Abstract: A fluid connector fitting nut lock includes a sleeve that fits down over the nut and that has an integral locking mechanism to fix the sleeve in a raised position that allows the nut to be turned and in a locked position that prevents the nut from backing off due to vibration or other external forces. The integral locking mechanism eliminates the need for a separate lockwire or clipwire.

Abstract: Bolt material is orbitally swaged into recesses in the clip while simultaneously swaging bolt material over the clip to develop a torsional interference lock and an axial interference lock, respectively between the clip and the bolt. The recesses are arc shaped, have a center of curvature on a circle having a smaller diameter than a circle that defines lands between the recesses, and number between six and eight.

Abstract: Wrenching lobes of an internally threaded nut are separated by circumferential, tapered walls so that the lobes and contiguous portions of the walls deform in radial compression upon reaching a predetermined preload and displace radially inwardly while the central portions of the walls deform radially outwardly, but do not interfere with the tool that sets the nut.

Abstract: A locking wedge apparatus for fastening a printed circuit board within an elongated slot in a rack. The apparatus comprises a first member having an elongated, flexible portion terminating in first and second apertured end portions, the elongated and apertured end portions forming a rectangularly shaped channel. A rectangularly shaped member having a plurality of ramps formed along the edges of one surface is positioned in a U-shaped member having a plurality of ramps extending from the bottom wall thereof such that the ramps on each member are in engagement. The assembled U-shaped and rectangularly shaped members are positioned in the channel formed in the first member. A screw member extends lengthwise through said first apertured end portion, through a threaded aperture in said rectangularly shaped member and into said second apertured end portion.

Abstract: A self locking panel fastener comprising a receptacle connected to one of the two panels being secured together, the receptacle having an internally threaded nut portion, an externally threaded stud having a head portion extendible through the apertures of the panels, a shaped end portion and a bore formed therein; a first locking member within said receptacle having a shaped aperture and sized to receive the shaped end portion of the stud to drivingly connect the first locking member and the stud; a second locking member mounted within the receptacle for generally axial movement relative to the nut portion; a spring member for forcing the second locking member into engagement with the first locking member to form a locking connection between the stud and the second locking member; and a member for driving the second locking member generally axially relative to the first locking member against the force of the spring to break the locking connection and to allow counterrotation of the stud relative to the nut

Abstract: An internally threaded fastener comprising a stud having internal threads, a stud hold-out ring, a grommet having a cylindrical surface of a first diameter, external slots formed in the surface and a retaining ring having inwardly extending projections adapted to slide within the grommet slots. An internal groove is formed in the grommet and a slotted snap ring is embedded in the groove. A receptacle having an externally threaded screw mounted therein is affixed to the substrucutre, or lower panel. The stud is mounted in the grommet and the assembly is then inserted through an aperture formed in the upper panel in a manner such that the receptacle screw engages the internal threads of the stud. The stud has two grooves formed thereon, the snap ring being forced into the first groove when the stud is threaded into the receptacle.

Abstract: A self-locking fastener system comprises a pin for receipt in a hole in a workpiece and having an external thread which mates with a collar having an internal thread for carrying a tensile load. A plurality of helically extending flutes in the external thread on the pin collectively extend approximately one full revolution around the circumference of the thread. The collar has three longitudinally extending lobes for driving by a deltoid driver socket. When a desired clamp-up load is achieved on a workpiece, the socket plastically deforms the lobes and collar material radially inwardly thereof so that some of the collar material inwardly from each lobe is displaced into the void volume created by a helical flute. This displaced collar material inhibits unscrewing of the collar from the pin.

Abstract: A method for forming a captive panel fastener assembly, the assembly comprising a bolt having head, shank and threaded outer end portions, slots extending longitudinally down through the bolt threads toward the outer end of the bolt and a retaining ring for securing the bolt to a panel. The metal retaining ring has inwardly tangs which are distanced sufficiently to allow the ring to be slipped over the outer end of the bolt and into the bolt slots. The ends of the slots terminate in abutments. The outer surface of the ring opposite corresponding tabs is provided with outwardly extending alignment tabs. Installation of the retaining ring onto the bolt to form the captive panel fastener is accomplished by first placing the ring alignment tabs into cutout portions formed in the nose area of a tool. The tool and ring are then engaged onto the bolt from the outer end by first aligning visual markings formed on the tool jaws with the slots.

Abstract: A pneumatic nut installation tool has a plunger assembly which advances from a retracted position near the rear of the tool through a nut pickup station to an extended position extending from the front of the tool. A nut shuttle delivers a nut in front of the plunger assembly before it reaches the nut pickup station and retracts away from the nut pickup station before the plunger assembly moves through that station. The nut is picked up on an assembly that includes a split spring ring which engages the bore of the nut. The spring ring is mounted on a fixed member, which also includes a hexagonal key for preventing rotation of a bolt as the nut is threaded onto it. A rotating nut driver moves over the outside of the nut picked up by the pickup assembly for threading the nut onto a bolt.

Abstract: An aerospace fastener comprises a blot with a roll-formed thread, and a nut with a similar thread having a uniform pitch P. The bolt has a cylindrical shank, a threaded tip and a run-out zone between the shank and tip. The thread root in the run-out follows a smooth S-shaped curve with the concave portion preferably having a radius in the range of from 2P to 2.7P. The run-out extends from 1.4P to 2.3P from the maximum grip plane of the bolt, and preferably extends from 1.6P to 2P from the maximum grip plane. The root of the thread in the run-out lies within an envelope defined by boundaries which take into account the maximum and minimum material conditions of the bolt. The nut has a run-in truncating the crest of the nut thread complementary to the run-out to clear the root of the bolt thread when the nut is assembled on the bolt in the minimum grip condition.

Abstract: An improved lock nut of the kind having a deformable section at one end, with a generally elliptical cross-section. The deformable section has a maximum radial thickness in the region of the ellipse's minor axis, to provide a desired degree of frictional locking when threaded onto a bolt, and it has a minimum radial thickness in the region of the ellipse's major axis, to reduce stresses and plastic deformation that could otherwise adversely affect the lock nut's reusability.

Abstract: A push button type fastener for releasably joining together two panels. A stud assembly is snap-fit to one panel, and a mating socket is snap fit to the other panel. The stud assembly and the socket are releasably secured to each other merely by pushing a stud of the stud assembly toward the socket, which includes two resilient arms that move apart to receive and lock onto a thin wall portion at the stud's remote end. The stud assembly is released from the socket by rotating the stud such that the thin wall portion spreads apart the two resilient arms of the socket, to allow a spring to urge the stud out of it engagement with the socket.

Abstract: A hold down device is provided using a drive knob having a clutch therein which turns a drive shaft for moving a pawl shaft in and out with respect to the drive shaft. A pawl on the end of the pawl shaft is provided with a cam-like surface which engages a cam-like aperture in a pawl receptacle. The pawl shaft has a cam follower which rides within a cam surface in a cam bracket that surrounds the shaft. Under the urging of a spring, the position of the pawl is controlled from its fully extended, unlocked position to a pre-capture position where the pawl is oriented at approximately 45.degree. to an aperture within the pawl receptacle. Insertion of the pawl into the pawl receptacle forces the pawl to rotate an additional 45.degree. against the urging of the spring. After full insertion of the pawl into the receptacle, the pawl rotates back to its 45.degree. position where it is captured therein.

Abstract: A self-retaining collar for a pin of a two-piece fastener has a projection or detent from its inner surface for engaging locking grooves of the pin. The pin has a head and a shank, the locking grooves being formed on the shank. The fastener holds two or more workpieces together in tension by inserting the pin through the workpieces until the head contacts one side of the workpieces and the locking grooves extend through the other side. The shank has pulling grooves located on the side opposite the head. Once the pin is through the workpieces, the collar is slid over the shank until the detent engages the lands of one of the locking grooves. The collar will thus stay in place around the locking grooves even when the force of gravity tends to pull the collar off of the grooves. The collar is then swaged into the locking grooves while the workpieces are placed in tension by pulling on the pulling grooves of the pin.

Abstract: A tool for use in automatically installing a helical coil insert to a preselected depth in a tapped hole formed in a workpiece. The tool includes a tubular tool body carrying an insert near its lower end, and a mandrel threadedly received in the tool body for engaging the insert and rotatably advanced into the tapped hole by a driver device. An adjusting sleeve encircles the mandrel and is threaded to a selected position in the tool body, to serve as a stop for further advancement of the mandrel, thereby controlling the depth to which the insert is installed. The sleeve's position can be adjusted quickly and conveniently without disassembling the front assembly of the tool from the driver device.

Abstract: Bolt material is orbitally swaged into recesses in the clip while simultaneously swaging bolt material over the clip to develop a torsional interference lock and an axial interference lock, respectively between the clip and the bolt. The recesses are arc shaped, have a center of curvature on a circle having a smaller diameter than a circle that defines lands between the recessses, and number between six and eight.

Abstract: An aerospace fastener comprises a bolt with a roll-formed thread, and a nut with a similar thread having a uniform pitch P. The bolt has a cylindrical shank, a threaded tip and a run-out zone between the shank and tip. The thread root in the run-out follows a concave curve having a radius in the range of from 2.0P to 2.7P and extends 1.58P to 1.8P from the maximum grip plane of the bolt. The nut has a convexly curved run-in truncating the crest of the nut thread complementary to the run-out to clear the root of the bolt thread when the nut is assembled on the bolt in the minimum grip condition. This permits the nut to be assembled on the bolt further than in a conventional combination, and shortening of the nut and bolt by at least 1P to save weight.

Abstract: An aerospace fastener comprises a bolt with a roll formed thread, and a nut with a similar thread having a uniform pitch P. The bolt has a cylindrical shank, a threaded tip and a run-out zone between the shank and tip. In the run-out, which is no longer than 2P, and in preferred embodiments is in the range of from 1.6P to 1.9P, the root of the roll formed bolt thread increases diameter continuously from the minor diameter of the tip thread to the diameter of the shank. The nut has a conical run-in truncating the crest of the nut thread parallel to the run-out to clear the root of the bolt thread when the nut is assembled on the bolt in the minimum grip condition. This permits the nut to be assembled on the bolt further than in a conventional combination, and shortening of the nut and bolt to save weight. Preferably the crest of the bolt thread is at the major diameter of the tip thread at distances beyond 0.75P from the maximum grip plane of the bolt.

Abstract: A driver has a deltoid wrenching and deforming socket in the form of an equilateral triangle with rounded corners. Flats of the socket between the apexes of the triangle bear on lobes of a collar to thread the collar onto a pin in the making of a joint. At a predetermined clamp-up load on the joint, the flats of the deltoid socket crush the lobes plastically and force material of the collar radially inward of the lobes into locking engagement with the pin. Thereafter the socket can rotate freely on the collar. A pilot section of the deltoid socket cooperates with a corresponding section of the collar to keep the driver from canting off axis. Reliefs with cylindrical surfaces in the sides of extensions of the flats define piloting surfaces of the pilot section.

Abstract: There is disclosed an improved wrenching tool which utilizes readily removable key member that is axially restrained in a key holder of the tool member by a detent ball and that can be released from the tool by precisely aligning the key holder to the outer, rotationally driven socket member of the tool. This invention comprises a release mechanism to locate the key holder in the tool at the precise position where the detent ball is aligned with a ball cavity in the outer socket member, thus permitting lateral displacement of the detent ball, and releasing the central key member. Preferably the key release includes a knob on a shaft which extends through a sidewall of the tool housing and which internally supports a cam that is received in a cam guide on an axially sliding block which is secured in a subassembly to the key holder.