This invention relates to cleaning devices. More particularly, it relates to an apparatus that cleans nuclear missile and other large diameter tubes.
The long-standing but heretofore unfulfilled need for an apparatus that cleans the interior sidewall of a large diameter tube such as a nuclear missile tube is now met by a new, useful, and nonobvious invention. The inventive structure includes three primary moving parts under hydraulic control. A first primary moving part is a flat, circular brush plate adapted to fit within a lumen of a large diameter tube. The circular brush plate has a disc or generally saucer shape and thus is sometimes referred to as the floating saucer, the flying saucer, or just the saucer. The saucer is raised and lowered within the lumen of the tube at a rate of speed under hydraulic control. An aperture is formed in the saucer, centrally thereof, and a fluid conduit is mounted in the aperture so that an upper part of the fluid conduit is positioned above a plane of the saucer and a lower part of the fluid conduit is positioned below the plane. A hub is in fluid communication with the lower end of the fluid conduit, i.e., the hub is positioned below the plane of the saucer.
At least one nozzle assembly having a spray axis is disposed in radial relation to the hub. A source of water under pressure is disposed in remote relation to the fluid conduit and an elongate, flexible hose is disposed in fluid communication between the source of water under pressure and the fluid conduit. The hub and nozzle assembly are the second of the three primary moving parts. The rotation of the hub and nozzle assembly is under hydraulic control.
An insertion means under hydraulic control inserts the saucer into the lumen at a top end of the tube and gradually advances the saucer to a bottom end of the tube. The insertion means includes a stand including at least three legs adapted to sit atop an uppermost end of the tube. The insertion means further includes an electro-hydraulic power pack, a reel secured to an output shaft of a hydraulic motor for conjoint rotation therewith, and an elongate cable wound in coiled relation about the reel. The elongate cable has a distal free end from which the saucer is suspended so that the saucer is raised when the cable is reeled in and lowered when the cable is played out. The raising and lowering of the saucer is under hydraulic control so that its rate of movement in the up or down direction is controlled by adjusting valves and hydraulic pressure in a way that is well-known in the art of hydraulics.
A hydraulically-powered rotation means rotates the hub and nozzle assembly in a horizontal plane about a vertical axis defined by the hub as the saucer is advanced from the top end to the bottom end of the tube. Water under pressure therefore cleans the interior sidewall of the tube.
An annular brush is secured to the saucer about a radially outward periphery thereof. The brush has a radially outermost end disposed in abutting contact to the sidewall of the tube and inhibits dust and debris from traveling from a closed space below the plane of the saucer to an open space above the saucer. A missile tube equipped with a vacuum source at its lowermost end may be kept debris-free throughout the cleaning process by connecting the vacuum to the area of the tube below the saucer so that paint and other debris blasted from the interior wall of the tube is vacuumed from the lumen of the tube as soon as it is blasted from said wall.
A plurality of truncate cables interconnects the distal free end of the elongate cable and the saucer. Each truncate cable of the plurality of truncate cables has a proximal end connected to the distal end of the elongate cable and has a distal end secured to the saucer at a peripheral edge thereof. Each of the truncate cables is equidistantly and circumferentially spaced with respect to one another about the periphery of the saucer.
A leveling means maintains the saucer in a substantially horizontal plane as it is being inserted in the lumen of the upstanding tube. The leveling means includes a first and a second set of rotatably mounted pneumatic wheels. The first set of wheels rollingly engages the interior sidewall of the tube at a first elevation and the second set of wheels rollingly engages the interior sidewall of the tube at a second elevation. The difference in elevations maintains the saucer in a substantially horizontal plane as it is hydraulically raised or lowered within the lumen of the tube.
For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
As depicted in
For a vertically-oriented tube, the insertion means includes an electro-hydraulic power pack 14, and a stand preferably in the form of tripod assembly 16 having legs collectively denoted 18. The stand may have three or more legs. Flat plates, collectively denoted 20, are secured to the respective lower ends of legs 18 and overlie flat top edge 22 of tube 12. Said plates 20 are equidistantly spaced apart from one another and are circumferentially spaced with respect to said flat top edge 22. The respective upper ends of said legs are pivotally secured as at 24 to mounting members 26 that are equidistantly and circumferentially mounted about the periphery of mounting disc 28.
Brushes 30 are preferably of the plastic brush type and are mounted about the periphery of saucer 32. A plurality of stiffeners, which may take the form of angle irons, collectively denoted 34, is secured to the top of saucer 32 to inhibit flexing of said saucer 32. The power to raise and lower saucer 32 is supplied by hydraulic motor 36 that is in communication with electro-hydraulic power pack 14 by means of connectors collectively denoted 38. Electro-hydraulic power pack includes a hydraulic reservoir and an electric motor that generates hydraulic power. The rate of saucer lifting and lowering is thus under hydraulic control.
Hydraulic motor 36 includes an output shaft to which reel 40 is secured for conjoint rotation. Hydraulic motor 36 and reel 37 are mounted to flat mounting plate 40 that may be secured to any preselected leg 18 of said plurality of legs. Cable 42 is in coiled relation to reel 37 and is therefore played out when reel 37 rotates in a first direction and is reeled in when reel 37 rotates in a second direction opposite to said first direction.
As best depicted in
Bolt 56 extends between and interconnects the transversely opposed arms of “U”-shaped connector 46. Ring 58 is captured by said bolt 56. A plurality of cables, collectively denoted 60, is captured by said ring 58 at their respective uppermost ends. More particularly, the uppermost end of each cable 60 terminates in a loop that engages ring 58. Only one of said loops is indicated by reference numeral 60a to avoid cluttering of the drawings.
The lowermost end of each cable 60 is also formed into a loop, denoted 60b in
As best depicted in
The reason for such difference in elevation of mounts for wheels 70 and 74 is to provide a leveling means for saucer 32 as perhaps best understood in connection with
Almost all of cable 42 has been played out from reel 37 in the configuration depicted in
Referring now to
Hub 84 is mounted for rotation, as indicated by directional arrows 87 in
Water under pressure is delivered to nozzle assemblies 80 by hose 94 that is in fluid communication with a source of water under pressure and hub 84. Reference numeral 96 in
The inside wall 12a of tube 12 is cleaned by water under pressure from said nozzle assemblies as said hub 84 rotates.
Each nozzle assembly 80 includes a rotatably mounted nozzle head 100 that includes a plurality of nozzles, collectively denoted 98, that are circumferentially spaced apart from one another and which spin to eject water at differing angles as may be determined by observing the differing orientations of each nozzle 98 in
All three primary moving parts of the inventive structure are thus understood to be under hydraulic control. The saucer, the rotating hub, rigid tubes, nozzle assemblies, and the spinning nozzle heads are interdependent. Thus, the speed of the saucer as it is lowered may determine the speed of rotation of the hub, the nozzle heads, and the spin of the nozzles. The speeds that are selected are dependent upon the application, i.e., what is being removed from the tubes and how clean the tubes are when the job begins.
The novel assembly accomplishes all of its objectives. In cutting the man-hours for cleaning a plurality of nuclear missile tubes from several thousand hours to three hours per tube, it represents a pioneering breakthrough in the art and the claims that follow are therefore entitled to broad interpretation to protect the heart or essence of the invention.
It will be seen that the advantages set forth above, and those made apparent from the foregoing description, are efficiently attained and since certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matters contained in the foregoing description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention that, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween. Now that the invention has been described,
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