GB2425579A

GB2425579A - Fastener and driving tool

Info

Publication number: GB2425579A
Application number: GB0508702A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Edward William Pither
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-04-29
Filing date: 2005-04-29
Publication date: 2006-11-01
Also published as: GB0508702D0

Abstract

A fastener comprises a drive element (18) to enable the fastener to be driven. The drive element (18) has a drive formation (24) having an inwardly facing drive surface (26) and an outwardly facing drive surface (28). A driving tool (40) can co-operate with the drive formation (24) to engage the drive surfaces (26, 28) to drive the fastener.

Description

1 2425579

FASTENER

This invention relates to fasteners. More particularly, but not exclusively, the invention relates to threaded fasteners, for exampe screws or bolts.

The construction of industrial units often involves securing steel panels to a metal framework. The type of fastener used for this purpose is a screw having an integral drilling section having a head which can cooperate with a driver operable to drive the fastener into position. A plastic cover can then be clipped in place over the head to provide an aesthetic and weatherproof finish.

Recent developments have involved the use of threaded fasteners having plastic heads, which obviates the need to use plastic caps. However, the heads on these bolts are bulky.

According to one aspect of this invention, there is provided a fastener comprising a fastening element for fastening a first article to a second article and a drive element to enable the fastener to be driven, the drive element defining a drive formation having an inwardly facing drive surface and an outwardly facing drive surface, whereby a driving tool can co-operate with the drive formation to engage the said drive surfaces, thereby applying a driving force to both the said surfaces to drive the fastener.

The drive surfaces may be opposed drive surfaces, and the inwardly and outwardly facing drive surfaces may face each other. A gap may be defined between the drive surfaces to receive the tool. Preferably, the gap is sized to be a tight fit on the tool. Advantageously the gap is so sized to prevent or inhibit internal movement of the tool relative to the fastener. This has the advantage in the preferred embodiment that the tool is held securely on the drive element and prevented or inhibited from wobbling, thereby allowing a user to screw in the fastener to a support with a mitigated or obviated danger of the fastener skating across the support.

The drive element may comprise inner and outer drive portions, whereby the outwardly facing drive surface is provided on the inner drive portion and the inwardly facing drive surface is provided on the outer drive portion. The inner and outer drive portions may be formed of rnoukiing material, which may be a plastics material, such as a nylon material, for example Nylon 6. A web of the moulding material may be formed during formation of the inner and outer drive portions, the web extending between the inner and outer drive portions.

The drive formation may have a polygonal profile. In a first embodiment, the drive formation may have a star shaped profile, but it will be appreciated that the drive formation can be any suitable shape capable of allowing a driving tool to engage the inwardly facing and outwardly facing surfaces to apply the driving force to the fastener.

In a second embodiment, the drive formation may have a profile of a regular polygon such as a hexagon or pentagon.

The inwardly facing and outwardly facing drive surfaces may correspond in profile with one another. Preferably, the inwardly and outwardly facing surfaces have corresponding portions, which are generally parallel to each other, and may be generally aligned with each other.

Preferably, the fastener is a threaded fastener. The fastening element may comprise a shank, which may be threaded, and the drive element may comprise a head. In one embodiment, the drive element may comprise a support member for supporting the inner and outer drive portions, and may also support the web of the moulding material.

The drive element may further include keying means on the support member to provide a key for at least one of the inner and outer drive portions, and preferably both of the inner and outer drive portions. In one embodiment, the drive portions are moulded onto the support member.

The keying means may comprise an outer keying member around which the outer drive portion may be moulded. The keying means may include an inner keying member around which the inner drive portion may be moulded. in the first embodiment, the keying means may comprise a pkiraflty of outer keying members, which may be arranged around the support member, preferably in spaced relation to each other.

In the second embodiment, the inner keying member may have a profile that corresponds to the profile of the inner portion. In this embodiment, the moulding on the inner keying member may comprise a coating on the inner keying member. The inner keying member may include keying formations, such as a recess. The recess may be cross-shaped.

Only one of the inner and outer drive portions may be moulded onto the support member. The other of the inner and outer drive portions may be formed of the same material as the shank and may be formed with the shank.

Preferably, in this embodiment, the outer drive portion is moulded onto the support member.

*According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a driving tool element comprising a body comprising a drive member, the drive member having an inwardly facing drive surface and an outwardly facing drive surface, and being configured to be received in a drive formation of a fastener. Thus, the outwardly facing drive surface of the drive member can drivingly engage an inwardly facing drive surface of the drive formation, and the inwardly facing drive surface of the drive formation can drivingly engage an outwardly facing drive surface of the drive formation.

The drive member may have a polygonal profile. In a first embodiment the drive member has a star shaped profile, but it will be appreciated that the drive member can have any suitably shaped profile to correspond to the shape of the profile of the drive formation. The tool element may be a tool bit to be held by a suitable tool. Alternatively, the tool element may be a tool itself.

In a second embodiment, the drive member may have a profile of a regular polygon, such as a hexagon or a pentagon. The inwardly facing and outwardly facing drive surfaces of the driving tool element may correspond in profile with one another.

The inwardly facing and outwardly facing surfaces of the driving tool element may be arranged generally opposite to each other. Preferably, the inwardly facing and outwardly facing surfaces of the driving tool element have corresponding portions which are generally parallel with each other, and may be aligned with one another.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only, with references to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a fastener; Fig. 2 is a view along the lines II II in Fig 1; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 of another embodiment; Fig. 4 is a perspective diagrammatic view of a driving tool; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a drive element of the fastener; Fig 6 is a perspective view of a further embodiment of a fastener; Fig 7 is an end view of the embodiment shown in Fig 6; Fig 8 is a perspective view of the embodiment shown in Fig 6; with a feature removed; Fig 9 is an end view of the embodiment shown in Fig 8; and Fig 10 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a driving tool.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, and 5 there is shown a first embodiment of a threaded fastener 10 comprising a fastening element 12 comprising a shank 14 having a thread 16. The shank includes a penetration portion 17 to penetrate the article to be fastened.

The fastener 10 further comprises a drive element 18 (see Fig. 5) forming a head of the fastener 10. The drive element 18 comprises an outer drive portion 20 and an inner drive portion 22. The outer and inner drive portions, 20, 22 define therebetween a groove or recess 24 having a star shaped profile, the purpose of which will be explained below. The drive element 18 is formed of a suitable plastics material such as nylon 6.

The outer drive portion 20 comprises an inwardly facing drive surface 26, and the inner drive portion 22 comprises an outwardly facing drive surface 28. The inwardly facing and outwardly facing surfaces of 26, 28 together define the groove 24.

The drive element 18 also includes a support member 30 which is generally planar. The inner and outer portions 20,22 are moulded onto the support member 30 at the outer region thereof. Keying means 32 is provided, which comprises a plurality of first keying members 34 that extend outwardly from the support member 30. The first keying members 34 are arranged such that the outer portion 20 is keyed onto the support member 30 by the keying members 34, thereby securing the outer drive portion 20 to the support member 30.

In addition to the first keying members 34, the keying means 32 also includes a second keying member 36 comprising a hook formation 38. The keying members 34, 36 are provided to secure the outer and inner drive portions, 20, 22 to the support member 30. The inner drive portion 22 is moulded onto the support member 30 at an inner region thereof and is keyed to the support member 30 by the second keying member 36. The outer and inner drive portions, 20, 22 are formed as a one piece moulding so that a web 39 of the plastics material is moulded to the support member 30 and extends across the groove 24 from the outer portion to the inner portion.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown in Fig. 3 which is a similar view of threaded fastener 10 to that shown in Fig. 2, and comprises many of the same features of the threaded fastener 10 shown in Fig. 2, and these have been designated with the same reference numerals. The embodiment shown in Fig. 3 differs from that shown in Fig. 2 in that the support member 30 comprises an upstanding member 122 formed from the same material as the support member 30. The upstanding member 122 replaces the inner portion 22 of the first embodiment and performs the same functions as the inner portion 22.

Referring to Fig. 4, there is shown a first embodiment of a driving tool element 40 in the form of a tool bit. The tool element 40 comprises a main body in the form of a driving member 42. A connecting member 44 extends from the driving member 42 to a securing portion 46 to secure the driving tool element 40 to a suitable tool (not shown). It will be appreciated that the tool element 40 could be a tool itself, for example a screwdriver.

The driving member 42 has a profile of a hollow star shaped configuration and can be inserted into the star shaped groove 24 to drive the fastener 10.

The driving portion 42 comprises an inwardly facing surface 48 for engaging the outwardly facing surface 28 of the groove 24, and an outwardly facing surface 50 for engaging the inwardly facing surface 26 of the groove 24. Thus, when the driving member 42 is received in the groove 24, and rotated in a manner known by a person skilled in the art, the regions of the outer surface 50 which face in the direction of rotation engage corresponding regions of the outer surface 26 of the groove 24. Similarly, regions of the inner surface 48 which face in the driving direction engage corresponding regions of the inner surface 28 of the groove 24, thus, rotation of the driving bit 40 causes some of the inner surface and some of the outer surface to be engaged thereby driving the fastener.

Figs 6 to 9 show a second embodiment of the invention, which comprises many of the features of the first embodiment, and these features have been designated with the same reference numeral. The embodiments shown in Figs 6 to 9 are similar to embodiments shown in Figs I to 3 and 5, in that it includes a drive element 118 comprising an outer drive portion 120 having an inwardly facing surface 126 of a regular hexagonal configuration.

The drive element 118 also comprises an inner drive portion 122 having an outwardly facing drive surface 128 also of a regular hexagonal configuration.

As can be seen from Figs 6 and 7 the hexagonal configuration of the inwardly facing surface 126 is aligned with the hexagonal configuration of the outwardly facing surface 128, such that portions of the inwardly facing drive surface 126 are generally parallel with corresponding portions of the outwardly facing drive surface 28. A hexagonal groove or recess 124 is thus defined between the inwardly and outwardly facing drive surfaces 126, 128 to receive therein a driving tool (see below).

The configuration of the outer portions 120, 122, and the size of the recess 124, and the corresponding dimensions of the driving tool are such that the driving tool is held securely by the inner and outer drive portions 120, 126, and any lateral movement or "wobbling" of the driving tool on the fastener 10 is mitigated or obviated. This has the advantage of preventing the skating of the fastener 110 across the support where it is initially screwed into the support.

Referring to Figs 8 and 9, in which the outer and inner drive portions 120, 122 have been removed to reveal a keying member 136, it can be seen that the keying member 136 is an upstanding portion of a regular hexagonal configuration. The inner drive portion 122 is moulded onto the keying member 136, and the outer drive portion 122 is moulded around the keying member 136, and the outer drive portion 122 is moulded around the keying member 136. The outer and drive portions 120, 122 are in the form of a plastic moulding.

The keying member 136 comprises four segments 137 defining a cross-shaped recess 138.

Fig 10 shows a driving tool element 140 of the second embodiment of the fastener 110 shown in Figs Ito 3 and 5. The tool element 140 includes many of the features of the tool element 40 shown in Fig 4, and these have been designated with the same reference numeral.

The tool element 140 comprises a main portion 142 from which the connecting element 44 extends. The main portion 142 defines a recess 144 to receive the drive element 118 of the fastener 110.

A driving member 146 is fixedly mounted to the main portion 142 within the recess 144, and is surrounded by the main portion 142. The driving member 146 is of a regular hexagonal configuration and is dimensioned to be a tight fit within the hexagonal recess 124 in the drive element 118. When the driving member 146 is received in the hexagonal groove or recess 124 the main portion 142 fits around the drive element 118 and the fastener 110 is held securely by the tool element 140. This enables the tool element 140 to drive the fastener with a significantly reduced danger of any skating of the fastener 110.

There is thus described a fastener having a head formed with a plastics material thereby having improved aesthetics over prior art fasteners, and which includes a groove having inner and outer surfaces both of which can be engaged to be driven by a driving tool. The preferred embodiment has the advantage that it provides an unobtrusive, low profile head. The second embodiment has the advantage that the fastener has increased stability over prior art fasteners when the fastener is initially being screwed into the support.

The feature that the driving tool is held securely by the head of the fastener obviates or mitigates the danger of the fastener skating across the support.

Various modifications can be made without departure from the scope of the invention, for example, the groove 24 could be of any suitable shape.

Similarly, the drive element 18 could also be of any suitable shape.

Whilst endeavouring in the foregoing specification to draw attention to those features of the invention believed to be of particular importance it should be understood that the Applicant claims protection in respect of any patentable feature or combination of features hereinbefore referred to and/or shown in the drawings whether or not particular emphasis has been placed thereon.

Claims

1. A fastener comprising a fastening element for fastening a first article to a second article and a drive element to enable the fastener to be driven, the drive element defining a drive formation having an inwardly facing drive surface and an outwardly facing drive surface, whereby a driving tool can co-operate with the drive formation to engage the said drive surfaces, thereby applying a driving force to both the said surfaces to drive the fastener.

2. A fastener according to a fastener according to claim 1 wherein the drive surfaces are opposed surfaces facing each other.

3. A fastener according to claim 2 wherein a gap is defined between the drive surfaces to receive the tool, the gap being sized to be a tight fit on the tool.

4. A fastener according to claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the drive element comprises inner and outer drive portions, the outwardly facing drive surface is provided on the inner drive portion and the inwardly facing drive surface is provided on the outer drive portion.

5. A fastener according to claim 4 wherein the inner and outer drive portions is formed of a plastics moulding material.

6. A fastener according to any preceding claim wherein the drive formation has a polygonal profile.

7. A fastener according to claim 6 wherein the drive formation has a star shaped profile.

8. A fastener according to claim 6 wherein the drive formation has a profile of a regular polygon.

9. A fastener according to any preceding claim wherein the inwardly facing and outwardly facing drive surfaces correspond in profile with one another, preferably the inwardly and outwardly facing surfaces have corresponding portions, which are generally parallel to each other, and are generally aligned with each other.

10. A fastener according to any preceding claim wherein the fastener is a threaded fastener, the fastening element comprising a threaded shank and the drive element comprising a head.

11. A fastener according to any preceding claim wherein the drive element comprising a support member for supporting the inner and outer drive portions, and may supporting the web of the moulding material.

12. A fastener according to any preceding claim wherein the drive element further including keying means on the support member to provide a key for at least one of the inner and outer drive portions.

13. A fastener according to claim 4 or any of claims 5 to 12 when dependent or ultimately dependent on claim 4 wherein the drive element further includes keying means on the support member to provide a key for at least one of the inner and outer drive portions.

14. A fastener according to claim 13 wherein the keying means provides a key for both of the inner and outer drive portions.

15. A fastener according to claim 13 or 14 wherein the keying means comprises an outer keying member, around which the outer drive portion is moulded, and an inner keying member around which the inner drive portion is moulded.

16. A fastener according to claim 15 wherein the keying means comprises a plurality of outer keying members, arranged around the support member, in spaced relation to each other.

17. A fastener according to claim 15 wherein the inner keying member has a profile that corresponds to the profile of the inner portion, and the moulding on the inner keying member comprises a coating on the inner keying member.

18. A fastener according to claim 17 wherein the inner keying member includes a keying formation.

19. A fastener according to claim 18 wherein the keying formation comprises a recess.

20. A fastener according to claim 19 in the recess is in the shape of a cross.

21. A fastener according to claim 4 or any of claims 5 to 20 when dependent on claim 4 wherein only one of the inner and outer drive portions is moulded onto the support member, the other of the inner and outer drive portions being formed of the same material as the shank and being formed with the shank.

22. A fastener according to claim 21 wherein the outer drive portion is moulded onto the support member.

23. A driving tool element comprising a body comprising a drive member, the drive member having an inwardly facing drive surface and an outwardly facing drive surface, and being configured to be received in a drive formation of a fastener.

24. A driving tool element according to claim 23 wherein the drive member may have a polygonal profile.

25. A driving tool element according to claim 24 wherein the drive member has a star shaped profile.

26. A driving tool element according to claim 24 wherein the drive member has a profile of regular polygon.

27. A driving tool element according to any of claims 23 to 26 wherein the inwardly facing and outwardly facing drive surfaces of the driving tool element correspond in profile with one another.

28. A driving tool element according to any of claims 23 to 27 wherein the inwardly facing and outwardly facing surfaces of the driving tool element are arranged generally opposite to each other.

29. A driving tool element according to claim 28 wherein the inwardly facing and outwardly facing surfaces of the driving tool element have corresponding portions which are generally parallel with each other, and are aligned with one another.

30. A fastener substantially as herein described with reference to Figs 1 to 3, 4 and 5 of the accompanying drawings.

31. A fastener substantially as herein described with reference to Figs 6 and 7 of the accompanying drawings.

32. A fastener substantially as herein described with reference to Figs 8 and 9 of the accompanying drawing.

33. A driving tool element substantially as herein described, with reference to Fig 4 of the accompanying drawing.

34. A driving tool element substantially as herein described with reference to Fig 10 of the accompanying drawings.

35. Any novel subject matter or combination including novel subject matter disclosed herein, whether or not within the scope of or relating to the same invention as any of the preceding claims.