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US 6,997,658 B2Granted
Alignment pin and fastener with bi-directional clamping
OwnerDavid E. Flyinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An alignment pin or fastener includes a radially eccentric part such that when the fastener is tightened, the eccentric part shifts radially to simultaneously align the holes of two plates in a radial direction and clamp the two plates together in an axial direction. The bi-directional fastener includes two heads at opposite ends of a shaft, wherein the two plates become sandwiched and clamped between the two heads. The shaft and the two heads remain fixed relative to each other, so turning one head turns the other. This allows the fastener to be tightened even when only one of the heads is accessible.
Claims17
A fastener comprising:
- a shaft defining a shaft's longitudinal centerline;
- a cam head disposed at one end of the shaft and having a cam's longitudinal centerline that is radially offset to the shaft's longitudinal centerline;
- a clamp head disposed at an opposite end of the shaft, wherein the cam head and the clamp head are at opposite ends of the shaft;
- and
- a radially expandable sleeve having an outside diameter that defines a sleeve's longitudinal centerline, wherein the radially expandable sleeve defines an oblong opening through which the shaft extends, wherein the shaft is radially movable within the oblong opening between a release position and a clamp position, wherein the sleeve's longitudinal centerline is radially offset to the shaft's longitudinal centerline when the shaft is in the release position, wherein the outer diameter of the radially expandable sleeve increases in response to the shaft moving radially from the release position to the clamp position, and wherein the oblong opening, in a radial cross-sectional cut, has an oblong shape when the radially expandable sleeve is unexpanded.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.