Boltless adjustable fitting

Claim 1

A material handling system, comprising: an elongated support member having thereon a plurality of parallel axis roller means aligned and mounted for rotation along its length in the direction of elongation for supportingly engaging articles to be moved by the system; a brace member; one of said members being generally hollow with opposed inwardly extending flanges forming a longitudinally extending slot opening into its interior; a connector having a base for securing it to the other of said members, and further having two spring members integrally extending from said base into said slot and engaging said flanges to form means for frictionally snap-locking said members with respect to each other at any selected position along the longitudinally extending slot; means for securing the other of said members wholly on the side of said base opposite from said spring members; said connector being constructed of sheet metal in one piece with a uniform cross-section throughout its length as measured in the direction of said longitudinal slot, and further being symmetrical with respect to a plane passing equidistant through said longitudinally extending slot and between said spring members; said connector base including a generally rectangular sheet, and opposed longitudinally extending U-shaped edges on opposite sides of said sheet, each having one leg coextensive with the respective sheet side and the other leg extending inwardly above and generally parallel to said sheet; said spring members having an inner portion coextensive with respective ones of said other legs and being generally S-shaped and the mirror image of an S-shape, respectively, in crosssection perpendicular to said longitudinal slot to provide first convex surfaces as seen from the plane adjacent said base extending concavely around respective ones of said bar flanges and second concave surfaces as seen from said plane inwardly of respective ones of said flanges; the smallest dimension between said first convex surfaces as measured parallel to said base in said cross-section being smaller than the spacing between said flanges forming the width of said slot, and the greatest dimension between said second concave surfaces as measured parallel to said base in said cross-section being greater than the width of said slot in the assembled position so that said second convex surfaces constitute cam means for compressing said spring members when said spring members are driven into said slot; and said one member being of generally uniform thickness sheet material having throughout its length a uniform crosssection perpendicular to said longitudinally extending slot, and being defined by two opposed parallel side walls, a perpendicular connecting wall on the opposite side of said one member from said slot and said flanges; said flanges each being generally L-shaped in said cross-section with one leg being perpendicularly connected to a respective one of said side walls and extending inwardly parallel to said connecting wall, and with the other leg extending inwardly generally parallel to said side walls; and the terminal edges of said other legs engaging said spring members and said one legs engaging said base.