US 6,886,862 B2Granted

Attachment means and attachment assembly

OwnerGeorge Alexander Matthewinventor

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Abstract

An attachment means (4) in the form of a hollow cylindrical socket (10) integral with a tangentially intersecting housing (30) in which a latch pin (8) is longitudinally slidable. The latch pin (8) has a cylindrical head (8a) of relatively large diameter but relatively short length, and a cylindrical shaft (8b) that is relatively long but of relatively small diameter. The axis of the latch housing is offset outwardly of an imaginary line tangentially intersecting the bore of the socket by more than half the diameter of the latch pin shaft (8b) but less than half the diameter of the latch pin head (8b). The latch pin (8) is biased by a spring (7) such that the latch pin head (8a) normally lies partly within the bore of the socket (10) to engage a notch (12) near the end of a rod (5) or other plug-like member attached to the socket (10) and thereby positively retain this rod (5). Manually depressing the latch pin (8) against the force of the spring (7) pushes the latch pin head (8a) out of the bore of the socket (10) which instantly releases the rod (5) since the latch pin shaft (8b) always lies completely outside the bore of the socket (10). The attachment assembly (4+5) allows easy assembly of two members, and their quick release when required. The attachment means is applicable to attachment of parts and accessories to vehicles, e.g. mudguards (14) and side-skirts (50, 51).

Claims36

Dependent claims

An attachment assembly for the selectively releasable attachment of a first member to second member, said attachment assembly comprising:

a plug means in the form of a rod of substantially circular cross-section, said rod forming part of said first member or adapted to be secured to said first member;
socket means either forming part of said second member or adapted to be secured to said second member, said socket means having a bore in which said plug means is received and releasably retained;
said socket means comprising a selectively operable latch means functioning selectively to latch said plug means within said socket means and to unlatch said plug means from said socket means;
said latch means comprising an axially slidable latch pin adapted to engage a notch in the rod, and a spring disposed axially to bias the latch pin into latching engagement with the notch;
the latch pin having a head at one end of the pin, and a shaft of lesser lateral dimensions than those of said head, the latch pin having a substantially circular cross-section at all points along its length, and the latch pin shaft having a uniform diameter such that the only part of the latch pin having lateral dimensions greater than those of the shaft is the latch pin head at the one end of the pin;
and in which the latch pin is disposed in relation to the socket such that the axis along which the latch pin is slidable is substantially parallel to a tangent to the periphery of the bore of the socket, the latch pin axis being offset radially outwards of this tangent by not less than half of the diameter of the latch pin shaft but by not more than half of the diameter of the latch pin head.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.