Low-profile, after-aligned, universal point mount
AssigneeLightning Protection Systems, LLC
InventorsKirk Partridge, Todd Vought, Travis Vought
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An anchor for lightning protection systems includes a base and pad that extend over a sufficient area and a sufficient bearing length to hold in shear and in tension against the weight, shear force, and moment of cables, points, and other components of a lightning protection systems. A universal point mount may be forged to optimize cross sectional area and contact surface area throughout the mounting system. Drilled and tapped to receive a point oriented arbitrarily, the head mounts easily on a horizontal or vertical mounting surface. Apertures and fasteners provide arbitrary positioning of a point at any necessary orientation.
Claims20
An apparatus operable to ground a lightning strike, the apparatus comprising:
- a base capable of being anchored to a structure to be protected from lightning by securement directly to a surface oriented as one of nominally horizontal and nominally vertical;
- a head, formed of a solid material in a single, integral piece having an inner face and an outer face, the inner face positionable proximate the base to be securable mechanically thereto and the outer face formed to receive therein a point capable of attracting the lightning strike;
- the head, provided with a relief channel formed in the inner face and sized to partially surround a conductor, holding the conductor in contact against the base, the head being tiltable about the circumference of the conductor;
- and
- a fastener capable of extending between the base and head to “trim” the head to position the point in a vertically plumb orientation and fix the head thereafter.
An apparatus for drawing a lightning strike, the apparatus comprising:
- a base, securable directly to a securement surface of a structure to be protected from lightning, the securement surface selected from a horizontal surface and a vertical surface;
- a head, having an inner surface positionable opposite the base and an outer surface capable of receiving a “point” of a size and shape selected to draw the lightning strike;
- the head, wherein the inner surface is provided a relief channel having a cross section characterized as a portion of a circle sized to partially surround a conductor captured between the base and head;
- the head and base being capable of being cooperatively spaced apart by the conductor, rendering the head capable of orienting the point vertically plumb by a combination of fixing the point into one of a plurality of apertures in the outer surface, in a nominally vertical orientation, regardless of whether the base is secured to the horizontal surface or the vertical surface, and tilting the head about the conductor prior to fixation of the head with respect to the base.
A method comprising:
- providing an apparatus comprising a base, a head, a conductor, and a point;
- securing the base directly to a securement surface of a structure to be protected from lightning, the securement surface characterized as one of horizontal and vertical;
- capturing the conductor between the base and the head, positioned opposite the base;
- positioning the point in an initial orientation in the head;
- and
- trimming the point to a vertically plumb position by tilting the head around the conductor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.