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 by securement without penetration of the structure directly to a surface oriented as one of nominally horizontal and nominally vertical;
- a head, having an inner face and an outer face, the inner face positionable proximate the base and the outer face formed to receive therein a point capable of attracting the lightning strike;
- the head, holding a 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, 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 provides a relief channel having a cross section sized to partially surround a conductor captured between the base and head;
- and
- the head and base 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.
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 without penetration of the structure;
- capturing the conductor between the base and the head;
- 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.