AU2002301350B2

AU2002301350B2 - Set consisting of a wall anchor and of a key for anchoring the wall anchor and screwing a fixing nut onto it, and the key for the set

Info

Publication number: AU2002301350B2
Application number: AU2002301350A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Alain Gauthier
Original assignee: Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques SPIT SAS
Current assignee: Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques SPIT SAS
Priority date: 2001-10-10
Filing date: 2002-10-04
Publication date: 2004-04-22
Anticipated expiration: 2022-10-04
Also published as: EP1302674A1; DE60227227D1; ATE399268T1; FR2830583A1; FR2830583B1; EP1302674B1

Abstract

The anchoring pin (1) comprises a body (2) with an end flange (5), a drilling end (6) and an external thread (4). Outside the flange the body is extended by a threaded sleeve (11) for receiving a fixing nut (22). A key (15) anchors the pin in the material and screws the fixing nut onto the pin. <??>Independent claims are included for a pin and a key.

Description

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION NAME OF APPLICANT(S): Societe de Prospection et D'Inventions Techniques SPIT ADDRESS FOR SERVICE: DAVIES COLLISON CAVE Patent Attorneys 1 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, 3000.

INVENTION TITLE: Set consisting of a wall anchor and of a key for anchoring the wall anchor and screwing a fixing nut onto it, and the key for the set The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us:- PAOPER\Arl\2577888 04 spec.doc-12/I 1/04 lA- The field of the invention is that of the fixing of parts of all kinds to friable support materials of the plaster-betweentwo-cardboard-sheets or plasterboard type and which, for that purpose, entail wall anchors with an exterior screw thread of large radial dimension and a flanged and a piercing end which are intended, once they have been anchored, to take a conventional component for securing a part. A wall anchor for friable materials of this type is described in European Patent EP 0 165 674.

The invention relates more particularly to such a wall anchor but one which, beyond the head end flange, at the opposite end to the piercing end, is'continued by a threaded sleeve portion intended to receive the part that is to be fixed and a fixing nut for fixing the part to the sleeve portion.

With such a wall anchor, two operations are therefore needed: anchoring the wall anchor in the receiving material, screwing the fixing nut onto the threaded sleeve portion.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a set comprising of a wall anchor for friable material, comprising a body with one flanged end, one piercing end, and a deep external screw thread, the piercing end, in use, serving to penetrate the friable material to form a hole therein for insertion of the wall anchor by engagement of the external thread with the friable material, the body, beyond the flange, being extended by a threaded sleeve portion that takes a fixing nut, and of a dual-purpose key designed to anchor the wall anchor in the material and to screw the fixing nut onto the wall anchor.

As a preference, the wall anchor and the key are shaped so that they complement each other so that the key can act as a screwdriver for the wall anchor.

In this case, the key may have two turning pins intended to engage in two notches of the flange at the head end of the wall anchor, the pins advantageously 2 being formed on a barrel designed to fit over the threaded sleeve portion of the wall anchor.

As a preference, the key is designed to act as a box spanner for a fixing nut.

In this case, the key may comprise, in the continuation of one another, a male screwdriver barrel and a female nut-driver barrel.

Naturally, the applicant company also intends to protect the key itself.

The invention will be better understood with the aid of the following description of the wall anchor and of the associated key, in reference to the appended drawing, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the wall anchor; Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the set consisting of the wall anchor and of the key in the screwdriver position; Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view of the set consisting of the wall anchor and of the key in the nut-driver position, and Figure 4 is a view of the whole set, the key being in the screwdriver position, in axial section on a plane passing through the notches of the flange of the wall anchor.

Let us remember, to begin with, that the wall anchor of the present invention takes most of its characteristics from the one described in patent EP 0 165 674.

The wall anchor 1 consists of a body 2 which is cylindrical or very slightly frustoconical, of axis 3, round the wall of which is wound an (external) screw thread 4 of great radial depth, that is to say of large outside or crest diameter. To give an idea of scale, it will be considered that a crest diameter roughly twice 3 the root diameter corresponds to a screw thread of great depth. In the example being considered, the exterior envelope of the screw thread is roughly conical. Arranged at the two ends of the body 2 are, respectively, a head end flange 5 and a piercing blade 6, here with three teeth, one central tooth 7 and two peripheral teeth 8, 8'.

The depth of the screw thread 4 in its portion adjacent to the blade 6 is naturally very small, so as to begin the screwing of the wall anchor into the support material An axial bore 9 extends through the body 2 and emerges, in the cutting blade 6, via an open dished or spoonshaped recess 10 so as, if appropriate, once the wall anchor has been anchored, to make it easier to deflect the blade 6 to the side when the part that is to be fixed is fixed using a member, generally a screw, which would therefore run through the axial bore 9 and beyond the open recess 10, as is perfectly well explained in EP 0 165 674.

The screw thread 4 is very slightly away from the flange 5. As for the piercing blade 6, its width is roughly equal to the root diameter, that is to say to the diameter of the body 2 of the wall anchor.

Beyond the flange 5, on the opposite side to the piercing blade 6, the wall anchor body 2 is extended by a threaded sleeve portion 11 through which the axial bore 9 runs. In the example being considered, the axial length of the threaded sleeve portion 11 is between one half and one third of the length of the wall anchor body 2.

Pierced from the edge 12 in the head end flange 5 are, in this instance, two diametrically opposed notches 13, 13' so that the wall anchor can be turned.

4 What actually happens is, and this is contrary to the anchoring method explained in EP 0 165 674, that the wall anchor 1 is anchored using the key 15 which will now be described.

The key 15 here consists of a screwdriver and nutdriver double barrel. More specifically, it comprises a male screwdriver barrel 16 from the annular edge face 17 of which there project two diametrically opposed pins 18, 18' intended to engage in the two notches 13, 13' of the flange 5 of the wall anchor. The interior bore 19 of the screwdriver barrel 16 of the key 15 is very slightly greater than the outside diameter of the threaded sleeve portion 11 of the wall anchor so that the barrel 16 can fit over the sleeve portion 11 of the wall anchor 1. In the continuation of the male screwdriver barrel 16 there extends a female nut-driver barrel 20, in this instance having roughly the same outside diameter. This is a sleeve which has a hexagonshaped interior bore 21 to engage with a nut 22, of complementing shape, for fixing a part onto the wall anchor 1 after anchorage.

The key 15 is thus designed to act as a box spanner in respect of the fixing nut 22.

More generally, the key 15 and the wall anchor 1 are shaped so that they complement each other so that the key can act as a screwdriver in respect of the wall anchor and can act as a nut-driver in respect of a nut that is to be screwed onto the wall anchor.

In the middle region of the double barrel the key has two wings 23 for turning the key 15, these extending roughly at right angles to the axis 24 of the double barrel.

To use the set consisting of the wall anchor and of the driving key which has just been described, the starting 5 point is to push the piercing blade 6 of the wall anchor 1 into the receiving material 25 until the screw thread 4 penetrates and the screwing-in of the wall anchor is thus initiated. The screwdriver barrel 16 of the key 15 is then slipped over the threaded sleeve portion 11 of the wall anchor until the pins 18, 18' of the key engage in the notches 13, 13' of the wall anchor. Finally, the key 15 is turned using the two wings 23, to screw the wall anchor 1 into the receiving material 25 until such point as the head end flange is flush with it (Figure Note that it would have been possible to provide just one pin and one drive notch. This would not have 'been very reliable. By contrast, more than two pin-notch pairs, for example three of these, would be conceivable. It would also be impossible to envisage pins on the flange of the wall anchor and notches in the driving key, which would then have two female barrels for anchoring and for fixing.

The key 15 is then removed from the wall anchor 1, the part that is to be fixed is slipped over the threaded sleeve portion 11, this threaded sleeve portion 11 is capped with the nut 22, the key 15 is turned round, the nut-driver barrel 20 is slipped over the nut and the key 15 is turned using the two wings 23 to screw the nut 22 onto the threaded sleeve portion 11 and thus fix the part between the receiving material and the nut 22 screwed onto the wall anchor 1 anchored in the receiving material The reference numerals in the following claims do not in any way limit the scope of the respective claims.

Throughout this specification and the claims which follow, unless the context requires otherwise, the word "comprise", and variations such as "comprises" and "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or step or group of integers or steps but not the exclusion of any other integer or step or group of integers or steps.

The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that that prior art forms part of the common general knowledge in Australia.

Claims

1. A set comprising of a wall anchor for friable material, comprising a body with one flanged end, one piercing end, and a deep external screw thread, the piercing end, in use, serving to penetrate the friable material to form a hole therein for insertion of the wall anchor by engagement of the external thread with the friable material, the body, beyond the flange, being extended by a threaded sleeve portion that takes a fixing nut, and of a dual-purpose key designed to anchor the wall anchor in the material and to screw the fixing nut onto the wall anchor.

2. The set according to Claim 1, in which the wall anchor and the key are shaped so that they complement each other so that the key can act as a screwdriver for the wall anchor.

3. The set according to Claim 2, in which the key has pins for turning and a flange of the wall anchor has notches to accommodate the key pins.

4. The set according to Claim 3, in which the pins are formed on a male screwdriver barrel of the key, designed to fit over the threaded sleeve portion of the wall anchor.

The set according to any one of Claims 2 to 4, in which the key is designed to act as a box spanner in respect of the fixing nut.

6. The set according to Claim 4 or 5, in which the key comprises, in the continuation of the male screwdriver barrel, a female nut-driver barrel. P:AOPER\ArI\2577888 04 sp.doc-12/ 11/04 -7-

7. The set according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the external screw thread has a crest diameter greater than its root diameter.

8. The set according to Claim 7, wherein the crest diameter is at least twice the root diameter.

9. A set substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings. DATED this 12th day of March, 2004 Societe de Prospection et D'Inventions Techniques SPIT By DAVIES COLLISON CAVE Patent Attorneys for the Applicant