Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Conduits may be utilized to transport a fluid stream and/or electric current. Some conduits may be configured to transport a liquid, such as, for instance water. The liquid may be emitted from the conduit into a vessel, or onto the ground, an object, or a structure as desired during operations. In some circumstances, a conduit may be utilized to provide a stream of liquid to a desired location for an extended period of time.
Some embodiments disclosed herein are directed to a stand for a conduit. In an embodiment, the stand includes a body including a receptacle configured to receive the conduit therein. In addition, the stand includes a leg pivotably coupled to the body. The leg is pivotable relative to the body between: a first position, wherein the leg extends along the body, and a second position, wherein the leg extends away from the body.
In some embodiments, the stand includes a body including a longitudinal axis, a first end, and a second end opposite the first end. In addition, the body includes a receptacle extending along the longitudinal axis from the first end to the second end. The receptacle is configured to receive the conduit therein. Further, the stand includes a leg pivotably coupled to the body. The leg is configured to pivot relative to the body to adjust an angle between the leg and the longitudinal axis. The leg is configured to engage with a support surface.
Still other embodiments disclosed herein are directed to a hose stand. In an embodiment, the hose stand includes an elongate body including a longitudinal axis, and an axially extending receptacle. The receptacle includes an opening that is configured to receive a hose therethrough in a radial direction with respect to the longitudinal axis. In addition, the hose stand includes a leg pivotably coupled to the body on a side of the body that is opposite the opening of the receptacle. The leg is pivotable relative to the body between: a first position, and a second position, in which the leg is pivoted outward from the body, away from the first position.
Embodiments described herein comprise a combination of features and characteristics intended to address various shortcomings associated with certain prior devices, systems, and methods. The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical characteristics of the disclosed embodiments in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood. The various characteristics and features described above, as well as others, will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the following detailed description, and by referring to the accompanying drawings. It should be appreciated that the conception and the specific embodiments disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes as the disclosed embodiments. It should also be realized that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the principles disclosed herein.
For a detailed description of various exemplary embodiments, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which:
The following discussion is directed to various exemplary embodiments. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the examples disclosed herein have broad application, and that the discussion of any embodiment is meant only to be exemplary of that embodiment, and not intended to suggest that the scope of the disclosure, including the claims, is limited to that embodiment.
The drawing figures are not necessarily to scale. Certain features and components herein may be shown exaggerated in scale or in somewhat schematic form and some details of conventional elements may not be shown in interest of clarity and conciseness.
In the following discussion and in the claims, the terms “including” and “comprising” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to. . . . ” Also, the term “couple” or “couples” is intended to mean either an indirect or direct connection. Thus, if a first device couples to a second device, that connection may be through a direct connection of the two devices, or through an indirect connection that is established via other devices, components, nodes, and connections. In addition, as used herein, the terms “axial” and “axially” generally mean along or parallel to a given axis (e.g., central axis of a body or a port), while the terms “radial” and “radially” generally mean perpendicular to the given axis. For instance, an axial distance refers to a distance measured along or parallel to the axis, and a radial distance means a distance measured perpendicular to the axis. Further, when used herein (including in the claims), the words “about,” “generally,” “substantially,” “approximately,” and the like mean within a range of plus or minus 10%.
As previously described, in some circumstances a conduit may be utilized to provide a stream of fluid (e.g., liquid) to a desired location for an extended period of time. For instance, a liquid carrying conduit (e.g., a water hose) may be positioned to emit liquid into a space so as to allow one to immerse hands, tools, or other objects in the fluid stream for washing or other purposes. In these circumstances, an individual utilizing the conduit to provide the liquid stream may find it difficult to maintain the conduit in a desired position (e.g., to provide the liquid stream to the desired location) while simultaneously immersing a hand, tool or other object in the emitted liquid stream. Accordingly, embodiments disclosed herein include stands for a conduit that may support a conduit during operations so as to allow the liquid stream to be delivered to a desired location. Thus, as will be described in more detail below, through use of the examples stands disclosed herein, a user may immerse hands or other objects in the liquid stream emitted from the conduit without needing to simultaneously support and/or manipulate the conduit.
Referring now to
Body 12 comprises a central or longitudinal axis 15, a first or front end 12a, and a second or rear end 12b opposite front end 12a. A receptacle 14 is defined within body 12 that extends axially from front end 12a to rear end 12b. Receptacle 14 includes an opening 16 that also extends axially between ends 12a, 12b along body 12 so that body 12 has a generally U-shaped cross-section as shown in
As best shown in
In addition, as is also best shown in
Referring still to
Hook 30 defines a cavity 32 that may receive a suitable support structure to hang or suspend body 12 during operations. For instance, referring briefly now to
Referring now to
Referring again to
Referring specifically to
During operations, inner leg member 54 may be telescopically moved axially into and out of cavity 58 (e.g., relative to axis 55) to adjust a total length of leg 50, which may be measured axially from proximate end 52a of outer housing 52 to distal end 54b of inner leg member 54 along axis 55. In some embodiments, inner leg member 54 may be adjusted to a finite number of predetermined extension positions from cavity 58, so that leg 50 has a finite number of predetermined lengths. For instance, inner leg member 54 may include a spring loaded extension (not shown) that may align with and extends into a plurality of holes, recesses, or apertures spaced along the length of outer housing 52.
In other embodiments, inner leg member 54 may be placed in an infinite number of extension positions within cavity 58, so that leg 50 effectively has an infinite number of lengths between a minimum value and a maximum value. For instance, inner leg member 54 may include a cam member (not shown) that engages with a suitable profile (not shown) within cavity 58 when inner leg member 54 is rotated about axis 55 in a first direction relative to outer housing 52 to thereby lock or secure an axial position of inner leg member 54 relative to outer housing 52 during operations. However, when it is desired to adjust an axial length of leg 50, inner leg member 54 may be rotated about axis 55 relative to outer housing 52 in a second direction that is opposite the first direction to thereby disengage the cam on inner leg member 54 from the profile within outer housing 52, and allow inner leg member 54 to axially extend or retract within cavity 58 along axis 55.
Referring still to
Referring again to
First spacer arm 60 has a first end 60a, and a second end 60b opposite the first end 60a. Similarly, second spacer arm 62 has a first end 62a, and a second end 62b opposite first end 62a. First end 60a of first spacer arm 60 is pivotably coupled (e.g., pinned) to outer housing 52 of leg 51, second end 62a of second spacer arm 62 is pivotably coupled (e.g., pinned) to outer housing 52 of leg 50, and second end 60b and first end 62a of spacer arms 60 and 62, respectively, are pivotably coupled (e.g., pinned) to one another.
During operations, spacer arms 60, 62 may be pivoted about ends 60a, 60b, 62a, 62b to adjust a spacing between the legs 50, 51. Without being limited to this or any other theory, as the spacing or span between legs 50, 51 increases, a stability of the stand 10 may generally increase. Thus, the spacer arms 60, 62 may be rotated so as to generally increase a spacing between the legs 50, 51 when stand 10 is deployed to support conduit 5 on a support surface (e.g., the ground) as described in more detail below.
A stop 64 may be mounted to one or both of the spacer arms 60, 62 that is configured to limit a relative rotation of spacer arms 60, 62 during operations. In particular, in the embodiment of
Referring still to
In addition, the elongate pin member 56 may pivotably couple both legs 50, 51 to body 12 as previously described. As is also shown in
Referring again to
Thereafter, a fluid stream 9 (e.g., such as a stream of water) may be emitted from open end 7 of conduit 5. The angle or direction of fluid stream 9 may be adjusted via adjustments to the lengths of legs 50, 51 as well as by rotating legs 50, 51 about the pin member 56. Once a desired direction of fluid stream 9 is achieved via the above described adjustments to stand 10 (e.g., particularly to legs 50, 51), this direction may be maintained by stand 10 so that a user may then immerse hands, tools, objects, etc. in the fluid stream 9 for washing or other operations without simultaneously holding or otherwise engaging conduit 5 or stand 10.
During the above described operations, conduit 5 may also engage with support surface 3 and thereby aid in stabilizing stand 10 along support surface 3 as generally shown in
Referring now to
Leg 150 includes a column 152 pivotably coupled to body 12 and a foot 154 for engaging with support surface 3 during operations. Column 152 includes a first or proximate end 152a, and a second or distal end 152b opposite proximate end 152a. Column 152 is pivotably coupled to body 12 at or near proximate end 152a via elongate pin member 56. Thus, during operations leg 150 may be pivotable relative the body 12 (e.g., via pin member 56) between a first position in which the leg 150 extends substantially along the body 12, and a second position in which the leg 150 extends away from the body 12, in a similar manner to that described above for legs 50, 51 of stand 10.
In addition, foot 154 is engaged with column 152 at distal end 152b. Column 152 and foot 154 may be formed as separate members or bodies that are joined or coupled to one another to form leg 150. However, in some embodiments, column 152 and foot 154 may be formed (e.g., molded, stamped, cut, cast, etc.) as a monolithic, unitary, single-piece body.
Column 152 may include a width W152 and foot 154 may include a width W154. Widths W152, W154 extend in a direction that is generally perpendicular to a direction of axis 15 of body 12. The width W154 of foot 154 may be larger than the width W152 of column 152. As a result, foot 154 may engage with support surface 3 over a relatively large surface area so as to provide stability to stand 100 during operations. In some embodiments, the width W154 may be adjustable. For instance, one or more extendable members or legs may be coupled to the foot 154, so that during operations, a user may pivot or linearly extend the extensions to thereby increase the width W154 during operations. By providing for an adjustable width W154, the foot 154 may be placed in a collapsed or reduced-width state when leg 150 is pivoted about pin member 56 to extend along the body 12, so as to decrease an overall width of the stand 100.
The operations with stand 100 are essentially the same as those previously described above for stand 10; however, rather than deploying or rotating legs 50, 51 away from body 12, the leg 150 is rotated about the elongate pin member 56 so as to extend foot 154 away from body 12 as generally shown in
The embodiments disclosed herein include stands (e.g., stands 100, 100) for a conduit (e.g., conduit 5) that may support the conduit during operations so as to allow the liquid stream to be delivered to a desired location. Thus, through use of the examples stands disclosed herein, a user may immerse hands or other objects in a liquid stream emitted from the conduit without needing to simultaneously support and/or manipulate the conduit.
While exemplary embodiments have been shown and described, modifications thereof can be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or teachings herein. The embodiments described herein are exemplary only and are not limiting. Many variations and modifications of the systems, apparatus, and processes described herein are possible and are within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, the scope of protection is not limited to the embodiments described herein, but is only limited by the claims that follow, the scope of which shall include all equivalents of the subject matter of the claims. Unless expressly stated otherwise, the steps in a method claim may be performed in any order. The recitation of identifiers such as (a), (b), (c) or (1), (2), (3) before steps in a method claim are not intended to and do not specify a particular order to the steps, but rather are used to simplify subsequent reference to such steps.