A FASTENER ELEMENT ADAPTED TO ATTACH A STRUCTURAL MEMBER TO A SHEET-LIKE SUPPORT MEMBER

The present invention relates to a fastener element, hereafter fastener, used to attach, hereafter affix, a structural member to a sheet-like support member, hereafter a planar support, as defined in claim 1.

A number of fasteners are known, especially those integrally made of plastic, which are inserted into apertures of supports such as sheetmetals, in order to affix structural members. Such fasteners usually comprise a foot portion snapping into the affixation hole retaining them. Head segments of diverse shapes are connected to the foot portion to allow mounting differently shaped structural members to the support. The foot portions employed heretofore subtend a comparatively large height. The known fasteners frequently cannot be used where the support side opposite the head segment leaves only little space because of the foot portion height is too large. Moreover the known foot portions frequently do not allow non-destructive disassembly. Lastly their retention forces are often relatively low.

Accordingly it is the objective of the present invention to create a fastener to affix a structural member to a planar support and being manufacturable in simple manner, further comprising a shallow foot portion, offering large retention forces and requiring only low assembly forces.

This problem is solved by the features of claim 1.

The fastener of the present invention comprises an elongated foot which can be mounted in an elongated support aperture subtending a longitudinal axis. This longitudinal axis runs transversely to a vertical fastener axis. Accordingly the fastener of the present invention is inapplicable to circular holes, rather it applies to elongated apertures of various contours.

The fastener foot of the present invention comprises a lower portion subtending a longitudinal axis, said portion being of a shape allowing inserting it into the aperture when, in a first installation stage, the lower portion's

longitudinal axis is approximately aligned with the aperture's longitudinal axis. Accordingly lower portion insertion requires a specific alignment with the elongated aperture's longitudinal axis. Said lower portion also comprises an upwardly directed rest surface designed in a manner that this rest surface extends partly beyond the aperture's rim when the fastener is being rotated in a first direction of rotation, by a predetermined angle relative to the first installation position, into a second installation position. Thereby the fastener is prevented from being pulled by means of the lower portion out of said aperture when it is in said second installation position.

The foot of the fastener of the invention also comprises an upper portion connected by a central spacer bar to the lower portion while spaced from the upper rest surface. The upper portion is fitted with a lower rest surface, the peripheral contour of the upper portion being dimensioned in a way that said upper portion at least partly overlaps the aperture in each rotational fastener position. Also a recess which is open both downward and toward the upper rest surface is fitted into the lower portion. Again an upper recess is provided above the lower recess and is aligned with it and situated in the upper recess, and is open toward the lower rest surface. A resilient detent is integrated into the spacer bar and runs in tang-like manner outward from the spacer bar into gaps between the rest surfaces, while being bendable upward into the upper recess when the lower portion is inserted at the opposite support side into the aperture until coming to rest against the lower rest surface. In its relaxed state, the detent is situated substantially in the raised gap between the upper and lower portions, but it shall be deflected upward when impacting the opposite support side and being bent by latter upward into the upper recess. Thereafter the fastener, respectively the foot, may be rotated by a predetermined angle in a first direction of rotation into a second installation position. When in the second installation position, the fastener shall be rotated so far that the detent is released at an opposite rim segment of said aperture and then resumes its relaxed position.

The fastener of the invention is based on the feature that both the aperture in the support and the fastener foot are elongated, as a result of which a relative rotation of foot and aperture entails a gap between the foot and the aperture rim, said aperture receiving the previously bent detent. This feature precludes the fastener from rotating from the second installation position back into the first. In this position moreover the lower portion's upper rest position overlaps at least in part the aperture, and the foot of the fastener of the invention also is precluded from being pulled out of the aperture. Consequently the foot is reliably anchored in the support's aperture. This feature offers the advantage that neither of the upper and lower foot portions need be thick, instead they may be relatively flat and illustratively in one embodiment of the present invention they may be planar or dish-like.

Another embodiment mode of the present invention, prevents the fastener from rotating in the support in the first direction of rotation beyond the second installation position on account of a stop integrated into the spacer bar in front of the stop as seen in the first direction of rotation, said stop resting in blocking manner against the associated aperture rim when the detent is rotated along the first direction of rotation beyond the second installation position. Excessive fastener rotation is prevented thereby.

The present invention offers a number of advantages. As already mentioned, the height "behind" the support may be minimized. The fastener of the invention assures high forces of retention while demanding only low forces of assembly. The manufacturing cost of the fastener of the invention is relatively low. Even assembly is comparatively simple. The fastener of the present invention is applicable to the most diverse installation apertures of the most diverse applications.

Preferably more than one, namely two detents shall be used and are preferably configured approximately diametrically mutually opposite. It is understood that each detent is associated with one lower recess in the lower portion and one upper recess in the upper portion.

When the distance between the lower and upper rest surfaces exceeds the thickness of the support in the zone of the aperture, however, the fastener cannot be removed and playless seating is not attained. Playless seating requires that the distance between the rest surfaces correspond to or be less than the support's thickness. In the latter case the fastener furthermore is clamped also to the support.

In a further embodiment mode of the present invention, the upper recess furthermore is open toward the periphery of the upper portion. In this way, the detent is accessible to a tool gripping it and pulling it out of the aperture to allow back-rotating the fastener from the second into the first installation position. Consequently the fastener can be removed in nondestructive manner.

The present invention offers a further way to non-destructively remove the fastener in that the detent is fitted - on its side pointing oppositely to the first direction of rotation — with a ramp in such manner that said detent shall be lifted above the support when the fastener is back-rotated in a second direction of rotation from the second installation position in the direction of the first installation position. It is understood this procedure requires applying some force of rotation to rotate the fastener back into the first installation position.

The words "lower" and "upper" herein assume that the fastener when being installed shall subtend a vertical axis and the said portions shall subtend a horizontal axis while the fastener is bendable horizontally, but clearly the fastener of the present invention also may be installed in another orientation in the support. Accordingly "lower" and "upper" merely denote the mutual configurations of individual surfaces and portions within the fastener and do not prejudge installation position orientation.

The present invention is elucidated below in relation to the appended drawings.

Fig. 1 is a perspective of a first embodiment mode of a fastener foot of the invention situated above a support,

Fig. 2 shows the configuration of Fig. 1 with the underside of the support and the foot,

Fig. 3 is a side view of the installed foot of Fig. 1 in a first installation position,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail in the first installation position,

Fig. 5 is a view similar to that of Fig. 4 in the second installation position,

Fig. 6 is a perspective of the foot of Fig. 1 obliquely from above, in the installed state,

Fig. 7 shows the configuration of Fig. 6 seen from below, Fig. 8 is a perspective from below of the foot of Fig. 1 ,

Fig. 9 shows the configuration of a second embodiment mode of the foot of a fastener foot of the invention above an elongated fastener aperture in a support,

Fig. 10 shows a third embodiment mode of a fastener foot fitted with a keyed aperture shape of the support aperture, and

Fig. 11 is a perspective of a fourth embodiment mode of a fastener foot of the invention above a rectangular aperture in the support.

Only a fastener foot is shown in Figs. 1 through 11. The other parts of the fastener may be arbitrary.

A first embodiment mode of a foot 10 is shown in Figs. 1 through 8. As shown especially clearly in Figs. 1 and 8, said foot comprises a lamellar lower portion 12 and a lamellar upper portion 14. The portions 12, 14 are connected to each other by an approximately central spacer bar 16. The lower portion 12 is fitted with an upward-pointing planar rest surface 18, which -- except for two discontinuities -- runs approximately around the periphery of the lower portion 12. The upper portion 14 is fitted with a lower rest surface 20 which is also planar and runs parallel to the lower rest surface 18 and except for two

recesses is annularly situated around the surface of the upper portion 14. The rest surfaces 18, 20 are kept a predetermined distance apart.

The lower portion 12 is fitted with two triform recesses 22, 24 which are shown especially clearly in Fig. 8. These recesses are open outwards to the periphery and to the upper rest surface 18 and also downward. Above the recesses 22, 24, the upper portion 14 is also fitted with recesses shown at 26 and 28. Detents such as the one shown at 30 run between the rest surfaces 18, 20 from the central spacer bar 16 outward, their outward size being slightly larger than the size of the rest surface 18 as indicated particularly clearly in Fig. 4.

Fig. 1 shows a perspective of a support 32. Illustratively said support is made of sheetmetal and comprises an oval aperture 34. The periphery of the lower portion 12 of the foot 10 is complementary to the aperture 34. Said lower portion can be inserted into the aperture 34 when the longitudinal axis of the portion 12 approximately coincides with the longitudinal axis of the aperture 34. When in that condition the foot 10 is pressed into the aperture 34, the detent 30 will be seized by the rim of the aperture 34 respectively the adjacent zone of the support 32 and bent upward as indicated in Figs. 3 and 4. When, in this first installation position, the foot 10 as indicated in Fig. 1 is rotated clockwise, the detent 30 shall migrate on the top side of the support 32. In addition the rim of the aperture 34 moves between the rest surfaces 18, 20 as shown especially clearly in Fig. 4. When the fastener respectively the foot 10 is rotated about a predetermined angle of about 65°, the end of the detent 30 shall be released from the rim of the aperture 34. This state is shown in Figs. 5 and 7. The detent 30 resumes its earlier shape and arrives in the aperture 34. In this manner the foot 10 is prevented from being rotated in the opposite direction and thereby return into the first installation position is precluded. The foot furthermore is prevented from being forced further into the aperture 34 or being retracted out of it, such conditions being circumvented by the rest surfaces 18, 20 enclosing the aperture rim of the support 32. Illustratively the gap between the rest surfaces 18, 20 is equal to

the thickness of the support 12 in the region of the aperture 34. Said gap also may be minimally larger or smaller.

A stop is constituted at 40 in Fig. 8 and integrated on the spacer bar 16, being situated at the front side of the detent 30 as seen in the cited direction of rotation. In said rotation of the foot 10, the stop rests against the aperture rim in the event of an attempt to rotate the foot farther than the second installation position after the detents 30 have snapped into the aperture 34. In this manner the stop 40 precludes so-called over-rotation of the foot 10 in the aperture 34.

In order to remove the foot 10 from the second installation position and hence from the support 32, a tool is used to lift the associated detent 30 above the aperture 26 until the foot can be rotated back into the first installation position. It is understood that this requirement is synchronously applicable to the two mutually opposite detents. As a result, when the foot is in the first installation position, it can be lifted out of the aperture 34. However the detents 30 also may be fitted with a ramp face indicated in dashed lines at 42. The ramp faces runs against the aperture rim when the foot is rotated back into the first installation position and allows gradually lifting the detents 30 into the position shown in Fig. 4, as a result of which the foot 10 can be rotated back into the first installation position.

Fig. 9 shows a foot 10a designed in the same manner as described in relation to the foot 10 of Figs. 1 through 8. The sole difference consists of the contour of the lower portion 10a matching the elongated slot 34a in the support 32a.

A keyhole-like aperture 34b in the support 32b matches the lower portion 14b of the foot 10b of Fig. 10. However the design of the foot 10b is the same as that of the foot 10 of Figs. 1 through 8.

In Fig. 11 , a support 32c is fitted with a rectangular aperture 34c. The lower portion 14 again matched to the rectangular aperture 34c. However the design of the foot 10c again is the same as that of foot 10 in Figs. 1 through 8.