Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~057~1~
The invention relates to a suspension device for a
support, in particular a support used for fixing panels.
A known suspension device of this type comprises a
mainly C-shaped or V-shaped clamping bracket which has
laterally ext~nding, diverging clamping arms of resilient
material, each provided with an orifice for introducing a
support bar, and a suspension element which is joined to the
clamping bracket and which is sub-divided downwards into
two resilient legs, the lower ends of which are designed
to lock onto a support member.
In known devices of this type, one side of the clamping
bracket is adjoined by a joint element which extends downwards
and the lower end of which is adjoined by two legs which are
separated by a slit for a part of their length. In a
preferred embodiment of the known means, a relatively
small notch is formed on each of the outsides of the ends
of the legs. After the arms have been pressed together,
the ends of the legs can be introduced into an orifice
formed in the support member, When the legs are then
released, they move apart due to their resilience, so that
the rim of the orifice engages with the two notches. Thus,
this provides a suspension device, with the aid of which
the panel holdingsupport is mounted on the support member.
It has been found to be a disadvantage of this
embodiment that the two resilient legs are relatively short
and are only spaced apart by a relatively small distance
from one another. The pressing together of the arms
therefore requires a relatively large force. Another
disadvantage is that, due to the small distance of the legs
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70~7
from one another, only a small space can be provided in
the form of a slot between these. If it is desired to
produce the device by stamping, difficulties arise because
of the small distance of the individual stamping edges from
one another. There is a further difficulty in respect of
the edges of the two notches. The small dimensions of the
parts of material to be stamped in this zone frequently
cause jamming and hence, in the long term, also damage to
the stamping tools.
It is to be regarded as a further disadvantage that,
if additional constructional elements are not desired, the
axis in which the legs engage with the orifice of the
support member and the device is joined to the support
member, has a relatively small distance from the axis on
which, in turn, the panel support bar is mounted on the
clamping arms of the clamping bracket.
According to the present invention, we provide a
suspension device for a support, in particular a support for
fixing panels, such device comprising a body portion, an
upper arm of resilient material projecting laterally from a
junction point on said body portion, a lower clamping arm
projecting laterally from a junction point on ~aid body
portion, said upper and lower arms diverging from one another,
the arms having axially aligned orifice9to receive a support bar,
a pair of legs which extend downwardly from said body
portion, the legs extending at least up to the junction
point of said lower lateral arm, the legs each extending
past one side of the lower arm and locking feet portions
i formed on the lower ends of said legs.
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1057~7
Such a device can be mounted quickly, readily and
without errors and that the production thereof by stamping
is simplified. This also includes avoiding damage to the
stamping tools and hence an extension of the life thereof,
as well as facilitating the release of the stamped means.
This design achieves the advantage that a substantially
wider recess can be formed between the resilient legs. In
this way a larger spacing between the stamping edges can
be obtained. Another advantage of the invention is that
the legs extend upwards at least up to the height of
junction point of the lower clamping arm and are thus
longer than in the known device. The result of this is that
the legs can more readily be manipulated for locking _he
lower ends of the legs into an orifice of the support
member.
In the following text, several advantageous embodiments
of the invention are described, one of which comprises the
formation, between the legs, of a recess, the width of which
at least equals the width of the lower clamping arm. In
the body of the device, a larger distance of the stamping
edges results from this particularly large width of the
reces~. The available space for movement of the legs is
also correspondingly large and, according to a further
proposal of the invention, this can additionally also be
achieved if the recess has parts which extend approximately
alongside the lower clamping arm into the body of the
device. In this way, a further extension of the two legs
is effected at the same time,
Locking feet at the lower end of the legs can also
be deslgned in a manner different from hitherto described.
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If, however, in accordance with the last-mentioned
embodiment, notches are provided on the outside of the legs
and locking feet are provided at the ends of the legs, it
is advantageous, according to the invention, if the total
width of the two locking feet is less than the total width
of the device. The device is thus given dimensions which
ensure that jamming of the stamping tool by small parts of
material to be stamped out need no longer be feared.
Moreover, the stamped out portions can now more readily be -
released from the stamping tool.
According to a further proposal of the invention, the
manipulation of the device is facilitated if the legs are
arranged in planes differing from one another and at a
slight inclination to one another. Since the legs are
separated, at their lower ends below the recess, only by a
parting line, so that the orifice to be provided in the
support does not become excessively large and also that a
firm seating of the locking feet is ensured, the movement of
the legs towards one another, required before a compression
of the latter, can be dispensed with. A small inclination
of the two planes of the legs towards one another suffices
to enable the legs to intersect or be superimposed when
they are pressed together, without a ri~k of jamming or
sticking. A corresponding result can also be obtained,
inter alia, by an oblique position of one of the legs
relative to the plane of the body portion.
The proposed device can, in an advantageous manner, be
stamped integrally out of a suitable material, for example
~pring steel. The essential advantage~ of the invention
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1057017
i~, however, still achievable if the body and arms are
produced as a ~eparate piece and only joined later to the
remaining part of the device.
The locking feet can be used for engagement with a
corre~pondingly ~ized orifice which i~ preQent either on
the ~upport it~elf or in a locking element joined thereto.
If,however, the rece~s doe~ not lie in an approximately
horizontal plane, thi~ can cau~e difficultie~ for the
suspension. In a further development of the invention it
is therefore proposed that the lower ends of the leg~ are
provided with inclined portions and which pass through an
orifice in part of the qupport member, and that the
inclined portion~ have the locking feet therebelow, these
locking feet engaging the back of the support member. t
The angling of the inclined portion has the effect
that a good suspen~ion can be achieved even if the orifice
does not extend in a horizontal plane but i~ pre~ent, for
example, in a vertical part of the ~upport or of a
corresponding locking element, In a particularly Qimple
manner it is possible to use, for example, a T-profile a~
the support, the orifice being formed in the upward-extending
stem of the T. The device can still be used in an
advantageou~ manner for orifices lying in a horizontal
plane.
Moreover, it i8 proposed in thi~ connection that the
locking feet are each angled off downward~, relative to the
inclined portion~, into a plane which i~ approximately
parallel to the associated leg. If the orifice i~ in a
vertical part of the ~upport, the result of this i~ that the
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10570~7
locking ~eet which are angled off downwards bear against
this part.
The inclination of an inclined portion, relative to
the a~sociated leg can be between 400 and 500.
In order that the invention may more readily be
understood, the following description is given of two
preferred embodiments of device according ~ the invention,
the descript1on being given merely by way of example,
reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:-
Figure 1 i8 a front elevation of a first of ~aid
preferred embodiments of device according to the invention,
the device being shown mounted on a support:
Figure 2 i9 a side elevation of the device of Figure 1,
Figure 3 i~ a view similar to Figure l of a ~econd
preferred embodiment of device according to the invention,
having inclined portions and an orifice in the vertical part
of an inverted T-shaped support, and
Figure 4 is a side elevation of the device of Figure
3. .
The device illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 comprises
a clamping bracket part including a body 10 and a pair of
resilient material clamping arms 11, 12 which diverge with
respect to one another and are provided with aligned
orifices 13. The orifices are arranged to receive a support
bar, which is hexe only indicated by an axis 14, the
support bar being clamped by the spring action of the clamp-
ing arms 11 and 12 and their diverging arrangement.
A support member 15, of which only a horizontal part
of the profile cross-~ection is shown here, is joined to
the clamping bracket part by two re~ilient leg~ 16, each
of which is provided in it~ lower zone with a notch 17 on
10570~7
the outer edge. The upper ends of the legs 16 are
connected to the body 10 of the clamping bracket on each
side thereof. Between the legs 16, a recess 18 is formed,
the width of which is greater than the width of the lower
clamping arm 12 80 that the reces~ 18 has rece~s part~ 18a
which extend in the zone alongside the lower clamping arm~
12.
m e lower ends of the legs 16, including the notches 17
and the locking feet 21, which are defined by the notches,
are a constituent of a locking device which also include~ an
orifice 19 formed in the support 15. As can be seen from
Figure 2, the two legs 16 are in two differing planes at
a slight inclination to one another ~o that, when the
resilient legs 16 are pres~ed together, the inner edges 20
thereof do not come into contact and the lower end~ of the
lege 16, provided with the notches 17 and the locking feet
21, can be superimposed or overlap. In thi3 position,
the parts of the legs 16, which lie below the notche~ 17,
can be pushed through the orifice 19. As soon as the legs
16 are released, they reassume the po~ition shown in Figure
1, in which the rims of the orifice 19 engage in the notches
17. The support 15 is now suspended on the legs 16 of the
device.
As can be ~een in particular from Figure 1, the device
a~ a whole can very advantageou~ly be stamped out of a
single piece of suitable material, for example sheet metal
or pla~tic, all the stamping edges ~till having an
adequately large distance from one another. Since the
total width of the device is now determined by the leg~ 16
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1057017
adjoining the side~ of the body 10, the total width of the
locking feet 21 can be significantly smaller than the total
width of the device. Thus, to produce the notcheR 17, a
relatively large piece of material, which can readily be
removed, can be stamped out without ri~k of damage to the
stamping dies. Moreover, as a result of the proposed
arrangement, the recess 18 is given such a ~ize that the
leg~ 16 can be manipulated very ea~ily and with a relatively
small force.
In the embodiment according to Figures 3 and 4, those
parts of the device, which coincide with the corre~ponding
part~ of the embodiment according to Figure~ 1 and 2, are
designated by the same reference numerals.
In the zone of the notches 17, the lower ends of the
legs 16, are formed with inclined portion~ 22 which make
the connection to the locking feet 21. As can be seen from
Figure 4, the inclined portion~ 22 are angled-off, relative
to the legs 16, to one side at an angle of about 450.
The locking feet 21 adjoining the inclined portions 22 are
angled-off downwards, in particular for such a distance
that they run approximately parallel to the particular
associated leg 16.
The support 23 used here is an inverted T-~haped
profile in which a circular orifice 24 is present in its
stem which extends upwards.
When the leg~ 16 are pressed over one another in
differing planes 90 that the locking feet 21 can be ~uper-
impo~ed or overlap, the latter can be pushed through the
orifice 24. A~ soon as the arms 16 are released, they
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1~57~7
reassume their original po~ition. As Figure 4 shows,
when the support 23 is suspended, the upper rim of the
orifice 24 rests on the inclined portions 22 whilst the t
locking feet 21 bear against the vertical part of the
support 23 and prevent the support from sliding down off
the inclined portions 22.
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