DESC:FORM 2
The Patent Act 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
The Patent Rules, 2005

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See Section 10 and Rule 13)

TITLE OF THE INVENTION
“RUBBERIZED RELIABLE PIPE CLAMP”

VE Commercial Vehicle Ltd.
of VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd, 102, Industrial Area
No. 1 Pithampur-454775, Dist. Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, India

The following specification particularly describes and ascertains the nature of this invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.
Field of Invention
[001] The invention relates to clamps used in motor vehicles to support and hold pipes on the vehicular chassis or frame. It more particularly relates to clamps for holding pipes that are made by joining together metallic and non-metallic sub-constituents.
Background of the Invention
[002] Conventionally available clamps, like C & L clamps, which are ordinarily used on motor vehicles to attach pipes to the vehicular chassis are incapable of isolating pipes from the vibrations that the chassis experiences during the operation of the vehicle. This disability results from the fact that these clamps, especially after torquing, behave like a single body with the chassis thereby enabling uninterrupted transmission of vibrations from the chassis to the pipes. These clamps cause deformation of pipe surface along the surface of their contact due to direct contact with the pipe surface.
[003] Furthermore, if the pipe attached to the vehicular chassis via conventional clamps are carrying pressurized fluid, the vibrations caused by variation of pressure during vehicular operation and the lack of vibration isolation can cause the fasteners attaching such conventional clamps to the vehicular chassis to loosen. In such case, if the fasteners are over tightened to prevent such loosening, the nature of loading experience during vehicular operation can cause the conventional clamps to develop fatigue cracks thereby reducing the overall maintenance free life of the vehicle. Also, there is an additional issue with conventional clamps used in piping systems. When these clamps are torqued, they not only apply force on pipe but also rotate around their torquing axis, which leads to misalignment of the pipes at their connection points. This misalignment could potentially cause leaks, stress on the pipes, or the operational issues. None of the conventional clamps have been able to address the issue of rotation about their torquing axis. The conventional method of solving this problem involves addition of mounting provision like another mounting hole in a pattern on the clamp, which again increases the work required to be done at the end of the workman.
[004] One type of clamps that deal with this issue, like the two piece split type rubber clamp is hard to assemble on the vehicle because it requires the workman to not only hold the two pieces of such a clamp together with the pipe, but also to get it and keep it aligned while fastening this entire assembly onto the vehicular chassis. Repeatedly carrying out this chain of activities is known to be extremely fatiguing. It slows down the task of assembling the components onto the vehicle.
[005] Another type of clamp that also deals with this issue, like the “P” Type Rubber Coated Clamp, is ordinarily provided with a very thin metallic body to permit its easy deformation for inserting or removing a pipe from within its structure. This thin metallic body is incapable of providing sufficient durability and reliability that is ordinarily expected from a part used to mount pipes onto the vehicular chassis. This disadvantage is besides the fact that the workman has to deform it to insert or remove a pipe from within it, which adds to the fatiguing nature of assembling process while using it. Therefore, durability and reliability issue is satisfactorily addressed by making the body thicker and therefore stiffer, the task of holding the clamp wide enough to insert or remove the pipe before aligning and fastening this assembly onto the vehicular chassis becomes harder, thereby causing additional fatigue for the workman on the assembly line. Alternatively, using a clamp that has been provided with a very thin body to improve the ease of assembly makes this type of clamps very easily deformable. Therefore, it is an objective of this invention to provide a rubberized pipe clamp that is sufficiently structurally strong to get fully torqued without getting deformed.
[006] It is another objective of the present invention to provide a rubberized pipe clamp that is capable of providing vibration isolation.
[007] It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a rubberized pipe clamp that permits easy insertion and removal of pipes from within its structure.
[008] It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a rubberized clamp that increases productivity and the ease of assembly by reducing the number of actions that a workman has to perform to complete the assembly of a pipe on the vehicle.
[009] It is also another objective of the present invention to provide solution for controlling rotation of the clamp while torquing, and to reduce the number of actions that a workman has to perform to complete the assembly.

Summary of the Invention
[0010] The invention achieving the stated objectives, i.e. the rubberized reliable pipe clamp comprises of, an outer sheet metallic body, an alignment strip, a bonded rubber portion. In the rubberized reliable pipe clamp, so disclosed, the outer sheet metallic body has a semi-circular shape that gradually merges into a flat plate along one of its edges. The alignment strip is welded onto the outer sheet metallic body so as to align a circular opening given on a wide flat portion of said alignment strip with the opening. The alignment strip also has a portion emerging from this wide flat portion that is bend downwards to give said alignment strip a J-shaped side profile. The bonded rubber portion, is bonded to the metallic body, has a c-shaped semi-cylindrical body that joins with a flap portion via a thin cross section hinge portion.
Brief Description of Drawings
[0011] The present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings that indicate its various parts and the method of its operation. The description of the present invention would, therefore, be better understood with reference to accompanying diagrams, wherein
[0012] Figure 1 discloses perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the invention as affixed on the motor vehicle chassis.
[0013] Figure 2 discloses isometric view of the preferred embodiment of the invention.
[0014] Figure 3 discloses the another isometric view of the preferred embodiment of the invention.
[0015] Figure 4 discloses the front view of the preferred embodiment of the invention.
[0016] Figure 5 discloses the bottom view of the preferred embodiment of the invention.
[0017] Figure 6 discloses the isometric view of the bonded rubber portion of the preferred embodiment of the invention.
[0018] Figure 7 discloses the isometric view outer sheet metal body of the preferred embodiment of the invention.
[0019] Figure 8 discloses the isometric view of the alignment strip of the preferred embodiment of the invention.
Detailed Description of the Invention
[0020] Referring to figures 1 and 2, a rubberized reliable pipe clamp (100) in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the disclosed invention comprises of an outer sheet metallic body (5), an alignment strip (8) and a bonded rubber portion (10).
[0021] The outer sheet metallic body (5) has a semi-circular shape that gradually merges into a flat plate along one of its edges (refer figs. 2 and 7). This flat plate has an opening (5h) that permits its fastening onto the vehicular chassis using conventional fasteners. The conventional fasteners are selected from nuts and bolts of standard sizes or are of any other fasteners of conventional type capable performing function similar to nuts and bolts and thereby hold the components together.
[0022] The alignment strip (8) is welded onto the outer sheet metallic body (5) so as to align a circular opening given on a wide flat portion of said alignment strip (8) with the opening (5h). The alignment strip (8) (refer Fig. 8) also has a portion emerging from this wide flat portion that is bend downwards to give said alignment strip (8) a J-shaped side profile. The bonded rubber portion (10), which as the name suggests is bonded to the metallic body (5), has a c-shaped semi-cylindrical body (10b) that joins with a flap portion (10d) via a thin cross section hinge portion (10ts) (refer figs. 3 to 6). The c-shaped semi-cylindrical body (10b) along both its ends has edges (10be) that are configured to have a gradual curve to facilitate easy insertion or removal of pipe from within the clamp along said edge (10be).
[0023] The flap portion of the bonded rubber portion (10) has a curved depression (10da) that starts at its one open end and proceeds along a straight line right up to the other open end of said bonded rubber portion (10) and is perfectly parallel to a straight opening (10c) given on the edge opposite to a thin cross section hinge portion (10ts) on the flap portion (10d).
[0024] When the workman has to assemble a pipe (120) onto the vehicular chassis (110) (refer Fig. 1) all he has to do is to assemble a bracket (105) onto the vehicular chassis using conventional fasteners (115), position the rubberized reliable pipe clamp (100) along the edge of this bracket (105) while aligning the opening (5h) with corresponding slot or opening given on said bracket (105), lift the flap portion (10d), insert the pipe within the bonded rubber portion (10), release the flap portion (10d) and then tighten the rubberized reliable pipe clamp (100) onto the bracket (105) using conventional fasteners (115). The J-shaped side profile of the clamping strip (8) (refer Fig. 1) interferes with a side wall of the bracket (105) to prevent rotation of said rubberized reliable pipe clamp (100) during its assembly on the vehicle by the workman. The rubber bonded portion (10) provides hinge like flexibility for inserting the pipe (120). Said rubber bonded portion (10) also functions to vibrationally isolate the pipe (120) from the outer sheet metallic body (5) of the rubberized reliable pipe clamp (100).
[0025] The rubberized reliable pipe clamp (100) so disclosed achieves all the stated objectives.
[0026] Technical advantages offered by the invention i.e., the rubberized reliable pipe clamp (100), are-
- it is sufficiently structurally strong to get fully torqued without getting deformed.
- it is capable of providing peripheral vibration isolation.
- it permits easy insertion and removal of pipes.
- it enables increase in productivity and also the ease of assembly by reducing the number of actions that a workman has to perform to complete the assembly of a pipe on the vehicle.
- it controls the rotation of the clamp while workman torques it and improves the output quality from the workman side.
[0027] It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the present invention has been herein described in terms of its preferred embodiment, those skilled in the art will recognize that the preferred embodiment herein disclosed, can be practiced with modifications within the scope of the invention herein described.
,CLAIMS:We Claim,
1. A rubberized reliable pipe clamp (100) comprising,
• an outer sheet metallic body (5),
• an alignment strip (8)
• a bonded rubber portion (10)
wherein,
- the outer sheet metallic body (5) has a semi-circular shape that gradually merges into a flat plate along one of its edges;
- the alignment strip (8) is welded onto the outer sheet metallic body (5) so as to align a circular opening given on a wide flat portion of said alignment strip (8) with the opening (5h);
- the alignment strip (8) also has a portion emerging from this wide flat portion that is bend downwards to give said alignment strip (8) a J-shaped side profile; and
- the bonded rubber portion (10), is bonded to the metallic body (5), has a c-shaped semi-cylindrical body (10b) that joins with a flap portion (10d) via a thin cross section hinge portion (10ts).
2. The rubberized reliable pipe clamp (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flat plate of the outer sheet metallic body (5) has an opening (5h) that permits its fastening onto the vehicular chassis using conventional fasteners.
3. The rubberized reliable pipe clamp (100) as claimed in claim 2, wherein the conventional fasteners are selected from nuts and bolts of standard sizes.
4. The rubberized reliable pipe clamp (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the c-shaped semi-cylindrical body (10b) along both its ends has edges (10be) are configured to have a gradual curve to facilitate easy insertion or removal of pipe from within the clamp along said edge (10be).
5. The rubberized reliable pipe clamp (100) as claimed in claim 4, wherein, the flap portion of the bonded rubber portion (10) has a curved depression (10da) that starts at its one open end and proceeds along a straight line right up to the other open end of said bonded rubber portion (10) and is perfectly parallel to a straight opening (10c) given on the edge opposite to a thin cross section hinge portion (10ts) on the flap portion (10d).
Dated 29th day of January 2025

VIDIT CHOUBEY
(IN P/A 5566)
AGENT FOR THE APPLICANT(S)

To,
The Controller of Patents,
The Patent Office, at Mumbai