A FASTENER FOR ADJUSTABLY SECURING FRAMES TO STRUCTURAL BUILDING ELEMENTS

Abstract: Fastener preferably intended for securing frame profiles (1) in building elements (4). The fastener comprises a device (5) which is intended to co-act with a screw (13) and which is placed in a hole or bore (7) passing through a frame (1), and is locked to the frame (1) when the co-acting screw (13) is inserted into the device (5) for tightening the frame in the building element (4). Subsequent to moving the head of the screw fully into the device (5), further means (14) are made operable in a manner to lock the screw (13) against axial movement in the device (5). In this way, when the screw (13) is screwed in or out, the frame (1) is caused to accompany the axial movement of the screw head.

Description: A FASTENER FOR ADJUSTABLY SECURING FRAMES TO STRUCTURAL BUILDING ELEMENTS Technical Field The present invention relates to a fastener for adjust- ably securing structural elements in relation to one another, for example for securing door frames or window frames in openings provided in structural building elements. The invention is preferably intended for securing frames fabricated from extruded or folded pro- files comprising a material suitable herefor, the walls of the profiles being relatively thin in relation to the total external measurements of the frames. The fastener is intended to be placed in a hole or bore which passes through a frame profile. Background Prior Art Door and window frames have hitherto been fabricated mostly from wood, and over the years have been secured in wall openings and like apertures with the use of nails, any subsequent adjustment to the position of the frame being effected with the aid of wedges driven be¬ tween a defining wall of the opening and an opposing frame surface. At the beginning of the 1960:s a device known in the art as a frame screw was introduced for the purpose of securing frames in their respective frame openings. The frame screw comprises an externally screw-threaded sleeve which is screwed into a hole passing through the frame. The frame is then tightened securely against the inner surface of the wall opening with the aid of a screw inserted into the sleeve. The screw inserted into the sleeve is prevented, in some suitable known manner, from being displaced axially in relation to the sleeve, e.g. by means of a locking ring fitted in a groove, or by means of irregularities, ridges or the like created in the screw. Positional adjustments can then be made to the frame by rotating the sleeve, the externally located threads of which cut similar threads in the frame during insertion of the sleeve thereinto. The adjustment is carried out with the aid of a key spanner inserted in the hole in the frame, and it is possible to make adjustment subsequent to fitting the door or window architraying or reveals. Due to the ever increasing use of extruded or folded window frame profiles, window-frame fitters have re¬ verted to the use of wedges when making positional adjustments to the frame. This is because the walls of the frame profiles are thin and are predominantly comprised of cavities, such that the profiles do not contain sufficient material to take the sleeve of a frame screw. Summary of the Invention The object of the present invention is to provide a fastener for extruded or folded frame profiles which obviates the need for adjusting wedges and which af¬ fords the possibility of adjusting the position of ex¬ truded frame profiles with the aid of a tool inserted into a hole in the * frame, precisely in the manner of a frame screw secured in a wooden frame. This object is achieved in accordance with the invention by means of a fastener having the characterizing features set forth in the following claims. Brief Description of the Drawing The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to an exemplifying embodiment thereof illus¬ trated in the accompanying drawing, the single Figure of which is a sectional view of part of a window frame secured to a structural building element with the aid of a fastener according to the invention. Description of a Preferred Embodiment The single Figure of the drawing shows in section part of a window frame 1 which comprises an extruded plas- tics profile 2 and which is secured to a structural building element 4. The plastics profile is strength¬ ened, or reinforced, with a U-shaped extruded or folded metal profile 3 located in a closed channel or groove in the profile 2. When offering-up the frame to the building element 4 there is drilled through the frame part strengthened by the metal profile 3 a hole or bore 7. The bore 7, which passes through both legs of the U-shaped metal profile 3 , is drilled so as to present axially two mutually different diameters, i.e. a larger diameter at the side or wall of the frame 1 remote from the building element 4 and a smaller diam¬ eter at the side or wall of the frame facing the building element. A device 5 incorporated in the fastener is intended for insertion into the bore sec- tion of larger diameter and partially through the strengthened part of the frame. The device 5 , which is preferably made of a plastics material and which is shown partially cut away, includes a first, coarse tubular part 6 to which the bore section of larger diameter conforms, and a second, finer tubular part 8 which is located concentrically with the first tubular part 6 in the axial extension thereof and which conforms to the smaller diameter of the bore 7. Formed externally on the device 5, in the junction between the two tubular device parts 6, 8, is an abutment surface which lies against the inner surface of the lower leg of the U-shaped metal profile 3. The second tubular part 8 of the device 5 is divided by an axially extend- ing slot 11 into two resilient tongues 9, 10, the free ends of which have formed externally thereon hook-like bulges 12, the passage of which through the narrower part of the bore 7 being made possible by resilient compression of the tongues 9, 10. The hook-like bulges 12 grip around the edges of the mouth of the hole or bore in the side or wall of the frame facing the build¬ ing element. The frame 1 is secured to the building element 4 with the aid of a screw 13 co-acting with the device 5; the counter-sunk head of which is in¬ tended to abut an internal, conical abutment surface located at the junction between the two tubular device parts 6 , 8. The first tubular coarse part 6 has pro¬ vided therein resilient elements 14 which spring to one side when screwing in the screw 13 and which spring back when passed by the head of the screw, so as to lock the screw in the device 5. In the position illustrated in the drawing, the device 5 is locked to the frame partly through the lying of the external abutment surface against the lower leg of the profile 3 and partly through the engagement of the hook-like bulges 12 with the defining edges of the mouth of the narrower part of the hole or bore 7 , and through the fact that the screw 13 inserted through the device prevents the tongues 9, 10 from being sprung out of engagement with the mouth of said hole or bore when subjected to axial loads. In addition, the conical abutment surface located internally of the device and the internally located hooks or members 14 prevent the screw 13 from moving axially in relation to the device 5. Consequently, when screwing or unscrewing the screw 13, the device 5, and therewith the frame 1 , is caused to move in accompaniment with axial positional changes made to the head of the screw 13. This provides the positional adjustability of the frame constituting the object of this invention. It will be understood that the invention is not re¬ stricted to the described and illustrated embodiment, or to the described field of application, but that modifi- cations can be made within the scope of the invention, both with regard to the construction of the fastener and to its intended use. For example, the fastener can also be used in conjunction with wooden frames, provided that there is drilled a first through-passing hole having a diameter which corresponds with the diameter of the second tubular part 8 of the device, and that a section of this first hole, or bore, is subsequently widened to a diameter corresponding to the diameter of the first tubular part 6, this wider section of the bore 7 termi- nating at a point on the frame at which the length ex¬ tension of the residual frame part corresponds to the length of the second part 8 of the device 5-. The fact that the fastener can be used with both wooden frames and extruded frame profiles affords important advantages inter alia, from a handling and storage point of view.

Claims: CLAIM A fastener for adjustably securing elements in relation to one another, for example for securing door frames or window frames in openings located in building elements (4) , preferably frames fabricated from extruded or folded profiles (2, 3) having relatively thin walls in relation to the total external measurements of the frames (1) , said fastener being intended to be placed in a hole, or bore (7) passing through a frame profile (2) , characterized in that the fastener comprises a device (5) which is intended to co-act with a screw (13) and which includes firstly external members or abutments (9, 10, 12) intended, when fitting the device (5) into the hole or bore (7) passing through one or more walls of a frame profile, to engage at least one of the pro- file walls in a manner to prevent axial displacement of the device (5) in relation to the profile (2, 3) , and secondly internal members or abutments (14) intended to engage around the head or the like of the co-acting screw (13) in a manner to prevent axial displacement of the screw (13) in relation to the device (5) , because when the screw (13) is screwed into or out of the wall (4) of the opening, the frame (1) is caused to accompany the axial movement of the screw head, adjustments can be made to the position of the frame in relation to the wall (4) . AMENDED CLAIMS [received by the International Bureau on 04 February 1987 (04.02.87); original claim replaced by an amended claim (1 page)] A fastener for adjustably securing elements in relation to one another, for example for securing door frames or window frames in openings formed in building elements 5 (4) , preferably frames fabricated from extruded or folded profiles (2, 3) having relatively thin walls in relation to the total external measurements of the frames (1), said fastener being intended to . be placed in a hole or bore (7) passing through a frame profile (2) , and 10. ' comprising a device (5) which is intended to co-act with a screw (13) and which comprises two cylindrical parts, a first cylindrical part (6) of coarser dimensions and a second cylindrical part (8) of finer dimensions, and an abutment surface formed in the junction between said 15 cylindrical parts and being intended, when fitting the device in a frame profile (2) , to abut one of the pro¬ file walls, said second cylindrical part (8) of finer dimensions having hook-like elements (12) for engagement with the edge defining the mouth of the hole or bore (7) 20 characterized in^that, the first part (6.) of eoarser dimensions has the form of a tube having an inner -di¬ ameter which corresponds to the diameter of the head of the co-acting screw (13), the end of the tube at the junction to the device section (8) of finer dimensions 25 presenting an abutment surface adapted to the head of the screw (13), and internal elements (14) being arranged on the side walls of said tube and being operative when tightening the screw (13) to pass resiliently to one side to permit passage of the screw head and to spring back 30 subsequent to passage of the screw head in a manner to lock the screw in the device (5) , thereby to cause the frame (1) to accompany the axial movement of the screw head when screwing the screw (13) into the wall (4) of the opening or unscrewing the screw therefrom.

Inventors: ALBERTSSON CHRISTER, JORUP PEDER, LINDELL ANDERS, ALBERTSSON, CHRISTER, JORUP, PEDER, LINDELL, ANDERS
Applicants: THORSMAN & CO AB
Application year: 1986
Main classification: E06B1
IPC codes: E06B1