What is grooved piping?
Grooved piping is a system used to join together sections of pipes quickly and securely and is suitable for both dry and wet systems. The grooves are designed to provide a little extra give to a piping system, allowing flexibility in all directions, whether angular, linear, or rotational. This makes grooved piping ideal for fire sprinkler systems and many other applications.
Why are grooved systems so popular?
This popular type of pipe fitting has become quite standard in the modern world due to the reduced labor and tools costs associated with the ease and speed of installation, in addition to the fact that the connections are incredibly secure. The flexibility gives it an enormous advantage, as it's more robust than rigid methods of joining pipes such as welding, flanged or threaded couplings.
What makes them so effective?
The grooved coupling housing (which is the red outer part of the couplings listed in this section) is made from Ductile Iron and entirely encompasses the gasket (the dark-colored seal visible on the inside of the couplings) providing enormous mechanical strength to this self-strained joint. The plated-carbon steel bolts and nuts used in these grooved fittings have been heat-treated, ensuring a connection you can rely on in any system you're creating.
When was grooved piping invented?
As is often the case with great inventions, war was the catalyst for the invention of grooved piping which came to be almost 100 years ago in 1925. During World War II, flamethrowers were used as part of trench warfare but the gas lines would sometimes come loose, engulfing the operator in a blaze of flames. British Army Lieutenant, Ernest Tribe, was determined to put an end to the problem, and the grooved coupling was born.