Static structures (e.g. – buildings) – Land marker or monument
Patent
1997-11-12
1999-05-18
Smith, Creighton
Static structures (e.g., buildings)
Land marker or monument
744248R, 411402, 411919, 4033223, E01F9/011
Patent
active
059040084
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a monument with a base and a gravestone releasably fastened thereon by a fastening device which has a threaded bore in its bottom.
A monument of the above kind is subject of DE-A-36 16 012. This document describes a monument in which a gravestone is secured on a base by means of locking projections which enter a locking opening when the gravestone is slightly shifted. Such a monument makes it possible to fasten the gravestone on the base in a simple manner and to release it therefrom if necessary. It has been found disadvantageous, however, that the means for releasably fastening the gravestone on the base have to be made with great accuracy, and that damage can be done very easily to the locking projections when the gravestone is placed on the base, in that the locking projections can be bent by the weight of the gravestone.
The above-mentioned DE-A-36 16 012 also describes as state of the art a gravestone in which a bolt is screwed from underneath through the base into a threaded bore in the gravestone. Such a monument has the disadvantage that a large space has to be created under the base for the insertion and tightening of the bolt. This necessitates extensive digging into a grave whenever the gravestone has to be removed from the base temporarily for inscription and transported to the stone mason.
The invention is addressed to the problem of developing a monument of the kind described above, in which the gravestone is reliably fastened releasably to the base, without the need for digging a large space beneath the base to reach the fastening, and without the danger of damage to the fastening means when the gravestone is placed on the base.
This problem is solved according to the invention in that a threaded spindle is disposed in the base, which when the gravestone is not mounted is biased by a spring to a position established by an abutment wherein it protrudes from the base on the gravestone side, and by its upper end protruding from the base it is displaceable into the base against the force of the spring, and for the purpose of driving the upper end of the threaded spindle protruding upward out of the base into threaded bore, the threaded spindle extends downward out of the base where it is configured for engagement by a turning means.
In order to fasten or release the gravestone from such a monument no great space need be provided under the base to enable a bolt to be passed through the base and into the gravestone, since the spindle provided for this purpose always forms a unit with the base. To turn this threaded spindle underneath the base with a turning means no more than a relatively small free space is needed. Since according to the invention the threaded spindle is biased upwardly by a spring, it is pressed down into the base when the gravestone is placed on it, so that it can never be damaged. When the spindle is turned, however, the biasing of the spindle causes the latter to be screwed into the threaded bore in the gravestone, and when its abutment is reached it draws the gravestone tightly onto the base.
Gravestone bases often differ in thickness. This could be compensated by using threaded spindles of different length. However, even for bases of different thickness, threaded spindles of always the same length can be used if, according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the bottom part of the spindle reaches into an internally threaded foundation tube to be embedded into the gravestone's foundation, and if the abutment that determines the length to which the spindle protrudes from the base is set by an externally threaded round nut which engages the internal thread of the foundation tube, and by which the spindle is guided with clearance and against which the spindle can be driven by its head from underneath.
The cost of the manufacture of the fastening means is especially low if, according to another embodiment of the invention, the head is constituted by a nut threaded onto the spindle and secured against rotation.
Unintentional rotation of the r
REFERENCES:
patent: 3279133 (1966-10-01), De Korte
patent: 3367426 (1968-02-01), Laverty
patent: 3878042 (1975-04-01), Curulla et al.
patent: 4530618 (1985-07-01), Stoll
Frank-System-Dubel GmbH
Smith Creighton
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