AU2006272971B2

AU2006272971B2 - A connector

Info

Publication number: AU2006272971B2
Application number: AU2006272971A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Roy Mckay Watson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-07-28
Filing date: 2006-07-27
Publication date: 2009-12-17
Anticipated expiration: 2026-07-27
Also published as: AU2006272971A1; GB0803684D0; WO2007013822A1; NZ541525A; GB2445299A; ZA200801760B

Description

1 TITLE OF THE INVENTION A CONNECTOR BACKGROUND TO TIM INVENTION S This invention relates to a connector. More particularly the present invention relates to a connector intended for use in connecting a downpipe to spouting. Reference to any prior art in this specification does not constitute an admission that such prior art forms part of the common general knowledge. 10 As is known, a downpipe is connected to a length of guttering/spouting to drain water gathering in the spouting. The downpipe can be connected direct to the spouting or via an elbow piece but either way the connection with the spouting is by engaging an end of the downpipe/elbow piece over a short length of pipe projecting from the spouting. 15 The short length of pipe which forms the connector, is flanged at one end. A hole is formed in the spouting and the length of pipe is inserted through the hole so that the flange engages against the floor of the spouting. The flange is then fastened, usually by pop rivets, and the whole assembly is sealed inside the spouting by liberal use of a sealant material over 20 the flange and pop rivets. This form of connection of a downpipe or downpipe elbow is widely and commonly used despite the fact that it represents a time consuming operation. Also many quality issues arise if the work is not carried out correctly. For example, the application of the sealant may 25 not be correct whereupon water in the spouting can seep around the flange and down the outside of the downpipe/downpipe elbow. Also the resultant coupling can be unsightly as often the short length pipe of the connector is visible between the underside of the spouting and the top edge of the downpipe or downpipe elbow. Furthermore, the pop riveting operation may not be carried out correctly or in a tradesman like manner.

2 (followed by page 2a) An object of the present invention is to overcome or alleviate the aforementioned problems, or to at least provide the public with a useful choice. SUNMARY oF THE INVENTION 5 Aspects of the connector herein described preferably enable the coupling of a downpipe or downpipe elbow to spouting in a manner which is less time consuming to install and provides a superior joint between the spouting/spouting elbow and the spouting than conventionally used coupling constructions. 10 It is acknowledged that the terms 'comprise", "comprises" and "comprising" may, under varying jurisdictions, be attributed with either an exclusive or an inclusive meaning. For the purpose of this specification, and unless otherwise noted, these terms are intended to have an inclusive meaning - i.e. they will be taken to mean an inclusion of not only the listed 15 components which the use directly references, but also to other non-specified components or elements. Broadly according to one aspect of the invention there is provided a connector for the joining of a downpipe or downpipe elbow to spouting, the connector including a flanged annular 20 body section, and a tubular body section, the annular body section being, in use, engageable through an opening in the floor of a length of spouting with the flange of the annular body section located against the floor, and interconnecting fastening means associated with both the annular and tubular body sections whereby they can be fastened together such that the tubular body section projects from an external surface of the spouting. 25 In a preferred form of the invention the tubular body section includes a flange which is engageable with the external surface of the spouting. More preferably the flange includes at least one flat edge portion which, in use, is engaged with a wall surface of spouting when 2a (followed by page 3) the annular body section is engaged through the opening. In a further form of the invention there can be a pair of flat edge portions, these flat edge portions being diametrically opposed. 5 in one form of the invention the fastening means can comprise a male thread on the external surface of the annular body section and a female thread on the internal surface of the tubular body section, the male and female threads being of a form which, in use, permits the tubular body section to be threadingly engaged on the annular body section. 10 in another form of the invention the fastening means can be a bayonet type coupling.

WO 2007/013822 PCT/NZ2006/000192 3 Preferably in one form of the invention the annular body section includes, about the external peripheral surface thereof, spaced apart projections which have a ramp edge surface and the tubular body section includes, about the internal peripheral surface thereof, a plurality of projecting areas which have an inclined edge surface, the ramp edge surface and inclined 5 surface of respective projections and projecting areas being engageable when the tubular body section is engaged onto the annular body section and rotated to thereby effect an axial relative movement between the annular and tubular body sections. In the preferred form of the invention the projections are located at or adjacent the end of 10 the annular body section distal from the flange on the annular body section. According to a second broad aspect of the invention there is provided a method of fitting a downpipe or elbow to spouting including the steps of forming a circular opening in the floor of the spouting, locating a flanged annular body section of a two piece connector into the 15 opening such that the flange is engageable with the floor, engaging a tubular body section onto the part of the annular body section projecting from the spouting, effecting relative rotation between the annular and tubular body sections to cause fastening means of the body section to create a relative axial movement of the body sections to thereby sandwich the floor of the spouting between the flange and the tubular body section and fitting an end 20 of the downpipe or elbow to the tubular body section. A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the following more detailed description of the invention according to a preferred 25 embodiments reference will be made to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of a first embodiment of the coupling, Figure 2 is an exploded side elevation view of the coupling, 4 Figure 3 is an exploded perspective of a second embodiment of the connector, Figure 4 is an elevation partially sectioned view of the annular body section of the 5 second embodiment as shown in Figure 3, and Figure 5 is a cross-sectioned elevation view of the tubular body section of the second embodiment of the invention as shown in Figures 3 and 4. 10 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION In the following more detailed description reference will be made to the connector according to the invention being intended for joining a downpipe to a length of spouting. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the connector may be connected directly to an 15 end of the downpipe or it may be connected to the downpipe via an elbow or joining piece. The latter is normally required when the downpipe is coupled to the wall of the structure and the spouting is located on an overhang such that the spouting is spaced some distance from the top of the downpipe. 20 The connector according to the present invention is intended to engage in a circular opening formed in the floor of the spouting. This opening is formed by the person installing the spouting on the building structure. The hole is formed at the position that the installer determines is correct for the positioning of the downpipe so that the fall of the spouting delivers water to the downpipe. 25 As shown in the accompanying drawings the connector 10 is made of two components. One of these pieces is an annular body '1l which is connected at one end to, though preferably formed integrally as a unit with, a lateral flange 12. In one form of the invention the flange 12 Is, as shown in Figure 1, of angular form more particularly of generally square shape.

WO 2007/013822 PCT/NZ2006/000192 5 Preferably the corners 13 of the flange 12 are of radius or curved form (see Figure 1). Furthermore, the edge 14 of the flange 12 is preferably rounded, curved profile or chamfered as is more readily apparent from Figure 2. 5 A first mechanical connector is attached to but preferably formed with the annular body 11. This can be a male thread 15 formed on the external surface of the annular body 11. The second component of the connector 10 is formed by a tubular body 16, which at one thereof preferably has a flange 17. The flange 17 is preferably of circular form as can be 10 seen in Figure 1. This flange 17 is not as pronounced as flange 12 as is apparent from the drawings. In one form of the invention there is a shaped transition 18 between the flange 17 and the tubular body 16. More preferably this transition 18 forms a shoulder 19. 15 With a hole preformed in the spouting the installer may apply a sealant material around the periphery of the hole on the floor of the spouting or to the underside of flange 12, or to both. The annular body II is then inserted through the hole in the floor of the spouting so that the threaded annular body 10 projects from the underside of the spouting. The 20 underside of the flange 12 thus seats against the floor of the spouting and is sealed thereon by the presence of the sealant pre-applied to the floor and/or the underside of the flange 12. In the preferred form of the invention the dimensions of the flange 12 are such that the 25 flange 12 engages between a rear wall or wall portion of the spouting and an opposing front wall or front wall portion of the spouting. As a consequence any torque applied to the annular body 11 will either not result in any angular movement of the body 11 (or only a limited degree of movement) due to the inter-engagement between the edge 14 of the WO 2007/013822 PCT/NZ2006/000192 6 flange 12 and the front and rear wall or wall portions of the spouting. This assists in the installation of the coupling as will hereinafter be apparent. With the annular body 11 thus in position the installer can then simply connect the tubular 5 body 16 to annular body 11. In this form of the invention the tubular body 16 has a mating female thread 21 in the inner wall surface of the tubular body 16. The tubular body 16 is thus screwed onto the tubular body 11 until the flange 17 comes into contact with the underside of the spouting. Preferably the tubular body 16 is tightened up against the underside of the spouting so as to firmly fix the connector 10 in place. The floor of the 10 spouting is thus firmly sandwiched between flanges 12 and 17. While it is believed that the sealant between the flange 12 and the floor of the spouting will be sufficient to create a waterproof seal the installer can also apply sealant to the surface of the flange 17 so as to form a further waterproof seal between the flange 17 and the 15 underside of the spouting. It is, however, believed that the application of this is not required and, indeed, may not be desirable as sealant squeezed from the interface of the flange 17 and underside of the spouting may need to be cleaned off (hence requiring a further operation by the installer) or if not cleaned off may lead to an unsightly appearance. 20 The connector 10 thus provides a straightforward and quick method of providing a connection for a downpipe. All that the installer needs to do is form the hole in the floor of the spouting, apply sealant as described and then join the two components 11 and 16 of the connector 10 together. Not only does this provide a straightforward and simple means of installing a downpipe connector but it also results in a connector which aesthetically is more 25 pleasing than hitherto used connector constructions. For example, with the present connector 10 there are no unsightly pop rivets, not to mention the time taken and possible quality issues arising out of incorrect use of the pop rivets. Furthermore, the transition 18 between the flange 17 and the tubular body 16 provides an WO 2007/013822 PCT/NZ2006/000192 7 aesthetically pleasing transition between the underside of the spouting and the upper edge of a downpipe. In this respect the width of the shoulder 19 is preferably substantially equal to the thickness of the downpipe fitted over the tubular body 16 such that the curved transition 18 forms a continuous transition between flange 17 and the external wall surface 5 of the downpipe D (see Figure 2). It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the diameter of the external peripheral surface of the tubular body section 16 is such that it snugly fits into the downpipe/elbow. 10 The two components of the connector 10 are preferably formed of a suitable plastic material. It is envisaged that the two components will be of injected moulded construction. As a result of the moulded plastic construction a further advantage of the connector is that, if necessary, the installer can cut to length the tubular body 16 if the standard length of the body is, for a particular installation, too long. 15 The invention is open to modification as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. For example, rather than a threaded connection between the two components a bayonet type fit or other mechanical coupling could be employed. An embodiment of the invention employing this type of connection is shown in Figures 3 to 5. 20 In this embodiment of the invention the flange 12 is shown to be of a substantially circular shape but with a pair of opposed flats 20. The edge 14 of the flange is of a chamfered or ramped shape. 25 The annular body 11 is, according to this embodiment, formed with a waisted or inwardly stepped portion 21. This portion 21 of the annular body 11 has spaced peripherally thereabout a plurality of projections or projecting areas 22. In the preferred form these projections 22 have one edge flush or closely adjacent to the edge of the annular body 11 WO 2007/013822 PCT/NZ2006/000192 8 distal from flange 12. Opposite this is an edge 23 which inclines gradually to effectively form a ramp edge surface. It will be appreciated that the surface of the projections 22 will not project beyond the 5 surface of the portion of the annular body between the stepped portion 21 and flange 12. This is to enable the tubular body section 16 to slide into the annular body section 11 to position flange 17 into engagement with the external surface of the floor of the spouting. Projecting from the inner wall of the tubular body 16 is also a plurality of projections 24. 10 These are spaced apart and annularly disposed to one another in substantially the same fashion as the projections 22 on annular body 11. Each projection 24 has an edge surface 25. When assembling the two components 11 and 16 together, the tubular body 16 is pushed 15 onto the annular body 11. As a result the projections 24 pass between the projections 22 of annular body 11 as the tubular body 16 is moved axially onto the annular body 11. At the point where the flange 17 comes into engagement with the underside of the spouting, the surfaces 25 of projections 24 are substantially aligned with the ramped surfaces 23 of projections 22. Consequently, the tubular body 16 can be rotated relative to the annular 20 body 11 whereupon the surfaces 25 ride along the surfaces 23. As a consequence of the inclined nature of the surfaces 23, this angular relative movement results in an axial relative movement between the components 11 and 16 thereby tightening the two components together to sandwich the spouting between the flanges 12 and 17. 25 in a preferred form of the invention, each of the projections 22 and 24 may include a lip, projection, or the like, on each of the surfaces 25 and 23 respectively so that a snap-lock type engagement occurs at a point where the flanges 12 and 17 will be tightened against the inner and lower surfaces of the spouting. This snap-locking will prevent a reverse angular WO 2007/013822 PCT/NZ2006/000192 9 movement between the components 11 and 16, which might otherwise result in loosening of the connector on the spouting. This may, however, not be required if a screw fastener e.g. pk screw is installed through the 5 downpipe/elbow and the body sections 11 and 16 to fasten the downpipe/elbow to the connector 10. The shape of the transition could be altered to provide a different appearance, depending on the type of spouting with which the connector is to be used. Also, the shape could be 10 altered to a more straight configuration for appearance and/or reduction of the overall dimensions of the flange 17. It would also be possible to apply a seal to the underside of flange 12 so as to automatically provide a seal between the underside of the flange and the floor of the spouting if it was 15 desired not to use sealant material. However, once again, it is considered that this is a less preferred embodiment, as such a seal might not necessarily always provide sufficient sealing effect if, for example, there are inconsistency in the flatness of the floor of the spouting. In any event it adds a further cost factor to the connector. 20 The invention thus provides a two piece connector which can be quickly fitted to spouting with minimum of skill and labour yet provide an effective fit for a downpipe or elbow to the spouting. Other modifications to the connector will be apparent to those skilled in the art and will fall 25 within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A spouting connector for the joining of a downpipe or downpipe elbow to spouting, the connector including an annular body section which has a lateral flange 5 projecting outwardly therefrom, and a tubular body section, the annular body section being, in use, locatable in an opening in the floor of a length of spouting with the lateral flange of the annular body section engaged against the floor, engagement means for engagement of the spouting to substantially prevent rotation of the annular body section relative to the spouting, and interconnecting 10 fastening means associated with both the annular and tubular body sections whereby they can be fastened together and sandwich the floor of the spouting between the lateral flange and tubular body section and the tubular body section projects from an external surface of the spouting. 15

2. A connector as claimed in claim 1 wherein the tubular body section includes a flange which is engageable with the external surface of the spouting.

3. A connector as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the engagement means is formed by the lateral flange having at least one flat edge portion which, in use, is engagable 20 with an internal wall surface of the spouting when the annular body section is engaged in the opening.

4. A connector as claimed in claim 3 wherein there are a pair of the flat edge portions, these flat edge portions being diametrically opposed. 25

5. A connector as claimed in claim 2, 3 or 4 wherein the edge of the lateral flange is rounded, curve profiled or chamfered. 11

6. A connector as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the fastening means comprises a male thread on the external surface of the annular body section and a female thread on the internal surface of the tubular body section, the male and female threads being of a form which, in use, permits the tubular body section 5 to be threadingly engaged on the annular body section.

7. A connector as claimed in claim 6 wherein the male and female threads are formed integrally as a unit with the annular and tubular body sections respectively. 10

8. A connector as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein the lateral flange on the annular body section is of an angular shape.

9. A connector as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the fastening means is a bayonet type coupling. 15

10. A connector as claimed In any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the annular body section includes a waisted or inwardly stepped portion

11. A connector as claimed in any one of claims I to 5 and 10 wherein the annular body 20 section includes about the external peripheral surface thereof a plurality of spaced apart projections which have a ramp edge surface and the tubular body section includes about the internal peripheral surface thereof a plurality of projecting areas which have an inclined edge surface, the ramp edge surface and inclined surface of respective projections and projecting areas being engageable when the tubular body 25 section is engaged onto the annular body section and rotated to thereby effect an axial relative movement between the annular and tubular body sections.

12. A connector as claimed in claim 11 wherein the projections are located at or adjacent the end of the annular body section distal from the lateral flange. 12

13. A connector as claimed in claim 12 wherein each of the projections and projecting areas include means for creating a locking engagement when the axial relative movement between the annular and tubular body sections has been completed. 5

14. A connector as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein each of the annular and tubular body sections are moulded from a suitable plastic material.

15. A method of fitting a downpipe or elbow to spouting including the steps of forming 10 a circular opening in the floor of the spouting, locating an annular body section having an outwardly projecting lateral flange of a two piece connector into the opening such that the lateral flange is engaged with the floor and prevented from substantial rotation relative to the spouting, engaging a tubular body section onto the part of the annular body section projecting from the spouting, effecting relative 15 rotation between the annular and tubular body sections to cause interconnecting fastening means of the annular and tubular body sections to create a relative axial movement of the body sections to thereby sandwich the floor of the spouting between the lateral flange and the tubular body section and fitting an end of the downpipe or elbow to the tubular body section. 20

16. A connector substantially as herein described with reference to Figure 1 and 2 or 3 to 5 of the accompanying drawings.

17. A method of fitting a downpipe or elbow to spouting using a two piece connector 25 substantially as herein described,