube bores, respectively. Furthermore, the fastening recess 25 tapers from the periphery toward the central point thereof.
The positioning device 30 is disposed in the positioning bore 14 of the body 11 of the base 10, wherein the positioning device 30 is provided with a positioning spring 31 and a positioning rod 32, while the positioning spring 31 is allowed to push the nut 16 and the positioning rod 32, respectively, whereby the positioning rod 32 penetrates through the positioning bore 14 into the guiding groove 13, as shown in FIG. 5. Thus, the positioning rod 32 is able to push the cone-shaped recesses 27 of the positioning members 26 on the tube clamp 20, thereby enabling the poisoning device 30 to engage different sections of the tube clamp 20, respectively, according to the positions of each of the tube bores 23. Therefore, each of the tube bores 23 is positioned under the expanding cone 18.
The adjusting thread rod 40 is pivotally disposed on the body 11 of the base 10 and on the other side of the tube clamp 20, wherein, one end of the adjusting thread rod 40 is allowed to push each of the fastening recesses 25 of the tube clamp 20, respectively, for fastening the tube clamp 20. A sleeve member 41 made of iron is disposed between the adjusting thread rod 40 and the body 11 for preventing the body 11 from being worn out, as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5.
With the foregoing configuration, operation of the present invention will be illustrated below.
When a tube member 50 is to be processed with expanding operation, the tube clamp 20 is detached from the guiding groove 13, and the tube member 50 is clamped in an appropriate one of the tube bores 23 of the tube clamp 20 based on the diameter size of the orifice of the tube member 50. Next, the tube clamp 20 clamping the tube member 50 is placed in the guiding groove 13 of the base 10; meanwhile, the tube clamp 20 is slidingly moved and positioned at an appropriate position in the guiding groove 13. During the sliding movement of the tube clamp 20 in the guiding groove 13, the positioning rod 32 pushing the positioning member 26 of one of the positioning recesses 24 on the tube clamp 20, compresses the positioning spring 31 and thereby enters the positioning bore 14. When the tube clamp 20 slides to another position with another positioning member 26 of another positioning recess 24 being in alignment with the positioning bore 14, the positioning rod 32 is bounced back due to the resilience of the positioning spring 31, wherein the positioning rod 32 pushes another positioning member 26 of another positioning recess 24, achieving a positioning effect. Therefore, the positioning device 30 of the present invention is able to engage different sections of the tube clamp 20 according to the positions of the tube bores 23, whereby each of the tube bores 23 is allowed to be positioned under the expanding cone 18, respectively. Furthermore, the positioning members 26 of the positioning recesses 24 are able to prevent the positions recesses 24 from being damaged.
When the tube bore 23 clamping the tube member 50 is positioned under the expanding cone 18, as shown in FIG. 5, the tube clamp 20 is fastened by adjusting the adjusting thread rod 40, whereby the expanding cone 18 is accurately in alignment with the orifice of the tube member 50, as shown in FIG. 6. Next, the hand grip 19 is rotated to move the expanding cone 18 toward the tube member 50 for executing the tube expanding operation. As a result, the orifice of the tube member 50 is expanded into a cone shape, thereby facilitating the tube combination operation afterward upon the tube member 50.
To sum up, with the tube expander 100 having positioning structure provided by the present invention, when a tube member 50 needs to be processed with tube expanding operation, the tube member 50 is clamped in one of the tube bores 23 on the tube clamp 20 and slidingly moves in the guiding groove 13 of the tube clamp 20, whereby the tube bores 23 clamping the tube member 50 is allowed to be rapidly and accurately positioned under the expanding cone 18. Therefore, due to the positioning device 30 of the present invention, man power and time cost are saved. User is allowed to align the expanding cone 18 with the orifice of the tube member 50, thus facilitating the tube expanding operation and preventing the tube member 50 from being damaged.
Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A tube expander with positioning structure, comprising:

a base, provided with a body and a neck connected to the top end of the body, wherein the body has a guiding groove, and the neck has a rotating thread rod capable of moving upward and downward, while one end of the rotating thread rod is provided with an expanding cone facing the guiding groove;

a tube clamp, slidingly disposed in the guiding groove and provided with plural tube bores;

a positioning device, disposed on one side of the guiding groove, wherein the positioning device engages the tube clamp and positions each of the tube bores under the expanding cone, respectively, and

an adjusting thread rod, pivotally disposed on the body and on the other side of the tube clamp for fastening the tube clamp.

2. The tube expander of claim 1, wherein the positioning device is disposed on a lateral wall of the body, and plural positioning recesses corresponding to the tube bores are disposed on one side of the tube clamp, while the positioning device is allowed to push the positioning recesses for engaging and positioning different sections of the tube clamp.

3. The tube expander of claim 2, wherein a positioning bore is disposed on the wall of the body with the positioning device disposed in the positioning bore, and the positioning device has a positioning spring and a positioning rod, while the positioning spring allows the positioning rod to penetrate through the positioning bore for engaging the positioning rod with the positioning recesses.

4. The tube expander of claim 3, wherein the positioning bore is connected to the outer face of the body and the guiding groove, respectively, and an inner thread is disposed on one end of the positioning bore connected with the outer face of the body for receiving a nut, while the positioning spring pushes the nut and the positioning rod, respectively, for penetrating the positioning rod through the positioning bore into the guiding groove.

5. The tube expander of claim 2, wherein the tube clamp is formed by a first portion and a second portion pivotally combined together on one end of the first and second portions with plural tube bores disposed between the first and second portions.

6. The tube expander of claim 5, wherein the positioning recesses are disposed on one side of the first portion away from the second portion.

7. The tube expander of claim 6, wherein plural positioning members are further provided and disposed in each of the positioning recesses, and each of the positioning member has a cone-shaped recess which tapers from the periphery toward the center point of the cone-shaped recess.

8. The tube expander of claim 7, wherein the positioning device is allowed to push the cone-shaped recess of each of the positioning members, respectively.

9. The tube expander of claim 7, wherein each of the positioning recesses is in a shape of a column.

10. The tube expander of claim 7, wherein the positioning members are made of iron and the tube clamp is made of aluminum

11. The tube expander of claim 5, wherein plural fastening recesses corresponding to the tube bores are disposed on one side of the second portion away from the first portion, and one end of the adjusting thread rod is allowed to push each of the fastening recesses, respectively, for fastening the tube clamp.

12. The tube expander of claim 11, wherein each of the fastening recesses tapers from the periphery toward the center point of the fastening recess.

13. The tube expander of claim 1, wherein the other end of the rotating thread rod is provided with a hand grip, while the hand grip is allowed to be rotated and thereby driving the rotating thread rod to move upward and downward against the base.

14. The tube expander of claim 1, wherein a sleeve member is disposed between the adjusting thread rod and the body.

15. The tube expander of claim 14, wherein the sleeve member is made of iron and the base is made of aluminum.