US2410968A - Sheet metal nut - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 12, 1946. EGGERT- 2,410,968

SHEET METAL NUT Filed Jan. 15, 1945 Patented Nov. 12, 1946 UNITED STATE SHEET METAL NUT Ronald Edgar Eggert, Burbank, Calif., assignor to Adel Precision Products Corp., a corporationof California Application January 15, 1945, SerialNo. 572,898

3 Claims.

This invention relates to stamped sheet metal vnuts of the type forming the subject matter of my pending application for patent, Serial No. 553,640, filed September 11, 1944, which has become Patent No. 2,379,892, patented July 10, 1945.

It has been the practice as exemplified in my application above identified to strike out from a sheet metal body portion a pair of laterally juxtaposed generally rectangular bridge portions which have arcuate or similar opposed side edge portions helically pitched for screw threaded en.- gagement with a screw, bolt or the like. These bridge portions are elongated and have straight side edges except for the opposed edge portions which engage the screw or bolt, that is, are of uniform width except for said opposed edge portions which weaken the bridge portions at the mid-section thereof.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a stamped sheet metal nut of the character next above described which eliminates the objection of weakening the mid-section of the bridge portions and provides adequate strength throughout the bridge portions in a novel, simple and particularly efiicacious manner.

Another object is to provide a nut of the character described in which the mid-section of the bridge portions have a substantial width and adequate strength without requiring an increase in the width of the anchored ends of the bridge portions beyond that provided as heretofore where the bridge portions are of rectangular formation and have straight side edges, this being accomplished by forming the bridge portions so that their outer longitudinal edges are curved outwardly between the ends of the bridge portions. With this formation it is possible to form the bridge portions with an adequate given width at the mid-section thereof while their anchored end portions are of lesser width than would be required if the outer longitudinal edges of said bridge portions were straight. Moreover, this formation makes it possible to make the midsection of the bridge portions of substantially the same width as the anchored ends of the bridge portion thus affording adequate and. uniform strength throughout such portions and assuring a reliable performance of the nut as a self-locking resilient fastening which will effectively resist loosening after application to a bolt, screw or the like, and which may be removed and repeatedly used since it is less likely to become distorted or broken at any point along the bridge portions.

With the foregoing objects in view, together 2' with SLlChQthB! objects and advantages as may subsequently appear, the invention resides in the parts and in the combination, construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and illustrated byway ofexample in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1' is a perspective view of a nut embodying my invention; j

Fig. 2 is a'top plan view of the nut;

I )Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the nut as stood on a longitudinal edge thereof; I

Fig. 4 is a side elevationof the nut as a plied showing it as it would appear before being tightened; V

Fig. 5 is-a side elevation of the nut,-similar to Fig. 4, showing the nut as it would appear when tightened, the bridge portions being bowed inwardly and having *tensionedtand locking engagement with the screw threaded fastening.

Referring more specificallyto the drawing wherein one embodiment of this invention is shown in detail, ii designates an elongated resilientsheet :metal body portion having somewhat narrowed and rounded ends I provided with openings 8 so that the nut may be riveted as at 9 as shown in Figs. 4 and 5 or otherwise secured to a member l0, preliminary to securing another member I l thereto by means of the nut and a bolt or like fastening l2. This securing of the nut to the member Ill makes it unnecessary for the operator to hold or manipulate the nut in screwing the bolt or screw [2 into the nut. However, it is obvious that the nut may be turned on the bolt or screw or held by the operator if it is desired to apply it in this manner rather than fasten it as shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

In carrying out this invention the body 6 may be die-stamped to strike out from the plane thereof and at its mid-portion a pair of elongated resilient bridge portions [3 and I4, lying side by side in oppositely inclined relation to one another and in different offset planes so that complementary arcuate edge portions I5 formed in the inner longitudinal edges thereof form an opening for reception of a bolt or screw. These edge portions due to the relative inclination and offset relation of the bridge portions are helically pitched so as to have screw threaded engagement as shown in Figs. 4 and 5 with a bolt 0 screw such as the bolt l2.

As here provided the ends of the bridge portions I3 and I4 are integral with the body portion and all of bridge portion l3 except its ends is outwardly offset from the body and the other bridge portion l4 whereas the latter is for the most part offset from the body portion a lesser extent than portion l3.

In order that the mid portions of the bridge portions, where the threading edges I 5 are formed by notching or cutting out portions of the bridges, have an appreciable width and adequate strength, the bridge portions are stamped so that their outer longitudinal edges l6 are outwardly curved from one end of the bridge portions to the other. As here shown the width of each bridge portion where the edges l5 are located is approximately that of its anchored end portions. In other words, for a given adequate mid-width of the bridge portions the anchored ends need be no wider than such given width and could be of lesser width, whereas if the bridge portions were formed with straight outer edges in order to give them this given width, the ends would have to be as wide and said midportions and this would weaken the nut body portion, also make the bridges too wide to have the desired yieldability and resilient action required to make the nut effectively self-locking.

It is now apparent that the curved outer edges of the two bridge portions will provide the desired strength in the mid-section of the bridge portions which sections are otherwise weakened objectionably by the arcuate threading edges l5 being out into the middle thereof. Moreover, this formation gives a uniform strength throughout the bridge portions and a certain desired rigidity without depriving them of the necessary yielding and resilient action which, when the nut is tightened as shown in Fig. 5, causes the bridge portions to be bowed inwardly between their ends and to have a tensioned locking engagement with the threads of the screw or bolt.

While I have shown and described a specific embodiment of my invention I do not limit myself to the exact details of construction set forth, and the invention embraces such changes, modifications and equivalents of the parts and their formation and arrangement as come within the purview of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a nut, a plate-like sheet metal body portion, and a pair of elongated laterally juxtaposed bridge portions struck out from the mid-portion of said body portion so as to lie in offset relation to one another and the body portion and having complementary edge portions at opposed inner edges thereof constructed and arranged to define an opening and to threadedly engage a screw threaded member turned in said opening, said bridge portions having their outer longitudinal edges curved outwardly from end to end thereof to provide a substantial width of said bridge portions at points adjacent said complementary edge portions.

2. In a nut, a plate-like sheet metal body portion, and a pair of elongated laterally juxtaposed bridge portions struck out from the mid-portion of said body portion so as to lie in offset relation to one another and the body portion and having complementary edge portions at opposed inner edges thereof constructed and arranged to define an opening and to threadedly engage a screw threaded member turned in said opening, said bridge portions being arcuate and of substantially the same width between said edge portions and their outer longitudinal edges as at the ends thereof.

3. In a nut, a plate-like sheet metal body portion, and a pair of elongated laterally juxtaposed bridge portions struck out from the mid-portion of said body portion so as to lie in offset relation to one another and the body portion and having complementary edge portions at opposed inner edges thereof constructed and arranged to define an opening and to threadedly engage a screw threaded member turned in said opening, said bridge portions having greater width between their ends and said complementary edge portions than at the points where the ends thereof are joined to said body portion.

RONALD EDGAR EGGERT.

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