1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pipe connector which fixes two pipes in relative positions.
2. Description of Prior Arts
Generally in the designs of structures of housing, scaffolding, green house, fence, shelving, and stall, pipes are used to reserve a path for wiring or drainage purpose.
To adopt designs of various constructions, each pipe is usually converged and staggered at a certain area. To avoid pipes impacting each other or with other structure due to shaking and result in pipe ruptures, pipe connectors (or pipe fittings) such as the one shown in FIG. 2 are installed at the converging position. The pipe connector 90 of the prior art shown in FIG. 2 is a 2-way pipe connector that comprises two inserts 901 and 902. Place pipes P1 and P2 respectively into the inserts 901 and 902 of pipe connector 90 to secure the positions of two pipes. The interval between P1 and P2 is thus fixed and formed as preset in FIG. 1 to avoid impact.
However, the pipe connector 90 of the prior art is in standard specification and can not be used to combine other number of pipes. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, to fix three pipes P1, P2, and P3, the pipe connector used must be the kind of three-way pipe connector 91 that comprises at least three inserts 911, 912, and 913; the foresaid two-way pipe connector 90 can not be applied. From here we know that to secure the positions of different quantities of pipes, the pipe connectors used must be with corresponding quantities of inserts. Moreover, the more the number of pipes to be secured and connected, the wider the derived patterns. In other words, patterns of pipe connectors to be prepared are more diverse.
It is known from the above, it is necessary to prepare various corresponding type of pipe connectors to connect different quantities of pipes. The fact that the constructor must carry various types of pipe connectors to the working site is indeed causing trouble to constructor or who is in charge of material preparation, and indirectly affect construction schedule. In addition, in response to variety of needs, the manufacturers produce various types of pipe connectors, resulting in inventory increase and relatively increase the cost of pipe connectors.