Abstract:
An insulator for mounting an electric wire to a round vertical post. The insulator main body includes an outwardly opening slot through which the round post may be moved as the insulator is removed from the post. A nut is threadedly mounted at the slotted end of the main body limiting movement of the round post within the slot. A spacer within the slot limits inward movement of the slot walls. Various embodiments of the spacer are disclosed.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to the field of insulators for holding electric wires. 
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
     Electric fences are used to limit movement of livestock. The typical electric fence includes a plurality of upright vertically extending posts located along the length of the fence. The posts have round or circular cross-sections. An upper and lower electric wire extend horizontally the length of the fence and are mounted to the round posts by plastic electric insulators. Once such insulator is shown in U.S. Design Pat. No. 243,343. Variations of the insulators are shown in U.S. Design Pat. Nos. 331,221 and 347,823. 
     Referring to U.S. Design Pat. No. 347,823, a nut is threadedly and movably mounted to one end of the insulator which has a vertical slot extending therethrough to receive the round post. In the event the insulator holding the bottom wire is damaged, then the top wire and associated insulator must first be removed in order to slide the bottom insulator upward passed the top end of the post. A fence extending a long distance has a number of insulators and thus to repair the bottom insulators becomes a time consuming chore. I have therefore designed a new insulator that may be removed from the round post without the necessity of removing the upper insulators. My new insulator includes a slotted open end closed by the nut with the nut being removable and the insulator moved horizontally apart from the post. 
     Additional insulators include the insulator shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,255 for mounting an electric wire to a chain link fence and the insulator disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,036 for mounting an electric wire to a rectangular fence post. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     One embodiment of the present invention is an electric insulator for mounting an electric wire to a round fence post comprising a main body with a first end to mountingly and removably receive an electric wire and an opposite second end to removably mount to a round fence post. The main body includes a round post receiving slot with a closed end and an open end. The closed end of the slot is located closer to the first end of the insulator than the open end of the slot through which the post is removable. An internally threaded nut is threadedly mounted to the insulator main body and extends across the slot between the closed end and the open end limiting removal through the open end. 
     One embodiment of the present invention is to provide a new and improved electric fence insulator for a round post. 
     A further object of the present invention is to provide a round post insulator removable from the post without the necessity of removal of additional insulators. 
     Related objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the insulator incorporating the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a side view. 
     FIG. 3 is a top view. 
     FIG. 4 is an end view. 
     FIG. 5 is the same view as FIG. 3 only with the nut mounted to the insulator main body, in turn, mounted to a round post and holding an electric wire. 
     FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the nut mounted to the insulator main body of FIG.  5 . 
     FIG. 7 is a perspective view of version A of the insulator spacer. 
     FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a first alternate embodiment or version B of the spacer of FIG.  7 . 
     FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a second alternate embodiment or version C of the spacer of FIG.  7 . 
     FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a first alternate embodiment or version D of the nut of FIG. 6 having the spacer of FIG. 8 mounted thereto. 
     FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of a second alternate embodiment or version E of the nut of FIG. 6 with a captive spacer. 
     FIG. 12 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the proximal end of the insulator main body with the spacer of FIG. 7 located within the slot. 
     FIG. 13 is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment or version F of the spacer and attached disk. 
     FIG. 14 is a side view of yet a further alternate embodiment or version G of the insulator. 
     FIG. 15 a perspective view of the spacer used with the insulator of FIG.  14 . 
     FIG. 16 is a cross sectional view of the cap taken along the line  16 — 16  of FIG. 14 viewed in the direction of the arrows. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated device, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates. 
     Referring now more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 5, there is shown an electric insulator  20  having a first end  21  removably holding a horizontally extending electric wire  22  and an opposite second end  23  removably mounted to a vertically extending round fence post  24 . Insulator  20  has a main body  25  threadedly receiving a removable nut  26  both of which are produced from an insulating material such as plastic. 
     The main body  25  of insulator  20  includes the first end  21  forming the distal end of the insulator. End  21  includes a pair of oppositely directed arms  27  and  28  (FIG. 4) integrally attached thereto. Arm  27  (FIG. 1) extends upwardly forming an upwardly opening recess  29 . Likewise, arm  28  extends downwardly forming a downwardly opening recess  30 . A circular passage  31  (FIG. 2) is formed between a upwardly curved surface  32  of arm  27  and a downwardly curved surface  33  of arm  28  with the arms being spaced apart on the opposite sides but at the same end of the insulator main body. Thus, the electric wire  22  may be slipped into recess  29  and then bent downwardly around the bottom end of arm  28  fitting into recess  30  with the wire  22  then occupying the circular passage  31 . These pair of arms are included in the prior art insulators and are commercially available to removably mount an electric wire  22  thereto. 
     The opposite end  23  of the insulator main body has a cylindrical configuration with an external thread  34  (FIG. 3) extending therearound. A slot  35  has a first end  36  forming a curved surface  37  facing outwardly through the open end  38  of the slot. Slot  35  extends entirely through the main body of the insulator at end  23  thereby dividing the cylindrical wall  39  of end  23  into a pair of members  40  and  41  having proximal ends  42  and  43  cantileverdly mounted to the insulator main body and opposite spaced apart distal ends  44  and  45  through and between which round post  24  may move. 
     An internally threaded nut  26  (FIG. 5) is removably and threadedly mounted to end  23  forming the proximal end of the insulator secured to the round fence post. Nut  26  has an inwardly facing contact surface  50  opposed from the outwardly facing curved surface  37  formed at the end of slot  35 . As nut  26  is rotated, the distance between the surfaces  50  and  37  is changed. In order to mount the insulator to round fence post  24 , nut  26  may be tightened so that surface  50  contacts the outer cylindrical surface of post  24  which is forced toward curved surface  37  thereby securing the insulator to the post. Surface  50  extends across slot  35  closing the open end of the slot thereby holding the post within the slot and limiting movement therefrom. In order to remove the insulator from the post, nut  26  is rotated about its longitudinal axis  51  until the nut is removed entirely from the insulator main body thereby opening slot  35  and allowing post  24  to move between distal ends  44  and  45  with the post then being moved entirely from the slot and the insulator. 
     Surface  37  is spaced apart an insulating distance from end  21  thereby insulating the electric wire from the vertically extending round post. Surface  37  and surface  50  form a round post holding space which may be varied in size depending upon the size of the post. Surface  50  extends across the top  55  (FIG. 1) of the slot and the bottom  56  of the slot between surface  37  and the outer ends  44  and  45  thereby closing the slot and limiting removal of the post from the slot between the outer ends. Closed end  36  of slot  35  is located closer to distal end  21  than the open end  38  of the slot. The nut is removable from the proximal end of the insulator main body in order to allow for the removal of the round post from the slot between the distal ends. 
     A spacer  60  (FIG. 7) is located within slot  35  between members  40  and  41  to prevent the members from moving inwardly as the nut is tightened. Spacer  60  has an inwardly facing curved surface  61  to extend partially around round post  24  and has a width  62  and length  63  sized to provide a snug fit within slot  35 . 
     Alternative designs are provided and will be described for limiting movement of spacer  60  relative to the nut. In the embodiment of FIG. 12, the distal ends  46  and  47  of members  40  and  41  extend partially across the open end of the slot thereby preventing movement of spacer  60  between ends  46  and  47 . Ends  46  and  47  are however spaced apart a sufficient distance to allow movement of the round fence post  24  therebetween once spacer  60  is slipped sideways out of the slot in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the round fence post. With nut  26  mounted to the insulator main body, spacer  60  is prevented from moving in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of post  24 , since the nut extends around the spacer. Likewise, the inwardly turned distal ends  46  and  47  prevent the spacer from moving outwardly along the longitudinal axis  51  of the insulator main body. 
     An alternate embodiment of the spacer is shown in FIG.  9 . Spacer  70  is identical to spacer  60  except that a strap  71  has one end  72  fixedly attached to the spacer and an opposite end  73  connected to the insulator main body. End  73  may be connected to the spaced apart walls  74  and  75  spacing distal end  21  (FIG. 3) apart from proximal end  23 . End  73  may be connected to a flat strip wedged between spaced apart walls  74  and  75  or may be integrally connected to either wall. Strap  71  allows for the removal of the spacer from slot  35  when nut  26  is removed without the spacer falling to the ground since the spacer is retained with the insulator main body by the strap. 
     A further embodiment of spacer  60  is depicted in FIG.  8 . Spacer  80  is identical to spacer  60  with the exception that a pin  81  is fixedly connected thereto. Pin  81  extends outwardly between outer ends  44  and  45  (FIG. 3) or ends  46  and  47  (FIG. 12) with pin  81  further extending outwardly through hole  83  (FIG. 6) of nut  26  allowing the user to grasp the pin thereby holding spacer  80  as the cap is removed preventing the spacer from falling downwardly and becoming misplaced. Alternatively, a longer nut  82  (FIG. 10) with an extension  100  on the end opposite of the end having the internal threads is provided with a cap closing central passage  83  (FIG.  6 ). A central hole  84  (FIG. 10) is provided in the cap through which pin  81  extends. The cap of FIG. 10 includes the internal threads and is threadedly mounted to the proximal end of the insulator main body. The main body of nut has an extension  100  immediately beneath the cap so that the cap will not prevent tightening of the nut to the insulator main body. As the nut is rotated to remove the nut from the insulator of the main body, pin  81  may be held stationery since hole  84  is sized larger than the outside diameter of the pin. The cap has slots  101  extending therethrough allowing the end wall of the cap to flex to allow the ball shaped end of pin  81  to be forceably removed from the nut. As the nut is removed from the insulator body, pin  81  may be grasped thereby allowing for the simultaneous removal of the pin  81  and attached spacer  80  along with the nut. In the embodiment of FIG. 10, the outer ends  44  and  45  must not turn inwardly but must remain straight in order for the spacer to be pulled outwardly between outer ends  44  and  45 . 
     Yet a further embodiment of a spacer is depicted in cross-section in FIG.  11 . Spacer  90  is identical to spacer  60  with the exception that the outwardly facing surface  91  is flat as compared to the curved outwardly facing surface  64  of spacer  60 . Nut  102  is longer than nut  26  providing a recess  93 . Spacer  90  is fixedly mounted to a disk  92  held captive within nut  102 . Alternatively, spacer  90  and disk  92  are one piece. Nut  102  includes an internal recess  93  sized to receive disk  92 . Nut  102  includes the internal threads  94  to threadedly mount to the proximal end of the insulator main body. Recess  93  is sized sufficiently to allow rotation of the nut  102  while spacer  90  is located within slot  35  with relative rotational motion occurring between the nut and disk  92 . Spacer  90  can be used only with outer ends  44  and  45  which do not extend inwardly. Spacer  90  and disk  92  are forced into recess  93  through hole  95 . 
     An alternate embodiment of the spacer and disk of FIG. 11 is shown in FIG.  13 . Disk  96  and spacer  97  are identical to disk  92  and spacer  90  with the exception that a notch  98  extends through disk  96  at the edge thereof. Thus, disk  96  and plug  97  may be mounted to nut  102  (FIG. 11) by threading the disk through hole  99  allowing threads  94  to pass through notch  98  with the disk then being rotated relative to the nut until the disk is held captive within recess  93 . 
     Yet a further embodiment is shown in FIG.  14 . Insulator  110  includes a insulator main body identical to main body  25 (FIG.  5 ). The spacer  111 (FIG. 15) mounted in the insulator  110  includes a curved surface  112  identical to curved surface  61 (FIG. 7) but has ears  113  and  114  extending laterally outwardly from the main body of the spacer. Surface  112  is provided on the ears thereby providing more contact between the spacer and fence post. Further, the surface  115  of nut  116  facing the fence post contacts the outwardly facing surface  116  of ears  113  and  114  forcing surface  112  against the post. The opposite end  117  of the spacer may be provided with a pin  81 (FIG. 8) extending outwardly to be used with the nut of FIG. 10 or may have outwardly extending ears  118  and  119  located inwardly of ears  113  and  114  and being received in recess  120  of the nut thereby holding the spacer captive relative to the nut. Recess  120  is provided with a slot  121  to allow the ears  118  or  119  to be threaded therethrough in order to position ears  118  and  119  in recess  120 . In order to mount spacer  111  to nut  116 , ears  118  and  119  are positioned in recess  122  with the nut then being rotated so ears  118  and  119  pass via slot  121  into recess  120  thereby leaving ears  113  and  114  to extend outwardly of the cap while contacting surface  115 . Ears  118  and  119  are shorter than ears  113  and  114 . 
     While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only the preferred embodiments have been shown and described and that all changes and modifications the come within the spirit of the invention are desired to be protected.