US20110127482A1

US20110127482A1 - Combined structure of fence posts and rails

Info

Publication number: US20110127482A1
Application number: US12/591,810
Authority: US
Inventors: Chong-Yi Lo
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2009-12-02
Filing date: 2009-12-02
Publication date: 2011-06-02

Abstract

A combined structure of fence posts and rails is disclosed, which puts emphasis on the joining end made by the fence post and the rail, where a clasping member is set up on each of the two laterals of the joining end in an axial orientation, and the clasping member has one end fixed to the rail that is close to the joining fence post, while the other end has an increasing opening distance opposite to the fence post and is separated from the rail, and the rail has a breach at each lateral with respect to the location of the clasping member. Accordingly, a firm combination out of the fence posts and the rails is achieved by this invention, which is free of other associate components.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a combined structure of fence posts and rails and more specifically to one that is free of other associate components to form a firm combination, which substantially expedites the assembly and lowers the cost.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The combined structure of fence posts and rails such as the patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,534, and the patent application, USPTO publication No. 2007/0158630A1, where these structures are all provided with an opening on the fence post with respect to each rail, and the rail is provided with a U-shaped elastic member in its joining end with respect to the opening of the fence post. A round projection is joined fixedly to each side of the elastic member. And the two round projections each penetrates one of both laterals of the joining end of the rail, and protrudes from the corresponding lateral. When a rail is combined with a fence post, two round projections at both laterals of the joining end of the rail are pressed down inwardly first, followed by placing the joining end of the rail into the opening of the fence post. Once the round projections of the rail are lodged in the opening of the fence post, the U-shaped elastic members will be resilient to push the round projections out of the wall of the rail yet internal to the fence post. By means of the seizure of the round projections by the fence post, the rails are then combined with the corresponding fence posts.
The foregoing approach to combine rails with fence posts by the use of the U-shaped elastic member with a round projection joined fixedly on each side actually has the following shortcomings:

- 1.) additional cost for the components such as the U-shaped elastic members and the round projections
- 2.) extra efforts to mount the U-shaped elastic members and the round projections in the interior of the joining end of a rail, and high possibility for the U-shaped elastic members and the round projections to be fallen off from the rail if they are not fixed firmly

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the light of the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior combined structures of fence posts and rails, this inventor conceived the idea for the advanced improvement, and eventually the endeavors gave birth to this invention.
The objective of this invention is to provide a combined structure of fence posts and rails, where the combination is free of other associate components.
The main traits of this invention lie in the joining end of a rail and a fence post. The rail has a protruded clasping member on each of its two laterals of the joining end in an axial orientation, where the protrusion of the clasping member has increasing opening distance opposite to the joining post, such that the outer rim of the protrusion forms a blockade fringe. The clasping member has one end fixed to the rail that is close to the joining fence post, and the opposite end separated from the rail that is resilient, and the rail has a breach at each lateral with respect to the location of the clasping member. Accordingly, when the joining end of a rail is inserted in the opening of the fence, the two clasping members of the rail are pressed by the interior of the opening of the fence post into the breaches respectively. Once the clasping members are completely lodged in the fence post, the two clasping members return to the protruded mode, where the blockade fringes of the protruded clasping members are seized by the interior of the fence post to form a firm combination.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional assembled view of the fence of the exemplary embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the fence posts and the rails of the exemplary embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 3 is a three-dimensional view (I) of the joining end of a rail of the exemplary embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 4 is a three-dimensional view (II) of the joining end of a rail of the exemplary embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram depicting the motion of combining a rail with a fence post of the exemplary embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 6 is a front view of combining a rail with a fence post of the exemplary embodiment of this invention; and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of FIG. 6 by viewing from 7-7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

To achieve the foregoing objects and function of the present invention, the techniques and structure adopted are described with reference to the following preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings.
Referring to FIGS. 1-4, the fence of the exemplary embodiment of this invention is provided with vertical tubes 10 and trails 20 perpendicular and connected to each other and each end portion of a rail is joined to a fence post 30, where:

- Fence posts 30, having an opening 31 to be combined with each trail 20, where the opening 31 is used for being inserted by a joining end 21 of the rail 20.
- Rails 20, the joining end 21 combined with a fence post 30 is provided with a indentation 22 (shown in FIGS. 3 & 4) at its bottom, which is formed by cutting a square-shaped piece off from the bottom side of the joining end until a vertical barricade 23 is formed toward the fence post 30 with respect to the indentation 22. The length of the part of the joining end 21 on the top of the indentation 22 is identical to the inner width of the opening 31 of the fence post 30, so that as soon as the joining end 21 of the rail 20 is completely lodged in the opening 31, the vertical barricade 23 is in exact contact to the exterior of the fence post 30. A protruded clasping member 24 is set up on each of the two laterals of the joining end 21 in an axial orientation, and the clasping member 24 has one end fixed to the rail 20 that is close to the joining fence post 30, while the other end has an increasing opening distance opposite to the fence post 30 and is separated from the rail 20 that empowers the clasping member 24 to be resilient, and the outer rim of the clasping member 24 forms a blockade fringe 240. A horizontal distance D (shown in FIG. 4) is measured in between the blockade fringe 240 and the vertical barricade 23, where the horizontal distance D is simply the thickness of the wall of the fence post 30. And the rail 20 has a breach 25 (shown in FIGS. 3 & 7) at each lateral with respect to the location of the clasping member 24.

To combine a rail 20 with a fence post 30, shown in FIG. 5, the joining end 21 of the rail 20 is inserted in the opening 31 of the fence post 30, the two clasping members 24 of the rail 20 are pressed by the interior of the opening 31 of the fence post 30 into the breaches 25 of the rail 20 respectively. Once the two clasping members 24 of the joining end 21 of the rail 20 are completely lodged in the fence post 30, the two clasping members 24 return to the protruded mode by exploiting their own resilience; at the moment, the vertical barricade 23 of the rail 20 is in exact contact to the exterior of the fence post 30, and the blockade fringes 240 of the clasping members 24 are seized by the interior of the fence post 30, to form a seizure from both sides (shown in FIGS. 6 & 7), which forms a firm combination between the rail 20 and the fence post 30.
The aforementioned combination between the rail 20 and the fence post 30 is free of other associate components, and the clasping members 24 and the rail 20 are an all-in-one piece, which substantially expedites the assembly and lowers the cost. To sum up, the present invention is construed as not only novel but useful, thereby filing the present application herein subject to the patent law.

Claims

1. A combined structure of fence posts and rails, having vertical tubes and rails intersecting to each other respectively, and each end of a rail being joined to a vertical fence post, where the fence post is provided with an opening to combine with a rail, while a joining end of the rail is exploited to insert an opening of the fence post to combine with the fence post, featuring:

a clasping member being set up on each of the two laterals of the joining end in an axial orientation, where the clasping member has one end close to the fence post that is fixed to the rail, while the other end has an increasing opening distance opposite to the fence post and is separated from the rail, and the outer rim of the clasping member forming a blockade fringe; besides, the rail having a breach at each lateral with respect to the location of the clasping member.

2. A combined structure of fence posts and rails as in claim 1 wherein the joining end of the rail is provided with an indentation which is formed by cutting a square-shaped piece out of the bottom surface of the joining end starting from the outmost end toward opposite side until a vertical barricade being formed toward the fence post with respect to the indentation, where the length of the laterals of the joining end on the top of the indentation is identical to the inner width of the opening of the fence post, and a horizontal distance being measured in between the blockade fringe of the clasping member and the vertical barricade, which is simply equal to the thickness of the wall of the fence post.