	US 7,566,079 B1
	Duct coupling
Douglas Callahan, 2531 Cedar Brook Ct., Rochester Hills, Mich. 48309 (US); and Christopher Herbert Corbett, 1821 Lake Trail Dr., Delavin, Wis. 53115 (US)
Filed on Aug. 13, 2008, as Appl. No. 12/190,697.
Int. Cl. F16L 37/18 (2006.01); F16L 37/10 (2006.01); F16L 37/12 (2006.01)

U.S. Cl. 285—362 [285/314; 285/319; 285/359]

7 Claims

1. A connector for releasably sealing a first tube segment together with a second tube segment having an annular projection extending outwardly at an end of the second tube segment, the connector comprising:

a housing having a plurality of cam surfaces disposed on its exterior and being sized to accept insertion of the second tube segment into the housing, the housing being fixable to an end of the first tube segment;

a collar having a plurality of resiliently inwardly biased teeth, the collar being sized to encircle the housing and the teeth being configured around the collar to extend through the housing; and

an annular seal disposed inside the housing;

wherein the collar is coaxially rotatable with respect to the housing so that in a lock rotational position of the collar the teeth extend inwardly so that the teeth are free to engage the annular projection, and so that in an unlock rotational position of the collar the teeth are displaced outwardly by respective ones of the cam surfaces to prevent the teeth from engaging the annular projection; and

wherein the connector releasably engages the annular projection, to connect the first and second tube segments together with the seal sandwiched between an interior surface of the housing and an exterior surface of the second tube segment, when the collar is in the lock rotational position and the second tube segment is pushed into the housing so that the teeth snap into engagement with the annular projection.