The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 13, 1997
Filed:
Feb. 01, 1996
Dirk B Warnaar, Cary, NC (US);
Other;
Abstract
The present invention relates to a clamping arrangement for hollow objects, whereby the clamping arrangement is equipped with one or more clamping bodies distributed circumferentially to facilitate the transfer of a lateral force and/or torque applied to the clamping arrangement to a hollow object or vice versa. The clamping arrangement for one or each end of a hollow object comprises of a center body capable of lifting and centering a hollow object; one or more clamping bodies distributed circumferentially and capable of sliding and rotating with respect to the center body in response to contact with the end face of a hollow object while a longitudinal force is applied to the center body or hollow object, and arranged so as to maintain the center position of the center body inside the hollow object during the clamping motion; and a containment ring elastically extendible or elastically and radially expandable, and arranged so as to restore the retracted position of the clamping bodies when the lateral force applied to the center body is removed.