Abstract:
A fastening device for attaching wire, cable, pipe and conduit to structural members of a building having separated legs and a connecting portion which connecting portion has means for progressively enlarging the size thereof to accommodate varying sizes of such wire, pipe, etc. so as to reduce the number of specifically sized devices to accomplish the connecting task.

Description:
This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/809,176 filed May 30, 2006. 

   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention relates to a device that is adapted to fasten various electrical and plumbing service components such as wire, cable, conduit and pipe to the framing structure of a house, building or other structure during the construction thereof. Such devices are known and include staples, clips, clamps, etc. having a U-shaped body to cradle the service component at spaced intervals and with opposed points or legs by which the attachment device is nailed or otherwise secured to the framing structures, e.g., joists, studs, etc. 
   Such devices include staple-like fasteners generally made from metal as well as the more recently adopted clamps having a U-shaped plastic body with opposed legs through which nails are driven to accomplish the attachment tasks above described. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The above described prior art devices are adequate for the fastening tasks for which they are used intended. However, the many different plumbing and electrical service components necessary during building construction come in a fairly wide variety of sizes, e.g., 16-gauge electrical wire is much smaller in circumference than 8-gauge electrical cable, and the outside diameter of plastic PVC hot water conduit is of a sized differently than copper pipe which itself comes in various sizes, e.g., ½″, ¾″ or 1″ inside diameter. These size differences in the electrical and plumbing service components thus necessitate that electrical and plumbing contractors have variously sized attaching devices available at the job site for each construction project. Even if the service contractor selects one particular fastening device style, the requirement for different sizes thereof necessitates that three, four or even more boxes of the fastening devices be carried to the work site or stocked in the contractor&#39;s vehicle. This invariably leads to situations in which the electrician or other skilled artisan requires a ½″ size clamp and only has a ¾″ clamp in his truck or at the work site and thus has to send someone out to obtain the properly sized clamp. In addition to storage space considerations often a problem at work sites or in contractors&#39; trucks, time and work effort are expended to oversee available inventory stock to ensure that an adequate supply of the correctly sized fastening devices are readily available in the trucks or at the job site. The above-indicated problems are even more pronounced when the nature of the work is a service call and the tradesman responding thereto does not know what various size service components are in place in the building. Service calls also are usually handled by smaller trucks where space limitations are even a greater consideration. 
   It would thus be useful to have clamp fastener devices which can accommodate, that is, properly secure variously sized service components yet still provide the snug fit of the component with respect to the device that is required for the task. The provision of such a device that in its initially provided form would accommodate the smallest sized service component could then be altered to progressively accommodate larger sized service components, e.g., a device to secure # 16 wire can be progressively altered to enlarge the device to accommodate # 12 and then # 8 wire/cable. Such a device would solve the inventory and space problems of prior art devices. 
   This and other objects of the present are accomplished by a service component fastening device having a body having a pocket adapted to receive the service component which body includes a pair of laterally opposed legs having, in turn, means for accepting a fastening device such as a nail therethrough and portions of said body being removable to enlarge the receiving pocket to accommodate progressively larger service components therein. 
   Other objects, features and advantages of the invention shall become apparent as the description thereof proceeds when considered in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings. 

   
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In the drawings which illustrate the best mode presently contemplated for carrying out the present invention: 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a device illustrating one form of the invention configured in particular for receipt of electrical wire and cable; 
       FIG. 2  is a front elevational view of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  is a sectional view along the line  3 - 3  of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 4  is an enlarged view of  FIG. 3 ; 
       FIG. 5  is a perspective view of a structural installation utilizing the devices shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 6  is a perspective view similar to  FIG. 1  but showing one manner in which the body of the device shown therein may be enlarged to accept larger wire and cable; 
       FIG. 7  is a front elevational view of the device of  FIG. 6  after such device is enlarged; 
       FIG. 8  is a sectional view along the line  8 - 8  of  FIG. 7 ; 
       FIG. 9  is a perspective view similar to  FIGS. 1 and 6  showing one manner in which the body of the device shown therein may be further enlarged to accept even larger wire and cable; 
       FIG. 10  is a front elevational view of the device of  FIG. 9  after such device has been enlarged; 
       FIG. 11  is a sectional view along the line  11 - 11  of  FIG. 10 ; 
       FIG. 12  is a perspective view of a device of the present invention illustrating a further embodiment configured to receive heating conduit and pipe; 
       FIG. 13  is a front elevational view of  FIG. 12 ; 
       FIG. 14  is a perspective view of a structural installation utilizing the device shown in  FIG. 12 ; 
       FIG. 15  is a front elevational view of the device shown in  FIG. 12  after the body of the device has been enlarged to the fullest extent to accept relatively large conduit and pipe; and 
       FIG. 16  is a perspective view similar to  FIG. 14  but utilizing the fully enlarged device of  FIG. 15 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Turning now to the drawings and particularly  FIGS. 1-11 , a preferred form of the invention is shown for particular use with electrical wire and cable. The device  10  illustrated therein includes a body  12  having a pair of laterally separated legs  14  joined by a top central portion or connecting member  16 . Generally, the device  10  is constructed from a tough resilient plastic material that is preferably an electric insulator such as butadiene-modified polyethylene. The device can be formed by standard injection molding techniques. The material and manufacturing method is not, however, limited to the above example, and the device can be formed of any suitable material by any suitable procedure. 
   Each leg  14  is provided with a bore  18  for receipt of a fastener such as nails  20 . As will be apparent particularly from  FIG. 5 , the device  10  is placed over a wire or cable  22  such that the lower surface  24  of the top member forms a receiving pocket  25  so as to contact and/or cradle the wire when disposed against a structural member such as a stud or joist  26 . The nails penetrate into the stud/joist  26  by conventional hammering which takes place above the legs  14  rather than via contact with central portions of the member  16  for reasons which will be apparent hereinafter. After a series of devices have been attached as above described, the wire/cable is firmly attached to the structural members as desired. 
   Referring again to  FIGS. 2-4  and  6 , the body  12  includes a connecting member  16  which itself includes one or more additional sub members, e.g.,  16   a  and  16   b , nested within the interior of member  16  and attached thereto and to each other (in those cases where there are two or more sub members) by connecting webs  30  (best shown in  FIG. 6 ). When a larger wire or cable is to be fastened, the innermost sub member  16   a  can be snapped away from the middle or intermediate sub member  16   b  positioned immediately above sub member  16   a . The sub member  16   b , in turn, is similarly connected to the underside of member  16  by means of the same breakaway webs. The webs are pictured as separated laterally from each other but may alternatively be a single narrowed material web at the top of each sub member and both the separated webs and the connective narrowed web each may extend along the sub legs  14   a  and  14   b  of the respective sub members. Removal of one or both of the sub members is preferably by hand grasping and twisting, however, such action can be facilitated by using pliers or other grasping tools. 
   The removal of one or more of the sub members is determined by the wire or cable size to be fastened. Additionally, both sub members can be removed simultaneously, if desired, especially when the tradesman has already determined the proper size dimensions for the device to accommodate the wire/cable. The procedure of nailing through the legs  14  via bores  18  remains the same regardless of the opening size beneath the connecting member  16  as determined by how many or if no sub members are removed. Since the force of the hammer is laterally removed from the connecting member, such force is unlikely to dislodge a sub member unintentionally. 
   The present invention also has utility with the securing of pipe and conduit to structural elements of a house or other building. Such plumbing type pipe and conduit includes water pipe such as copper pipe in varying sizes, e.g., ½′, ¾″ and 1″ diameters, as well as heating pipe that includes both copper and engineered plastic. Further applicability is for thin-walled metal conduit in which electrical wires are housed—the common thread being that such pipe, conduit, etc. exhibits a general circular cross-section. Accordingly, the device  40  shown in  FIGS. 12-16  is configured to particularly accept pipe, etc. of circular cross-sectional configurations, as opposed to the somewhat flat configurations shown in the  FIGS. 1-11  embodiments. 
   Turning now to  FIGS. 12-16 , the device  40  includes essentially all the structural features of the device  10  including a body  42  and a pair of legs or flanges  44  which are formed as the lateral extensions of the rounded generally semi-circular connecting member  46 . The legs include bores  48  through which nails  20  extend to attach the device  40  to the structural members of the house/building. In addition to connecting member  46 , the body  42  includes one or more sub members  46   a ,  46   b  that are connected to each other and to the connecting member  46  via connecting webs  50  which, as in the previous embodiment, serve to enable the sub members to be broken away from each other and/or the member  46  as necessitated by the conduit or pipe diameter. The inner surface portions  46 ,  46   a  and  47   b  of the members form receiving pockets  47 ,  47   a  and  47   b  for the variously sized conduits or pipes. 
   While there is shown and described herein certain specific structure embodying this invention, it will be manifest to those skilled in the art that various modifications and rearrangements of the parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the underlying inventive concept and that the same is not limited to the particular forms herein shown and described except insofar as indicated by the scope of the appended claims.