Tubing and connector system
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A tubing and connector system including a plastic tubing or hose having a helical outer surface, a plastic lock nut having a helical internal surface with the same thread pitch as the pitch of the tubing outer surface, and a fitting having several barbs formed on its outer surface. The tubing and connector system has few parts and is easy to assemble by having the inner surface of the tubing engage the barbs of the fitting, and the lock nut, being mounted on the outer surface of the tubing, is rotated over the tubing and the fitting so as to squeeze the tubing between the lock nut and the fitting. Disassembly for washing is also easily accomplished by backing the lock nut away from the fitting and pulling the tubing off of the fitting.
12 Citations
26 Claims
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1. (canceled)
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2. (canceled)
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3. (canceled)
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4. (canceled)
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7. (canceled)
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8. (canceled)
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10. (canceled)
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11. (canceled)
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12. (canceled)
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13. (canceled)
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14. (canceled)
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15. (canceled)
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16. (canceled)
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17. A tubing and connector system for a food handling system comprising:
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a length of tubing, said tubing having a consistent repeated geometry in an axial direction, the geometry including a generally smooth, constant diameter inner surface and a helical outer surface;
a lock nut having a threaded inner surface complementing the helical outer surface of said tubing to enable rotation of said lock nut directly on and along said length of said outer surface of said tubing, said lock nut having an absence of internal barriers to prevent continuous rotation of said lock nut along said tubing, and said lock nut having generally identical end portions and a generally consistent geometry in an axial direction; and
a fitting for connection to a food handling apparatus, said fitting having a generally smooth inner surface and a barbed outer surface to engage a portion of said generally smooth inner surface of said tubing and to distort said tubing wherein upon rotating said lock nut along the outer surface of said tubing to a location over the portion of the tubing inner surface engaging the fitting, the tubing is compressed between said fitting and said lock nut. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 9, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A process for connecting tubing having a helical outer surface and a generally smooth, constant diameter, inner surface to a fitting having a generally smooth inner surface and barbs on an outer surface using a lock nut having a threaded inner surface complementing the helical outer surface of the tubing, the fitting being attached to a food handling apparatus comprising the steps of:
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first rotating the lock nut along the tubing away from an end of the tubing;
then pressing the end of the tubing onto the fitting without rotation to engage the generally smooth, constant diameter inner surface of the tubing with the barbs of the fitting; and
thereafter rotating the lock nut along the tubing toward the end of the tubing pressed onto the fitting until the lock nut reaches generally the end of the tubing and thereby compressing the tubing between the fitting and the lock nut, the tubing and the fitting having an absence of any barrier to rotation of the lock nut. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification