U.S. patent application number 09/875236 was filed with the patent office on 2002-12-12 for fence stay construction.
Invention is credited to Galivan, David S..
Application Number | 20020185639 09/875236 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 25365426 |
Filed Date | 2002-12-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20020185639 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Galivan, David S. |
December 12, 2002 |
Fence stay construction
Abstract
A fence stay construction (10) for maintaining the vertical
spacing of strands of fence wire (101) suspended between fence
posts (100); wherein, the stay construction (10) includes an
elongated bifurcated shaft member (20) fabricated from plastic
material (21) and forming two support legs (22) (23) having
abutting surfaces provided with a plurality of vertically spaced
opposed recesses (24) for captively engaging and maintaining the
strands of wire (101) at a desired vertical spacing relative to one
another.
Inventors: |
Galivan, David S.; (Colorado
Sorings, CO) |
Correspondence
Address: |
HENDERSON & STURM LLP
1213 MIDLAND BUILDING
206 SIXTH AVENUE
DES MOINES
IA
50309-4076
US
|
Family ID: |
25365426 |
Appl. No.: |
09/875236 |
Filed: |
June 7, 2001 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
256/32 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E04H 17/12 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
256/32 |
International
Class: |
E04H 017/02; B21F
027/00 |
Claims
1. A fence stay construction for maintaining the strands of a wire
fence at a preferred vertical spacing relative to one another
wherein the construction comprises: a pair of support legs adapted
to be secured to one another in an abutting fashion wherein at
least one of the abutting surfaces of the support legs is provided
with a plurality of vertically spaced recesses dimensioned to
selectively receive a portion of the strands of wire.
2. The construction as in claim 1; wherein; both of the abutting
surfaces of the support legs are provided with a plurality of
opposed vertically spaced recesses that are dimensioned to
selectively receive the strands of wire.
3. The construction as in claim 1; wherein, said support legs are
formed integrally with one another.
4. The construction as in claim 2; wherein, said support legs are
formed integrally with one another.
5. The construction as in claim 3; wherein, the support legs are
fabricated from plastic material.
6. The construction as in claim 4; wherein, the support legs are
fabricated from plastic material.
7. The construction as in claim 2; wherein, the support legs have
upper portions which are joined together to form an elongated
bifurcated shaft member.
8. The construction as in claim 1; wherein, the abutting surfaces
of the support legs include at least one tongue and groove
arrangement.
9. The construction as in claim 3; wherein, the support legs have
an upper captive end and a lower free end; wherein, the lower free
ends of the support leg members are provided with a latch and
groove arrangement.
10. The construction as in claim 3; wherein, the abutting surfaces
of the support legs include at least one tongue and groove
arrangement.
11. The construction as in claim 10; wherein, the support legs have
an upper captive end and a lower free end; wherein, the lower free
ends of the support leg members are provided with a latch and
groove arrangement.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] Not applicable.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
[0002] Not applicable.
REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX
[0003] Not applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0004] 1. Field of the Invention
[0005] The present invention relates to the field of fencing
arrangements in general and in particular to a fence stay that
maintains a desired spacing between the wire fence strands.
[0006] 2. Description of Related Art
[0007] As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos.
6,050,549; 4,982,932; 3,874,640; and 5,350,155, the prior art is
replete with myriad and diverse fencing related patents.
[0008] While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are
more than adequate for the basic purpose and function for which
they have been specifically designed, they are uniformly deficient
with respect to their failure to provide a simple, efficient, and
practical arrangement for maintaining a desired spacing between the
fencing strands intermediate the fence support posts or T-bars.
[0009] At the present time, the only known solution to the problem
of maintaining the desired spacing between the fence strands is to
employ a twisted wire stay that connects all of the strands to one
another and this is a costly and time consuming task that is very
labor intensive.
[0010] As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has
existed a longstanding need among ranchers and cattlemen for a new
and improved fence stay construction that can quickly and easily be
installed over the fencing strands to maintain the strands at a
desired spacing relative to one another; and, the provision of such
a construction is the stated objective of the present
invention.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] Briefly stated, the stay construction that forms the basis
of the present invention comprises in general an elongated
bifurcated shaft member forming two interlocking support legs
provided with a plurality of opposed recesses which are dimensioned
to captively receive the strands of a fence.
[0012] In addition, the lower end of the support legs is provided
with a latching mechanism to maintain the support legs in an
abutting relationship relative to one another and the bifurcated
juncture of the support legs is enlarged to provide both
flexibility to the support legs as well as a reduction of the
stress factors associated with sharp transition zones.
[0013] In use, the support legs are disengaged relative to one
another so that the wire strands of the fence can slip between the
support legs and be captively received in selected opposed recesses
in the support legs when the support legs are interlocked with one
another thereby maintaining the strands of wire a desired distance
from one another in keeping with the teachings of this
invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] These and other attributes of the invention will become more
clear upon a thorough study of the following description of the
best mode for carrying out the invention, particularly when
reviewed in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:
[0015] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the fence stay construction
in use;
[0016] FIG. 2 is an isolated perspective view of the fence stay
construction;
[0017] FIG. 3 is an enlarged detail view of the upper portion of
the fence stay construction;
[0018] FIG. 4 is an enlarged detail view of the lower portion of
the fence stay construction;
[0019] FIG. 5 is an enlarged detail view of the intermediate
portion of the support legs disengaged with one another; and,
[0020] FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken through line 6-6 of
FIG. 2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0021] As can be seen by reference to the drawings, and in
particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, the fence stay construction that
forms the basis of the present invention is designated generally by
the reference number 10. The construction 10 comprises in general
an elongated bifurcated shaft member 20 preferably fabricated from
plastic material 21 and forming a pair of elongated support legs 22
23 having interior surfaces provided with a plurality of
semi-circular opposed recesses 24 that are dimensioned to receive
and captively engage the opposite sides of vertically spaced
strands of wire 101 that are suspended from fence posts 100 in a
well recognized fashion.
[0022] Turning now to FIGS. 3 and 4, it can be seen that the upper
portion of the split shaft member 20 is provided with a rounded and
elongated aperture 25 at the juncture of the bifurcated support
legs 22 23; and the lower portion of the support legs 22 23 is
tapered and further provided with a latch 26 and groove 27
arrangement for connecting the lower portion of the support legs 22
23 in an abutting relationship relative to one another.
[0023] In addition, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, the intermediate
portion of the support legs 22 23 is further provided with multiple
tongue 28 and groove 29 arrangements for maintaining the
intermediate portions of the support legs 22 23 in an abutting
relationship with one another.
[0024] By now it should be appreciated that the fence stay
construction 10 is employed by separating the support legs 22 23
from one another and dropping the split shaft member 20 downwardly
over the vertically spaced fence strands 101 wherein each of the
strands is captively engaged within selected pairs of opposed
recesses 24 in the support legs 22 23 when the support legs 22 23
are attached to one another in an abutting relationship via the
tongue 28 and groove 29 and/or the latch 26 and groove 27
arrangements.
[0025] Although only an exemplary embodiment of the invention has
been described in detail above, those skilled in the art will
readily appreciate that many modifications are possible without
materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of
this invention. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to
be included within the scope of this invention as defined in the
following claims.
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