Connector for glass

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6648544
  • Patent Number
    6,648,544
  • Date Filed
    Saturday, December 8, 2001
    22 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, November 18, 2003
    20 years ago
Abstract
A connector for a piece of glass has a main post and a secondary post securely connected to the main post. The main post is adapted to be connected a top hinge and a bottom hinge of a glass door, a revolving door, a casement or a paravent. The secondary post is able to secure the piece of glass.
Description




FIELD OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates to a connector, and more particularly to a connector for glass. With the connector, glass is combined to be a revolving door, a paravent or a casement.




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




Glass is largely used in doors or screens and all these applications of glass required special designed connectors. Each of these connectors is designed to have only one special application, that is, a specially designed connector applies only to a specific function. There is no room of substitution of these connectors. Therefore, users will have to prepare a lot of different connectors for different applications. Furthermore, these connectors are complex in structure and difficult in mounting. As a consequence, the cost for these connectors is high.




To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention intends to provide an improved glass connector to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The primary objective of the invention is to provide a connector for glass. The connector is simple in structure and easy to be implemented.




In order to accomplish the foregoing objective, the connector of the present invention has a main post and a secondary post securely connected to the main post. The main post is adapted to be connected a top hinge and a bottom hinge of a glass door, a revolving door, a casement or a paravent.




Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is a perspective view of the connector of the present invention;





FIG. 2

is an exploded perspective view of the connector in

FIG. 1

;





FIG. 3

is a schematic view of the connector, wherein the connector is implemented to secure a glass door;





FIG. 4

is a perspective view showing that two connectors are mounted to secure a glass door;





FIG. 5

is an exploded perspective view of another embodiment of the connector of the present invention;





FIG. 6

is a schematic view of the connector in

FIG. 5

, wherein the connector is used to secure a glass door with two layers of glasses;





FIG. 7

is an exploded perspective view of still another embodiment of the connector of the present invention;





FIG. 8

is a schematic view of the connector in

FIG. 7

, wherein the connector is used to secure a paravent;





FIG. 9

is an exploded perspective view of the main post; and





FIG. 10

is a schematic view of the connector in

FIG. 9

, wherein the connector is used to adapt to a different type of hinge of a glass door.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION




With reference to

FIGS. 1

,


2


and


3


, the connector


1


in accordance with the present invention has a main post


11


and a secondary post


12


.




The main post


11


has a bottom hole


111


defined in one end of the main post


11


to adapt to a hinge


32


of a glass sheet


2


. A side hole


112


is defined in a periphery of the main post


11


. A top hole


114


is defined in another end of the main post


11


to threadingly receive therein a bolt


113


.




The secondary post


12


has a connecting end


120


with a plan face


121


formed on a periphery of the secondary post


12


and at least one (two are shown in this preferred embodiment) securing unit


122


secured to the periphery of the secondary post


12


. Each securing unit


122


includes a first connector


1221


, a second connector


1222


and a securing bolt


1223


. The securing bolt


1223


extends through the second and first connector


1221


,


1222


so as to threadingly engage with a threaded hole


1220


in the periphery of the secondary post


12


.




When the connector in

FIG. 1

is implemented to secure glass sheet (as shown in FIG.


3


), two main posts


11


are used to respectively engage with a top hinge


31


and a bottom hinge


32


of the glass sheet


2


by inserting the top and bottom hinges


32


of the glass sheet


2


into the bottom holes


111


. The connecting end


120


is inserted into the side hole


112


and the bolt


113


is threadingly inserted into the top hole


114


to engage with the plan face


121


so as to secure the secondary post


12


in the main post


11


. Then the first connector


1221


of the at least one securing unit


122


is first attach to the periphery of the secondary post


12


and the glass sheet


2


attach to the first connector


1221


with holes


21


in the glass sheet


2


aligned with holes (not numbered) in the first connector


1221


. Thereafter, the securing bolt


1223


extends through the second connector


1222


, the holes


21


, the first connector


1221


and into the threaded hole


1220


to thereby secure the glass sheet


2


with the connector


1


of the present invention.




With reference to

FIG. 4

, when the glass sheet is a glass door


3


, with the connector


1


of the present invention, the glass door is able to securely and smoothly pivot about the top and bottom hinges


31


,


32


.




With reference to

FIGS. 5 and 6

, a second preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown. The connector as shown has two pairs of securing units


122


on the secondary post


12


. The two pairs of securing units


122


are correspondingly formed on the secondary post


12


. That is, each securing unit


122


has another securing unit


122


close by and still another securing unit


122


on the opposite side of the secondary post


12


. With the arrangement of the connector


2


of the present invention, two glass sheets


2


are able to be simultaneously secured by the connector


2


so that the user is able to work on the two-layer glass door


3


to increase attractions.




With reference to

FIGS. 7 and 8

, the connector of the present invention has two secondary posts


12


each having at least one (two are shown in this embodiment) securing unit


122


. Each at least one securing unit


122


on one secondary post


12


may be formed on the same side as another on the other secondary post


12


so that the connector


1


is able to function as a joint to secure two glass sheets


2


.




With reference to

FIGS. 9 and 10

, still another preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown. The connector of this embodiment has an auxiliary seat


13


with a flange


131


, a truncated conical bottom


132


securely formed on a side of the flange


131


and a channel


1311


defined to communicate with the bottom hole


111


of the main post


11


. The truncated conical bottom


132


is able to be received in the bottom hole


111


and secured in the bottom hole


111


by a bolt


14


extending through the periphery of the main post


11


. Due to the conical shape of the truncated conical bottom


132


, the bolt


14


is able to securely retain the auxiliary seat


13


in the bottom hole


111


. After the auxiliary seat


13


is secured in the bottom hole


111


in the main post


11


, the shape of the channel


1311


is able to be designed to any shape to adapt to the top or bottom hinge


31


,


32


, as shown in

FIGS. 9A and 9B

, wherein the shape of the channel


1311


may be a round or a square one. Again, an extension


133


may be formed on top of the flange


131


to cope with a nut like cap


4


so as to be received in the bottom hinge


32


of the glass sheet


2


.




Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.



Claims
  • 1. A connector for a piece of glass, the connector comprising:a main post having a bottom hole defined in one end of the main post to adapt to a hinge of the piece of glass sheet, a side hole defined in a periphery of the main post, a top hole defined in another end of the main post to threadingly receive therein a bolt; at least one secondary post having a connecting end inserted into and secured in the side hole by the bolt, the at least one secondary post provided with a plan face formed on a periphery of the secondary post to be engaged with the bolt and at least one securing unit secured on the periphery of the secondary post, each securing unit including a first connector attached to the periphery of the secondary post, a second connector and a securing bolt, wherein the securing bolt extends through the second and first connector so as to threadingly engage with a threaded hole in the periphery of the secondary post and the piece of glass is secured between the first and second connector.
  • 2. The connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the secondary post has two securing units formed on one side of the periphery of the secondary post.
  • 3. The connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the secondary post has two pairs of securing units each pair formed on one side of the periphery of the secondary post and corresponding to the other pair of securing unit.
  • 4. The connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the main post has two secondary posts each extending in opposite direction and having at least one securing unit formed on the periphery of the secondary post.
  • 5. The connector as claimed in claim 2, wherein the main post has two secondary posts each extending in opposite direction and having at least one securing unit formed on the periphery of the secondary post.
  • 6. The connector as claimed in claim 3, wherein the main post has two secondary posts each extending in opposite direction and having at least one securing unit formed on the periphery of the secondary post.
  • 7. The connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the main post has an auxiliary seat received in the top hole and provided with a flange, truncated conical bottom formed on one side of the flange and a channel defined to communicate with the top hole so that the main post is able to be adapted to secure with the hinge of the piece of glass.
  • 8. The connector as claimed in claim 2, wherein the main post has an auxiliary seat received in the top hole and provided with a flange, truncated conical bottom formed on one side of the flange and a channel defined to communicate with the top hole so that the main post is able to be adapted to secure with the hinge of the piece of glass.
  • 9. The connector as claimed in claim 3, wherein the main post has an auxiliary seat received in the top hole and provided with a flange, truncated conical bottom formed on one side of the flange and a channel defined to communicate with the top hole so that the main post is able to be adapted to secure with the hinge of the piece of glass.
  • 10. The connector as claimed in claim 4, wherein the main post has an auxiliary seat received in the top hole and provided with a flange, truncated conical bottom formed on one side of the flange and a channel defined to communicate with the top hole so that the main post is able to be adapted to secure with the hinge of the piece of glass.
  • 11. The connector as claimed in claim 5, wherein the main post has an auxiliary seat received in the top hole and provided with a flange, truncated conical bottom formed on one side of the flange and a channel defined to communicate with the top hole so that the main post is able to be adapted to secure with the hinge of the piece of glass.
  • 12. The connector as claimed in claim 6, wherein the main post has an auxiliary seat received in the top hole and provided with a flange, truncated conical bottom formed on one side of the flange and a channel defined to communicate with the top hole so that the main post is able to be adapted to secure with the hinge of the piece of glass.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Number Name Date Kind
5297313 Brin Mar 1994 A
5613276 Franz Mar 1997 A
20020066161 Chiang Jun 2002 A1