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US 2019/0162218 A1Published application
Blind fastener
AssigneePrecision Tower Products, LLC
InventorsGeorge M. Anasis, David W. Hawkins
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A blind fastener device for fastening at least two workpieces, including a sleeve, an expander having a tensioning section, a locking section, and an expansion section, and a nut. A portion of the expander passes through the sleeve to cooperate with the nut so that relative rotation of the expander and nut draws the expander's distal end toward the sleeve's proximal end thereby drawing a portion of the expansion section of the expander into a structural region located on the sleeve and expanding at least a portion of the sleeve's structural region, and drawing a portion of the locking section past the sleeve's distal end toward the sleeve's proximal end and deforming at least a portion of the sleeve's distal end to a locked state.
Claims20
A blind fastener, comprising:
- a sleeve (100) having a sleeve proximal end (120), a sleeve distal end (130), a sleeve length (155), a sleeve outer diameter (140), a sleeve inner diameter (150), and a sleeve thickness;
- an expander (400) having an expander proximal end (410), an expander distal end (420), a tensioning section (450), a locking section (430), and an expansion section (440) between the tensioning section (450) and the locking section (430), wherein the expansion section (440) has an expansion section diameter (442), an expansion section length (448), and an expansion section transition (444), and a portion of the sleeve (100) has the sleeve inner diameter (150), in an initial state, less than the maximum expansion section diameter (442), wherein the locking section (430) has a locking section diameter (432), and the tensioning section (450) has a tensioning section diameter (452) and a tensioning section length (454), wherein the expansion section diameter (442) is at least 7.5% greater than the tensioning section diameter (452), and the sleeve length (155) of at least a portion of the sleeve (100) is greater than the expansion section length (448);
- and
- a nut (500);
- wherein a portion of the expander (400) passes through the sleeve (100) to cooperate with the nut (500) so that relative rotation of the expander (400) and nut (500):
- (i) draws the expander distal end (420) toward the sleeve proximal end (120);
- (ii) thereby drawing a portion of the expansion section (440) of the expander (400) into the sleeve (100) and expanding at least a portion of the sleeve (100) from the initial state to an expanded state;
- and
- (iii) thereby drawing a portion of the locking section (430) past the sleeve distal end (130) toward the sleeve proximal end (120) and deforming at least a portion of the sleeve distal end (130) to a locked state.
6 more elements
A blind fastener, comprising:
- a sleeve (100) having a sleeve proximal end (120), a sleeve distal end (130), a sleeve length (155), a sleeve outer diameter (140), a sleeve inner diameter (150), and a sleeve thickness;
- an expander (400) having an expander proximal end (410), an expander distal end (420), a tensioning section (450), a locking section (430), and an expansion section (440) between the tensioning section (450) and the locking section (430), wherein the expansion section (440) has an expansion section diameter (442), an expansion section length (448), and an expansion section transition (444), and a portion of the sleeve (100) has the sleeve inner diameter (150), in an initial state, less than the maximum expansion section diameter (442), wherein the locking section (430) has a locking section diameter (432), and the tensioning section (450) has a tensioning section diameter (452) and a tensioning section length (454), wherein the locking section diameter (432) is at least 15% greater than the expansion section diameter (442), and the sleeve length (155) of at least a portion of the sleeve (100) is greater than the expansion section length (448);
- and
- a nut (500);
- wherein a portion of the expander (400) passes through the sleeve (100) to cooperate with the nut (500) so that relative rotation of the expander (400) and nut (500):
- (i) draws the expander distal end (420) toward the sleeve proximal end (120);
- (ii) thereby drawing a portion of the expansion section (440) of the expander (400) into the sleeve (100) and expanding at least a portion of the sleeve (100) from the initial state to an expanded state;
- and
- (iii) thereby drawing a portion of the locking section (430) past the sleeve distal end (130) toward the sleeve proximal end (120) and deforming at least a portion of the sleeve distal end (130) to a locked state.
6 more elements
A blind fastener, comprising:
- a sleeve (100) having a sleeve proximal end (120), a sleeve distal end (130), a sleeve length (155), a sleeve outer diameter (140), a sleeve inner diameter (150), and a sleeve thickness, wherein at least two points along the length of the sleeve (100) have different sleeve thicknesses;
- an expander (400) having an expander proximal end (410), an expander distal end (420), a tensioning section (450), a locking section (430), and an expansion section (440) between the tensioning section (450) and the locking section (430), wherein the expansion section (440) has an expansion section diameter (442), an expansion section length (448), an expansion section transition (444), and an expansion section transition length (446), and a portion of the sleeve (100) has the sleeve inner diameter (150), in an initial state, less than the maximum expansion section diameter (442), wherein the locking section (430) has a locking section diameter (432) and a locking section transition length (436), and the tensioning section (450) has a tensioning section diameter (452) and a tensioning section length (454), wherein the expansion section diameter (442) is greater than the tensioning section diameter (452), the sleeve length (155) of at least a portion of the sleeve (100) is greater than the expansion section length (448), the sleeve length (155) is no more than 95% greater than the expansion section length (448), and the locking section transition length (436) is greater than the expansion section transition length (446);
- and
- a nut (500);
- wherein a portion of the expander (400) passes through the sleeve (100) to cooperate with the nut (500) so that relative rotation of the expander (400) and nut (500):
- (i) draws the expander distal end (420) toward the sleeve proximal end (120);
- (ii) thereby drawing a portion of the expansion section (440) of the expander (400) into the sleeve (100) and expanding at least a portion of the sleeve (100) from the initial state to an expanded state;
- and
- (iii) thereby drawing a portion of the locking section (430) past the sleeve distal end (130) toward the sleeve proximal end (120) and deforming at least a portion of the sleeve distal end (130) to a locked state.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.