A quick action fastener suitable for fastening panels or the like in face-to-face contact, including a pierce nut adapted to be secured within one of the panels and a male stud inserted through the other panel and into a through-hole in the nut. The nut includes a central, pilot portion which is diepunched through the panel and a pair of undercut grooves on opposites sides of the pilot portion, into which edges of the panel are deformed in order to securely hold the nut on the panel. The nut includes a locking element extending across the through-hole which is received within and contacts with a spiral cam slot in the stud upon partial rotation of the stud to lock the stud in the nut and thereby securely fasten the panels together. In one embodiment, the stud is axially biased from the locking element by a spring captured between the head of the stud and one of the panels while another embodiment employs a pair of wire loops forming a spring support for the locking element. The nuts may be formed in a strip thereof and interconnected by frangible connections which are successively severed during automated die insertion of the nuts into a panel. In the strip form of the nuts, the locking element for each of the nuts is defined by a continuous frangible wire which extends along the strip and is severable at spaced between adjacent nuts during installation of the nuts into the panel.
The invention relates to a holding device for fixing a car body element to the structure of a motor vehicle. The inventive device is of the type that comprises a panel (10) formed by a sheet (11) which defines a support face that is adapted to co-operate with the car body clement and,which comprises means (14, 15) for locking to the car body clement and frangible means (16) for releasing the car body element. Said device also comprises an element (30) for quarter-turn fixing in an opening in the structure which is used to hold the assembly formed by the panel (10) and the car body element.
For use in a panel locking system a connecting means (or connector) comprising a pin having two ends and having disposed proximate one end a first laterally or radially extending appendage and proximate the second end a laterally or radially extending second appendage, said appendages extending laterally (or radially) away from the pin, each appendage being radially offset a predetermined number of degrees about the circumference of the pin from the other appendage, each appendage having at least one end and having disposed proximate each end, cam portions for engagement with cam surfaces disposed proximate first and second channels or openings of a panel system, said first appendage being radially oriented extending substantially normal to the central axis of said pin in a first direction and said remaining appendage being radially offset, said pin having disposed intermediate its ends between the appendages detent means for rotating said pin when assembling said furniture system; whereby rotation of said pin in a predetermined direction locks said first appendage in a first channel or opening and further rotation of said pin up to a predetermined amount locks the second appendage in a second channel or opening while retaining said first appendage in a locked position within said first channel or opening.
A fastener is provided having a bolt releasably securable to a nut. The bolt includes a collar and resilient locking prongs with shoulders to anchor the bolt to a first member, such as a grommet or panel, and the nut has a nut body and resilient locking prongs with shoulders to anchor the nut to a second body, such as a second grommet or panel. A bolt shank having several curved channels open at one end and having locking slots at the other end is insertable into a cavity in the nut which has engagement lugs disposed therein. Rotation of either the nut or the bolt causes the engagement lugs to travel within the channels and engage the locking slots, thereby securing the nut to the bolt. Either a spring washer or resilient collar material can be used to apply a locking force to urge the nut and bolt in opposite directions to ensure that the lugs remain in the locking slots. Pressing the lug and nut together with an unlocking force greater than the locking force allows the nut and bolt to disengage.
A cargo storage system for a vehicle having a cargo bay includes cover members adapted to cooperate with each other to at least partially cover and at least partially uncover the cargo bay. The system further includes two bracket assemblies configured to be connectable and disconnectable from the vehicle. The bracket assemblies are adapted to support at least one of the cover members above the other cover members when the bracket assemblies are connected to the vehicle such that the cover members are secured to the vehicle in a relatively stacked manner above the cargo bay and the cargo bay is at least partially uncovered. A method of storing a cargo cover is also provided.
A nut feed system and method of feeding nuts through a nut feed passage which avoids contact between the feed pawl and the nut bore. The end face of the nut includes a nut feed groove extending perpendicular to the nut bore and the free end of the feed pawl is received in the groove to drive the nuts through a nut feed passage without contacting the bore. The disclosed embodiment of the nut includes a counterbore through the end face and radial channel-shaped feed grooves and the feed pawl includes a cylindrical center portion and radial portions received in the counterbore and feed grooves.
