| EP0486816B1 | 1994-09-07 | |||
| US20090056263A1 | 2009-03-05 | |||
| US20160069381A1 | 2016-03-10 | |||
| US5921737A | 1999-07-13 | |||
| JP2005105797A | 2005-04-21 |
| Claims 1. A packer having a profiled surface adapted to interlock with complementary profiling on an opposing surface of an adjacent packer superimposed at least partially thereon. 2. A packer in accordance with claim 1 wherein the profiling comprises a multiplicity of upstanding protrusions adapted to lock into correspondingly shaped recesses on a face of a second packer. 3. A packer having top and bottom profiled surfaces each adapted to interlock with complementary profiling on an opposing surface of adjacent packers superimposed one each side of the packer. 4. A packer in accordance with claim 1 wherein the profiling comprises on its first face a multiplicity of upstanding protrusions adapted to lock into correspondingly shaped recesses on a face of a second packer and on its opposing second face recesses adapted to receive protrusions of a like packer. 5. A packer in accordance with claim 1 wherein the profiling comprises a multiplicity of recesses adapted to lock into correspondingly shaped protrusions on a face of a second packer. 6. A packer in accordance with claim 1 wherein the profiling includes flat topped protrusions the flat tops of which lie in the same but non-contiguous plane so as to be capable of weight bearing. 7. A packer in accordance with claim 1 wherein the profiling comprises an array of flat topped circular section protrusions that when inserted into corresponding circular recesses in an opposing component form a snug press fit which maintains the protrusions in the recess and hence the two components together without the possibility of lateral movement relative to eachother. 8. A packer system comprising first and second substantially planar packers adapted to be interlocked face to face to form a composite packer of predetermined greater thickness having a substantially planar contiguous or non-contiguous upper and lower surface. 9. A packer system comprising a first packer in accordance with claim 1 wherein the profiling on at least one surface comprises an array of protrusions and a second packer having at least one surface bearing a complementary array of recesses such that when the two packers are pressed together with protrusions on the first packer inserted in a corresponding array of recesses in a second opposing packer there results a press fit which interlocks the two packers together into a thicker composite packer. 10. A packer system in accordance with claim 9 wherein the first and second packers are identical with the top surface bearing the protrusions and the bottom surface the recesses such that two or more like packers can be co-joined. Substitute Sheet (Rule 26) RO/AU 11. A packer system in accordance with claim 9 wherein one or both of the first and second packers have a contiguously planar surface on the opposite side to their profiled surface. 12. A packer system in accordance with claim 9 wherein the protrusions comprise an array of pairs of upstanding rectangular section uprights spaced apart so that when inserted in a corresponding array of rectangular or square recesses in a second opposing packer they may flex inwardly towards eachother during insertion and press outwardly against the sides of the recess after insertion to form a press fit thereby maintaining the protrusion pair in the recess and hence the two components together. 13. A packer system in accordance with claim 9 wherein the number and orientation of the array of protrusions on the first component matches the number and orientation of the opposing recess array of the second component. 14. A packer system in accordance with claim 9 wherein the lower surface of the first component is provided with an array of recesses adapted to receive and captivate the protrusions of a like component. 15. A packer system in accordance with claim 9 wherein both the upper and lower surfaces of the second component are provided with a like array of recesses. 16. A packer system in accordance with claim 9 wherein both protrusion and recess spacing is the same and uniform such that congruent first and second components may be joined together without total vertically aligned superimposement. 17. A packer system in accordance with claim 9 wherein at least a number of the protrusions from the upper surface of the first component are flat topped with their tops all in the same plane so as to collectively be capable of forming a non-contiguous load bearing surface. 18. A packer system in accordance with any one of the preceding claims wherein the packers are each fabricated in a squared off“U” shape. 19. A packer system in accordance with any one of the preceding claims wherein the first and/or second components are manufactured in a variety of thicknesses so that individually or in joined combination of two or more they may provide overall thicknesses in the variety of increments required by the building industry. 20. A packer system in accordance with any one of the preceding claims wherein the components are fabricated from ABS thermoplastic material. Substitute Sheet (Rule 26) RO/AU |
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to spacers or packers of the type used in building and in particular to a packer which is stackable in the sense that it may be interlocked with others to increase its thickness.
Background of the Invention
Packers are frequently used in building for a variety of applications in order to accommodate variances in the size of building materials such as timber, to set precise desired gaps between building materials prior to fixing and also for filling spaces left due to imprecise tolerances. For example spacers or“packers” as they will be called hereafter may be placed between the sides of a window frame and a wall upright to which the frame must be solidly located or between a doorjamb and a stud of a wall in order to achieve a precise opening width with a precisely vertical door opening. In flooring or decking applications packers may be permanently placed between joists and the underside of flooring or temporarily between deck planking where a precise gap is required prior to fixing.
Currently packers are manufactured from thermoplastic material and supplied in a variety of thicknesses in order that voids of a variety of sizes may be filled by the packers. This is inefficient as a large variety of thicknesses must be produced and stocked in building supply warehouses and builders tool kits alike. Furthermore the thermoplastic material from which packers are fabricated exhibits a fairly low coefficient of friction between like thermoplastic packers and hence utilising two or more packers to increase the width of the packer/s is inconvenient due to adjacent packers sliding off each other and falling out of place.
Object of the Invention
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to ameliorate one or more of the above mentioned disadvantages with existing packers or at least to provide the market with an alternative.
Substitute Sheet
(Rule 26) RO/AU Short Summary of the Invention
According to the present invention there is disclosed a packer having a profiled surface adapted to interlock with complementary profiling on an opposing surface of an adjacent packer superimposed at least partially thereon.
According to a further aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a packer system comprising packers adapted to be interlocked together in combinations of two or more face to face to form a composite packer of increased thickness.
Drawings
Two embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure one is a perspective view of a first packer component of a first embodiment in accordance with the present invention;
Figure two is a side elevation of the first packer component of figure one;
Figure three is a perspective view of a second packer component of the first embodiment in accordance with the present invention;
Figure four is a side elevation of the second packer component of figure three;
Figure five is a perspective view of a packer being a second embodiment in accordance with the present invention;
Preferred Embodiments
Substitute Sheet
(Rule 26) RO/AU According a first embodiment of the present invention there is depicted in figures one and two a first packer component 1 having a squared off“U” configuration with legs 3 and 4 and bridge portion 5 not unlike prior art packers. Packer component 1 has a substantially planar upper surface 6 and a substantially planar lower surface 7 substantially parallel to each other and spaced apart by a known distance corresponding to the thickness of sides 8-14 also not unlike some prior art packers. A fixing hole 33 is also provided as in some prior art packers.
Upstanding from surface 6 are eight sets of elongated pairs of upstanding parallel protrusions 15-22. Each pair of upstanding parallel protrusions 15-22 is sized so as to form a tight push fit inside one of corresponding recesses 23-30 in the underside 7 of an adjacent like first packet component 1 or alternatively like recesses 23-30 in the underside 32 of second capping packer component 31 depicted in figures three and four.
Ideally the first packer component 1 and second packer component 31 are congruent in the sense that they may be superimposed over each other so that all eight pairs of protrusions 15-22 are simultaneously engaged in the corresponding eight recesses 23-30 of the lower face 32 of the second capping packer system component 31 thereby forming a composite packer component (not shown) of increased thickness but of otherwise identical proportions. It is of course not essential that packers are placed together in a congruent superimposed orientation directly above each other as it would for example be possible to push the four sets of protrusions 17-20 at the extremities of the two legs and 3 and 4 of first packer component 1 into the four recesses 23, 24, 29 and 30 adjacent the fixing hole 33 in second packer component 31 or indeed corresponding recesses in the underside of another like first packer component 1 .
Substitute Sheet
(Rule 26) RO/AU In order for this non congruent vertical superimposition to be possible the longitudinal spacing of the array of paired protrusions 15-22 and of course recesses 23-30 is desirably uniform and the same on each component.
Although the embodiment of figures three and four shows an array of recesses in both the top 34 and bottom 32 faces of second capping packer component 31 so that two protrusion bearing packer components 1 could be inserted one into each face of a single packer component 31 component 31 may obviously be produced with recesses in only one face with slightly reduced utility. This may be necessary as very thin packer components 31 may not be capable of supporting recesses in both faces. Similarly packer component 1 depicted in figures one and two could be produced without recesses in its lower face 7.
In use it will be appreciated that combinations of packer components 1 and 31 may be combined in pairs or greater numbers depending upon the thickness of composite packer required. For example if a 10 mm packer is required this may be achieved by utilising two packer components 1 each of 3 mm thickness joined to each other together with one capping packer component 31 of 4 mm thickness. The nominal thickness of a packer component 1 in this example is the thickness of sides 8 - 14 inclusive excluding the height of the protrusions 15-22. Alternatively a single 3 mm thick component 1 could be combined with one 4 mm capping component 31 in order to form a composite packer of 7 mm thickness. Alternatively one component 2 packer could be used if a packer of 4mm thickness is required. Furthermore if the protrusions 18-22 are flat topped and sturdy enough and protrude say 1.5 mm from upper planar surface 5 then a single component 1 could serve as a 5.5mm thick packer. It will therefore be appreciated that a large variety of thicknesses of packer may be formed using only two basic packer components. Of course a variety of thicknesses of both packer component 1 and packer component 31 would be manufactured in order
Substitute Sheet
(Rule 26) RO/AU to serve in combinations of two, three or more as an even larger range of packer thicknesses required in the building trade.
In use the decision as to whether to push the protrusions of a first packer component 1 into the opposing underside of a like first packer component 1 or whether to push such protrusions of a first packer component into the recesses of a second packer component 31 having no such protrusions will be determined by whether the resulting composite packer (not shown) formed by the two is required to have an uninterrupted planar surface both top and bottom and whether there is to be a stack/combination (not shown) of more than two packer components.
Combinations of prior art packers which cannot be positively fixed to cachothcr are unwieldy as they slip relative to eachother particularly if it is not possible to align and nail through superimposed fixing holes 33. The present invention overcomes this problem.
According to a second embodiment of the present invention depicted in figure five an array of protrusions may be formed of circular cross section upstanding flat-topped cylinders 35 on a packer 2 and corresponding recesses (not shown) in adjacent packers (not shown). Such a packer when used singly would have enhanced weight bearing capacity when compared to the packer component 1 of figure one. Many other designs of interlocking protrusions and recesses may be utilised without departing from the scope and intendment of the present invention
The packer components of the current invention may advantageously be moulded from thermoplastic material such as ABS.
Substitute Sheet
(Rule 26) RO/AU