Patent Application
20140260475
None.
The invention relates to a folding apparatus for bending conduit. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus that may comprise a commercially available conduit bender and a self-supporting stand, allowing a user to bend tubes more accurately and efficiently than with a bender by itself
The invention relates to a device for bending conduit. More particularly, the invention relates to a device that allows a commercially available conduit bender to be placed and maintained in the inverted position allowing the operator to view the angle and to use both hands during bending process to carefully manipulate the tubing and ensuring more precise and quicker repetitive bends. Traditionally, conduit is placed in the bender while the head is on the ground, the user places a foot on the foot pad connected to the head and grasps the handle with a hand then bends the conduit to the approximated angle. The user then removes the conduit to check the angle, if it the angle is insufficient then the conduit is placed back in the bender to further adjust the angle. This process is repeated until the desired angle is obtained. In general, prior art teaches various devices from simply adding a foot to the end of the handle to complicated devices for hydraulically or electrically bending conduit.
An early patent teaching a bender of the type to be used in conjunction with the present invention is U.S. Pat. No. 3,253,441 to Benfield, which teaches a device for variable radius bending of pipe and conduit with a foot pedal to permit the operator to apply foot pressure. U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,056 to Kozinski teaches an improved conduit bender head defining a pair of arcuate-shaped walls further defining therein two different pairs of curved inner surface sections to accommodate four of the more common types and sizes of conduit. U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,832 to Illguth teaches an electronic sensing device for use with a hand held bender, the improvement being an electronic system that signals the user when the tube has been bent to a predetermined angle. The foregoing patents related to hand held benders and improvements therein.
Another set of patents related to means for performing tubing bends using bench or stand-mounted bending equipment. U.S. Pat. No. 6,457,344 B2 to Godin teaches a device to attach a conduit bender that is claimed to be stable and relative transportable by a single individual. However, in reality, Godin does not teach or claim a device that can be easily transported and used, at least not without assembly at a work site. U.S. Pat. No. 6,912,886 B1 to Maes teaches a bender device adapted for mounting to a vise, which is attached to a permanently mounted single stanchion, to hold the manual conduit bender in a vertical or horizontal position. Maes teaches no means to stabilize the device without permanently mounting the stanchion at the work site. These bench or stand-mounted configurations are fine so far as they go, but they are not easily transportable, and they require users to make a significant investment in new equipment. Most tradespersons in the art have a hand bender, but they would have to buy a totally new set of bending equipment to use these stand or stanchion-based benders.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,757,537 B1 to Hartranft teaches an inverted manual conduit bender using the handle as a single leg that is rigidly affixed to a curved foot with a non-slip bottom. In a similar theme, U.S. Pat. No. 8,307,691 B1 to Bolander teaches an inverted manual conduit bender using the handle as a single leg that is pivotably affixed in the direction of the bend to a flat foot with a non-slip bottom thus correcting a portion of the lateral stability issue presented by Hartranft. Hartranft and Bolander might work for smaller angle bends, but as the bends approach and exceed 45 degrees, the acute angle of the bender relative to the ground would cause difficulties using the bender as taught by Hartranft and Bolander. Similarly, they fail to teach a means to maintain the bender in the operational position without active operator stabilization.
The present invention overcomes these shortcomings in the prior art by providing a simple yet stable support means for a tube bender, which can easily and quickly be deployed from a collapsed, more easily transported configuration, into a deployed configuration to assist in more easily bending tubes in the field. The present invention is a complement to the hand-held benders already in wide use by those skilled in the art of tubing bending.
There have thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in this application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. Additional benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in those skilled in the art to which the present invention relates from the subsequent description of the preferred embodiment and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.
The lower receiver 108 is rotatably attached at the affixation point 110 to a central foot 112. A lower telescoping affixation point 116 is separately affixed to the lower receiver 108, and the central foot 112 also is affixed to a first horizontal affixation point 114 which extends through a first horizontal support 136 to a first foot 134.
The first foot 134 is rotatably affixed to a first joint 132. Extending upwardly from the first joint 132 is a first leg 130. First leg 130 is attached at the upper attachment point 126 to the quick-release receiver 104. The components recited up to this point—the bender handle 106, first horizontal support 136, and the first leg 130, thus form a triangle adapted to support the bender 138.
Prior to deploying a bender 138 with the apparatus, support is provided by the inner tube 118, the outer tube 120 within which the inner tube is received, held in place by a set screw 122 adapted to engage the inner tube 118 and retain it at a fixed location, all of which are attached at the upper telescoping affixation point 124 to a sliding collar 128.
The sliding collar 128 engages the first leg 130 in a sliding fashion. As shown in a deployed position in
The first horizontal support 136 and the second horizontal support 208 can be seen in
The second foot 212 is rotatably affixed to a second joint 210. Extending upwardly from the second joint 210 is a second leg 204. Second leg 204 is attached at the upper attachment point 126 to the quick-release receiver 104.
The quick-release receiver 104 is in hinged engagement with the rest of the apparatus by the receiver connector 420. The hinged operation of the receiver connector 420 allows the quick-release receiver 104 to be rotated so that a void 422 defined between the first receiver and second receiver portions 416 and 418 respectively can engage the handle which can then, when the quick-release receiver 104 is rotated back into operational position be received within the first and second slots 402 and 408 respectively. The thumb screw 300 is then operated to engage the bender handle 106 securely with the quick-release receiver 104.
Shown in a collapsed position, the outer tube 120 has, in cooperation with the inner tube 118, shortened the overall distance between the sliding collar 128 and the lower telescoping affixation point 116. Also, the sliding collar 128 has moved from an operational position above the first foot 134 and the second foot 212 (not seen in
The purpose of the abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. While various methods of use and structures of the present invention are described herein, any methods or structures similar or equivalent to those described herein may be used in the practice or testing of the present invention. All references cited herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety and for all purposes. In addition, while the foregoing advantages of the present invention are manifested in the illustrated embodiments of the invention, a variety of changes can be made to the configuration, design and construction of the invention to achieve those advantages including combinations of components of the various embodiments. Hence, reference herein to specific details of the structure and function of the present invention is by way of example only and not by way of limitation.
While the invention has been shown, illustrated, described and disclosed in terms of specific embodiments or modifications, the scope of the invention is not limited by the precise embodiments or modifications therein shown, illustrated, described or disclosed. Such other embodiments or modifications are intended to be reserved especially as they fall within the scope of the claims herein appended.
