facing side roughly corresponds to the path of a chord of part of the arc formed by the part shell 11 and its bridging piece 20 so that the rib 22 resembles a segment when viewed in the axial direction of the device the rib 22 runs in one direction over more than half the length of the bridging piece 20 and in the other direction along the inner side of the part shell 11 the rib 22 thus provides an effective reinforcement in the area of the transition between part shell 11 and bridging piece 20 the part shell 10 projects so far outwards in the area of the connecting bolt 17 that the bridging piece 20 can run on the inner side of the part shell 10 without projecting inwardly beyond the line delimited by flanges 10a 11a and 12a accordingly the position of the connecting bolt 17 is such that its axis is located on a radius outside the outer periphery of the part shell 11 the device described here is used for connection of two rigid pipe ends 23 only one of which is shown in fig2 in the region of their front faces the pipe ends 23 have annular collars 23a extending radially outwards which are overlapped by the flanges 10a 11a and 12a when the device is closed after the part shells 10 11 and 12 have been placed round the pipe ends 23 the spring 16 is hooked into the slot 19 with the clamping lever 15 swung outwards when the clamping lever 15 is closed the part shells 10 and 11 move towards each other whereby the projection 20a of the bridging piece 20 approaches.