AU2017101470A4 - Tension Membrane Dee Ring with Locating Eye - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a device to be used on tension membrane structures such as shade sails, shade structures and the like. The device provides a means of connection between the fabric membrane and the anchor points to which the fabric membrane is attached. The device provides a means for keeping the connection hardware and material that provides a link between the tension membrane and the anchor point, in the correct position within the device and as a result prevents unwanted rotation of the device, damage to the wire cable and possible product failure. f~FIG. 44

Description

Tension Membrane Dee Ring with Locating Eye

BACKGROUND ART

Shade sails, shade structures and the like have become a popular way of providing shade and shelter for outdoor areas around the home, in cafes and other public areas, in car parks, plant nurseries, children's playgrounds and many other uses.

Shade sails will normally have connection points positioned around the perimeter of the sail to allow connection to anchor points such as a wall, a post or a roof truss.

The correct installation of shade sails requires that the sails are also tensioned to provide a taut and neat finish to the fabric and to also hold it securely in strong winds. Most commonly this tension is achieved by running a wire cable around the perimeter of the sail, inside the hem and around a connection device on each corner.

The ends of the wire cable will then be clamped at some point to provide a single continuous loop of wire cable. Once the corners of the sail are connected to the anchor points the wire cable can then be tensioned, usually by way of adjusting a turnbuckle situated between one of the sail corners and an anchor point.

As each side of the tension membrane fabric is not straight but is curved inwards towards the centre of the sail, the tightening of the wire cable will in turn create force to pull the curved edge of the sail outwards away from the centre of the sail. Tensioning is continued until the sail is and taught and neat.

There are several known types of connection point used in shade sails,

One popular device is made up of 2 pieces, one piece being a round ring with flanged sides which sits loosely inside the second piece which is D shaped ring.

The wire cable sits on the circular surface inside the flanges of the inner ring but can on occasion move out of this position and sit in another position with a much smaller bearing surface. This can cause damage to the wire cable and possible rework later as the wire cable requires a larger radius bearing surface to ensure long life. On occasion the wire can also become jammed between the inner and outer rings causing problems when tensioning the fabric membrane as the wire cable needs to move freely.

Another popular device has a grooved channel fixed alongside a D shaped ring by way of welding the 2 pieces together. This device also includes a retaining eye which aids to prevent the wire from moving out of its correct position. A disadvantage of this device is that the grooved channel is not central to the external dimensions of the device and because of this the device tilts away from the central plane of the sail. This tilting is a problem as it has an inferior look to a device which does not tilt. To explain more, the part of the sail connected to the device is offset to the part of the sail where the wire enters the hem. This is detrimental to the finish and appearance of the finished product.

An additional design is a dee ring with a grooved channel that is on a plane that is central to the external perimeter of the dee shape. This design does not have the tilting problem and is also neat in appearance overcoming the aforementioned problems however it does at times have a problem with rotation of the dee out of its natural and preferred position.

The ideal position of the hardware that links to the dee ring is half way around the dee shaped ring. Unwanted rotation of the dee ring can position the connection hardware at the end of the dee shaped section of the ring in the internal corner where the D shaped section meets the crossbar.

This is an unnatural and unwanted position. Rotation into this position can cause unwanted stresses on the perimeter wire at this point and possible premature failure of the wire.

Therefore, it would be an advantage if it was possible to provide a device which overcomes the problems listed above.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an objective of the invention to provide a device that overcomes the above-mentioned problems and disadvantages and provide a means to keep the connection hardware correctly positioned within a tension membrane connection point and thereby prevent the rotation of the hardware into an undesired orientation.

DISCOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In one form the invention resides in a grooved channel D ring with locating eye, comprising: A D shaped ring; a locating eye that keeps the dee ring suitably positioned relative to the connection hardware and prevents rotation of the dee ring; a grooved channel running externally the length of the semi-circular "D" shaped part of the device and; a crossbar which extends between the 2 ends of the semi-circular part.; a retaining eye that keeps the wire cable in position.

In a broad form the invention resides in a device to assist in the connection of a shade sail or any other tension membrane structure to an anchor point, the device having a main body, means to enable connection of the membrane fabric to the device, means to allow connection of the device to the anchor point, means to ensure the connection hardware that links with the device resides in the optimum position, means to prevent rotation of the device out of its preferred orientation, means to act as a bearing surface for the wire cable to locate into, means to retain the wire cable, and means to keep the sail hem and the device on the same plane.

Embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the following illustrations in which:

Figure 1 Is an end view showing the grooved channel which runs the full length of the semi circular part of the D shaped ring and the wire retaining eye situated centrally between both ends of the grooved channel. A dashed line K-K shows that the grooved channel and the retaining eye reside centrally on the same plane.

Figure 2 Is a top view showing the locating eye positioned midway along the inner semi circular shaped section of the invention and the crossbar running between the 2 ends of the semicircular part of the "D" shaped ring.

Figure 3 Shows a view of the side of the invention with the retaining eye at the top of this illustration and the grooved channel running the length of the semi-circular part of the "D"

Figure 4 Is a perspective view of the invention further illustrating the locating eye, the grooved channel, the cross bar, and the retaining eye.

Figure 5 Is a top view of the device showing a line indicated as B -B which is the position of the cross sectional cut through the device to show the position of the cross bar the locating eye and the retaining eye in relation to one another.

Figure 6 Shows the end section of the device after being cut through at position B-B as shown.

Figure 7 Shows that the centre line of the locating eye, the grooved channel, the retaining eye, and the centre line of the cross bar all exist on the same plane. The centre line is shown on Fig. 7 running through the device between C and C.

Figure 8 Isa top view of a typical tension membrane corner showing connection to an anchor point the link made through the locating eye of the device. The wire cable can be seen in position around the outside of the D shaped section of the device, the partially hidden cable is shown as a dashed line within the semi-circular section of the D shaped device.

Figure 9 Shows a top view of a basic 3-sided tension membrane structure connected at 3 points and tensioned at one of these points with a turnbuckle.

While the invention is claimed in the concluding portions hereof, preferred embodiments are provided herewith and may be best understood in conjunction with the accompanying diagrams where like parts in each of the several diagrams are labelled with like numbers, and where: 1 Retaining eye or keeper 2 Locating Eye 3 Grooved Channel or bearing surface 4 Cross bar 5 Wire cable or other type of line member 6 D shaped part of the invention 7 Hem of fabric membrane 8 Seat belt webbing or other suitable material 9 Fabric membrane 10 D Shackle 11 Eye Bolt - fixing point 12 Post anchor point 13 Fastening nut 14Turnbuckle 15 Direction of force created as turnbuckle is tensioned 16 Direction of force created when wire is tensioned

In the Figures is shown a locating eye 2 positioned midway along the semi-circular D shaped section of device. This is the ideal position for the connecting hardware 10 shown in the example in Fig. 8. The locating eye 2 provides a suitably sized opening for connection of hardware 10 to pass through and form a link between the tension membrane 9 and the anchor point 11.

This locating eye 2 is important to the design and is an advancement on prior inventions as it ensures the correct positioning of the connection hardware midway between the ends of the semicircular section of the D shaped 6 part of the invention. Maintaining the correct positioning of the connection hardware ensures the optimum orientation of the device thereby preventing the possibility of product failure occurring as a result of unwanted rotation. It also ensures that a visually attractive and acceptable finish is provided.

The locating eye is in this embodiment which is depicted in Figures 1 - 9 is of a full circular shape similar to the external shape of the connection hardware, D shackle 10. Whilst this shape is the preferred choice, other embodiments could be that the locating eye has an alternate shape rather than being a full circle it could be partially open and thus while providing the benefits of a secure locating position in normal use, during installation the connection hardware has freedom to float in and out of the locating eye. This may be advantageous if the installer wishes to use hardware of differing dimensions that will not pass through the dimensions of the full circular eye shape.

In other embodiments instead of the locating eye having a circular or curved internal shape it could have any shape such as square, rectangular, or any irregular shape. It can be a fully closed eye or an open shape.

In another embodiment the locating eye could have a removable pin or a spring latch or clip to close the open eye after linking the connection hardware through the locating eye thereby providing a secure link with the connection hardware.

In this embodiment the locating eye is positioned within the inner section of the d shaped ring. In another embodiment the locating eye can be positioned on the outer section of the D shaped ring in the approximate position of the retaining eye.

In the Figures is shown the grooved channel 3 which extends between the two ends of the semicircular "D" shape part 6 of the device. The grooved channel is important to the design of the device as it provides a suitable surface for the highly tensioned wire cable 5 to bear down on.

This grooved channel bearing surface 3 being large in radius and long in length allows the highly tensioned load to be spread over a large bearing surface and therefore the load on any bearing point between the wire and the device is reduced.

This is advantageous as fatigue on the wire cable 5 is reduced, improving the lifespan of the wire cable 5 and therefore the product as a whole. Another benefit of this large smooth bearing surface is that the friction between the wire cable 5 and the grooved channel bearing surface 3 is further reduced allowing for easier adjustment of the wire tension.

An important part of the design of this device is that the centre line of the grooved channel 3 is positioned on the same plane as the centre line of the cross bar 4 as shown by C-C in the crosssectional view of B-B in Fig 7.

This allows all elements of the connection point shown in Fig 8 to sit on the same plane and therefore all forces are pulling on the device from the same or exact opposite direction. This also provides a neat finish to the finished product as there is no tilting of the invention away from the central plane of the sail. Additionally, the external dimensions of the invention are small, this further enhances the appearance of the finished product and also allows for smaller sized connection hardware such as D shackles to be used. This small dimension allows multiple pieces of the device to be used in the one connection if required.

The grooved channel is in this embodiment which is depicted in Figures 1 -10 is of a semi-circular shape similar to the external shape of the wire cable 5 which sits in the grooved channel 3. Whilst this shape is the preferred choice, other embodiments could be that the grooved channel 3 has a vee shape having two sides or have three sides such as a flat base with two flat sides. Alternatively, the channel can be fully or partially enclosed.

Midway between the two ends of the grooved channel 3 is the retaining eye 1. The retaining eye serves to keep the wire cable seated on the large bearing surface of the grooved channel 2. Without the retaining eye 1, the cable could become dislodged and would then bear down on the much smaller radius surface of the connection hardware such as Dee shackle 10. It is well known in the art that damage to the wire cable is most probable if the wire sits on such a small bearing surface such as the dimensions of a D shackle pin or its main body.

As depicted in Figure 9 the fabric membrane 9 is attached to the invention usually by means of seat belt webbing 8 looped around the crossbar 4 and then the seat belt webbing is sewn to the fabric membrane 9. Sometimes the fabric itself can be looped through the crossbar and sewn or heat welded or glued to the fabric.

After all corners of the fabric membrane have been attached to the invention, a single wire cable 5 is threaded through the hem 7 of each side of the fabric membrane 9. At the ends of each side of the fabric membrane the wire cable comes out of the hem and the wire cable is then threaded through the retaining eye 1 of the invention and then back into the next hem 7 on the next side of the fabric membrane.

When the wire cable 5 has been threaded around the full perimeter of the fabric membrane 9 and the retaining eyes 1 of each device, the two ends of the wire are connected at one corner by way of cable clamps or other method to create a single continuous wire loop running around the perimeter of the fabric membrane 9.

The invention can then be connected to eye bolt fixing points 11, as per Fig 8, in this case the connection is made at post 12 using a D shackle 10 to link the invention and eye bolt 11.

In Fig. 9 a turnbuckle 14 is attached at one end to D shackle 10, the D shackle forming a link with the invention through locating eye 2. The other end of the turnbuckle being attached to the eye bolt 11 of the post 12.

The turnbuckle 14 is adjusted to create a force to pull on the D shackle 10 linked through the locating eye 2 of the invention in the direction of the arrow 15 and therefore increase the tension on the wire cable 5 which is seated in the grooved channel 3 and retained by the retaining eye 1 of the invention.

As the wire cable is a continuous single wire, the tension of the wire cable is equally distributed, or thereabouts, at all points around the perimeter of the fabric membrane. This equalising of the tension on the wire is assisted by the invention as the grooved channel 3 of the invention provides a smooth low friction surface for the wire to slide and move over as the wire is tensioned.

The locating eye 2 ensures correct positioning of the device and resists the possibility of unwanted rotation of the device caused by the sliding of the wire along the grooved channel during the tensioning process.

Increased tension of the wire cable 5 creates a force to straighten the wires held in the hem 7 of the inwardly curved sides of the fabric membrane. This action pulls the fabric in the direction of arrows 16. Tensioning is continued until the desired neat and taut finish is achieved.

Whilst a 3 sided tension membrane has been described here the same will apply to a structure with any number of sides. The tension membrane structure depicted here is a shade sail structure the same is applicable to any variety of tension membrane structures.

Claims (5)

1. Tension Membrane Dee Ring with Locating Eye, comprising: A locating eye that ensures connection hardware is secured midway along the semi-circular D shaped section of the device. A grooved channel running externally the length of the semi-circular shaped part of the device A crossbar which extends between the 2 ends of the semi-circular part. A retaining eye that keeps the wire cable or other line member in position within the grooved channel. A centre line measured along the longitudinal length of the grooved channel which exists entirely on the same plane as the centre line measured along and through the longitudinal length of the crossbar.

2. Tension Membrane D Ring with Locating Eye as described in claim 1, whereas the shape of the locating eye aperture is square, rectangular or irregular in shape.

3. Tension Membrane D Ring with Locating Eye as described in claim 1, whereas the locating eye has an open section rather than a fully closed eye.

4. Tension Membrane D Ring with Locating Eye as described in claim 1, whereas the shape of the grooved channel can be semi-circular, vee shaped, have a flat base with flat sides or be fully enclosed version of these shapes or a partially enclosed version.

5. Tension Membrane D Ring with Locating Eye as herein before described with reference to figures 1-10 of the accompanying drawings.