US 12,098,567 B2
Fencing bracket
Gary George Baltz, Jr., Mountain Brook, AL (US); Bryan Millican, Trussville, AL (US); and Markus Erbeldinger, Pittsburgh, PA (US)
Assigned to Alabama Metal Industries Corporation, Birmingham, AL (US)
Filed by Alabama Metal Industries Corporation, Birmingham, AL (US)
Filed on Apr. 29, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/302,272.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/110,416, filed on Nov. 6, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/017,484, filed on Apr. 29, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2021/0340789 A1, Nov. 4, 2021
Int. Cl. E04H 17/14 (2006.01)
CPC E04H 17/1452 (2021.01) [E04H 17/1473 (2021.01)] 24 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A fencing bracket, said fencing bracket comprising:
a box structure comprising (i) a bent elongated plate having a central wall and opposing left and right sidewalls extending from opposing longitudinal ends of the central wall, and (ii) a return support flange disposed at a lower edge of the box structure, wherein the left sidewall and the right sidewall have aligned cross beam openings configured to receive a crossbeam, and wherein the opposing left and right sidewalls have a first opening and a second opening, respectively:
wherein the left sidewall has a left side hem disposed along a longitudinal edge thereof and the right sidewall has a right side hem disposed along a longitudinal edge thereof, and wherein the left side hem and the right side hem are each bent outwardly along the respective sidewall edge forming a respective L-shaped cross-section;
a strap having a first flat portion having a third opening, a rounded middle portion and a second flat portion having a fourth opening, wherein the rounded middle portion is between the first flat portion and the second flat portion; wherein the strap is attached at the box structure, and wherein the strap and the return support flange are configured to engage a fence post that is received in the fencing bracket;
wherein the first and second flat portions of the strap engage the left side hem and the right side hem with a gap between the first and second flat portions and the left and right sidewalls of the box structure;
a fastener;
wherein the first opening of the left side wall is aligned with the third opening, the second opening of the right side wall is aligned with the fourth opening, the fastener passes through the first opening, second opening, third opening and fourth opening and is retained via another fastener at the third opening or the fourth opening;
wherein the fastener, when tightened, retains the first and second flat portions at the left and right sidewalls to clamp the post within and between the strap and return support flange of the box structure; and
wherein a passageway extending between the crossbeam openings is parallel to a passageway extending between the first opening, the second opening, the third opening and the fourth opening.