Decorative Mounting Hardware With Concealed Fastener Head
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing architectural hardware components, such as rivets, nails, pins, and nut/bolt/washer connectors, are often expensive and require specialized skills and tools for installation, making them inaccessible to most consumers who want to achieve an aesthetic old-world design in construction projects.
Innovation Solution
The development of hardware components with a base and cap portion configuration, featuring concentric threaded surfaces, allowing for easy installation using conventional tools and enabling both decorative and structural applications, mimicking antique designs at a lower cost.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If actual antique hardware components or reproductions are used, then aesthetic design quality is improved, but cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a copy of antique hardware aesthetics through a two-part construction: a decorative cap portion that mimics the appearance of antique rivets, nails, or pins, and a functional base portion with threaded surfaces. This allows the aesthetic qualities of antique hardware to be replicated without using actual antique components or expensive reproductions, resolving the contradiction between aesthetic quality and cost.
2Shape
If actual antique hardware components are used, then aesthetic design quality is improved, but installation difficulty increases due to specialized skills and tools required
Solution Approach 1:
The hardware component is divided into two separate portions: a decorative cap portion and a functional base portion with threaded surfaces. This segmentation allows the base portion to be installed using conventional tools and skills (similar to standard bolts or screws), while the cap portion provides the antique aesthetic. The threaded connection between portions enables easy assembly and disassembly, resolving the contradiction between aesthetic quality and installation ease.
3Shape
If decorative cap with fixed mounting device is used, then aesthetic appearance is achieved, but structural support capability is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the decorative function (cap portion with domed outer surface resembling antique hardware) and the structural function (base portion with threaded surfaces for secure mounting) into a single integrated component. The threaded connection between the cap and base portions creates a unified assembly that provides both aesthetic appearance and structural support capability, resolving the contradiction between these two functions.
4Ease of operation
If conventional mounting devices are used, then installation ease is improved, but architectural hardware aesthetic is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The cap portion is designed to copy the aesthetic appearance of antique architectural hardware (rivets, nails, pins) while the base portion uses conventional threaded surfaces for easy installation. This copying approach allows the component to maintain traditional aesthetic qualities while utilizing modern, easy-to-install mounting mechanisms, resolving the contradiction between installation ease and architectural aesthetic.
Data Source
AI summary
A hardware component imitating a nut/bolt/washer connection for structural members includes a base portion with a disc-shaped base plate and a cylindrical member including an outer surface in the shape of a hex nut. The disc-shaped base plate extends radially to the cylindrical member and imitates a washer. The disc-shaped base plate includes a first opening having a first diameter and the cylindrical member includes a second opening having a second diameter, where the first and second openings are concentric and said second diameter is larger diameter than said first diameter. The first opening is sized to receive therethrough a shaft of a mounting device, and the second opening is sized to receive therein a head of said mounting device.