Mushrooming expandable anchor

#1. Field of the Invention

#This invention relates to self-expanding fasteners, which will not pull out of holes and more particularly for hanging pipe or other items inside buildings from overhead members.

#2. Description of the Related Art

#FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the drill point, collapsible mushrooming portion, threaded component with an attached nut head, and the associated sockets, sleeve tools and socket extensions for operating the expandable anchor.

#FIG. 2 is a cut-a-way expanded side view of the expandable anchor with drill tip installed and a socket, drive shaft extension and sleeve tool before installation of the mushrooming expandable anchor.

#FIG. 3. is a cut-a-way expanded side view of the expandable anchor with drill tip installed and a socket, drive shaft extension and sleeve tool after installation of the mushrooming expandable anchor.

#FIG. 1 shows the self-drilling screw with expandable anchor 10 unassembled. In a first embodiment the self-drilling screw having an expandable anchor 10 has three component parts. A hex head screw threaded component 20 similar to a SAMMY SUPER SCREW® sold by Speedy Products, Inc. owned by Illinois Tool Works, Inc. 3600 West Lake Avenue, Glenview, Ill. 60025-5811, a mushrooming component 30 similar to AVK Industrial Products A-R Series™ Threaded Insert, sold by AVK Industrial Products of Valencia, Calif. and a drill point 40. FIG. 1 also shows tools used to install the mushrooming expandable anchor 10. The tools include a socket 50 for turning the hex head screw 20, a sleeve tool 70 for engaging the expandable anchor 30, an internally broached drive shaft 80 for engaging the socket 50, a drive tool/adaptor 83 having a hex adaptor portion 82 to turn the above described assembly and adapt to drill bit 81, if a drill point 40 is not included in the assembly, and finally drill 84.

#In a first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the drill point 40 has a slightly larger diameter than the mushrooming component 30 such that it can cut a hole in a support 60 and allow the mushrooming portion 35 of the expandable anchor body 30 to fit though the drilled hole.

#The mushrooming component 30 is basically a cylinder having an internal threaded portion 34 near the top and a base 38 at the bottom. Slots 36 are cut thought the cylinder walls in several locations around the mushrooming component 30 so that it can be compressed and split apart along the slits to form anchoring strips 37 when the mushrooming component 30 is collapsed as shown in FIGS. 3 and 7. The mushrooming component 30 is formed with a bulge 35 in the walls to facilitate the collapse of anchoring strips 37. Although mushrooming component 30 is shown as a cylindrical body 35 with a circular cross section in the figures it can be any shape with any cross section such as an octagon, hexagon, square, or oval etc. as long as it will fit through the hole drilled in the support and collapse as shown herein.