GB2247273A

GB2247273A - Clamp bracket

Info

Publication number: GB2247273A
Application number: GB9017271A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Donald Furr; Paul John Furr
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1990-08-07
Filing date: 1990-08-07
Publication date: 1992-02-26
Also published as: GB9017271D0

Abstract

A clamp bracket for mounting items such as road warning lamps on structures such as scaffold poles, skips and the like has a pair of clamp arms 10 and 11 with a clamp bolt 14 mounted on the arm 10 such as to be moveable up and down arm 10 and towards and away from the arm 11. The bolt includes a pin 16 which can be screwed towards and away from the arm 11 to secure the bracket to the structure. The bracket includes a swivel head 19-22 for adjusting the orientation of the lamp or other item. <IMAGE>

Description

CLAMP BRACKET The present invention relates to a clamp bracket for mounting items such as road safety lamps to structures such as scaffolding, builder's skips, shipping containers and the like.

According to the present invention there is provided a clamp bracket comprising first and second opposed arms defining a gap for accommodating an item to which the bracket is to be secured, the first arm carrying a bolt for clamping or tethering the item accommodated in the gap, the bolt being movable lengthwise of the first arm and having one end movable towards and away from the second arm.

The movement of the bolt lengthwise of the arm on which it is mounted enables the bracket to be attached to items of different widths while the movement of its end towards and away from the other arm permits clamping or tethering of the item in the clamp gap.

Conveniently the one end of the bolt is moveable towards and away from the other arm by relative rotation of an interengaging screw and thread.

The threaded engagement may be between two parts of the bolt, namely a bolt pin, which clamps against or tethers a member of the item to which the bracket is to be attached, and a holder in which the pin is mounted.

The bolt may be movable lengthwise of the first arm by its engagement in a slot in the first arm and engageable with the first arm in a number of discrete positions lateral to the first arm to provide a range of coarse settings of its spacing from the second arm. The locations on the bolt may be each regions of reduced width or diameter which accommodate the walls of the slot and the slot has one or more regions of enlarged width, such that with the bolt slid into the enlarged width region, it can be slid laterally of the first arm between positions at which different ones of its reduced width locations can be engaged with the walls of the slot.

When the bolt is of the two-part holder and pin construction noted above, it is useful if the pin is dimensioned such that its end remote from the second arm is located within the bore. By providing that end of the pin with a drive formation for engagement with a complementarily shaped drive formation on a special tool for rotating the pin relative to the holder, the bolt can only be adjusted by use of the appropriate tool, which renders the bracket less susceptible to tampering or theft. Preferably the tool is of a special type which the casual thief or vandal would not ordinarily be expected to have to hand, such as an Allen key. It is preferred for the bolt pin not to be adjustable by use of a flat-bladed screwdriver or spanner.

The bracket may have a mounting for temporary or permanent attachment of the item which it is to carry, such as a road safety lamp. This mounting may be via a swivel head to allow adjustable positioning of the item.

The invention will be further described by way of non-limitative example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figures la and ib are views illustrating the use of a clamp bracket according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a side view of a first embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 is an end view of the clamp bracket of figure 2; Figure 4 is a cross sectional view of the bolt in figure 2; Figure 5 is a side view of a second embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 6 is an end view of the clamp of figure 5.

Figure la is a view of the clamp bracket 1 in use, securing a road warning lamp 2 to a scaffold tube 3, while figure lb shows the clamp bracket mounting the lamp to the box-section rim of a builder's skip 4. The clamp part of the bracket is suitably cast from aluminium or aluminium alloy (but may equally be formed of eg miled steel) and comprises a pair of spaced parallel arms 10, 11, defining a clamp gap 12, interconnected by a web 13. The first arm 10 carries a bolt 14, while the second arm 11 is shaped to provide a part-cylindrical seat 15 for accommodating the scaffold tube. In figure 1b scaffold tube is secured between a pin 16 of the bolt and the seat 15 on the second arm 11 of the bracket. The pin 16 is mounted in a holder 17, with which it is threadedly engaged so as to be moveable towards and away from the second arm 11.A number of circumferential grooves 18 are provided in the holder 17, one of which, at any one time, engages with the walls of the slot 20 (figure 2) in the first arm 11.

Attached to the upper surface of the bracket 1 is a ball and socket swivel joint 18, comprising a ball 19 and clamping members 20, 21. A mounting plate 22 is attached to the second clamping member 21 by rivets 22; the ball and socket joint allows the orientation of the mounting plate 22, and thus the lamp mounted on it to be determined. The mounting plate 22 may be secured in a prescribed orientation by an allen-headed bolt 23, which clamps the clamping members 20, 21 on the ball 19.

The mounting plate 22 comprises one or more slots 22a, 22b which allow the attachment by bolts or rivets, lamps having different mounting configurations to the mounting plate.

Figure 3 shows a side view of the clamp bracket of figure 1. The first arm 10 comprises a slot 24, with flanges 25 which engage with one of a series of longitudinally spaced circumferential grooves or notches 26 on the holder part of the bolt. The grooves/notches may extend all the way around, or only part way around, the bolt. The holder 17 may be slid vertically in the slot 20, so as to engage with a chosen part of the item to be clamped. In order to select which one of the grooves/ notches 26 is engaged with the slot flanges 25, the slot may be provided with one or more regions of enlarged width 27 so that by moving the bolt into that region it may be slid towards or away from the second arm 11, to provide a coarse setting of the gap between the bolt and second arm.

As shown in figure 4, the holder 17 allows access to the allen-keyed head of the pin 16 via a bore 40 to move the pin towards and away from the second arm 11 to clamp and release the item on which the clamp bracket 1 is to be mounted. Conveniently, the pin can be turned by the same size of allen key as used to operate the bolt 23 of the swivel joint 18 so that one key can be used to adjust both.

The bolt 14 is retained axially when in region(s) 27 by circlips 41.

As shown in figure 5, in a further embodiment of the invention, the mounting plate 50 may be fastened to the clamp by a bolt 51.

The mounting plate may then only rotate about one axis. Preferably the bolt can be turned by the same allen key as is used to operate the bolt 23.

Figure 6, shows a further embodiment of the invention in which at a position on the first arm 10 corresponding to that at which the bolt 14 is to be positioned in order to secure the bracket to a scaffold pole, a bore 27 is provided. Projections 28 are provided in the bore, which engage with corresponding longitudinal grooves on the bolt 14. The projections 28 allow the bolt to be slid longitudinally through the bore 27, and twisted to engage the projections 28 in the grooves 26 on the holder part of the bolt.

When appropriate, the mounting plate arrangement of the first embodiment may be used with the clamp of the second embodiment, or the mounting plate of the second embodiment with the clamp of the first embodiment.

While reference has been made to a specific embodiment of the invention, it will be clear that many modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A clamp bracket comprising first and second opposed arms defining a gap for accommodating an item to which the bracket is to be secured, the first arm carrying a bolt for clamping or tethering the item accommodated in the gap, the bolt being movable lengthwise of the first arm and having one end movable towards and away from the second arm.

2. A clamp bracket according to claim 1 wherein the one end of the bolt is moveable towards and away from the second arm by relative rotation of an interengaging screw and thread.

3. A clamp bracket according to claim 1 or 2, in which the bolt is movable lengthwise of the first arm by its engagement in a slot in the first arm.

4. A clamp bracket according to claim 1, 2 or 3, in which the bolt is engageable with the first arm in a number of discrete positions lateral to the first arm.

5. A clamp bracket according to claims 3 and 4, in which the locations on the bolt are each regions of reduced width or diameter which accommodate the walls of the slot and the slot has along its length one or more regions of enlarged width, such that with the bolt slid into the enlarged width region, it can be slid laterally of the first arm between positions at which different ones of its reduced width locations can be engaged with the walls of the slot.

6. A clamp bracket according to claim 4 or 5, in which the bolt is retained captive in the slot.

7. A clamp bracket according to claim 5 wherein the bolt further comprises one or more longitudinal grooves, and the slot in the first arm comprises, at a predetermined location, an enlarged width region comprising one or more projections adapted to engage the grooves of the bolt allowing the bolt to be slid axially through the arm, the projections further being adapted to selectively engage a region of reduced width or diameter in the bolt.

8. A clamp bracket according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the bolt comprises a holder which engages in the slot, and a pin threadedly mounted in a bore in the holder to be moveable towards and away from the second arm.

9. A clamp bracket according to claim 8, in which the bolt pin is dimensioned such that its end remote from the second arm is located within the bore.

10. A clamp bracket according to claim 8 or 9, in which the pin is provided at its end remote from the second arm with a drive formation for engagement with a complementarily shaped drive formation on a special tool for rotating the pin relative to the holder.

11. A clamp bracket according to claim 10, in which the drive formation is adapted for operation by an allen key.

12. A clamp bracket according to any one of the preceding claims, and which includes a mounting for an item to be mounted on the bracket.

13. A clamp bracket according to claim 12, in which the mounting is provided with one or more slots to receive bolts or other securing elements to attach the item to be mounted at an adjustable position.

14. A clamp bracket according to claim 13, in which the mounting is attached to the arms via a clampable swivel joint.

15. A clamp bracket according to claim 14 and claim 10 or 11, in which the swivel joint is clampable by means of a bolt having a drive formation of the same shape and size as that provided on the bolt pin, so as to be operable by the same tool.

16. A clamp bracket according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the mounting is attached to the clamp via a bolt, and is confined to be rotatable substantially about the axis of the bolt.

17. A clamp bracket according to claim 16 wherein the bolt has a drive formation of the same shape and size as that provided on the bolt pin.

18. A clamp bracket constructed and arranged as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.