A floating nut retention system includes a nut with a central aperture. An inner retainer plate has an opening which is fixedly aligned with the nut aperture. An outer retainer member is formed of a base plate having an opening and a surface adjacent to a surface of the inner retainer plate. The outer retainer member includes a securing mechanism for retaining the inner retainer plate adjacent to the outer retainer member. The securing mechanism enables the inner retainer plate to float with respect to the outer retainer number, while simultaneously forming a bearing surface for inner retainer plate

Charles, J. F.

Theakston, H. A.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS ANO sPACF AnMiMISTRATIQ;,
WA'jlHN'..!ON. i). I. .'l.l'j-i'j
• I'LV TO
i IN or- GP
TO:
FROM:
NST-44
XXS/Scientific & Technical Information Division
Attn: Mise Winnie M. Morgan
GP/Office of Assistant General
Counsel for Patent Matters
SUBJECT: Announcement of KASA-Ovmed U.S. Patents in STAR
19 1980
In accordance with the procedures agreed upon by Code GP and Cede
KBI, the attached NASA-ovned U.S. Patent is being forwarded for
abstracting and announcement in KASA STAR.
The following information is provided:
U.S . Patent No.
_4y
Government or
Cor po rnte Employe e
Supplementary Corporate
Source (if applicable)
NASA Patent Case Ko.
Lell
02,41
NOTE - If this patent covers an invention made by a corporate employee
of a KASA Contractor, the following is applicable:
YES.
Pursuant to Section 305(a) of the National Aeronautic.-:, and. Space Act,
the nsine of the Administrator of NASA appears on the first page of the
patent; however, the name of the actual inventor (author) appears at
the heading of column Ho. 1 of the Specification, following; the words
"...with respect to an invention of ..."
*-
Bonnie L. Henderson
Enclosure
(HASA^Case-HSC-16938-1) FLOSTIHG NOI
BESEBIION SYSTEM Patent (SASA) 5 p
CSCL 131
M80-23653
Dnclas
0.0/37 19445
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19800015162 2020-03-21T03:13:30+00:00Z
United States Patent
Charles et al.
[ii] 4,193,435
[45] Mar. 18,1980
[54] FLOATING NUT RETENTION SYSTEM
[76] Inventors: Robert A. Frosch, Administrator of
the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, with respect to an
invention of James F. Charles,
Norco; Harry A. Theakston, Tustin,
both of Calif.
[21] Appl. No.: 938,582
[22] Filed: Aug. 31,1978
[51] Int CU F16B 37/06
[52] U.S. Q 151/41.76
[58] Field of Search 151/41.76, 41.75, 41.7;
85/32 K
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
2,421,201 5/1947
2,825,380 3/1958
3,219,086 11/1965
Hallock 151/41.76 X
Reiner 151/41.76
Zahodiakin 151/41.76 X
Primary Examiner—Ramon S. Britts
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Marvin J. Marnock; John R.
Manning; Marvin F. Matthews
[57] ABSTRACT
A floating nut retention system includes a nut having a
central aperture therein. An inner retainer plate has an
opening therein, the nut being secured to the inner re-
tainer plate with the nut aperture and the inner retainer
plate opening being fixedly aligned therewith. An outer
retainer member is formed of a base plate having an
opening therein and having a surface adjacent a surface
the inner retainer plate. The outer retainer member
includes a securing mechanism for retaining the inner
retainer plate adjacent to the outer retainer member.
The securing mechanism enables the inner retainer plate
to float with respect to the outer retainer member, while
simultaneously forming a bearing surface for said inner
retainer plate.
1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures
/e
U.S. Patent Mar. 18, 1980 Sheet 1 of 2 4,193,435
FIG.I
FIG. 2
U.S. Patent Mar. 18, 1980 Sheet 2 of 2 4,193,435
F IG. 3
FIG. 5
FIG. 4
4,193,435
in accordance with the principles of the invention. The
FLOATING NUT RETENTION SYSTEM floating nut retention system of FIG. 1 is utilized to
secure an upper structural wall 14 to a lower structural
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION wall 16.
1. Field of the Invention 5 In tne embodiment of FIG. 1 an outer retainer mem-
The field of art to which the invention pertains in- ber 18 * initially riveted to the upper structural wall 14.
eludes the field of floating nut retention systems, partic- A floating inner retainer plate 22 is held adjacent the
ularly, with respect to a retention system having a load outer retainer member 18 by means of a plurality of
bearing surface providing a significant bearing area for retainer member tangs 24. The inner retainer plate 22
use in high torque applications. lo includes a multiple point nut 26 which is pressed fit
2. Description of the Prior Act therein. The interior of the multiple point nut has a
Prior art floating nut retention systems are limited to threaded opening 28 which is generally aligned with
low strength hardware. Typically, the load bearing was bolt openings 32 and 34 of the upper structural wall 14
provided by a point load bearing member which limited and the lower structural wall 16, respectively. When a
the floating nut design to low torque applications. 15 bolt (not shown in FIG. 1) is inserted through the open-
Where high strength hardware necessitates high torque ings 34 and 32, and hence into the threaded opening 28
applications, precision drilling is required with access to of the nut 26, the floating inner retainer plate 22 elimi-
the nuts or bolts needed from multi-sided locations. nates the need for precision drilling. In addition, as the
Known prior art includes U.S. Patent Nos. 490,553; bolt is fastened, the floating inner retainer plate 22 is
843,840; 1,143,254; 1,261,616; 1,269,059; 2,381,233; 20
 curved to mate with load bearing surfaces of the tangs
2,423,198; 3,727,969; and 3,875,985. 24 providing a significant bearing contact area.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Referring now to FIG. 2 the floating retention system
12 is shown in greater detail. The outer retainer member
A floating nut retention system includes a nut having _
 w inciudes a base plate 36 whose bottom surface is
a central aperture therein. An inner retainer plate has an 25
 juxtaposed ^ the top surface of the structural
opening therein. The nut is secured to the inner retainer
 wall M As can be seen in FIG. t the base plate 36
plate with the nut aperture being aligned with the inner
 mcludes a luralit of rtures jg which m generally
retainer plate opemng. An outer retainer member is ^ ^
 wjth fes 42 m the structural wall 14
formed of base plate having an opening therein and a ^
 enable the outer retainer member 18 to be riveted to
surface adjacent a surface of the inner retainer A secur- 30 structural wall.
reainer plate to float with respect to the outer retainer
member while, simultaneouslyTforming a bearing sur- f "*??* extwldmg leg * j?d a *% ? whu* CXtendsface for the inner retainer plate. 35 mwardly toward the opposed tang 24. As can be seen in
The present invention provides a nut and retainer FIG' 3- *e ba!* &** * has • maximum w,d th at its
plate which are permanently assembled to produce a center and tapers slightly toward the ends 52 of the base
single unitized floating nut plate. The radial float of the Platf; However, the base plate 36 is sufficiently tapered
present invention prevents misalignment while, simulta- » that the **?& leB « "tenor bearing surface 54 will
neously, providing a load bearing surface sufficiently 40 prevent the floating inner retainer plate 22 from being
large to enable the use thereof in high torque applica- removed from the outer retainer member 18 when the
tions. plate 22 is moved in a plane parallel to the plane of the
The advantages of this invention, both as to its con- base Plate x- Additionally, the tang inwardly extending
struction and mode of operation, will be readily appre- Ie8s ** prevent the floating inner retainer plate 22 from
ciated as the same becomes better understood by refer- 45 being moved in a direction perpendicular to the plane of
ence to the following detailed description when consid- the base plate 36.
ered in connection with the accompanying drawings in Referring again to FIG. 2, when a bolt 56 is inserted
which like reference numerals designate the like parts through the upper and lower structural wall openings
throughout the Figures. 3* and 32, respectively, an opening 57 in the base plate
SO 36, and then threaded into the nut opening 28, a nut
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS downwardly facing shoulder 58 abuts the top surface of
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the technique the base plate 36. In addition, it should be noted that a
of assembling of the floating nut retention system; sleeve 62 extends upwardly from the top end of the
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the floating nut multiple point nut 26 increasing the threaded surface
retention system wherein the system is illustrated secur- 55 area of the nut. Once the head 64 of the bolt 56 is posi-
ing a pair of plates together taken along the line 2 — 2 of tioned adjacent the lower surface of the lower struc-
FIG. 1; tural wall 16, further tightening of the bolt 56 caused
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the floating nut the inner retainer plate 22 side edges 66 (FIG. 3) to abut
retention system taken along the line 3 — 3 of FIG. 2; diagonally opposed edges of two of the tangs 24 interior
FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the alternate arrangement 60 bearing surfaces 54.
of the floating nut retention system; and It should be noted, as shown in FIG. 3, that the inner
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the arrangement of retainer plate 22 width is tapered from a maximum
FIG. 4 taken along the line of 5 — 5 thereof. width at the center of the plate to a minimum width at
DESCRIPTION OF THF PR FFFR R FF1 the ends thereof- ^^ construction is somewhat similarDESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED
 65 in design m the base p,ate ^  of the outer retainer mem.
fcMBODIMtNlb
 bef lg TypicallV( it has beg,, found that ^ elliptical
Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in taper on both the inner retainer plate 22 and the base
FIG. 1, a flotating nut retention system 12 constructed plate 36 provides a maximum bearing load surface for
4,193,435
mating of the inner retainer plate side edges 66 and the
inner bearing surfaces 54 of the tangs 24. Additionally,
it should be noted that the present design enables high
torque applications to be achieved with access required
to only one side i.e., the bolt head 64.
Referring now to FIG. 4 there is shown an alternative
arrangement of the floating nut retention system. In the
arrangement of FIG. 4, a multi-pointed nut 12, which is
similar to the type shown in the embodiment of FIGS.
1 through 3, is again utilized and positioned in a floating
inner retainer plate 74. The floating inner retainer plate
74 is generally of a uniform thickness along one-half 76
thereof about the nut 72. The other half 78 of the inner
retainer plate 74 is slightly tapered towards an end 82.
The retainer plate end 82 has a central slot 84 formed
therein.
An outer retainer member 86 is formed of a base plate
88 having an L-shaped tongue 92. The L-shaped tongue
extends upwardly from one end 94 of the base plate 88,
through the retainer plate central slot 84, and over the
top surface of the retainer plate 74. The other end 96 of
the base plate 88 includes a pair of openings. 98 which
are used to secure the retention system to a support
plate such as by riveting as described in the embodi-
ments of FIGS. 1 through 3.
*' The outer retainer member 86 further comprises a
pair of vertically extending side walls 102 and 104. The
side walls 102 and 104 are formed in a plane perpendicu-
lar to that of the base plate 88 and the retainer plate 74.
As shown in FIG. 4, the side walls 102 and 104 are
normally spaced a generally equal distance from the
halves of the floating inner retainer plate prior to secur-
ing a bolt through the nut 72. Flanges 106 and 108 ex-
tend from the top of side walls 102 and 104, respec-
 35
lively, adjacent the end 96 of the outer retainer member
86. The flanges 106 and 108 are positioned over the top
surface of the inner retainer plate 74 and act in conjunc-
tion with the tongue 92 to allow float of the retainer
plate 74 while preventing the separation of the plate 74 40
from the outer retainer member 86.
When a bolt is positioned through a pair of structural
walls (now shown in FIGS. 4 and 5) in the manner
similar to that as described in FIGS. 1 through 3, the
sides of the floating inner retainer plate 74 and the outer 45
retainer member interior side walls 102 and 104 act in
conjunction with each other to provide a maximum
load bearing surface.
We claim:
1. A floating nut retention system comprising: SO
10
15
20
25
30
a nut having an internally threaded central aperture;
an inner retainer plate having a flat bottom surface
and an opening through said plate, said nut being
secured to said inner retainer plate with said nut
aperture and said inner retainer plate opening being
fixedly aligned therewith, .
an outer retainer member formed of a base plate hav-
ing ends, an opening therein and a flat planar sur-
face in said base plate disposed adjacent to the
bottom surface of said inner retainer plate, said base
plate having a pair of opposed side edges;
securing means for retaining said inner retainer plate
adjacent to said outer retainer member with said
opening substantially aligned while enabling the
inner retainer plate to float with respect to said
outer retainer member, said securing means being
provided by a pair of wall structures integrally
formed at each of said opposed side edges of said
base plate, each wall structure being formed by an
upwardly extending leg having an arcuately
curved inner surface and extending generally trans-
verse to the plane of said base plate with the maxi-
mum distance between said opposing curved sur-
faces at the center thereof and a foot portion on
each leg extending inwardly toward the opposing
wall structure and over said inner retainer plate
thereby limiting movement of said inner retainer
plate in the direction perpendicular to the plane of
said base plate, said inner retainer plate being ta-
pered from a maximum width at the center thereof
to a minimum width at the ends thereof, said maxi-
mum width exceeding the distance between the
upstanding legs of said wall structures at each end
of said base plate to thereby prevent said inner
plate from being removed from the outer retainer
member when moved in a plane parallel to the
plane of said base plate;
and load bearing surface means provided by said
curved inner surfaces and adapted to engage the
side edges of the inner retainer plate, said out-
wardly curved side edges of the inner retainer plate
being curved to mate with the load bearing sur-
faces whereby the area of restraining surface in-
creases with increasing torque and adapted to pro-
vide a significant bearing contact area when torque
is applied during the installation or removal of a
bolt extending through said openings of the inner
retainer plate and said outer retainer member in
threaded engagement with the nut.
55
60
65


Floating nut retention system

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