Itw Limited

John P Palmer

David N Harley

Colin W Clinch

Alfred E Piper

Neil P Blackburn

Stephen W Isbister

Patrick J McCann

John D Elvin

Richard J Harris

A threaded member has an external helical thread 18a presenting a crest 24 of spiral outline whose trailing end is in the form of an abutment 26 for resisting withdrawal from a resiliently deformable workpiece. In a preferred application, the threaded member is a die-cast grub screw S and locates within a hinged plastics furniture fastener F. Advancing the grub screw S by 1/2-turn from its initial position in the fastener F breaks a frangible locating web 28 and allows the abutment 26 to pass an abrupt shoulder 64. This gives a tangible warning to the user that a ridge 12b on the grub screw S is correctly located beneath a head H of an anchor A.

Threaded members

Several cable clips are disclosed, all capable of use with an extensive range of numbers and/or sizes of cable, by virtue of providing a resilient arm of particular shape and stiffness, in conjunction with a finger which extends from one end of the arm, the other end of the finger being either free, or joined with the arm, or capable of latching engagement with either the arm or a base of the cable clip.

Cable clips

There is described a tamper-proof fastener for use in security applications, the fastener comprising inner and outer members interconnected by flexible straps. The inner and outer members each comprise a leading end, a shank, and a trailing end, the shank of the outer member consisting of two substantially parallel legs defining between them an open-sided passage which contracts towards the leading end, and the leading end of the outer member consisting of two limbs which define between them an open-sided space and converge to a tip where they are interconnected, each limb being connected to a respective leg and presenting an external shoulder facing away from the tip and an internal shoulder facing towards the tip, the trailing end of the outer member including outwardly extending portions presenting an external shoulder facing the leading of the outer member. The inner member is initially positioned so that its leading end lies in the open-sided passage, the leading of the inner member is capable of moving longitudinally to a position within the leading end of the outer member, shoulders formed on the leading end of the inner member then engaging the internal shoulders of the outer member to resist removal of the leading end of the inner member from the leading of the outer member.

Security fastener

A fastener is described in which a substantially rigid pillar formed at one of its ends with a radially enlarged head is provided with a number of radially projecting and longitudinally extending substantially rigid webs, the fastener being further formed with a number of thin plates arranged between adjacent webs in a plane or planes transverse or oblique to the axis of the pillar, the or each plate being attached at one of its edges to one of the webs, and the radial extent of the webs being less than the maximum radial extent of the plate or plates. The plates can be arranged in planes to which the axis of the pillar is perpendicular, or the plates may be inclined in either the circumferential or the radial direction with respect to the pilar. The head of the fastener may be a simple dished skirt, or may be provided with a formation adapted to retain a second component.

Fasteners for use in apertured panels

A valve for regulating the flow of fluid in a motor vehicle heater system, the valve having a housing with coaxial inlet and outlet ports and a quadrantal closure member pivotally mounted in the housing for movement between open and closed positions, the closure member having an aperture coinciding with the outlet port when the closure member is in the open position and a thin flexible portion covering the outlet port when the valve member is in the closed position.

Valves for vehicle heating systems

The invention concerns a child-proof door catch device which requires a sequence of unconnected manipulations to operate the mechanism opening a door. The mechanism includes a housing and operating and latching elements, the operating and latching elements being normally held apart by a biasing means. When the correct sequence of manipulations is performed on the operating element, the latching element is caused to disengage from a striker plate to allow the door to be opened.

Door catches

The invention concerns corner posts for use with card blanks to form stacking trays, especially suited to transporting garden produce. Corner posts of the invention are elongated elements of substantially right triangular cross-sectional shape having a widest face and two narrower faces, said widest face being formed with two longitudinally extending slots, said slots each having two parallel sides and a base and opening onto said widest face, said sides of one of said slots extending in planes perpendicular to said sides of the other of said slots, and each of said slots having an abutment surface extending in a plane at right angles to said sides and said base and constituting an end to said respective slot, each slot further including an undercut adjacent its said opening to provide a shoulder facing said base of said slot, said slot having a width substantially twice that of said opening of said slot at points between said shoulder and said base. Corner posts of the invention may be formed with end portions adapted to locate two like posts in axial alignment, so that the trays may be stacked up.

Vegetable trays

A catch comprising a plunger member and a guide member, the plunger member being able to reciprocate in the guide member, with a nose of the plunger member extending out of the guide member, each of the members being a single moulding of a plastics material, one or both members including one or more tongues which extend primarily in the direction of relative reciprocation of the members and are resiliently flexible transversely to that direction, each tongue engaging a cam or a tongue on the other member in such a manner that forces act on the tongues having components parallel to the direction of relative reciprocation of the members, in the sense which urges the members towards a limit of relative reciprocation at which the extension of the nose out of the guide member is greatest, and if the nose is displaced into the guide member and released, then the plunger member returns to the said limit.

Growing community of inventors

Reading, United Kingdom

John P Palmer