Metal working – Means to assemble or disassemble – Overedge assembling means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-18
2001-05-22
Watson, Robert C. (Department: 3723)
Metal working
Means to assemble or disassemble
Overedge assembling means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06233804
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to progressively clamping a pair of members together to hold them firmly attached to one another. Especially the invention relates to progressively clamping together two vertical struts of adjacent structural panels of a building. The invention also relates to a tool for carrying out the method of progressively clamping a pair of members together.
2. Acknowledgement of Prior Art
International Application No. PCT/CA97/00783 (WO 98/27289) published on Jun. 25, 1998, is directed to a building system including portable prefabricated wall sections having parallel vertical support members. When the building is erected the parallel vertical members of adjacent wall sections are held closely together by clips which can be progressively tightened. The clips are screwed onto the vertical members and, in some circumstances, the heads of the screws can upstand from the clips in a disadvantageous manner. Moreover, although the building system of the above referenced International Patent Application provides a building which is quickly and easily erected by amateurs, the chore of installing and tightening all of the clips is tedious and time consuming.
The present invention provides an alternative method of tightening together the prefabricated wall sections of a building system such as that of International Patent Application No. PCT/CA97/00783. The method may also be used for tightening together other members which it is desired to progressively move together and hold firmly in place.
Staple are widely used for hold articles together. Often, staples may be applied through layers of paper or fabric against a guide surface to clinch the legs of the staples so that the layers of material are held between the clinched legs and the web of the staple. Alternatively in a carpentry environment, staples are forced into a penetrable material such as wood and possibly also through an upper layer of fabric material. In this case, the legs of the staples remain vertical and the staple is held in a similar manner to that of a nail by its forced penetration into the wood. There is no way known to the applicants of applying clinched staples without the use of a backing guide surface to guide the legs of the staples or a backing penetrable surface to hold the legs of the staples. Moreover, there is no known way of utilizing staples so that they are progressively tightened at a rate chosen by the operator.
The present inventor has addressed these problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method of progressively clamping a pair of members one against the other, the method comprising locating the pair of members in side-by-side relationship, selecting a staple having a web at least as long as the combined width of the side-by-side members, locating the staple with its web abutting the side-by-side members and with its legs extending to either side of the members, clinching the legs of the staple together to wrap around at least part of sides of the members to tighten said members one against the other, the clinching comprising spanning the staple between open jaws of the pincers, the jaws being shaped to wrap around sides of the members and progressively closing the jaws to clinch the staple. Preferably the clinching step is carried out at a controlled rate and may be stopped at any time before maximum clamping is achieved, for example, the staples may be used to loosely hold members together for location purposes. The operator may control the speed of bringing pincer handles together to close the jaws and may choose to stop at any time.
Especially the invention provides, in a method of erecting a building comprising abutting vertical support members of adjacent wall section, a method of progressively clamping side-by-side vertical support members together, comprising selecting a staple having a web longer than the width of the combined side-by-side members, locating the staple with its web abutting the side-by-side members and with its legs extending to either side of the members, clinching the legs of the staple together to bend the inwardly to grip the members to tighten them against each other. Conveniently each staple is of magnetisable material and are located in open jaws of a clinching tool before location with its web abutting the side-by-side members. It may be held in the jaws by a magnetic part of the tool.
Preferably the legs of the staple are longer than the thickness of the side-by-side members so that, when they are pinched together to grip the members and tighten them against each other, the legs wrap around behind the members. In some circumstances, such as when the side-by-side members are wood, especially soft wood, the legs of the staple may be pinched together to bend their distal end portions inwardly to actually penetrate into the wood rather than to wrap around behind the members. The size of the staples is chosen to complement the members which it is desired to tighten together. For example, if it is desired to tighten a pair of 2×4 studs together with their 4 inch faces abutting, then the web of the staple should be slightly more than 4 inches so that the legs of the staple may easily be positioned about the opposed faces of the studs. If on the other hand the members to be joined together are a pair of struts having, say, 1 millimeter width the web of the staple should have a length just over 2 millimeters. Such struts might be used in model building.
Conveniently means is provided for locating the staple in position against the members to be tightened together and for pinching the staple legs together to tighten the members against one another. Accordingly, the invention also provides a tool for holding the staples and for clinching them about the members to be clinched together. The tool comprises a pair of pincers each pincer having a jaw and an elongate handle portion. Each pincer is pivoted to a rigid bar at opposite end portions of the bar. The bar has a length sufficient that the web of a staple may be located thereagainst between the jaws when the pincers are oriented in an open position. The bar has means to hold the web of the staple thereagainst. The jaw of each pincer is curved in a shape to clinch the legs of the staple inwardly toward each other as the pincers are pivoted into a closed position to exert pressure against the legs of the staple with the jaws.
Very suitably, the bar may be magnetic for use with magnetizable staples.
Usually, the tool may comprise pincers pivoted to the bar by a simple pivot so that as the handle portions are pulled apart the pincer portions will close to clinch the staple about the members to be tightened together. In some circumstances, where extra force is required, double pivot points may be provided so that movement of the handle portions towards one another will also cause closing of the pincer portions. Indeed, such an arrangement may be provided for manual convenience rather than for extra force. It is generally considered more convenient to use manual pressure to close handles together than to pull them apart. Where considerable extra force is required the tool may be operated with hydraulic or pneumatic assistance.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3015824 (1962-01-01), Richardson
patent: 4090390 (1978-05-01), Barinaga
patent: 4802271 (1989-02-01), Bader
patent: 4944177 (1990-07-01), Womack
patent: 5305628 (1994-04-01), Cluggish
patent: WO 98/27289 (1998-06-01), None
Amisk Technologies Inc.
Ridout & Maybee
Watson Robert C.
LandOfFree
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