Clamp
AssigneeEllis Patents Holdings Limited
InventorsAndrew Ward Booth, Christopher John Calvert
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus are disclosed for retaining at least one elongate object. The apparatus includes a first retaining member (702) comprising at least one female portion (712), a further retaining member (700) comprising at least one male portion (732) receivable in the at least one female portion, wherein the at least one male portion (732) comprises a first connecting region adapted to cooperate with a further connecting region and at least one securing element (785) slidable in a keyway (775) of the first retaining member (702) and engagable with said male portion (732) to securely connect the first and further retaining members and retain an elongate object therebetween.
Claims18
Apparatus for retaining at least one elongate object, the apparatus comprising:
- a first retaining member comprising at least one female portion;
- a second retaining member comprising at least one male portion receivable in the at least one female portion, wherein the at least one male portion comprises a first connecting region;
- and
- at least one securing element comprising a second connecting region configured to cooperate with the first connecting region of the at least one male portion,
- wherein the first connecting region comprises at least one protrusion or recess for respective cooperation with at least one recess or protrusion of the second connecting region when the securing element is slidably inserted along a keyway of the first retaining member to securely connect the first and second retaining members and retain an elongate object there-between.
A method of retaining at least one elongate object, the method comprising the steps of:
- locating an elongate object on a first retaining member comprising at least one female portion on a second retaining member comprising at least one male portion;
- locating a remainder one of the first or second retaining members over the elongate object whereby the at least one male portion of the second retaining member is inserted into the at least one female portion of the first retaining member;
- and
- sliding at least one securing element along a keyway of the first retaining member such that a protrusion or recess of a first connecting region of the at least one male portion respectively cooperates with a recess or protrusion of a second connecting region of the at least one securing element to securely connect the first and second retaining members and retain the elongate object there-between.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.