FR2560267A1 - Improvement to training apparatus and fences (Production of equipment and use). - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to the production in two elements, three in some cases, of the equipment required for stretching, at the desired height and at the required spacing, of training or fencing wires. It consists of: 1. A post, preferably made of plastic, which may comprise projections S along the part driven into the ground, post having a series of catches b ensuring the height positioning of the fastening-rings; 2. Rings carrying clamps for receiving the wire; 3. If necessary, transverse bars also carrying a series of catches intended to maintain the transverse spacing of the rings on which the wires are clamped. The equipment made up in this way is particularly adapted to the training of vines, orchards, etc. as well as to the installation of fences (electric or otherwise).

Description

 The present invention relates to a material, its mode of production, incidentally the easy production of the tool and the tool itself for producing this material which eliminates the drawbacks presented by the skies and fasteners currently used in trellising and fences and, at the same time, takes the manufacturing of these stakes and fasteners from the stadeartl-sanal to the industrial stage.

 Indeed the training is traditionally carried out with wooden stakes but which are of irregular calibration, more or less twisted, which rot easily, which require the driving of so-called rider nails, from which it results an important use of my ; n-work as well as great risks of injuries. That is why attempts were attempted to use metal piles but which, independently of the fact that they rust quickly under the action of fertilizers, also present , major drawbacks: lack of insulation (which is very annoying in the case of electric fences); impossibility of regulating the height at which the wires must be exactly placed because the notches intended to receive them are fixed, in addition they hold the wires badly, their shape does not lend themselves, finally they rust and break, rendering the support unusable. As for the concrete piles, they are not very handy because they are very heavy; they do not allow the wires to be fixed easily since they must be passed through their entire length through holes crossing the pile (instead of stapling them) and especially the wires can not be fixed at the height chosen by the user; finally they are very expensive The invention described below overcomes all these drawbacks and also has many advantages. Indeed injection molding of a material judiciously chosen plastic (preferential method of obtaining the product, cited by way of example because of its convenience, but not being in any way limiting) allows mass production of elements all identiq They are therefore easily interchangeable, insulating, insensitive to frost and heat, insensitive to rust and microorganisms, requiring no maintenance (painting, galvanizing, creosotage, etc.). In addition, these cylindrical stakes (in the geometric sense of the term), are easily stackable during storage. They allow the use of a harvesting machine in the case of a vine. Robust since full, they can be driven in by machine (or ground). Lightweight, therefore inexpensive to transport, they are easily handled as well as implemented, hence saving personnel. The fasteners (or rings) allow easy, effective and instantaneous fixing of the wires at the desired height, wires which can be unwound along the line of the piles to be stapled on. Real construction set, this material allows the implementation with a wonderful simplicity of wires (including lifters in the case of a vine)> the installation of transverse bars (plantations of actinidia chinensis or Kiwi), the replacement. snapshot of a ring-attachment in the event that a hook, stressed by a very abnormal force, would deteriorate.

 This material is made up of two elements: piles, rings; incidentally a third: crossbar, if applicable.

These three elements are briefly described below but may have variants in their embodiments and combinations of these various variants
Stake. . - Made up of a cylindrical body1 (Figure I), it is terminated at one of its ends by a pointed part to allow insertion of it and at the end ppposed by a portion of a sphere (spherical cap). The pointed part may include a metallic element extending it (to facilitate the insertion of the pile into hard ground) and of which a part is trapped in the body of the pile to ensure a good connection between the two elements. The spherical cap is intended to facilitate the insertion of the pile by the machine and this is why the body which it covers is smooth over a certain length (of the order of 50 to 60 millimeters) to receive the bell of the machine.

 On the pointed side, the pile body can, possibly, over a length of a few decimeters (from I to 6 for example), be ovalized or even have protrusions) parallel to the generators of the pile and arranged, for example (Figure 2) , in the shape of a cross around the tip of the pile to prevent it from lying down under an external influence (wind, weight supported by the wires, etc.) in the case of loose soil or softened by rain.

 Finally, the pile body carries on one of its generators and over most of its length a succession of stops (b) regularly spaced. The axis of this line of stops is parallel to the axis of the pile and their distance between them (transverse axis) is slightly greater (of the order of a millimeter) than the length of a stop increased by the height of the ring described below.

 Each of these stops being obtained very easily in the mold by moving a few millimeters along the generator considered, a cost (knife for example) of 8 to 10 millimeters in diameter.

 Ring .- The ring-attachment (figure 3) is constituted by a cylinder of material which, seen in section, can be represented by a kind of ring of material (figure 4) with an internal diameter very slightly greater than that of stake (on the order of a millimeter).

On one side and over the entire height of the ring, it is deformed so that, by means of a hoop (a) whose internal dimensions are very slightly greater than those of the width and thickness of the stops (b), it can slide the along the pile without being stopped by the stops
This ring carries, on another side, one or more staples intended to retain the wire. The axial plane passing through the median generatrix of the arch and the median axial plane of the clip forming a certain dihedral.

 The preferred angle of this dihedral is, in the case of a single clip, of goP because, when the ring has reached the desired height on the pile, a rotation of 9 (the vertical plane passing through the axis of the pile and the axis of the stops being that of the line for setting up the piles) sets up the clip intended to receive the wire. The ring is immobilized in height by the two stops which surround it and any untimely rotation is prohibited by the stretched wire.

 In a simplified embodiment of the invention, it is possible to remove the ring and bring the molding clip directly onto the pile (FIG. 5) without departing from the scope of the invention, but it is quite obvious that such an embodiment deprives the user of a certain number of the advantages presented by the invention, in particular height adjustment of the wires, instant replacement of a deteriorated fastener, etc.

With regard to the clip itself, various embodiments can be envisaged, some of which are described below by way of examples but which in no way constitute an exhaustive list
In one of them, the clip, seen in section according to FIG. 3, consists of a hook (c) whose length is sufficient to give a certain plasticity allowing the passage of the wire (which is of a diameter only considerably greater to space (e) and) which normally comes, under the effect of gravity, to lodge in (t). If under the effect of an abnormal effort, the wire tends to want to come out of the staple, it is prevented by the curved shape of the hook. However, to avoid that, under the effect of an effort directed at the same time towards the top of the clip and towards the body of the ring (according to F1) the wire does not risk spreading the hook, a first small hook (C2), starting from the ring, is provided, 4 half-height between the point ( L) where the wire and the tip of the main hook are normally housed. This small hook (C2) leaves between its point and the wall of the main hook only a passage of width less than the diameter of the wire but nevertheless a little greater than the space (e) because the elasticity of the staple is more weak at this level. In this way, under the effect of a force directed along F1, the wire is blocked by the hook (C2).

If the force is directed along F2 (and sufficient for the wire to force the passage left by (Ca)), it is stopped by the main hook.

 In another embodiment, the clip can be constituted by two bent protuberances which, seen in section (figure 6), appear to be constituted by two "hook nails" driven into the pile, appearing "tste-tarpaulin" and connected to the pile by two brackets of material which not only give solidity to these hooks but also facilitate in the case of a vine, the sliding of the beaters of the harvesting machine on these hooks.

 Another embodiment may consist of two beads of material, both arranged in an arc of a circle at the end of the hook.

The connection to the body of the ring of the bead close to the curved part of the hook can be constituted by an inclined plane (FIG. 7) so as to facilitate access of the wire to its normal fixing position (tf).

 Another embodiment can consist of a notch in the pile while the hook carries a protuberance of material comprising, seen in section (FIG. 8), on the one hand a partial housing of the wire just opposite the notch as well as 'an inclined plane facilitating the access of the wire to its normal fixing position. It is quite obvious that, whatever the direction of the stress required citing the wire, the latter is always "trapped" by the clip, either by its hook, or by the housing (L).

 The ring can also (and whatever the embodiment) be used by reversing the sefl in which it is threaded on the pile, its upper face then becoming its lower face and vice versa (Figure 3a). In this case also the wire is securely retained in the desired position by resting by gravity on the small hook (C2) or on the main hook and any force directed upwards can, at worst, only place it in the housing (L) that constitutes the hook attachment on the ring. As soon as this force, accidental or not, ceases to apply, the wire falls back to its initial position in the hook (C2) or in the main hook. This mode of use of the ring can also have an advantage in case of fixing the son of a vine harvested by machine because the beaters tend to slide on the inclined part which attaches the staple to the ring.

 It is obvious that any combination of these various embodiments of the clip (not limiting, moreover) as well as the device described in the paragraph below are within the scope of the invention.

 I1 is said above that the ring may include several staples intended to retain the wire. In the case of a plurality of staples, these may be other diametrically opposite (FIG. 5), for, for example, the fixing of the lifting wires in the case of a vine. They can also be placed (Figure 9) on either side of the axial plane defined by the dihedral which is discussed in Figure 4, axial plane forming an angle of 90 'with the axial plane passing through the middle geniratricc of the arch .These staples can, in particular, be placed "head to tail". This arrangement further strengthens the effectiveness of their action and wedges the wire against the ring (which can also be provided with a notch halfway up the staples) while leaving the free play of the wire in the longitudinal direction because it it should be noted that all the embodiments and all the devices described here allow the wire to slide freely in the staples under the effect1 either of an abnormal force at any point of the wire, or when it lengthens as a result longitudinal expansion due to heat or shrinks under the action of cold. This sliding latitude prevents any deterioration of the staples because of the considerable tensions which would otherwise develop.

 In the case of using the transverse bars described below, it is useful that the clip is always on the side of the upper generator of the bar so that the wire (and the weight it supports) are in contact with the bar instead of removing the hook from the ring (as would happen if it was on the side of the lower generator of the bar).

 To obtain this result one can use (figure I0) a pin crossing the ring and the bar while passing by a hole coming from molding, but it is also possible to obtain this orientation by increasing the mass of the arch (the stops of the bar being placed, in accordance with the drawing in FIGS. 11 and 12, along the upper generatrix of the bar), and this, either by clearly increasing the thickness of the ring at this location, or by placing a ballast (metallic by example) in the noule, ballast which would be trapped by the material during the molding of the ring.

 Crossbars .- In certain orchards and, in particular in those where the cultivation of actinioia chinensis is practiced, it is useful to use crossbars maintaining the spacing of the wires supporting this liana. These bars are either straight (Figure 11) or bent at their ends (Figure 12).

A convenient embodiment of these crossbars consists (Figures 11 and 12) of molding a cylinder closed at its upper part and intended to cover the vertical post previously sunk into the ground. This cylinder carries, diametrically opposite, the half-bars. These can include gussets (g) starting from the cylinder to give them more solidity. Gussets can also be produced between the horizontal part and the inflected part (case of Figure I2). Two holes coming from molding and corresponding to holes, also coming from molding, made 'at the upper part of the pile allow, if it is deemed useful, to fasten these transverse bars with the vertical pile by means of two small bolts. On the other hand, the upper generatrix of these bars may comprise, over a certain length, a row of stops (b) allowing the precise positioning of the fastening rings intended to effect the fixing of the wires at the desired spacing.
Finally, the upper part of the cylinder may have one or more groups of son passages similar to those of FIG. 6 or even bent in arches (FIG. I3). In the case where there is more than one group of passage of wires, it is advantageous to orient them in such a way that each of them presents itself 'head to tail compared to the previous one.

 Finally, in order to be able to easily replace a damaged passage of wires among those found at the upper part of the cylinder, one can provide a part (FIG. 14) constituted by two cylinder portions (carrying holes allowing them to be solida riser to * wec the cylinder and the vertical pile by means of the above-mentioned bolts or a threaded rod due to the length of material to be crossed) connected together by a flat strip carrying the passage of wires.

 It should be noted that the design of all the equipment described above makes it possible to produce the latter with extremely simple, therefore robust tools (molds), the production of which requires only extraordinarily easy machining.

Claims (9)

 Claims I) Equipment for training vines, orchards, etc. and making fences (electric or not), characterized by the fact that it constitutes a real construction set using only two parts: pile and ring-attachments evening access three parts (by the interposition of transverse bars ). These various parts allow fast, easy and efficient fixing of the wires exactly at the desired height and at the spacing desired by the user of this material. 2) Equipment according to claim I characterized in that its production is carried out easily, in large series, by injection of plastic material into a mold, simple, robust mold, easy to machine 3) Material according to claim d characterized in that it is insulating, insensitive to rust, the action of micro-organlsm.es. 4) Mat5riel according to claim- I characterized in that the pile has at its upper part a smooth part of a certain length allowing the driving in the machine and a spherical cap to receive the bell of said machine 5) HatXriel according to claim 1 characterized in that the lower part of the stake may comprise projections, projections arranged, possibly t in the form of a cross and intended to prevent the stake from lying down 6) Equipment according to claim I characterized by the presence of stops along a generator of the pile, stops allowing the positioning, at the height chosen by the user of this material, a bsgae-fastener. 7) Equipment according to claims 2 and 6 characterized in that this ring-attachment carries one or more staples (can be arranged "head to tail" to enhance their action) whose layout allows the beaters of a harvesting machine to slide on them without damaging them, staples using, to allow the positioning of the wire, the elasticity of the material constituting them 8) Material according to claim I characterized in that the stops are located along the upper generatrix of the crossbar and that these crossbars are secured to the vertical pile which carries them, by ie central cylinder which they radiate and which itself includes a wire fixing device 9) Equipment according to claim I characterized by the almost instantaneous interchangeability of the elements constituting it thanks to the design thereof.