Fastening means

Nov. 24, 1953

L. NEWMAN

FASTENING MEANS

Filed Nov. 16, 1949

2,660,084

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Patented Nov. 24, 1953

2,660,084

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,660,084

FASTENING MEANS

Leopold Newman, New York, N. Y., assignor to Falcon Fasteners, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York

Application November 16,1949, Serial No. 127,638

Claims.

The present invention relates to fastening means, such as nails, adapted to be driven into walls and the like, especially soft walls incapable of holding ordinary nails. More particularly, the invention relates to fastening means of the type comprising a hollow outer body and a locking pin to be inserted into the outer body and to serve as a means for anchoring the fastening means in the surrounding material when the nail is used for fastening an item, for instance a shingle, a bracket, or some other article to the wall.

The known fastening means of this type have the disadvantage of requiring two separate pieces, the outer body and the locking pin cooperating therewith, and they therefore require two separate fastening operations. It is a further inconvenience of the known devices, that the two pieces have to be separately stored and separately used. Care also has to be taken to have the equal number of pieces ready at all times.

In contradistinction thereto, the fastening means according to the invention consists of a single unit which comprises both the body and the locking pin. This unit is driven into the wall or the like as a whole, with the body first penetrating and the central pin starting its axial movement with respect to the body, after the resistance of the wall against the penetration of the body has been overcome.

It is the object of the present invention to eliminate the above mentioned drawbacks inherent in the known devices and to provide fastening means of the indicated type in which the two elements remain together at all times after manufacture during storage and application.

It is another object of the invention to provide fastening means of the indicated type which can foe driven into material of varying thickness irrespective of the length of the fastening means.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide fastening means which, due to their particular profile, will be securely anchored in the surrounding material and will be assured against working loose therefrom.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawing in which several embodiments of the fastening means according to the invention have been illustrated by way of example. Related subject matter is shown in applicant’s abandoned application, Ser. No. 58,308, filed November 4,1948.

With the above objects in view, my invention comprises a fastening means having a hollow outer body member and a locking pin for inser (CI. 85—38) tion into said outer member, both members being driven into the surrounding material in a single operation. The inner member or pin is provided with a spacing element preferably in the general ⁵ shape of a sleeve, said element serving the purpose of retaining the locking pin from advancement into the bore of the hollow body until the latter reaches its final position in the surrounding material. In order to achieve this purpose, the ¹⁰ spacing element is made of a material having greater resistance against deformation than the resistance of the wall material against the advancement of the body into the same. Only after the hollow body has been driven into the wall to until its head touches the surface of the bracket, shingle or the like, will the resistance of the spacing element against deformation be overcome by further hammering or the like and the pin will be driven into final position.

²⁰ The spacing element may have the shape of a simple sleeve placed between the top of the body member and the head of the inner locking member. If desired, the sleeve may be provided with a flange at the bottom end abutting against the ²⁵ top end of the body member. In another embodiment of the invention the spacing element is in the form of a cover enclosing the head of the locking pin. In that case, the spacing element may be provided with longitudinal slots which 30 facilitates the deformation of the element while the body member is being driven into final position.

The outer body may have dents or grooves formed on the surface which cooperate with the 35 locking pin bearing against them in firmly anchoring the body in the surrounding material. These dents may be transversal or parallel to the axis of the fastener.

In order that my invention may be fully under40 stood, it will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which

Fig. 1 is an illustration of the fastening unit;

Fig. 2 is a view of the fastening means after , it has been driven into the wall and the spacing 45 element has been deformed;

Fig. 3 shows the spacer according to Figs. 1 and 2 in section;

Figs. 4 and 5 show two other embodiments of the spacing elements with parts of the locking pin 50 and body member of the fastening means;

Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate in plan view and section, respectively, a spacing member according to the embodiment shown in Fig. 4, after deformation; and ⁵⁵ Figs. 8 and 9 illustrate yet another embodiment

2,660,084 of the spacing element with and without fastening means, respectively.

With reference to the drawing, more particularly Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the fastener comprises a hollow body in form of a shaft I ί and having a head 12; in the central opening 13 of the shaft 11, a locking pin or nail 14 of any commercial type is received, which in its inoperative position, shown in Fig. 1, protrudes above the head 12 of the body member over a considerable portion of its length. Between the head S5 of the locking pin and the head i 2 of the body member, a semirigid spacing element 17 is fitted, which is shown in its normal shape in Figs, i and 3, respectively, and after having been deformed in Fig. 2. In accordance with the invention, this sleeve consists of a material which has a resistance to the blows of a hammer, a pushing organ, or similar tool, greater than the resistance of the wall material against penetration of the fastener under the action of the driving tool.

As shown in the drawing, the sleeve has a flange 18 bearing against head 12 of the body member; however, a simple sleeve 38 without a flange as shown in Figs. 8 and 9 may likewise be used and is to be understood as coming within the scope Of the present invention; this sleeve may have a thicker wall and may be softer.

As a rule, an item such as a bracket, a fixture, or a shingle, has to be fixed to the wall surface by the fastener according to the invention. The head of the fastening means is, therefore, bearing against the bracket or the like in its final position. The nail head 15 can be made with a large diameter so as to cover the sleeve after deformation thus making it invisible.

Along the length of the shaft 11, a number of transverse dents 19 are provided in the wall of the body member which form corresponding projections inside the hollow shaft. The shaft is slotted over a considerable length, so as to form two parts which contact or nearly contact each other along the edges extending parallel to the axis of the fastener. The two ends are tapered and form together the conical tip 29 of the body 11. The wall is shown at 21, the item to be fastened at 40.

As the fastener is driven into the wall, for instance by hammer blows hitting the top or head 15 of the nail 14, the body member H is first penetrating into the wall until its head 12 bears against the surface of the bracket 40 or the like; the sleeve 17 remains undeformed during that time. Only after the body member has reached that position, will the resistance of element 17 against deformation be overcome, and the spacer will fold down taking different shapes, one of them shown in Fig. 2. The fastener is then permanently secured in the wall.

With dented bodies, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a very thorough anchorage of the fastener is achieved, regardless of the thickness of the material. As the pin advances within the shaft it gradually bears on two opposite dents 19 and thereby not only forces the fastener apart, but also causes the portions between the dents to become anchored in the wall by expanding and spreading behind the wall. The thickness of the wall will not be material, since there will always be one or more dents, even when the fastener is shorter than the thickness of the wall. Thus it is possible to use a fastener of one and the same length for walls of different thicknesses.

After the pointed end of the pin !4 engages with a pair of the opposed internal projections within the hollow body ί I, the longitudinal por4 tions of the hollow body are expanded as shown in Figure 2 of the drawing, the principal expansion taking place on that part of the hollow body projecting beyond the thickness of the wall 2i.

Figs. 1 and 2 show a fastener which is longer than corresponds to the thickness of the wall, in which case the locking pin spreads the tips apart, thereby anchoring the body in the surrounding material.

It should, however, be understood that the fastener according to the present invention is not limited to the use of shafts having dents as shown; it may be applied to fasteners having body members with straight shafts; or body members may be used having dents in substantially longitudinal instead of substantially transverse direction. j

According to the invention, the nail or pin is clamped in place within the body by the first pair of dents in the case of dented bodies; when .

a dentless body is used, the pin is either held by J friction or it may be cemented to the body by wax or any other cementing material.

In Fig. 4 I have shown another embodiment of the spacer element in which the top 25 of the pin 24 is drawn out so as to form a sleeve 27 integral with the pin. A flange 28 bears on the top of body member 22 similar to the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2. A number of longitudinal slots 26 may be provided in the portion 27 spreading apart when the sleeve folds down. Six slots are provided in the example here shown (see Fig. 6), which facilitate the deformation of the spacer. Fig. 7 shows this sleeve in folded position.

Similar slots may be provided in the sleeve according to Fig. 3.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 5, a spacer 37, similar to spacer 27 of Fig. 4, is illustrated, which has a closed portion 36 made integrally with the pin 34 by means of riveting; 35 is the head of the riveted end of pin 34. The action of the spacer in these last two embodiments is similar to the one described with reference to the first embodiment, provided the material of the spacer element is so chosen with respect to the wall material that the resistance of the spacer material to deformation is larger than that of the wall material against penetration of the fastener tip.

The body of the fastener may be made from sheet metal; and the methods by which it is made may likewise be the same which are customarily applied in this art, for instance, diestamping, die-forming, cast-molding, or the like. The nail or pin may be of a commercial type. The spacer member is preferably made from metal or alloys having the proper deformation characteristics as compared to the strength of the wall material, choosing softer or harder material accordingly. A material such as hard lead will lend itself very well to the purpose in question. If, however, a softer material is used, it may be applied in a sleeve of greater wall thickness.

Instead of using a sleeve made of metal or metal alloys, I may likewise use a sleeve made of breakable or splintering material, such as hard glass, Bakelite, and the like. In that case, after the body member has reached its final position, the sleeve will break or splinter under the continued hammer blows and allow the locking pin to advance to final position, too.

From the description above it will be obvious that the fastener according to the invention may be used in many ways for household and indus2,660,084 trial purposes. It anchors to any wall fixtures such as brackets, mirrors, shelves, lamps, kitchen and bathroom fixtures of all kinds, wiring, plumbing etc. No special tools or skills are required, no drilling, plastering, dowelling, or any other ma- 5 nipulations are necessary, a simple hammering is all that is needed to achieve a secure anchorage in the wall. Furthermore, since the fastener is made and sold as a unit, comprising body and locking pin with the spacer interposed, no dis- 10 placing of parts during storage or application of the unit is possible, no time is wasted in trying to find matching bodies and pins among loose parts and to fit them together which, as generally known, is frequently a very annoying procedure 15 in the mounting of articles as listed above. The saving of time and labor accomplished by the fastener is, therefore, of great advantage and spells an important improvement over fastening means used heretofore for similar purposes. 20

While I have described and illustrated several specific embodiments of my invention, I want it to be understood that many alterations and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of my invention and the scope 25 of the appended claims.

Wherever in the claims “a wall” is mentioned, it should be understood, that this expression is intended to include any supporting material, like a railroad tie, a wood partition, and so on, into 30 which a fastener of the type described might be driven.

Wherever in the.claims “a fixture” is men-, tioned, this expression is meant to include brackets, shelves, mirrors, lamps, plates of any kind, 35 pictures, kitchen and bathroom cabinets and other kitchen and bathroom fixtures, towel holders, clothes racks, etc.; also wiring, plumbing and so on.