Patent Application
20080273934
This application is not based upon any pending domestic or international patent applications.
This invention relates to a cylindrical cutter head for cutting a hole in a metal or plastic object, such as in the wall of a pipe, and wherein the hole has improved cylindricality.
This invention herein is an improved cylindrical hole cutter, referred to herein as a “circular cutter”. An example of the application of the circular cutter of this invention is for cutting a more accurately round hole in a pipe wall. When cutting a relatively large diameter hole in the wall of a relatively large diameter pipe the circular cutter undergoes substantial stress since when cutting initially starts the circular cutter engages the pipe only on portions that are 180° apart. As the cutting depth increases the amount of contact of the circular cutter with the pipe wall increases but usually the full 360° of the circular cutter does not contact the pipe at the same time. The forces encountered during cutting operations can cause a circular cutter to deflect, thus, forming an irregular shaped hole.
The tubular sidewall of a circular cutter is preferably relatively thin since the tubular sidewall must be no greater in thickness than the width of the cutting teeth. Obviously, if cutting teeth are wider more material is removed to cut a hole and more force is required to form a hole in a pipe or other object. The circular cutter must follow the teeth through the hole as it is cut. This means that a circular cutter tubular sidewall needs to be relatively thin but, at the same time, it must have sufficient rigidity to withstand the forces that are encountered in cutting through an irregular object while preserving concentricity about a rotational axis.
Others have provided cutting heads for cutting large diameter holes in metal objects such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 1,441,994 issued to Mueller entitled “Shell Cutter And Drill For Drilling Machines”; U.S. Pat. No. 1,855,873 issued to Shortell entitled “Cutting Tool”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,812 issued to Linville entitled “Rotatable Shell Cutter”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,965 issued to Anderson et al entitled “Indexable Shell Cutter” and U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,192 issued to Hamilton entitled “Trepanning Tool”.
For background information relating to circular cutters particularly useful for cutting a hole in a sidewall of a pipe reference can also be had to U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,300, issued on Nov. 1, 1994, entitled “Cutter Shell”. This patent teaches a type of cutter shell in which the present invention pertains.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,128, issued on Sep. 19, 1995, and entitled “Cutter Tool Having Removable Teeth” describes a cutter shell and teaches improvements in replaceable teeth show how the teeth employed in a cutter shell can vary.
A most relevant prior art reference pertaining to the present invention is U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,099, dated Nov. 14, 1995, and entitled “Cutter Shell For Forming Holes of Improved Cylindricality”. This patent discloses a cutter having an abrasive band on the exterior tubular sidewall of the cutter that, on first impression, is similar to centering bands employed in Applicant's invention. However on full examination the present invention employs bands for completely different purposes and achieves results not contemplated by U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,099.
The invention herein is an improved circular cutter for use in cutting a circular hole through a main pipe wall to provide communication between the interior of the main pipe and a branch pipe. The improved circular cutter includes a pilot drill adapted to be rotated about a rotational axis. The circular cutter has, at its outer end, cutting teeth and includes a pilot drill supported in coaxial rotational alignment.
Affixed to the external cylindrical surface of the circular cutter is at least one, and preferably two, centering rings. The centering rings are spaced from the circular cutter outer end and are of external diameter slightly less than the internal diameter of the branch pipe.
The centering ring or rings serve to centrally position the circular cutter as it is rotated within the branch pipe.
Further, the centering rings serve to limit the axial advancement of the circular cutter to thereby provide a positive indication that it has extended through the wall of the main pipe and that the cutting operation has been completed.
A better understanding of the invention will be obtained from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the drawings and the attached claims.
Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described in further detail. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following detailed description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings (which are not to scale) where:
It is to be understood that the invention that is now to be described is not limited in its application to the details of the construction and arrangement of the parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in a variety of ways. The phraseology and terminology employed herein are for purposes of description and not limitation.
Elements shown by the drawings are identified by the following numbers:
Referring to the drawings and first to
A branch pipe extension 22 is secured to branch pipe 12 by a coupling 24. If main pipe 10 and branch pipe 12 are of metal, then coupling 24 may be internally threaded and received on pipes that are threaded. When main pipe 10 and branch pipe 12 are plastic, then the coupling 24 will typically be of plastic and in which case the coupling 24 may be thermally fused in place. In any event and irrespective of whether attaching to a main pipe 10 that is plastic or metal the invention herein is not concerned with the branch fitting such as includes saddle portions 14 or the main pipe 10 or coupling 24 but the invention is an improved circular cutter for cutting a hole in main pipe 10 to provide communication between the interior of main pipe 10 and branch pipe 12. The improved circular cutter is illustrated in
Referring now to
The inner end 38 of circular cutter 26 is closed and typically is of thicker material than the sidewall. The closed inner end 38 provides a rigid base by which the circular cutter 26 is supported and rotated. In the illustrated arrangement, inner end 38 has a plurality of threaded bolt holes 40 as seen in dotted outline in
The specific means by which shaft 46 is removably attached to circular cutter 26 is not illustrated since such can be accomplished in a number of ways, none of which relate to the essence of the present invention. Suffice to say, in the practice of the invention herein a tapping machine apparatus is affixed to branch pipe 12 or its extension 22 and provides energy to rotate a shaft 46 which is attached in any usual way to the circular cutter 26. The tapping machine controllably axially advances rotating circular cutter 26 to cut through the sidewall of main pipe 10, whether the pipe is metal or plastic.
Since a tapping machine must be removably attached to the outer end of branch pipe 12, or its extension 22, the shaft 46 is traditionally of some significant length, that is, it cannot be extremely short as it extends from a rotating energy source to connect to circular cutter 26. This means that the tapping machine itself typically cannot rigidly support circular cutter 26 in a way to be certain that the circular cutter will always rotate precisely concentric to the rotational axis of shaft 46. To ensure more precise rotation of circular cutter 26 the invention herein provides a centering ring or centering rings positioned on the external cylindrical surface of the circular cutter. While a single centering ring 50 may in some applications be sufficient to provide support for the circular cutter, in the preferred arrangement and as are illustrated, two centering rings 50 and 52 are provided. Centering rings 50 and 52 can be unitary, that is, integral circumferential elements that slip in place onto the exterior surface of circular cutter 26 or each of the centering rings 50 and 52 can be segmented. As an example, each centering ring can be made up of two semi-circular segments or three or four segments can be employed. If a centering ring is made up of a plurality of segments, each segment preferably is retained by at least two bolts. As shown in
Centering rings 50, 52 serve two basic and very important functions. First, as the term “centering” suggests, each ring serves to stabilize and centralize the rotation of a circular cutter 26 within the interior surface 65 of branch pipe 12. By maintaining a consistent, fixed axis of rotation a circular opening 66, as seen in
A second important function of centering rings 50, 52 is to provide a fixed limit on the axial advancement of a circular cutter 26. Referring to
In
To aid in centering the rotation of circular cutter 26 it is provided with a pilot drill 74. When the circular cutter 26 is designed for cutting in a metal pipe, the pilot drill 74 is like a typical steel drill as seen in
Whether the centering drill is for steel or plastic the function is the same, that is, to guide the circular cutter through the main pipe. In the arrangement wherein the saddle is made of plastic and has a closed internal portion 72 as shown in
While the invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is manifest that many changes may be made in the details of construction and the arrangement of components without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure. It is understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments set forth herein for purposes of exemplification, but is to be limited only by the scope of the attached claims, including the full range of equivalency to which each element thereof is entitled.
