Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    This invention relates to self-expanding fasteners, which will not pull out of holes and more particularly for hanging pipe or other items inside buildings from overhead members.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    Plumbers, electricians, mechanical contractors, sprinkler fitters and maintenance personnel often have to hang pipe, conduit, cabling, ducting, light fixtures and various other items from structural supports such as ceilings, thin metal decking, roof decking, beams, Z purlin, bar joist or other truss materials.  
           [0005]    Specialty brackets must be employed or holes must be be drilled in the material and a mounting plate or bracket bolted in place with nuts, bolts, or screws to support a hanger therefrom. Often times access to the top or backside of the material may be restricted making use of backing nuts difficult or impossible to incorporate. These methods either use multiple installation steps with several parts being installed separately, or have limitations on the ease of installation and involve parts, which can be stripped, over torqued or otherwise compromised during or after installation.  
           [0006]    Additionally, the space required by various mechanical systems incorporated in most buildings hinders and often prohibits the worker from easily reaching the support from which the hanger is to be attached. This space limitation combined with multi-step processes for attaching the hanger such as drilling a hole, placing a back nut over the hole and turning in a bolt while balancing on a ladder is difficult, time consuming, dangerous and expensive.  
           [0007]    Further the strength and integrity of the fastening connection must be calibrated and known for building inspection and end product integrity. Some methods used cannot guarantee the strength of the connection, due to base material limitations, thickness of the various building materials employed in today&#39;s building practices and installer error.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0008]    The mushrooming expandable anchor has two main components, the portion that collapses or mushrooms and a second threaded component that mechanically causes the collapse.  
           [0009]    The mushrooming component has a tubular body with a short section of internal threads on one end and a square flat washer on the opposite end. The tubular portion of the mushrooming component has slits in the sides, and the sides are slightly bowed out to promote symmetrical collapse. The tube is collapsed by a treaded screw rotated within the tubular body pulling the internally threaded section downwards towards the washer at the base. The mushrooming anchor when collapsed has radially extended anchoring strips preventing extraction of the fastener from a hole drilled in the support through which the fastener extends.  
           [0010]    When there is clear access to the fastening point and the installer is on a lift or other support, the installer can first drill a hole through the support. The expandable anchor is then inserted into the hole and the internal threaded component is rotated collapsing the tubular body portion of the fastener.  
           [0011]    In another embodiment a drill point can be pressed into the tip of the expandable anchor for self-drilling through the support.  
           [0012]    The anchor is easy to use by simply placing the device in a socket attached to a drill and turning the socket. The drill point on the end of the expandable anchor drills a hole in the support it is to be held from. Once the hole is drilled, the anchor seats into the hole and an external socket end sleeve tool slides upward over the internal socket engaging the seated, unexpanded fastener. The exterior sleeve engages the square seated collar of the fastener preventing it from rotating. The interior socket is then rotated causing the expanding portion of the fastener to collapse as the point of the internal threaded portion pushes the pressed in drill point from the anchor. This self-drilling option allows the installer to fasten and hang threaded rod from the floor. Any given length of threaded rod can be installed into high ceilings with the limitations being (1) the length of the pole tool, which can be a telescoping tool comprised of aluminum tubes as are readily available in the market place and (2) the length of the threaded rod because the threaded rod must protrude from the lower end of the pole tool so it can be rotated within the pole tool independently. By rotating the threaded rod with the self-drilling fastener already threaded onto its end, the fastener self drills and seats itself. Once seated, the extended pole tool (with the rod inside) is lifted and the notched exterior pole tool end engages the base of the expandable portion of the fastener prohibiting it from rotating. The next step is to turn the threaded rod causing the mushrooming portion of the fastener to collapse. The threaded rod remains installed in the fastener, allowing the worker to hang the intended load.  
           [0013]    Alternatively the self-drilling expandable anchor can be constructed in a different manner. In this embodiment the collapsible mushrooming portion with a drill point can be placed in the inner socket and rotated by a drill to drill a hole in the support and seat the collapsible mushrooming portion that has a receiver head broached directly onto the opposite end of the drill point. A threaded component is incorporated within the assembly and collapses it by use of an internal screwdriver. The drill point is pushed from the top of the mushrooming portion by the advancing threaded component.  
           [0014]    In another embodiment a drill bit having a hex at it&#39;s base is placed in a drill to drill a hole in a support. Once the hole is drilled a combination sleeve tool is placed over the drill bit and engages the hex at the drill bit base. The outer portion of the combination sleeve tool engages the collapsible mushrooming portion to keep it from turning and the threaded component of the expandable anchor is engaged by an internal drive/drive shaft. The expandable anchor is inserted into the drilled hole in the support and the internal threaded component is turned relative to the collapsible mushrooming portion to collapse it by operating the drill.  
           [0015]    Once the expandable anchor has been installed in the support an all thread rod may then be installed into the male receiver at the base of the threaded component. The hanger is now ready for its intended load. Alternatively a cross drilled head in the base of the threaded component could hang wire or an adaptor bracket to allow the fastening of rods, bracing, bracketing or wire. The expandable anchor can have a fixed head or a swivel head.  
           [0016]    The expandable anchor provides a known pull out strength which is necessary for building safety while providing an easy to install method having a fool proof, no stripping, overturning or over torquing feature thus preventing breakage of the fastener which may cause failure and increase construction costs.  
         OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION  
         [0017]    It is an object of the invention to provide a self expanding anchor hanger.  
           [0018]    It is an object of the invention to provide a fastener with exceptionally high pull out strength when used in very thin metals.  
           [0019]    It is an object of the invention to provide a hanger with a swivel head.  
           [0020]    It is an object of the invention to provide a hanger, which is easy to install.  
           [0021]    It is an object of the invention to insure proper consistent, installation.  
           [0022]    It is an object of the invention to provide easy access to a support point for easy installation of the hanger in confined spaces.  
           [0023]    It is an object of the invention to provide a one-piece fastener.  
           [0024]    It is an object of the invention to provide a hanger, which is quickly installed.  
           [0025]    It is an object of the invention to use the invention with a predrilled hole in a support.  
           [0026]    It is an object of the invention to provide a means for self drilling a hole in the support.  
           [0027]    It is an object of the invention to install a fastener and threaded rod as one unit for hanging objects from.  
           [0028]    It is an object of the invention to install threaded rod without the use of ladders or scaffolding.  
           [0029]    Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0030]    [0030]FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the drill point, collapsible mushrooming portion, threaded component with an attached nut head, and the associated sockets, sleeve tools and socket extensions for operating the expandable anchor.  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 2 is a cut-a-way expanded side view of the expandable anchor with drill tip installed and a socket, drive shaft extension and sleeve tool before installation of the mushrooming expandable anchor.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 3. is a cut-a-way expanded side view of the expandable anchor with drill tip installed and a socket, drive shaft extension and sleeve tool after installation of the mushrooming expandable anchor.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 4 is a cut-a-way expanded side view of a hand held drill, female all thread rod receiver, threaded rod with self drilling expandable mushrooming anchor attached inside a telescoping pole tool.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the mushrooming portion of the expandable anchor with teeth on the drill tip.  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the mushrooming portion of the expandable anchor with a swaged drill tip.  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 7 is a cut-a-way side view of a second embodiment of the expandable anchor installed, wherein the anchor has a swivel head and a post and slot drill tip.  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 8 is a cut-a-way side view of a socket for use with the screw having an expandable anchor.  
         [0038]    [0038]FIG. 9 is a cut-a-way side view of the mushrooming expandable anchor pressed permanently and swaged into a hex head with the interior screw turnable by a screwdriver or alternatively a square drive.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a drill, drill bit, sleeve tool, socket, extension pole tool, the collapsible mushroom portion, the threaded component, and a mushrooming expandable anchor with a drill point. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0040]    [0040]FIG. 1 shows the self-drilling screw with expandable anchor  10  unassembled. In a first embodiment the self-drilling screw having an expandable anchor  10  has three component parts. A hex head screw threaded component  20  similar to a SAMMY SUPER SCREW® sold by Speedy Products, Inc. owned by Illinois Tool Works, Inc. 3600 West Lake Avenue, Glenview, Ill. 60025-5811, a mushrooming component  30  similar to AVK Industrial Products A-R Series™ Threaded Insert, sold by AVK Industrial Products of Valencia, Calif. and a drill point  40 . FIG. 1 also shows tools used to install the mushrooming expandable anchor  10 . The tools include a socket  50  for turning the hex head screw  20 , a sleeve tool  70  for engaging the expandable anchor  30 , an internally broached drive shaft  80  for engaging the socket  50 , a drive tool/adaptor  83  having a hex adaptor portion  82  to turn the above described assembly and adapt to drill bit  81 , if a drill point  40  is not included in the assembly, and finally drill  84 .  
         [0041]    In a first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the drill point  40  has a slightly larger diameter than the mushrooming component  30  such that it can cut a hole in a support  60  and allow the mushrooming portion  35  of the expandable anchor body  30  to fit though the drilled hole.  
         [0042]    The mushrooming component  30  is basically a cylinder having an internal threaded portion  34  near the top and a base  38  at the bottom. Slots  36  are cut thought the cylinder walls in several locations around the mushrooming component  30  so that it can be compressed and split apart along the slits to form anchoring strips  37  when the mushrooming component  30  is collapsed as shown in FIGS. 3 and 7. The mushrooming component  30  is formed with a bulge  35  in the walls to facilitate the collapse of anchoring strips  37 . Although mushrooming component  30  is shown as a cylindrical body  35  with a circular cross section in the figures it can be any shape with any cross section such as an octagon, hexagon, square, or oval etc. as long as it will fit through the hole drilled in the support and collapse as shown herein.  
         [0043]    The hex head component  20  has a hex head portion  22 , a base portion  24  and a screw shaft  26  having a diameter just smaller than the inside threaded diameter  34  of the mushrooming component  30 . The shaft  26  has a threaded section  28  on the top portion for engaging the threads  34  in the mushrooming component  30 .  
         [0044]    In one mode of use, as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the inside threads  34  in mushrooming component  30  are threaded onto the threads  28  on the screw shaft  26  of hex head screw  20  by a few turns. The hex head screw  20  is placed in a socket  50  having a hexagon wall  58  on a portion of the inside surface for mating with the hex head portion  22  of hex head screw  20 . The hex head screw  20  can then be turned by the socket  50 .  
         [0045]    As best seen in FIG. 10 a sleeve tool  70  has an inside diameter which fits over the outside diameter of the socket  50  such that the socket  50  can rotate inside the sleeve tool  70  when desired. The sleeve tool  70  has notches  72  for engaging the corners  74  of the base  38  of the mushrooming component  30 . Sleeve tool  70  can either be a hand held tool on the order of 12 to 15 inches long or an expandable pole tool that can be extended to any length. The sleeve tool  70  may have a hand gripping means to hold it in place while the socket  50  is being turned therein.  
         [0046]    The socket  50  has a hex shaft  52  for connection to internally broached drive shaft  80  which allows connection to machined part  83  having a hex adapter portion  82 , as seen in FIG. 1. A driving means  84  such as an electric or battery operated drill, air powered drill or the like can rotating the assembly.  
         [0047]    The driving means  84  is connected to the drive shaft  80  to drive socket  50  by part  83 , which optionally holds disposable drill bit  81 .  
         [0048]    As seen in FIG. 2 the driving means  84  will turn drill point  40  on the top of mushrooming component  30  to cut through a support  60 , which may be a thin metal decking, beams, supports, Z purlin, bar joist, roof decking, or other truss materials. After the drill point  40  has cut through the support  60  the drill point  40  is no longer needed.  
         [0049]    The next step in the process is to collapse or mushroom the mushrooming component  30 , as seen in FIG. 3 to secure it from being pulled out of the support  60 . The driving means  84  will now rotate the combination of socket  50  and drive shaft  80  while the installer is holding the sleeve tool  70  in a fixed position such that the hex head screw  20  can rotate relative to the mushrooming component  30  thus rotating the treads  28  of the screw. As best seen in FIG. 1, the threads  28  are only on a portion of the top of the screw shaft  26 . The internal threaded portion  34  of the mushrooming component  30  is also only on a top portion of the mushrooming component  30 . The relative length of the threaded portions  28  and  34  on the screw shaft  26  and the mushrooming component  30  respectively are such that as the hex head screw  20  is turned relative to the mushrooming component  30  the top of the mushrooming component  30  will be pulled downward allowing the bowed portion  35  having the slots  36  to collapse, forming anchoring strips  37  as seen in FIGS. 3 and 7. Base  38  will be pulled up against the bottom of support  60  and will not fit through the drilled hole therein. As the hex head screw  20  is turned relative to the mushrooming component  30  the anchoring strips  37  will be flattened out. The anchoring strips  37  will not fit through the hole self-drilled by drill point  40  offering a pull out strength strong enough to support whatever the hanger is to be attached to. As shown in FIGS. 2, 3,  4 ,  7  and  9  the internal hanger threads  25  in the bottom portion of the hex head screw  20  are available to hold whatever is screwed into the hanger threads  25  or alternatively a cross drilled hole  46  may be incorporated to allow attachment of a great variety of adaptors. The pull out strength can vary depending on the support material  60 .  
         [0050]    As can be seen in FIG. 3 the drill point  40  is expelled from the top of the mushrooming component  30  by the top of the screw shaft  26  as it pushes through the top of the expandable anchor  30 . The drill point  40  will then fall out and may land on the support  60 .  
         [0051]    The lengths of the threaded portions  28  and  34  on the screw shaft  26  and the mushrooming component  30  respectively are such that the threads  28  on the screw shaft  26  will exit the top threads  34  on the mushrooming component  30  allowing the hex head screw  20  to spin freely thereafter when the expandable anchor  10  is compressed to the desired amount. This spin free feature eliminates possible over torque or fracture of components incorporated in fastener  10 .  
         [0052]    It should be noted that the drill point  40  can be connected to the mushrooming component  30  in many different ways. In FIG. 6 the drill point  40  is swaged into the mushrooming component  30 . In FIG. 5 the drill point  40  has teeth  130  for engaging the mushrooming component  30 . In FIG. 3 the drill point  40  has teeth notches  44  for engaging posts  45  the mushrooming component  30 .  
         [0053]    When self-drilling a hole in the support  60  the socket  50  turns the hex head screw  20  while notches  72  in sleeve  70  engage the corners  74  of the base  38  on the mushrooming component  30 . When the socket  50  turns the screw  20  the mushrooming component  30  and sleeve  70  will spin with the screw  20  since it takes a great deal of force to turn the threads  28  on screw  20  into the treads  34  of mushrooming component  30 . Therefore the drilling can be accomplished without collapsing the mushrooming component  30 . However when the sleeve  70  is held to keep it from rotating then the mushrooming component  30  will collapse. Alternatively the sleeve  70  will not be placed into engagement with the mushrooming component  30  and held from spinning until it is desired to collapse the mushrooming component  30 .  
         [0054]    There can be many different varieties of hex head screw  20 . As shown in FIG. 1 the screw shaft  26  is integral with or fixed in the base  124 . Alternatively as shown in FIGS. 2, 3,  4 , and  7  the hex head screw  20  is an assembly of two parts, the base portion  124  with a hex head base  22  and a screw  126  having screw shaft  26  with threads  28 , a screw hex head  29  having a rim  23 . The hex head  29  on screw  126  mates with a hex head receiving portion  31  in the base portion  124  of hex head screw  20 . The screw  126  with a hex head  29  can be a standard screw, which can be purchased in bulk at low prices from any number of suppliers. The base portion  124  can have the hex head receiving portion  31  for receiving the hex head  29  of screw  126  and then folding a flange  27  over the rim  23  to keep the screw  126  in place relative to the base portion  124 . As shown in greater detail in the applicant&#39;s co pending application Ser. No. 09/848,658 filed May 4, 2001 titled MOUNTING APPARATUS HAVING A SWIVEL HEAD, which is hereby made a part hereof and incorporated herein by reference, the flange  27  can be some distance from the hex head receiving portion  31  providing space  33  for a dome portion within the base portion  124 , as shown in FIG. 7. The dome portion  33  allows the screw hex head  29  to broach into the hex head receiving portion  31  when it is desired to fix the screw in position while in use for compressing the expandable anchor  30  and thereafter to release the screw hex head  29  from the hex head receiving portion  31  so that it can swivel freely in the domed portion  33 .  
         [0055]    In an alternative embodiment, the self-drilling on pre drilling of the hole in the support  60  would proceed as in prior embodiments, however, instead of a screw hex head  29  the screw head would be replaced by an alternatively shaped head  125  with a slot or other such driver  129  therein as in FIG. 9. In this embodiment, the threads  228  of the screw shaft  226  can be turned relative to the threads  234  while the mushrooming component  230  is held stationary by a wrench while a screw driver, preferrably connected to a drill, is inserted in the slot  129  or some other means provided the screw head is designed to receive such a turning device. In this manner the mushrooming component  230  is collapsed. As shown in FIG. 9 mushrooming component  230  is internally broached into head  22  and held in place by flange  27 .  
         [0056]    As shown in FIG. 1 a disposable drill bit  81  fits into machine part  83  that has a hex adaptor portion  82  having a set screw  87 . This fits into a drill chuck  84  to drill a hole in a support  60 . In this embodiment the drill bit  40  is not used. After the hole is drilled a drive shaft  80  having interior hex portions  53  on both ends attaches to the hex portion  82  of the bit adaptor and hex portion  52  of socket  50  allowing the rotation of part  20  while sleeve  70  prevents rotation of mushrooming component  30 . In this manner an installer can use the assembly repeatedly without rechucking his drill. He drills a hole in support material  60  with the drill bit  81  and then attaches the assembly as shown in FIGS. 1 and 10 by the assembly of parts  80 ,  50  and  70  over hex adaptor portion  82 , to collapse mushrooming component  30  in the support  60 . He then removes the assembly of parts  80 ,  50  and  70  to make the drill bit available for drilling the next hole in the support, then inserts another pre assembled non self-drilling screw with expandable anchor  10  in socket  50  and is ready to mushroom another collapsible component  30  in the support  60 . Expandable anchor  10  is significantly less expensive without drill point  40  as a component.  
         [0057]    One of the advantages of the screw with expandable anchor  10  with a drill point  40  thereon is that it can be used with a pole installation method such that the installer need not be on a ladder adjacent the support  60  to drill a hole therein. He can stand on the floor and move about freely without having to reposition a ladder for each installation operation. With this method the installer can also access the support  60  through narrow gaps between pipes, vents or other equipment. The pole and equipment attached thereto can be held at a position considerably below the support  60  for self-drilling a hole therein and collapsing the collapsible anchor  10 . To use this method a threaded rod  90  as seen in FIG. 4 can be threaded to the base of self-drilling hex head screw  20  using threads  25  therein. A long or an extendable pole tool  70  can be used with the threaded rod to match the length of the threaded rod. As shown in FIG. 4 drill chuck  84  receives internally threaded driver  85 , which accepts a length of threaded rod  90 . Threaded rod  90  must protrude from the lower end of pole tool  70 . By rotating the assembly comprising the drill chuck  84 , the driver  85  the threaded rod  90 , part  10  and the drill point  40  will self drill through material  60 . Once drilling is complete, pole tool  70  is raised to engage collar  74  of seated collapsible anchor portion  30 . The installer grasps pole tool  70  preventing it from rotating while activating drill  84  thus turning threaded rod  90  and internal screw  20  causing collapse of mushrooming component  30 . Then pole tool  70  is slid down leaving the complete fastener assembly  10  with threaded rod  90  ready for the intended load to be attached.  
         [0058]    The pole tool  70  can be extendable to be used with different lengths of rods  90 .  
         [0059]    Alternatively if the installer would prefer to use an embodiment with no drill tip  40  on the mushrooming component  30  he would have to first drill a hole in the support  60  with a drill  84  and the assembly comprising disposable drill bit  81 , and adaptor  83 , and then install the collapsible anchor  10  as described above.  
         [0060]    As shown in the figures the base of the screw  20  has internal threads  25  providing a connection to the object to be hung therefrom, however the base of screw  20  may use any means of attaching an object thereto.  
         [0061]    In an alternate embodiment a hole  46  cross drilled through the hex head portion  22  can be used to insert a rod or bolt (not shown) for hanging an object or bracket by use of the hole  46 .  
         [0062]    Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

Technology Category: 2