Patent Document

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/309,124, filed Dec. 4, 2002 now pending, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/028,218, filed Dec. 28, 2001, now abandoned, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/618,609, filed Jul. 17, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,367,745. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates to self-clinching fasteners that provide for a secure mounting location for common cable ties.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0005]     Manufacturers of industrial machines quite often make use of wire harnesses to distribute electrical power to various locations within a machine. It is common to run bundles of wire along a sheet metal panel in order to distribute the bundles of wires. These bundles are often anchored to a sheet panel in discreet locations to prevent the wires from coming in contact with harmful elements.  
         [0006]     A common approach to anchoring these wire bundles to a panel makes use of a plastic molded cable mount with an adhesive backing. Examples of an adhesive backed cable tie mount is disclosed by Robert Nicoli in U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,856. The Nicoli adhesive mount is simply applied to a sheet panel via the adhesive backing on the cable tie mount itself. This provides for an anchor point for a cable tie.  
         [0007]     Another tie mount was disclosed by Hiroshi Osada in U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,245. Osada teaches about a tie mount that snaps into a sheet panel  
         [0008]     The disadvantage of the Nicoli adhesive mount is its tendency to dislodge itself over time from the sheet panel. The adhesive backing quite often fails when too much load is placed on the adhesive mount. Also, the final placement of the adhesive backed mount on a panel is quite often inconsistent due to the installation process of simply laying the adhesive mount on a sheet panel.  
         [0009]     The disadvantage of the Osada snap-action mount is it can only handle a limited amount of loading. Also, the Osada mount does not display a flush surface on the far side of the sheet panel.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0010]     Accordingly, several objects and advantages of my invention are:  
         [0011]     (a) to improve the load bearing capability of a cable tie mount without the use of a screw;  
         [0012]     (b) to reduce the assembly time for installing a cable tie mount for a high load application;  
         [0013]     (c) to improve the positional accuracy of locating a cable tie mount; and  
         [0014]     (d) to provide a self-clinching fastener used as a cable tie mount that has a low profile and a flush appearance on the far side of the sheet panel.  
         [0015]     Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.  
         [0016]     Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]     These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:  
         [0018]      FIG. 1  shows an isometric view of the first embodiment;  
         [0019]      FIG. 2  shows a front view of  FIG. 1  clearly depicting the substantially rectangular cross section of the cavity;  
         [0020]      FIG. 3  shows a section view of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0021]      FIG. 4  shows an assembly view of the first embodiment in relation to a sheet panel and a cable tie;  
         [0022]      FIG. 5  shows an isometric view of the second embodiment;  
         [0023]      FIG. 6  shows an isometric view of the third embodiment;  
         [0024]      FIG. 7  shows an isometric view of the fourth embodiment;  
         [0025]      FIG. 8  shows an isometric view of the fifth embodiment; and  
         [0026]      FIG. 9  shows a front view of  FIG. 8 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS  
       [0027]     Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.  
         [0028]     With initial reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a self-clinching cable tie mount  10  is shown. Mount  10  has a body  15 . Protruding outward and adjacent to body  15  are two extended lands  11  and  12 . Extended land  11  and extended land  12  are set apart from one another. Both extended lands  11  and  12  are parallel to one another. Formed into body  15  are two undercut grooves  13  and  14 . Undercut groove  13  and extended land  11  are adjacent and parallel to one another. Undercut groove  14  and extended land  12  are adjacent and parallel to one another. Body  15  joins extended lands  11  and  12  with undercut grooves  13  and  14 .  
         [0029]     From  FIG. 2 , body  15  has an external guide wall  16  that is adjacent to undercut groove  13 . An external guide wall  17  is located on body  15  and opposite in side to external guide wall  16 . External guide wall  17  is adjacent to undercut groove  14 . Both external guide walls  16  and  17  slope inward and away from undercut grooves  13  and  14 .  
         [0030]     From  FIGS. 1 through 3 , a cavity  23  whose length extends through body  15  perpendicular to an axis joining both extended lands  11  and  12 . The width of cavity  23  is measured perpendicular to the length of cavity  23 . The height of cavity  23  is measured perpendicular to a plane joining extended land  11  to extended land  12  and perpendicular to the width of cavity  23 . The height and width of cavity  23  are both measured in a plane that is parallel to the cross section of cavity  23 . For fastener  10  shown in  FIG. 1 , the cross section of cavity  23  is substantially rectangular in shape. However, the corners of the substantially rectangular cavity  23  may not be sharp and thus the overall cross section of cavity  23  could then be considered obround, trapezoidal, or any general shape where the width is greater than the height.  
         [0031]     With reference to  FIGS. 1 through 3 , a side guide wall  18  and a side guide wall  19  formed into body  15  both lead up to cavity  23 . Atop guide wall  24  is formed into body  15  and is adjacent to side guide walls  18  and  19 . Top guide wall  24  is located along cavity  23 . Both side guide walls  18  and  19  slope inward and toward cavity  23 . Opposite to top guide wall  24  and adjacent to side guide walls  18  and  19  is a bottom guide wall  22 . Top guide wall  24  slopes outward and away from bottom guide wall  22  and outward and away from extended lands  11  and  12 .  
         [0032]     With further reference to  FIGS. 1 through 3 , by copying and rotating side guide walls  18  and  19  and top guide wall  24  one hundred and eighty degrees about an axis I-I ( FIG. 1 ), two more side guide walls  20  and  21  and a top guide wall  25  are formed into body  15 .  
         [0033]     From  FIG. 4 , a sheet panel  28  has a cutout  27  that goes through the thickness of sheet panel  28 . A cable tie  29  has a substantially rectangular cross section.  
         [0034]     While the above description contains many specifications, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention, but rather as an exemplification of the first embodiment thereof.  
         [0035]     For example,  FIG. 5  shows a second embodiment  30  that is derived from first embodiment  10  by removing side guide walls  20  and  21  and top guide wall  25  from embodiment  10  to form a cavity  33  on embodiment  30 .  
         [0036]      FIG. 6  shows a third embodiment  50  that is derived from first embodiment  10  by removing side guide walls  18 ,  19 ,  20 ,  21 , and top guide walls  24  and  25  from body  15 . Also removed are external guide walls  16  and  17 . The removed walls leave third embodiment  50  with no sloping walls and therefore all walls are either vertical or horizontal with no tapering slope.  
         [0037]      FIG. 7  shows a fourth embodiment  70  that is derived from first embodiment  10 . Embodiment  70  is formed by removing side guide walls  18 , 19 ,  20 ,  21 , top guide walls  24  and  25 , external guide walls  16  and  17 , and rotating extended lands  11  and  12  and undercut grooves  13  and  14  ninety degrees about the II-II axis.  
         [0038]      FIG. 8  shows a fifth embodiment  90 . Fifth embodiment  90  has two extended lands  93  and  94 . Embodiment  90  has two external guide walls  91  and  92  that are 90° out of phase with extended lands  93  and  94 .  
         [0039]     All Embodiments are made preferably of steel and are most often plated to resist corrosion. The preferred embodiments can be conveniently made from steel using the powder metal process. Nevertheless, other metals and processes, such as aluminum and the extruding process, can also be used provided they have sufficient strength and other required physical characteristics.  
         [0040]     In operation self-clinching cable tie mount  10  is passed into cutout  27  located in sheet panel  28 . External guide walls  16  and  17  assist in guiding fastener  10  through cutout  27 . Fastener  10  is further advanced through cutout  27  until extended lands  11  and  12  first make contact with sheet panel  28 . Using the appropriate tooling, fastener  10  is then pressed into sheet panel  28  by means of the self-clinching process. The self-clinching process requires both extended lands  11  and  12  to displace a portion of sheet panel  28  into undercut grooves  13  and  14 . When displaced material from sheet panel  28  has flowed into undercut grooves  13  and  14 , fastener  10  is clinched into sheet panel  28 .  
         [0041]     With fastener  10  firmly clinched into sheet panel  28 , cable tie  29  is then inserted through cavity  23 . Side guide walls  18  and  19  along with bottom guide wall  22  and top guide wall  24  help guide cable tie  29  through cavity  23 . Entry into cavity  23  can also be accomplished by cable tie  29  first approaching side guide walls  20  and  21  in addition to top guide wall  25  and bottom guide wall  22 .  
         [0042]     Second embodiment  30  is operated similar to fastener  10 . However, second embodiment  30  only permits the guided entrance of cable tie  29  from one side of cavity  33 .  
         [0043]     Third embodiment  50  is operated similar to fastener  10 . However, third embodiment  50  does not provide for a guided entrance from either side of cavity  56 . Also, third embodiment  50  does not have external guide walls  16  and  17  found on embodiment  10 . Third embodiment  50  function as embodiment  10  without the benefit of a guided entrance into sheet panel  28  and the benefit to guide cable tie  29  into cavity  56 .  
         [0044]     Fourth embodiment  70  is operated similar to third embodiment  50 . However, fourth embodiment  70  differs from third embodiment  50  by rotating extended lands  71  and  72  and undercut grooves  73  and  74  ninety degrees about the  11 -I axis. The position of extended lands  71  and  72  and undercut grooves  73  and  74  has no effect on the function of fourth embodiment  70 . Moreover, the relative position of the extended lands and undercut grooves with respect to the cavity for all embodiments has no effect on the intended purpose of the inventive fasteners. Therefore, all embodiments will function well with the self-clinching features as shown in  FIGS. 1 through 6  or rotated ninety degrees as depicted in  FIG. 7 .  
         [0045]     The cross section of the cavities depicted in  FIGS. 1 through 7  is designed to accommodate the cross section of an industry standard cable tie. This explains the substantially rectangular cross section of all cavities shown. However, processes used to manufacture the preferred embodiment may tend to leave a radius in each of the corners of the cross section and thus would result in a more obround looking cross section. This is highly preferred over a substantially round cavity as found in the Winton patent or the Penn Engineering &amp; Manufacturing fastener. A round cavity would produce a taller fastener and would not have a low profile as disclosed in the preferred embodiments.  
         [0046]     Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined not by the embodiments illustrated, but by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.  
         [0047]     Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.

Technology Category: f