Q.  How has the TURNCOUPLE® Assembly been manufactured so far?

A. We developed our embodiment of the TURNCOUPLE® Assembly for a marine application: to facilitate the connection and disconnection of the stiff commercial-grade hoses used on boats for head (bathroom), domestic water, bilge, raw water cooling, fuel and other fluid systems.  We had an injection mold built for a 1½" TURNCOUPLE® Assembly, designed to fit one of the most commonly used sizes of heavy-duty marine hose.  To broaden the application, we made our right-threaded adapter with two options for the outer end: barbed for connection to a hose, or threaded for connection to a female-threaded device such as a tank.  To accomplish this, our mold has two inserts for the right adapter end, one for barbs, the other for right threads. 

We used the following standards in design and manufacture:

• Schedule 80 PVC dimensional guidelines
• ASTM standards for NPT thread size, pitch and count
• American Boat and Yacht Council standards for material strength in through-hulls and seacocks.
• In addition, we applied our own stringent standards for precision and quality of the product in terms of performance, look and feel, usefulness and durability.

We tested with several materials, plain and glass-reinforced, in the process having to modify our mold to accommodate differing shrink rates.  Our final selection was rigid thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), 20% long glass reinforced.  This versatile material produces the strength and durability characteristics we required, molds with precision, absorbs virtually no water, and gives a nice look and feel in the finished product.