Irreversible plug assembly
AssigneeDouglas L. Hollaender Enterprises, Inc.
InventorRoger Adelman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A plug assembly for a tube includes a tapered wedge and a sleeve. The sleeve fits over the wedge and is placed in a tube. Relative movement of the wedge and the sleeve causes the sleeve to expand and plug the tube. The exterior surface of the wedge and the interior surface of the sleeve include annular grooves. One or more compression rings in either the grooves in the sleeve or wedge permit motion of the sleeve relative to the wedge only toward the large diameter portion of the wedge. This prevents the sleeve from separating from the wedge after being installed in a tube.
Claims6
A plug assembly adapted to seal a tube comprising
- a tapered wedge and a sleeve having an interior surface that engages a portion of an exterior surface of said tapered wedge wherein moving said sleeve in a first direction toward a larger diameter portion of said tapered wedge causes said sleeve to expand;
- an inter-engaging member located in one of said sleeve and said tapered wedge adapted to flex and allow movement of said sleeve relative to said tapered wedge and wherein said inter-engaging member engages the other of said sleeve and said tapered wedge to permit said movement in only said first direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.