Connector for reinforcing rods

A connector for connecting a vertical rod and a horizontal rod crossing with the vertical rod at right angles, which connector is entirely made of a spring quality wire material and comprises: laterally directed U-shaped upper and lower portions; and a middle portion for connecting the upper and lower portions, which upper portion is bent downward in front ends of both feet thereof, which middle portion extends from a front end of a foot of the feet of the upper portion downward and obliquely, a lower end of which middle portion is connected to one of a pair of feet of the lower portion, which one is disposed in a position corresponding to that opposite to a position in which the above-mentioned foot of the pair of feet of the upper portion is disposed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a connector for reinforcement, i.e., 
reinforcing rods crossing with each other at right angles in building use. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Hitherto, in a building site, the reinforcing rods crossing with each other 
at right angles, i.e., a vertical rod and a horizontal rod are connected 
with each other at their crossing portion through a wire wound round the 
crossing portion by means of a specialized wiring tool. However, in such 
wiring operation, a worker is required to be skilled in a operation of the 
specialized wiring tool, and it is hard to promote an efficiency of such 
wiring operation even if the worker is skilled in the operation thereof. 
Furthermore, there is a fear that such wiring operation, i.e., wiring 
connection lacks a safety in strength because of a wide variation of its 
strength. In addition to the above defect, there is another defect in 
that, for example, in constructing of a slab in which the reinforcing rods 
are stacked into a plurality of layers in which an electric and water 
service pipelines are disposed, in which construction it is often required 
to undo the wiring connection, it is very hard to satisfy such reqirement. 
These defect are inherent in the conventional wiring connection for the 
reinforcing rods. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Consequently, it is an object of the present invention to provide a 
connector for the reinforcing rods, which connector eliminates the defects 
inherent in the conventional wiring connection, requires no specialized 
wiring tool and no skilled worker in its connecting/disconnecting 
operation with respect to the vertical and horizontal rods in contrast 
with the conventional wiring connection, and has a good operational 
efficiency and a steady strength. 
The above object of the present invention is accomplished by providing a 
connector for the reinforcing rods, which connector is made of a spring 
quality wire material and comprises: upper and lower portions each of 
which portions has a substantially laterally directed U-shaped 
configuration; and a middle portion for connecting the upper and lower 
portions, which upper portion has a pair of feet which are bent in their 
front ends to form a pair of bends directed downward, which middle portion 
extends from a front end of one of the feet of the upper portion downward 
and obliquely, and a lower end of which middle portion is intergrally 
connected to one of a pair of feet of the lower portion which one foot is 
disposed in a position corresponding to a position where the other foot of 
the feet of the upper portion is disposed. Namely, as for the reinforcing 
rods, the vertical rod is inserted into the longitudinal openings formed 
in both the U-shaped upper and lower portions to penetrate them, and the 
horizontal rod is inserted into the bends directed downward, which bends 
are formed in the front ends of the pair of feet of the upper portion, so 
that the vertical rod and the horizontal rod are connected with each other 
through the above connecting operation while disconnected from each other 
through a disconnecting operation which procedure is reverse to that of 
the connecting operation, whereby an efficiency of the 
connecting/disconnecting operation is enhanced and a connection having a 
steady strength is obtained with respect to the reinforcing rod connecting 
operation.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
In the drawings, the reference numerals 1 and 2 designate a vertical rod 
and a horizontal rod, respectively, which rods are connected with each 
other through any one of the connectors 3, 3' and 3" for the rods, i.e., 
reinforcing rods, according to the present invention, each of which 
connectors 3, 3' and 3" is integrally made of a spring quality wire 
material such as a spring quality steel wire and a spring quality 
synthetic resin. 
In the first preferred embodiment 3 of the present invention shown in FIGS. 
1 to 5, the numeral 4 designates an upper portion of the connector 3 of 
the present invention, which upper portion 4 is substantially laterally 
directed and has a U-shaped configuration, in which upper portion 4 is 
defined a longitudinal space portion 5 one side of which opens. The 
numeral 6 designates a lower portion which has a substantially U-shaped 
configuration, in which lower portion 6 is defined another longitudinal 
space portion 7 which has an opening directed to the same direction as 
that of the opening of the space portion 5. Front ends of both feet 8 and 
9 of the upper portion 4 of the connector 3 are bent downward to form 
bends so that each of the feet 8 and 9 of the upper portion 4 forms a 
lateral space portion 10 having an opening in a direction opposite to a 
direction in which the space portion 5 has its opening. And, from a front 
end of one foot 8 of the feet 8 and 9 of the upper portion 4 of the 
connector 3 extends downward and obliquely a middle portion 11 of the 
connector 3, a lower end of which middle portion 11 is connected to a foot 
12 of feet of a lower portion 6 of the connector 3, which foot 12 is 
disposed in a position corresponding to that opposite to a position in 
which the foot 8 of the upper portion 4 is disposed. 
Now, an operation for connecting both the reinforcing rods 1 and 2 with 
each other through such connector 3 will be hereinbelow described with 
reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. 
In a crossing portion of both the reinforcing rods 1 and 2, the vertical 
rod 1 is inserted into the space portion 5 of the connector 3 with the use 
of the opening of the space portion 5 so as to be placed in the space 
portion 5 defined between both the feet 8 and 9 of the upper portion 4 of 
the connector 3, in its upper area projecting upward over the horizontal 
rod 2, while the connector 3 is held by the worker in a lower area of the 
middle portion 11 thereof for facilitating such connecting operation of 
the connector 3. 
Then, the middle portion 11 of the connector 3 is moved toward the vertical 
rod 1 into a position shown with a chain line in FIG. 5 so as to abut 
against the vertical rod 1 while held by the worker, so that the 
horizontal rod 2 is inserted into the space portion 10 defined by the 
bends of the front ends of both feet 8 and 9 of the upper portion 4 of the 
connector 3. 
Then, when the use of a resiliency of the middle portion 11 of the 
connector 3, a lower area of the middle portion 11 thereof is moved toward 
the vertical rod 1 while temporarily deformed to make it possible that a 
lower end of the middle portion 11, i.e., the bend of the lower portion 6 
of the connector 3 is placed behind the vertical rod 1. Thereafter, when 
the middle portion 11 of the connector 3 is made free from the worker's 
hold, the middle portion 11 is returned to its natural state by its 
resiliency so that the vertical rod 1 is inserted into the space portion 7 
of the connector 3 to be connected thereto. 
Thus, the vertical rod 1 and the horizontal rod 2 are firmly wound by the 
upper portion 4 and the lower portion 6 of the connector 3 under the 
effect of the resiliency of the connector 3 itself, respectively to be 
firmly connected with each other in the middle portion 11 of the connector 
3, wherein the upper area and the lower area of the vertical rod 1 are 
placed in the space portion 5 and the space portion 7 of the connector 3 
respectively, while the horizontal rod 2 is placed in the space portion 10 
of the connector 3. In this connecting operation of the connector 3, the 
connector 3 an initial state of which is shown with a solid line in FIG. 2 
is temporally deformed into another state shown with a chain line in the 
same drawing. 
In disconnecting operation of the connector 3 having thus connected the 
vertical rod 1 and the horizontal rod 2, such disconnecting operation is 
conducted in reverse sequence of the above connecting operation of the 
connector 3, i.e., at first, the lower portion 6 of the connector 3 is 
disconnected from the lower area of the vertical rod 1, and then both the 
feet 9 and 10 of the upper portion 4 of the connector 3 are disconnected 
from the horizontal rod 2. After that, the upper portion 4 of the 
connector 3 is disconnected from the upper area of the vertical rod 1. In 
this disconnecting operation of the connector 3, the worker is not 
required to be skilled therein as is in the connecting operation of the 
same. 
As shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, especially, as is clear from FIG. 7, the second 
embodiment 3' of the connector of the present invention is different from 
the first embodiment 3 of the connector of the present invention in that, 
first, as is clear from the front view of the connector 3' shown in FIG. 
7, both feet 9' and 10' of an upper portion 4' of the third embodiment 3' 
are reversely arranged with respect to the arrangement of both the feet 9 
and 10 of the first embodiment 3 so that a middle portion 11' of the 
second embodiment 3' declines towards a direction opposite to that of the 
middle portion 11 of the first embodiment 3, whereby a connecting portion 
between the middle portion 11' and a lower portion 6' of the second 
embodiment 3' is disposed in a position opposite to a position in which 
the middle portion 11 and the lower portion 6 of the first embodiment 3 
are connected with each other. However, since there is no difference in 
connecting/disconnecting operation between the first embodiment 3 and the 
second embodiment 3', such operation of the second embodiment 3' is not 
described again for avoiding an overlapping of description. 
FIGS. 9 and 10 show the third embodiment 3" of the connector of the present 
invention, which embodiment 3" is utterly identical with the second 
embodiment 3' except that the third embodiment 3" is provided with 
projections 13 in its bends, which projections 13 are adapted for 
receiving the reinforcing rib portion 14 of each of the reinforcing rods 1 
and 2. Since there is no difference in connecting/disconnecting operation 
between the second embodiment 3' and the third embodiment 3", such 
operation of the third embodiment 3" is not described again for avoiding 
an overlapping of description. 
Each of the space portions 5, 7 and 10 of the connector 3 (3', 3") is 
designed to be adapted in size for diameters of the reinforcing rods 1 and 
2. Consequently, in the same design thereof, the connector 3 is made of 
the same diameter material so that its connecting force is fixed, whereby 
it is possible to obtain a stable connection through the connector of the 
present invention. 
Although particularly preferred embodiments of the connector of the present 
invention have been described in detail for illustrative purposes, it will 
be recognized that variations or modifications of the above described 
embodiments of the present invention, including the rearrangement of parts 
thereof, lie within the scope of the present invention.