Patent ID: 8479932

Claim:
A tension rod for being mounted between opposing support surfaces separated by a distance, said tension rod having a longitudinal axis and comprising: an outer tube; an inner tube disposed partially within said outer tube in a telescoping arrangement, said inner tube having an inner end disposed within said outer tube; a compressible biasing device for establishing a tension force for urging said inner tube apart from said outer tube, said compressible biasing device comprising a spring; a biasing device support structure being initially movable in said outer tube and activatable to be fixed at a predetermined location within said outer tube; a fixing structure for being actuated in response to twisting of said inner tube about the longitudinal axis to activate said biasing device support structure and fix said biasing device support structure at a predetermined location within said outer tube, said fixing structure comprising a pair of integral coaxial cylinders having axes coincident with the longitudinal axis said coaxial cylinders comprising: an inner cylinder proximal said biasing device support structure and having a spring receiving bore for receiving a portion of said spring, said spring receiving bore having an abutment for serving as a stop for said spring, an external relatively wide diameter and a solid external surface devoid of any holes through said solid external surface; and an outer cylinder distal said biasing device support structure having both a relatively narrow diameter compared to said external relatively wide diameter and a solid external surface devoid of any holes through said solid external surface, said inner cylinder and said outer cylinder cooperating to define an exterior abutment for engaging said inner end of said inner tube; and a fixing-structure actuating device for actuating said biasing device support structure at the predetermined location within said outer tube in response to the twisting of said fixing structure about the longitudinal axis; wherein the length of said tension rod is initially adjusted to be longer than the distance separating the support surfaces, said fixing-structure actuating device being movable to fix said biasing device support structure at the predetermined location within said outer tube, and to compress said inner tube into said outer tube to compress said biasing device between the support surfaces in a compressed state, and said inner and outer tubes being releasable from the compressed state to allow said biasing device to force said inner tube and said outer tube against the respective support surfaces to mount said tension rod between said support surfaces.