Joints and connections – Branched – Three or more radiating members
Patent
1995-11-16
1997-04-15
Johnson, Blair
Joints and connections
Branched
Three or more radiating members
403171, 403176, 403217, 526551, 527317, F16B 704
Patent
active
056202733
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a system of sectional bars capable of being assembled.
Such systems can be assembled to form spatial elements. Building elements consisting of sectional elements and connecting elements made essentially of metal or wood, such as displays, show cases, shelves or spatial partitions, are known.
DE-A-14 84 004 discloses a section bar with a connecting element. The section bar can have an X-shaped cross-section and tapers off at its ends to form a pointed tip. Furthermore, connecting elements are disclosed exhibiting recesses, each of which can hold one end of a X-section bar.
The object of this invention is to provide a sectional bar system made of plastics exhibiting high stability and making a particularly wide variety of applications available. In particular, the elements are to be fixed together to form re-usable transport containers.
The solution of this invention starts from the principle idea of using X-section bars with tapered ends. The ends of the sectional bars engage with connecting elements having several surfaces, which are preferably shaped as a cuboid, but also other bodies having several surfaces such as octahedrons are possible. The individual connecting elements can be formed of several individual parts which can be attached to one another by means of adhesives, by welding or by mechanical engagement, whereby the individual parts are preferably pyramid shaped.
In a first embodiment of this invention, X-section bars are used that taper off at their ends to form pointed tips. The ends of the section bars are connected by connecting elements with several surfaces. The connecting elements consist of several parts and can be assembled.
In a second embodiment of this invention, X-section bars are provided that taper off at their ends to form pointed tips. The X-section bars are connected by means of connecting elements. First joining elements present in the X-section bars and second joining elements present in the connecting elements are snap elements. The first joining element comprises a nose tapering off in the shape of a pyramid and a retention support, whereas the second joining element comprises a recess complementary to the nose, into which the nose can be pressed, and a spring-loaded retaining part, into which the retention support can snap.
The advantages of this invention are characterized by low weight and high stability of the structures formed by the system. The frames and transport containers can be easily assembled and dismounted using machines.
The X-section bars and the connecting elements are preferably extruded or injection-molded from thermoplastics, preferably polypropylene, preferably from recyclates such as recycled plastics.
In the following, the invention is explained in more detail based on the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a structure formed by the X-sectional bar system according to this invention;
FIG. 2a shows a side view of an embodiment of an X-section bar according to this invention;
FIG. 2b shows a front view of the X-section bar of FIG. 2a;
FIG. 2c is a cross-section along the line 2c--2c of FIG. 2a;
FIG. 2d is a cross-section along the line 2d--13 2d of FIG. 2c;
FIG. 2e shows a side view of another embodiment of an X-section bar according to this invention;
FIG. 2f shows a front view of the X-section bar of FIG. 2e;
FIG. 2g is a cross-section along the line 2g--2g in FIG. 2e;
FIG. 2h is a cross-section along the line 2h--2h in FIG. 2g;
FIG. 3 shows a side view of an embodiment of the connecting element according to this invention and an exploded view of four pyramid elements according to this invention;
FIG. 4 is a cross-section through the center of the connecting element of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a cross-section according to FIG. 4 with the interlocked end of an X-section bar;
FIGS. 6, 7a, 7b and 8 show embodiments of adapters on the X-section bars according to this invention; and
FIG. 9 shows an embodiment of an X-section joint according to this invention.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic structure of a basic element of the X-secti
REFERENCES:
patent: 4129975 (1978-12-01), Gabriel
patent: 4348129 (1982-09-01), Conforti
patent: 4674256 (1987-06-01), Chailleux
patent: 4835932 (1989-06-01), Leete, II et al.
patent: 5326337 (1994-07-01), Pardella
International Search Report listing refs.
Heyn Klaus
Koehn Jochen
Johnson Blair
Lev Bruce A.
Zeller Plastik GmbH
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