AU2015230811A1 - Improvements in, or relating to, fencing tools - Google Patents

Abstract

A fence batten tool adapted for use in attaching a fence batten to at least one wire of a wire stand fence, said tool comprising or including, an elongate member to in use at least in part support said batten, said elongate member having a ground engaging portion at a lower end thereof, and distal from said ground engaging portion is a user engaging portion for said user to hold said elongate member, a wire engaging member, slidingly engaged on said elongate member to in use releasably engage said at least one wire, said wire engaging member having at least one wire engaging portion extending therefrom to engage said at least one wire, said wire engaging portion having an angled surface angling back towards said elongate member, such that in use in a first direction said wire engaging member tightens and retains said at least one wire strand, and in a second direction said wire engaging member releases said at least one wire, such that said user can use said tool to engage and hold said batten to said at least one wire, and thereafter said user can use a fixing into said batten to engage and hold said wire to said batten. n V 1 !* 3K ~" In K 'I Vt Vt -~ -.-- ' / I 2 -I' ii, Ii t ~ ~wv4 & % Cm

Description

1 IMPROVEMENTS IN, OR RELATING TO, FENCING TOOLS TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to fencing tools. 5 In particular, though not solely, the present invention is directed to a fencing tool to install battens and the like on a fence. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 10 The prior art to date for installing a batten on a strand wire fence has been to support the batten by the user while the user also then attempts to hammer a staple into the batten to attach the strand of wire to the batten. This has the disadvantage that the user has to hold the batten in place while then also 15 trying to hold the stable in place and then hammer this also. Effectively the use requires three hands to do this efficiently. Even with use of a staple gun this can be difficult. Both practices make, staple insertion difficult and dangerous, setting the batten at the correct height to the ground difficult, and add time to the process. 20 Another method, with or without the use of a staple gun, is for a second user to hold the batten while a second user applies to the staples over the wire to the batten. This has the disadvantage of requiring two users. Further the typical way for the first user to support the batten is to stand behind it and brace it with a part of their body, often their leg. This has the disadvantage of discomfort to the user. Further, should the staple for any reason 25 pass through the batten it could injure the user. This risk is increased if a staple gun or similar power tool is used to insert the staple. In this specification where reference has been made to patent specifications, other external documents, or other sources of information, this is generally for the purpose of 30 providing a context for discussing the features of the invention. Unless specifically stated otherwise, reference to such external documents is not to be construed as an admission that such documents, or such sources of information, in any jurisdiction, are prior art, or form part of the common general knowledge in the art. 35 It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved fence tool, or to overcome the above shortcomings or address the above desiderata, or to at least provide the public with a useful choice. 510771AUPR 303930092 DSC;jaw 2 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In a first aspect the present invention may be said to broadly consist in fence batten tool adapted for use in attaching a fence batten to at least one wire of a wire stand fence, said 5 tool comprising or including, An elongate member to in use at least in part support said batten, said elongate member having a ground engaging portion at a lower end thereof, and distal from said ground engaging portion is a user engaging portion for said user to hold said elongate member, 10 A wire engaging member, slidingly engaged on said elongate member to in use releasably engage said at least one wire, said wire engaging member having at least one wire engaging portion extending therefrom to engage said at least one wire, said wire engaging portion having an angled surface angling back towards said elongate member, such that in use in a first direction said wire engaging member tightens and retains said at 15 least one wire strand, and in a second direction said wire engaging member releases said at least one wire, Such that said user can use said tool to engage and hold said batten to said at least one wire, and thereafter said user can use a fixing into said batten to engage and hold said wire to said batten. 20 Preferably said elongate part in use can at least in part enclose a rear and sides of said batten, leaving a front thereof to receive said fixing. Preferably there are two said wire engaging members parallel to each other. 25 Preferably there are multiple wire strands to said wire strand fence and said wire engaging member is engaged with a first said wire thereof, said fixings are located into said batten to hold respective said other wires, and thereafter said elongate member is removed from said first wire thereof, and then located onto another one of a said respective wires, and a 30 said fixing is then located into said batten to hold said first wire thereto. Preferably said user engaging portion is at an upper or uppermost end of said elongate portion. 35 Preferably said wire engaging member has a release portion thereon to aid in releasing said wire engaging member from said wire. 510771AUPR 303930092 DSC;jaw 3 Preferably said release portion is a surface for a user to aid in sliding said wire engaging member, for example by hand or by use of force, for example by use of a hammer. Preferably said wire engaging member is captive on said elongate portion. 5 Preferably said elongate portion is substantially channel shaped to accept said batten. Preferably said ground engaging portion is at least one, and preferably two points to engage and penetrate said ground. 10 Preferably said elongate member has a stop to locate said batten when supported thereon to ensure a consistent height off said ground. Preferably said stop is a lower stop to under-engage and support said batten on a lower 15 most surface thereof. Preferably said stop can be adjusted relative said ground to allow a user to change said height of said batten to said ground. 20 Preferably said tool comes in varying lengths to accommodate battens of varying lengths, for example battens for sheep and cattle, and longer battens for deer or similar. In another aspect the present invention may be said to broadly consist in a method of use of a fence batten tool to in use attach a fence batten to at least one wire of a wire 25 stand fence, said method comprising or including the step of, Providing an elongate member to in use at least in part support said batten, said elongate member having a ground engaging portion at a lower end thereof, and distal from said ground engaging portion is a user engaging portion for said user to hold said elongate member, 30 Providing a wire engaging member, slidingly engaged on said elongate member to in use releasably engage said at least one wire, said wire engaging member having at least one wire engaging portion extending therefrom to engage said at least one wire, said wire engaging portion having an angled surface angling back towards said elongate member, such that in use in a first direction said wire engaging member tightens and 35 retains said at least one wire strand, and in a second direction said wire engaging member releases said at least one wire, Locating said batten in said elongate member, 510771AUPR 303930092 DSCjaw 4 Locating said batten then against said at least one wire strand, Sliding said wire engaging member down to hold and engage to said at least one wire, Locating and driving fixing into said batten to fix said wire to said batten, 5 And thereafter removing said wire engaging member from said wire, And thereafter removing said tool from said batten Wherein the result is said batten being fixed to least one wire of said fence. Preferably said method includes, where there are multiple wire strands to said wire strand 10 fence, and after said fixings are attached to all wires other than that said wire (first wire) said wire engaging member is engaged to, disengaging said wire engaging member from said first wire, engaging said wire engaging member to another wire already fixed to said batten, and thereafter fixing said first wire to said batten. 15 In another aspect the present invention may be said to consist in a fence, constructed using at least in part a fence batten tool, said fence batten tool comprising or including, An elongate member to in use at least in part support said batten, said elongate member having a ground engaging portion at a lower end thereof, and distal from said ground engaging portion is a user engaging portion for said user to hold said elongate 20 member, A wire engaging member, slidingly engaged on said elongate member to in use releasably engage said at least one wire, said wire engaging member having at least one wire engaging portion extending therefrom to engage said at least one wire, said wire engaging portion having an angled surface angling back towards said elongate member, 25 such that in use in a first direction said wire engaging member tightens and retains said at least one wire strand, and in a second direction said wire engaging member releases said at least one wire, Said fence batten tool used to attach said batten to said fence using the following steps, 30 Locating said batten in said elongate member, Locating said batten then against said at least one wire strand, Sliding said wire engaging member down to hold and engage to said at least one wire, Locating and driving fixing into said batten to fix said wire to said batten, 35 And thereafter removing said wire engaging member from said wire, And thereafter removing said tool from said batten Wherein the result is said batten being fixed to least one wire of said fence. 510771AUPR 303930092 DSC;jaw 5 5 Preferably said fence includes, where there are multiple wire strands to said wire strand fence, and after said fixings are attached to all wires other than that said wire (first wire) said wire engaging member is engaged to, the step of disengaging said wire engaging member from said first wire, engaging said wire engaging member to another wire already fixed to said batten, and thereafter fixing said first wire to said batten. 10 In another aspect the present invention may be said to broadly consist in a fence batten tool as described herein with reference to any one or more of the accompanying drawings. 15 In another aspect the present invention may be said to broadly consist in a method of use of a fence batten tool as described herein with reference to any one or more of the accompanying drawings. In another aspect the present invention may be said to broadly consist in a fence 20 constructed using a fence batten tool using the method as herein described with reference to any one or more of the accompanying drawings. As used herein the term "and/or" means "and" or "or", or both. 25 As used herein "(s)" following a noun means the plural and/or singular forms of the noun. The term "comprising" as used in this specification means "consisting at least in part of'. When interpreting statements in this specification which include that term, the features, prefaced by that term in each statement, all need to be present, but other features can 30 also be present. Related terms such as "comprise" and "comprised" are to be interpreted in the same manner. It is intended that reference to a range of numbers disclosed herein (for example, 1 to 10) also incorporates reference to all rational numbers within that range (for example, 1, 1.1, 35 2, 3, 3.9, 4, 5, 6, 6.5, 7, 8, 9 and 10) and also any range of rational numbers within that range (for example, 2 to 8, 1.5 to 5.5 and 3.1 to 4.7). 510771AUPR 303930092 DSc;jaw 6 The entire disclosures of all applications, patents and publications, cited above and below, if any, are hereby incorporated by reference. This invention may also be said broadly to consist in the parts, elements and features 5 referred to or indicated in the specification of the application, individually or collectively, and any or all combinations of any two or more of said parts, elements and features, and where specific integers are mentioned herein which have known equivalents in the art to which this invention relates, such known equivalents are deemed to be incorporated herein as if individually set forth. 10 Other aspects of the invention may become apparent from the following description which is given by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 15 Preferred forms of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which; Figure 1 Shows a (A) the development of the wire engaging member, (B) the rear view thereof, (C) the plan and bottom view thereof, (D) the isometric view 20 thereof, and (E) the left and right side view thereof Figure 2 Shows at (A) the left and right side view of the elongate member, (B) the front view thereof, and (C) the user engaging portion 25 Figure 3 Shows the fence batten tool at (A) in front view, and (B) in left and right side view, Figure 4 Shows the fence batten tool holding a batten and engaged on a first wire, at (A) in front view, and (B) in side view, and the location of the fixings where 30 there are multiple strands in the fence, Figure 5 Shows the fence batten tool holding the batten and engaged on a second already fixed wire, at (A) in front view, and (B) in side view, where the fence is a multiple strand wire and the wire engaging member is located on a 35 second already fixed wire to the first wire can be fixed, and Figure 6 Shows a section of a fence including battens attached using the fence batten tool. 510771AUPR 303930092 DSC;jaw 7 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments will now be described with reference to Figures 1 through 6. 5 The fence batten tool 1 is shown assembled in Figure 3 consisting of the wire engaging member 8 assembled to the elongate portion 4 and the user engaging portion 7. The elongate member is shown in Figure 2, and is channel shaped as shown. At the upper end the user engaging portion 7 is fixed. At a lower end there is the ground 10 engaging portion 6 to engage the ground. A fold 17 is used to prevent the wire engaging member from sliding off when engaged thereto. The wire engaging member 8 is shown in Figure 1. It is preferably made by folding a stamped flat piece Figure 1a of resilient material such as stainless steel to the form shown 15 in Figure 1D. The member 8 has one and preferably two as shown wire engaging portions 9, each having an angled surface 10. Present also is a release portion 13 and tabs 16 to retain it in sliding engagement to the elongate member 4. The method of use will now be described. The tool 1 with a batten 5 located therein and 20 held against wires 2 of a fence 18 is shown in Figure 4. The wire engaging member 8 is slide in a first direction 11 to locate and hold a first wire 2A ( 2 nd wire down in the preferred form as shown) to the tool 1 and the batten 5. The user then locates the fixings 12 for the other wires 2 above and below that wire, while holding the tool 1 with the user engaging portion 7. 25 The wire engaging member 8 is then slide in the second direction 19, aided by the release surface 13, using force applied thereto if necessary, for example with a hammer, and then slide back in the first direction 11 past the first wire 2A to the next desired wire 2B as shown in Figure 5A and B, in this case the third wire down. The wire 2A (second wire 30 down) is then clear to be fixed to the batten 5 with fixing 12A. The wire engaging member 8 can them be disengaged as before, the tool 1 lifted clear of the batten 5 and the batten is now attached to the fence 18 as shown in Figure 6. 35 The process can then be repeated for the next batten and so on. 510771AUPR 303930092 DSc;jaw 8 The use of resilient materials in the tool 1 can reduce or prevent injury when assembling the batten 5 to the fence 18, not least of all because the assembly of batten and wire is held together, but also the likelihood of the fixing, normally a steel staple, passing through the batten is reduced, for example if the elongate member 4 is made from steel. 5 The foregoing description of the invention includes preferred forms thereof. Modifications may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the invention. 10 510771AUPR 303930092 DSC;jaw

Claims (21)

1. A fence batten tool adapted for use in attaching a fence batten to at least one wire of a wire stand fence, said tool comprising or including, 5 An elongate member to in use at least in part support said batten, said elongate member having a ground engaging portion at a lower end thereof, and distal from said ground engaging portion is a user engaging portion for said user to hold said elongate member, A wire engaging member, slidingly engaged on said elongate member to in use 10 releasably engage said at least one wire, said wire engaging member having at least one wire engaging portion extending therefrom to engage said at least one wire, said wire engaging portion having an angled surface angling back towards said elongate member, such that in use in a first direction said wire engaging member tightens and retains said at least one wire strand, and in a second 15 direction said wire engaging member releases said at least one wire, Such that said user can use said tool to engage and hold said batten to said at least one wire, and thereafter said user can use a fixing into said batten to engage and hold said wire to said batten. 20

2. A fence batten tool as claimed in 1 wherein said elongate part in use can at least in part enclose a rear and sides of said batten, leaving a front thereof to receive said fixing.

3. A fence batten tool as claimed in either claim 1 or 2 wherein there are two said 25 wire engaging members parallel to each other.

4. A fence batten tool as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein there are multiple wire strands to said wire strand fence and said wire engaging member is engaged with a first said wire thereof, said fixings are located into said batten to 30 hold respective said other wires, and thereafter said elongate member is removed from said first wire thereof, and then located onto another one of a said respective wires, and a said fixing is then located into said batten to hold said first wire thereto. 35

5. A fence batten tool as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein said user engaging portion is at an upper or uppermost end of said elongate portion. 510771AUPR 303930092 DSc;jaw 10

6. A fence batten tool as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein said wire engaging member has a release portion thereon to aid in releasing said wire engaging member from said wire. 5

7. A fence batten tool as claimed in 6 wherein said release portion is a surface for a user to aid in sliding said wire engaging member..

8. A fence batten tool as claimed in any one of clams 1 to 7 wherein said wire engaging member is captive on said elongate portion. 10

9. A fence batten tool as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein said elongate portion is substantially channel shaped to accept said batten.

10. A fence batten tool as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9 wherein said ground 15 engaging portion is at least one point to engage and penetrate said ground.

11. A fence batten tool as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9 wherein said ground engaging portion has two points to engage and penetrate said ground. 20

12. A fence batten tool as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11 wherein said elongate member has a stop to locate said batten when supported thereon to ensure a consistent height off said ground.

13. A fence batten tool as claimed in 12 wherein said stop is a lower stop to under 25 engage and support said batten on a lower most surface thereof.

14. A fence batten tool as claimed in 12 or 13 wherein said stop can be adjusted relative said ground to allow a user to change said height of said batten to said ground. 30

15. A method of use of a fence batten tool to in use attach a fence batten to at least one wire of a wire stand fence, said method comprising or including the step of, Providing an elongate member to in use at least in part support said batten, said elongate member having a ground engaging portion at a lower end thereof, and 35 distal from said ground engaging portion is a user engaging portion for said user to hold said elongate member, Providing a wire engaging member, slidingly engaged on said elongate member to 510771AUPR 303930092 DSc;jaw 11 in use releasably engage said at least one wire, said wire engaging member having at least one wire engaging portion extending therefrom to engage said at least one wire, said wire engaging portion having an angled surface angling back towards said elongate member, such that in use in a first direction said wire 5 engaging member tightens and retains said at least one wire strand, and in a second direction said wire engaging member releases said at least one wire, Locating said batten in said elongate member, Locating said batten then against said at least one wire strand, Sliding said wire engaging member down to hold and engage to said at least one 10 wire, Locating and driving fixing into said batten to fix said wire to said batten, And thereafter removing said wire engaging member from said wire, And thereafter removing said tool from said batten Wherein the result is said batten being fixed to least one wire of said fence. 15

16. A method of use of a fence batten tool as claimed in 15 wherein said method includes, where there are multiple wire strands to said wire strand fence, and after said fixings are attached to all wires other than that said wire (first wire) said wire engaging member is engaged to, disengaging said wire engaging member from 20 said first wire, engaging said wire engaging member to another wire already fixed to said batten, and thereafter fixing said first wire to said batten.

17. A fence, constructed using at least in part a fence batten tool, said fence batten tool comprising or including, 25 An elongate member to in use at least in part support said batten, said elongate member having a ground engaging portion at a lower end thereof, and distal from said ground engaging portion is a user engaging portion for said user to hold said elongate member, A wire engaging member, slidingly engaged on said elongate member to in use 30 releasably engage said at least one wire, said wire engaging member having at least one wire engaging portion extending therefrom to engage said at least one wire, said wire engaging portion having an angled surface angling back towards said elongate member, such that in use in a first direction said wire engaging member tightens and retains said at least one wire strand, and in a second 35 direction said wire engaging member releases said at least one wire, Said fence batten tool used to attach said batten to said fence using the following steps, 510771AUPR 303930092 DSC;jaw 12 Locating said batten in said elongate member, Locating said batten then against said at least one wire strand, Sliding said wire engaging member down to hold and engage to said at least one wire, 5 Locating and driving fixing into said batten to fix said wire to said batten, And thereafter removing said wire engaging member from said wire, And thereafter removing said tool from said batten Wherein the result is said batten being fixed to least one wire of said fence. 10

18. A fence as claimed in 17 wherein said fence includes, where there are multiple wire strands to said wire strand fence, and after said fixings are attached to all wires other than that said wire (first wire) said wire engaging member is engaged to, the step of disengaging said wire engaging member from said first wire, engaging said wire engaging member to another wire already fixed to said batten, 15 and thereafter fixing said first wire to said batten.

19. A fence batten tool as described herein with reference to any one or more of the accompanying drawings.

20 20. A method of use of a fence batten tool as described herein with reference to any one or more of the accompanying drawings.

21. A fence constructed using a fence batten tool using the method as herein described with reference to any one or more of the accompanying drawings. 25 510771AUPR 303930092 Dsc;jaw