Patent Application
20130036698
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to drywall in general and in particular to a fastener for use in hanging drywall from studs or other structural wall elements.
2. Description of Related Art
Wall cladding material is a well known and commonly used building method.
Under such a method, a wall cladding, such a as gyprock, or the like is secured or fastened to an underlying structural member, such as a wall stud or the like. Common the wall studs are formed of wood or steel and the wall cladding is secured thereto by the use of nails or screws.
Disadvantageously, nails and screws are time consuming to secure through the cladding material and into the wall stud. Additionally, when nails and screws are utilized to secure the wall cladding, the screw or nail must be driven through the cladding material from the free or finished side. Such a process thereby requires that a worker cover the nail or screw and thereafter refinish the finished surface of the cladding material. Such a process adds further cost and time required to complete the installation and also increases the risk of surface imperfections on the finished wall.
Previous attempts to solve the above problem have not been adequate. Some previous solutions have utilized a plate adapted to engage the wall stud having moveable fingers which may be rotated into the wall cladding material as the wall cladding and fastener are pressed onto the stud. Such devices however require that the wall cladding be held firmly against the apparatus as it is inserted over the wall stud as depth to which the fingers are inserted into the wall cladding may not thereafter be readjusted. Accordingly, such devices may be prone to having the wall board held at a distance spaced away from the wall studs. Examples of such devices may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,020,602 issued Feb. 13, 1062 to Siering and 2,197,750 issued Apr. 16, 1940 to Lagaard.
Other previous solutions have been to provide spike-like members to pierce the wall cladding. Such solutions have had difficulty maintaining a sufficient hold on the cladding material to adequately hold it proximate to the wall stud. Other disadvantages of spikes is the low surface area provided by such spikes and therefore such spikes provide a reduced holding force on the wall cladding.
According to a first embodiment of the present invention there is disclosed an apparatus for securing a wall cladding panel against a wall structure member. The apparatus comprises a plate fastenable to the wall structure member and at least one elongate blade extending from the plate for embedding within the wall cladding panel.
The elongate blade may extend substantially perpendicularly from the plate. The elongate blade may extend substantially parallel to the wall structure member.
The elongate blade may have a length of between 1 and 4 inches. The elongate blade may have a height of between ¼ and ½ inches. The elongate blade may be rigid.
The elongate blade may further include at least one retention member extending therealong for retaining the blade within the wall panel. The apparatus may further comprise at least one retention member along each opposed side of the elongate blade.
Each retention member may comprise a flap extending from the elongate blade. Each flap may have a distal edge angularly disposed towards the plate. The elongate may include two flaps on each opposed side thereof. The flaps may be flexible.
The apparatus may include two elongate blades. The two elongate blades may be substantially parallel to each other. The two elongate plates may be lengthways spaced apart from each. The two elongate plates may be spaced apart from each other in a direction transverse to their lengths.
The plate may further include at least one bore for passing a fastener therethrough for securing the plate to the wall structure member. The plate may include at least one spike extending from a rear surface of the plate for embedding within the wall structure member.
Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures.
In drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention wherein similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in each view,
Referring to
With reference to
As illustrated, the plate may be substantially rectangular, although it will be appreciated that other outline shapes may be utilized as well, such as, by way of non-limiting example, circular, square, oval, octagonal or irregular. As used herein, the height of the plate is defined along a direction parallel with the elongate blades 40 such that in an installed position, the elongate blades 40 are substantially vertical. The plate 22 may have a width corresponding substantially to the width of a conventional wall stud, such as, by way of non-limiting example, 1 and ½ inches (25 and 12 mm) wide although it will be appreciated that other widths may be useful as well. The plate 22 may have a height selected to permit at least one elongate blade to be utilized such as by way of non-limiting example between 3 and 8 inches (76 and 203 mm), although it will be appreciated that other heights may be utilized as well. The plate 22 may have a thickness and be formed of a material selected to provide sufficient strength to the support the blades and the wall cladding panels according to known methods to those of skill in the art. By way of non-limiting example, the plate may have a thickness of between 1/32 and ⅛ inches (0.8 and 3 mm). Also by way of non-limiting example, the plate may be formed of steel, galvanized steel, stainless steel, aluminium, brass, plastic, ceramics or composite materials. It will be appreciated that other thicknesses and material selections may be useful as well.
As illustrated in
With reference to
The planar member 42 is substantially rigid and has a height selected to be embeddable within the wall cladding panel, such as by way of non-limiting example, between ¼ and ½ inch (6 and 13 mm) although it will be appreciated that other heights may be useful as well. The length of the planar member is selected to provide a firm connection between the elongate blade 40 and the wall cladding panel 6. By way of non-limiting example, the planar member 42 and therefore the elongate blade 40 may have a length of between 1 and 4 inches (25 and 101 mm) although it will be appreciate that other lengths may be useful as well. The planar member may have a thickness selected to be between 1/32 and ⅛ of an inch (0.8 and 3 mm) although it will be appreciated that other thicknesses may be useful as well.
The elongate blade 40 may include flaps 46 extending therefrom. As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated herein, the apparatus 20 may include 2 elongate blades 40 extending from each plate 22. The two elongate blades 40 may be substantially aligned with each other in a vertical direction in which orientation, it will be appreciated is parallel to the wall support member 8 or stud. As illustrated, the two elongate blades may be offset from each other both in a direction along their length as well as transverse to their length. This will permit each elongate blade 40 to be engaged within an adjacent wall cladding panel such that the gap between the two wall panels will be located between the elongate blades 40 in parallel thereto. The elongate blades 40 may also optionally overlap each other along their lengths or in any other orientation as required by the application.
In operation, the apparatus 20 may be secured to a wall stud 8 by pressing, hammering or otherwise inserting the fasteners 28 thereinto according to known methods. As illustrated in
With reference to
While specific embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated, such embodiments should be considered illustrative of the invention only and not as limiting the invention as construed in accordance with the accompanying claims.
