1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fences and, more specifically, to an extruded bottom rail for a fence having a topside longitudinal track extending the length of the rail for holding the bottom portion of at least one planar article taken from the group of sheet, panel, board, plank, slat, and lath while optionally providing that the planar article provides outward projections within that portion contained with the bottom-rail track providing for potential linear movement while preventing vertical movement.
Additionally provided for is a metallic stiffener residing in a rail interior stiffener compartment having a plurality of braces extending between the rail's interior walls and the stiffener compartment walls that are situated for continued structural integrity of the product and continued continuity of the rail having the stiffener serving as brace anchor and deterring deformation of the fence rail of the instant invention from exterior forces.
The stiffener once positioned within the compartment may be fixed in location by forming a tab through pressure applied against a portion of the compartment wall sufficient to angularly bend said portion, relative to its longitudinal orientation, including the metallic stiffener and opposing compartment wall thereby preventing movement therefrom.
Furthermore, the present invention provides that the bottom-rail track may include rail distal end tabs to contain the planar article(s) in a fixed state when assembled thereby enabling prior assemblage of sections that can be shipped to a job site as modular units.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are other fences designed for modular assembly. While these fences may be suitable for the purposes for which they were designed, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention, as hereinafter described.
Therefore, it is felt that a need exist for a fence bottom rail having the aforementioned properties.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide an extruded bottom fence rail with a longitudinal track for receiving slats therein.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an extruded bottom fence rail having a longitudinal fence rail track comprising a base with conjoined spaced apart walls vertically extending to inwardly projecting flanges that edgewise terminate in a downwardly projecting lip.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a bottom rail track consisting of a U-shaped channel having a planar base with each leg extending downwardly from a respective topside flange forming support for a plurality of vertically extending slats.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a bottom fence rail having an interior elliptical-like longitudinal compartment for receiving a metal stiffener therein.
Additional objects of the present invention will appear as the description proceeds.
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art by providing an extruded bottom rail for a fence having a topside longitudinal track extending the length of the rail for holding the bottom portion of at least one planar article taken from the group of sheet, panel, board, plank, slat, and lath with an interiorly positioned stiffener compartment having a plurality of braces extending between the rail's interior walls and the stiffener compartment walls and optionally providing that the planar article may have outward projections within that portion contained within the bottom-rail track providing for potential linear movement while preventing vertical movement.
The foregoing and other objects and advantages will appear from the description to follow. In the description reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which forms a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments will be described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. In the accompanying drawings, like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views.
The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is best defined by the appended claims.
In order that the invention may be more fully understood, it will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:
Turning now descriptively to the drawings, in which similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views, the figures illustrate the Extruded Bottom Fence Rail of the present invention. With regard to the reference numerals used, the following numbering is used throughout the various drawing figures.
10. Extruded Bottom Fence Rail of the present invention
12. fence slats
14. fence top rail
16. fence rail wall
18. wall interior surface
20. fence rail base
22. base interior surface
24. fence rail flange
26. flange bottom surface
28. flange lip
30. track
32. track wall
34. track wall exterior surface
36. track base
38. track wall brace
40. stiffener compartment
42. stiffener compartment top surface
44. stiffener compartment walls
46. stiffener wall exterior surface
48. stiffener compartment top surface brace
50. stiffener compartment wall center brace
52. stiffener compartment wall bottom brace
54. metal stiffener
56. punched tab stiffener retainer
58. punched tab slat retainer
The following discussion describes in detail one embodiment of the invention (and several variations of that embodiment). This discussion should not be construed, however, as limiting the invention to those particular embodiments, practitioners skilled in the art will recognize numerous other embodiments as well. For definition of the complete scope of the invention, the reader is directed to appended claims.
Referring to
The foregoing is illustrative of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting thereof. Although exemplary embodiments of this invention have been described, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the exemplary embodiments without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of this invention. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this invention as defined in the claims. The invention is defined by the claims, with equivalents of the claims to be included therein.
This application is subject to U.S. provisional application s/n 60/864032 filed 2 Nov. 2006.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60864032 | Nov 2006 | US |