Quick-release fitting assembly

摘要

A quick-release fitting assembly (10) has a male fitting (12) and a female fitting (14). The male and female fittings are secured together by a retaining ring (20) that is at least partially received in aligned first and second retaining grooves (18,19) that are provided in the male fitting (12) and the throat (15) of the female fitting (14) respectively. A water tight seal is provided by an O-ring (17) that is retained in a sealing groove (16) of the male fitting (12) and radially compressed against the throat wall (24) when the male fitting (12) is inserted in the female fitting (14). The water tight seal remains substantially intact when the male fitting (12) is rotated relative to the female fitting (14). In a preferred embodiment, the male fitting (12) is removable from the female fitting (14) by first compressing the retaining ring (20) so that it no longer extends into the second retaining groove (19). In this embodiment, a locking ledge (30) may be provided in the first retaining groove (18) which prevents the retaining ring (20) from being compressed when the fitting is under pressure so that the male fitting (12) cannot be removed from the female fitting (14) under pressure. <IMAGE>