US 12,276,364 B2
Quick-connect fitting
Scott Raymond Gardner, Chagrin Falls, OH (US); Earl Christian, Chagrin Falls, OH (US); Donald Currey, Chagrin Falls, OH (US); Grandin Rushlander, Mantua, OH (US); and Jay Burnett, Middlefield, OH (US)
Assigned to Mercury Plastics LLC, Middlefield, OH (US)
Filed by Mercury Plastics LLC, Middlefield, OH (US)
Filed on Feb. 7, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/435,238.
Application 18/435,238 is a continuation of application No. 17/319,675, filed on May 13, 2021, granted, now 11,898,676.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/024,130, filed on May 13, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2024/0175530 A1, May 30, 2024
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. F16L 37/14 (2006.01)
CPC F16L 37/144 (2013.01) 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A waterway connection assembly comprising:
a male fitting comprising a recess;
a female fitting comprising a saddle and a first aperture and a second aperture within opposing sidewalls of the female fitting;
a clip comprising a first leg and a second leg extending from a seat wherein the first leg has a first tab extending in an axial direction;
wherein a base of the first leg has a first tapered surface engageable with a base of the first aperture and the second leg has a second tapered surface engageable with a base of the second aperture and wherein the first aperture extends axially to form a first locking recess;
wherein the clip is moveably mountable on the female fitting with the clip being moveable between a first position wherein the male fitting is secured within the female fitting and second position wherein the male fitting is released relative to the female fitting;
wherein, in the first position, a gap is defined between the seat of the clip and the saddle of the female fitting, a portion of the first leg extends through the first aperture of the female fitting into the recess of the male fitting and a portion of the second leg extends through the second aperture of the female fitting into the recess of the male fitting to thereby secure the male fitting within the female fitting, and the first tab is disposed within the first locking recess to secure the clip on the female fitting; and
the clip is moveable to the second position by forcibly biasing the clip into a position where the clip is fully seated into the saddle of the female fitting, the base of the first aperture biasing the first tapered surface radially outwardly and the base of the second aperture biasing the second tapered surface radially outwardly whereby the first leg and the second leg are biased out of the recess of the male fitting thereby releasing the male fitting from the female fitting.