GB2526592A

GB2526592A - A spacer

Info

Publication number: GB2526592A
Application number: GB1409512.9A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Brian Lyttle
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2014-05-29
Filing date: 2014-05-29
Publication date: 2015-12-02
Also published as: GB201409512D0

Abstract

A spacer 100, for use as a shim, packer or filler to fit between surfaces, for example in the space between a wall and a door or window frame in order to prevent their movement, comprises two opposing, parallel plates 10A, 10B separated by at least one member that allows the gap between the plates to be varied. The separation between the plates may vary in a substantially uniform and equal progression. The at least one member may be resiliently deformable, and may comprise a compression spring 20. The member may comprise closed cell structure material, such as foam, rubber or silicone.

Description

A SPACER

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a spacer, in particular but not exclusively a spacer that is capable of being adjusted in situ.

Background

During construction and building there is often requirement to use a spacer in order to separate two surfaces by the desired amount and ensure the surfaces are held apart permanently, according to a particular alignment.

A spacer provided in order to fill a gap or to define the gap by which the two surfaces are spread apart is sometimes referred to as a shim, packer, filler or wedge. Said spacers are typically wedged between the surfaces so as to fit tightly and prevent movement between the surfaces.

Cutting such spacers to size can be problematic, involving multiple insertions and removals of the spacer, so as to enable correct fitting; or in some cases insertion of multiple spacers in order to fill the gap sufficiently.

If multiple spacers are required, it may be problematic to maintain them in position during fitting and often the spacers may be dropped or knocked during insertion.

Prior Art

Accordingly a number of patent applications have been filed in an attempt to resolve the problem or similar, including the following: International patent application W02012155908 (E J Design) discloses an adjustable shim is disclosed, comprising a first contact body with a first outward facing contact surface, a second contact body with a second outward-facing contact surface arranged so that the second contact surface is parallel to and faces away from the first contact surface, one or more brackets, each of which are rotatably connected to the first contact body and to the second contact body, such that when the one or more brackets are rotated, the first contact body and the second contact body are displaced in relation to each other by a translation, which changes the distance between the first contact surface and the second contact surface.

International patent application W0200753908 (Danley Construction Products) reveals a filled gap in a concrete construction, including a space filling aid comprising an elongate body adapted for resilient insertion into a gap, the gap being of the type having confronting side walls separated by a space, the elongate body having an elongate paste receiving cavity of predetermined volume which bridges across the body to hold filler paste applied into the cavity, the elongate body being adapted to expand and retract as the space between the walls changes and a filler paste layed while flowable and allowed to harden being held in the cavity.

United States granted patent US6230446 (General Electrical Capital et at) shows a plastic wedge shaped shim for levelling which is pre-scored to enable protruding section to be broken off. Parallel, straight, scores are formed at regular intervals on the top surface of the shim. These scores form teeth enabling stacked shims to interengage one another when one is placed inverted on another.

Summary of the Invention

According to the present invention there is provided a spacer comprising: two plates having opposing, planar and substantially parallel outer faces, and inner faces; in which said plates are arranged such that the inner faces of the plates are spaced apart from each other by at least one member arranged to allow variation in the separation between the inner faces of the plates.

Preferably the at least one member is resiliently deformable. In some embodiments the member may by defined by elastic compression and return. In other embodiments the member may be compressed or expanded with no automatic return force, for example wherein the member is composed of parts corresponding on a screwthread or ratchet mechanism.

Preferably the spacer is of a substantially elongate shape, arranged to maintain a longer contact area, having two ends joined by elongate sides.

Preferably in use the inner faces at the ends approximate in substantially uniform and equal progression.

In order to achieve this, preferably the inner faces are spaced apart by at least two members. Ideally the members are arranged centrally along a midline wherein the member, fol example the spring, is of a lesser diameter that the plate width.

Preferably the members comprise compression springs. In other embodiments the resiliently member or members may comprise closed or open cellular structure material, such as foam, and/or elastomer such as silicone or rubber.

In this way the present invention typically provides a pair of plates separated by at least one spring. The spacer may be arranged in use to be positioned between two spaced surfaces so as to fill a gap between them, maintaining the surfaces' spacing apart, and also allowing reduction of the spacing between the surfaces, by compression of the spring(s).

In this way the spacer can be inserted in a gap between two surfaces and one or both surfaces can be adjusted by compression of the members in order to correctly position the surface, for example so as to level the surface or bring the surfaces parallel.

Advantageously this allows a single spacer to be used at one location and adjusted, avoiding requirements for multiple spacers at one location or provision of a spacer of a particular size. Therefore fitting of the spacer and aligning of a surface is made quicker and easier.

In addition or the alternative the spacer allows for adjustment, for example before, during or after the fitting process, for example as a result of settlement or warping of materials that comprise the surface(s).

In preferred embodiments the spacer can be placed between two substantially parallel surfaces so that one plate abuts a first surface and the opposite plate abuts a second surface. For example the spacer may be located between a wall and a door frame in order to allow the door frame to be levelled/aligned for receiving a door.

Ideally the plates are formed from a hard wearing, durable, material such as metal or synthetic plastic. For example the plates may be formed from steel or aluminium.

Typically the plates are substantially rectangular with rounded corners so as to have no sharp edges that may be exposed to a user.

In some other embodiments the spacers may be without limitation round, oval shaped or square.

Preferably each outer face of each plate may be shaped towards the opposing inner face, the plate for example curved or bent at the end; so as to enable easier manipulation and repositioning of the spacer in use by having a portion of the plate raised from the surface.

Ideally each end of each plate may also be tapered.

In preferred embodiments the ends may be shaped and tapered. In this way the user is able to easily position their fingers about the end, or use a tool about the ends so as to move or manipulate the spacer more easily.

Preferably the members are compression springs and ideally these may be wave springs, as capable of more compact compression whilst maintaining strength.

Therefore ensuring the two surfaces are pushed apart by the spring whilst also allowing compression of the spring to alter the distance by which the surfaces are separated.

In other embodiments the member(s) may be coil springs.

Ideally each member is secured to an inner face of each plate. Preferably the member may be permanently secured to the plate for example being bonded or welded to the plate or secured by adhesive.

Alternatively the member may be displaceably secured into or onto the plate during use by a securing means such as a catch, detent mechanism, hook, clip, or recess suitable for receiving the member(s). In this way it may be possible to exchange the members or secure the members to different plates. Therefore it may be envisaged that the parts of the spacer may be interchangeable so as to accommodate various different situations, for example where larger plates and/or stronger springs may be required.

Preferably each plate includes at least one perforation or aperture that corresponds to an aperture on the opposing plate.

In this way a fixing such as a screw or bolt can be passed through the spacer and fitted in order to secure both surfaces together as well as locating and fitting the spacer between the two surfaces.

In some embodiments the apertures are threaded in order to pull the plates together during screwing of any fixing means like a bolt, through the surfaces and/or plates.

It may be envisaged that the aperture may be sized to receive a particular fixing.

Alternatively or additionally the aperture may be sized to substantially match the inner circumference of the spring allowing significant movement of the fixing.

Typically the aperture is larger than the fixing and therefore allows the fixing or plurality of fixings to be fitted at various locations depending upon the surface types, shape or orientation.

The fixing typically enables adjustment of the surface by forcing the surfaces closer together, for example by tightening of the screw or bolt, in order to compress the springs, thereby reducing the thickness of the spacer. Typically the plates are parallel to one another when not in use and envisaged to be substantially parallel when in use. However, in use the spacer may not be compressed evenly along its length.

It may be envisaged that a plurality of spacers may be used between a pair of surfaces and that each spacer may be adjusted to a different amount of compression along the surface in order to achieve the desired alignment of the surface. For example to level a surface may require each spacer to be a different degree of compression.

In some embodiments the spacers may be provided with a displaceable brace so as to hold the springs and thereby the plates in a compressed arrangement. In this way the spacers take up less space when stored/packaged and can be easily fitted into a small gap before removing the brace and allow the spacer to extend.

For example the brace may comprise a U-shaped clip arranged to pass about the edges of the plates. For example the brace may be formed from metal or a synthetic plastic wherein at least one brace may be arranged on each side of the spacer.

In some embodiments the member or members may be compressed in use by a compression mechanism comprised within the spacer, for example wherein a screwthread mechanism is arranged to compress the spacer independent of and prior to use.

Such mechanism may comprise a grub screw or similar.

In some embodiments the member or members may comprise resiliently deformable material such as rubber, silicone or other elastomer.

In some further embodiments the members may be rigid and only arranged to allow approximation of the inner faces according to adjustment.

Brief Description of Figures

Figure 1 shows an overview of one embodiment of the spacer; Figure 2 shows a side view of the embodiment of the spacer; Figure 3 shows a top view of an embodiment of the spacer; And Figure 4 shows an overview of the spacer located between two surfaces.

Detailed Description of Figures

The figures show one preferred embodiment of the spacer suitable for use between two surfaces.

The spacer 100 shown in the figures comprises a pair of opposing plates iDA and 108 spaced apart by a pair of compression springs 20A and 20B. The compression springs 20A and 2DB are wave compression springs.

The plates iDA and lOB are rectangular with a curved edge at each shorter end 30.

Each end 30 is tapered to a curve and is bent towards the opposing plate.

Each inner face of the plate receives a spring 20A, 208 so as to sandwich the springs 20A, 2DB between the two plates iDA, lOB.

The plates iDA, 103 are laser cut from metal and the springs 20A, 203 are welded to the plate. The plates bA, lOB have a smooth, flat finish so as to be suitable for abutting to a surface such as a wall, ceiling, door or window frame.

The springs 20A and 20B are wave springs so as to be capable of greater compaction than a coil spring. Therefore allowing the spacer to be compacted so that the plates are almost touching one another when the springs 20A, 20B are fully compressed. The curved edges at the ends 30 may touch in some embodiments when the springs 20A, 20B are compressed.

Each plate 1DA,1OB has two apertures 40, with each aperture 40 corresponding to the inner circumference of the springs 20A, 203.

The apertures 40 are capable of accepting fixings such as screws or bolts that serve to connect both surfaces that are either side of the spacer 100 so that the gap between the surfaces can be adjusted.

Further apertures may be provided to provide further locations for receiving fixings.

Figure 4 shows the spacer 100 in use located between two surfaces 50, a wall and a door frame. The spacer 100 is compressed in order to be slotted between the gap between the surfaces 50.

Insertion of the fixing 60 serves to join both surfaces 50 thereby enabling compressing the spacer 100 by adjustment of the fixing. The fixing 60 is tightened so as to further compress the springs 20. Multiple spacers 100 are arranged along the length of the surfaces 50 and the fixings at each spacer 100 are adjusted along the length of the surface 50 so as to arrange the surface 50 at the desired orientation by varying compression of each spacer 100.

As the spacer 100 is exerting an outward force against each surface 50 the surface is maintained in position by both the fitting holding the surfaces together and the spacers 100 pushing the surfaces 50 apart.

The invention has been described by way of examples only and it will be appreciated that variation may be made to the above-mentioned embodiments without departing from the scope of invention. Firstly it will be understood that any features described in relation to any particular embodiment may be featured in combinations with other embodiments.

With respect to the specification therefore, it is to be realised that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention, with variation and implementation obvious and clear on the basis of either common general knowledge or of expert knowledge in the field concerned. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as set out in the accompanying claims.

Claims

Claims 1. A spacer comprising: two plates having opposing, planar and substantially parallel outer faces, and inner faces; in which said plates are arranged such that the inner faces of the plates are spaced apart from each other by at least one member arranged to allow variation in the separation between the inner faces of the plates.
2. A spacer according to claim 1 wherein the at least one member is resiliently deformable.
3. A spacer according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the at least one member is arranged to allow fixed separation of the inner faces.
4. A spacer according to claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the spacer is of a substantially elongate shape, arranged to maintain a longer contact area, having two ends joined by elongate sides.
5. A spacer according to claim 4 wherein in use the separation between the inner faces at the ends are arranged to vary in substantially uniform and equal progression.
6. A spacer according to claim 5 wherein the ends include separate members.
7. A spacer according to any preceding claim wherein the at least one member comprises a compression spring.
8. A spacer according to any preceding claim wherein member comprises closed cell structure material.
9. A spacer according to any preceding claim wherein the spacer includes two springs.
10. A spacer substantially as described herein with reference to the figures.