Mount for lubricant dispenser

Abstract

These objects are attained in a mount for a lubricant dispenser and that has a protective casing forming a cavity adapted to hold the dispenser and having a lower edge and a bracket having a lower generally horizontal leg on which the lower edge of the casing sits. An outlet fitting is provided on the lower leg positioned to received lubricant from the dispenser in the cavity of the casing sitting on the lower leg.

Claims

1. In combination: a generally cylindrical lubricant dispenser centered on an upright axis and having on the axis a downwardly open outlet fitting; a bracket formed unitarily wholly from sheet metal with an upright wall plate provided with formations for attachment to a support and having an upper edge and a lower edge, an upper leg projecting horizontally from the upper edge and formed with a hole through which extends the dispenser with the outlet fitting projecting downward, and a lower leg projecting horizontally from the lower edge and forming a protective part having an area equal to at least 80% of the hole, the upper and lower legs both having rounded outer corners remote from the plate extending arcuately toward the plate over at least a third of a horizontal projection of the respective leg from the plate, the lower leg and the upright wall plate being formed with a throughgoing aperture at the lower edge of the upright wall plate between the plate and the lower leg; a feedthrough fitting in the lower leg engaged with the outlet fitting and supporting the dispenser by upward engagement with the outlet fitting; and a protective casing forming a cavity adapted to hold the dispenser and having a lower end sitting on the lower generally horizontal leg of the bracket and inwardly oriented projections in the cavity for gripping the lubricant dispenser.

2. The combination defined in claim 1, wherein the casing is generally cylindrical, centered on an upright axis, and has an upwardly convex upper end.

3. The combination defined in claim 1, wherein the casing is at least partly transparent.

4. The combination defined in claim 1, wherein the lower leg is formed with vertically throughgoing holes beneath the cavity.

5. The combination defined in claim 1, wherein the hole is circular and a radius of the corner rounding on the upper leg is greater than or equal to a radius of the hole.

6. The combination defined in claim 1, wherein the protective part is circular and the lower leg has connecting webs that connect the protective part to the wall plate.

7. The combination defined in claim 1, wherein the upper leg is formed with at least two of the holes next to each other and the lower leg has at least two of the protective parts next to each other and each beneath a respective one of the holes of the upper leg, each hole and the respective protective part being adapted to receive a respective one of the dispensers.

8. In combination: a generally cylindrical lubricant dispenser centered on an upright axis and having on the axis a downwardly open outlet fitting; a bracket formed unitarily wholly from sheet metal with an upright wall plate provided with formations for attachment to a support and having an upper edge and a lower edge, an upper leg projecting horizontally from the upper edge and formed with a hole through which extends the dispenser with the outlet fitting projecting downward, and a lower leg projecting horizontally from the lower edge and forming a protective part having an area equal to at least 80% of the hole, the upper and lower legs both having rounded outer corners remote from the plate extending arcuately toward the plate over at least a third of a horizontal projection of the respective leg from the plate, the lower leg and the upright wall plate being formed with a throughgoing aperture at the lower edge of the upright wall plate between the plate and the lower leg; a feedthrough fitting in the lower leg engaged with the outlet fitting and supporting the dispenser by upward engagement with the outlet fitting; and a protective casing forming a cavity adapted to hold the dispenser and having a lower end sitting on the lower generally horizontal leg of the bracket, the casing being of lesser wall thickness in an upper region of the cavity than in a lower region of the cavity.

9. The combination defined in claim 1, further comprising: a centering member on the lower leg of the bracket and in the cavity for aligning the casing on the bracket.

10. The combination defined in claim 9, further comprising a snap connection or a seal connecting the casing and the centering member.

11. In combination: two generally cylindrical lubricant dispenser centered on respective upright axes and each having on the respective axis a downwardly open outlet fitting; a bracket formed unitarily wholly from sheet metal with an upright wall plate provided with formations for attachment to a support and having an upper edge and a lower edge, an upper leg projecting horizontally from the upper edge and formed with two holes through each of which extends a respective one of the dispensers with the respective outlet fitting projecting downward, and a lower leg projecting horizontally from the lower edge and forming two protective parts each beneath a respective one of the holes and having an area equal to at least 80% of the respective hole, the upper and lower legs both having rounded outer corners remote from the plate extending arcuately toward the plate over at least a third of a horizontal projection of the respective leg from the plate, the lower leg and the upright wall plate being formed with a throughgoing aperture at the lower edge of the upright wall plate between the plate and the lower leg, each hole and the respective protective part being adapted to receive a respective one of the dispensers, the lower leg being formed between the protective parts with an aperture and with an indentation formed on a free end of the lower leg; and two respective feedthrough fittings in the lower leg engaged with the outlet fittings of the dispensers and supporting the dispensers by upward engagement with the outlet fittings.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

(1) The above and other objects, features, and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a perspective view from above of a dispenser a mount with a bracket, and a protective casing;

(3) FIG. 2 is a vertical section through the assembly of FIG. 1 also showing the contained dispenser;

(4) FIG. 3A is a perspective view from above of a first embodiment of a centering member;

(5) FIG. 3B is a vertical section through the lower region of the mount of FIG. 1 fitted with the centering member of FIG. 3A;

(6) FIG. 4A is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a centering member;

(7) FIG. 4B is a view like FIG. 3B, but with the centering member of FIG. 4A;

(8) FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the bracket for holding two unillustrated dispensers;

(9) FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the bracket of FIG. 5 fastened to a support and fitted with two dispensers, one of which has a casing;

(10) FIG. 7 shows the bracket as in FIG. 6, but suspended by fastening hooks on a lattice;

(11) FIG. 8 is a view like FIG. 6, but with a bracket holding three dispensers of which one is not covered by a casing;

(12) FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the dual-dispenser bracket of FIG. 5 holding two dispensers covered by second embodiments of the casings of this invention;

(13) FIG. 10 is a vertical section through one of the dispensers of FIG. 9;

(14) FIG. 11 is a perspective view from below of the arrangement of FIGS. 8 and 9;

(15) FIG. 12A shows a centering member adapted to the assembly of to FIG. 11,

(16) FIG. 12b is a view like FIG. 3b but the centering member according to FIG. 12a when installed; and

(17) FIG. 13 shows the protective casing provided on a lubricant dispenser without a bracket.

SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(18) As seen in FIG. 1 a lubricant dispenser mount has a bracket 1 for securing at least one lubricant dispenser 2 (see FIG. 2) to an unillustrated support. A separate protective casing 3 is fitted over and protects the lubricant dispenser 2. The dispenser 2 and casing 3 are both generally rotation symmetrical to a vertical axis A.

(19) Additional details of the protective casing 3 and the exact arrangement of the lubricant dispenser 2 within the protective casing can be seen from the sectional view according to FIG. 2. The protective casing 3 forms a cylindrical cavity for the lubricant dispenser 2, the bracket 1 having a lower leg 4 with at least one lubricant fitting 5. Moreover, it can be seen from a comparison of FIGS. 1 and 2 that the protective casing 3 rests with a lower edge on the lower leg 4 of the bracket 2.

(20) In the illustrated embodiment, the protective casing 3 is approximately circular and cylindrical and has a convex, spherical, or part-spherically upper end 6. On the one hand, the convex upper end 6 results in better stability for the protective casing 3, while falling particles and impacts are also kept off and possibly also deflected laterally away to a certain extent.

(21) According to FIG. 1, a safety chain 7 provided on the upper end 6 holds the separate protective casing 3 when it is removed from the bracket 1 and the lubricant dispenser 2, for example for replacement or maintenance purposes. The safety chain is attached in an appropriate location on the bracket 1 or near the bracket to a support.

(22) The protective casing 3 can be made from various materials, with plastic and metal being particularly worthy of consideration. Metal offers the advantage that the protective casing 3 has more weight and therefore rests more reliably on the bracket 1. On the other hand, an embodiment with plastic results in lower costs and, particularly in contrast to the view according to FIG. 1, the use of a transparent material is also made possible, so that the lubricant dispenser itself then remains visible. A transparent protective casing 3 is advantageous if the fill level of the lubricant dispenser 2 is to be read directly on a lubricant reservoir and/or on a display.

(23) Moreover, it can be seen from FIG. 2 that the protective casing 3 is provided with inwardly oriented projections 8a, 8b. In the arrangement according to FIG. 2, the lower projections 8b bear laterally against the lubricant dispenser 2 while the upper projections 8a are free. As a result of the lower projections 8a, movement of the protective casing 3 in the lubricant dispenser 2 is limited.

(24) With reference to FIG. 13, the combination of projections 8a, 8b also enables, in principle, the protective casing 3 to be fitted on a lubricant dispenser without a bracket 1. The protective casing 3 is then held by the projections 8a, 8b in a form-fitting matter, the projections 8a being provided above and the projections 8b below a cover of the lubricant dispenser 2.

(25) Since, according to FIGS. 1 and 2, the protective casing 3 rests on the lower leg solely as a result of its inherent weight, a good seal is achieved on the lower edge of the protective casing 3. Furthermore, the protective casing 3 can also have a different diameter and a different wall thickness. Accordingly, the protective casing 3 is of lesser all thickness in an upper portion of the cavity than in a lower portion of the cavity.

(26) It can also be seen from FIG. 1 that the protective casing 3 is provided with circumferential grooves 9 and with indicia 10 on the grooves 9. The reason for this is that, while different types of lubricant dispenser 2 often have the same diameter, they have different lengths. In the lubricant dispenser 2 shown in FIG. 2, for example, a lubricant reservoir of different length can be present. To enable the lubricant dispenser 2 to be shortened as needed, the grooves 9 are provided at which the protective casing 3 can be shortened. For example, the protective casing 3 can be sawed off to the desired length, and the marking enables correlation with the various types of dispenser 2.

(27) Optionally, a centering member 11 can also be provided in order to securely position the protective casing 3 on the bracket 1. The centering member 11 is particularly embodied such that it impedes the protective casing from lifting. FIGS. 3A and 3B show different centering members 11. What the two different centering members 11 have in common is that they are centered on a middle section at the tubular lubricant fitting 5. With that as a point of departure, FIG. 3A shows an embodiment of the centering member made of sheet metal with lateral tabs 12 that are bent at their ends first upward and then inward.

(28) FIG. 3B shows the described centering member in the installed state. While the middle of the centering member is clamped to the lubricant fitting 5, the tabs 12 hold the protective casing 3. For this purpose, according to the embodiment of FIG. 3B, a circumferential ridge 13 is formed on the inside of the protective casing 3 that is held by the resilient tabs 12 in a form-fitting matter.

(29) In contrast, the centering member 11 according to FIG. 4 is a disk and has individual detents 14 distributed around its periphery. A similar fixation of the protective casing 3 is shown according to FIG. 4B as with the above-described centering member 11, although the individual detents 14 distributed around the periphery engage behind the ridge 13 formed on the protective casing 3. The disk-shaped centering member 11 according to FIG. 4B can protect the interior of the protective casing 3 from the entry of dirt.

(30) FIG. 5 shows an especially preferred embodiment of the bracket 1 that is provided for the fixation of a maximum of two lubricant dispensers 2 to a support.

(31) According to FIG. 5, the bracket 1 is C-shaped seen from the side, with a fastening plate 16 with mounting holes 15 on the rear side, an upper leg 17, and a lower leg 4, the legs 4 and 17 projecting unitarily and perpendicularly from the fastening plate 16 in a horizontal longitudinal direction x.

(32) In the illustrated embodiment, the upper leg 17 has two holes 18 for respective lubricant dispensers 2 (FIG. 6).

(33) Beneath each hole 18 of the upper leg 17, the lower leg 4 has a respective circular protective part 19. The lower leg 4 is thus formed from the two circular protective parts 19 and webs 20 that connect them to the fastening plate 16.

(34) Accordingly, an aperture 21 is formed at the corner between the fastening plate 16 and the lower leg 4 at the two protective parts 19 that prevents the accumulation of dirt there and also enables the dirt to be discharged.

(35) In addition, this effect is enhanced by the fact that, starting from the circular shape of the two protective parts 19, an indentation 22 is formed on the one hand on the free end of the lower leg and, on the other hand, an additional aperture 23 is formed toward the fastening plate 16.

(36) It can be seen from FIG. 5 that the upper leg 17 and the lower leg 4, when seen in the longitudinal direction x, each extend away from the fastening plate 16 to a free end provided with corner roundings 24 and 24. These corner roundings 24 and 24 extend over at least a third of the length of the upper leg 17 and of the lower leg 4 in the longitudinal direction x.

(37) In particular, the corner rounding 24 on the upper leg 17 is concentric to the respective hole 18, thus resulting in a web 25 of constant width around about a quarter circle. This web 25 provides sufficient protection to the respective lubricant dispenser 2. Moreover, a very large region of the upper leg 17 and of the lower leg 4 is rounded off, so that a laterally impacting object or a laterally impacting person can be better deflected, and the danger of damage is reduced both for the lubricant dispenser 2 on the one hand and for the impacting object or person on the other hand.

(38) By comparing FIGS. 5 and 6 it can be seen that the lubricant dispenser 2 is inserted into the hole 18 with lateral play, and the lubricant dispenser 2 is secured to the protective part 19.

(39) In order to discharge the lubricant from the lubricant dispenser 2 and enable attachment, the protective parts 19 of the lower leg 4 each have a lubricant fitting 5 that is formed in the illustrated embodiment by a separate sleeve connected to the protective part 19.

(40) Furthermore, it can be seen in the embodiment according to FIG. 6 that the lubricant dispenser 1 is not provided directly with the unillustrated outlet on the lubricant fitting 5. Rather, a support collar 26 is located on the lubricant fitting 5 that provides protection and stiffening as an additional element and is arranged as a connecting member between the lubricant fitting 5 and the lubricant dispenser 2. Alternatively, the support collar 26 can also be made such that it is merely surrounds the unillustrated outlet of the lubricant dispenser 2 without functioning in the described manner as an intermediate element.

(41) In order to illustrate the variants that can be considered within the scope of the invention, FIGS. 6 and 7 show different types of attachments for the bracket 1, one of the two lubricant dispensers 2 being covered by a substantially cylindrical protective casing 3. The protective casing 3 encloses the lubricant dispenser 1 above the protective part 19 and is inserted together with the lubricant dispenser 2 into the respective hole 18. The additional protective casing 3 provides even further improved protection. Large, flat objects are kept away by the upper leg 17 and the lower leg 4 and particularly by the corner roundings 24 and 24 formed on them. In order to also achieve better protection against smaller or sharper-edged objects, the protective casing 3 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 can be used. If this is useful depending on use conditions, all of the lubricant dispensers 2 in the lubricant dispenser mount are usually provided with a respective protective casing 3. FIGS. 5 to 8 show a simplified embodiment of the protective casing 3 with a planar upper end 6. However, the protective casing is preferably embodied according to the design of FIGS. 1 to 4.

(42) Except for the lubricant fitting 5, the entire lubricant dispenser mount is formed from a single metal sheet by stamping and bending. Preferably, a high-quality steel sheet is used in order to prevent corrosion over the long term and ensure a long service life of the lubricant dispenser mount. In addition or alternatively, the lubricant dispenser mount can also be provided with a protective layer in the form of a powder coating, a layer of paint or galvanizing.

(43) According to FIG. 5, the fastening plate 16 has mounting holes 15 formed as slots that are provided in pairs next to and above each other. This results in very different possibilities for attachment.

(44) According to FIG. 6, for example, the bracket 1 can be attached to a horizontal profile 28 with two anchor clips 27 provided next to each other. However, the mounting holes 15 in the form of slots also enable an arrangement of the (appropriately rotated) anchor clips 27 one above the other or also offset at an angle in order to enable attachment of the bracket 1 to a correspondingly oriented profile.

(45) In contrast, FIG. 7 shows the attachment of the bracket 1 to a lattice 29 by attachment hooks 30 that are screwed to the fastening plate 16 and that hang with hooks 31 on the lattice 29.

(46) In relation to the invention, the lubricant dispenser mount can be set up for accommodating only one lubricant dispenser or a plurality of lubricant dispensers. FIG. 8 shows an example of a lubricant dispenser mount with a bracket 1 for three lubricant dispensers 2 provided next to each other, with a corresponding number of holes 18 also being present on the upper leg 17 as well as protective parts 19 on the lower leg 4.

(47) In an view like FIGS. 1 and 2, FIGS. 9 and 10 show a combination of the preferred embodiment of protective casings 3 with an especially preferred embodiment of the bracket 1 according to FIG. 5.

(48) As another variant, a provision can be made thatas shown in FIG. 11the lower leg 4 has holes 32 beneath the cavity, with various types of holes 32 being shown in FIG. 11 for the sake of example. The holes 32 enable dirt to be discharged that may have gotten in from the side or otherwise.

(49) For such an embodiment of the bracket 1 with holes 32 on the lower leg 4, a specially adapted centering member 11 can also be provided.

(50) FIGS. 12a and 12b show such a special centering member 11. Taking a centering member as shown in FIG. 4A as a point of departure, edge notches 33 are provided that enable dirt and moisture to be discharged from the lower edge region. Moreover, the centering member 11 in the form of a disk can also be outfitted with a circumferential, integrally formed seal lip 34 in order to facilitate the fitting of the protective casing 3 while also providing a seal.