Device for the face end coupling of profile bars

A device for the face end coupling of profile bars that are provided with undercut, continuous longitudinal grooves and incorporate a central core that forms the base of the longitudinal grooves and, projecting from same, webs that encompass the longitudinal grooves and have angled web shoulders, having a fastening member that is fixable with a shaft section at the face end in the core of a first profile bar in such a way that a head of the fastening member extends into a longitudinal groove of a second profile bar that is to be connected crosswise, characterized in that a fastening surface of the fastening member facing the shaft section or face end of the first profile bar has a distance to inside surfaces of web shoulders that encompass the longitudinal grooves, and that a wedge-shaped locking element can be brought into close-lying engagement with a tensioning surface against the fastening surface on one hand, and with a support surface against the inside surfaces of the web shoulders on the other hand, and is displaceable in the longitudinal direction of the longitudinal groove so that the profile bars can be firmly locked to one another.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a cross coupling of two profile bars that consist of light metal, with a first profile bar 1 fastened at its face end to a profile bar 2 extending crosswise to the former. Both profile bars 1 , 2 are identical to one another in this example and incorporate a core 3 and, radially projecting from the same, webs 4 , from which angled web shoulders 5 project. The given core 3 forms the bottom of longitudinal grooves 6 and they are encompassed by the webs and web shoulders in an undercut-like manner. Web shoulders 5 , which are disposed opposite one another in pairs, delimit opening slits 7 and have inside surfaces 5 a. As FIG. 1 furthermore shows, a fastening member 10 , in the present case a head screw ( FIG. 2 through 4 ) is screwed with its threaded shaft section 11 into a central through-opening 3 a of the core 3 of the first profile bar 1 . The head screw 10 has, as shown in FIG. 2 through 4 , between its nearly semicircular head 12 and the shaft section 11 , a collar section 13 , which is cylindrical in the present embodiment and has a certain axial length as well as two opposing lateral flattened areas 14 , with the mutual distance between the flattened areas being less than the outside diameter of the threaded or shaft section 11 and the diameter of the remaining cylindrical area of the collar section 13 being nearly identical to the outside diameter of the shaft section 11 . The threadless collar section 13 thus forms a screw-in limit stop for the head screw 10 . The underside 15 of the head screw 10 , which forms a fastening surface, thus has, in the completely screwed-in condition of the head screw 10 , a distance from the face end of the first profile bar 1 facing the second profile bar 2 that corresponds to the axial length of the collar section 13 . Since this dimension is selected larger than the thickness of the web shoulders 5 (of the second profile bar 2 ), a distance exists between the fastening surface 15 and the inside surfaces 5 a of the web shoulders 5 of the second profile bar 2 , so that a substantially wedge-shaped locking element 18 is receivable between the head 12 and the adjacent web shoulders 5 of the second profile bar. FIG. 5 shows a complete perspective view of the locking element 18 from the same viewing direction as FIG. 1 , and it can thus be seen from FIG. 1 that the head screw 10 penetrates with its collar section 13 through a central, elongated cutout 20 of the locking element 18 and hooks behind the same with its head 12 or fastening surface 15 . As FIG. 5 through 7 furthermore show, the locking element 18 incorporates a flat support surface 21 with which, or with the lateral edges of which, the locking element sits against the inside surfaces 5 a of the web shoulders 5 , and also a fastening area 22 that first extends along a straight section 23 of constant thickness of the locking element parallel to the support surface 21 and then transitions, in a wedge section 24 , into a wedge surface 25 extending at an angle to the support surface 21 . The locking element 18 further has, on an end section opposite the wedge section 24 (or on both end sections, as indicated in FIG. 7 ) a block-shaped shoulder 26 , the width of which corresponds to the width or to the clear width of the opening slits 7 of the profile bars, so that the shoulder, as shown by FIG. 1 , engages in a form-fitting manner in the corner area of the connection into two opening slits 7 extending in one plane and thus forms a protection against a twisting of the profile bar coupling. An improved effect of the protection against twisting results if the locking elements 18 has two such shoulders 26 (indicated in FIG. 7 by a dashed line). An additional centering effect and protection against twisting may be attained with a sleeve placed upon the collar section 13 , with the outer diameter of said sleeve corresponding to the width of the cutout 20 and the opening slit 7 . The shoulder 26 that is visible in FIG. 1 may simultaneously serve as a point of application for an assembly tool. A face end coupling of two profile bars according to FIG. 1 is produced with the inventive device as follows. First the fastening member or head screw 10 , is inserted through the cutout 20 of the locking element 18 and both parts are subsequently fastened to the first profile bar I by screwing the head screw 10 into the core 3 . Depending on the specific application the head screw IO may have a self-cutting thread. The head screw 10 is screwed in far enough so that the loosely held locking element 18 can, in a position in which the straight section 23 is located in the area of the head 12 , easily be inserted into the longitudinal groove 6 and the profile bar I slides along on the opposite (outer) side of the longitudinal groove 6 on the corresponding side face of the first profile bar 1 . To facilitate this screw-in process, the collar section 13 is provided, as described above, which forms a catch or screw-in limit stop. After the first profile bar 1 has been brought into a desired position on the second profile bar in this manner, a solid connection is created by moving the locking element 18 into the area of the head 12 with the wedge section 24 by a displacement in the longitudinal direction of the longitudinal groove 6 , so that the fastening surface 15 of the head 12 is increasingly supported on the wedge surface 25 or its lateral edges. This is done, for example, by applying a lever-type tool to the shoulder 26 . 
 List of Reference Numerals 1 first profile bar 2 second profile bar 3 core 3 a through-opening 4 web 5 web shoulder 5 a inside surface 6 longitudinal groove 7 opening slit 10 fastening member (head screw) 11 shaft section 12 head 13 collar section 14 flattened area 15 fastening surface 18 locking element 20 cutout 21 support surface 22 locking surface 23 straight section 24 wedge section 25 wedge surface 26 shoulder