GB2270731A

GB2270731A - Hose support

Info

Publication number: GB2270731A
Application number: GB9319201A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Isaac Mcphee; Alexander James Brown
Original assignee: Mcphee & Brown
Current assignee: Mcphee & Brown
Priority date: 1992-09-16
Filing date: 1993-09-16
Publication date: 1994-03-23
Anticipated expiration: 2013-09-16
Also published as: GB9319201D0; GB2270731B; GB9219611D0

Abstract

A support device 1, for supporting a hose nozzle or outlet 6 in a desired orientation with respect to a member 14 rigidly fixed to a substantial body, comprises a releasable attachment means 2 for tight attachment around member 14, engagement means 4 for securely engaging at least a nozzle 6 end portion of a hose 8 and a connecting means 10 having relatively rotatable portions 22, 24 connected to respective ones of means 4 and 2 for relative angular displacement. Locking means 26 rigidly lock connecting means 10 in a desired angular position thereof. In use, the nozzle may be substantially rigidly supported in a desired orientation relative to member 14 such that a liquid ejected from the hose 8 nozzle 6 may be directed in a desired direction whilst securely maintaining the desired orientation of nozzle 6. The engagement means may have a portion for coupling to a nozzle and a portion for coupling to a hose (figure 4). <IMAGE>

Description

HOSE SUPPORT The present invention relates to a support device for use in supporting a hose or the like, especially for use in supporting the nozzle end or outlet end of a fire hose for use in offshore and oil rig applications, but not exclusively so.

Conventionally high pressure fire hoses are supported and directed by an operator, though in view of the large reaction forces involved it is almost invariably necessary to employ two or more operators working together. This is both time consuming and expensive, particularly where it is required to maintain a potentially explosive environment in a continually "wet down" condition to prevent fires and explosions.

Moreover there is a significant risk of accidents involving hose operators having to be near to an explosive environment to hold the hose in position and/or losing control of such a high pressure hose.

Existing practice in order to reduce manpower and the risk of injury to such manpower has been to use rope or strapping to tie down a hose nozzle to a suitable mounting or base. Such practice makes it very difficult though to position the nozzle and hose and direct sufficiently accurately the high pressure liquid ejecting therefrom-at the required target and then to maintain the position and direction of the water jet securely and reliably. Moreover once in position it is often time consuming and difficult to re-direct and/or move/remove the hose and nozzle.

It is an object of the present invention to avoid or minimise one or more of the above disadvantages.

The present invention provides a support device for use in supporting a hose nozzle or outlet in a desired orientation with respect to a member rigidly fixed to a substantial body, which device comprises a releasable attachment means formed and arranged for tight attachment around said member, engagement means formed and arranged for securely engaging at least a nozzle end portion of a hose provided with a said hose nozzle, said attachment means and said engagement means being coupled together by a connecting means having relatively rotatable portions connected to respective ones of said engagement means and said attachment means for relative angular displacement thereof, said connecting means being provided with locking means for rigidly locking said connecting means in a desired angular position thereof, whereby in use, said hose nozzle or outlet may be substantially rigidly supported in a desired orientation relative to a said member such that a liquid ejected from said hose nozzle or outlet may be directed in a desired direction whilst securely maintaining said desired orientation of the hose nozzle or outlet.

Thus with a support device according to the present invention a high pressure hose may be supported and the nozzle or outlet thereof directed in a simple, safe and reliable manner with a substantially reduced risk of injury to operators thereof.

The present invention is particularly suitable for use in off-shore and oil rig applications where there are a multiplicity of types of member rigidly fixed to a substantial body. Examples of such members may include pipework, guard rails, suitable parts of handling equipment such as cranes and forklift trucks, and structural members of apparatus such as for instance, an oilrig. Advantageously the attachment means is formed and arranged for encircling attachment to the member.

Preferably said attachment means is in the form of a variable capacity attachment means formed and arranged for attachment to members having a range of different diameters so that the attachment means can readily be secured to any suitable member in the vicinity of the desired area of hosing. The range of diameters may be in the range of preferably from 30mm to 600mm for example 50mm to 350mm.

It will be understood that such members can have various cross-sectional shapes. Preferably, therefore, said attachment means has at least one flexible portion e.g.

a chain which can more or less conform to at, least part of the cross-sectional shape of the member to facilitate a tighter attachment of said attachment means around members of different shaped section such as for example rectangles, squares, polygons etc. or other irregularly shaped-section members. Preferably said attachment means has a rigid portion having discontinuous gripping surface for gripping attachment with at least a portion of a said member.

Preferably also, said attachment means is provided with tightening means formed and arranged to ensure said attachment means is attached to a said member in suitably tight and secure manner. Desirably said tightening means is also provided with locking means for preventing slackening of the tightening means in use of the device. Said attachment means and/or said tightening means may be provided with quick release means formed and arranged to release said attachment means from a said member.

Preferably said engagement means is formed and arranged for securely engaging or clamping around the main body portion of a said hose outlet or nozzle or nozzle coupling. Normally there will be used a nozzle of generally standard size and type construction such as for example a 4 inch (100mm) diameter, high pressure fire hose.

Desirably said engagement means is in the form of an in line coupling formed and arranged with a first coupling portion for releasable coupling to a said nozzle or nozzle connection and a second coupling portion for releasable coupling to a said hose. Generally nozzles have a female connector portion for connection to a male connector on a hose and conveniently said first coupling portion is a male coupling portion for releasable coupling to said female connector portion of said nozzle and said second coupling portion is a female coupling portion for releasable coupling to said male connector portion of said hose.

Conveniently said first and second coupling portions are of the "instantaneous fitting" type so as to facilitate the quick and simple coupling of a hose to an engagement means and an engagement means to a nozzle. Said "instantaneous fitting" coupling may be of any convenient form e.g. the double pull release variety or the double twist release variety.

The engagement means may further be provided with adaptor means for facilitating the coupling of nozzles and/or hoses of different sizes or for connection of one standard system of nozzle/hose to another standard system of nozzle/hose. Though desirably there are used a 2d" (63.5 mm) instantaneous male or female B.S.P.

fittings.

Alternatively the engagement means is in the form of a clamping means provided with quick release means for clamping around and unclamping from said hose outlet or nozzle, or nozzle coupling to which a said hose and a said nozzle may be coupled. Said quick release means may be in the form of first and second arcuate vice portions pivotally connected to each other and provided with a cam-action lock portion for drawing together said first and second arcuate vice portions around said nozzle and locking them together.

Preferably said connecting means coupling together said attachement means and said engagement or clamping means is in the form of an elongate connecting member having a first, smaller diameter, elongate portion rotatably mounted inside a second, larger diameter, elongate portion and slidable relative thereto for telescopic adjustment of the effective length of the connecting member, said first and second elongate portions being lockable together in a desired position by suitable locking means such as an annular screw clamp as further described hereinbelow.

It will be appreciated that the reference to the relatively rotatable portions of the connecting means includes any type of connecting means which facilitates the angular displacement of the attachment means with respect to the engagement means and may include for example: a lockable ball and socket arrangement or plurality thereof; screwthreadedly interengaging male and female elements provided with a locking means - e.g.

a locknut; or a lockable swan-neck connector, with relatively movable portions connected directly or indirectly to respective ones of said attachment and engagement means. It will be understood though that there may also be used a connecting member providing angular adjustment without providing any facility for length adjustment.

Whilst the support device of the present invention does provide a high degree of security in the mounting of the hose nozzle and/or nozzle coupling and/or hose, it may nevertheless be provided additionally with captive safety link means such as wire or cable tie means engagable with the hose or nozzle end portion or nozzle coupling and the support device, the substantial body or the member fixed thereto, to restrict movement of the hose in case the grip of the attachment means and/or of the engagement means, should fail under extreme conditions.

In a further aspect the present invention provides a method of supporting a hose nozzle or outlet in a desired orientation with respect to a member rigidly fixed to a substantial body which method comprises the steps of: providing a support device of the invention; securing the attachment means of said device to said member; and securing the engagement means of said device to said nozzle end portion of a hose provided with said hose nozzle, said method including the step of configuring the mounting of the attachment means on the member and/or the angular disposition of the connecting means and the engagement means so as to orientate the engagement means with the hose nozzle or outlet substantially in said desired orientation.

Further prefered features and advantages of the present invention will appear from the following detailed description given by way of example of a preferred embodiment illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a hose support according to the invention in use supporting a nozzle with respect to a pipe; Fig. 2 is a detailed plan view of the hose support in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is plan view of the engagement means of a second embodiment of the invention; and Fig. 4 is a sectional side view of the engagement means of the embodiment in Fig. 3.

The hose support, generally indicated by reference number 1, as shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, comprises a pipe attachment clamp 2 connected to a nozzle engagement clamp 4 for clamping engagement around the nozzle 6 of a high pressure hose 8. The pipe attachment clamp 2 is connected to the nozzle engagement clamp 4 by an elongate support connector member 10.

In more detail the pipe clamp 2 comprises a main body 16 having a "V" shaped pair of serrated jaws 12, for engaging one side of a pipe 14, and an elongate flexible chain 15, a portion of 15a of which extends from the main body 16 of the pipe clamp 2 around the pipe 14 and engages on a locating lug (not shown) on the main body 16. The pipe clamp 2 is provided with a handle 18 operated tightening screw 20 for increasing the tension in the portion 15a of the chain 15 around the pipe 14 and thereby tightening the grip of the pipe attachment clamp 2 around the pipe 14.

The elongate support member 10 comprises a first, smaller diameter, elongate portion 22 rotatably mounted inside a second larger diameter elongate portion 24.

The first 22 and second 24 portions are slidable relative to each other for telescopic adjustment of the effective length of the connecting member 10. An annular screw clamp 26 locks together the first 22 and second 24 portions in the desired angular and longitudinal position by tightening the second portion 24 around the first portion 22. The support member may be provided with a handle 28 (as shown in Fig. 2).

The nozzle clamp 4, shown in more detail in Fig 2. is in the form of a cam-action clamp having first lower 30 and second upper 32 arcuate vice portions pivotally connected to each other by a pivot pin 34. A generally arcuate lever 36 is pivotablly 37 connected to the first lower vice portion 30. The upper vice portion 32 has a lug portion 38 for engagement with a cam 40 in the lever 36. In use, as the lever 36 is pulled down onto the clamp 4 the action of the cam 40 on the lug portion 38 draws together and locks the lower 30 and upper 32 vice portions securely around the nozzle 6 clamped therebetween.

Figure 3 shows the engagement means of a second embodiment of the invention. Figure 3 will be described with reference to the embodiment in Fig. 2 and indicated by like reference indicia with a prime(1) added.

The hose support (only partially shown), generally indicated by reference number 11, comprises a hose and nozzle engagement coupling 41 to which a hose 81 and a nozzle 61 may be coupled to (not shown - see also Fig.

4). The coupling 41 is provided with a spring 5a loaded quick release mechanism 5 (shown in more detail in Fig.4) to facilitate connection to and release from the coupling 41 of a nozzle 61. The engagement coupling 41 is connected to an elongate support connector member 101 via a lockable pivot assembly 11 with a nut lla and bolt llb, so as to provide for angular displacement of the engagement coupling 41 in a plane parallel to that in which the elongate support member 101 is disposed so as to provide another axis of movement within the hose support for further facilitating attainment of a desired hose orientation.The elongate support member 101 comprises a first, smaller diameter threaded portion 22 screwably mounted inside a second larger diameter elongate screw portion 241. The first 221 and second 241 portions are screwably movable with respect to each other for telescopic adjustment of the effective length of the connecting member 101 and for angular displacement of the engagement coupling 41 with respect to the connecting member 101. A spring loaded 25 locking clamp 261 locks together the first 221 and second 241 portions in the desired angular and longitudinal position by preventing the first portion 221 rotating with respect the second portion 241. The locking clamp 261 is provided with a handle 27 to tighten the locking clamp 261.

A captive safety link 29, having a first loop 29a for placing around the support member 101 and a second loop 29b for placing around the hose (not shown), is provided to restrict movement of the hose in the event that the grip of the attachment means should fail under extreme conditions.

Fig. 4 shows in exploded partial sectional detail the engagement coupling 41 connected to the support member 101 in Fig. 3. The engagement coupling 41 comprises a female instantaneous coupling 42 for connection to the male fitting 43 on a nozzle 61 (shown partially in broken line) and a male instantanoous coupling 44 for connection to the female fitting 46 on the end 48 of a hose 61 coupling 50. The female coupling 42 is provided with a quick release mechanism 5 to facilitate fitting of the nozzle 61 and male fitting 43 to the coupling 41, and the female fitting 46 on the end of the hose 81 is also provided with a quick release mechanism for fitting of the hose 81 to the male coupling 44 of the engagement coupling 41.

It will be appreciated that various modifications may be made to the above described embodiment without departing from the scope of the present invention. Thus for example, the connecting member may be fixed between the hose clamp 4 and the attachment clamp 2, without any facility for length adjustment or angular displacement or the connecting member may be made substantially shorter or even more or less omitted and the hose clamp and the attachment clamp connected directly to each other though this would tend to limit the flexibility and speed and ease of use of the device.

Claims

1. A support device for use in supporting a hose nozzle or outlet in a desired orientation with respect to a member rigidly fixed to a substantial body, which device comprises a releasable attachment means formed and arranged for tight attachment around said member, engagement means formed and arranged for securely engaging at least a nozzle end portion of a hose provided with a said hose nozzle, said attachment means and said engagement means being coupled together by a connecting means having relatively rotatable portions connected to respective ones of said engagement means and said attachment means for relative angular displacement thereof, said connecting means being provided with locking means for rigidly locking said connecting means in a desired angular position thereof, whereby in use, said hose nozzle or outlet may be substantially rigidly supported in a desired orientation relative to a said member such that a liquid ejected from said hose nozzle or outlet may be directed in a desired direction whilst securely maintaining said desired orientation of the hose nozzle or outlet.

2. A support device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said connector means includes at least one of a lockable ball and socket arrangement, screwthreadedly interengaging male and female elements with locking means, and a lockable swan-neck connector, with relatively movable portions connected to respective ones of said attachment and engagement means.

3. A support device as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said attachment means is in the form of a variable capacity attachment means formed and arranged for attachment to members having a range of different diameters.

4. A support device as claimed in claim 3 wherein said range of different diameters is from 30 mm to 600 mm.

5. A support device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein said attachment means has at least one flexible portion.

6. A support device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein said attachment means is provided with tightening means.

7. A support device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein said attachment is provided with locking means.

8. A support device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein said engagement means is formed and arranged for securely engaging with at least one of: the main body portion of a said nozzle, a nozzle-hose coupling, and a hose.

9. A support device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein said engagement means is an in line coupling having a first coupling portion for coupling to a said nozzle and a second coupling for coupling to a said hose.

10. A support device as claimed in claim 9 wherein said first and second couplings are releasable.

11. A support device as claimed in any one of claim 1 to 8 wherein said engagement means is in the form of a clamping means for clamping engagement around a said nozzle.

12. A support device as claimed in claim 11 wherein said clamping means is provided with quick release means in the form of first and second arcuate vice portions pivotally connected to each other and provided with a cam-action lock portion for drawing together said first and second arcuate vice portions around said nozzle and locking them together.

13. A support device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12 wherein said connecting means coupling together said attachment means and said engagement means is in the form of an elongate connecting member having a first, smaller diameter, elongate portion rotatably mounted inside a second, larger diameter, elongate portion and slidable relative thereto for telescopic adjustment of the effective length of the connecting member, said first and second elongate portions being lockable together in a desired position by locking means.

14. A support device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13 provided with captive safety link means engagable with said hose and the support device.

15. A method of supporting a hose nozzle or outlet in a desired orientation with respect to a member rigidly fixed to a substantial body which method comprises the steps of: providing a support device according to claim 1; securing the attachment means of said device to said member; and securing the engagement means of said device to said nozzle end portion of a hose provided with said hose nozzle, said method including the step of configuring the mounting of the attachment means of the member and/or the angular disposition of the connecting means and the engagement means so as to orientate the engagement means with the engaged hose nozzle or outlet substantially in said desired orientation.