Means for Stably Fixing Anchoring Organs to Surfaces

Technical Field

Specifically, though not exclusively, the invention is usefully applied for anchoring organs or elements which in turn are predisposed to anchor large ceramic slabs, for example, for external cladding of buildings, resulting in ventilated walls having a free hollow space (which can also be of variable entity) between the slabs and the wall of the building. Background Art

In the case of large slabs some of the solutions adopted have been shown to be relatively complex and not fully reliable under the aspect of safety. To prevent the use of ugly metal through-pins or hooks, in some cases cavities are made in the internal side of the slabs, not going all the way through and thus leaving the outwards-facing surface intact; rods or threaded pins are anchored in the cavities. The pins or rods are then connected to frames which are specially predisposed, and then fixed to the walls to be clad. Apart from problems that can arise regarding reliability of the anchoring (of the rods to the slabs), all of the prior art realisations using this method exhibit a great drawback, which very severely limits their use, i.e. the presence of the threaded pins themselves, which, as they project from the internal side of the slabs, become a serious obstacle to the positioning of the slabs side-by-side, and render storage of the slabs extremely difficult, not to mention their transport and movement in general at all stages prior to laying.

The prior art also includes realisations of anchoring devices which do not include the presence of hooking or anchoring elements that project with respect to the slab surfaces.

These are, however, relatively sophisticated devices that provide an anchoring organ in two parts which are connectable by means of a fastening; a first part is fixed stably internally of the body of the slab, while a second and separate external part can be fastened on the first. These devices are relatively expensive and require special attention during application thereof. The main aim of the present invention is to obviate the above-cited drawbacks in the prior art by providing a process and means for stably fixing anchoring organs, at moment of use, to slab surfaces, with an extremely solid and secure anchoring.

An advantage of the invention is its constructional and functional simplicity. A further advantage is the ease and rapidity with which it can be applied. A further advantage is the guarantee of safety it offers against damp infiltration.

These aims and advantages and others besides are all attained by the invention, as it is characterised in the accompanying claims. Disclosure of Invention Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will better appear from the detailed description that follows of some preferred but nonexclusive embodiments of the invention, illustrated purely by way of non- limiting example in the accompanying figures of the drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic section made according to an axial median plane before application;

Figures 2 and 3 are the same section as in figure 1, respectively in an intermediate applicational configuration and a final applicational configuration.

With reference to the figures of the drawings, 1 denotes in its entirety an anchoring organ predisposed to be stably anchored to a surface 2 of a slab 40 which in the preferred embodiment is constituted by a sandwich of two thin ceramic tiles 41 and 42, glued together.

In the first preferred embodiment, the anchoring organ 1 is provided with a base 10 which on one side has an active surface 11, which couples on a portion of surface 2 to which the anchoring organ 1 is to be fixed; on an opposite side, the base 10 exhibits means 14 for gripping the anchoring organ 1. The gripping can advantageously be realised by a chuck of a tool which can rotate the anchoring organ 1 on command about a median axis x-x thereof. A predetermined quantity of glue 3 is predisposed on the active surface 11; before activation, the glue 3 is in solid form and is housed internally of the chamber defined by an internal cylindrical surface of a tract of tubular element 12 and the portion of active surface 11 delimited internally thereof. In a first embodiment, not illustrated, the glue 3 is initially solid and of the hot-melt type, i.e. the type of glue that exhibits the property of becoming activated when melted by subjection to a mechanical action which generates a heat necessary for melting. In the embodiment to the heat is produced following the dragging of the glue 3 on the portion of surface 2 against which it is contactingly pressed at the moment of application, as will be described in more detail herein below.

In the embodiment illustrated in the figures of the drawings, the glue 3, before activation, is bi-component, the two components being separated and sealed

in respective small containers in the form of blisters. These two containers are opened upon subjection to a combined mechanical action, such as the one described above, in which the anchoring organ 1 is drawn in rotation and pressed against the portion of surface 2. When subjected to this combined mechanical action the small blister containers are broken and the liquid in them (resins or catalysers) are rapidly mixed; in this way the glue is activated. In a further embodiment, not illustrated, the glue can be predisposed directly on the portion of surface 2 of the slab 40 on which the active surface 11 of the anchoring organ 1 is to be coupled. The anchoring organ 1 comprises a deformable ring 4 for coupling with an external lateral surface of a short tract of projecting tubular element 12 which is solidly constrained on the base 10 and which is in turn coupled with a predetermined amount of play to the projecting tubular element 12, in a corresponding crown-shaped circular hollow seating 20 afforded in the surface of the slab 40. The deformable ring 4 is fastened by a support 5, preferably disc-shaped, which is constrained to the anchoring organ 1 by means which can be activated from the outside, which means enable the movement of the deformable ring 4 from an inactive first position, in which the deformable ring 4 is not coupled or is coupled only on a small part of the external lateral surface of the short tract of projecting tubular element 12, into an active second position, in which the ring 4 is coupled on a large part of the external lateral surface of the short tract of projecting tubular element 12. More precisely, the support 5 is axially slidable along the threaded stalk 24 which constitutes the basic part of the means for gripping 14. By action of a nut 7, the support can be pushed towards the base 10 from the position represented in figure 1 up to the position represented in figure 3, so that the

deformable ring 4 can be predisposed from the inactive first position into the active second position.

Before activation the glue 3 is housed internally of the chamber defined by the internal cylindrical surface of the tract of tubular element 12 and the portion of active surface 11 delimited internally thereof. The glue 3 occupies only a part of this chamber, the end of the tract of tubular element 12 being left free to enable introduction thereof into the hollow seating 20 in order to realise centring of the anchoring organ 1.

The means 14 for gripping the anchoring organ 1 enable the gripping of the anchoring organ 1 with the aim of enabling it to be drawn in rotation about a rotation axis (x-x) which is median and perpendicular to the active surface 11.

In a further embodiment, not illustrated, the means 14 for gripping enable a gripping of the anchoring organ 1 with the aim of enabling a vibrating motion to draw it in motion. The base 10 and the tubular element 12, with the relative external lateral surface, are coaxial to the rotation axis x-x with respect to which the deformable ring 4 is coaxially arranged.

In particular, the external lateral surface of the short tract of projecting tubular element 12 is truncoconical. The hollow seating 20 in the shape of a circular crown afforded at the surface is delimited externally by a truncoconical lateral surface 21 which presents approximately the same conicity as the external lateral surface of the short tract of projecting tubular element 12. The short tract of projecting tubular element 12 and the hollow seating 20 are reciprocally dimensioned so as to be freely reciprocally insertable, so as to leave, between the external lateral surface of the short tract of projecting tubular element 12 and the

truncoconical lateral surface 21 externally delimiting the hollow seating 20, a space which enables snug insertion of the deformable ring 4. The deformable ring 4 has a cylindrical tubular shape. The hollow seating 20 is internally delimited by a portion of lateral surface which is cylindrical and coaxial to the rotation axis x-x.

A seal ring 6 is also included, housed externally of the base of the deformable ring 4 and in contact with the support 5. The seal ring 6 performs its sealing action once the application has been completed (see figure 3). In the embodiment illustrated in figure 4 -the portion of surface the anchoring organ 1 is to be fixed to is, in part, a portion of rounded surface 2a, specially afforded in the thin slab 41, which is axialsymmetric with respect to the axis of the lateral surface 21 which externally delimits the hollow seating 20. A base 10a is provided with an active surface 11a which is geometrically compatible and couplable to the rounded surface 2a. The means for gripping 14 comprise, very simply, a threaded stalk or pin 24 which is constrained to the base 10.

The threaded stalk 24 can be removably connectable to a corresponding threaded hole made coaxially in the base 10. The nut 7 is coupled on the same stalk 24, which nut 7 is for pushing the support 5 towards the base 10 from the position shown in figure 1, up to the position shown in figure 3, so as to move the deformable ring 4 from the first inactive position (before application) to the second active position, i.e. the working position (with the gripping organ applied to the slab 40). Using the means described above, an anchoring organ 1 is very simply fixable to a surface 2. Once the hollow seating 20 has been made, the anchoring organ is gripped with a chuck of a tool and is neared and pressed against the slab 4 so that the projecting tubular element centrally penetrates the hollow

seating 20. By effect of the mechanical action the blisters of glue are subjected to, the blisters break and the glue mixed to produce the adhesive action between the internal surface of the tubular element 12 and the corresponding delimiting surfaces 2, 2a afforded in the thin slab 41. By acting on the nut 7 the deformable ring 4 is inserted into the free chamber comprised between the external truncoconical surface of the tubular element 12 and the truncoconical surface 21 of the hollow seating 20. When the coupling operation is completed, see figure 3, the adhesive action is followed by a mechanical action that prevents extraction of the anchoring organ 1.