Back to results
US 8,479,932 B2Granted
Tension rod
AssigneeInterDesign, Inc.
InventorJohn R. Carney
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tension rod comprising in its preferred form an outer tube and an inner tube in a telescoping arrangement. The outer tube has an expansion joint structure which can engage the inner surface of the outer tube to hold it in place. A spring stem-wedge-rod structure has a wedge portion with a threaded rod extending therefrom for being threaded through a nut held in the expansion rod structure. The spring stem-wedge-rod structure has a stem extending through a coil spring, and a spring retainer is fixed both to the stem and to the inner tube. Twisting of the inner tube causes the wedge portion to effect the expansion joint structure to be fixed in the outer tube, and the coil spring provides the tension to mount the tension rod between a pair of opposing wall surfaces.
Claims23
A tension rod for being mounted between opposing support surfaces separated by a distance, said tension rod having a longitudinal axis and comprising:
- an outer tube;
- an inner tube disposed partially within said outer tube in a telescoping arrangement, said inner tube having an inner end disposed within said outer tube;
- a compressible biasing device for establishing a tension force for urging said inner tube apart from said outer tube, said compressible biasing device comprising a spring;
- a biasing device support structure being initially movable in said outer tube and activatable to be fixed at a predetermined location within said outer tube;
- a fixing structure for being actuated in response to twisting of said inner tube about the longitudinal axis to activate said biasing device support structure and fix said biasing device support structure at a predetermined location within said outer tube, said fixing structure comprising a pair of integral coaxial cylinders having axes coincident with the longitudinal axis said coaxial cylinders comprising:
- an inner cylinder proximal said biasing device support structure and having a spring receiving bore for receiving a portion of said spring, said spring receiving bore having an abutment for serving as a stop for said spring, an external relatively wide diameter and a solid external surface devoid of any holes through said solid external surface;
- and
- an outer cylinder distal said biasing device support structure having both a relatively narrow diameter compared to said external relatively wide diameter and a solid external surface devoid of any holes through said solid external surface, said inner cylinder and said outer cylinder cooperating to define an exterior abutment for engaging said inner end of said inner tube;
- and
- a fixing-structure actuating device for actuating said biasing device support structure at the predetermined location within said outer tube in response to the twisting of said fixing structure about the longitudinal axis;
- wherein the length of said tension rod is initially adjusted to be longer than the distance separating the support surfaces, said fixing-structure actuating device being movable to fix said biasing device support structure at the predetermined location within said outer tube, and to compress said inner tube into said outer tube to compress said biasing device between the support surfaces in a compressed state, and said inner and outer tubes being releasable from the compressed state to allow said biasing device to force said inner tube and said outer tube against the respective support surfaces to mount said tension rod between said support surfaces.
8 more elements
A tension rod for being mounted between opposing support surfaces separated by a distance, said tension rod having a longitudinal axis and comprising:
- an outer tube;
- an inner tube disposed partially within said outer tube in a telescoping arrangement;
- a compressible biasing device for establishing a tension force for urging said inner tube apart from said outer tube, said compressible biasing device comprising a compressible coil spring;
- a biasing device support structure being initially movable in said outer tube and activatable to be fixed at a predetermined location within said outer tube, said biasing device support structure comprising an outer-tube engagement device for engaging the inner surface of said outer tube;
- a fixing structure for actuating said biasing device support structure and fixing said biasing device support structure at a predetermined location within said outer tube, said fixing structure comprising a spring retainer fixed with respect to said inner tube and having spring-engaging structure in the form of a spring receiving bore for receiving a portion of said compressible coil spring, said spring retainer effecting the movement of said outer-tube engagement device against the inner surface of said outer tube in response to the twisting in a selected direction of said inner tube with respect to both said outer tube and the longitudinal axis, and said spring retainer compressing said compressible coil spring in response to the movement of said inner tube further into said outer tube;
- and
- a fixing structure actuating device being twistable in response to the twisting of said fixing structure about the longitudinal axis, to activate said biasing device support structure to fix said biasing device support structure at the predetermined location within said outer tube;
- wherein the length of said tension rod is initially adjusted to be longer than the distance separating the support surfaces, said fixing structure actuating device being twistable to urge said at least one expansion member against the inner surface of said outer tube to fix said biasing device support structure at the predetermined location within said outer tube, and to compress said inner tube and into said outer tube in a compressed state to compress said biasing device between the support surfaces, and said inner and outer tubes being releasable from the compressed state to allow said biasing device to force said inner tube and said outer tube against the respective support surfaces to mount said tension rod between said support surfaces.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.