ELBOW FOR FENCE POST

Abstract

An elbow for fence post includes an elbow body and a connector. The elbow body and the fence post are connected through the connector. An insertion hole is opened in the middle of the connector, and the lower end of the elbow body is configured to be inserted into the insertion hole under an interference fit. The outer ring of the connector has an annular groove which is configured to be embeds into the upper end of the post and connects with the external diameter under an interference fit.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and the benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 201721213811.5, filed on Sep. 20, 2017, in the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The following description relates to an elbow for fence post, an assembled fence post including the same, and an assembled fence including the same.

2. Description of the Related Art

For fence posts with elbows, the fence posts between every two fence units have the connecting and support role. Accordingly, the external diameter (or cross-section) of the fence posts would be much larger than that of the fence (e.g., the fence bars). As to the connecting method between the fence (e.g., fence bar) and the fence post, Chinese patent application number 200810154947.2, which was filed by the applicant of the current application, discloses a connection device including a connecting rod, an upper and a lower connecting piece and a spring connecting piece. This approach has made the welding unnecessary.

SUMMARY

Aspects according to one or more embodiments of the present invention are directed toward an elbow for fence posts, a method of utilizing the elbow, and an assembled fence including the elbow.

Additional aspects will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the presented embodiments.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an elbow for fence post includes an elbow body having an upper end and a lower end facing away from the upper end; and a connector. The connector includes an insertion hole in a middle thereof configured to be connected with the lower end of the elbow body under an interference fit and a groove extending along an outer edge thereof to be connected with an upper end of the fence post under an interference fit.

The insertion hole may have a circular cross section and the groove may have a circular cross section.

The connector may be formed of a plastic material.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method of assembling an elbow on a fence post includes: attaching a connector to an upper end of the fence post, and attaching a lower end of an elbow body to the connector. The elbow includes the elbow body and the connector, the connector includes an insertion hole in a middle thereof to be connected with the lower end of the elbow body under an interference fit and a groove extending along an outer edge thereof to be connected with the upper end of the fence post under an interference fit.

The method may further include attaching a screw to laterally fix the connector, the fence post and the elbow body.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a fence includes a fence post, and an elbow. The elbow includes an elbow body having an upper end and a lower end facing away from the upper end; and a connector. The connector includes an insertion hole in a middle thereof to be connected with the lower end of the elbow body under an interference fit and a groove extending along an outer edge thereof to be connected with an upper end of the fence post under an interference fit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an elbow on a fence post.

FIG. 2 is an expanded view of section I of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of the connector.

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of the assembly of an elbow on a fence post.

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of the assembly of an elbow on a fence post.

In the drawings, some of the reference numerals are:

1—elbow body, 2—connector, 3—post, 4—insertion hole, 5—annular groove.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in more detail to embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. In this regard, the present embodiments may have different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the descriptions set forth herein. Accordingly, the embodiments are merely described below, by referring to the figures, to explain aspects of the present description. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Expressions such as “at least one of,” when preceding a list of elements, modify the entire list of elements and do not modify the individual elements of the list. Further, the use of “may” when describing embodiments of the present invention refers to “one or more embodiments of the present invention.”

As used herein, the terms “substantially,” “about,” and similar terms are used as terms of approximation and not as terms of degree, and are intended to account for the inherent deviations in measured or calculated values that would be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art. Also, any numerical range recited herein is intended to include all sub-ranges of the same numerical precision subsumed within the recited range. For example, a range of “1.0 to 10.0” is intended to include all subranges between (and including) the recited minimum value of 1.0 and the recited maximum value of 10.0, that is, having a minimum value equal to or greater than 1.0 and a maximum value equal to or less than 10.0, such as, for example, 2.4 to 7.6. Any maximum numerical limitation recited herein is intended to include all lower numerical limitations subsumed therein and any minimum numerical limitation recited in this specification is intended to include all higher numerical limitations subsumed therein. Accordingly, Applicant reserves the right to amend this specification, including the claims, to expressly recite any sub-range subsumed within the ranges expressly recited herein.

Spatially relative terms, such as “below,” “beneath,” “lower,” “above,” “upper,” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the drawings. It will be understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the drawings.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail by explaining example embodiments of the invention with reference to the attached drawings. Sizes of components in the drawings may be exaggerated for convenience of explanation. In other words, since sizes and thicknesses of components in the drawings are arbitrarily illustrated for convenience of explanation, the following embodiments are not limited thereto.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an assembled fence post. FIG. 2 is an expanded view of section I of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a schematically illustration of the connector.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, an elbow 100 for a fence post 3 includes an elbow body 1 and a connector 2. The elbow body 1 has an upper end and a lower end facing away from the upper end. The connector 2 includes an insertion hole 4 in the middle thereof and a groove 5 extending along an outer edge (e.g., at the outer ring) of the connector 2.

The connector 2 includes the insertion hole 4 in the middle thereof configured to be connected to the lower end of the elbow body 1 under an interference fit and the groove 5 extending along the outer edge thereof configured to be connected to the fence post 3 under an interference fit.

The elbow body 1 and the post 3 are connected through the connector 2, with the lower end of the elbow body 1 inserted into the insertion hole 4 under an interference fit (e.g., a friction fit). An upper end of the post 3 is inserted into the groove 5 at the outer edge of the connector 2 under an interference fit.

The insertion hole 4 has a shape that matches with the shape of the lower end of the elbow body 1. For example, if the lower end of the elbow body 1 has a circular shape (e.g., a circular cross section), the insertion hole 4 also has a circular shape to accommodate the lower end of the elbow body 1 with an interference fit. The diameter (e.g., inner diameter) of the insertion hole 4 may be slightly greater than the outer diameter of the lower end of the elbow body 1. For example, the diameter of the insertion hole 4 may be 0.01 to 0.02 mm greater than the outer diameter of the lower end of the elbow body 1.

The insertion hole 4 may be defined by one or more side walls 4A and a bottom surface 4B. The one (e.g., 1 side wall when the insertion hole has a circular cross section) or more (e.g., 4 side walls when the insertion hole has a rectangular cross section) side walls 4A form the shape and space to accommodate the lower end of the elbow body 1 under an interference fit. The elbow body 1 is inserted into the insertion hole 4 through an opening on top and rests on the bottom surface 4B of the insertion hole 4. The insertion hole may have a depth of about 50 mm to about 125 mm, for example, about 75 mm to about 100 mm. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the shape of the lower end of the elbow body and the shape of the insertion hole may be any suitable shape, e.g., star shaped, triangular shaped, trapzoid shaped, irregular shaped, etc.

The post 3 may be a hollow tube with an external diameter (or cross-section) that is greater (e.g., much greater) than that of the elbow body 1. The post 3 may have a post wall 3A with a set thickness TH1. The groove (e.g., annular groove) 5 extending along the outer edge of the connector 2 has a shape matches with the shape of the post wall. The groove 5 has an inner wall 5A, an outer wall 5B, and a bottom surface 5C defining the groove 5 therebetween. The portion of the connector 2 surrounded by the inner wall 5A fits inside the hollow space of the post 3 defined by the post wall 3A. The upper end of the post 3 is inserted into the groove 5 through an opening facing downward under an interference fit. For example, when the post 3 has a circular cross section, the groove 5 also has a circular shape to accommodate the upper end of the post 3, and the outer diameter of groove 5 (i.e., the diameter of the outer wall 5B) may be slightly greater than the outer diameter of the upper end of the post 3. For example, the outer diameter (i.e., the diameter of the outer wall 5B) of the groove 5 may be 0.01 to 0.02 mm greater than the outer diameter of the upper end of the post 3.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show a schematic illustration of the assembly of an elbow on a fence post. Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, during assembly stage, the connector 2 is connected to the post 3 by inserting the upper end of post 3 into the groove 5 of the connector 2. The outer diameter of annular groove 5 connects with the outer diameter of post 3 under an interference fit. For example, the interference amount (e.g., the difference in the diameter or length of corresponding sides) may be within 0.01-0.02 mm. After that, the lower end of elbow body 1 is inserted into the insertion hole 4 of the connector 2. The inner diameter of insertion hole 4 connects with the outer diameter of the lower end of elbow body 1 under an interference fit. For example, the interference amount (e.g., the difference in the diameter or length of corresponding sides) may be within 0.01-0.02 mm.

Moreover, a screw can be used to clasp (fix or secure) the post 3, the connector 2 and elbow body 1 laterally together so as to make the assembly more durable and reliable.

The connector 2 may be made of any suitable material, such as a metal (e.g., iron, stainless steel, copper, etc.), a plastic material (e.g., engineering plastic, ABS, rubber, etc.), or a ceramic material. The connector according to embodiments of the present disclosure is not only simple in terms of its structure, but also can be produced at a low cost, for example, it can be made of plastic.

While a curved elbow has been shown in the figures, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, a straight shaped elbow may be connected to a fence post utilizing the connector described above.

With the above structure, the elbow for a fence post directly connects the elbow body and the post with the connector to replace the conventional approach of a connection device consisting of a connecting rod, an upper and a lower connecting piece and a spring connecting piece, etc., thus has such merits as simplified structure, low cost and convenience to installation.

It should be understood that the example embodiments described therein should be considered in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. Descriptions of features or aspects within each embodiment should typically be considered as available for other similar features or aspects in other embodiments.

While one or more embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the figures, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims, and equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. An elbow for a fence post, the elbow comprising:

an elbow body having an upper end and a lower end facing away from the upper end; and

a connector,

wherein the connector comprises an insertion hole in a middle thereof to be connected with the lower end of the elbow body under an interference fit and a groove extending along an outer edge thereof to be connected with an upper end of the fence post under an interference fit.

2. The elbow of claim 1, wherein the insertion hole has a circular cross section and is configured to be connected with the lower end of the elbow body under an interference fit, and

the groove has a circular cross section and is configured to be connected with the upper end of the fence post under an interference fit.

3. The elbow of claim 1, wherein the connector is formed of a plastic material.

4. A method of assembling an elbow on a fence post, the method comprising:

attaching a connector to an upper end of the fence post, and

attaching a lower end of an elbow body to the connector,

wherein the elbow comprises the elbow body and the connector,

the connector comprises an insertion hole in a middle thereof to be connected with the lower end of the elbow body under an interference fit and a groove extending along an outer edge thereof to be connected with the upper end of the fence post under an interference fit.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising attaching a screw to laterally fix the connector, the fence post and the elbow body.

6. A fence comprising:

a fence post, and

an elbow,

wherein the elbow comprises:

an elbow body having an upper end and a lower end facing away from the upper end; and

a connector,

wherein the connector comprises an insertion hole in a middle thereof to be connected with the lower end of the elbow body under an interference fit and a groove extending along an outer edge thereof to be connected with an upper end of the fence post under an interference fit.

7. The fence of claim 6, wherein the connector is made of a plastic material.