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US 2026/0085778 A1Published application
Fluid handling couplings
AssigneeColder Products Company
InventorJack T. Stangl
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Fluid handling couplings can be made to connect and disconnect other members of a fluid handling system. For example, this document describes fluid couplings that are convenient to couple/decouple and that resist disconnection when subjected to rotation and side loading (and/or while pressurized). In some embodiments, the resistance to disconnection is facilitated by a latch mechanism of the female coupling that includes lateral areas that are slightly out of contact with an annular shoulder of the male coupling.
Claims20
A female fluid coupling, comprising:
- a coupling body defining a central longitudinal axis and an interior space, wherein the female fluid coupling is configured to receive, in a mated configuration, a front-end portion of a male fluid coupling when the front-end portion is inserted through an open front-end of the coupling body that leads to the interior space;
- and
- a latch member movably coupled to the coupling body and comprising an engagement surface configured to engage against the male fluid coupling to releasably retain the male and female fluid couplings in the mated configuration, the latch member being transversely movable relative to the central longitudinal axis between:
- (i) a latched position and (ii) an unlatched position,
- wherein the engagement surface is closer to the central longitudinal axis in the latched position than in the unlatched position, and
- wherein the engagement surface is nonplanar.
3 more elements
A fluid coupling system, comprising:
- a male fluid coupling comprising:
- a front-end portion;
- and
- an annular shoulder projecting radially outward from the front-end portion and defining a latch groove behind the annular shoulder;
- and
- a female fluid coupling comprising:
- a coupling body defining a central longitudinal axis and an interior space, wherein the female fluid coupling is configured to receive, in a mated configuration, the front-end portion of the male fluid coupling when the front-end portion is inserted through an open front-end of the coupling body that leads to the interior space;
- and
- a latch member movably coupled to the coupling body and comprising an engagement surface configured to engage within the latch groove and against the annular shoulder of the male fluid coupling to releasably retain the male and female fluid couplings in the mated configuration, the latch member being transversely movable relative to the central longitudinal axis between:
- (i) a latched position and (ii) an unlatched position,
- wherein the engagement surface is closer to the central longitudinal axis in the latched position than in the unlatched position, and wherein the engagement surface is nonplanar.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.