US3044809A - Fastener - Google Patents

Description

July 17, 1962 E. B. FERNBERG 3,044,809

FASTENER Filed May 18, 1959 INVENTOR ERIC BIRGER FERNBERG BY wwwg wv ATTORNE Y United States Patent 3,044,809 FASTENER Eric Birger Fernherg, Northwootl, England, assignor to RT. Products Limited, London, England, a British company Filed May 18, 1959, Ser. No. 813,839 Claims priority, application Great Britain Dec. 12, 1956 1 Claim. (Cl. 287-53) The present invention relates to an improved fastener for releasably securing together male and female members such as a shaft with a flat on it to a knob formed with a stopped bore for the reception of the shaft.

This application is a continuation in part of my copending application 702,053 filed December 11, 1957.

In my co-pending application No. 702,053 there is described and claimed a fastener comprising a flat strip of spring material bent so as to have at least a portion of its length in approximately U- or horseshoe-shape with a web and two limbs, there being formed in one limb of the horseshoe at least one prong having its free end directed outwardly with respect to the horseshoe, said prong being sharply pointed and having its point bent out of the general plane of the material surrounding the prong.

There is also described and claimed in my co-pending application an assembly of male and female parts secured together with the aid of a fastener as defined in the previous paragraph, wherein the male part is in the formlof a shaft with a flat on it, all cross sections of the shaft being segments of a circle, the female member is formed with a longitudinally extending bore of shape preventing movement of the shaft transversed through its axis, and with a recess which opens into the bore and has at least one wall disposed closer to the axis of the shaft than the flat and serving to reduce the size of the opening in the bore and the recess, the fastener being located in the recess so that its pronged limb engages a wall thereof so as to prevent the fastener coming out of the recess and its other limb extends through the opening and bears resiliently against the flat on the shaft.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a fastener of the kind described above for use in an assembly described above so formed as to have a greater resilience.

According to the present invention there is provided a fastener comprising a flat strip of spring material bent so as to have at least a portion of its length in horseshoeshape with a web and two limbs, there being formed in one limb at least one sharply pointed prong having its point bent out of the general plane of the material surrounding the prong so as to be directed outwardly with respect to the horse-shoe shaped fastener, wherein the length of the prong from its root to its free end is at least one quarter of the length of the major axis of the horse shoe.

A preferred form of the invention will now be described with reference to drawing, in which:

FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 are respectively a plan view, side elevation and rear view of a fastener,

FIGURE 4 is a sectional elevation of a shaft assembled in a bore in a knob with the aid of the fastener of the FIG- URES 1-3, and

FIGURE 5 is a side elevation of an alternate form of fastener.

The fastener, generally indicated at in FIGURES 1 to 3, is similar to the fastener described in my co-pending V "ice - 2 application Serial No. 702,053 of which this application is a continuation in part, except that the prongs 11, 11A are longer and, in this case, square-nosed. Each prong 11, 11A thus acts in the manner of a leaf spring and adds its resilience to that of the fastener as a whole.

During manufacture, areas 12, 12A (FIGURE 3) have been cut away from the sides of the fastener and parallel shear cuts 13, 13A, extending from the inner edges of the cut away areas approximately vparallel with the size of the fastener, have been made so as to provide square-nosed prongs 11, 11A, the length of which from their root 16 or 16A to their free end is at least or one quarter of the height, or major axis (x, FIGURE 2), of the fastener.

In FIGURE 4 are illustrated a knob 14 and a shaft 15 similar to those illustrated in FIGURES 6 to 10 of the drawings of my application No. 702,053 of which this application is a continuation in part. The fastener 10 lodges within the recess in the knob and engages the flat on the shaft to releasably secure the knob and shaft together in the manner described in connection with the fastener of our co-pending application above referred to.

The outwardly bent free ends of the prongs 11, 11A press against the outer vertical wall of the recess to prevent the fastener 10 falling out of the knob if the knob is pulled off the shaft, and due to their length and shape give both greater strength and resiliency to the assembly as a whole.

The free ends of the prongs may if desired be pointed to give added grip on the walls of the recess.

FIGURE 2 shows a fastener in which the free end of the pronged limb of the horseshoe shape is extended and bent to be adjacent the inside of the other limb. On the other hand FIGURE 5 shows an alternate fastener in which the extension of the pronged limb is bent to be adjacent the outside of the other limb.

Many of the fasteners described in my earlier specification referred to above may be provided with prongs of length at least one quarter the major axis of the fastener, in a similar manner.

What I claim is:

A fastener comprising a flat strip of spring material bent so as to have at least a portion of its length in horse- 'shoe'shape with a web and two limbs, there being formed intermediate the ends of one limb at least one prong having its end bent out of the general plane of the material adjacent the prong so as to be directed outwardly with respect to the horseshoe and an elongate major portion of the prong between the root and the said end of the prong which said major portion lies in the general plane of the material adjacent the prong, the maximum width of the pronged limb being less than the maximum width of the other limb and the length of the prong from its root to its end being at least one quarter the length 5 of the major axis of the horseshoe.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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