Fastener and strip mounting

Abstract: A fastener (10) comprising - a base portion (11), and - a plurality of resiliently deformable limbs (12) upstanding from the base portion, the outer ends or noses (14) of said limbs being spaced to engage the inner-facing walls (26) of a mounting recess (30) in an element (18) to be fastened thereby, said noses also incorporating bevelled contact surfaces (16), so that engagement with said recess walls (26) laterally deflects the limbs, to allow passage of said limbs as a whole deeper into said recess and thus closer coupling movement of the fastener (10) and said element to be mounted, further relative movement of said fastener and said element allowing said noses to transfer to a laterally wider innermost region of said recess, whereby said limbs can relax to their undeflected condition, but with the undersides of said noses resting in contact with abutment ledges (24) in said recess inner walls, inhibiting withdrawal of said fastener from said recess. Use, particularly, but not exclusively, in the field of mounting decorative wooden strip mouldings in the building, construction, decoration, refurbishment or architectural industry.

Description: This invention relates to the fastening and mounting of elements, e.g. decorative wooden strip mouldings. The invention is particularly concerned with the mounting of decorative finishing (hard)wood mouldings, commonly known as architectural mouldings. With precision machined (hard)wood mouldings, it is important to provide a section that can readily, economically and consistently be machined, without encouraging warping or distortion or even mechanical failure under stress, for example, when being handled and fitted. Temperature and humidity changes have a bearing on this, from the initial choice and machining of raw materials stocks, to the shipment and end-user environments. In so-called 'blind-fixing', that is a fitting which is not visible from a 'front' orientation of an element held by the fitting, it is generally desirable to avoid penetrating the thickness or depth of that element by a fixing passing from one (front) surface to an opposite (rear) surface. In the case of an elongate strip the spacing between fasteners is a crucial factor in determining the number of fasteners required for a given length of strip and this is in turn reflected in the security grip or hold afforded by an individual fastening. Too secure a hold will result in the strip being difficult to remove, for example by simple prising apart from the mounting surface, without causing surface damage and too loose a fastening could allow the strip to become inadvertently dislodged, for example by casual contact. The term 'strip' used herein, embraces any shape of article to be mounted, but is especially concerned with elongate objects - that is whose cross-section is small in relation to their length, and more particularly, where the cross-section is uniform over the length. DE-A-1963514 discloses a fastener to receive a strip element. The fastener comprises a floor and upstanding fingers having shoulders on the outer walls thereof, adjacent the midpoint. The element is curved and has a mouth in the rear face thereof, the edges of the mouth lying on convergent planes. The floor of the fastener has a bolt by which the fastener is held to a wall. In use the fastener is fixed to the wall and the edges of the mouth engage the underside of the shoulders on the fingers. An assembly according to the preamble of claim 1 is known from Bouwereld vol.68, no.47, November 24, 1972, pages 17 to 22, Doetinchem, Netherlands, which discloses at page 19 a profile of Schock Benelux having an elongate T-shaped channel in the rear face. The profile is mounted on a fastener mounted on a wall, the fastener having a base and opposite spring arms. The free ends of the arms are of a specific shape in that they first taper inwardly towards each other and then outwardly to define a cap portion having a free edge facing the base. According to the invention in one aspect there is provided a wall mounted assembly comprising a fastener and a strip element as specified in claim 1. In another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of mounting a strip element on a wall as specified in claim 7 Preferably, the fastener is fabricated of synthetic plastics material, such as ABS, for example by moulding. In use, a line, horizontal or vertical, is marked on the mounting surface, at a position corresponding to the desired strip centre line (or fastener aperture centre line if the fastener is not symmetrically-disposed across the section width). This line can be determined by offering the strip itself up to the mounting surface and marking along an edge thereof and subsequently measuring from that edge line as a reference for the fastener axis. Holes are then drilled at prescribed intervals, for example approximately 400 mm, plugged and the fasteners secured, for example by screws, and aligned. The strip can then simply be offered up in alignment with the fasteners and pressed home against the mounting surface, to effect the snap-action engagement of the fastener limbs with the recess(es) in the rear face thereof. A strip jointing system of the invention can comprise rectangular corner blocks, with whose side faces the ends of sections, severed at right angles to the section length, can simply be butted, without the need for elaborate corner mitring. There now follows a description of some particular embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic and schematic drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows an end elevation of a fastener; Figure 2 shows a scrap section of an element, such as a strip section, to be secured by the fastener of Figure 1; Figure 3 shows an end elevation of the fastener shown in Figure 1, taken generally along the line 3-3', but with some sectional detail; Figure 4 shows a plan view, of the fastener shown in Figure 1 taken along the line 4-4', and Figures 5 onwards show various other types of strip element and associated fittings, corner joints, some with pre-mitred and others prescribed end face profiles. Referring to the drawings, a fastener 10 comprises a base portion 11 with two opposed upstanding limb portions 12, whose disposition at rest can be seen more clearly from Figure 4. Each limb 12 has a straight inner face 15, and a tapered outer end nose 14, having a bevelled or sloping outer face 16. The tapered noses 14 are designed to pass between the side walls 26 of the opposed mouth projections 19 of a recess 30 in the rear face of a strip element 18, shown partially in Figure 2. The fastener 10 is moulded of resiliently deformable synthetic plastics material so that the limbs 12 can move towards each other until they are received within the recess 30 in the body of the element 18, the outer bevelled faces 16 first engaging the inwardly-directed faces 26 at the mouth of the recess 30 and on further penetrating insertion towards the floor of the recess 30, the limbs 12 are disengaged from the restraining side walls 26 and relax into the full width separation in the innermost cavity region of the recess 30. The undersides 17 of the noses 14 then abut the upper faces 24 of the projections 19 in a plane generally parallel to the base 11 of the fastener 10. This restrains removal of the fastener, which however can still be prised away by wriggling or otherwise manoeuvring the strip 18 relative to the fastener 10 body in order to flex and inwardly deflect the limbs 12 and thereby to disengage the noses 14 from the recess 30. An aperture 13 is provided in the base plate 11 of the fastener 10 to facilitate attachment to a mounting surface, for example by a simple screw or nail fitting. As shown in the Figure 4 the aperture is somewhat oval. In practice, the fasteners 10 would be spaced at regular, say 45.7 cm, 18 inch, intervals along the length of the strip element 18. Alignment can be achieved simply by ruling a line representing the desired mounting axis on a mounting surface and aligning the apertures 13 of successive fasteners 10 with that line. The recess 30 incorporates a shoulder entry region 21, to accommodate the depth of the fastener base 11, so that the strip element 18 may be mounted with its rear face 29 in flush abutment with the mounting surface. The fastening direction - that is the direction of relative linear translational movement of the fastener 10 and strip element 18 - is indicated generally by arrow 1-1' in Figure 2. The remaining Figures show various forms of strip element, some of greater width and depth and with multiple (parallel) grooves or elongate recesses on their rear faces. The rear strip faces may incorporate a bevel at the underside to accommodate mounting surface irregularities, particularly when the strip is located at the intersection of two mounting surfaces - for example, between a wall and a floor, with a skirting moulding. The various other components of the strip and strip mounting system, for example, corner jointing blocks and pre-mitred corner pairs of section strips, may also incorporate grooves on the rear faces to receive the fasteners. Such components ease the fitting and enhance the 'DIY' appeal of the system. Thus, prescribed strip element lengths may be provided, with one end profiled as a complementary shape to the section face, so that two such elements may be abutted together into intimate contact. The spaced fasteners can accommodate lack of regularity, unevenness or misalignment of the mounting surfaces; for example walls are not always truly square with themselves or floors and ceilings; and similarly nor are window and door frames necessarily square in themselves or with adjacent edges and surfaces. The strips may be used for limited loading bearing (typically up to just under 14 kg) for such purposes as hanging pictures (with picture rail strips) or supporting decorative plates (with plate rack strips).

Claims: A wall mounted assembly comprising a fastener (10) and a strip element (18); the fastener (10) being secured to the wall, the fastener (10) comprising a base (11) having upstanding limbs (12) movable towards each other; the element (18) having a front face and a rear face, a recess (30) being present in the rear face; the limbs (12) of the fastener (10) being received in the recess (30), and engaged therewith by engagement of a side part of the limbs (12), characterised in that the limbs (12) protrude normal to the base (11) and the side part of the limbs (12) is a nose (14) located at the end of the limbs (12) with a sloping outer face (16) and an underlying ledge (17), the ledges (17) being in contact with corresponding abutment ledges (24) of a mouth portion of reduced width between sidewalls (26) of the recess (30). An assembly according to Claim 1, characterised in that the base (11) of the fastener (10) includes an aperture (13) to receive a screw to hold the fastener (10) to the wall, the aperture (13) being generally oval in plan. An assembly according to Claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the element (18) is an architectural moulding. An assembly according to Claim 3 characterised in that the element (18) is precision machined of wood. An assembly according to Claim 3 or 4 characterised in that the rear face (29) of the element (18) includes a relieved shoulder (21) on each side of the recess (30) so that the element (18) may be mounted on a fastener (10) and in flush abutment against the support wall. An assembly according to any preceding Claim characterised in that two elements (18) are each mounted in a corner by fasteners (10) secured to walls making up the corner, the abutting faces of the elements (18) having been cut to shape without mitring. A method of mounting a strip element (18) on a wall by means of a fastener (10) of the preceding claims, the element (18) having a recess (30) in a rear face and the fastener having forward projecting limbs (12) each having a nose (14), at the end thereof, the distance between the side walls (26) of the recess (30) being less than that separating the limbs (12) at rest, the method comprising securing the fastener (10) to the wall, and then urging the element (18) on to the fastener (10) by a rectilinear movement to flex the limbs (12) towards each other to enter the mouth of the recess (30) and then to move apart to engage the ledges (17) of the noses (14) with the ledges (24) of the recess (30).

Inventors: JACKSON PETER, JACKSON, PETER
Applicants: BURBIDGE RICHARD LTD, RICHARD BURBIDGE LIMITED
Application year: 1988
Main classification: F16B5
IPC codes: E04F19, F16B5