AU669079B2

AU669079B2 - A gate hinge bracket

Info

Publication number: AU669079B2
Application number: AU71594/94A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Lance Malcolm Vater
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1993-09-01
Filing date: 1994-09-01
Publication date: 1996-05-23
Anticipated expiration: 2014-09-01
Also published as: AU7159494A

Description

0 9 07 43303 HKS:MH P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

I i Name of Applicant: SLANCE MALCOLM VATER I*I' Name of inventor: LANCE MALCOLM VATER Address for Service: COLLISON CO.,117 King William Street, Adelaide, S.A. 5000 Invention Title: A GATE HINGE BRACKET Details of Associated Provisional Applications: =1 -1 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me:

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2 This invention relates to gate hinge brackets.

The problem to which this invention is directed relates to the problem of being able to manufacture gate hinge brackets at a cost which can be lower than those presently available.

Gate hinge brackets are a relatively standard item which have for their purpose to provide together with a clamp support for a fence upright, a capture shape which is not adapted to clamp but within which an upright at one end of a tubular framed gate can be supported and swing from. Hitherto, such brackets have been made from two members having at a first end, a tightening 1 0 means comprising a nut and bolt, then a capture shape for engaging the respective members about with clamping force the upright of a fence post, and then a second capture space where the respective ends of the members project from a medial location and are supported from this medial location only to defina the said gate or second capture shape.

S 1.5 Such an arrangement is conventional and the various component sizes and thicknesses and shapes are selected to provide adequate strength for the purposes required.

I have discovered that by providing an interlockability at the second end between the respective members, that an adequate overall strength of the bracket can be maintained with considerably less material thickness of the members and that this can provide significant economic savings so as to enable the manufacture of brackets of this type at somewhat lower costs or at the least, the public can be offered an useful alternative.

The invention in one form can be said to reside in a gate hinge bracket 2 5 comprising a first member, a second member co-operating with a said first member to define there between at one end of the bracket a first capture shape for capturing the bracket to a fence upright, and, at an end of the bracket opposite to that of the said first end, a second capture shape, for capturing the bracket to the upright of a gate, characterised in that the first said 3 0 and second said members are held together at locations at each of three positions along the bracket which positions are at each of a first end, and a second end of the bracket and at a position medially positioned between the capture shapes, and wherein the members are held together at the said second end by the first and second members interlocking at this location.

In preference, the capture shapes are each constituted by a concave shape on the first member and a concave shape on the second member facing the first said concave shape.

In preference, the interlockability is achieved by correspondingly positioned slots in the respective first and second members.

In preference, the first member at the second end has a slot, and the second member at the second end has a slot, both slots being of a size and position and shape such that they will interengage with the slot of the first member having a body part of the second member therein and the slot of the second member having a body part of the first member therein to effect the interlockability.

In preference, the members are held together in the medial location by the members interengaging one with respect to the other.

In preference, the members are held together in the medial location by a bolt S 1 5 at the medial position mutually passing through the respective members.

In preference, there is a medial spacer located at the medial position located between the respective members and adapted to keep the respective members apart by the distance defined by the spacer.

In preference, each of the said first and second members is formed from metal bar and the concave shape is provided by the bar being shaped to conform to a part of a cylindrical shape.

One of the features of the above preferred arrangements in most cases is that the interlockable shapes at the second end are such that the respective members can be relatively moved from opposite locations to a joining position 2 5 midway which has the effect of allowing these to be assembled relatively easily so that the second capture shape can be engaged around the upright of a gate after which a bolt or bolts can be located so as to effect a tightening of the respective members together and when appropriately positioned to thereby clamp the first capture shape around the upright of a fence.

In another form noting that this also should not be read indicating in any way a limitation of the invention, the invention can be said to reside in a gate hinge I bracket comprising a first member comprised of a metal bar, a second oT 4 member comprised of a metal bar co-operating with the first said member to define there between at one end of the bracket a first capture shape for capturing the bracket to a fence upright of tubular cylindrical shape and, at an end of the bracket opposite of that of the first said end, a second capture shape for capturing with pivotal freedom the bracket to the tubular cylindrical upright of a gate, characterised in that the first said and second said members are each shaped to follow in cross-section a double concave shape the members being held together at locations at each of three positions along the bracket, which positions are at each of a first end, and a second end of the 1 0 bracket and at a position medially positioned between the capture shapes, the first concave shape being between the first end and medial location and the second concave shape being between the medial location and the second end of the bracket, the two members being joined together at the first end by a bolt passing through correspondingly positioned apertures in the respective 1 5 members, being joined together at the medial location with a bolt passing through correspondingly positioned apertures in the respective members and the respective members being joined together at the second end by an interlocking arrangement with a slot extending partially through the first member accommodating a remaining width adjacent a slot in the second member.

For a better understanding of this invention it will now be described in relation to preferred embodiments which shall be described with the assistance of drawings wherein, FIG 1 is a perspective view of a gate hinge bracket according to a first S 2 5 embodiment, FIG 2 is a view in plan of a gate hinge bracket according to a second S: embodiment, FIG 3 is a view in plan of a gate hinge bracket according to a third embodiment, 3 0 FIG 4 is a perspective view showing the first embodiment as shown in FIG 1 being used in the application of supporting a gate, FIG 5 is a schematic view in plan of a fourth embodiment, FIG 6 is a perspective view of a bracket and incorporating the features of the invention as shown in the fourth embodiment as shown in FIG Now referring to the drawings in detail, and referring specifically to FIG 1, the bracket 1 includes a first member 2 and a second member 3.

Each of the two members 2 and 3 are formed from metal bar which is of a constant thickness throughout its length and is selected to be of constant width substantially throughout its length.

At the first end 4 in the case of member 2 and 5 in the case of member 3, there are respective straight portions having apertures 6 passing therethrough and through which the bolt 8 passes which is held for a clamping position by nut 9.

1 0 The first said member 2 then is shaped into a first concave shape at 10 and this is matched by the equivalent oppositely located concave shape of member 3 at 11.

From the first concave shape, the respective members 2 and 3 proceed to a medial position at 12 which in this first embodiment is established by firstly a i 5 spacer 13 which in cross-sectional view is a U-shape having an upper part 14, a mid part and a lower part which is substantially identical in shape to the upper part at S.3oth the upper and lower parts at 13 and 15 have a concave shape 16 cut out to assist in accommodating the circular peripheral shape of a gate frame member.

The medial position is also established by there being mutually located apertures at 17 and 18 having a bolt 19 passing respectively therethrough which are tightened together with clamping force by nut •The respective members 2 and 3 then proceed to define a second capture shape at 21 which is defined by reason of a concave shape at 22 of the first member and a concave shape at 23 by the second member.

The first member 2 has at the final end an outwardly shaped tongue 24 in which there is a slot 25 with an upwardly facing and there is a correspondingly located and shaped tongue 26 and slot 27 which interengages with 3 0 interlocking fit the tongue 24 so as to hold together the respective ends at the second end of the members 2 and 3.

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6 SAs a result of joining together in this manner the second ends of the members 2 and 3, the thickness overall of the bar from which themembers 2 and 3 are made can be reduced significantly so that in a typical instance, hitherto a thickness of bar of 7 mm was necessary to provide adequate strength, now a thickness of either 3 mm or 4 mm has been found to be adequate while still providing all of the features necessary.

The advantage of this is that the costs of the saving in material are very significant indeed because they extend throughout the substantial part of the bracket whereas the additional costs in providing the slightly extended ends i! 10 and the cutting of the slots is again a very small increase in cost.

I This discovery then has provided significant savings.

The invention however can be put into application in other ways as well using brackets which have also been hitherto used for this application so that the strength is achieved more economically rather than having the second capture shape open at its end.

In the second embodiment as shown in FIG 2, a first member 28 and a second Smember 29 have again a first concave shape defining a capture shape at with a bolt 31 at the first end providing clamping joining effect.

The respective members 28 and 29 are joined together at the medial location 20 32 by having oppositely directed slots so that a slot on one of the members which extends halfway through the width of that member interengages with a remaining part of the second member at its slot location.

There is then defined a second capture shape and at the second end the two ends shown at 34 and 35 in this case the joining technique being the same as *o 25 that shown in FIG 1 in relation to the first embodiment that is oppositely located slots interlocking one with respect to the other so that a positioning of the first member can be achieved by sliding this downwardly with respect to the other member coming upwardly.

The same advantages as far as the thickness of the bar from which the members are made can be achieved in this embodiment.

In FIG 3 there is shown a third embodiment in which the first member 36 and the second member 37 again define a first capture shape at 38 and a second 4 -~i

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7 capture shape at 39 in each case by having oppositely facing concave shaped surfaces but in this case instead of at the medial position at 40 the interengagement being by way of crossover, this being achieved by having mutually located apertures which mutually engage together by a bolt 40 held in an engaging position by nut 41.

Again with this type of device the end at 42 is by bifurcate parts adapted to interengage with mutually located slots.

FIG 4 shows in perspective view the type of application to which the brackets are intended and there is shown in schematic outline a fence 43 having an 1 0 upright post embedded within the ground to which the bracket 44 as shown in FIG 1 has its first capture shape engaging around.

The second capture shape at 45 engages around the upright of gate 46 with the purpose of allowing this to relatively freely swing.

There is some advantage however, in providing that at a lower most end of the a 15 gate, there is a second bracket 47 which is substantially identical to the first said bracket but in this case the second capture shape at 48 is arranged to hold a spigot on which the end 49 of the gate frame can fit onto and thereby be supported with pivotal freedom.

Referring now to FIG 5, this shows a fourth embodiment in which the respective members 50 and 51 defining the first capture shape at 52 and the second capture shape at 53 with the overlap interlocking at the medial position 54 have at the second end 55 being held together by the first member having an inwardly open U-shape in cross-section shown at 56 and the second member having a tongue at 57 simply fitting thereinto.

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25 This arrangement is shown in perspective in FIG 6.

In each of the embodiments, the same discovery ha- been made which is to say that by holding together the members at the second end rather than having these allowed to be free has meant that the quantity of metal that has been required for the bar to make up the members in the case that bar has 3 0 been selected or other material in the case of material other than metal bar being chosen, has allowed very significant savings to be made in material costs whereas the additional costs of the shaping has not added so much cost.

:h 8 This has provided therefore significant benefit to the public in respect of cheaper brackets of this type especially suited for industrial and rural applications.

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