Clip

Claim 1

A SPRING CLIP FOR USE WITH A FLANGE HAVING OPPOSITELY DIRECTED BEADED MARGINAL EDGES OVERHANGING OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE FLANGE, COMPRISING: AN UPWARDLY BOWED AND RESISTINGLY DOWNWARDLY DEFLECTABLE SPRING WEB PROVIDED WITH TRANSVERSE RELATIVELY RIGID LEGS INTEGRAL WITH OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE WEB AND EXTENDING BELOW AND AWAY FROM THE WEB, EACH LEG HAVING A PAIR OF CONSECUTIVE REVERSELY CURVED SECTIONS OF SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL RADII WITH ONE SECTION BEING AN INTEGRAL EXTENSION OF THE END OF THE WEB AND FORMING A CONCAVE FLANGE BEAD SURROUNDING CHANNEL OPENING INWARDLY BENEATH THE WEB TOWARD THE OPPOSITE LEG AND THE SECOND SECTION FORMING A CONVEX SURFACE FACING THE OPPOSITE LEG TO BEAR AGAINST A FLANGE OVER WHICH THE CLIP IS RECEIVED AT THE UNDER SIDE OF THE BEADED EDGE OF SUCH FLANGE, THE RADIUS OPEN WHICH SAID UPWARDLY BOWED WEB IS FORMED BEING SUBSTANTIALLY GREATER THAN THE RADII OF SAID REVERSELY CURVED SECTIONS OF EACH LEG, ONE LEG HAVING A THIRD SECTION FORMING AN INTEGRAL EXTENSION OF THE SECOND SECTION AND EXTENDING OUTWARDLY BEYOND THE END OF THE WEB FROM BENEATH THE FIRST AND SECOND SECTIONS AND CURVING UPWARDLY AND EXTENDING INWARDLY TERMINATING SPACED OUTWARDLY ADJACENT THE END OF THE WEB TO DEFINE WITH THE OTHER SECTION AN UPWARDLY OPENING LEVER CATCH PORTION FOR REMOVABLY RECEIVING AND ENGAGING ONE END OF A FIRST CLASS LEVER ARM HAVING A FULCRUM IN THE AREA OF THE ADJACENT END OF THE WEB FOR ENABLING THE LEG TO BE FLEXED OUTWARDLY BY FLATTENING FLEXURE OF THE WEB TO ALLOW SPRINGING EMBRACEMENT OF THE CLIP OVER A FLANGE OR REMOVAL THEREFROM, SAID UPWARDLY BOWED WEB BEING OF SUFFICIENT RESILIENCY IN RELATION TO THE RIGIDITY OF THE LEGS THAT SPREADING APART OF THE LEGS CAN OCCUR SUBSTANTIALLY ONLY THROUGH FLATTENING FLEXURE OF THE WEB, AND SAID CLIP ADAPTED TO BE SPRUNG INTO EMBRACING RELATION UPON A FLANGE WITH THE BOWED WEB SOMEWHAT FLATTENED TO TENSION THE LEGS GRIPPINGLY AGAINST OPPOSITE SIDES OF SUCH FLANGE AT THE UNDERSIDE OF THE BEADED MARGINAL EDGES OF THE FLANGE.