Patent Publication Number: US-2006016046-A1

Title: Gate hanger - hinging kit / process

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
      This application is related to:  
      1). Design Patent Application request: 
          Gate Hanger—Gate Mounting and Support Bracket (Piece Part of Hinge process) Documents enclosed herein.        

      2). Design Patent Application request: 
          Gate Hanger—Three-Dimensional Bolt Apparatus Documents enclosed herein.        

      3). Design Patent Application request: 
          Gate Hanger—Mounting Plate for Steel Post Documents enclosed herein.        

     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT  
      None—NA.  
     REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING COMPACT DISK APPENDIX  
      None—NA.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      This invention broadly concerns a gate hanger—hinging kit/process for large, heavy, long tongue residential and or commercial ingress/egress security swing gates and the required engineered and designed hardware equipment that is used to secure such a gate to a support post, level such a gate, support the weight of such a gate, and physically separate the metal components from each other and provide anti-friction free floating movement when the gate is swung to the open position or swung to the closed, secure position.  
      2. Description of the Prior Art  
      Gates have been in used throughout history, for security purposes and for aesthetic purposes, such as access to castles, access to ranch land, across walkways, and for securing drive paths to residential and or commercial property, all of which have evolved over time, such as, J-Hooks and O-Bolts, flat plate folding brackets, to grease fitting mating blocks with a bearing and removable center bolt. While they have all worked for their intended purpose, each have had physical restrictions imposed upon them over time, such as, metal to metal friction, pull strength and weight support, leveling and restricted movement.  
      Accordingly, the present invention solves and provides the solution for hinging and leveling large, heavy, long tongue ingress/egress residential and or commercial security swing gates. The engineered and designed hinging kit, through its hardware equipment provides the structural integrity required to support such a gate, such as, leveling, North/South vertical weight support, East/West pull strength support, and free floating anti-friction swing action movement while maintaining a gate parallel to a ground surface.  
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention gate hanger—hinging kit/process hereof uses a minimum of components, provides great flexibility in operation and is simple to install. The hinging process provides versatility and ease of adjustment for accommodating a wide variety of installations, thereby promoting widespread use; exhibits a relatively simple design for economical manufacture and ease of use; provides a relatively rugged construction for structural integrity and outstanding performance over an extended service life.  
      Broadly speaking, the gate hanger—hinging kit/process hereof permits the gate to remain level and upright in a closed position and level and upright while swinging to the open position. These and other advantages will become apparent, appreciated and understood more fully by those skilled in the art with reference to the drawing and the following description of the preferred embodiment.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a front elevation view of a gate in an East/West vertical position, installed on a post, utilizing the gate hinging kits associated hardware, and constructed in accordance with the present invention. The view is at the 100 ft., stand back distance area to afford the public with a better understanding of the size and type of gate, and with the area of focus indicated on the diagram;  
       FIG. 2  is an enlargement of the area that was indicated as “Area of Focus” on FIG. # 1 , with the gate bracing post leg on the left, the steel support post on the right, and the hinging kit hardware in the center, consisting of:  
      #1 the Mounting and Support Bracket welded to the gate support leg, and  
      #2 the Special Polymer Insert, for free floating anti-friction movement, and  
      #3 the Three-Dimensional Bolt Apparatus, for gate support and post attachment, and  
      #4 the Mounting Plate for the Steel Post support structure;  
       FIG. 3  is an enlargement of the mounting and support bracket, indicated as # 1  within FIG. # 1 , providing all of the cross-sectional views, of said bracket,  
       FIG. 4  is an enlargement of the special polymer insert bushing, indicated as # 2  within FIG. # 1 , providing all of the cross-sectional views, of said bushing;  
       FIG. 5  is an enlargement of the three-dimensional bolt apparatus, indicated as # 3  within FIG. # 1 , providing all of the cross-sectional views, of said bolt;  
       FIG. 6  is an enlargement of the three-dimensional bolt apparatus, with comments to provide the public with additional understanding of its finctional utility;  
       FIG. 7  is an enlargement of the mounting plate for a steel post, as indicated as # 4  within FIG. # 1 , providing all of the cross-sectional views;  
       FIG. 8  is an enlargement of a mounting plate that would be used on a concrete column vs steel post.  
       FIG. 9  is a view of the preferred embodiment. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PERFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      A gate hanger—hinging kit/process, in accordance with the present invention broadly includes  1  a gate vertical brace post,  2  a gate hanger—mounting and support bracket,  3  a bushing—special polymer insert,  4  a three-dimensional bolt apparatus,  5  a gate hanger—mounting plate for a steel post, and  6  a steel support post, each hardware component of which is used in series with each other to form and complete the hinging process.  
      In greater detail as shown in  FIG. 3 , the Gate Hanger—Mounting and Support Bracket is welded to the gate post  1  with the flat top surface of the bracket, orientated North, upward, and the flat East/West protruding arm plates of the bracket placed over the East and West face of the vertical gate post leg, of a gate aligned in a North/South direction, thus, the machined, hollowed out portion of the mounting and support bracket extends to the rear of the gate, faces downward, and in position to receive  3  a Bushing—A Special Polymer Insert, orientated so that the bushing insert&#39;s center hole is exposed when inserted within the bracket opening. The steel structural support post  4  is in place, with two, approximately two inch ports ready for attachment of the two  5  Steel Mounting Plates. For flush mounting to the steel post  4 , the steel mounting plates  5 , is welded to the post, with the face having the extended threaded surface area, the nut, positioned inward to the post. The Three-Dimensional Bolt Apparatus  6 , having a jam nut screwed onto the horizontal threaded bolt, in close proximity to the circular flat base area, prior to attachment, via the port area of the steel mounting plates  5 . The Three-dimensional Bolt Apparatus  6  is screwed into the steel mounting plate  5  to within approximately 1″ of the flat circular surface area of the bolt, thus, providing the clearance that allows swing action clearance of the Mounting and Support Bracket  2  head when attached. When the Three-Dimensional Bolt Apparatus  6  is in place, with the vertical smooth bolt portion pointing upward, the bottom unit jam nut is tightened to secure the bolt in its current upright place. The top jam nut is finger tight to hold the top bolt in place during the leveling phase. The gate&#39;s Mounting and Support Brackets  2  are placed upon the two three-dimensional bolts, vertical smooth bolt  6 . Leveling adjustments, if required, is accomplished via the top three-dimensional bolt 6 , by screwing the bolt inward, into the steel mounting plate  5  to elevate the gate tongue tip, or screwing the bolt outward to lower the tongue tip. The lower bolt jam nut keeps the lower bolt fixed, in place during the leveling adjustment process.  
      Minor adjustment for physical contact between the two hinging surfaces, such as, the circular flat support area of the three-dimensional bolt  6  and the mounting and support bracket  2 , and the bushing polymer insert  3  surface may vary an ⅛ th  of an inch. This variance can be corrected by the use of a shim, having the same diameter and thickness of the circular flat surface area of the bolt, thus, providing equal gate weight distribution upon the surface of both bolts.  
      Although preferred forms of the invention have been described above, it is to be recognized that such disclosure is by way of illustrations only, and should not be utilized in a limited sense to interpreting the scope of the present invention.  
      The invented hinging process and hardware as shown and described in FIG. # 1  through # 9  is an innovative straightforward process, engineered and designed for those skilled in the art of building and installing such gates. Engineered and designed for: 
          Structural integrity.     Kit form (process and hardware components).     Understanding.     Simplicity.     Ease of modification/adjustment (weight bearing &amp; leveling).     Recurring Maintenance.     Installation.        

      Obviously, modifications to the exemplary embodiments, as set forth hereinabove, could be readily made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention.  
      I, We the inventors hereby state our intention to rely on the Doctrine of equivalents to determine and assess the reasonably fair scope of our invention as it pertains to any apparatus not materially departing from but outside the liberal scope of the invention as set out in the following claims.