Background to the Invention Many types of structural assemblies comprise glazing bars on which are mounted glazing panels. The glazing bars are typically supported by and connected at one end to a ridge structure and the other end to an eaves structure. Many ridge structures and eaves structures comprise plastics or metal profiles, to which the glazing bar is immovably connected. Connection means generally used on glazing bars in order to rigidly connect them to such building elements generally comprise a bolt and nut or a screw and nut arrangement, such that a bit/screw is inserted through a hole either in the building element or glazing bar and a retaining member, such as a nut is threaded over the screw or bolt once the glazing bar and building element have been connected.

Such arrangements although creating a solid connection between a glazing element can be relatively tricky to incorporate into known structural assemblies. In many cases, it is difficult to orient a tool and/or the bolt/screw in a position in which it can be threaded through an aperture in the building element and/or glazing bar. In many cases a screw is inserted firstly through the glazing bar downwardly into the building element,

wherein a nut is then threaded onto the free end of the bolt/screw. Most profiles of building elements such as ridge structures and eaves structures have minimal internal space into which tools and/or apparatus may be inserted in order to effect insertion of the nut and tightening of the nut around the screw/bolt within the building element. Thus it can be difficult and time consuming to rigidly connect the glazing bar to a building element in this way.

It would therefore be advantageous to provide a glazing bar connector which could be incorporated into a building element and onto which a glazing bar could be connected without the need for a separate retaining member. It would furthermore be advantageous to provide a connector in which a glazing bar could be rigidly connected to a building element but which could be easily removed if necessary without time consuming and awkward manipulation, such as manipulation of a separate securement or retaining member.

It is'therefore an aim of preferred embodiments of the invention to overcome or mitigate at least one problem of the prior art whether expressly disclosed herein or not.

Summary of the Invention According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a glazing bar connector, arranged in use to connect a glazing bar to a building element, the connector comprising a building element connection means arranged in use to operably cooperate with a building element, and a securement means comprising a movable member, movable

between a first position in which a glazing bar can be demountably secured to the connector in use, and a second position in which the glazing bar is fixedly secured to the connector in use.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a structural assembly comprising a building element comprising a glazing bar connector on which is mounted a glazing bar, the glazing bar connector comprising a securement means comprising a movable member, the movable member being movable between a first position in which the glazing bar is demountably secured to the connector and a second position in which the glazing bar is fixedly secured to the connector.

According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided a method of connecting a glazing bar to a building element the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a connector comprising a glazing bar securement means movable between a first position in which a glazing bar can be demountably secured to the connector, and a second position in which the glazing bar is fixedly secured to the connector; (b) mounting the connector on a building element; (c) moving the securement means to the first position and securing a glazing bar to the connector; and (d) moving the securement means to the second position to fixedly secure the glazing bar to the connector, and thus the building element.

The building element connection means is preferably arranged in use to connect to a corresponding connection means on a building element. The building element connection means may comprise any suitable means such as a screw/bolt and nut arrangement, or bracket, for example.

Preferably however the building element connection means comprises a connector body which is profiled to connect with a corresponding connection means of the building element. For example the connector body may comprise a substantially cylindrical body of circular cross-section, arranged in use to cooperate with a corresponding channel of circular cross-section on the building element.

Suitably the building element connection means is rotatably mountable on a building element, but may be rigidly mountable. Rotatable mounting enables the securement means to be positioned optimally for particular structured assembly designs and may allow different types of glazing bar having different profiles to be connected to a building element.

Preferably the securement means of the connector comprises a resilient means, resiliently movable between the second and first position, and is preferably resiliently urged from the second to the first position.

The securement means may comprise a securement member, on which is mounted the resilient means. The securement member may comprise a male member arranged to operably cooperate with a corresponding female member on a glazing bar such as an aperture on the glazing bar, for example.

The securement member may comprise an elongate member,

preferably having a cylindrical or regular polygonal cross-section.

The resilient means may comprise a resilient member which is the first position does not substantially protrude from the connector, and which is the second position extends transversely from the connector. The resilient member may comprise a resilient plastics member.

The securement means may include a resilient biasing means, arranged in use to bias a securement member to the second position, until acted upon, in use. The resilient biasing means may comprise a spring, such as a helical spring, leaf spring or the like, for example.

There may be more than one securement means. Preferably all of the securement means comprise movable members that are movable, more preferably synchronously, between the first and second positions. There may be two or more resilient members on each securement means. There may be two movable members on each securement means, diametrically opposed on the securement means.

The building element may be any suitable building element to which it is desired to connect a glazing bar.

Preferably the building element is a ridge member or eaves member, more preferably a conservatory ridge beam or eaves beam.

The structural assembly may comprise two or more building elements, on which are mounted at least one glazing bar.

There may be more than one glazing bar, each glazing bar being connected to a building element by a connector. The

glazing bar may be connected to a building element at or in the region of an end of the glazing bar, and may be connected at either end of the glazing bar to separate building elements, each end being connected by a separate connector.

The or each glazing bar is preferably an inverted T- section, and may have ducted stems.

The or each glazing bar and/or building element may be constructed from plastics, metal (including alloy) material or a mixture thereof. Suitable plastics materials include extruded plastics materials such as PVC, for example. Suitable metals include aluminium, for example.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention there is provided a kit of parts comprising a glazing bar connector of the first aspect of the invention and a connector decoupling tool.

The connector decoupling tool is arranged, in use to enable decoupling of a glazing bar from the connector by effecting movement of the movable member of securement means from the second position to the first position.

Suitably the glazing bar decoupling tool comprises means- to bias the securement means to the first position, preferably whilst enabling simultaneous at least partial removal of the glazing bar from the connector, more preferably full removal from the connector.

In a preferred embodiment the connector comprises a male member, wherein the securement means comprises a resilient member arranged in the second position to protrude from the male member, and the tool comprises a female member comprising a bore arranged in use to slide over the male member of the connector and bias the resilient member of the securement means to the first position, thus enabling withdrawal of the glazing bar from the connector, in use.

Brief Description of the Drawings For a better understanding of the various aspects of the invention and to show how embodiments of the same may be put into effect, the various aspects of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 illustrates a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the glazing bar connector of the first aspect of the invention, with the movable member of the building element connection means in the second position; Figure 2 illustrates the glazing bar connector of Figure 1 in which the movable member is in the first position; Figure 3 illustrates a perspective view of the glazing bar connector of Figure 1 in the vicinity of a building element to which it is to be connected; Figure 4 illustrates a perspective view of a structural assembly comprising a building element, glazing bars and glazing bar connectors of Figure 1 and 2;

Figure 5A illustrates a cross sectional view taken through the line A-A of Figure 4, in which a glazing bar connector of the first aspect of the invention is connected to a building element, and a glazing bar has been partially mounted on the glazing bar connector and building element; Figure 5B illustrates a cross sectional view taken through the line A-A of Figure 5A in which the glazing bar is fully connected to the glazing bar connector and building element; and Figure 6 illustrates a glazing bar connector removal tool.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment We refer firstly to Figures 1 and 2 which are perspective views of a glazing bar connector 2 of the invention. The glazing bar connector 2 comprises a building element connection means in the form of a connector body 4, operably co-operable with a building element, the connector body 4 including two spaced apart parallel perpendicular securement means 6, 6', which consist of a securement body 10 on which is mounted a movable member 8, 8', movable between a first position in which a glazing bar can be demountably secured to the glazing bar connector 2 and a second position in which a glazing bar is fixedly securable to the connector 2.

Figure 1 illustrates the connector 2 in which the movable members 8, 8'are in the second position whereby the movable members 8, 8'protrude from the securement body 10, 10'. Figure 2 illustrates the connector 2 whereby the movable members 8, 8'are in the first position, in which

the movable members 8, 8'do not protrude from the securement body 10, 10'.

We turn now to Figure 3 which illustrates a connector 2 of Figure 1 about to be inserted into a building element 12.

The building element 12 consists of a profile 13 for a conservatory roof beam, the profile comprising a profile body 13 which is hollow and shaped to enable connection of other structural elements (not shown). The profile body 13 includes a connection channel 14, consisting of a open hollow cylindrical channel, having a upper surface 16 of the channel and a slot extending therealong.

In use, the glazing bar connector 2 is inserted such that the connector body 4, which is a cylindrical body slides into the channel of the connector channel 14 of the building element 12, such that the securement means 6, 6' protrude through the open slot of the connector channel 14. This is shown in Figure 4,5A and 5B, wherein a glazing bar connector 2 has been inserted into the connector channel 14 of a building element 12 such that the securement means 6 protrude out from the slot of the channel 14. The connector body 4 is rotatably mounted within the channel such that it may be used to connect glazing bars having various geometries and profiles which may require the securement means 6, 6'to be at an angle other than parallel with the body of the glazing bar, in accordance with for example a particular roof design or other structural assembly design.

We turn now to Figures 4,5A and 5B. Figure 4 illustrates a structural assembly comprising a building element 12 in which two glazing bar connectors 2 have been inserted into

the connector channel 14. The first glazing bar 18 at the right of the diagram has been connected to the building element 12 by the connector 2. A second glazing bar 18' on the left of the diagram is positioned over the building element 12 and can be connected to the building element 12 via the glazing bar connector 2'. The structural assembly further comprises glazing bar end caps 20 and end cap covers 22 to seal the ends of the glazing bars 18, 18'.

We turn now to Figures 5A and 5B. Figure 5A illustrates a cross sectional view taken to the line A-A of the structural assembly shown in Figure 4, but wherein the glazing bar 18 has only been partially lowered onto the glazing bar connector 2.

The glazing bar 18 comprises an inverted T-section bar comprising a head of a T 19, from which upwardly extends a body 21. The head 19 includes apertures 24 either side of the body 19 at or near both ends thereof. Thus there are two apertures at either end, one each side of the body 21.

As shown in Figure 5A, the glazing bar 18 is lowered onto the connector 2 which is in turn connected to the connection channel 14 of the building element 12. As the glazing bar 18 is lowered onto the connector 2, the securement members 6, 6'enter through the apertures 24 of the head 19 of the glazing bar 18. As the glazing bar 18 is lowered further, the head 19 around the aperture 24 begins to abut the movable members 8, moving them from the second position towards the first position by way of the resilient nature of the plastics material of the movable members 8. As the movable members are moved to the first position, they begin to move into the body of the securement body 10, 10', and thus eventually do not

protrude from the securement body 10, 10'thus allowing the head 19 of the glazing bar 18 to pass over the movable members 8, 8'and abut the connector body 4. As the head 19 passes the movable member 8, 8', as shown in Figure 5B, the movable member is then resiliently biased back towards the second position, and thus protrudes from the securement body 10, 10'to a greater diameter than the aperture 24 in the head 19 of the glazing bar 18. Thus, as shown in Figure 5B, the region around the aperture 24 of the head 19 of the glazing bar 18 is prevented from being moved back up the securement body 10 of the securement means 6 by the protruding movable members 8, 8' extending diametrically either side of the securement body 10,10'. In this way the glazing bar 18 is securely connected to both the securement member 2 and the building element 12.

There may be as many glazing bar connectors 2 as are needed to enable connection of both ends of all glazing bars 18 arranged to be connected to a building element 12 or a plurality of building elements in a structural assembly.

If it is desired to remove a glazing bar from a building element, a glazing bar connector decoupling tool 26 can be used, as shown in Figure 6. The glazing bar connector decoupling tool 26 comprises a handle 32 from which extends an elongate shaft 30 at the end of which comprises a glazing bar connector decoupling bit 28. The decoupling bit 28 comprises a hollow cylinder being open at the distal end thereof and attached to the elongate shaft 30 of the tool 26. If a glazing bar 18 is desired to be removed from a structural assembly, the decoupling bit 28

is placed over the securement body 10 of the securement means 6 on a glazing bar connector 2, until the end of the bit 28 abuts the movable member 8, 8'of the connector 2.

Further pressure on the movable member 8, 8'causes the movable member to move towards the first position, and when enough pressure has been exerted to move the movable member 8, 8'such that it no longer substantially protrudes from the securement body 10 (or at least protrudes less than the diameter of an aperture 24 in the head 19 of the glazing bar 18), the glazing bar 18 may then be slid up the securement body 10 and off the connector 2.

The reader's attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification in connection with this application and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference.

All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.

Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each

feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment (s). The invention extend to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process--so disclosed.