Ratchet Toggle Connector With Self-Locking Blind-Entry Fastening
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional fasteners for coupling workpieces, such as ratchet toggle fasteners, require significant user dexterity and are complex and expensive to manufacture, making them unsuitable for applications requiring simplicity and cost-effectiveness, especially when used in blind entries or by users with limited dexterity.
Innovation Solution
A ratchet toggle connector with an anchor ribbon and retaining cap, where the anchor ribbon has integrated gear racks and tapered wings, allowing for blind entry and secure fastening without additional tools, and can be manufactured as a single, lightweight, portable piece, often from plastic, facilitating easy use and assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional ratchet toggle fasteners are used, then secure fastening and blind entry capability are achieved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple separate components (anchor, toggle mechanism, ratchet bar, and fastener) into a single integrated ratchet toggle connector. This merging reduces the number of parts, simplifies assembly, and lowers manufacturing complexity while maintaining the secure fastening function through the integrated self-adjusting mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The ratchet toggle connector is designed as a multi-functional device that simultaneously provides blind entry capability, self-adjusting depth adaptation, irregular surface accommodation, and secure fastening in a single unit, eliminating the need for separate toggle retainers and fasteners.
2Adaptability or versatility
If conventional ratchet toggle fasteners are used, then blind entry capability is achieved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to required user dexterity
Solution Approach 1:
The ratchet toggle connector is designed to be self-installing through blind entries without requiring user dexterity for manual adjustment. The self-adjusting mechanism automatically adapts to the depth of the blind entry and irregular seating surfaces, eliminating the need for complex manual operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The device incorporates a dynamic self-adjusting mechanism that automatically adapts to varying blind entry depths and irregular surfaces during installation, providing ease of operation while maintaining blind entry capability across different conditions.
3Reliability
If conventional ratchet toggle fasteners are used, then secure fastening is achieved, but manufacturing cost increases due to multiple machined parts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates multiple previously separate machined parts into a single ratchet toggle connector, reducing manufacturing steps, tooling requirements, and assembly operations, thereby significantly lowering production costs while maintaining secure fastening performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the manufacturing approach from multiple precision-machined metal parts to a single molded or formed connector, altering the production parameters to reduce complexity and cost while achieving the same functional reliability.
4Adaptability or versatility
If conventional ratchet toggle fasteners are used, then adaptability to irregular surfaces is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The ratchet toggle connector integrates the adaptability to irregular surfaces directly into the single-unit design, eliminating the need for separate toggle retainers that would add complexity. The self-adjusting mechanism handles surface irregularities as part of its core functionality.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution simplifies the fastening process, reduces manufacturing complexity and costs, and is suitable for users with limited dexterity, making it particularly useful in applications like securing pipeline shield panels, while maintaining strong and reliable connections.
Implementation Method 1
The retaining cap forms a slot sized and shaped to receive the free end of the ribbon. In some embodiments, the anchor ribbon may have an integrated gear rack and the retaining cap may have an integrated pawl configured to engage the gear rack.
Implementation Method 2
The tapered wings are configured to bend into a collapsed state for passage of the anchor through an opening in a workpiece and to rebound to an expanded state following passage of the anchor through the opening to prevent retraction of the anchor through the opening.
Data Source
AI summary
A ratchet toggle connector for fastening together two or more workpieces. The fastener includes an anchor ribbon and a retaining cap. The anchor ribbon includes an extended ribbon with an integrated gear rack, and an integral anchor with a pair of bendable tapered wings. The retaining cap houses a pawl and a slot sized and shaped to receive a free end of the extended ribbon. In use, the gear rack and pawl engage to resist retraction of the retaining cap when the extended ribbon is received in the slot, and the wings are configured to bend toward the extended ribbon to a collapsed state for passage of the anchor through an opening in a workpiece and to rebound to an expanded state following passage of the anchor through the opening, to prevent retraction of the anchor through the opening.