Claims
- 1. A plug for insertion into a metal tube bonded to a cylindrical bore in a metal tubesheet having a plurality of other substantially identically dimensioned bores with a substantially uniform spacing between adjacent bores, said plug comprising:
- (a) a resilient member of generally cylindrical configuration and having a distal end face said resilient member having an axial bore therethrough;
- (b) a supporting structure comprising a rigid base plate and an elongate member, said elongate member extending generally perpendicularly from said base plate through said axial bore in said resilient member, a proximal end of said elongate member being secured to said base plate so that relative motion of said elongate member with respect to said base plate is substantailly precluded, a distal end of said elongate member being screw-threaded;
- (c) a rigid top plate of a regular polygonal configuration positioned adjacent said distal end face, diametrically opposite edge portions of said rigid top plate in every direction being space from each other by at least 1.2 times the diameter of said distal end face; and
- (d) a nut threadably securable to said screw-threaded distal end of said elongate member of said supporting structure so that, when said plug is inserted into said tube, torquing of said nut causes said polygonal top plate to move longitudinally with respect to said elongate member of said supporting structure without undergoing any significant rotation with respect to said base plate of said supporting structure, said resilient member thereby being compressed between said polygonal top plate and said base plate so as to expand laterally against said tube, said compressed resilient member thereby bracing said tube aginst movement in reaction to a bonding charge detonation in an adjacent bore in the tubesheet while said polygonal top plate protects said circumjacent portion of the front face of the tubesheet from effects of said bonding charge detonation.
- 2. The plug of claim 1 wherein said regular polygonal configuration is hexagonal so that, when said plug is inserted into said tube, a side of said hexagonal top plate makes extended contact with a side of a substantially identically dimensioned and configured top plate of another plug positioned in a tube in an adjacent bore in said tubesheet so that there is substantially no gap between said hexagonal top plate and said identically dimensioned and configured top plate of said other plug positioned on the tube in said adjacent bore, said hexagonal top plate thereby forming a portion of a protective covering for the front face of said tubesheet.
Parent Case Info
This application is a division of Ser. No. 332,924 filed on Dec. 21, 1981, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,257,623 granted on July 9, 1985.
US Referenced Citations (6)
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry |
"Advances in Welding Processes", Third International Conference, The Welding Institute, Abington, Cambridge, 1974, pp. 249-262. |
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
332924 |
Dec 1981 |
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