Apparatus for accomodating and compensating angular deflections of pipe conduits

An apparatus for accommodating and compensating angular deflections of pipe conduits, said apparatus including two rigid cylindrical sleeves each adapted to be joined to a pipe section of a pipe conduit, said sleeves interconnected by a spring bellows, the improvement comprising:

• a first pivot section mounted to one of said rigid cylindrical sleeves and a second pivot section mounted to the other of said cylindrical sleeves,
• said first and second pivot sections each having joint plates that extend towards the other,
• a rolling contact wedge member carried by the joint plates of one of said pivot sections and having a rounded apex section of a given angle,
• a rolling contact prism member carried by the joint plates of the other of said pivot sections and having a V-shaped groove the two flanks of which enclose an angle that is greater than the given angle of said rounded apex section of said rolling contact wedge member, said apex of said wedge member positioned in said groove of said prism member so that said wedge member and said prism member engage each other along a line of contact, and
• said rolling contact prism member being made of a softer material than the material of said rolling contact wedge member,
• whereby any reactive forces acting on said cylindrical sleeves generate at the line of contact between said rolling contat prism member and said rolling contact wedge member a hertz-like pressure that permits substantially frictionless angular movement between said rolling contact wedge member and said rolling contact prism member.