EP0079702A1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Method of sealing a joint between two insulated pipes
Assignee: Commscope Connectivity Belgium BVBA
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Filing: 1982-10-27
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2002-10-27
Abstract
Abstract A recoverable polymeric material (1) is coated with discrete regions of a sealant (3), such as a mastic, and of a heat-activatable adhesive (2), such as a hot-melt adhesive. The coated material forms a sleeve which may be of tubular or wrap-around configuration. The sleeve may be used to cover weld joints (6) in polyethylene (5) coated steel pipes (4).
Inventors
- 👤 Roger Desiderius Adrienna Van Der Linden
- 👤 Lucien Guillaume Meeus
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-05 05:48
CPC Classifications
F; F16; F16L; F16L58/00; F16L58/18; F16L58/181; B; B29; B29C; B29C61/00; B29C61/06; B29C61/0608; B29C61/0616; F16L59/00; F16L59/14; F16L59/16; F16L59/18; F16L59/20; B29C61/0666; B29C2061/0683; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S174/00; Y10S174/08; Y10S285/00; Y10S285/915; Y10S428/00; Y10S428/913; Y10T; Y10T428/00; Y10T428/28; Y10T428/2813; Y10T428/2817; Y10T428/2826
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 39
Claim 1
Independent Claim
74 words
A sleeve suitable for covering a pipe and comprising: a recoverable polymeric sheet material; a sealant (as herein defined); and a heat-activatable adhesive; the material of the sleeve having: (A) the sealant as a first region of a principal surface thereof; and (B) the heat-activatable adhesive as a second region of said surface, which adhesive forms, when the sleeve is in use, a substantially annular bond between the pipe and the polymeric sheet material.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
74 words
A sleeve suitable for covering a pipe and comprising: a recoverable polymeric sheet material; a sealant (as herein defined); and a heat-activatable adhesive; the material of the sleeve having: (A) the sealant as a first region of a principal surface thereof; and (B) the heat-activatable adhesive as a second region of said surface, which adhesive forms, when the sleeve is in use, a substantially annular bond between the pipe and the polymeric sheet material.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
27 words
A sleeve according to Claim 1, in which the region of heat-activatable adhesive is such that the annular bond is continuous around the circumference of the pipe.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
33 words
A sleeve according to Claim 1 or 2, in which the material of the sleeve has the heat-activatable adhesive at two said second regions of said surface, the sealant being present between them.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
14 words
A sleeve according to any preceding claim, in which the sealant is a mastic.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
17 words
A sleeve according to Claim 4, in which the mastic comprises an atactic polypropylene and a polyisobutylene.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
45 words
A sleeve according to any preceding claim, in which the heat-activatable adhesive is hot-melt adhesive comprising an EVA and a hydrocarbon wax, or a polyamide and a hydrocarbon wax, or a polyamide and up to 10% by weight of the polyamide of an acrylic rubber.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
19 words
A sleeve according to any preceding claim, in which the polymeric sheet material has a recovery ratio from 25-31%.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
22 words
A sleeve according to any preceding claim, having a temperature indicating composition on a surface thereof facing away from said principal surface.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
68 words
A sleeve according to any preceding claim, which carries the sealant and the heat-activatable adhesive on said surface thereof in discrete regions such that when the sleeve is recovered around an elongate substrate with the coated surface adjacent the pipe the sealant is surrounded by the adhesive which forms a substantially annular bond to the substrate, said bond resisting lateral movement of the sleeve relative to the substrate.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
12 words
A sleeve according to any preceding claim, which is a wrap-around sleeve.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
31 words
11: Material of a sleeve according to Claim 10, in the form of a roll, the first and second regions being strips running substantially continuously along the length of the roll.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
22 words
An assembly comprising a sleeve according to Claim 10, and a closure patch comprising a polymeric sheet coated with a heat-activatable adhesive.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
50 words
A method of covering a portion of a pipe, which method comprises securing a sleeve according to any of Claims 1-10 around the pipe, and heating the sleeve to cause (a) shrinkage of the recoverable polymeric sheet material, (b) softening of the sealant and (c) activation of the heat-activatable adhesive.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
39 words
A method according to Claim 13, in which the sleeve is a wrap-around sleeve and the method includes securing the sleeve in the wrapped configuration by means of a patch comprising a polymeric sheet coated with a heat-activatable adhesive.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
132 words
A method of sealing a joint between two insulated pipes, the insulation of each of which ends short of the joint, which comprises : (a) surrounding the exposed portions of pipe with a casing; (b) joining an end of the casing to the adjacent pipe insulation by installing around the end of the casing a sleeve comprising a recoverable polymeric material coated with a sealant (as herein defined) and a heat-activatable adhesive, the sealant being positioned to overlap the end of the casing around substantially its entire periphery, and the heat-activatable adhesive being positioned to form substantially annular bonds between the sleeve and the casing and between the sleeve and the pipe insulation; and (c) causing the polymeric material to recover, the sealant to soften and the heat-activatable adhesive to be activated.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
132 words
A method of sealing a joint between two insulated pipes, the insulation of each of which ends short of the joint, which comprises : (a) surrounding the exposed portions of pipe with a casing; (b) joining an end of the casing to the adjacent pipe insulation by installing around the end of the casing a sleeve comprising a recoverable polymeric material coated with a sealant (as herein defined) and a heat-activatable adhesive, the sealant being positioned to overlap the end of the casing around substantially its entire periphery, and the heat-activatable adhesive being positioned to form substantially annular bonds between the sleeve and the casing and between the sleeve and the pipe insulation; and (c) causing the polymeric material to recover, the sealant to soften and the heat-activatable adhesive to be activated.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
32 words
A method according to Claim 15, in which the casing comprises half-shells of an insulating material, the thickness of the insulating material being substantially equal to the thickness of the pipe insulation.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
40 words
A method according to Claim 15, in which the casing is hollow such that its installation defines an annular space around the joined pipes, the ends of the annular space being defined respectively by the insulation of each insulated pipe.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
22 words
A method according to Claim 17, which additionally comprises filling said annular space, after installation of the casing, with an insulating material.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
28 words
A method according to Claim 18, in which said filling is carried out by pouring the insulating material into said annular space via a hole in the casing.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
23 words
A method according to Claim 18 or 19, in which said insulating material is a liquid which foams when in said annular space.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
44 words
A method according to Claim 18,19 or 20, which additionally comprises covering said hole after introduction of said insulating material by means which comprises a polymeric backing sheet coated with an adhesive by means of which the backing material is bonded to the casing.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
46 words
A method according to Claim 21, in which the backing is coated with a heat-activatable adhesive on one major surface and a temperature indicating composition on an opposite surface, the closing means being installed by heating until the temperature indicating composition indicates activation of the adhesive.
Claim 25
Independent Claim
37 words
A method according to any of Claims 15-22, in which said sleeve extends from one pipe insulation, across the casing, to the other pipe insulation said joining thus being provided between the casing and each pipe insulation.
Claim 26
Independent Claim
22 words
A method according to any of Claims 15-22, in which a separate said sleeve is installed around each end of the casing.
Claim 27
Independent Claim
26 words
A method according to any of Claims 15-24 in which the insulated pipe comprises a steel pipe, insulated by polyurethane foam surrounded by a polyethylene jacket.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
14 words
A sealed pipe joint when made by a method according to any preceding claim.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
129 words
A kit-of-parts which comprises: (1) a wrap-around sleeve suitable for covering a pipe and comprising a recoverable polymeric sheet material, a sealant (as herein defined) and a heat-activatable adhesive, the material of the sleeve having (A) the sealant as a first region of a principal surface thereof and (B) the heat-activatable adhesive as a second region of said surface which adhesive forms, when the sleeve is in use, a substantially annular bond between the pipe and the polymeric sheet material; (2) a closure patch suitable for holding closed a lap joint of said sleeve and comprising a strip of polymeric sheet material whose length substantially equals the length of said sleeve, coated with a heat-activatable adhesive by means of which the patch can be bonded across said lap joint.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
129 words
A kit-of-parts which comprises: (1) a wrap-around sleeve suitable for covering a pipe and comprising a recoverable polymeric sheet material, a sealant (as herein defined) and a heat-activatable adhesive, the material of the sleeve having (A) the sealant as a first region of a principal surface thereof and (B) the heat-activatable adhesive as a second region of said surface which adhesive forms, when the sleeve is in use, a substantially annular bond between the pipe and the polymeric sheet material; (2) a closure patch suitable for holding closed a lap joint of said sleeve and comprising a strip of polymeric sheet material whose length substantially equals the length of said sleeve, coated with a heat-activatable adhesive by means of which the patch can be bonded across said lap joint.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
36 words
A kit-of-parts according to Claim 27, which additionally comprises a substantially rigid casing having a hole through a wall thereof, and which can be positioned around the sleeve to define an annular space around the pipe.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
26 words
A kit-of-parts according to Claim 28, which additionally comprises closure means for said hole, said closure means comprising a polymeric backing sheet coated with an adhesive.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
108 words
A joint between insulated pipes, which comprises : (a) two transport pipes joined together; (b) insulation on each transport pipe which ends short of the joint; (c) a casing surrounding the exposed portion of pipe; (d) a sleeve which provides a seal between and end of the casing and the adjacent pipe insulation, and which comprises a recoverable polymeric material coated at discrete regions with a sealant and a heat-activatable adhesive, the sealant bridging the end of the casing and the pipe insulation to form seals therebetween, and the adhesive forming substantially annular bonds between the sleeve and the casing and between the sleeve and the pipe insulation.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
108 words
A joint between insulated pipes, which comprises : (a) two transport pipes joined together; (b) insulation on each transport pipe which ends short of the joint; (c) a casing surrounding the exposed portion of pipe; (d) a sleeve which provides a seal between and end of the casing and the adjacent pipe insulation, and which comprises a recoverable polymeric material coated at discrete regions with a sealant and a heat-activatable adhesive, the sealant bridging the end of the casing and the pipe insulation to form seals therebetween, and the adhesive forming substantially annular bonds between the sleeve and the casing and between the sleeve and the pipe insulation.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
17 words
A joint according to Claim 30, having two said sleeves, one at each end of the casing.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
30 words
A joint according to Claim 30 or 31, in which the casing defines an annular space around the exposed portions of pipe, said space being filled with an insulating material.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
46 words
A joint according to Claim 32, in which the casing has a hole in the material thereof, the hole being covered by a closure means comprising a polymeric backing sheet coated with an adhesive by means of which the backing sheet is bonded to the casing.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
16 words
A sleeve according to Claim 1, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
16 words
A method according to Claim 15, substantially as -herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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