The present invention concerns attachment means for suspending objects on plaster (gypsum) walls.
Mostly if not exclusively there are used plastic wall plugs for, e.g., hanging pictures or the like on plaster walls. The procedure involves drilling or pronging a hole in the wall for inserting thereinto the wall-plug. The plug contains bifurcated legs which jump away from each other behind the wall and retain this spreaded position when a screw is inserted and cuts its thread in the plastic material of the plug.
Several disadvantages of this method have been recognized, amongst which are that unskilled persons find it difficult to practice; the need for tools; generation of dust and dirt; the plugs tend to loose their grip after prolonged use; and the limited amount of load that these plugs can sustain.
The prime object of this invention is to overcome these disadvantages by providing a plaster walls mounting article of simple construction which is easily attached to the wall and adapted to bear loads considerably greater than the conventional wall-plugs.
Thus provided according to the invention is an attachment device for plaster walls comprising a flat base member with a series of throughgoing openings each forming an acute angle with respect to a plane perpendicular to that of the base member, nails being driven into the wall through each of the openings.
Preferably, the axises of all openings converge at a point distanced from one side of the base member and in register with the geometrical center of the base member.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the nails are produced in groups by plastic injection integrally with lengths of wire connecting nails heads of the group to each other.
The exposed side of the base member may be provided with means for holding objects to be suspended from the device such as a hook-shaped projection, a female screw-threaded insert embedded in the material of the base member, dove-tail ribs, and others.
These and additional constructional features and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood in the light of the ensuing description of several preferred embodiments thereof, given by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:—
a-8c illustrate stages of intergrading a set of nails with the base member in a readily marketable form;
a is a cross-sectional view of the device with dove-tail male ribs;
b is plan view of the device of
a is a plan view of a modified embodiment of an attachment device of the present invention; and
b is cross-section taken along line XI-XI of
As shown in
The base member 12 is formed with four throughgoing openings 14a-14d, each inclined by an acute angle α relative to a plane perpendicular to the surface of the base 12. Furthermore, the axial directions of all openings converge towards a common focal point F lying beyond the base on the central axis thereof as seen in
The base member 12 is further provided with a hook-shaped protrusion 16 at one side for hanging a picture or the like; and preferably with a centrally located sting 18 at the opposite side.
A series of nail 20a-20d are used, of diameters slightly less than the diameter of the openings 14. Preferably, for a purpose to be described further below, the nails a slightly widened at the top (heads) so as to become press-fitted into the openings 14 at the end of the driving stage.
The mounting of the attachment device 10 to a plaster wall W is illustrated in
At first, the base member 12 is placed at the desired location and pressed against the wall W. This is where sting 18 becomes instrumental to avoid slippage, bearing in mind that the plaster wall W is relatively soft.
Then, the nails 20 are placed in their respective openings and progressively hammered into the wall until fully hidden, namely that the heads becomes flush with the outer exposed surface of the base member 12 as shown in
Because of the oblique direction of the nails relative to the plane of the wall W, a firm grip of the base-member 12 is achieved. The greater the number of the nails—the stronger the attachment.
For facilitating the mass production of the attachment device in a readily marketable article form, it is proposed, according to an additional aspect of the present invention, to produce the set of nails by plastic injection process, e.g. of Nylon reinforced by glass-fibers a known per-se in the relevant art (30% of the fibers is recommended).
Hence, in
The base member 112 is produced separately as already described.
The objective is to efficiently mass-produce assemblies of the base member with the nails seated or partly penetrating their respective openings. So, rather than attending to the individual insertion of every nail manually (even by cheap labor), the above described improvement, namely dealing with the nails interconnected in groups by the wires 122, allows the application of automation (robotics) to complete the assembly in a ready-for-sale state as depicted in
The design of the base member can take many forms, depending on the designed function of the attachment device.
In
In
The article which is desired to be suspended on the wall W (e.g. a coats hanging bracket—not shown) will be provided with counter ribs fitting the gaps 340a and 340b between the ribs 312a and 312b and the surface of the wall W, respectively, and will become suspended by sliding from above.
According to the modified embodiment shown in
Those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains will readily appreciate that numerous changes, variations and modifications can be effectuated without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined in and by the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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174485 | Mar 2006 | IL | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/IL07/00303 | 3/22/2006 | WO | 00 | 11/8/2010 |