Patent Grant
10604942
Cable railings are becoming increasingly popular. Commonly, the railings are placed in tension between support posts, walls or other support structures. The cables ends must be securely anchored to the support structure to resist the tension.
When the support structure is a solid material of sufficient thickness, such as a 4″×4″ wood post, for example, a lag bolt or the like may be used as an anchor. However, when the support structure is thin other anchor types must be used.
For a support structure, such as a thin-walled support structure, it is preferable that an anchor be easily installable when only external access to the support structure is available. Further, an anchor should be inexpensive.
The accompanying drawings provide visual representations which will be used to more fully describe various representative embodiments and can be used by those skilled in the art to better understand the representative embodiments disclosed and their inherent advantages. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the devices, systems, and methods described herein. In these drawings, like reference numerals may identify corresponding elements.
While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail specific embodiments, with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an example of the principles of the invention and not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments shown and described. In the description below, like reference numerals may be used to describe the same, similar or corresponding parts in the several views of the drawings.
In this document, relational terms such as first and second, top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,” “having,” or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element preceded by “comprises . . . a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.
Reference throughout this document to “one embodiment,” “certain embodiments,” “an embodiment,” “implementation(s),” “aspect(s),” or similar terms means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thus, the appearances of such phrases or in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments without limitation.
The term “or” as used herein is to be interpreted as an inclusive or meaning any one or any combination. Therefore, “A, B or C” means “any of the following: A; B; C; A and B; A and C; B and C; A, B and C.” An exception to this definition will occur only when a combination of elements, functions, steps or acts are in some way inherently mutually exclusive. Also, grammatical conjunctions are intended to express any and all disjunctive and conjunctive combinations of conjoined clauses, sentences, words, and the like, unless otherwise stated or clear from the context. Thus, the term “or” should generally be understood to mean “and/or” and so forth.
All documents mentioned herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. References to items in the singular should be understood to include items in the plural, and vice versa, unless explicitly stated otherwise or clear from the text.
Recitation of ranges of values herein are not intended to be limiting, referring instead individually to any and all values falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated, and each separate value within such a range is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. The words “about,” “approximately,” “substantially,” or the like, when accompanying a numerical value, are to be construed as indicating a deviation as would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art to operate satisfactorily for an intended purpose. Ranges of values and/or numeric values are provided herein as examples only, and do not constitute a limitation on the scope of the described embodiments. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (“e.g.,” “such as,” or the like) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the embodiments and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the embodiments. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any unclaimed element as essential to the practice of the embodiments.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. Numerous details are set forth to provide an understanding of the embodiments described herein. The embodiments may be practiced without these details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, and components have not been described in detail to avoid obscuring the embodiments described. The description is not to be considered as limited to the scope of the embodiments described herein.
In the following description, it is understood that terms such as “first,” “second,” “top,” “bottom,” “up,” “down,” “above,” “below,” and the like, are words of convenience and are not to be construed as limiting terms. Also, the terms apparatus and device may be used interchangeably in this text.
Various embodiments described herein relate to a cable anchor. The anchor is described as used for anchoring a cable railing, but the anchor may be used in other applications. For example, the anchor may be used with suspension cables for supporting objects from a ceiling.
The present disclosure relates to an anchor for coupling a component of a cable railing system to a support structure through a hole in the support structure. The component may be a cable, a rod, or a cable fitting, for example. In some embodiments the anchor includes a spring element and a ferrule for attaching the spring element to the component. The spring element has a first region and a second region, where the second region comprises a coil spring. The ferrule is configured to couple the first region of the spring element to the component of the cable railing system. The anchor is configured to couple the component through a hole in a support structure, where a cross dimension of the hole is greater than a cross dimension of the ferrule and less than a diameter of the coil spring. The ferrule is configured for attachment to the cable via swaging.
The anchor may also include one or more second spring elements also coupled to the cable by the ferrule.
The coil spring may have a conical profile, a cylindrical profile, or some other profile.
In some embodiments, the spring element has a third region, where the second region is located between the first and third regions. The third region may be a coil configured as a grommet, for example, that is sized to fit at least partially within the hole. Alternatively, the third region of the first spring element may comprise a tab adapted to facilitate insertion of the anchor through a hole.
A further embodiment of the disclosure relates to an anchor for a cable or rod. The anchor includes a ferrule and one or more cantilever springs. Each cantilever spring has a first end and a second end, where the first ends of the one or more cantilever springs are coupled to the ferrule and where the ferrule is sized for attachment to the cable or rod.
An exemplary embodiment is shown in
Ferrule 104 may be attached to an end of cable 102 and provide an end stop. Alternatively, the ferrule may be attached to another location, part way along the cable. In one embodiment, ferrule 104 is a metal ferrule that is swaged down to a ¼″ diameter and attached to a cable having a diameter in the range ⅛″ to 3/16″, for example. Other sizes may be used without departing from the present disclosure.
In use, cable anchor 108 is passed through hole 110 in support surface or structure 112. The hole 110 is sized to allow passage of ferrule 104.
In one embodiment, where the spring element 106 comprises a conical coil spring, the inside diameter (I.D.) of conical coil spring at the smaller end of the conical coil spring, is slightly greater than the diameter of the cable, and the outside diameter (O.D.) of the spring is slightly less than the diameter of hole 110. The diameter of conical coil spring 106 at the larger end is greater than that of the hole 110. For example, the diameter may be ⅜″ or greater for a ¼″ diameter hole.
In one embodiment, a ferrule is swaged down to 0.25″ diameter on a 3/16″ (0.1875″) diameter cable and couples a spring element to the cable. The assembly may be passed through a hole with diameter of 17/64″ (0.265625″), for example, in a support structure. The second region of the spring element has a diameter greater than 17/64″ (0.265625″) to prevent the anchor from being pulled back through the hole. The spring element may have a wire diameter of 0.029″ and may be constructed of 316 grade stainless steel, for example. Thus, the ferrule may pass through the hole. Also, the cable and a length of spring may pass through the hole. However, a coil of spring element is too large to pass through the hole.
In a further embodiment, a ferrule is swaged down to 0.25″ diameter on a ⅛″ (0.125″) diameter cable and couples a spring element to the cable. The assembly may be passed through a hole with diameter of 17/64″ (0.265625″), for example, in a support structure. The second region of the spring element has a diameter greater than 17/64″ (0.265625″) to prevent the anchor from being pulled back through the hole.
In a still further embodiment, a ferrule is swaged down to 0.375″ diameter on a ¼″ (0.25″) diameter cable and couples a spring element to the cable. The assembly may be passed through a hole with diameter of 25/64″ (0.390625″), for example, in a support structure. The second region of the spring element has a diameter greater than 25/64″ (0.390625″) to prevent the anchor from being pulled back through the hole.
The dimensions in the examples above are approximate and may, of course, be varied. However, from these examples, it will be clear to those of ordinary skill in the art how the components of an anchor and a corresponding hole in a support structure may be sized relative to one another for use with a cable of any given diameter.
The coils of coil spring of element 106 are spaced such that the anchor 108 can be wound or screwed into the hole 110 in the support surface 112. The number of coils and spring rate may be selected depending upon the application.
Spring element 106 and ferrule 104 may be constructed from a variety of materials. For example, stainless steel or phosphorus bronze may be used depending on the environment where the anchor is installed. Cheaper materials, such as piano wire for example, may be used for interior applications.
While the embodiment in
The coil spring of spring element 106 serves to deflect the ferrule 104, such that end edge of the ferrule contacts the periphery of hole 110 in support surface 112 when tension is applied to cable 102.
The spring element 106 may be attached to a cable or other component at a first region of the spring element, while the coil spring provides a second region of the spring element. Thus, in the embodiment shown, spring element 106 has a first region that contacts the ferrule 104 and second region that contacts the support surface 112, the second region comprising a coil spring, the spring element sized to receive an end of the cable or other component.
The ferrule 104 provides a spring stop that is configured to couple to the component and to contact the first region of the spring element 106, thereby preventing motion of the spring element along the component in a first direction. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that motion of the spring element may be prevent by other types of spring stops. For example, a collar or other element may be attached to the cable by welding, clamping, adhesive, epoxy, crimping etc. The spring stop is sized to pass through the hole 110 in support surface 112.
The attachment 104 prevents the spring element 106 from sliding along the cable 102 when tension is applied in the direction of arrow 302. The spring element 104 may or may not be coupled to the cable via attachment 104. For example, attachment 104 may serve as a stop.
In order to aid in the installation and/or rotation of the anchor, the spring element 106 may include an extension element, such as a removable tab, attached to the larger diameter end of the conical spring 106. The extension element forms a third region of the spring element and may be removed once the anchor is inserted.
An anti-corrosion coating may be applied to the anchor. A stainless steel anchor may be subject to a passivation step.
The spring element may be attached to the cable by other means, without departing from the present disclosure. For example, a spiral portion of the conical coil spring may be attached to the cable without a need for a ferrule or other end stop. The attachment means should be configured to withstand the maximum tension applied to cable 102 in use.
A further embodiment is shown in
Thus, the cable anchor in
The cable anchor may be attached to one end of a cable and a cable rail fitting, such as a tensioner, may be attached to the other. For example, a short section of cable with a cable anchor may be used to attach a cable tensioner to a post or other support structure.
Alternatively, the cable anchor may be used to couple a cable rail fitting to a post or other support structure directly.
Second region 1604 may comprise a conical coil spring, a cylindrical coil spring, a combination thereof, or a coil spring of other profile. The spring may contain one or more coils. The material of the spring may have circular, rectangular or other cross section.
As referenced above, the cable anchor described herein may be part of a system for anchoring a cable railing. The cable anchor may include without limitation any of the embodiments described herewith.
The implementations of the present disclosure, described above, are intended to be examples only. Those of skill in the art can effect alterations, modifications and variations to the particular example embodiments herein without departing from the intended scope of the present disclosure. Moreover, selected features from one or more of the above-described example embodiments can be combined to create alternative example embodiments not explicitly described herein.
The present disclosure may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its essence or fundamental characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the disclosure is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.
It will be appreciated that the devices, systems, and methods described above are set forth by way of example and not of limitation. Absent an explicit indication to the contrary, the disclosed steps may be modified, supplemented, omitted, and/or re-ordered without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Numerous variations, additions, omissions, and other modifications will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. In addition, the order or presentation of method steps in the description and drawings above is not intended to require this order of performing the recited steps unless a particular order is expressly required or otherwise clear from the context.
The method steps of the implementations described herein are intended to include any suitable method of causing such method steps to be performed, consistent with the patentability of the following claims, unless a different meaning is expressly provided or otherwise clear from the context. So for example performing X includes any suitable method for causing another party such as a remote user, a remote processing resource (e.g., a server or cloud computer) or a machine to perform X. Similarly, performing steps X, Y, and Z may include any method of directing or controlling any combination of such other individuals or resources to perform steps X, Y, and Z to obtain the benefit of such steps. Thus method steps of the implementations described herein are intended to include any suitable method of causing one or more other parties or entities to perform the steps, consistent with the patentability of the following claims, unless a different meaning is expressly provided or otherwise clear from the context. Such parties or entities need not be under the direction or control of any other party or entity, and need not be located within a particular jurisdiction.
It should further be appreciated that the methods above are provided by way of example. Absent an explicit indication to the contrary, the disclosed steps may be modified, supplemented, omitted, and/or re-ordered without departing from the scope of this disclosure.
It will be appreciated that the methods and systems described above are set forth by way of example and not of limitation. Numerous variations, additions, omissions, and other modifications will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. In addition, the order or presentation of method steps in the description and drawings above is not intended to require this order of performing the recited steps unless a particular order is expressly required or otherwise clear from the context. Thus, while particular embodiments have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of this disclosure and are intended to form a part of the disclosure as defined by the following claims, which are to be interpreted in the broadest sense allowable by law.
The various representative embodiments, which have been described in detail herein, have been presented by way of example and not by way of limitation. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the form and details of the described embodiments resulting in equivalent embodiments that remain within the scope of the appended claims.
This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/281,675 filed on Sep. 30, 2016 and also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/348,309 filed Jun. 10, 2016 which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
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