Patent Issued for Fastener Installation Guide (USPTO 10,639,769)

2020 MAY 18 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventor Brekke, Steven (Lakeville, MN), filed on January 16, 2018, was published online on May 18, 2020.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 10,639,769 is Columbia Insurance Company (Omaha, Nebraska, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “There are many uses for fastener installation guides in the construction, carpentry and power tool fields. In certain circumstances, it is preferable for fasteners, such as screws, to be installed at a horizontal or vertical orientation relative to the work surface. In other instances, a worker may need to install the fastener at a prescribed angle relative to the work surface. For example, building codes require the structural connection between wooden components, such as a top plate and a roof truss, to meet certain structural strength requirements. To have sufficient structural strength between framing components, toe-nailed connections with nails and spikes are installed at an angle near 30.degree. to the vertical. Similarly, threaded fasteners, such as screws, are driven through the top plate and into the roof truss at an angle near 22.5.+-.5.degree. to the vertical, the optimum angle which maximizes the strength of the connection between the top plate and the roof truss.

“Previous guides such as protractors, squares or other similar type devices are clumsy and require the operator to perform the difficult task of holding the guide and installing the fastener at the same time. Other guides, such as a bubble level, have been built into power tools but the majority of tools in use by operators don’t include this feature. Moreover, some guides attach to the power tool, but these tools are bulky, clumsy, located remotely from the bit and take time to be attached and removed from the power tool.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent: “In one aspect, an installation guide for installing a screw using a tool having a bit where the installation guide includes a housing configured for releasable connection to the bit. The housing includes a channel with an opening outward of the housing, the channel being sized and shaped to receive the bit therein for retaining the housing on the bit. The channel is configured to allow the bit to rotate relative to the housing within the channel. An indicator is supported by the housing and is configured for movement relative to the housing to indicate an angle of the housing relative to a reference plane.

“In another aspect, an installation guide kit for installing a screw using a tool that has a bit where the installation guide kit includes at least one screw. The screw has a head configured for engagement with the bit to be driven by the tool through rotation of the bit. The installation guide kit further includes an installation guide for indicating the angle of the bit relative to a reference plane. The installation guide includes an opening sized and shaped to receive the bit therein and configured to allow the bit to rotate relative to the installation guide within the opening. The installation guide also includes an indicator for movement relative to the opening to indicate the angle of the installation guide relative to a reference plane.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. An installation guide for installing a screw using a tool having a bit, the installation guide comprising: a housing configured for releasable connection to the bit, the housing including a channel therein sized and shaped to receive the bit therein for retaining the housing on the bit, the channel being configured to allow the bit to rotate relative to the housing within the channel about an axis of rotation, the channel having an opening outward of the housing that opens in a direction generally perpendicular to the axis of rotation; and an indicator supported by the housing, the indicator configured for movement relative to the housing to indicate an angle of the housing relative to a reference plane.

“2. The installation guide of claim 1, wherein the channel is configured to receive the bit by snap fit connection.

“3. The installation guide of claim 2, wherein the channel has a partially circular cross section having a diameter greater than a diameter of the bit.

“4. The installation guide of claim 3 wherein the partially circular cross section of the channel extends through an angle of greater than 180.degree., but less than 360.degree.

“5. The installation guide of claim 4 wherein the opening is bounded at least in part by opposite edges of the housing, the opposite edges being spaced by a distance less than the maximum cross sectional dimension of the bit.

“6. The installation guide of claim 1, wherein the housing further comprises a positioning element configured to prevent the movement of the housing along the bit.

“7. The installation guide of claim 6, wherein the positioning element comprises a ring extending into the channel and configured to be received in a corresponding groove in the bit to prevent movement along the bit.

“8. The installation guide of claim 1, wherein the housing defines a compartment, the indicator being located in the compartment and being movable within the compartment with respect to the housing.

“9. The installation guide of claim 8, wherein the housing includes at least one window on a side of the compartment, the window being configured to allow a user to observe a position of the indicator within the compartment.

“10. The installation guide of claim 9, wherein the housing includes a window on each side of the compartment, the indicator being secured in the compartment between the windows.

“11. The installation guide of claim 9, further comprising an indicator guide on at least one of the windows.

“12. The installation guide of claim 11 wherein the indicator guide is configured to cooperate with the indicator for indicating only one position of the housing relative to the reference plane.

“13. The installation guide of claim 8, wherein the compartment includes a reference surface configured to engage the indicator to indicate a predetermined angle of the housing relative to the reference plane.

“14. The installation guide of claim 13, wherein the reference surface includes a depression configured to receive the indicator to indicate the angle of the housing relative to the reference plane has diverged from the predetermined angle in one direction.

“15. An installation guide kit for installing a screw with a tool having a bit, the installation guide kit comprising: at least one of the screws, the screw having a head configured for engagement with the bit to be driven by the tool through rotation of the bit; an installation guide for indicating the angle of the bit relative to a reference plane, the installation guide comprising: an opening sized and shaped to receive the bit therein, the opening configured to allow the bit to rotate relative to the installation guide within the opening; and an indicator for movement relative to the opening to indicate the angle of the installation guide relative to a reference plane.

“16. The installation guide kit as set forth in claim 15 wherein the housing defines a compartment containing the indicator, the indicator being movable in the compartment.

“17. The installation guide kit of claim 16 wherein the housing further comprises an indicator guide constructed to cooperate with the indicator for alignment with the indicator when the housing is in a predetermined position with respect to a reference plane.

“18. The installation guide of claim 17, wherein the compartment includes a reference surface configured to engage the indicator to indicate a predetermined angle of the housing relative to the reference plane.

“19. The installation guide of claim 18, wherein the reference surface includes a depression configured to receive the indicator to indicate the angle of the housing relative to the reference plane has diverged from the predetermined angle in a first direction, the indicator being visible spaced from the reference surface when the angle of the housing relative to the reference plane has diverged from the predetermined angle in a second direction opposite the first direction.

“20. The installation guide of claim 17 wherein the housing opening is constructed for releasable, snap fit connection to the bit to retain the housing on the bit.

“21. An installation guide for installing a screw using a tool having a bit, the installation guide comprising: a housing configured for releasable connection to the bit, the housing including a channel therein having an opening outward of the housing, the channel being sized and shaped to receive the bit therein for retaining the housing on the bit, the channel being configured to allow the bit to rotate relative to the housing within the channel; and an indicator supported by the housing, the indicator configured to move relative to the housing by the force of gravity acting directly on the indicator to indicate an angle of the housing relative to a reference plane.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Brekke, Steven. Fastener Installation Guide. U.S. Patent Number 10,639,769, filed January 16, 2018, and published online on May 18, 2020. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=10,639,769.PN.&OS=PN/10,639,769RS=PN/10,639,769

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