Fence post brace bracket

Claim 1

A bracket for attaching the flat end of an elongated brace member to an upright fence post having a round cross-section, comprising: a. a unitary plate member having an inner surface, a planar middle section and a pair of planar flanges, b. said middle section having opposite ends and a flat outer surface, c. said planar flanges being bent portions of said plate member forming vertical crease lines along the ends of said planar middle section and projecting from said opposite ends at substantially the same obtuse angle to the inner surface of said middle section, d. the end-to-end dimension of said middle section and the angular relationship of said flanges to said middle section being such that when the inner surface of said plate member is fitted against a round fence post, portions of the inner surfaces of both said flanges and said middle section are tangent to the circumferential surface of the post, e. at least one fastener hole extending through said middle section, f. at least one fastener hole extending through each of said flanges, g. a first driven fastener member receivable through each of said holes in said middle section for securing the flat outer surface of said middle section flush against the flat end of a brace member, and h. a second driven fastener member receivable through each of said holes in said flanges for securing the inner surfaces of both said flanges tangentially against the round post.