US1241667A

US1241667A - Locking means for floor-boards.

Info

Publication number: US1241667A
Authority: US
Inventors: Otto A Schanz
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1917-06-21
Filing date: 1917-06-21
Publication date: 1917-10-02
Anticipated expiration: 1934-10-02

Description

0. A. SCHANZ.

LOCKING MEANS FOR FLOOR B0 APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21. I9

. 1,241,667. Patented Oct. 2, 1917.

5 405600 9? fi a all 0000 e1;

OTTO A: SGH'ANZ, OF PORT TOIVNSEND; WASHINGTON.

LOCKING 'MEANS'FOR FLOOR EBOARDSb."

Specification of Letters Patent:

Patented 001.12, 19 17.

Application filed Jamel, 1917. Serial No. 176,072.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it .known that I, O'r'ro A. SGI-IANZ, ,a citizen of the UnitedStates, and resident of Port 'lownsend, county of Jefferson, State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Looking Means for Floor-Boards, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to devices which are used for holding down the floor boards in the type of construction found in the Ford automobile.

The object of my invention is to provide a cheap and effective means for holding these boardsdown, which will, with great certainty, prevent their accidental rising and which may yet be set so as to permit free removal of these boards when desired.

My invention comprises the novel construction which is herein shown and described. In the accompanying drawings I have shown my invention in its preferred form of construction.

Figure 1 is a plan view of that portion of an automobile which contains the boards referred to.

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional elevation through the board showing my device in use therewith.

Fig. 3 is a cross section of the device on a larger scale;

Fig. 4 shows a plan View of the device set in position for the removal of the boards.

In the construction of a Ford automobile, two boards, 1 and 10, are used, forming a sloping floor extension at the forward end of the seating space. These boards are sup ported at their ends by resting upon longitudinal frame members, as 11. These boards usually have an overlapping or shiplap joint at their meeting edges and may be raised by buckling upward the adjacent edges of these boards or of one of them. They are made of such a width that when pressed downward they will tightly fill the space.

These boards are liable to be jarred, or otherwise started upward, and at times give bother by not staying in place. It is the purpose of my invention to provide a means for locking these boards down so there will be no danger of their rising, and the upper board then dropping down and jamming the foot levers.

The means employed by me consists of a button 2, which is herein shown as being of circular shape, although the outer shape of the button is largely immaterial. This button is pivoted, as by a screw or nail 10, to

' the frame member 11 upon which the ends of "the boards 1 and 10 rest. This frame member is grooved so that the outer surface of the boards 1 and '10 are flush with the upper surface of said frame member.

The button 2 has a notch 20 formed in one side thereof, this notch having its two sides of such a length and so related to each other, that when the pivot of the button is placed in proper relation with the corners of the boards 1 and 10, the button may be turned so that the two sides of this notch register with the two sides of one of these boards, as 1. In this position the lower boa rd 1 may be raised. The surface of these boards and the frame member 11 is inclined, as is shown in Fig. 2.

The tendency of any object pivoted upon an inclined or vertical surface, and in which the pivot is one which permits free movement, is for the button or other object to gradually work into such position that its heavier side is downward. The location of the pivot of the button is practically in line with the meeting edges of the two boards, 1 and 10. In consequence of this, and of the inclined position of the button, the tendency due to jarring or other causes, acts to turn the button to bring its heavy side downward and to bring the notch to the upper side of the button. This is a position in which the button overlaps both the boards 1 and 10 and said boards cannot, therefore, be raised. In fact, the boards cannot be raised except the button is in exactly the right position. As there are two buttons, one on each side of the car, and the natural tendency is for. those to turn into such position that the boards cannot be raised, there is practically no possibility of the boards accidentally rising. It will be necessary to adjust both of them carefully to their proper position.

In the formation of the notch 20 in the button, I prefer that the material which was removed by the making of the notch be, in part at least, turned downward and under so as to form a vertical flange 21. As the central part of the button is raised, thereby giving it a convexed shape, this flange may be of rather material depth at its inner end and in fact, may be turned slightly under, as is indicated in Fig. 3. This flange acts as a reinforcement to prevent pushing downward of the top surface of the button. The

under curved edge of the flange also pro-- vides a somewhat larger bearing for the flange and thus prevents the flange from entering the cracks at the edge of the boards.

It thus facilitates shifting the button into its locking position.

What I claim as my invention is:

A button for securing down the floor boards of automobiles, having a pivot and a notch extending inward from one edge and adapted to have its side edges register with portions of adjacent side edges of one of the boards to be secured, the metal along a side of said notch being turned down to form a flange which is normal to the bottom face of 15 OTTO A. SCHANZ.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, I). G.