Patent GB-1180613-A (GB)
Title: Fastening Means for Securing Together Two Objects
Inventor: LANGNER ALFRED CHRISTOPHER
IPC: E05B65/08
Filed: 1967-03-14
Abstract: 1,180,613. Releasable fastenings; connecting wall panels. A. C. LANGER. 14 March, 1967, No. 11832/67. Headings E1W and E2B. Fastening means for securing together two objects 10, 30, comprises an anchor 34 to be secured to one of the objects, a rotatable operating member 11 to be secured to the other object, the operating member including an eccentric portion 14 carrying a resilient fastener 25, and a stop 29 on the fastener, the arrangement being such that initial movement of the operating member causes the fastener to engage the anchor and further movement of the operating member causes tensioning of the fastener so as to hold the operating member against the stop and to hold the fastener in firm engagement with the anchor. In one construction Fig. 1 the objects 10, 30 are panels each provided with a cut-out 12, 32 the cut-out 32 containing the anchor 34 which, as shown, is a rod, and the cut out 12 containing the fastener 25 and the operating member 11. The rod 34 is secured in position by ferrules 36, the ferrules being passed through drill holes in the panel 30 to engage the end portions of the rod, the ferrules being knurled or threaded for positive retention in the panel 30. The member 11 consists of the eccentric piston 14 which is a shaft secured at its two ends to fan-shaped followers 16, each of the followers carrying a circular shaft 22 by which the member 11 is pivoted to the panel 10. Each of the shafts 22 is provided with an hexagonal shaped aperture 24 which can receive a key 26, the apertures 24 constituting the means for rotating the eccentric means. The member 11 is rotatably secured to the panel 10 by means of ferrules 20 identical with the ferrules 36, the ferrules engaging the shafts 22. The fastener 25 is made of a single piece of spring wire bent substantially to U shape and formed with a loop 28 in each of its arms the two loops engaging over the shaft 14. The stop 29 is a tang 29 formed by the terminal end portion of each arm and which arrests the rotation of the member 11 as described below. In operation as the member 11 is rotated by the key 26, tapered bosses 18 on the followers 16 engage the arms of the fastener 25 to cause it to rotate with the member 11 until it contacts the rod 34 in the panel 30; during the rotation of the fastener 25, outwardly curved sections 27 of the arms are forcibly urged against the inner faces of the panels 10 and 30 to automatically align these panels; once the fastener 25 has contacted the rod 34 the bosses 18 are forced past the arms of the fastener, the bosses being tapered to permit this and when the member 11 has been rotated through approximately 180‹, the shaft 14 begins to pull the fastener in the direction to urge the two panels together until when the member 11 has been rotated to the position in which the shaft 14 has passed its point of maximum distance from the rod 34 the rotation of the member 11 is arrested by the engagement of the followers 16 with the tangs 29; in this position the panels are resiliently held together by tension in the fastener. Instead of the panels being secured together edgeto-edge as shown, they can be secured together at right angles, either to form a corner or with one panel intermediate the width of the other panel; in such cases instead of using a rod 34, an L shaped anchor is provided for a corner or a U shaped anchoring member for an intermediate position. In a modification the followers instead of having bosses with a smooth surface are provided with bosses which have a serrated surface. In a further modification instead of the fastener being made of wire it is made of metal strip but acts in a similar manner. A construction is also described in which the member 11 only has a single follower and the fastener a single arm.