FOLDING POLE HAVING A TUBULAR SLEEVE

Abstract

A pole comprising a pole handle and a pole tip, with at least two tube portions located therebetween, which in an assembled state of the pole are connected to one another by means of insertion connections aligned along a longitudinal pole axis A. At least one of the plug connections is realized on a second tube portion by way of a form-fit and/or force-fit locking device, wherein the second tube portion has a smaller the same outer diameter than the inner diameter of a first tube portion, and which can be inserted into the first tube portion, and which can be fixed in the relative axial position by means of the form-fit locking device. On at least one of the plug connections, a tubular sleeve having a clamping element in a receiving groove is arranged between the tubular sleeve and the lower end of the first tubular portion.

Claims

1. A pole having at least two tubular portions, wherein, in the assembled state of the pole, the tubular portions are connected together by means of at least one plug connection aligned along a pole longitudinal axis, and wherein a pole handle is arranged on a topmost tubular portion and a pole tip is arranged on a bottommost tubular portion, wherein at least one of the plug connections is realized as a positive-locking and/or non-positive-locking detachable latching device between a first tubular portion and a second tubular portion, the second tubular portion has a smaller or almost identical outside diameter compared to the inside diameter of the first tubular portion and is insertable into the first tubular portion, and the tubular portions, are able to be fixed in their relative axial position by the positive-locking and/or non-positive-locking latching device, wherein the plug connection includes a tubular sleeve which is fastened so as be non-movable on the first tubular portion, protrudes in a protrusion region by means of the end edge of the first tubular portion facing the second tubular portion, engages under said end edge radially by way of a circumferential flange which is directed to the second tubular portion and surrounds the second tubular portion in the protrusion region, wherein a clamping element is arranged in the protrusion region between a radial inside surface of the tubular sleeve and the radial outside surface of the second tubular portion.

2. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein a circumferential, inwardly open receiving groove is realized in the protrusion region delimited by end edge, radial inside surface of the tubular sleeve and flange, and the clamping element is arranged in said receiving groove, wherein the clamping element is dimensioned such that it contacts both the radial inside surface of the tubular sleeve and the radial outside surface of the second tubular portion and clamps said surfaces against one another in a resilient manner.

3. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tubular sleeve is connected fixedly to the first tubular portion in a non-positive-locking and/or positive-locking and/or materially bonding manner.

4. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the latching device is realized as a positive-locking latching device.

5. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tubular sleeve is formed substantially from a light metal.

6. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the clamping element is resiliently deformable at least in regions.

7. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the clamping element is realized in a substantially ring-shaped manner, wherein the clamping element completely surrounds the second tubular portion in the circumferential direction.

8. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the clamping element comprises a radially inner portion and a radially outer portion.

9. The pole as claimed in claim 8, wherein the clamping element is realized per se in a resilient manner, or wherein the clamping element is realized with multiple parts or multiple regions, wherein only part or a region is formed from a resiliently deformable material, or wherein the radially inner portion of the clamping element is developed from a material with greater resilient deformability than the radial outer portion of the clamping element.

10. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the clamping element comprises, at least in part of its circumference in a cross section along the pole longitudinal axis, a substantially hook-shaped or U-shaped profile with a radially inner leg and a radially outer leg.

11. The pole as claimed in claim 10, wherein the radially inner portion of the clamping element is provided in the circumferential direction with at least one recess.

12. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spring-loaded radial latching pin is held, running through a recess of the tubular sleeve which extends in the circumferential direction, wherein the first and the second tubular portions are held non-rotatably with respect to one another in the circumferential direction.

13. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pole is a folding pole, wherein the tubular portions are connected together by means of at least one tension cable.

14. The pole as claimed in claim 1, having at least three or four tubular portions.

15. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tubular sleeve is connected fixedly to the first tubular portion in a materially-bonding manner, to the bottom end of the first tubular portion facing the pole tip.

16. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the latching device is realized as a positive-locking latching device which comprises a spring-loaded radial latching pin which is held projecting outward in a radial through-bore of the second tubular portion against the action of a spring element, and which additionally protrudes over the radial outside surface of the second tubular portion with the plug connection latched in position and is in abutment with the axial closure surface of the flange facing the second tubular portion.

17. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tubular sleeve is formed substantially from a light metal, selected from aluminum or an aluminum alloy.

18. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the clamping element is resiliently deformable at least in regions, wherein the clamping element is formed at least in part from plastics material, selected from a thermoplastic material or a thermoplastic elastomer.

19. The pole as claimed in claim 18, wherein the clamping element is formed at least in part from cross-linked or non-cross-linked systems based on polypropylene, polyethylene, polyester, polyamide, copolyamide, thermoplastic olefin-based and/or urethane-based elastomers, thermoplastic polyester elastomers, thermoplastic copolyester or a mixture thereof.

20. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the clamping element is realized in a substantially ring-shaped manner, wherein the clamping element completely surrounds the second tubular portion in the circumferential direction, and is realized in one part, wherein it additionally fills out the axial length of the receiving groove substantially completely or at least in regions.

21. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the clamping element comprises a radially inner portion and a radially outer portion, wherein the radially outer portion fills out the axial length of the receiving groove substantially completely and wherein the radially inner portion comprises a shorter axial length than the axial length of the receiving groove.

22. The pole as claimed in claim 8, wherein the clamping element is realized per se in a resilient manner, or wherein the clamping element is realized with multiple parts or multiple regions, wherein only the radially inner portion of the clamping element, is formed from a resiliently deformable material, or wherein the radially inner portion of the clamping element is developed from a material with greater resilient deformability than the radial outer portion of the clamping element.

23. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the clamping element comprises, at least in part of its circumference in a cross section along the pole longitudinal axis, a substantially hook-shaped or U-shaped profile with a radially inner leg and a radially outer leg of various lengths, and also of various maximum widths measured in the radial direction, wherein the outer leg, at least in regions, fills out the axial length of the receiving groove substantially completely, and additionally the radially inner leg has a shorter axial length than the radially outer leg and a narrower radially measured maximum width than the radially outer leg, wherein, with the clamping element arranged in the receiving groove, the two legs, compared to a rest position at a first angle between the legs, are pressed against one another to form a second smaller angle between the legs.

24. The pole as claimed in claim 10, wherein the radially inner portion of the clamping element is provided in the circumferential direction with at least one recess which is upwardly open toward the pole handle.

25. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spring-loaded radial latching pin is held, running through a recess of the tubular sleeve which extends in the circumferential direction and is realized open toward an end of the tubular sleeve facing the pole tip, wherein the first and the second tubular portions are held non-rotatably with respect to one another in the circumferential direction.

26. The pole as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pole is a folding pole, wherein the tubular portions are connected together by means of at least one tension cable, wherein at least two tubular portions are connected together in the folded-together state of the folding pole only by means of the tension cable.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] Preferred embodiments of the invention are described below by way of the drawings which simply serve for explanation purposes and are not to be seen as restricting. The drawings are as follows:

[0035] FIG. 1 shows a folding pole from the prior art, FIG. 1a showing an axial section through the pole in the assembled state, FIG. 1b showing an overall view in the assembled state and FIG. 1c showing an axial sectional representation of the plug connection marked in FIG. 1a with the reference X;

[0036] FIG. 2a shows an axial sectional representation of a plug connection of a folding pole according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0037] FIG. 2b shows an axial sectional representation of a plug connection of a folding pole according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0038] FIG. 3a shows a view of a detail of the plug connection from FIG. 2a;

[0039] FIG. 3b shows a view of a detail of the cutout of the plug connection of FIG. 2b marked with the reference Z;

[0040] FIG. 4a shows a sectional representation of the tubular sleeve of FIG. 2a without a clamping element;

[0041] FIG. 4b shows a sectional representation of the tubular sleeve of FIG. 2b without a clamping element;

[0042] FIG. 4c shows a perspective view of the tubular sleeve of FIG. 2b or 4b with a clamping element;

[0043] FIG. 5 shows an axial sectional representation through a clamping element according to a first preferred embodiment of the invention;

[0044] FIG. 6a shows an axial sectional representation of the tubular sleeve of FIG. 2a with a clamping element;

[0045] FIG. 6b shows an axial sectional representation of the tubular sleeve of FIG. 2b with a clamping element.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0046] FIGS. 1a-1c show views of a multi-segmented folding pole according to an embodiment described in WO 2012/104424. Such a pole (1) comprises a pole handle 2 and a pole tip 3 or, as an alternative to this, a pole buffer, with a variable number of tubular portions located in between. Each of the tubular portions can basically be an aluminum or carbon-composite tube. The individual tube portions 7, 8, in this case, are connected together by means of a flexible but stretch-resistant tension cable 16. The tension cable is fastened to the bottommost tubular portion and fastened to the topmost tubular portion and is arranged running through the interior 17 of the at least two central tubular portions. The folding pole shown from the prior art, in this case, is realized such that it is able to be transferred from the folded-together state into the assembled state by the plug connections, which are realized as pure plug connections where tubular portions in the plugged-together state are fixed only in one axial direction, being plugged together, and by, when the latching device 5 is then detached, the second tubular portion 8 being pulled out of the first tubular portion 7 until the tension cable 16 is tensioned, and by the positive-locking latching device 5 being fixed.

[0047] In the view of the detail in FIG. 1c, the cutout marked in FIG. 1a by way of the reference X is shown in detail. In this case, a second tubular section 8 or an inner tube portion, is inserted or plugged into a first tubular portion 7, or the outer tube portion, on the plug connection. So that this is possible, the first tubular portion 7 comprises an inside diameter d7 which is somewhat larger than the outside diameter d8 of the second tubular portion. This difference is certainly only small, but results nevertheless in a space 12, which extends along the overlapping region of the two tubular portions in the direction of the pole longitudinal axis A, being formed between the two tubes. Said space 12 results in the two tubular portions 7, 8 contacting one another in use and leads to an annoying rattling noise.

[0048] The second tubular portion 8 comprises a guiding pin 19 which is provided with an axially extending central through-bore for the tension cable 16 and is fixedly fastened with a fastening portion 21 in said second tubular portion 8 and, located opposite axially, comprises a closure pin 20 which is insertable into the first tubular portion 7, a preferably radially circumferential, outwardly directed bearing flange 20c, which in the plugged-together state is moved in axial abutment with the tube end of the second tubular portion 8, being provided between the fastening portion 19a and a head region 20a of the closure pin 20.

[0049] A tubular sleeve 6 is additionally arranged in the region of the plug connection 4. At its bottom end, said tubular sleeve directly surrounds the bottom end of the first tubular portion 7 by way of a circumferential flange 10. The latching device 5 is arranged directly below the tubular sleeve, a spring-loaded latching pin 13 engaging in a through-opening 15 of the second tubular portion 8 and of the fastening portion 19a of the guiding pin 19.

[0050] FIG. 2a shows a plug connection 4 in a pole 1 according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention. The plug connection 4 corresponds substantially to that in FIG. 1c, and the aforedescribed features of a said plug connection are also applicable to said embodiment. The feature relevant to the invention here is that a clamping element 9 is mounted between the radial inside surface of the tubular sleeve 6 and the radial outside surface of the second tubular portion. The tubular sleeve 6 therefore comprises on its bottom end a circumferential flange which, however, in contrast to the prior art according to FIG. 1c, does not surround and engage under the bottom end of the first tubular portion 7 directly, but by realizing a circumferential receiving groove 11. Said receiving groove 11 extends in the axial direction, i.e. along the pole longitudinal axis A form the bottom end 21 of the first tubular portion 7 up to the stop on the radial flange 10 of the tubular sleeve, and in the radial direction between a radial inside surface 6a of the tubular sleeve up to a radial outside surface 8b of the inner tube portion. The width of said receiving groove 11 in the radial direction is substantially the thickness of the first tubular portion 7, or only marginally greater. A clamping element 9 is then arranged in said receiving groove 11. Said clamping element has, among other things, the job of reducing or even avoiding the unwanted rattling noise which is caused by the two tubular portions 7, 8 contacting one another and of eliminating or decreasing all other disadvantages which can result from the play between the elements 7 and 8.

[0051] According to the preferred exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the clamping element 9 is developed in a substantially ring-shaped manner, the radially outer portion 9b of the clamping element 9 which abuts against the radial inside surface 6a of the tubular sleeve 6 being realized continuously in the circumferential direction U, whilst the radially inner portion 9a of the clamping element 9 which is directed toward the second tubular portion 8 is provided with interruptions 9e. The radially inner portion 9a of the clamping element 9 to a certain extent resembles a lip which points upward toward the pole tip, said lip being interrupted in the circumferential direction according to FIG. 5. This results to a certain extent in the radially inner portion 9a of the clamping element 9 having a toothing.

[0052] The axial sectional representation shown in FIG. 5 shows a hook-shaped or U-shaped cross section through the clamping element 9. In this case, the radially inner portion 9a is developed in cross section as an inner leg 9a with a shorter length L9a and wider width B9a and the radially outer portion 9b as an outer leg 9b with a longer length L9b and wider width B9b, connected by the bottom portion 9d which reduces conically or tapers toward its end. The legs 9a, 9b are both directed upward toward the pole handle 2 and at their top ends are also realized reducing conically or tapered.

[0053] As shown in section in FIG. 3a, the clamping element 9 in the exemplary embodiment shown fills out the radial width B11 of the groove 11. In the exemplary embodiment shown, the clamping element 9 comprises on its top portion 9c and its bottom portion 9d a conical tapering, more easily visible in FIG. 5. The axial height L11 of the groove 11 is also filled out substantially by the radially outer portion 9b of the clamping element 9. The clamping element 9 consequently seals the groove 11 to a certain extent. However, it also acts as a spacer for the two tubular portions 7, 8 and prevents uncontrolled contact between the two tubular portions 7, 8 when the pole is in use.

[0054] When the pole is in use, such a development provides for flexible resilient deforming of the clamping element in the axial and radial direction.

[0055] In order to prevent the tubular portions 7, 8 rotating relative to one another when in use, and consequently the correct relative rotational position between the pole handle 2 and the pole tip 3 (for example in the case of an asymmetric buffer) not being ensured, an anti-rotation means can be provided. This is realized in the exemplary embodiment in FIGS. 2b, 3b, 4b, 4c and 6b in a preferred variant. For this purpose, as shown in FIGS. 4b and 4c, the tubular sleeve 6 comprises a recess 18 in the circumferential direction U which is realized downwardly open here. Said recess 18 is arranged in the region of the flange 10 in the present exemplary embodiment in FIGS. 4b and 4c. The recess 18 serves for receiving the latching pin 13 which engages through said recess in the radial direction before it protrudes through a through-bore 15 in the second tubular portion 8 and then in the fastening region 19a of the guiding pin 19. Consequently, the two tubular portions 7, 8 are secured against rotation with respect to one another. In said exemplary embodiment, the flange 10 of the tubular sleeve 6, which encompasses the bottom end of the first tubular portion, is realized shorter in the region of the recess 18 than in the remaining circumferential region of the tubular sleeve 6, which can be seen well in FIGS. 3b, 4b and 6b.

[0056] With the exception of the specific development of the tubular sleeve 6, the remaining above-described features of the pole 1 and of the clamping element 9 are also applicable to the exemplary embodiment with the anti-rotation means.

TABLE-US-00001 1 Pole, folding pole 2 Pole handle 3 Pole tip 4 Plug connection 5 Latching device 6 Tubular sleeve 6a Inside surface of 6 7 First tubular portion 8 Second tubular portion 8a Outside surface of 8 9 Clamping element 9a Radially inner portion of 9 9b Radially outer portion of 9 9c Axially top portion of 9 9d Axially bottom portion of 9 10 Radial, inwardly directed flange 11 Receiving groove 12 Space between 7 and 8 13 Latching pin 14 Spring element 15 Through-bore in 8 16 Tension cable 17 Tube interior 18 Recess in 6 19 Guiding pin 19a Fastening portion of 19 20 Closure pin 20a Head region of 20 20b Neck region of 20 20c Collar of 20 21 End edge of 20 22 Protrusion region of 6 23 Axial closure surface of 10