NO170650B - A clip - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to a fastening clip for attaching pipes/cables/wires to a perforated substrate element, preferably in the form of a cableway/ladder/track, which is designed with elongated holes distributed in the longitudinal and transverse direction of the substrate element, which fastening clip is designed with a ground with at least one bearing for a pipe, a cable or a wire and which cooperates with a top plate or the like that is intended to prevent the pipe/cable/wire from leaving the ground bearing, which ground and top plate are held together by means of at least two screws which at one end is designed with threads for a loose tightening nut and which at the other end is designed with a fixed head.

On board, for example, sea-based oil installations and in industrial plants, such cableways in the form of tracks and/or ladders can extend over a total of many thousands of metres. They serve as support elements for retaining and anchoring pipes in the form of so-called instrument pipes etc. and cables of various kinds. Such cable trays are standardized to a certain extent and can consist of a flat steel plate or a steel plate that is bent up along opposite side edges to form a U-shaped profile channel. The cable trays with which the fixing clamps according to the present invention are intended to be used in connection with, are designed with oblong through holes which are distributed in an appropriate pattern in the longitudinal and transverse direction of the cable tray. In view of the fact that the two screw bolts of the fastening clip must be able to be inserted through two adjacent oblong holes during the fastening operation, where the pipe/cable is fixed to the cable duct by means of the fastening clip, the oblong holes in the cable duct in its transverse direction must have a distance between them that essentially corresponds to to the axial distance of the screw bolts.

The base of the fixing bracket can be designed with two or more parallel bearings for receiving, for example, each instrument tube, distributed over the width of the bracket which corresponds to the transverse direction of the cable duct. There are also clamps with several "floors" where one or more instrument pipes, cables, etc. are taken up in each "floor" and thus lie on top of each other in the height direction of the clamp, i.e. in the dimension that is perpendicular to the general plane of the cableway ( gutter bottom).

A traditional fastening clamp of the type in question comprises two identical plastic trays designed with interacting bearing halves with a semi-circular cross-section and provided with two continuous unthreaded bores for the above-mentioned screw bolts whose tightening nuts are assigned to an underlying steel piece which is held together with the trays with the screw bolts.

These traditional fasteners are very difficult to handle properly during the assembly work. The two screw bolts with unscrewed nuts must thus be held in one hand while the one plastic tray is threaded onto the bolts, after which the instrument tube or tubes are inserted into the bearing(s) of this tray. The second hill is then placed outside the first one under control of the bolts, so that the pipe or the pipes fit into its bearing half(s), after which said steel piece is placed in position. The nuts must then be put on and finally tightened, during which the bolt shafts must be prevented from turning while the nuts are tightened. The rotation of the bolt shafts is usually counteracted by securing the bolt heads using a suitable tool. Such an assembly operation requires the fitter to use both hands and, in addition, to display great dexterity.

When, in particular, long and thin instrument tubes are to be assembled in this way from a ladder or scaffolding, it is obvious that such assembly operations are not only complicated to carry out, but also very labor- and time-consuming and thus very expensive.

In the case of larger installations where the cable ducts together extend over several thousand metres, the installation of pipes, cables and wires will require many thousands of fasteners, and it is therefore of great importance that these are not only simple and cheap in terms of construction, but that they are also as easy to install as possible. The known fasteners that enable simplified assembly usually comprise many individual parts, while fasteners that consist of fewer parts are often complicated to assemble.

The purpose of the invention is to provide a fastening clip with a simple constructive structure and which, despite this, enables a very simple installation of pipes, cables and wires to a perforated substrate element such as a cable tray with oblong through holes distributed in longitudinal and transverse directions.

According to the invention, this purpose is realized by designing the clamp so that it exhibits the features specified in subsequent patent claim 1.

An example of a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, where: Fig. 1 is a perspective view, viewed obliquely towards the general plane of a U-tray-shaped cable duct after a fastening clip has been fixed in the mounting position, the figure only showing a short piece of the cableway and of an instrument tube attached to it by means of the fixing clip; Fig. 2 shows a perspective side view of a fastening clip placed upside down (in relation to the position according to Fig. 1) and without nuts on the threaded end parts of the screws; Fig. 3-5 shows the corresponding perspective view seen against the general plan (gutter bottom) of the cableway (here represented by three oblong through holes), and where the fastening bracket in each individual case is cut through by an axial center plane that passes through the axes of the screw bolts, as Fig. 3 illustrates the fastening bracket under the insertion of the screw bolts into two adjacent oblong holes; Fig. 4 illustrates the same after a minor oscillation of the clamp about its axial center axis, the screw bolt shafts thereby being turned to initially change the orientation of the bolt heads; Fig. 5 illustrates the same after a somewhat larger swing of the clamp, whereby the bolt heads have been oriented so that the bolt shafts' extraction of the oblong holes cannot be initiated, as the middle of the three oblong holes is here hidden behind the fastening clamp.

The fastening bracket according to the design example comprises a bracket or tray 1 of suitable material, for example flame-resistant plastic. The ground 1 is designed with one bearing 2 for an instrument tube 3, a cable, wire or the like which is to be anchored to a perforated substrate element, here in the form of a cable tray 4, which is designed with oblong through holes 5 which are distributed over the cable tray in its longitudinal and transverse direction.

For reasons that will be explained in more detail later in the description, the longitudinal direction of the trough-shaped bed 2 forms an angle with the width extent of the fastening clamp/ground 1 that deviates from 90°. The special design of the lease 2 in relation to the pipe 3 which it will occupy will also be made the subject of a subsequent explanation.

It should be clear without further ado that the ground 1 instead of one bearing 2 could have had two or more mutually parallel bearings, so that with one and the same clamp several parallel pipes 3 or cables could have been attached to one attachment point on the cableway 4.

Parallel to and symmetrically about the axial central axis l<1> of the fastening bracket tray 1, two continuous, smooth bores 6.6' are formed in the tray body, each designed to receive a screw bolt 7.7'.

Each screw bolt 7.7' has on a straight shaft part a threaded end part 8.8' for screwing on and tightening a nut 9, 9', fig. 1.

Opposite the threaded part 8,8', each straight bolt shaft part according to the invention transitions into a "bolt head"-forming, angled or transverse end part 10,10', see in particular fig. 2, in that an inclined transition part between the bolt shank and the angled bolt head part 10,10' is denoted by 11,11'. According to the invention, this inclined transitional part 11, 11' extends eccentrically in relation to the bolt shaft axis over at least part of its extent.

In the area of each inclined transition part 11,11' of the screw bolts 7,7', the fastening bracket tray 1 is designed with a recess 12,12', which is delimited by three surfaces 13,14,15, of which a first recess-delimiting surface 13,13' is largely parallel to the broad sides of the fastening clamp tray 1, while a second surface 14,14' forms an angle of approximately 90° with said first surface 13,13'.

Said first surfaces 13,13' have no direct task in the shown embodiment of the fastening clip. Mentioned other surfaces 14,14' are, however, designed and positioned to be able to act as abutment or counter-holding surfaces for the inclined eccentric transition parts 11,11' of the bolt shafts 7,7' when the nuts 9,9' are tightened, which we shall return to until later in the description.

According to fig. 1, the fastening clamp tray 1 is mounted on a top plate 16 with unthreaded holes for mounting on the bolt's threaded end parts 8.8'. Such a top plate 16, which should ensure that the pipe 3 does not detach and fall out of the clamp tray 1 unintentionally, is not critical for the present invention, in the sense that it can be replaced with another suitable element, for example a further tray, which even -tual may be modified in relation to ground 1.

The gutter-shaped bearing 2 of the fastening bracket tray 1 for receiving the pipe 3, the cable or the like which is to be anchored to the cable tray 4, is designed so that the pipe 3 after insertion into the bearing 2 is held in place by friction against the bearing wall. The ground material can thereby have a certain inherent elastic yielding deformation property, or flexible warts, ribs or the like can be used which project insignificantly from the bed-bounding wall and with which the pipe 3 comes into friction-retaining engagement.

As the fastening bracket tray 1 must be rotated slightly to get into the mounting position on the cable tray 4, so that its width will form an angle with both longitudinal and transverse direction with respect to the cable tray 4, as can be seen from fig. 1, the bearing has 2 or more mutually parallel bearings - as previously stated - a course with the broad sides of the fastening clamp tray which forms an angle that deviates from 90°, and which in the embodiment shown could be in the order of 45°, so that the bearing 2 after the fastening bracket tray 1 is assembled according to fig. 1 and fig. 5 will run in the cable street's 4 longitudinal direction.

When the fixing bracket tray 1 is to be fixed in relation to the cable duct 4 before the actual assembly operation when the pipe 3 is inserted into the bearing 2 and the top plate 16 is put on and tightened by means of the nuts 9,9', the bolt head-forming, angled free bolt ends become 10,10' oriented in relation to each other in such a way that they point in the direction of each other, cf. fig. 2.

With this orientation, the angled bolt head-forming bolt ends 10, 10' are guided into each of two adjacent oblong holes 5, corresponding to fig. 3.

Next, the fastening bracket tray 1 is rotated about its axial center axis 1', for example in the direction indicated in fig. 3 by the arrow 17, whereby the transition parts 11, 11' of the bolt shafts, which engage in the elongated holes 5, during abutment against the hole edges, are controlled in such a way in the holes 5 during the oscillation of the ground 1 that the screw bolt shafts 7, 7' are brought to rotate about their own axes 18 ,18' in the same direction, as indicated at 19,19'.

The swing angle of the fastening clip is thereby adapted so that the intended approx. 90° rotation of the bolts 7.7' is completed when the fastening clip has been rotated approx. 45° and rent 2

is aligned with the longitudinal direction of the cableway 4."Thereby, the inclined eccentric bolt shaft transition parts 11,11' have come into contact with the counter-holding rafts 14,14'. At the same time, the angled bolt heads 10,10', which were originally oriented with the end faces pointing towards each other, are now oriented so that they are transverse to the oblong holes 5, as they point in opposite directions. The fitter can now easily swing the ground 1 back, and it is securely fixed on the cable-

street 4.

The fastening bracket tray 1 is thus in its mounting position, fig. 1 and fig. 5, where the bed 2 is oriented in the longitudinal direction of the cable duct 4, so that the pipe 3 can be snapped into place and held by press fit/friction, as previously indicated. Next, the top plate 16 or a similar element is placed, which is tightened by tightening the nuts 9, 9', under which the counter-holding rafts 14, 14' via the eccentric transition parts 11, 11' prevent the screw bolts from turning.

Such a fastening device is almost as dependent on the exact width of the oblong holes 5 in the cable path 4 as some known fastening clips are.

Claims (4)

1. Clamps for attaching pipes/cables/wires (3) to a perforated substrate element, preferably in the form of a cable tray/ladder/track (4), which is designed with elongated holes (5) distributed in the substrate element's (4) longitudinal and transverse direction, which fastening bracket comprises a bracket, ground or similar (1) which has at least one bearing (2) for said pipe (3), cable or wire and cooperates with a top plate (16) or similar which shall ensure that the pipe (3), the cable or wire is held in place in the bearing (2) of the ground (1), which ground (1) and top plate (16) in the mounting position are intended to be held together by means of at least two screws { 7, 7'), each of which is designed with a threaded end part (8,8') for a loose tightening nut (9,9') and at the opposite bolt shank end part with a fixed bolt head (10,10'), characterized in that each bolt head consists of a free end part (10,10') angled with respect to the bolt shaft, which is connected to the straight bolt shaft part via an inclined transition part (11,11'), which at least partially extends eccentrically in relation to the straight bolt shaft part's axis (18,18'), and that all or part of this eccentrically extending part . of the transition part (11, 11') at each screw bolt (7, 7') is assigned at least one stop surface (14, 14') which is designed on the fastening clamp tray (1). 2. Fixing clamps as specified in claim 1, characterized in that the ground (1) bearing (2) respectively each bearing if several mutually parallel bearings are designed, has a course where with a plane through the screw bolts' (7,7') axes ( 18,18') form an angle that deviates from 90°. 3. Clamps as specified in claim 2, characterized in that the bearing (2) or each bearing is designed with an effective cross-section at the inner circumference with a width that is slightly less than the diameter of the pipe (3), cable or similar that is to be accommodated in the bearing with a press fit. 4. Clamps as specified in claim 3, characterized in that the surface that delimits the bed (2) or each bed is designed with small projections, warts, ribs or the like which are capable of being deformed somewhat when the pipe is pressed in (3) in the bed, to then create a retention of the pipe (3) by clamping action.