Clamping device and its use

• US 4,240,604 A
• Filed: 01/26/1979
• Issued: 12/23/1980
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/1977
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Zeller-Plastik Koehn Grabner & Company
• Original Assignee: Zeller-Plastik Koehn Grabner & Company
• Inventors: Brach, Ulrich K. G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Foss, J. Franklin
• Application Number:
  US06/006,722
• Time in Patent Office: 697 Days
• Field of Search: 248/74 A, 248/74 PB, 248/74 B, 248/74 R, 248/226.2, 248/226.5, 248/316 A, 248/316 D, 248/113, 24/73 AP, 24/73 PB, 24/73 SA, 24/81 CC, 24/156 R, 24/257 R, 24/259 C, 24/255 C, 24/255 SL, 24/243 AC, 24/248 SL
• US Class Current: 248/316.5
• CPC Class Codes: E05C 19/066 made of plastics, e.g. hook-and-loop type fastener
• CPC Class Codes: F16B 2/205 with two stable positions
• CPC Class Codes: F16L 3/1203 with a pair of arms moved automatically to closed position by overcenter spring
• CPC Class Codes: F16L 3/13 and engaging it by snap action F16L3/1203 takes precedence

Abstract

A holding device which serves as a multipurpose clamp in the household, in workshops etc., for the releasable holding of objects on walls, pieces of furniture and similar objects, as well as for holding of opened or closed doors. The holding device should be capable of being made from plastic, so it could be moved by a snapping process from the closed to the opened state and vice versa, and it should be developed such, that no phenomena of fatigue of the plastic material could occur, although considerable forces oppose a removal of the supported objects. For this purpose, the holding device has a bent or angular bending spring (10) and gripping parts (22, 26) which are interconnected by film-hinges (12, 13, 18) and, to be sure, in such a way that sections of the gripping parts, in the closing position, fit into the bending spring. See for this FIGS. 1 and 1a.

Claims

1. Holding device which has a snap-clamp provided with a fastening part, produced in one piece from plastic, especially from polypropylene, whereby the snap-clamp has a bending spring mechanism with two mutually resilient legs (spring legs) and two interconnected control levers, connected with the ends of the spring legs always by a film-hinge, and at least one of the control levers has an extension, which together with a control lever forms a gripper for an object to be held, and whereby the sum of the distances between the middle and the two outside film-hinges in case of a relaxed spring mechanism is greater than the distance between the two outside film-hinges, characterized in that the spring mechanism is a curved or angular bending spring (10, 10'"'"' etc.), and in that the control levers (15, 16 etc.) fit into the open side of the bending spring in such a way that the sum (a+b) of the distances between the middle (18) and the two outside film-hinges (12, 13) is only a little smaller than the uncoiled length (d) of the bending spring (10 etc.).

2. Holding device as in claim 1, characterized in that the bending springs (10'"'"';

10") are angular and the control levers (15'"'"' 16'"'"';

15", 16") are straight (FIG.

     12).

3. Holding device as in claim 2, characterized in that both grippers (22", 26") and a control lever (16") and a gripper (22") together enclose in their closed position a gripping space (34") of square, rectangular or rhombic cross section (FIG. 12).

4. Holding device as in claim 1, characterized in that in a cross section through the film-hinges (12, 13, 18), the bending spring (10) and the control levers (15, 16) have the shape of circular arcs or elliptical arcs (FIGS. 1 and 3).

5. Holding device as in claim 4, characterized in that the grippers (22, 26) together, or a control lever (15) and a gripping (26) together, enclose a gripping space (34) of elliptical or circular cross section, in their closing state (FIG. 3).

6. Holding device as in one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one of the grippers (26) has a gripping extension 32, which in the closing position lies outside the free end of the other gripper (22), (FIG. 1).

7. Holding device as in one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the fastening part is an extension (4;

38;

42;

4'"'"';

4") provided on the bending spring or one of the extensions, (FIGS. 1, 6, 8, 11,

     12).

8. Holding device as in claim 6, characterized in that the fastening extension (38;

52) is a plate (FIG.

     6).

9. Holding device as in claim 8, characterized in that the plate (38) is coated with a self adhering agent on the side facing away from the holding device.

10. Holding device as in claim 7, characterized in that the fastening extension is a swallow tail foot which fits into a shallow tail groove (8) of a separate fastening plate (6), (FIGS. 1 to 5).

11. Holding device as in claim 7, characterized in that the fastening extension (42) is a plug-foot with stops (46), (FIG. 8).

12. Holding device as in one of the claims 1 to 6, characterized in that it has a separated fairing (86) fitted into the gripping space (34) of the snap-clamp (2), which fairing is provided with a fastening mechanism (84), (FIGS. 13, 14).

13. Using of a holding device as in one of the claims 1 to 11 for the laying of cables, wires and pipes.

14. Use of a holding device as in one of the claims 1 to 11, for supporting of objects made of textile materials (fabrics).