Wall anchors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10539266-B2
Application number	US-201615195132-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 28, 2016
Priority date	Jun 30, 2015
Publication date	Jan 21, 2020
Grant date	Jan 21, 2020

Abstract

A wall anchors in the form of a base with one or more wall penetrating retainers having respective wall penetrating extents that are curved. The retainers and base are configured to enable manual insertion onto wall without the use of tools.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An anchor for hanging an object on a wall, comprising:
a base having front, back, top, bottom, left and right sides, at least one hook member extends forwardly from the base, at least one wall penetrating retainer extending from the base, the wall penetrating retainer including a wall penetrating extent that protrudes rearwardly of the base and has a curved configuration, the wall penetrating extent has a substantially arcuate configuration, wherein the base plate and the wall penetrating retainer are formed as a monolithic unit of metal plate construction and each of the base plate and wall penetrating retainer have a tensile yield strength of no less than 160 KSI and a minimum elongation of 3%;
wherein a center of a radius of curvature of the wall penetrating extent is located substantially at a rear corner of the base where the bottom side of the base meets the back side of the base.

2. The anchor of claim 1 wherein a radius of curvature of the wall penetrating extent is between 1.20 inches and 1.45 inches.

3. The anchor of claim 2 wherein the wall penetrating retainer is a first wall penetrating retainer, the wall penetrating extent is a first wall penetrating extent, the anchor further includes a second wall penetrating retainer extending from the base, the second wall penetrating retainer spaced laterally from the first wall penetrating retainer, the second wall penetrating retainer including a second wall penetrating extent that protrudes rearwardly of the base and has a curved configuration, wherein the second wall penetrating extent has an arcuate configuration, wherein the first wall penetrating extent and the second wall penetrating extent are substantially identical in shape and size.

4. An anchor for hanging an object on a wall, comprising:
a base having front and back sides, at least one wall penetrating retainer extending from the base, the wall penetrating retainer including a wall penetrating extent that protrudes rearwardly of the base and has a substantially arcuate configuration, a distal side edge of the base defines a pivot axis about which the base can pivot when the distal side is positioned against a wall, and a center point of a radius of curvature of the wall penetrating extent is located in substantial alignment with the pivot axis so as to facilitate rotational insertion of the wall penetrating retainer into the wall;
wherein the base comprises a plate having a first thumb capture zone and a second thumb capture zone, the wall penetrating retainer is a first wall penetrating retainer, the anchor further includes a second wall penetrating retainer extending from the base, the second wall penetrating retainer spaced from the first wall penetrating retainer, wherein the first thumb capture zone is positioned toward the first wall penetrating retainer such that an install force applied by a first user thumb at the first thumb capture zone is substantially directed to the first wall penetrating retainer, and the second thumb capture zone is positioned toward the second wall penetrating retainer such that an install force applied by a second user thumb at the second thumb capture zone is substantially directed to the second wall penetrating retainer;
wherein the first thumb capture zone extends laterally outward beyond a lateral location of the first wall penetrating retainer and the second thumb capture zone extends laterally outward beyond a lateral location of the second wall penetrating retainer.

5. The anchor of claim 4 wherein the pivot axis is located substantially at a rear corner of the base where the distal side of the base meets the back side of the base.

6. The anchor of claim 4 wherein the radius of curvature of the wall penetrating extent is between 1.20 inches and 1.45 inches.

7. The anchor of claim 4 wherein the wall penetrating retainer is a first wall penetrating retainer, the wall penetrating extent is a first wall penetrating extent, the anchor further includes a second wall penetrating retainer extending from the base, the second wall penetrating retainer spaced from the first wall penetrating retainer, the second wall penetrating retainer including a second wall penetrating extent that protrudes rearwardly of the base and has a substantially arcuate configuration, where a radius of curvature of the second wall penetrating extent is substantially equal to the radius of curvature of the first wall penetrating extent.

8. The anchor of claim 4 wherein the distal side of the base is defined by a pair of spaced apart legs having aligned distal ends.

9. The anchor of claim 8 wherein the pivot axis is substantially aligned with a rear corner of each of the aligned distal ends.

10. The anchor of claim 4 wherein the wall penetrating extent includes a maximum average surface roughness of no more than 20 μinch.

11. The anchor of claim 10 wherein the wall penetrating extent has at least one of a polished surface finish, a plated surface finish, a painted finish, or a lubricant incorporated into its surface finish.

12. The anchor of claim 4 wherein the first thumb capture zone is formed as a first ear-shaped portion of the plate and the second thumb capture zone is formed as a second ear-shaped portion of the plate.

13. The anchor of claim 4 wherein one or more portions of the back side of the base lie in a wall mount plane for abutting a wall surface when the anchor is installed, and wherein a perpendicular distance between the wall mount plane and a distal end of the wall penetrating retainer is no more than 0.50 inches.

14. The anchor of claim 4 wherein one or more portions of back side of the base lie in a wall mount plane for abutting a wall surface when the anchor is installed, and wherein a perpendicular distance between the wall mount plane and a distal end of the wall penetrating retainer is between 0.44 inches and 0.50 inches for assuring that when the anchor is installed on a wallboard that is ½ inch thick the wall penetrating retainer will approach but not pass through a back side of the wallboard.

15. The anchor of claim 4 wherein the wall penetrating extent includes a pointed distal end and a substantially uniform cross-section along a remainder of the wall penetrating extent, and a total retainer cross-sectional area of the wall penetrating extent is no more than 5 mm 2 , wherein the cross-section is taken perpendicularly to a lengthwise axis of the wall penetrating extent at any location along the wall penetrating extent.

16. The anchor of claim 4 wherein the base and the wall penetrating retainer are formed as a monolithic unit of metal plate construction, the base formed by a base plate, and the wall penetrating retainer extends from one edge of the base plate, wherein the base plate and the wall penetrating retainer each have a tensile yield strength of no less than 160 KSI and a minimum elongation of 3%.

17. The anchor of claim 16 wherein the base plate and the wall penetrating retainer each have a thickness of no more than 0.052 inches.

18. An anchor for hanging an object on a wall, comprising:
a base having front and back sides, at least one wall penetrating retainer extending from the base, the wall penetrating retainer including a wall penetrating extent that protrudes rearwardly of the base and has a substantially arcuate configuration, a distal side of the base defines a pivot axis about which the base can pivot when the distal side is positioned against a wall, and a center point of a radius of curvature of the wall penetrating extent is located substantially proximate the pivot

Assignees

• Hillman Group Inc

Inventors

• Will Gary E
• Grice Byron K
• Malott Dale G

Classifications

• A47G1/22

  Pin plates · CPC title

• A47G2001/0672

  employing magnets · CPC title

• B43L1/00

  Repeatedly-usable boards or tablets for writing or drawing (drawing-boards B43L5/00) · CPC title

• A47G29/10

  Key holders; Key boards (key cases A45C11/32) · CPC title

• A47G1/20 Primary

  Picture hooks; X-hooks (plugs or hooks for general use F16B13/00, F16B45/00) · CPC title