02/27/2014 | 11:38am US/EasternRecommend:
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By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Politics & Government Week — A patent application by the inventors Hufnagl, Gerhart (Tuscon, AZ); DeSalvo, Douglas (Tuscon, AZ), filed on October 16, 2013, was made available online on February 20, 2014, according to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by VerticalNews correspondents.This patent application is assigned to Alcoa Inc.
The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Blind fasteners are commonly used to secure a plurality of work pieces together when it is difficult or impossible to access the blind side of one of the work pieces. In certain applications, it is desirable that bulbed sleeves used in conjunction with such fasteners have relatively large footprints that engage the blind side of the one of the work pieces.”
In addition to the background information obtained for this patent application, VerticalNews journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “In an embodiment, a fastener includes a core bolt having an elongated shank with a first end, a second end opposite the first end, a head located at the second end, and a pull portion located at the first end, the pull portion having a plurality of grooves; and a sleeve having an elongated body with a first end, a second end opposite the first end of the elongated body, an exterior surface extending from the first end of the elongated body to the second end of the elongated body, a head located at the first end of the elongated body, and a tapered notch formed within the exterior surface intermediate the first and second ends of the elongated body and defined by a tapered portion, wherein the core bolt is adapted to be installed within the sleeve such that the head of the core bolt is juxtaposed with the second end of the elongated body of the sleeve, wherein the fastener is adapted to be installed within a plurality of work pieces such that the head of the sleeve engages an accessible side of one of the plurality of work pieces, and the second end of the elongated body of the sleeve extends from a blind side of another of the plurality of work pieces, wherein during installation of the fastener within the plurality of work pieces, a bulb is formed on the elongated body of the sleeve, the bulb defining a portion of a bulbed portion which extends from the bulb to the second end of the elongated body of the sleeve, wherein when a selected axial force applied to the fastener is reached, the bulbed portion separates from the elongated body and thereafter engages the tapered portion axially and in a direction towards the first end of the elongated body, thereby increasing the diameter of the bulb, and wherein when the fastener is in an installed position, the bulb engages the blind side of the another of the plurality of work pieces. (…)
via Alcoa Inc : “Blind Fastener” in Patent Application Approval Process | 4-Traders.