NZ214830A - Staple: shoulder portion prevents wire being fixedly clamped to post - Google Patents

Description

fOPH 5. .9, "eg Fe? s ii15 NEW ZEALAND 214830 Priority Date(s): "I4- - Complete SpLu'icat, on Filed: Class: .. )Q... 14 -1-84 -2 7 W1987 Publxat.c-! D;itc: P.O. J-nrnol, rJo: . S^0!?7 Insert number cf ProvisicMl Spec' f i cit i ori( s) (if S nv ) anil di (r(5) of f iIing; o(hrr»ise leave b I a nk.

PATENTS ACT 195 3 Number: Date: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION n.z. patent c ' 14JAN.&i RECEIVED Insert Title of Invention.

Insert full pane, ful 1 ;troot idrtress and noTTorulity of (each) applicant.

FENCE POST STAPLE I/WE NOMMACK (NO.20) PTY. LIMITED, a Company incorporated under the laws of the State of New South Wales, Commonwealth of Australia of C/- McNally & Partners, 367 Kent Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia hereby declare the invention for which I/we pray that a patent may be granted to me/us and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- Indi cate if following page is numbered '1(a)' 214M0 The present invention relates to fencing systems as described in New Zealand Patent Specification No. 206 865 and specifically to a fastenser as described therein.

In that application, a U-shaped fastener, when homed into a fence post forms an eye adapted to locate a wire to the fence post enabling the wire to slide to some extent through the eye, thus enabling the wire to be tensioned.

It has been found that fasteners that have been used to date and which consist primarily of a U-shaped staple suffer a number of shortcomings. Firstly, in order to ensure that the wire is not clamped to the fence post, preventing the wire from being tensioned, the length of the staple must t>e accurately predetermined and accordingly, different lengthed staples must be used for different sized posts. Secondly, due to the substantially consistant cross-sectional dimensions of the staple, it has been found that the staple may be extracted from the fence post leaving the fence wires unattached.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome or at least ameliorate the above mentioned shortcomings by simple means.

The present invention consists of a U-shaped fastener having two arms and a bridge extending between the arms, said arms each comprising a free end portion having surfaces which taper convergently away from said bridge, a shouldered portion adjacent said bridge-having-a shoulder directed towards said free end portion and a 2 1483 portion intermediate said tapered portion and said shouldered portion.

In a preferred form the fastener is formed from a piece of sheet material and a tab is provided, projecting from each shoulder to increase the effective area of the shoulders.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a U-shaped fastener according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the fastener shown ir» figure 1.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the fastener shown in figure 1, and Figure 4 is a schematic representation of a staple according to the present invention homed into a fence post.

Referring first to figures 1, 2 and 3, a U-shaped fastener 1 has two arms 2 and a bridge 3 extending between the arms 2.

Each of arms 2 comprises a free end portion 4 having tapered surfaces 5 which converge away from bridge 3, a shouldered portion 6 defining shoulders 7 which are directed towards the free end portion 4, and a recessed portion 8 intermediate the free end portion 4 and the shouldered portion 6.

The fastener is formed from a sheet of metal as is best indicated by figure 2. 2 14 e The area of the shoulders 7 may be increased by the provision of tabs 9 which may be formed from the material removed from recessed portions 8.

Referring now to figure 4, a staple 1 (not to scale) is shown homed into a fence post 10.

The tapered surfaces 5 of the free end portions 4 enable the fastener to easily be driven into the fence post 10.

The shoulders 7 prevent the fastener 1 from entering the fence post to an extent whereupon a wire 11 would become clamped to the fence post 10. This enables the wire to be tensioned after it has been fixed to the post.

In other embodiments shoulders 7 may be set at a distance from bridge 3 adapted to enable a wire to be clamped against a fence post, for example, to clamp a chicken wire to a fence post. The dimensions may be altered to suit other applications.

The recessed portions, 8 in conjunction with the free end portions 4 defines barbs which prevent the fastener 1 from retracting from the fence post 10.

The tabs 9 or the shoulders 7 may extend lineally or curvilineally to engage the fence post. If desired the staple 1 may be dimensioned to be resilient engaged by the fence post between tabs 9 or shoulders 7 and the barbs.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the fastener according hereto may be used in a number of situations, and is not restricted to use in fencing. 2 1 4 &.3 0 It will be further appreciated that the shoulders may be tapered in the s^tne manner as tapered surfaces 5. ) -- i >111111111 nun —mpjip . r .

Claims (6)

21^630 WHAT I/WE CLAIM IS;

1. A U-shap«d fastener having two arms and a bridge extending between the arms, said arms each comprising a free end portion having surfaces which taper convergently away from said bridge, a shouldered portion adjacent said bridge having a shoulder directed towards said free end portion and a recessed portion intermediate said tapered portion and said shouldered portion.

2. A U-shaped fastener according to claim 1 wherein a tab is provided projecting from each of said shoulders to thereby increase the effective area of said shoulders.

3. A U-shaped fastener according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein each free end portion and their adjacent recessed portion defines a pair of barbs.

4. A U-shaped fastener according to any one of the preceding claims formed from sheet material.

5. A U-shaped fastener substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. J. D. HARDIE & CO. Patent Attorneys for the Applicants). N.2. PAmrr 1/ja; = ,>

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