Vsi Corporation

Rexnord Gmbh

Fairchild Holding Corporation

Alcoa Inc.

Huck Patents, Inc.

Alcoa Global Fasteners, Inc.

Fairchild Incorporated

Kato Spring Works Co., Ltd.

Usi Corporation

Spiralock Corporation

Alcon Global Fasteners, Inc.

Fairchild Fastener Group

Frank J Cosenza

Luke Haylock

Albert K Yamamoto

Rodrigo Pinheiro

Edgar Frias

Roy L Warkentin

Adrian Q Lindley

Richard L Davis

Ernest Marhenke

James R Potter

A fastener assembly for installation within a work piece, the fastener assembly including a bolt, a retainer ring, and a housing that houses the retainer ring. The housing is positioned at and engages one side of the work piece, while the bolt is inserted into a hole of the work piece on an opposite side thereof. The retainer ring engages the bolt such that a plurality of pressure pads extending from a plurality of corresponding spring beam elements of the retainer ring reside in an annular groove of the bolt. The housing captivates the bolt onto the work piece, while providing a positive hold out of the bolt.

Captive panel fastener assembly

A retainer ring including an outer ring having an exterior surface, an interior surface, and a plurality of spring beam elements extending inwardly from the interior surface, and a central aperture. Each of the spring beam elements includes an elongated arm having a first end attached to the interior surface of the outer ring and a second, free end opposite the first end. Each of free ends of the arms includes a tab portion and a pressure pad that extends from the tab portion. The retainer ring captivates pin members, such as bolts, onto work pieces, such that the pressure pads engage and align with an annular groove of the bolt. When the bolt engages the retainer ring, each of the spring beam elements is displaced and expands radially from a free position to an expanded position in order to enable the bolt to travel through the aperture. The retainer ring captivates the bolt onto the work piece, while providing a positive hold out of the bolt.

Retainer ring

A fastener including a bolt and a grommet assembly attached to the bolt for fastening to a work piece. The grommet assembly includes an upper grommet, a lower grommet attached to the upper grommet, a retainer ring, and a housing that houses the retainer ring within the lower grommet. The upper grommet is inserted into a hole at one side of the work piece and the lower grommet is attached to the upper grommet through the hole at an opposite side of the work piece. The retainer ring is inserted into the lower grommet and encapsulated by the housing. The bolt is inserted into the grommet assembly, and the retainer ring engages the bolt such that a plurality of pressure pads extending from a plurality of corresponding spring beam elements of the retainer ring reside in an annular groove of the bolt. The grommet assembly captivates the bolt onto the work piece, while providing a positive hold out of the bolt.

A retaining ring for use with a fastener is disclosed. The retaining ring comprises a plurality of substantially t-shaped internal tabs that oppose one another and are about twice as thick as the exterior of the ring. The ring is installed onto a fastener having at least two longitudinally-oriented slots by locating a tab into one of the slots and snapping another tab into another slot, thereby momentarily elongating during installation. The tabs substantially reduce the possibility of accidental removal of the retaining ring. In addition, resistance and damage to the internal tabs of the retaining ring is substantially reduced when the retaining ring slides axially in the longitudinal slots of the fastener. Since only the longitudinally-oriented slots are required for installation, the axially-oriented entry slots and cross-over slots of some fastener embodiments can be eliminated, thereby significantly reducing fastener cost and manufacturing time.

Snap on retaining ring with enhanced tab thickness

A threaded locking beam nut having a plurality of locking beams configured such that the inside edge surface of each locking beam has a radially inwardly angled surface thereby forming substantially a V-shaped channel between adjacent beams.

Lock nut member

A fastener assembly having an elongated shaft with an exterior surface defining a plurality of open-ended longitudinaily-extending splines on one end of the shaft and a second plurality of longitudinally-oriented closed-ended spline circumferentially spaced from the first splines. The assembly includes a substantially triangular retaining ring having an inwardly directed tab is positioned in the middle of each side of the ring. Cross-over slots interconnect the first and second splines and are sized to require the retaining ring tabs to flex to permit transition of the ring tabs between the first splines and the second splines.

Fastener/deflectable retaining ring assembly

A blind fastener with an improved drive nut and assembly process. The blind fastener includes a screw, a sleeve, a nut, and a drive nut. The drive nut has a smooth bore and protruding nibs that mate precisely with a driving recess located in the nut head. A retaining device is used to retain the drive nut on the screw against the nut. Once the new assembly process for the blind fastener has been completed, the drive nut will have been mated with the nut head to prevent any rotation of the nut during installation of the blind fastener. The assembly process will now include placing the sleeve over the threads of the screw to a position adjacent the screw head. The nut is then threaded onto the screw adjacent the sleeve. The drive nut's protruding nibs are next aligned and physically engaged into the driving recess of the nut head by sliding the smooth bore over the screw. A retaining device is placed over the screw adjacent the drive nut to retain the drive nut to the screw. The retaining device can be an adhesive.

Blind fastener and drive nut assembly

A blind fastener with an improved drive nut and assembly process. The blind fastener includes a screw, a sleeve, a nut, and a drive nut. The drive nut has a smooth bore and protruding nibs that mate precisely with a driving recess located in the nut head. An end of the drive nut opposite the nibs is deformed to retain the drive nut on the screw against the nut. Once the new assembly process for the blind fastener has been completed, the drive nut will have been mated with the nut head to prevent any rotation of the nut during installation of the blind fastener. The assembly process will now include placing the sleeve over the threads of the screw to a position adjacent the screw head. The nut is then threaded onto the screw adjacent the sleeve. The drive nut's protruding nibs are next aligned and physically engaged into the driving recess of the nut head by sliding the smooth bore over the screw. The end of the drive nut is deformed by an axial force applied by a hollow mandrel having a nosepiece thereby displacing a portion of the drive nut into the threads of the screw.

A blind fastener with an improved drive nut and assembly process. The blind fastener of the present invention includes a screw, a sleeve, a nut, and a drive nut. The new drive nut of this invention has protruding nibs that mate precisely with a driving recess located in the nut head. The protruding nibs of the new drive nut are not deformable and serve to replace the deformable annular ridge that was used in previous drive nut assemblies. The configuration of the protruding nibs and the recess in the nut head can be of many forms, so long as both parts are capable of being mated. Once the new assembly process for the blind fastener has been completed, the drive nut will have been mated with the nut head to prevent any rotation of the nut during installation of the blind fastener. The assembly process will now include placing the sleeve over the threads of the screw to a position adjacent the screw head. The nut is then partially threaded onto the screw until the internal threads within the region of the enlarged nut head have not been completely threaded onto the screw. The drive nut's protruding nibs are next aligned and physically engaged into the driving recess of the nut head. The mated drive nut and nut are next rotated which results in the drive nut and nut being threaded onto the screw as a single unit and, therefore physically locked together.

An improved fastener system includes a threaded pin and a tool. The pin contains a recess in a threaded end of the pin for receiving the tool, thus holding the pin against rotation during application of a nut on the pin. The recess includes splines extending around a circumference of the recess. A plurality of mating splines are located on an end of the tool for engaging the slots of the recess. The splines are oriented to maximize torsional performance and to balance the shear strength of the pin with the shear strength of the tool. Additionally the ends of the recess splines and a minor diameter of the tool include a matching curved surface to increase torsional strength.

Fastener system with spline recess and driving tool

A hold down fastener clutching mechanism comprising an inner torque ring having a pair of split outer ring members with angled ends. A sloped surface at one of the angled ends is at a predetermined angle to the fastener axis. The other end of the inner ring member is integrally joined to an adjacent inner ring member which has a pair of rib members. The selected slope (angle) of the angled surface, for the specific material used, determines the amount of prevailing torque provided by the device itself. A pair of angled rib members protrude from the sleeve inner diameter, the angle of the rib members corresponding to the angled surface formed on the inner torque ring. The inner torque ring and the sleeve are operatively connected such that when the connecting shaft is rotated, the rib members on the inner surface of the sleeve compresses the inner torque ring to the desired preload. In one embodiment, the inner ring is a single, integral member. In a second embodiment, the inner torque ring comprises a plurality of substantially identical torque rings.

Hold down fastener

A blind bolt assembly for compressively connecting at least two overlapping workpieces having a hollow bolt sized to be received within aligned aperture in the workpieces. The hollow bolt includes an enlarged head portion, a grip section extending from the head portion and reduced diameter externally threaded end portion extending from the grip section. An angled ramp section extends along the hollow bolt between the grip section and the threaded end portion. A core bolt having an elongated shaft is positioned within a cylindrical hole in the hollow bolt and includes a drive head extending outside of the hollow bolt. The blind bolt assembly includes a cylindrical collar having an internally threaded section for threadable receipt of the threaded end portion of the hollow bolt and a drive section for receipt of the drive portion of the core bolt. The drive portion of the core bolt and the drive section of the collar preferably include mating splines.

Structural blind bolt

A fastener system including a blind grounding stud and a sleeve. The sleeve has a first section abutting a second section. The first section has a smaller outer surface diameter than the second section. A knurled band is formed around the first section beginning at the intersection between the first and second sections. The sleeve has an opening axially through the two sections. The opening has a first larger inner surface which tapers via a frusto-conical surface to a smaller diameter inner surface. The larger diameter inner surface extends from the free end of the sleeve first section and extends toward the second section to the frusto-conical surface. The smaller diameter inner surface begins at the free end of the second section and extends toward the first section to the frusto-conical inner surface. The smaller diameter inner surface spans at least a portion and preferably all of the knurled band.

Electrical terminal blind grounding stud fastener system

A mounting arrangement for interconnecting a prosthesis to a bone of a patient includes a first component adapted for direct attachment to the bone. The first component has a longitudinally extending aperture including an upper portion defined by a smooth surface and a lower portion defined by a plurality of internal threads. The mounting arrangement additionally includes a second component adapted to abut the first component. The second component includes a generally cylindrical channel passing longitudinally therethrough. Further, the mounting arrangement includes a threaded fastener including an upper segment having a smooth surface and a lower segment including a plurality of external threads for meshing engagement with the plurality of internal threads. The upper segment passes through the generally cylindrical channel and it extends partially into the aperture. In one application, the mounting arrangement is intended for interconnecting a dental prosthesis with a human jawbone and permits the dental prosthesis to more effectively accommodate bending forces which develop during normal use by removing the bending forces from the threaded interconnection of the components.

Growing community of inventors

Santa Barbara, CA, United States of America

Frank J Cosenza