GB2066887A

GB2066887A - Securing clips

Info

Publication number: GB2066887A
Application number: GB8035160A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1979-11-15
Filing date: 1980-10-31
Publication date: 1981-07-15
Also published as: FR2469636A1; FR2469636B1; DE2946143C2; ES254117Y; IT8025966A0; JPS5694088A; GB2066887B; JPS6310645B2; DE2946143A1; IT1209372B; ES254117U

Abstract

A securing clip for a round bar or cable has a base (1) attachable to a carrier (3) and includes a curved member (4) partly encircling a space (6) to receive the bar, and a flexible curved member (5) opposite the member (4) with a spring arm (7) terminating in a finger (8), and a bracing web (10). The bar is inserted through a V-shaped passage (9) between members (4) and (5) to lie upon the finger (8) and is held by a finger (14) at the free end of the member (4). The bracing web abuts at its free end a step (11) on the finger (8). In another embodiment the web (10) is joined to the finger (8) where it meets the arm (7) to form a stable triangle with member (5) and arm (7). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Securing clips The invention relates to securing clips of the type described, for example, in German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2816181.

It is true that this clip affords a means of easy assembly of the cable which is to be mounted and also offers good retaining force in the direction of the rigid curved member. On the other hand, it is just as easy to withdraw the bar or the cable from the clip in the direction of the elastic curved spring member as it is to push it into the clip, so that there is only minimal securing force in this direction and the bar can easily spring out of the clip if a slight pull or tractive force is exerted on it. It is also found to be unsatisfactory that the curved spring member has only minimal force of applied pressure so that bars of small diameter in particular can only be loosely held and can wobble or rattle in keeping with their freedom of movement.

According to the invention, there is provided a securing clip of synthetic plastics material for de tachably fixing round bars, cables and the like circular section members, of different diameters to a carrier and comprising a baseplate with a means of attaching the baseplate to the carrier curved member rising from the baseplate on one side, the upper end of which member extends around a space for accommodating the round bar to engage the uppermost surface of the bar and a resilient curved member rising from the baseplate on the other side having a spring arm extending from an upper end into the space of the spring arm having a retaining finger at its lower end which is curved upwardly in the same direction as the first-mentioned curved member in order to partly encircle the bar, the upper arcuate end of the first-mentioned curved member and the spring arm forming a substantially V-shaped diverging narrow passage which, when the round bar is pressed into place, opens out as the resilient curved member moves aside and closes again as soon as the round bar has passed through the narrow passage, wherein between the lower end of the resilient curved member and the retaining finger there is located a bracing web for the resilient curved member.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the bracing web may be so constructed that it is elastically connected only at the transition between the baseplate and the elastic curved member while its other end has a freely downwardly movable edge terminating at a short distance from the curved retaining finger, and in co-operation with the bracing web there is at the joined end of the retaining finger a projecting step with which the front edge of the bracing web can engage and lock.

In this embodiment, the elastic curved member can move slightly to the side when the bar is pressed into the clip. The bracing web engages the projecting step only after the bar has reached its final position in which it is to be secured. In order to remove the bar, it is necessary only to press the bracing web downwardly so that the bar can be withdrawn laterally via the elastic spring arm.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the bracing web may however be rigidly connected both to the elastic curved member and also to the spring arm so that it forms a stable triangle with these two elements. In this case, however, when the bar is pressed into the clip, the spring arm will only yield by a small amount so that the substantially rigid curved member has to move aside laterally in order to open the narrow passage, doing so by utilising the overall elasticity of the curved member and of the baseplate.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings showing embo dimentsand in which: Figure 1 is an enlarged side view of a clip for a round bar mounted on a carrier plate and having a resilient bracing web bonded at one end onto an elastic curved member; Figure 2 shows the same embodiment with the bar inserted; Figure 3 shows a similar view to Figure 1 of a different embodiment of a clip having a rigid bracing web between a spring curved member and a spring arm; Figure 4 is a front view of Figure 3; Figure 5shows the same clip mounted on the carrier plate prior to the rod being pressed into position; Figure 6 shows the same clip during insertion of the rod, and Figure 7 shows the same clip with the rod pressed fully into place.

The securing clips shown in the drawings are both made from rigidly elastic synthetic plastics material and serve for the detachable mounting of cylindrical components such as round bars, cables, brake lines and the like which are of variable diameter and which have to be mounted on a carrier, for example a bodyword panel of a motor vehicle.

The securing clip shown in Figures 1 and 2 comprises a baseplate 1 having a means 2 for attaching the plate 1 on a carrier 3, an approximately C-shaped flexurally rigid curved member 4 rising to one side from the baseplate 1 and having an upper end 4a which extends over and around an accommodating space 6 for a round bar 18 to abut the top of the round bar, and rising on the other side of and from the baseplate 1 a resilient openable curved member 5 having a spring arm 7 extending from its upper end 5a into the space 6 with a retaining finger 8 at the rear end thereof which, in order to engage around and behind the round bar 17, is upwardly curved in the same direction as the rigid curved member 4.

The upper end 4a of the rigid curved member 4 and the spring arm 7 form thereby a narrow passage 9 and extend from this narrow passage 9 upwardly and outwardly substantially in a V-shape in such a way that the elastic curved member 5 and the spring arm 7 can move apart when the round bar 17 is pressed into the clip and spring back again into their original position as soon as the round bar 17 has negotiated the narrow passage 9 (see Figure 2).

Attached to the upper end 4a of the rigid curved member 4 and pointing substantially to the centre of the accommodating space 6 in a short supporting finger 14, the bearing face 15 of which is curved according to the largest diameter of bar which it is envisaged the clip will be required to accommodate.

In order to facilitate pressing the round bar into the clip after it has passed over the narrow passage, the supporting finger 14, as indicated in Figure 1may be bonded onto the rigid curved member 4 at the point of attachment 16 at which there is a reduced cross-section.

In order to avoid the clamped round bar 17 emerging from the accommodating space 6 in the direction of the elastic spring arm 7 of its own volition, there is between the lower half of the inner wall of the elastic curved member 5 and the retaining finger 8 at the end of the spring arm 7 a bracing web 10 which acts substantially as a thrust member. In the case of the embodiment shown in Figures 1 and 2, this bracing web 10 is joined to the member 5 only at the transition from the baseplate 1 to the elastic curved member 5 while its other end has a freely downwardly movable edge 12 which ends at a short distance from the curved retaining finger 8.

To co-operate with the bracing web 10 there is, at the joined end of the retaining finger 8 a step 11 which, when the round bar 17 is inserted into the clip, is intially lifted over the bracing web 10 by the lateral bending away of the elastic curved member 5 with the spring arm 7. When the round bar 17 is pressed further into the clip, the step 11 presses the bracing web 10 downwardly and it finally engages in front of the edge 12 of the web 10 when the round bar has reached the accommodating space 6 and is clamped between retaining finger 8 and supporting finger 14.

The bracing web 10 forms with the baseplate 1 an angle a which is preferably between 10 and 30" so that the round bar 17 inserted into the clip is also supported in the direction of the baseplate 1. In order to facilitate bending away of the bracing web 10 when the round bar 17 is pressed into the clip, the bracing web 10 can be bonded onto the inside wall of the elastic curved member 5 at a cross-section which is reduced by the provision of a longitudinal channel 13.

Expediently, the gap between the step 11 and the edge 12 of the bracing web 10 is so dimensioned that even in the case of a round bar having the smallest envisaged diameter, the step 11 bears on the edge 12 afterthe round bar 17 has been pressed into the clip. If round bars 17 of larger diameter are inserted, the elasticity of the retaining finger 8 ensures that the latter can be pressed down sufficiently in the direction of the rigid curved member4forthestep 11 likewise to bear on the front edge 12 of the bracing web 10 (see Figure 2).

In the case of the embodiment shown in Figures 3 to 7, the bracing web 10 is joined rigidly both to the elastic curved member 5 and also to the spring arm 7 and forms with these two parts a stable triangle. The bracing web 10 is thus joined just above the baseplate 1 in fact in such a way that the stable triangle 5,7, 10 can under the pressure of the inserted round bar 17 pivot outwardly as well as inwardly around the remaining wall part 5b of the curved member. As Fingers 5 to 7 show, the curved member 5 and the spring arm 7 can yield laterally but little, due to the bracing web 10, so that for widening of the narrow passage 7 when the round bar 17 is pressed into position, the rigid curved member 4 must move aside in the direction of the arrow "B". It is true that this insertion under pressure requires a certain amount of effort but manufacture of this clip is substantially easier and therefore less expensive than in the case of the clip shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Claims

1. A securing clip of synthetic plastics material for detachably fixing round bars, cables and the like circular section members, of different diameters to a carrier and comprising a baseplate with a means of attaching the baseplate to the carrier curved member rising from the baseplate on one side, the upper end of which member extends around a space for accommodating the round bar to engage the uppermost surface of the bar and a resilient curved member rising from the baseplate on the other side having a spring arm extending from an upper end into the space of the spring arm having a retaining finger at its lower end which is curved upwardly in the same direction as the first-mentioned curved member in order to partly encircle the bar, the upper arcuate end of the first-mentioned curved member and the spring arm forming a substantially V-shaped diverging narrow passage which, when the round bar is pressed into place, opens out as the resilient curved member moves aside and closes again as soon as the round bar has passed through the narrow passage, wherein between the lower end of the resilient curved member and the retaining finger there is located a bracing web for the resilient curved member.

2. A securing clip according to Claim 1, wherein one end of the bracing web is attached to the resilient curved member adjacent the baseplate while its other end has a freely downwardly movable edge near the curved retaining finger, and the retaining finger has a step at its end adjacent the resilient curved member with which the said edge of the bracing web may engage and lock.

3. A securing clip according to Claim 2, wherein the bracing web lies at an angle a of between 100 and 300 to the adjacent top surface of the baseplate.

4. A securing clip according to Claim 2 or 3, wherein the gap between the step and the said edge of the bracing web is so dimensioned that when a bar having the smallest envisaged diameter is inserted into the clip, the step bears on the edge.

5. A securing clip according to any of Claims 2 to 4, wherein the cross-section of the bracing web adjacent its junction with the resilient elastic curved member is reduced by a channel.

6. A securing clip according to Claim 1 wherein the bracing web is rigidly connected both to the resilient curved member and the spring arm and forms a stable triangle with the two, the bracing web being so joined to the resilient curved member at a position just above the baseplate that the stable triangle is pivotable both outwardly and inwardly about the part of the resilient curved member between the web and the baseplate under the pressure produced by inserting the bar in the clip.

7. A securing clip according to any of Claims 1 to 6, wherein a supporting finger is attached to the upper end of the first-mentioned curved member and extends substantially towards the centre of the space.

8. A securing clip according to Claim 7, wherein the supporting finger has a bearing face curved in accordance with the diameter of the largest bar which can be accommodated by the clip.

9. A securing clip according to Claim 7 or 8, wherein the supporting finger is connected to the first-mentioned curved member at a point at which there is a reduced cross-seciton.

10. A securing clip of synthetic plastics material for detachably fixing bars, cables, or other members of circular cross-section to a carrier constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described and shown in Figures 1 and 2, or 3-7 of the accompanying drawings.