Joining assembly for mounting a fastening element to an external surface of a structural member
AssigneeBollhoff GmbH
InventorsMichael Stumpf, August Borchard
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A joining assembly for mounting a fastening element to an external surface of a structural member of deformable material. The structural member is provided at its external surface with one or a plurality of joining projections engaging into respective recesses of a joining flange of said fastening element. The joining projections are provided at their free ends with upset beads obtained by material deformation of the joining projections and positively fixing the associated joining projection to the joining flange.
Claims14
A method of making a joining assembly, comprising the following steps:
- providing a fastening element having a main body with functional means and a joining flange which is integral with said main body, has upper and lower faces and is provided with at least one recess,
- providing a structural member of a deformable material, which is a thin-walled housing of a mobile telephone having a continuous planar external surface and at least one joining projection extending from said external surface,
- said at least one joining projection being in the shape of an annular wall segment and said at least one recess being a through-opening matingly shaped with respect to said annular wall segment,
- positioning said fastening element upon said external surface of said structural member such that said at least one joining projection is received in said at least one recess, with said at least one joining projection having a free end projecting from and above said upper face of said joining flange, and
- deforming said free end of said at least one projection into an upset bead so as to positively connect said at least one projection to said joining flange.
A method of making a joining assembly, comprising the following steps:
- providing a fastening element having a main body with functional means and a joining flange which is integral with said main body, has upper and lower faces and is provided with at least one recess,
- providing a structural member of a deformable material, which is a thin-walled housing of mobile telephone having a continuous planar external surface and at least one joining projection extending from said external surface,
- said at least one joining projection being in the shape of an annular wall segment and said at least one recess being a through-opening matingly shaped with respect to said annular wall segment,
- wherein there is at least one further recess in the shape of a groove provided at an external peripheral surface of said flange,
- positioning said fastening element upon said external surface of said structural member such that said at least one joining projection is received in said at least one recess, with said at least one joining projection having a free end projecting from and above said upper face of said joining flange, and
- deforming said free end of said at least one projection into an upset bead so as to positively connect said at least one projection to said joining flange.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.