Patent ID: 7665252

Claim:
An apparatus bracing a wall during construction, the apparatus comprising: (a) a backing plate on a first side of the wall, the plate having an aperture; (b) a front plate on a second side of the wall opposite the backing plate, the front plate having an aperture aligned with the aperture of the backing plate and opposed ears extending from opposite sides of the front plate, the ears having a first pair of aligned holes and a second pair of aligned holes spaced from the first pair of aligned holes; (c) an elongated fastener having a head and a shaft, the shaft extending through the aperture in the backing plate with the head adjacent the backing plate, through the aperture in the front plate that is aligned with the aperture in the back plate and through the wall disposed between the front and backing plates, the elongated fastener having at least one hole formed through the shaft near a shaft end opposite the head, said at least one hole being disposed between the opposed ears of the front plate, wherein the second pair of aligned holes in the ears is aligned with said at least one hole in the elongated fastener's shaft; (d) a wedge extending through said at least one hole in the elongated fastener's shaft and through the second pair of aligned holes in the ears; and (e) a first pivot pin extending through the first pair of aligned holes in the ears to which a first end of a bracing member pivotably mounts and extends away from the wall.