FR2900717A1 - PROTECTIVE HAT FOR A CONTAINER AND CONTAINER PROVIDED WITH SUCH A HAT - Google Patents

Abstract

Protective cover for a container of fluid, particularly for a compressed-gas bottle, comprising a covering body (5, 6) and a ring (3) that forms an assembly interface designed to be placed between a container and the covering body (5, 6), said cover being characterized in that the ring (3) has an opening (13) around its circumference for positioning it on or removing it from a container.

Description

The present invention relates to a protective cap for a container

  as well as a container provided with such a cap. The invention relates more particularly to a protective cap for a fluid container, in particular for a pressurized gas bottle, comprising a casing body and a ring forming an interface for mounting the casing body on the container. Protection against shocks and various assaults valves or pressure regulators fitted to pressurized fluid cylinders is usually performed by an accessory called hat that can be opened or closed (see NF E29-640 standard). The general characteristics and performance of these caps are described for example in the NF EN 962 standard. A closed cap provides complete protection of the faucet when it is in place but must be removed to give access to said faucet. Thus, the closed cap no longer protects the valve when the bottle is in use.

  Open hats are relatively simple when designed to protect conventional faucets. In general, the caps are more sophisticated for valves with integrated regulators (RDI) because of their clearances allowing access to the controls and the visibility of manometers (see for example the document FR 2 774 452 Al). The design of a hat must take into account several sometimes contradictory constraints. Thus, to ensure its role of protection while allowing access to the valve and ensuring good ergonomics of use (for the transport of the bottle as for filling or withdrawal of the fluid), the hat must be the most encompassing possible. In addition, to allow inspection and maintenance of the valve the cap must be very open and / or removable. A removable cap is interesting for the maintenance of the tap but also for the maintenance of the hat itself (painting, cleaning, repair or replacement operations). However, the installation and removal of the cap must be relatively simple and the attachment must be sufficiently reliable to prevent loosening or loss of the cap during handling and transport. To allow access to the controls and the visibility of pressure gauges or other components, the cap must be positioned precisely in height as angularly relative to the valve.

  Finally, the hat must accommodate the type of fastener available on the bottle it equips (such as a flange according to NF EN 962). However, there are different types of fasteners for the protective caps: smooth collars, threaded collars with different diameters (in particular 78 mm and 80 mm). The collars generally have an outer diameter greater than the space envelope of most conventional faucets. This allows to mount the cap on a tap already mounted on the container. However, a large number of valves, and in particular integrated regulator valves (RDI), have a spatial envelope greater than the outer diameter of the flanges. This has the consequence that it must either provide a removable cap that can be assembled on the bottle without disassembling the valve, or mount the valve after the cap. In the latter case, it prohibits disassembly of the cap without the prior disassembly of the valve. It should be noted that the mounting of the valve is a delicate operation due in particular to the need to respect a tightening torque relative to the bottle. Disassembly of the valve may lead to damage to the valve, for example by wear of the conical thread of the flange or marking of the surfaces in contact with the clamping tool and loosening.

  US 4,880,134 discloses a smooth protective cap that attaches to its container by means of a threaded adapter ring. This solution is however not suitable for taps whose spatial envelope does not enter the diameter of the adapter ring. According to other known solutions, the cap can be made in two parts from pinching a smooth collar. This solution, however, is not suitable for threaded flanges and is only suitable for a single flange profile (diameter and height). An object of the present invention is to overcome all or part of the disadvantages of the prior art noted above.

  To this end, the protective cap, moreover, conforms to the generic definition given in the preamble above, is essentially characterized in that the ring has an opening on its circumference intended for its placement or withdrawal relatively to a container.

  Furthermore, embodiments of the invention may include one or more of the following features: - the opening of the ring is provided to form, when setting up or removing the ring, a passage for a portion or section of a container or member mounted on a container such as a tap, the ring has an elasticity to allow temporary enlargement and / or shrinkage of the opening at a placement and / or withdrawal, the end of the ring located substantially diametrically opposed to the opening has a weakened zone and / or deformed relative to the rest of the ring, the ring has a surface inner surface for mounting on an outer surface of a container and an outer surface for cooperating with a surface of a casing body for mounting the casing to the container, the inner surface of the ring being smooth; or having hooking reliefs such as a tapping for cooperating with a conjugate surface of a container, the outer surface of the ring comprises a hooking or positioning profile intended to cooperate with a complementary profile of a surface 20 of the casing body, the outer surface of the ring comprises at least one recess and / or a relief, the casing body comprises at least two parts capable of being secured, the casing body comprises at least two parts. adapted to be secured so as to grip the ring on a container, the ring is dimensioned so as to have a clearance relative to the outer dimensions of the flange, the at least two parts of the casing body comprise means 30 for fixing the type flanges and screws, -the at least two parts of the casing body have openings provided for visibility and / or access to organs located inside the chap water, the at least two parts of the casing body form a cage, preferably metal, the ring comprises metal and / or a metal alloy and / or a plastic-type material.

  According to an advantageous feature, the casing body can be fixed on the flange by means of an interface comprising a split ring whose inner surface is threaded to cooperate with the thread of the flange. The outer profile of the ring is a surface of revolution which cooperates with a complementary profile located in the inner surface of the cap or casing body. The slot of the split ring is of a width dimensioned such that said ring can be put in place while the tap or the integrated regulator valve (RDI) is already installed on the bottle. Preferably, the flange is threaded and the split ring threaded. It is thus possible to screw the ring on the flange to position it at the ideal height for the relative positioning of the cap and the tap or RDI. To facilitate the installation and removal of the cap, it can be split into at least two parts that are first assembled without particular tightening on the ring. This allows to angularly position the cap relative to the valve. It is then necessary to tighten the assembly of the different parts of the cap or casing body to concomitantly block the cap on the split ring and the split ring on the collar of the bottle. The split ring can be machined with a slight clearance with respect to the collar which simplifies its machining and implementation. This game can be caught when tightening the rollover body. To increase the clamping effect between the split ring and the collar, the inertia of the split ring can be reduced locally, for example in the region diametrically opposite to its slot. For this purpose, it is possible to make a notch and / or piercing that the skilled person will have available to reconcile its elastic efficiency and ease of obtaining.

  To fit different types of bottles, the same hat can be mounted on split rings of different shapes or internal sizes. The same split ring can also receive different hats. This can make it possible to renew casing bodies without changing the split mounting interface ring. The cap can be used with smooth collars by adopting adapted split rings accordingly. In this variant, the fineness and accuracy of the height positioning of the ring on the flange are slightly less compared to the solution in which the split ring is threaded and screwed onto a threaded flange. However, differences in height can be corrected either by the use of different split rings if the differences are generic or by the use of slotted shims like the ring and introduced under it to obtain the desired height dimension. Another solution may be to use split rings having an outer profile off-center with respect to the thickness. That is, the protruding or recessed part of the outer surface of the ring is closer to one of the flanks (upper or lower) of the ring than to the other flank (lower or upper) of the ring. Ring. Thus, by mounting the ring with the flank raised to the top, the cap will be mounted in a relatively high position. Conversely, by raising the raised flank upwards, the hat is mounted in a relatively low position. To facilitate the choice of the split ring and its orientation, a template with different notches can be made easily. Alternatively, automatic metrology means can guide the operator. For bottles with a smooth flange and locking by a retaining ring (circlip type) such as that described in document US 3776412, the translation locking of the split ring can be secured by a circlip identical to that used with the turning hat. The tightening of the casing body then fixing the angular position and annihilating the clearance between the cap and the bottle. Other features and advantages will appear on reading the description below, with reference to the figures in which: - Figure 1 shows a perspective view of the upper part of a pressurized gas cylinder provided with a integrated pressure reducing valve and without protective cap, - Figures 2 to 6 show perspective views illustrating a succession of steps of mounting on the container of Figure 1, a protective cap according to an example of embodiment of the invention. FIG. 7 represents a perspective and enlarged view of the container of FIG. 1 equipped with a protective cap mounted and in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. FIG. 1 represents a bottle 1 of pressurized gas equipped with an integrated regulator valve 2 comprising, conventionally, control means and manometers.

A succession of steps of mounting an exemplary embodiment of a protective cap according to the invention will now be described with reference to Figures 2 to 7. Referring now to Figure 2, a split ring 3 is presented in a position allowing its implementation by translation around the flange 4 of the bottle 1 (arrow T). More specifically, the ring 3 can be inserted or threaded around the valve and / or at the top of the flange 4 of the bottle 1 via a translation of the ring 3 in a direction substantially perpendicular to the vertical axis of the bottle 1. C that is, the ring 3 can be placed around the base of the valve 2 or at the top of the collar 4 in a direction substantially transverse to the axis of the bottle 1. The inner surface 23 of the ring 3 is threaded to cooperate with a conjugated thread formed on the flange 4. The outer surface 33 of the ring 3 comprises a peripheral rib intended to cooperate with a conjugate groove formed on an inner surface of a cowl body intended for 25 be mounted on the ring 3 (see below). The width of the slot 13 of the ring 3 is dimensioned to allow the passage of the valve through the slot 13 towards the inside of the ring 3. When the split ring 3 is placed above the collar 4 of the bottle 1 , the axes of the bottle 1 and the ring 3 are substantially merged. In this position, the ring 3 can be screwed onto the flange 4 by rotation (arrow R Figure 3). The dimensions of the ring 3 can be determined with enough clearance to make the ring 3 easy to screw. Indeed, at the end of assembly of the cap, the ring 3, which has a certain elasticity due to its slot 13, will be tight on the flange 4 and the game will be caught. FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate the positioning of the two half-caps 5, 6 which will be tightened on the ring 3 split by two screws 7. The half-caps 5, 6 have for this purpose in their lower part a half-flange 8 whose inner surface is of complementary shape of the outer surface 33 of the ring 3 (a groove in this embodiment). The screws 7 are designed to cooperate with threaded bores formed through the flanges 8 of the half-caps 5, 6. Of course, any other means for fixing the two half-caps 5, 6 forming the cowling body can be provided, such as pins, elastic clips, cam fasteners such as bicycle wheels, dowels such as scaffolding, clips, cable tie type collars, pop type rivets. The choice of the fastening system will be guided in particular by the ease or difficulty of disassembly referred to, the attachment can accumulate a tamper-proof seal function. In this way, once the two half-caps 5, 6 tight around the ring 3 mounted on the flange 4, the assembled cap is secured to the ring 3 which is itself locked on the collar 4. Figure 6 illustrates additional parts possible for the assembly of the cap: a pommel 9 handling having in its lower part a threaded length 19, a washer 10 and a flange 11 with serrated threaded at its center. The threaded length 19 of the knob 9 can thus be screwed into the flange 11 crenellated after the introduction of the flange 11 in a portion (rods forming a mesh) constituting the upper part of the half caps 5, 6. Alternatively, the knob can be free in rotation to facilitate the rolling of the bottle. Thus, as can be seen in FIG. 7, the crenellated flange 11 interconnects the upper parts of the two half-caps 5, 6 by cooperating with the washer 10 and the knob 9. This confers a good rigidity on the entire cap. Preferably, the tightening of the knob 9 screwed into the crenellated flange 11 is secured by one of the conventional means known to those skilled in the art among the spring washers (for example of the type Grower NFE 25215, fan NFE 27626, .. ), thread brakes, a lock nut, a nylon ring nut (DIN 985, Nylfix) etc. Of course, the mechanical connection between the upper parts of the two half-caps 5, 6 is not limited to the example described above. Thus, for example, the upper parts of the half-caps 5, 6 can be fixed by any other equivalent means, for example by complementary fastening systems carried by the half-caps 5, 6. Similarly, the structure hat is not limited to the above embodiment in which it is formed of a metal cage with possible reinforcements 15, 16 (Figure 4). Thus, the cowling body forming the cap may have any form and protective structure, and include any other material or combination of material including plastic. For example, the cowl body may comprise a single partially open enveloping portion and which cooperates with a fastening flange. That is to say that, with respect to the embodiment of FIGS. 2 to 7, one of the two half-hats has a more enveloping shape and the other half-hat is replaced only by a piece of mounting (half-flange for example) which does not participate or little in the protection of the tap. It is therefore easily conceivable that while being simple and inexpensive structure, the invention has many advantages over known solutions. Thus, the hat object of the invention allows both: - to better encompass valves or taps with built-in regulators - to leave access to the controls and the visibility of components to be seen - a mounting, positioning and easy disassembly without the need to disassemble the valve, - an adaptation to a large number of different bottles while maintaining a relatively standard structure, Of course the invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. Thus, for example, the embodiments are not limited to a protective cap attached by means of a ring but can be applied to any other type of mounting interface of a casing body on a container.

Claims (11)

  Protective cap for a fluid container, particularly for a pressurized gas bottle, comprising a casing body (5, 6) and a ring (3) forming a mounting interface for interposing between a container and the body cover (5, 6), characterized in that the ring (3) has an opening (13) on its circumference provided for its introduction or withdrawal relative to a container.   2. Hat according to claim 1, characterized in that the opening (13) the ring (3) is provided to form, when placing or removing the ring, a passage for a portion or section of a container or member mounted on a container such as a faucet.   3. Hat according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the ring (3) has an elasticity to allow a temporary enlargement and / or shrinkage of the opening (13) during installation and / or 'a withdrawal.   4. Hat according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the end of the ring (3) located substantially diametrically opposite the opening (13) has a weakened area and / or deformed relative to the rest of the ring (3).   5. Hat according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the ring (3) has an inner surface (23) intended to be mounted on an outer surface of a container and an outer surface (33) for to cooperate with a surface of a cowling body (5,   6) for mounting the latter on the container, the inner surface (23) of the ring (3) being smooth or having hooking reliefs such as a thread to cooperate with a conjugate surface of a container. 6. Hat according to claim 5, characterized in that the outer surface (33) of the ring (3) comprises a fastening or positioning profile intended to cooperate with a complementary profile of a surface of the cowl body (5). , 6).   7. Hat according to claim 6, characterized in that the outer surface (33) of the ring (3) comprises at least one recess and / or relief.   8. Hat according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the casing body (5, 6) comprises at least two parts capable of being secured.   9. Hat according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the casing body (5, 6) comprises at least two parts adapted to be secured so as to grip the ring (3) on a container.   Fluid container, particularly for a pressurized gas cylinder comprising a valve (2) and a protective cap, characterized in that the cap is according to any one of claims 1 to 9.   11. Container according to claim 11, characterized in that it comprises a flange (4) formed around an inlet and / or fluid outlet, characterized in that the ring (3) of the cap is mounted around the collar (4).