GB2192926A - Improvements in or relating to a hook - Google Patents

Abstract

A spring hook is provided which comprises a conventional steel hook 1 in combination with a synthetic spring member 2 which forms a gate across an opening leading into the load carrying part of the hook and functions to resist accidental load release. The arrangement disclosed provides the strength of steel for the load carrying part of the hook, together with the flexibility of a synthetic material for the spring member. The spring member may be simply snap fitted into position on the hook. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in or relating to a hook The present invention relates to a hook and more particularly to a spring hook, i.e., a hook provided with a spring member which acts as a gate or keeper across the entrance to the load carrying part of the hook. The spring member is biased to a closed position and its function is to prevent a component received by the hook from accidently becoming disengaged therefrom One particular prior proposed spring hook comprises a conventional steel hook in combination with a steel spring mem ber. The spring member is in the form of a "planar" spring comprising two arms of unequal length interconnected at one end. With the spring in a relaxed state the two arms lie in a common plane. The free ends of the arms terminate in inwardly directed fingers.

The spring is attached to a hook by inserting -the fingers into bore holes provided in the main body of the hook. The bore holes in the hook are arranged such that when the fingers are inserted into the bores, the spring is distorted out of its planar relaxed state, so that the two arms of the spring no longer lie in a common plane. The spring will naturally tend to return to its relaxed state and this tendancy biases the end of the spring where the two arms are interconnected into engagement with the free end of the hook, such that the spring forms a gate across the apening to the load carrying part of the hook with the spring being biased to a closed position. This particular arrangement is shown in Figure 1 of the ac companying drawings.

Whilst the above described spring hook performs its function adequately, it will be readily appreciated that this arrangement is rather ex pensive and awkward to produce. Accurately positioned bore holes must be provided in the main body of the hook in order to achieve the correct biasing of the spring member. It is also rather awkward to assemble the spring member on the hook due to the natural ten dancy of the spring to return to its relaxed state. Thus, this particular arrangement is both labour intensive and time consuming to pro duce.

It has been previously proposed to form a spring hook as a single component from a plastics material. Whilst this particular arrange ment is particularly appealing from a manufacturing point of view, it has been found difficult to achieve the required strength for the load carrying part of the hook together with the necessary flexibility for the spring member when the spring hook is formed from a single material.

The present invention therefore seeks to provide an improved spring hook which func tions adequately, whilst being economic to manufacture.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a hook arrangement, said arrangement comprising a hook formed from a substantially rigid material, said hook defining an opening extending into a throat, and a separate resilient member formed from a synthetic material adapted to be mounted on said hook to form a gate extending across said opening.

Preferably, said resilient member comprises an elongate, flexible region provided at one end with an integrally formed, substantially rigid portion defining means for mounting the member on said hook.

Conveniently, said hook has a main body portion, a first curved portion at one end thereof which defines said throat and a reverse curved portion formed at the other end of the main body portion of the hook, said resilient member being adapted to have one end thereof mounted on said reverse curved portion.

Advantageously, the first curved portion is a substantially semicircular arcuate region, which extends into a lip which is substantially parallel to the main body portion of the hook, the main body portion, the arcuate region and the lip defining said opening and said throat.

Preferably, the means for mounting the resilient member on the hook comprise a recess formed in the said rigid portion dimensioned to receive and engage part of said reverse curved portion, so that the resilient member may be snap fastened to the reverse curved portion.

Preferably, said flexible region of said resilient member is at least partly bifurcated, the main body portion being dimensioned to be received between said bifurcation.

Conveniently, the end of said flexible region, which is remote from the end adapted to be mounted on said hook incorporates a recess dimensioned to engage part of the hook defining the throat.

The bifurcation of the flexible region may terminate approximately centrally along the length of said elongate flexible region, the elongate flexible region extending further as a single flexible arm, or alternatively the bifurcation of the flexible region may extend over the entire length thereof.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a resilient member comprising an elongate, flexible region provided at one end with an integrally formed, substantially rigid portion defining rnounting means, the mounting means being in the form of a substantially cylindrical recess in said rigid portion.

Preferably, said flexible region is at least partly bifurcated.

Conveniently, the end of said flexible region which is remote from the end provided with said mounting means incorporates an arcuate recess.

The bifurcation of the flexible region may terminate approximately centrally along the length of said elongate flexible region, the elongate flexible region extending further as a single flexible arm, or alternatively, the bifurcation of the flexible region may extend over the entire length thereof.

In order that the present invention may be more readily understood, and so that further features thereof may be appreciated, the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIGURE 1 shows the previously proposed spring hook arrangement described above; FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a hook in accordance with the present invention; FIGURE 3 is a perspective-view of the spring member of the hook shown in Figure 2; FIGURE 4 is a perspective- view of an alternative embodiment of a hook in accordance with the present invention; and FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the spring member of the hook shown in Figure 4.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 2 shows a conventional steel hook 1 together with a spring member 2 formed from a synthetic material. The hook 1 comprises a linear main body portion 3 which is formed with a substantially semi-circular arcuate portion 4 at its lower end, the arcuate portion 4 terminating with an upwardly projecting lip 5. The lip 5 of the hook extends substantially parallel to the main body portion 3 of the hook. The arcuate portion 4 forms the load carrying part of the hook 1, that is to say the part of the hook that engages an item such as a rope, ring or shackle that is used with the hook, and together with the main body portion 3 and the lip 5 defines an opening 6 extending into a throat 7 of the hook.The throat of the hook is a region, surrounded by the arcuate portion 4,- which is occupied by an item such as a rope or a ring or a -shackle engaged by the hook. The main body portion 3 of the hook 1 is formed with a reverse curved portion 8 at its upper end, the free end 9 of the reverse curved portion 8 being located adjacent, but slighty spaced from, the main body portion 3 of the hook 1. The hook may be formed by bending or forming an elongate member which may be of any suitable cross-section, i.e. circular or octagonal, and which may be stainless steel.

Figure 3 shows the spring member 2 in perspective view, this member being integrally moulded from a suitable synthetic material, such as an appropriate acetal. The spring member 2 comprisises a substantially rigid connecting portion 10, together with an integrally formed, flexible, substantially linear region 11. The connecting portion 10 defines a horseshoe shaped, cylindrical aperture 12 suitable for receiving the free end 9 of the reverse curved portion 8 of the hook 1. A bridging region 13 connects the connecting portion 10 to the flexible region 11. In the flexible region 11 the spring member bifurcates into two parallel arms 14. The two arms 14 are interconnected at their free ends by an interconnection 15 which defines an arcuate recess 16. The arcuate recess 16 corresponds in shape substantially to the exterior shape of the elongate element that forms the hook 1.

The spring member 2 may be located on the hook 1 by placing the spring member over the lip 5 of the hook, so that the horseshoe shaped aperture 12 is positioned facing downwardly with the lip 5 passing between the two arms 14 of the flexible region 11 of the spring, and then passing the spring around the arcuate region 4 and up along the main body portion 3 of the hook 1. The spring member 2 may then be snap fitted onto the hook 1 by pressing the connecting portion 10 of the spring onto the free end 9 of the reverse curved portion 8 of the hook. The horseshoe shaped aperture 12 is dimensioned so that the free end 9 of the reverse curved portion 8 is received snugly therein with a snap fitting action and the bridging region 13 is dimensioned such that it will fit into the space between the free end 9 of the reverse curved portion 8 and the main body portion 3 of the hook.The flexible region 11 of the hook thus extends across the opening 6, and the interconnection 15 engages the lip 5 of the hook which is received in the recess 16. The flexible region 11 is slightly deformed so that the interconnection 15 is resiiiently biased into contact with the lip 5.

The spring member 2 will now be mounted in position on the hook 1 as shown in Figure 2. It can be seen that the spring member 2 forms a gate or keeper across the opening 6 extending into the throat 7 of the hook 1. The natural resilience of the spring member 2 biases the interconnection 15 at the free end of the spring member into engagement with the lip 5 of the hook. The flexible region 11 of the spring member posseses sufficient flexibility to allow it to be displaced to the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 2, thus giving access to the throat 7 of the hook 1. Thus a component which is to be received by the hook 1 may be pressed against the flexible region 11 of the spring member 2 so as to displace this flexible region 11 and gain access to the throat of the hook. Once the component is received within the throat 7 of the hook 1 the flexible region 11 of the spring member returns to its original position as shown in Figure 2. Should the component tend to rise up from the throat 7 towards the opening 6 of the hook 1 then it will come into engagement with the flexible region 11 of the spring 2, but the flexible region 11 cannot readily move upwardly from the position shown in Figure 2 and thus prevents the com ponent from passing out through the opening 6 by engagement with the lip 5 of the hook 1. In order to release a component from the throat 7 of the hook 1 the flexible region 11 of the spring 2 must be displaced to the posi tion shown in dotted lines in Figure 2 so that the component may then pass through the opening 6.

Figure 4 shows an alternative embodiment of a spring member 2 provided on a steel hook 1.

The hook 1 shown in Figure 4 is identical to the hook described in connection with the em bodiment of Figure 2 and for ease of descrip tion the same reference numerals will there fore be used for like parts.

Figure 5 shows the alternative embodiment of the spring member 2 in perspective view, the spring member again comprising a sub stantially rigid connecting portion 10 and a flexible, substantially linear region 11 as with the embodiment shown in Figure 3. The con necting portion 10 is identical to the connect ing portion 10 of the embodiment shown in Figure 3 and thus defines a substantially horseshoe shaped, cylindrical aperture 12, suitable for receiving the free end 9 of the reverse curved portion 8 of the hook 1. There is also a bridging region 13 which connects the connecting portion 10 to the flexible re gion 11 of the spring member. The flexible region 11 incorporates a part which bifura cates into two parallel arms 14.The two arms 14 of the second embodiment are far shorter than the corresponding arms of the embodiment shown in Figure 3 and come to gether at their other ends and continue as a single flexible arm 17 which terminates with an end portion 18 which defines an arcuate recess 16, corresponding to the recess 16 provided in the interconnection 1 5 of the em bodiment shown in Figure 3.

Again the spring member 2 of Figure 5 is mounted on the hook 1 by placing the spring member over the lip 5 of the hook 1, so that the horseshoe shaped aperture 12 is posi tioned facing downwardly, with the lip 5 pass ing between the two arms 14. The spring member is then passed around the arcuate region 4 and up along the main body portion 3 of the hook 1 so that the connecting por tion 10 of the spring member may be snapped into place on the free end 9 of the reverse curved portion 8 of the hook. The spring member 2 is now located in position as shown in Figure 4.

The spring member as shown in Figures 4 and 5 now functions in exactly the same man ner as the spring member shown in Figures 2 and 3, the natural resilience of the spring member retaining it in the position shown in Figure 4. Again the spring member may be displaced to the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 4 in order to give access to the throat 7 of the hook 1.

Whilst only two alternative embodiments of spring member have been described, it will be appreciated that there will be a large number of different spring designs which will perform the same function.

Claims (18)

1. A hook arrangement, said arrangement comprising a hook formed from a substantially rigid material, said hook defining an opening extending into a throat, and a separate resilient member formed from a synthetic material adapted to be mounted on said hook to form a gate extending across said opening.

2. A hook arrangement according to Claim 1, wherein said resilient member comprises an elongate, flexible region provided at one end with an integrally formed, substantially rigid portion defining means for mounting the member on said hook.

3. A hook arrangement according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein said hook has a main body portion, a first curved portion at one end thereof which defines said throat and a reverse curved portion formed at the other end of the main body portion of the hook, said resilient member being adapted to have one end thereof mounted on said reverse curved portion.

4. A hook arrangement according to Claim 3, wherein the first curved portion is a substantially semi-circular arcuate region, which extends into a lip which is substantially parallel to the main body portion of the hook, the main body portion, the arcuate region and the lip defining said opening and said throat.

5. A hook arrangement according to Claim 3 or Claim 4 wherein the means for mounting the resilient member on the hook comprise a recess formed in the said rigid portion dimensioned to receive and engage part of said reverse curved portion.

6. A hook arrangement according to Claim 5, wherein the resilient member may be snap fastened to the reverse curved portion.

7. A hook arrangement according to any one of Claims 3 to 6, wherein said flexible region of said resilient member is at least partly bifurcated, the main body portion being dimensioned to be received between said bifurcation.

8. A hook arrangement according to Claim 7, wherein the end of said flexible region, which is remote from the end adapted to be mounted on said hook incorporates a recess dimensioned to engage part of the hook defining the throat.

9. A hook according to Claim 7 or 8, wherein said bifurcation terminates approximately centrally along the length of said elongate flexible region, the elongate flexible region extending further as a single flexible arm.

10. A hook arrangement according to Claim 7 or 8, wherein the bifurcation of the flexible region extends over the entire length thereof.

11. A resilient member comprising an elongate, flexible region provided at one end with an integrally formed, substantially rigid portion defining mounting means, the mounting means being in the form of a substantially cylindrical recess in said rigid portion.

12. A resilient member according to Claim 11, wherein said flexible region is at least partly bifurcated.

13. A resilient member according to Claim 12, wherein the end of said flexible region which is remote from the end provided with said mounting means incorporates an arcuate recess.

14. A resilient rnember according to Claim 12 or 13, wherein said bifurcation terminates approximately centrally along the length of said elongate flexible region, the elongate flexible region extending further as a single flexible arm.

15. A resilient member according to Claim 12 or 13, wherein the bifurcation of the flexible regions extends over the entire length thereof.

16. A hook arrangement substantially as herein described, with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

17. A resilient member substantially asherein described, with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

18. Any novel feature of combination of features disclosed herein.