Quick connector
AssigneeOetiker Schweiz AG
InventorMorgan Ryman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A quick connector for establishing a snapping connection between a tubular male part (50) and a female part (40) of a fluid connection system. The connector has a retainer (10) adapted to be set within the mouth portion (41) of the female part (40) and having a resilient member (20) for snapping engagement with both a thickened portion (52) of the male part (50) and an annular groove (42) in the mouth portion (41) of the female part (40) when the resilient member (20), which is held by the a retainer (10) in an axially fixed position, is stretched in the radial direction due to the snapping engagement with the male part (50).
Claims10
A fluid connection system including a tubular male part (50), a female part (40) and a quick connector for connecting the tubular male part (50) to the female part (40), comprising:
- a seal (30) set within a mouth portion (41) of the female part (40) to form a seal between the male part (50) and the female part (40);
- a retainer (10) set within the mouth portion (41) to hold the sealing means (30);
- and
- a resilient member (20) for snapping engagement with the male part (50), wherein the resilient member (20) is held by the retainer (10) in an axially fixed position and exerting a spring force in a radial direction transversal to an axial direction of the connector,
- wherein the tubular male part (50) has a tapered portion (51) in which the outer diameter gradually increases in order to stretch the resilient member (20) when the tapered portion (51) is inserted into the retainer (10), and the female part (40) has an annular groove (42) formed on the periphery of its mouth portion (41), and wherein the tubular male part (50) has a thickened portion (52) which is adapted to push the resilient member (20) radially outwards when the male part (50) is in snapping engagement with the retainer (10), so that the resilient member (20) is stretched in the radial direction and protrudes into the annular groove (42) when the male part (50) is in snapping engagement with the retainer (10).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.