Patent ID: 8413332

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a fencing/railing assembly to be positioned between a pair of posts and mounted thereto, the method comprising the steps of: providing one or more vertical pickets, each picket having an upper end and a lower end opposite the upper end, and having at least one pivot hole formed therein between the upper and lower end; providing at least one connector strip, each connector strip having one or more connector bosses formed on a first side thereof and a sliding surface formed on a second side thereof opposite the first side; pivotably connecting the at least one connector strip to the one or more pickets by aligning and inserting a respective one of the one or more connector bosses into the at least one pivot hole formed in each of the one or more pickets; providing an elongate rail with a first end and an opposing second end, the elongate rail comprising at least an upper wall and a side wall, and further comprising picket openings spaced longitudinally along the upper wall; and slipping the elongate rail over the one or more pickets so that the one or more pickets extend through the picket openings, and further slipping the elongate rail over the at least one connector strip so that the sliding surface of the at least one connector strip is slidably engaged with an inner surface of the side wall of the elongate rail and the at least one connector strip is concealed between the side wall and the picket; whereby pivoting an upper end of one of the one or more pickets towards the first end of the elongate rail causes the at least one connector strip to slide along the inner surface of the side wall of the rail towards the second end of the elongate rail, and vice versa.