Pullman Company

Stride Tool, Inc.

Miles J Dubinsky

Rinart Joseph

James A Terry

Gust A Saros

Richard Locsmondy

Tom J Rakowski

Simon Kritchever

A manifold for charging a system which when in use cycles a refrigerant between liquid and gaseous states is disclosed. The manifold includes a housing defining a flow passage extending from an inlet to an outlet. Structure is within the housing to define a capillary in parallel communication with a section of the passage. A refrigerant state control valve is connected to the housing. The valve, when in the open position, enables concurrent refrigerant flow through both the section of the passage and the capillary to charge such a system with refrigerant in a liquid state. The valve when in the closed position sufficiently blocks the section of the passage to cause all refrigerant flow to be through the capillary thereby to enable charging such a system with refrigerant in a gaseous state.

Refrigeration manifold

A tube cutter unit in one embodiment with self centering tube cutting and supporting jaws is rotated by a power drive unit for cutting a tube. The jaws are free to engage the tube without spring load. After engagement with the tube, a relatively high load spring is deflected to induce a tube cutting force on the jaws. The amount of deflection of the spring determines the depth of cut. A separate tool operating socket is also rotatably driven with the cutter unit. The cutter unit is coupled to the drive by a one way clutch. The drive is reversible to selective operate the cutter unit. In a second embodiment, a cutter unit without self centering jaws is separated from a power drive for manually operation and connected to the power drive for power operation. The power operator is reversible for selectively operating the cutter unit. The latter cutter unit also does not provide a spring load on the jaws except for providing a cutting force after the jaws engage the tube being cut. The handle of the assembly is secured to the drive which is mounted in a first housing. The drive and first houisng is mounted in an assembly second housing. The second housing is selectively released from the first housing so the drive and first housing as a unit can be manually rotated with the handle relative to the second housing. This manually rotates the cutter unit.

Tube cutter

A tube cutter mechanism supports an arm from which a tube supporting anvil extends, the anvil being aligned with the tube cutter mechanism for cutting the supoorted tube. During cutting, an axial force is imposed on the tube and anvil. The arm is formed such that it bends in response to the force, storing energy such that rotation of the tube occurs for more than one revolution of the tube without advancing the cutter wheel. The device is formed of molded glass fiber reinforce nylon, preferably ZYTEL. In a second embodiment, the arm does not bend and the anvil is constructed so as to bend relative to the arm in response to the axial cutting force permitting rotation of the tube during cutting beyond a single revolution without advancing the cutter wheel. The anvil advantageously does not have a cutter wheel for burnishing the tube to remove oxides during cutting. In the alternative, the anvil may also have a pair of cutting wheels

An improved flaring tool includes the usual plurality of expandable die blocks retained by a U-shaped frame. A clamping screw is treaded through a clamp block which is rotatably mounted between the legs of the frame at its open end. The screw is movable toward and away from the die blocks to clamp or unclamp tubing between adjacent die blocks. A conical flaring tip is movable against the end of a clamped tubing for flaring same. The clamp block's axis of rotation is perpendicular to the direction of movement of the die blocks and the screw. The improvement comprises a facility which locks the clamp block against rotation when the screw is aligned with the die block and their direction of movement. The locking facility prevents unintentional rotation of the clamp block as the screw is rotated to clamp or unclamp the tubing, but may be manually overcome to intentionally rotate the clamp block.

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Carol Stream, IL, United States of America

Miles J Dubinsky