Patent Application
20060191233
The present invention relates generally to the field of construction materials and, more particularly to a device for receiving a nail and directing the nail into a wooden construction member at a positive, predetermined angle.
The device which provides for a positive angle fastener device for metal connectors used for connecting wood members reduces the likelihood of wood splitting due to wood shrinkage and helps to prevent the splitting of laminated wood members such as plywood glued laminated timbers and the like. Further, such devices assist in the insertion of fasteners such as nails through a held member and a holding member which are joined by a special connector so that a plurality of fasteners will be in double shear. These devices are particularly useful when joining a joist to a header, wherein a nail extends through the joist into the header.
The benefits of such devices are by now well known in the art, as shown and described in Gilb, U.S. Pat. No. 4,291,996; and Commins, U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,941.
The Gilb '966 patent taught the use of a slot-like opening in the face of the metal connector. In Gilb, a tab-like member was formed from the displaced material formed by the slot. The Gilb tab-like device was successful but suffered from the introduction of a metallurgically weak point at each end of the slot-like opening, making the failure of the device as a whole more likely.
In addition, the Gilb device just described had several additional problems. Punching a slot into the material has an effect similar to that of punching a large opening in the metal which tends to weaken the metal. The tab protruding from the metal tended to snag on other building materials prior to installation. Also, the protruding tab was often forcibly bent with a hammer or pair of pliers by installers who didn't know what the tab was for, thereby destroying the purpose of the tab. The tab was relatively easily bent during non-aligned hammering of the fastener during installation. Finally, while the cost of forming the tab was minimal, the method of forming the tab required two stations, that of a cutting station and a bending station thereby adding to the cost of manufacture.
A proposed solution to certain problems known in the art was put forth by Leek et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,580. Leek et al. proposed a positive fastener-angling device for positioning a nail with respect to the face of a sheet metal connector and a wood member only at a preselected angle which is substantially less than 90 degrees by forming a slit-cut in the sheet metal connector by means of a die which progressively at the same station, forms a fastener guideway in the shape of a half cone. The fastener opening and the guideway are dimensioned so that the fastener can only penetrate the sheet metal connector at a preselected angle set at the factory. Although this structure was an improvement over structure then known in the art, the slit-cut opening still presented a weak point that was subject to metallurgical failure.
Young taught a slope and skew hanger for connecting a rafter to a beam at a variety of slope and skew angles. The hanger includes a connection portion and an integrally attached seat portion which is connected with the connection portion along a bend line. The connection portion includes a central opening, a pair of side connecting brackets joined by connecting strips and adapted for connection to the beam, and a pair of centrally positioned connection flanges extending outwardly from the front face of the connection portion and adapted for connection with the sides of the rafter. Young taught the provision of a raised spherical portion and an offset nail receiving opening to facilitate the angled nailing of such a hanger or bracket to the beam or rafter. This structure eliminated the weak point at the ends of the slit, but offered no guideway to direct the nail at a positive angle through the joining device into the wood.
Thus, there remains a need for a device which positively directs a nail through the device into the underlying wood, and yet eliminates the weak points at the ends of the known slit-like opening. The present invention is directed to filling this need in the art.
The fastener-angling device of the present invention provides a structure adapted to position a nail or other elongate fastening device at a predetermined angle between the face of a sheet metal connector and a wood member such as a joist. The preselected angle is substantially less than 90 degrees. The device is formed by pressing a truncated half-cone into the sheet metal by means of a die and then forming a nail-receiving hole in the truncated half-cone. This structure eliminates the metallurgical weak point exhibited by slits while still providing a positive guideway for the nail. The nail-receiving hole and the guideway are dimensioned so that nail inserted into the nail-receiving hole can only enter the wood member at the desired angle.
These and other features and advantages of this invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.
So that the manner in which the above recited features, advantages and objects of the present invention are attained and can be understood in detail, more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appended drawings.
Referring first to
The type of sheet metal connector illustrated in
The principles, preferred embodiment, and mode of operation of the present invention have been described in the foregoing specification. This invention is not to be construed as limited to the particular forms disclosed, since these are regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Moreover, variations and changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.
