Abstract:
This invention pertains fasteners which are characterized by adaptability of use with substrates, such as steel panels for example, of various thicknesses. This is achieved predominately by providing the fastener with legs having an origin section in the vicinity of the head of the fastener. Expansion promoters and/or anti-sliding elements improve considerably the separation resistance of objects connected with the fasteners of the present invention. Assemblies and vehicles comprising the spring fasteners of this invention, connecting two objects, one of the objects comprising a slot in which the fastener is inserted, and the other a hole, are also included within the scope of the instant invention. Provision of an elastic body in the vicinity of the bottom section of the fasteners provides water and gas proof properties, and further assist in the elimination of squeaking noises.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims priority of provisional patent applications 60/401,263, filed Aug. 06, 2002, and 60/403,202, filed Aug. 13, 2002, both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     This invention pertains fasteners, and more particularly fasteners which attach one object to another object, with special emphasis to objects in the Automotive Industry.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     In the original conventional technology of fasteners employed to securely attach one object to another, such as for example one part to another in the case of an automobile or an appliance, has utilized a nut on one of the two objects, usually welded or glued to the back of said object, and a bolt passing through a hole on the second object in a manner to be engaged by the nut, thereby securing the two objects together.  
         [0004]     This arrangement presents many problems, among which, one of the most important is that in the case that one object is hollow, the nut has to be in place at the back of the hollow object before assembling the two objects together. If for any reason the nut is misplaced, and/or if it becomes desirable to introduce a new fastening connection between the two objects, the task of achieving such connection becomes very difficult if not impossible for all practical purposes.  
         [0005]     The so-called “quick nuts” have also been used to connect two objects. In addition, vibration during the operation of a device, such as an automobile or appliance for example, containing the two objects results very often in loosening of the bolt or “quick nut” and in either full disassembling of the objects from each other, or in a vibration noise which is most annoying and often of unacceptable levels.  
         [0006]     Fasteners of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,238 (Vassiliou), which is incorporated herein by reference, have been utilized to reduce considerably the potential of bolt or screw loosening and vibration. They have also eliminated the problem of having to place one member of the fastener at the back portion of the hollow object. These fasteners are placed through a slot from the front part of the hollow object or substrate. An expanding member, being usually a bolt or a screw, supports the second object by forcing the legs of the fastener (as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,238) to open or expand, thereby securing the two objects together. The legs of the fasteners are supported by a double-layered head having an upper side and a lower side joined by side bents. The fasteners of this type have greatly improved the prevailing torque, as well as the pulling force of the system. Prevailing torque is the torque required to render a screw loose. Pulling force is the pulling force applied on the screw to the point of failure, which usually occurs at the bents.  
         [0007]     Other references representing the state of the art at this point are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,409,443, 6,379,092 B1, 6,299,399 B1, 6,280,129 B1, 6,250,864 B1, 5,725,343, 5,100,273, 4,941,340, 4,874,277, and 4,765,788, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.  
         [0008]     Also fasteners of the general type are described in our pending patent application Ser. No. 09/699,760, filed Oct. 30, 2000, which is also incorporated herein by reference.  
         [0009]     The fasteners disclosed in the above patents and application have some difficulty when designed to be secured in the slot of a substrate (which may also be referred to as a first object) having a certain thickness, and instead they are used in a substrate having a different thickness or different width. One such problem is rattling noises when the fasteners are used with a substrate which is thinner than the substrate that they have been designed for. Therefore there is a great need for a universal fastener of the general type described in the above patents, but being adaptable to be used with substrates having a broad range of thicknesses.  
         [0010]     One of the objectives of this invention is to overcome this problem.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0011]     This invention pertains fasteners, and more particularly fasteners which attach one object to another object, with special emphasis to objects in the Automotive Industry. More particularly, this invention pertains a spring fastener comprising: 
        a double layered head portion having an upper side, and a lower side, the upper side having an engageable hole on which an expanding member can engage and pass through, the expanding member having a pitch; and     a body portion extending from the lower side of the head portion, the body portion comprising two legs opposite to each other, each leg comprising an open neck, a respective substantially flat origin section originating from the head, and leaning at a lower point toward a respective substantially flat front portion away from the head, and wherein the respective origin sections of the legs are separated from each other by a first distance which is larger in the vicinity of the head than a second distance separating the respective front portions of said legs, the legs also comprising a contact region, on which contact region the expanding member exerts force causing said legs to expand when said expanding member is inserted into the fastener through the engageable hole.        
 
         [0014]     It is preferable that the second distance has substantially a zero value, bringing the respective front portions in substantial contact.  
         [0015]     It is also preferable that the origin sections are substantially perpendicular to the head as they initiate from said head and then lean toward each other as they progress to reach the respective front portions.  
         [0016]     Each origin section has an open neck portion, which may have any desirable dimensions, including but not limited to an extremely narrow slot.  
         [0017]     Each origin section also has an inner surface and an outer surface, which outer surface may have anti-sliding elements. Examples of such anti-sliding elements are ripples, bent teeth, general roughness, bumps, and any other configuration which will resist extraction of the fastener from the slot when said fastener is pulled away from the slot, especially after insertion of the expanding member.  
         [0018]     Each one of the two origin sections may preferably have a respective expansion promoter. Preferably, the expansion promoters have a curved front segment, and they are disposed at a distance from each other, commensurate to the pitch of the expanding member.  
         [0019]     The expansion promoters, are positioned most preferably within the contact region or between the contact region and the lower side of the head. In such a position, they prevent the head from bowing upon insertion of the engaging member. The contact region is the region which comes in contact with the expanding member for expanding the legs of the fastener. This arrangement prevents or at least hinders outward bowing of the upper side of the head of the fastener, since they prevent or at least hinder the outward force applied by the expanding member to said upper side of the head of the fastener, due to the engagement of the threads of the expanding member with said expansion promoters. Expansion promoters beyond the contact region do not provide this advantage, since the pressure to expand the legs is applied before engagement of the expansion promoters to the expanding member takes place. The same is true regardless of whether the particular structure described above is present or absent.  
         [0020]     The engageable hole on the head may be made by impression providing a substantially single thread, which is more suitable for screws, or extrusion providing a multi-thread structures, which is more suitable for bolts.  
         [0021]     Further, the fasteners of this invention may have barbs, which barbs prevent the fastener to fall out of the slot when initially inserted into said slot, and before the expansion member has been installed. The barbs may be conventional barbs, or as the barbs disclosed in provisional application 60/388,976 filed Jun. 14, 2002, and/or non-provisional application 10/209,765 filed Aug. 01, 2002, both of which are incorporated herein by reference. Further, the barbs may be divided into two pairs, each pair having barbs of substantially the same length, but the two pairs having two different lengths, the lengths of the diagonally disposed barbs being substantially the same while the lengths of the barbs disposed against each other being different. Both lengths may be such that allow at least one pair to fit under the metal or other sheet, onto which the fastener is engaged.  
         [0022]     The fasteners of this invention may comprise head-side separators, which prevent the two sides of the head to come close together or in touch with each other, when adequately, high torques are applied to the expanding member. It was found that when the two sides approach each other, the fastener tends unexpectedly to become somewhat loose, a phenomenon which is corrected by the presence of the head-side separators.  
         [0023]     The spring fasteners of this invention may further comprise an elastic body disposed at least under the lower side of the head portion, which elastic body provides sealing and/or sound reducing properties.  
         [0024]     Vehicles comprising the spring fasteners of this invention, connecting two parts, one of the parts comprising a slot in which the fastener is inserted, are also included within the scope of the instant invention. Thus, automobiles or other vehicles may be made, comprising one or more of the fasteners of the instant invention, providing substantial improvements regarding safety, performance and comfort. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING  
       [0025]     The reader&#39;s understanding of this invention will be enhanced by reference to the following detailed description taken in combination with the drawing figures, wherein:  
         [0026]      FIG. 1  illustrates a top view of a spring fastener according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0027]      FIG. 2  illustrates a front view of the fastener, the top view of which is illustrated in  FIG. 1 .  
         [0028]      FIG. 3  illustrates a side view of the fastener, the top view of which is illustrated in  FIG. 1 .  
         [0029]      FIG. 4  illustrates a cross-sectional view of substrates with a slot, which substrates may have different thicknesses, as indicated by the solid and dotted lines.  
         [0030]      FIG. 4A  illustrates a top view of an example of a slot of  FIG. 4 .  
         [0031]      FIG. 5  illustrates a fractional perspective view of an example of an expansion promoter.  
         [0032]      FIG. 6  illustrates the operation of the fasteners of the instant invention.  
         [0033]      FIG. 7  illustrates a perspective view of a fastener in another preferred embodiment of the present invention wherein the head comprises head-side separators.  
         [0034]      FIG. 8  illustrates a side view of a fastener of  FIG. 7 .  
         [0035]      FIG. 9  illustrates a cross sectional view of an extruded multi-thread engageable hole. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0036]     As aforementioned, this invention pertains fasteners, and more particularly fasteners which attach one object to another object, with special emphasis to objects in the Automotive Industry.  
         [0037]     As also mentioned earlier, there is a great need for a universal fastener of the general type described in the above patents, but being adaptable to be used with substrates having a broad range of thicknesses.  
         [0038]     This invention provides fasteners which have the configurations required to satisfy the above need.  
         [0039]     Referring now to FIGS.  1  to  6 , there is depicted, a spring fastener  10  according to a preferred embodiment of the instant invention. The fastener  10  comprises a double layered head portion  12 , which has an upper side or layer  14 , and a lower side or layer  16 . The upper side  12  has an engageable hole  18  on which an expanding member  20  (shown in  FIG. 6 ) can engage and pass through. The expanding member  20  has a pitch  22 , which is defined as the distance between two consecutive threads (shown also in  FIG. 6 ). Examples of expanding members are screws, bolts, etc.  
         [0040]     The spring fastener  10  further has a body portion  24  extending from the lower side  16  of the double layered head portion  12 . The body portion  24  has two legs  26   a  and  26   b  (collectively  26 ) opposite to each other.  
         [0041]     Each leg  26  has a respective origin section  28   a  and  28   b  (collectively  28 ) in the vicinity of the head  12  and a respective front portion  30   a  and  30   b  (collectively  30 ) away from the head  12 . The respective origin sections  28  of the legs are separated from each other in the vicinity of the head by a first distance D 1 , which is preferably larger than a second distance D 2  separating the respective front portions  30  of said legs  26 .  
         [0042]     It is more preferable that the second distance D 2  has substantially a zero value, bringing the respective front portions  30  in substantial contact.  
         [0043]     Each leg  26  has an open neck portion  21 , within the origin section  28 , which open neck portion  21  may have any desirable dimensions, including but not limited to an extremely narrow slot.  
         [0044]     It is also preferable that the origin sections  28  are substantially perpendicular to the head  12  as they initiate from the lower side  16  of the head  12  and then lean toward each other at a later point as they progress to reach the respective front portions  26 .  
         [0045]     Each origin section  26  has an inner surface S 1  and an outer surface S 2 , which outer surface S 2  may preferably have anti-sliding elements  32 . Examples of such anti-sliding elements  32  are ripples, bent teeth, general roughness, bumps, and any other configuration which will resist extraction of the fastener  10  from a slot  34  of a substrate (or first object)  36  (see  FIG. 4 ), when said fastener  10  is pulled away from the slot  34 , especially after insertion of the expanding member  20  (see  FIG. 6 ). Substrates or first objects are usually panels, such as metal sheets for example, having a thickness T and slots  34  with a width W (see  FIG. 4 ).  
         [0046]     The slot  34  has preferably an oblong shape with a round hole in the middle, as better illustrated in  FIG. 4A . The round hole allows the expanding member to move through the slot freely without interference from the walls of the slot, especially if the substrate or first object  36  is too thick and/or too hard.  
         [0047]     Examples of anti-sliding configurations, and more details regarding their structure, as well as other types of spring fasteners having snapping segments are disclosed in provisional applications 60/246,634 (filed Nov. 08, 2000), 60/249,996 (filed Nov. 20, 2000), 60/267,281 (filed Feb. 08, 2001), 60/283,286 (filed Apr. 12, 2001), 60/289,343 (filed May 07, 2001), 60/302,194 (filed Jun. 29, 2001), 60/301,164 (filed Jun. 25, 2001), 60/308,921 (filed Jul. 31, 2001), 60/310,343 (filed Aug. 06, 2001), and 60/312,867 (filed Aug. 16, 01), all of which are incorporated herein by reference.  
         [0048]     Each one of the two origin sections  28  may have a respective expansion promoter  38   a  and  38   b  (collectively  38 ). Preferably, the expansion promoters  38  have a curved front segment  40 , and they are disposed at a distance from each other, commensurate to the pitch  22  of the expanding member  20 . The expansion promoters  38  may originate from a position on the side of the head  10 , of from a position on the side of the respective front portions  30 .  
         [0049]     Further, the fasteners  10  of this invention have barbs  42 , which barbs  42  prevent the fastener  10  to fall out of the slot  34  when initially inserted into said slot  34 , and before the expansion member  20  has been installed.  
         [0050]     The spring fasteners  10  of this invention may further comprise an elastic body (not shown) disposed at least under the lower side  16  of the head portion  12 . Examples of fasteners comprising such elastic bodies are given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,379,092 B1 and 5,725,343,both of which are incorporated herein by reference.  
         [0051]     In operation, the fastener  10  (see  FIG. 3  for example) is inserted into a slot  34  of a substrate  36  ( FIG. 4 ). The combination of solid and slotted lines in  FIG. 4  illustrates an example of different thicknesses of the substrate  36 .  
         [0052]     In sequence, the expanding member  20  (such as a screw for example) is passed through a hole  48  (see  FIG. 6 ) of a second object  46 , and then engaged and threaded through the engageable hole  18  of the upper side  14  of the fastener  10 . When the expanding member  20  reaches the expansion promoters  38 , the legs  26  ( 26   a  and  26   b ) start expanding and finally secure the fastener  10  on the substrate or first object  36 . The second object  46  is secured on the fastener  10  by the expanding member  20 . The final result is that the second object  46  is firmly secured on the substrate or first object  36  through this arrangement.  
         [0053]     In the absence of expansion promoters  38 , the leg portions  26  open or expand, anyway, when the expanding member  20  reaches a point where the distance separating the two leg portions  26  is smaller than the diameter of the expanding member  20  at the point of contact, or contact region. The point of contact, or contact region, is the region which comes in contact with the expanding member for expanding the legs of the fastener. However, the presence of the expansion promoters  38  causes the legs to expand considerably more, thus improving the expansion and separation resistance of the two objects to a high degree.  
         [0054]     In addition, the expansion promoters  38 , as aforementioned, are positioned most preferably within the contact region or between the contact region and the lower side  16  of the head  12 . In such a position, they prevent the head  12  from bowing upon insertion of the expanding member  20 . This arrangement prevents or at least hinders outward bowing of the upper side  14  of the head  12  of the fastener  10 , since they prevent or at least hinder the outward force applied by the expanding member  20  to said upper side  14  of the head  12  of the fastener  10 , due to the engagement of the threads of the expanding member with said expansion promoters  38 . Expansion promoters  38  beyond the contact region do not provide this advantage, since the pressure to expand the legs  26  is applied when the expanding member  20  reaches the contact region, and before engagement of the expansion promoters t 38  o the expanding member  20  takes place. The same is true regardless of whether the particular structure described above is present or absent.  
         [0055]     If the second object  46  is pulled away from the first object  36 , the opened leg portions  26  resist such separation. The presence of anti-sliding elements  32  on the second surface S 2  (see  FIG. 3 ) increases dramatically the separation resistance.  
         [0056]     The particular shape of the origin section  28  increases considerably the adaptability of the fasteners to be used with substrates  36  of different thicknesses T. It similarly increases considerably the adaptability of the fasteners  10  to be used with slots  34  of different width W (see  FIG. 4 ).  
         [0057]     As aforementioned, the fasteners  10  of this invention may comprise head-side separators  50 , as better shown in  FIGS. 7 and 8 . The head-side separators  50  prevent the upper side  14  and the lower side  16  of the head  12  to come close together or in touch with each other, when considerably high torques are applied to the expanding member  20 . It was found that when the two sides  14  and  16  approach each other, the fastener tends unexpectedly to become somewhat loose, a phenomenon which is corrected by the presence of the head-side separators  50 . The head-side separators  50  may originate from the upper side  14  (as illustrated in  FIGS. 7 and 8 ), or the lower side  16  (not shown), or a combination thereof.  
         [0058]     The head-side separators  50  may have any form, such as for example depressions, bumps, notches, cut and bent portions, etc. It is only important that they prevent or hinder the two sides  14  and  16  to approach or contact each other when considerably high torques are applied to the expanding member  20 . Although considerably high torques are considered to be those over 25-30 inch pounds, the torque to be actually considered depends on the particular thickness, hardness and other characteristics of the fastener, as well as the particular application.  
         [0059]     As aforementioned, the fasteners of this invention may have barbs, which barbs prevent the fastener to fall out of the slot when initially inserted into said slot, and before the expansion member has been installed. The barbs may be conventional barbs, or as the barbs disclosed in provisional application 60/388,976 filed Jun. 14, 2002 and/or non-provisional application 10/209,765 filed Aug. 01, 2002, both of which are incorporated herein by reference. Further, the barbs may be divided into two pairs, each pair having barbs of substantially the same length, but the two pairs having two different lengths, the lengths of the diagonally disposed barbs being substantially the same while the lengths of the barbs disposed against each other being different. Both lengths may be such that allow at least one pair to fit under the metal or other sheet, onto which the fastener is engaged.  
         [0060]     The engageable hole  18  on the head  12  may be made by impression (as shown in  FIGS. 7 and 8 , for example) providing a substantially single thread, which is more suitable for screws, or by extrusion providing a multi-thread structure, well known to the art, which is more suitable for bolts. The cross section of an extruded multi-thread engageable hole is illustrated in  FIG. 9 .  
         [0061]     Assemblies and vehicles comprising the spring fasteners of this invention, connecting two objects, one of the objects comprising a slot in which the fastener is inserted, and the other a hole, are also included within the scope of the instant invention. Thus, automobiles or other vehicles may be made, comprising one or more of the fasteners of the instant invention, providing substantial improvements regarding safety, performance and comfort.  
         [0062]     Examples of embodiments demonstrating the operation of the instant invention, have now been given for illustration purposes only, and should not be construed as restricting the scope or limits of this invention in any way.  
         [0063]     Any feature(s) described in one of the exemplary embodiments may be combined with any features incorporated in any other exemplary embodiment according to this invention.  
         [0064]     Although the feature(s) characterizing each particular embodiment are critical for said particular embodiment, equivalents are not meant to be excluded.  
         [0065]     Any explanations given are speculative and should not restrict the scope of the claims.