GB1573220A

GB1573220A - Clips

Info

Publication number: GB1573220A
Application number: GB36669/77A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Aspell Saggers & Co Ltd
Current assignee: Aspell Saggers & Co Ltd
Priority date: 1978-05-24
Filing date: 1978-05-24
Publication date: 1980-09-10

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO CLIPS (71) We ASPELL SAGGERS & COMPANY LIMITED, a British Company of 26-28 Maxwell Road, Woodston, Peterborough, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: - Field of the invention This invention concerns fastening and particularly fastenings for securing the corners of rectangular structures such as frames for pictures and the like.

Object of the invention It is an object of the present invention to provide a fastening for rectangular structures which will allow two members to be joined together at a selected angle both reliably and quickly with the minimum of machining or tooling operations.

The invention According to the present invention the fastetning comprises at least two integrally formed flat limbs which are inclined the one to the other by an angle equal to the angle at which two structural members are to be inclined when assembled by means of the fastening, each of the flat limbs including at least one barb-like protrusion constituted by a region of the flat limb which is partially cut away and bent out of the plane of the limb at an angle to its surface which is such as to allow the limb to be pushed or driven into the structural member but which is adapted to bite into the material forming said structural member to prevent withdrawal of the limb.

As applied to joining elongate members forming a picture frame or the like the fastening is an L-shaped plate of metal or plastics material with the two flat limbs of the L of equal length.

Preferably two bar-like protrusions are formed on each of the limbs.

Where the structural members are solid and are formed with a core of relatively soft material the limbs of the fastening may be pushed into the soft core either by hand or using a suitable tool.

Where the structural members are hollow and are or can be formed with a suitable groove, the limbs are pushed in the groove so that the barb-like protrusions are forced into contact with an internal surface of the structural member.

In order to provide a very strong joint, the internal surface of the structural member may be formed with ridges or recesses or cavities into which the barb-like protrusions can spring as the limbs are pushed into the respective structural members.

The degree of tightness of the resulting joint can be controlled by forming the fastening from material having a reauired degree of resilience or otherwise and controlling the dimensions and rigidity of the groove or the like into which the limb is to be pushed.

A fastening as provided by the invention is most simply formed by a metal stamping hardened and tempered to the required degree of resilience/rigidity.

The invention is not limited to a flat Lshaped plate and the fastening may be formed from plate material bent or otherwise formed into an angle such as a right angle about a line within the thickness of the material so that the plate material forming the one limb is in a plane which is at an angle to the plane containing the plate material of the other limb. The barb-like protrusions are still provided on the surfaces of the limbs and the alternative form allows different shaped cross-section members to be joined together as provided by the invention.

It is to be understood that the barb-like protrusions need not extend from one side or surface of the limbs only but mav extend from both sides or from one side on one limb and the other side on the other limb.

It is further to be understood that the angle formed by the limbs is not limited to a right angle but can be any angle to allow any two structural members to be joined together at any desired angle.

It is also to be understood that the invention is not limited to a fastening having only two flat limbs but is intended to cover a fastening having two or more flat limbs thereby allowing more than two structural members to be joined either in one plane or in two or more planes so as to produce two-dimensional and three-dimensional structures.

The resilience of a fastening embodying the invention can be increased by twisting one of the limbs relative to the other so as not to interfere with the angle between the two limbs but so as to cause the structural members into which the limbs are fitted to tension the fastening about the line of twisting and exert an untwisting torque about that line when the structural members adopt their correct angular position. This is of particular application when framing mirrors and like rigid planar objects with a supplementing frame formed from a plurality of segments in which each segment contains a first groove into which the edge of the mirror or other planar object is fitted and a second groove into which the fastening is fitted.In such an arrangement the rigidity of the mirror or other planar member can be used to tension the fastening by arranging that the two limbs of the fastening are twisted so that they are forced against the twist into a flatter, more co-planar orientation as the limbs are pushed into the said second grooves.

The invention will now be described- by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a plan view of a fastening for securing together adjoining segments of a mirror frame in which the adjoining segments are at right angles, Fig. 2 is an edge view of the fastening shown in Fig. 1 when viewed in the direction of the arrow A, and Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the fastening of Fig. 1 with one limb located in a groove in a frame member and wi:h the other limb ready to be push-fitted into the groove on an adjoining frame member.

Description of the illustrated embodiments Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, a fastening for joining together adjoining members of a mirror frame comprises a right-angled Lshaped plate having equal length limbs 10 and 12. Each of the limbs is perforated at two locations 14 and 16 on the one hand and 18 and 20 on the other hand. The perforations can be described as U-shaped so as to leave in each case a tongue 14a, 16a, 18a and 20a respectively. The tongue is bent in each case about the line joining the tongue to the remainder of the plate across the top of the U-shaped perforation and the line of the fold is shown for each of the tongues by means of a dotted line.

Fig. 2 shows the extent to which the tongues on the limb 12 are bent.

The two limbs 10 and 12 may be formed in the same plane but as shown an additional degree of resilience is provided and therefore an aditional security in the fastening by twisting the limb 10 relative to the limb 12 along the 45" line joining the two limbs denoted by dotted line 22. The angle of twist is only small being a few degrees but is sufficient to cause the two limbs to fight one another as they are pushed into two parallel grooves which are themselves constrained to be in a parallel plane by a third member not shown.

Referring again to Fig. 1, the free end of each tongue 14a, 16a etc. is curved so as to form two points which are denoted 14b and 14c in the case of tongue 14a. For clarity the remaining points on the other tongues are not so identified on the drawing but reference to points 16b and 16c etc.

will be understood to mean the points on the tongues 16a, 18a, 20a etc.

The points 14b, 14c, 16b, 16c, etc. are sharp enough to bite into the surface of the material forming the groove into which the limb is pushed and by virtue of the direction in which the tongues 14a, 16a, etc.

are bent, the action of the points 14c, 14b etc. is to anchor the limb securely in the groove into which it is pushed since any attempt to pull the limb from the groove or move the limb in a direction opposite to that in which it is pushed into the groove will cause the tongues 14s, 16a and particularly the points 14b, 14c, etc. to bite into the surface of the groove and resist any attempt to pull the limb out of the groove.

The same will apply in relation to the groove in a second member (not shown) into which the limb 12 is pushed although here it will be the tongues 1 8a and 20a which are biting into the surface of the groove material.

Fig. 3 shows the fastening of Figs. 1 and 2 when fitted into one of two frame members which are to be joined together. The same reference numerals have been used in Fig. 3 as have been used in Figs. 1 and 2.

The limb 10 is shown pushed into the groove formed by a channel section forming an integral part of an edge frame member 24. Referring to Fig. 3a the groove is seen to have a floor 26, two side walls 28 and 30 and two overlying cheeks 32 and 34. The remainder of the edge frame mem ber is inconsequential as far as the invention is concerned and is therefore not shown in detail.

The limb 10 is introduced into the groove with the tongues 14a and 16a in contact with the floor 26 and the internal height between the cheeks 32, 34 and the floor 26 is such as to cause the points 14b, 14c, 16b, 1 6c to be interference fit with the surface of the floor 26.

Because the tongues 14a and 16a are bent in a rearward direction, the limb 10 can be pushed into the groove but as soon as any attempt is made to pull the limb 10 out of the groove, the points 14b, 14c, etc. dig into the surface of the floor member 26 to prevent the limb 10 from being withdrawn.

The end of the edge frame member 24 is mitred at 45" as shown at 40 and the adjoining edge frame member 42 also shown in Fig. 3 is likewise mitred at 45" so that when the protruding limb 12 is pushed into the channel section groove in the edge frame member 42, the points 18b, 18c and 20b, 20c of the tongues 1 8a and 2Oa respectively dig into the surface of the channel section groove in the edge frame member 42 and prevent it from being pulled off the limb 12 after it has been impaled thereon.

The frame members may be formed from wood or plastics or metal as the case may be.

Likewise the fastening plate may itself be formed from metal or plastics material or from suitable wood materials or from mixtures thereof or from fibre reinforced plastics material.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A fastening comprising at least two integrally formed flat limbs which are inclined the one to the other by an angle equal to the angle at which two structural members are to be inclined when assembled by means of the fastening, each of the flat limbs including at least one barb-like protrusion constituted by a region of the flat limb which is partially cut away and bent out of the plane of the limb at an angle to its surface which is such as to allow the limb to be pushed or driven into the structural member but which is adapted to bite into the material forming said structural member to prevent withdrawal of the limb.

2. A fastening as claimed in claim 1 for use in joining two elongate members forming part of a picture frame in which the fastening is an L-shaped plate with the two flat limbs of the L of equal length.

3. A fastening as claimed in claim 2 in which the plate is of plastics or metal.

4. A fastening as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3 in which two barb-like protrusions are formed on each of the limbs.

5. A fastening as claimed in claims 1 to 4 in combination with two solid structural members to join them together, wherein the members are formed with cores of relatively soft material and the limbs of the fastening are pushed into the soft cores.

6. A fastening as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4 in combination with two grooved limbs in which the limbs are pushed into the grooves so that the bar-like protrusions are forced into contact with internal surfaces of the two structural members.

7. A fastening as claimed in claim 6 in which the internal surface of the structural members are formed with recesses or cavities into which the barb-like protrusions spring as the limbs are pushed into the respective structural members.

8. A fastening as claimed in claim 6 in which the internal surfaces of the structural members are formed with ridges beyond which the barb-like protrusions are sprung.

9. A fastening as claimed in any of the preceding claims which is formed from a metal stamping hardened and tempered to the required degree of resilience.

10. A fastening as claimed in any of claims 1 to 8 which is formed from a length of plate material bent into an angle about a line within the thickness of the material so that the plane of the plate material forming one limb is at an angle to the plane containing the plate material forming the other limb.

11. A fastening as claimed in any of the preceding claims in which the barb-like protrusions extend from both sides of each limb.

12. A fastening as claimed in any of the preceding claims 1 to 10 in which the barb-like protrusions extend from one side on one limb and the other side on the other limb.

13. A fastening as claimed in any of the preceding claims in which the angle is a right angle.

14. A fastening as claimed in any of the preceding claims which comprises n (n > 2) flat limbs thereby allowing n structural members to be joined.

15. A fastening as claimed in any of the

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. ber is inconsequential as far as the invention is concerned and is therefore not shown in detail. The limb 10 is introduced into the groove with the tongues 14a and 16a in contact with the floor 26 and the internal height between the cheeks 32, 34 and the floor 26 is such as to cause the points 14b, 14c, 16b, 1 6c to be interference fit with the surface of the floor 26. Because the tongues 14a and 16a are bent in a rearward direction, the limb 10 can be pushed into the groove but as soon as any attempt is made to pull the limb 10 out of the groove, the points 14b, 14c, etc. dig into the surface of the floor member 26 to prevent the limb 10 from being withdrawn. The end of the edge frame member 24 is mitred at 45" as shown at 40 and the adjoining edge frame member 42 also shown in Fig. 3 is likewise mitred at 45" so that when the protruding limb 12 is pushed into the channel section groove in the edge frame member 42, the points 18b, 18c and 20b, 20c of the tongues 1 8a and 2Oa respectively dig into the surface of the channel section groove in the edge frame member 42 and prevent it from being pulled off the limb 12 after it has been impaled thereon. The frame members may be formed from wood or plastics or metal as the case may be. Likewise the fastening plate may itself be formed from metal or plastics material or from suitable wood materials or from mixtures thereof or from fibre reinforced plastics material. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A fastening comprising at least two integrally formed flat limbs which are inclined the one to the other by an angle equal to the angle at which two structural members are to be inclined when assembled by means of the fastening, each of the flat limbs including at least one barb-like protrusion constituted by a region of the flat limb which is partially cut away and bent out of the plane of the limb at an angle to its surface which is such as to allow the limb to be pushed or driven into the structural member but which is adapted to bite into the material forming said structural member to prevent withdrawal of the limb.

15. A fastening as claimed in any of the

preceding claims in which one of the limbs is twisted relative to the other so that the plane of one limb is inclined to the plane of the other.

16. A fastening as claimed in claim 15 when used to retain in position adjacent members of a mirror frame, each of the said members including a first groove into which the edge of the mirror or other planar object is fitted and a second groove into which a limb of the fastening is fitted.

17. A fastening constructed and arranged substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.