Patent Grant
12005551
This disclosure generally relates to a manhole cover, as applied to its weld ring or other supporting structure, for use upon a tank trailer or dry bulk trailer or other conveying vehicle, wherein the lever assemblies used to hold the manhole cover sealed in place, incorporate a pivot bolt, wherein its adjustability through the use of a threaded pivot bolt, where the threads are sealed internally of its structure, prevents exposure of its adjustment to any of the deleterious materials being conveyed, or inclement weather conditions, to assure that adjustability can be subsequently achieved, for each lever assembly, during its usage and application.
Granular product, such as grain or corn, may be stored or shipped in bulk containers such as tank trailers, railroad tank cars, and pipelines for transportation from one site to be delivered to another. Such granular products may include farm produced grains, and many other dry bulk materials, such as cement, granular chemical products, and related type of conveyed materials, which during their processing, as is known, the dust and grime can easily cover substantially all of the various components that are used in their transit. Even with a manhole cover that seals upon the conveying vehicle, usually upon its weld ring, such are exposed to many of the residual materials being conveyed, during processing, and also, since their lever assemblies are provided upon the upper portion of such a manhole cover, or a plurality of them, these are also exposed to inclement weather conditions, throughout their usage.
Dry bulk trailers have manhole cover assemblies that allow access to the vessel, or trailer, for loading and inspection. The lids are held down with cam handles that compress a gasket to seal the vessel in its upper regions. In use, the manhole covers require periodic adjustment to compensate for the compression set and loss of resilience of the gasket material that seals the cover to its supporting structure.
Current state of the art cams, formed of the lever assemblies, are held in place with pivot bolts that have exposed threads that corrode as they are exposed to the elements, and also to the product that is spilled from the tank trailer, during its filling or unloading. Such corrosion causes the threads to cease to turn and makes further adjustment impossible, after a period of time.
As is well known in the art, where a manhole hardware is removed from the trailer, after an extended period of time of usage, the exposed threads, that normally would lead towards the adjustability of the hardware, seize in place, and will not allow any further adjustment to the lever assembly, for future usage. Hence, the only alternative in the art is simply to replace the entire assembly, in the form of the adjustment bolt, that will just not allow any further manipulation to adjust the amount of pressure that is applied by the lever assembly, upon its associated manhole cover, when sealing it upon its opening into the tank trailer or conveying vessel.
Examples of such prior art cam lever assemblies can be seen in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,595,716, to VanDeVyvere et al, which shows such an assembly. As is noted, it can be seen that the pivot bolt that holds the cam lever in position, has an exposed threaded bolt, that secures into a lower connector, which means that the exposure of these components to the atmosphere, weather conditions, and any of the granular material being conveyed or delivered into or discharged from its associated vehicle container, will be exposed to these conditions, and will eventually fail, if not corrode, after prolonged usage.
The U.S. Pat. No. 7,427,089, shows a similar type of apparatus provided for securing a hatch cover to the vessel of a railroad car, and wherein its cam shaft has an upper threaded securing member exposed to the elements, and the dust from the granular material being conveyed and processed, which does lead towards corrosion, and clogging, and an eliminating of the adjustability of the securing means, after prolonged usage. These are examples of the early types of adjustable connectors that have been used in the prior art, and which have led towards their eventual deterioration, and non-usage, because of the exposure of the adjustable aspects of the bolt, to the environment, leading towards their corrosion, which prevents any further adjustability in the sealing of its manhole and hatch covers onto the conveying vessel.
The present disclosure is designed to obviate and overcome many of the disadvantages and shortcomings as experienced with prior manhole covers. Moreover, the present disclosure is related to a manhole cover, and the ability to attain complete sealing onto its weld ring or related supporting structure, and which can sustain its adjustability, in its securement, and sealing onto the weld ring, even after very prolonged usage and application.
The present disclosure is directed to a manhole cover device, which is secured by a series of lever assemblies onto its seal ring, or other structure, provided through the top portion of the tank trailer, dry bulk trailer, or other conveying vehicle, and more specifically, relates to the effective combination of structures forming the pivot bolt that secures with the handle or levers that clamp the cover or latch onto the tank trailer or railway car, during conveyance. More specifically, the sealed manhole clamp of the present disclosure relates to the formation of that pivot bolt, in a manner that conceals its adjustable threaded engagement of its various components together, so as to prevent access of the dry bulk material, dust, or even inclement weather in attaining access to the components threaded engagement, to prevent its corrosion, clogging, that maintains the possibility of attaining further adjustment to the lever assemblies, even after sustained usage.
A further feature of the sealed manhole clamp, and more specifically with respect to structure of its pivot bolt, that holds the lever assembly, and its manhole cover to the weld ring of the vessel, is that the threaded engagement between the components of the pivot bolt are sealed by means of an O-ring, to even further prevent the access of moisture to their threaded engagement, and which allows for sustained adjustability, after prolonged usage. In addition, and to prevent the entrance of any dust or other debris from attaining access to this threaded relationship, within the pivot bolt structure. In formation, and to attain the benefits of the sealed manhole clamp of the present disclosure, the bottom end of the upper cylindrical member for the bolt, which receives the threaded bolt extending upwardly through its bottom end, for threaded engagement upwardly therein, allows for adjustability in the length of the bolt, and that bottom has a scraper like configuration, which when the pivot bolt is adjusted, it scrapes away any dust or debris that may have accumulated thereat, so as to further prevent its entrance into the adjustment feature of the threaded engagement between the bolt components, even after sustained usage and application.
The present sealed manhole clamp provides a manhole cover device, held by lever assemblies onto the upper opening into the tank trailer, and the like, where the adjustable components that make up the pivot bolt are sealed from the elements, and thereby provide for adjustment over a more sustained and lengthy period of time, throughout the life of the assembled structure.
A further object of the present sealed manhole clamp is to provide means for sealing the threaded engagement of the various components that make up the pivot bolt for the lever assemblies, so as to prevent their corroding or deterioration even after prolonged usage.
A further object of the sealed manhole clamp is to provide means for sealing the operative components of the pivot bolt for a lever assembly holding a manhole cover onto its supporting structure at the top of a tank trailer, railway car, or the like.
Yet another object of the sealed manhole clamp is to provide means for sealing the adjustable components of the lever assembly of a manhole cover through the designed application of O-rings, scraper like elements, and related structures that prevent the entrance of inclement weather, dust, or other debris to the operating threads of the adjustable pivot bolt.
These and other objects may become more apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the Summary of the Disclosure as provided herein, and upon undertaking a study of the Description of Its Preferred Embodiment, in view of the drawings.
In referring to the drawings:
In referring to
What is to be noted for the prior art style of pivot bolt 14, as further noted in
The style of hardware used for a pivot bolt 100 of the present disclosure can be seen in
The lower bolt portion 104 of the pivot bolt 100 is positioned below the cylindrical upper portion 102 and includes a length of shaft 116 that also includes external, male threads as at 118, positioned and completely contained inside the internally threaded channel 108 and which threadedly engage with the internal threads 110 at the interior upper cylindrical like member 106, as previously explained and shown in
Hence, when adjustability in the length of the pivot bolt 100 is required, as can be understood, its lower bolt portion 104 having threaded further inwardly of the upper cylindrical portion 102, can be turned to either shorten the length of the pivot bolt 100, or lengthen its length, as may be required in the adjustment of the pivot bolt 100 to provide for effective usage of the lever arms 26 and its camming surface 22, upon the cover 10, as previously explained.
But what is significant is that the channel 108 into the upper cylindrical portion 102, opens downwardly at the bottom end 138 of the upper cylindrical portion 102, as noted at 126, and the threaded portion 118 of the lower bolt portion 104, as noted at 128, extends upwardly into the channel 108. Hence, this is directly opposite from the exposure provided between the sleeve 46, and the bolt 14, as described in
To add further to the protection that is acquired through the assembly of the components that make up the pivot bolt 100, as can be noted in
Furthermore, as can also be noted, a bottom end 138 of the upper cylindrical portion 102, is contoured inwardly, in close tolerance against the surface 136 of the lower bolt portion 104, and therefore, acts as a scraper for protecting the O-ring 134, and removes any product built up in the category of dust, debris, or even moisture, from the surface 136 of the lower bolt portion 104, as it is inserted inwardly and threaded upwardly and within the upper cylindrical member 102, during its assembly, and adjustment. Hence, this feature, in combination with the O-ring 134, completely avoids the entrance of any deleterious matter into the location of the threaded engagement between these two components 102 and 104 of the pivot bolt 100, and therefore, allows for further adjustments of these components, when the lever assemblies 12 need further adjustment, to assure a tight fitting of the manhole cover 10 upon its seal ring 16, or other supporting structure, during prolonged usage of this improved embodiment for the pivot bolt 100 used within this assembly.
Hence, as can be understood, there are just no longer any exposed threads, or even access to the threads, through the usage of the aligned components that form the adjustable pivot bolt 100 of this disclosure.
Variations or modifications to the subject matter of this disclosure may occur to those skilled in the art upon review of the sealed manhole clamp as described herein. Such variations, if within the spirit of this disclosure, are intended to be encompassed within the scope of any claims to patent protection issuing herein. The review of the sealed manhole clamp as set forth in the Specification, and its depiction in the drawings, are primarily set forth for illustrative purposes only.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/919,379, filed on Mar. 7, 2019, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4889056 | Stewart | Dec 1989 | A |
| 5409321 | Chen | Apr 1995 | A |
| 6595716 | Van | Jul 2003 | B1 |
| 7427089 | Silverio | Sep 2008 | B2 |
| 9260118 | Douglas | Feb 2016 | B2 |
| 10029705 | Schmidt | Jul 2018 | B2 |
| 10800009 | Grobbel | Oct 2020 | B2 |
| 20060027956 | Adoline | Feb 2006 | A1 |
| 20130049381 | Hageman | Feb 2013 | A1 |
| 20130187322 | Woods | Jul 2013 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20200282521 A1 | Sep 2020 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62919379 | Mar 2019 | US |
