SUPPORT STAY

Abstract

A fence stay.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a stay for supporting strand material such as a wire, and more particularly to a stay that maintains a proper spacing between adjacent rows of such strand material.

Oftentimes it is desired to run adjacent rows of strand material, such as wire, along a significant distance, while maintaining a predefined distance between the rows of strand material. A prototypical example is a line of barbed wire fence used to contain livestock where the fence has two or more rows of barbed wire. Typically in this scenario, vertical T-posts are driven into the ground at regular intervals, with the rows of barbed wire secured to the T-posts. However, because of their bulk and expense, it is not efficient to space T-posts a sufficiently-short distance from each other such that the barbed wire between successive T-posts maintains a uniform spacing.

To address this issue, a series of stays are used to maintain the spacing of the wire between the T-posts. Typically the stays are simply slats of wood to which the barbed wire may be secured using a piece of twisted wire, nail, etc. Unfortunately, these stays are not very durable and thus do not maintain the proper spacing between adjacent rows of barbed-wire over an extended period of time, die for example, to livestock pressing against the fence, the mere passage of time, etc.

What is desired therefore, is an improved stay.

The foregoing and other objectives, features, and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an exemplary stay incorporating the disclosures of the present application.

FIG. 2 shows a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows a top view of the stay of FIG. 1 with a pair of opposed tabs bent in opposite directions relative to one another.

FIGS. 5-7 show an exemplary method of securing an elongate wire to a stay.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a fence stay 10 may be fabricated from a thin, press-rolled, elongate material 12 so as to form a front surface 14 for supporting strand material such as wire, as well as a back surface 16 directed away from said front surface 14. Although the exemplary stay 10 is fabricated of press-rolled metal, such as aluminum, steel, etc., the stay 10 may be fabricated from other materials using other methods, as desired, e.g. formed of composite material in a mold. As best seen in FIG. 7, the front surface 12 defines a plurality of ridges 18 that extend in a generally laterally outward from the stay 10 so as to be capable of supporting strand material, such as barbed wire. It should be understood that, although the drawings depict wire supported by the stay, other applications are easily achieved, such as using the disclosed stay to support grape vines.

In particular, as illustrated in FIG. 7, the stay 10, with its defined ridges 18 spaced at predefined locations along a length of the stay permits rows of wire or other strand material to be quickly and securely secured to the stay so as to maintain an even spacing between those rows over a length of the strand material that extends between adjacent T-posts 60. Once secured to the stay, as described in more detail later in this specification, the ridges 18 prevent the strand material from slipping down the length of the stay, even when the strand material is pushed against, by livestock for example.

The stay 10, if used to support rows of wire in a fence, preferably is configured so that the length of the stay extends only a short distance beyond the outermost ridges 18 so that the stay does not contact the ground. In particular, in that application, the length of the stay may be limited to approximately 16 inches or less, more preferably approximately 12 inches or less, or even more preferably 8 inches or less. The stay 10 may include ridges where the distance between the top of sequential ridges is approximately 2 inches. These dimensions may, of course, be different for other applications.

The present inventor realized that existing stays, such as the ones discussed previously in the Background of the Invention, are unwieldy when sequentially securing a number of stays to strand material such as wire, not only due to the task of securing the wire, etc., but because of the combination of the bulk and number of stays involved in running a length of wire is cumbersome. For example, when building or repairing a line of fence extending several miles in length it would not be unusual to require hundreds if not thousands of stays. Carrying that quantity of stays in the bed of a pickup truck, however, is unwieldy, particularly if the stays have relatively large dimensions, including the depth dimension of the stay.

Preferably, therefore, the stay 10 has a uniform thickness, measured over its cross section, that is small. For example, the thickness of the stay 10 is preferably no greater than 0.5 inches. Also, the stay 10 preferably is formed into a shape that facilitates stacking multiple stays together. For example, the stay 10 may preferably include one or more ridges 18 oriented generally along a longitudinal centerline of the stay 10, that protrude outwardly from the front face and therefore necessarily gives the stay a depth dimension greater than its thickness. Yet the cross section of the stay, as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, allows the protruding ridges 18 to nest in the aperture 20 defined by the back surface 16 that corresponds to the ridge 18. The present inventor has found it desirable that the ratio of the thickness of the stay to its depth be no greater than approximately 0.15 and more preferably no greater than approximately 0.12. This ratio is a rough measure of the stackability of the stay 10 as it generally inversely proportional to the number of ridges 18 that can nest within the aperture 20 of a single stay.

Specifically, in a preferred but not exclusive embodiment, the stay 10 may measure a total depth d₁ that is approximately 0.379 inches, where the ridge 18 protrudes from the surface 12 by a distance d₂ of approximately 0.118 inches, while the thickness of the stay 10, over its cross section is approximately 0.045 inches. The term “approximately” used in the context of linear dimensions means plus or minus 0.005 inches, where the term “approximately with respect to the ratios of linear dimensions is calculated as the range between the maximum and minimum ratio given the “approximate” range of the dimensions used in the ratio.

The stay 10 may also form one or more pairs of channels 22 oriented symmetrically to either side of the ridge 16. The channels 22 serve two purposes. First, integrally forming the channels into the stay 10 increases the strength and rigidity of the stay 10. Moreover, the channels 22 also improve the stackability of multiple such stays 10. Referring specifically to FIGS. 2 and 3, each of the channels 22 includes opposed sloped sides 24 and 26 that prevent the lateral movement of any other stay 10 nested within the respective channels 22. Also, the channels 22 each form respective supports 28 that inhibit the tipping of a stack of stays nested together in that the supports 28 are spaced apart over the width of the stay.

Specifically, the width of the stay 10 may preferably be approximately 1.26 inches where each of the inner sides 24 of the channels 22 begin to slope from the front surface 14 at a distance approximately 0.8 inches from the longitudinal centerline of the stay 10. The sides 24 and 26 of each respective channel 22 may be sloped at an approximate 45-degree angle with respect to each other at the mid-depth of the channel 22. The term “approximately” when referring to angles means plus or minus 1 degree.

The stay 10 may also include respective wing portions 30 at either lateral end of the stay 10 that are sloped at a backwards angle measuring approximately 15 degrees relative to a substantially flat base surface 31 so that a forward-facing surface 32 is at an approximate tangent to the surface of the respective ridges 18.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4, some applications of the disclosed stay 10 may involve inserting the stay 10 into the ground. As one example, a stay 10 may be used to support grape vines. Alternatively, the stay 10 may be modified to be a fence T-post. In either of these circumstances, the stay 10 may beneficially include plural bendable tabs 40 so that surfaces 42, created by bending the tabs to respective approximate right angles to the longitudinal centerline of the stay 10, may be used to provide leverage and surface area to drive the stay 10 into the ground, either under manual pressure or through the use of a hammer or equivalent instrument.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, the fence stay 10 may be attached to a row of wire or other such strand material using a clip 50 that includes two opposed hook members 52 and 54, respectively, that are conjoined by a central portion 56 of the hook. The hook members 52 are each respectively oriented at a right angle to both a length dimension of the central portion 56 as well as each other. Thus, as specifically shown in these figures, the hook 52 may be looped around a row of wire as it rests on a selective one of the ridges 18 of the stay 10, and the clip 50 then pulled around the back of the stay 10 and twisted so that the other hook 54 may also be looped around the wire 52. This twisting movement causes the hook 52 to press tightly against the wire so that the wire is securely pressed to the top of the ridge 18.

Although the foregoing description used examples of a line of barbed wire fence, or grape vines, to illustrate the utility of the disclosed stay, this illustration was exemplary only and is not intended as a limitation of the disclosed stay to these particular applications. In the same vein, the terms and expressions that have been employed in the foregoing specification are used therein as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention, in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, it being recognized that the scope of the invention is defined and limited only the claims that follow.

The terms and expressions which have been employed in the foregoing specification are used therein as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention, in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, it being recognized that the scope of the invention is defined and limited only by the claims which follow.

Claims

1. A stay comprising:

(a) an elongate member having a front surface; and

(b) a plurality of ridges extending from said front surface each capable of supporting a wire when said elongate member is in a vertical position.

2. The stay of claim 1 where said elongate member comprises metal having a substantially uniform thickness.

3. The stay of claim 2 where said metal is press-rolled to form said plurality of ridges.

4. The stay of claim 3 where said elongate member has a maximum depth transverse to a length of said stay, and where the ratio of said thickness to said depth is less than approximately 0.15.

5. A stay comprising:

(a) an elongate member having a cross section with a substantially uniform thickness over said cross section and a front face opposed to a rear face; where

(b) said front face defines at least one ridge extending from said front face and capable of supporting a wire when said elongate member is in a vertical position; and where

(c) said elongate member defines two supports, spaced apart from each other for supporting said stay when said rear face rests on a supporting surface.

6. The stay of claim 5 where said at least one ridge is approximately located at a longitudinal centerline of said stay and said supports are each positioned on a respectively opposed lateral side of said at least one ridge.

7. The stay of claim 5 where said supports each form a respective channel in said front surface.

8. The stay of claim 5 including opposed wing portions each positioned at the outer end of a respective one of said supports.

9. The stay of claim 6 where said front face has a substantially flat base surface from which said at least one ridge extends, and said opposed wing portions are oriented at an angle to said base surface.

10. The stay of claim 7 where a first said stay may be stacked with a second said stay such that the supports of said first stay nest in the channels of said second stay.

11. The stay of claim 5 including plural tabs at an end of said stay, said tabs capable of being, selectively manually bent to a position perpendicular to a longitudinal centerline of said stay.

12. In combination with a fence stay having a front surface and a plurality of ridges extending from said front surface each capable of supporting a wire when said elongate member is in a vertical position, a fastener for securing said stay to said wire, said fastener comprising:

(a) opposed first and second hooks each positioned at a respective end of an elongate connecting member, each said hook capable of engaging said wire; where said first hook is oriented at an approximate right angle to said second hook.

13. The combination of claim 12 where each of said first and second hooks are oriented at an approximate right angle to a length of said connecting member.

14. The combination of claim 12 where said stay comprises:

(a) an elongate member having a cross section with a substantially uniform thickness over said cross section and a front face opposed to a rear face; where

(b) said front face defines at least one ridge extending from said front face and capable of supporting a wire when said elongate member is in a vertical position; and where

(c) said elongate member defines two supports, spaced apart from each other for supporting said stay when said rear face rests on a supporting surface.

15. The stay of claim 14 where said at least one ridge is approximately located at a longitudinal centerline of said stay and said supports are each positioned on a respectively opposed lateral side of said at least one ridge.

16. The stay of claim 15 where said supports each form a respective channel in said front surface.

17. The stay of claim 15 including opposed wing portions each positioned at the outer end of a respective one of said supports.

18. The stay of claim 17 where said front face has a substantially flat base surface from which said at least one ridge extends, and said opposed wing portions are oriented at an angle to said base surface.

19. The stay of claim 15 where a first said stay may be stacked with a second said stay such that the supports of said first stay nest in the channels of said second stay.

20. The stay of claim 12 including plural tabs at an end of said stay, said tabs capable of being, selectively manually bent to a position perpendicular to a longitudinal centerline of said stay.