Attaching apparatus

Claim 1

An attachment element for including a housing mounting on a support member, comprising a rotatable shaft and a sleeve that encompasses said shaft, said shaft and sleeve being positioned within said housing and mounted for joint frictional rotational movement on said housing, said sleeve being in spaced apart relationship with said shaft, the side of said sleeve and said housing having walls that form openings therein, a resilient band in the form of an elongated closed loop, a first portion of said loop being positioned in loose captured relationship between the outer wall of said shaft and the inner wall of said sleeve, portions of said loop that extend away from said first portion forming two adjacent folded portions thereof, said folded portions being positioned to extend through and beyond said openings in said sleeve and said housing to a position whereat said folded portion may be separated to embrace the support member to which the housing is to be attached, a gripping means connected to at least one end of said shaft and positioned immediately adjacent the exterior of said housing, said rotation of said gripping means in one direction being operable to wind a portion of said loop that extends away from its said first portion in folded form about the outside surface of said sleeve and to thereby simultaneously effect the pulling of said housing into snug mounted engagement against said support member, said gripping means being further operable to rotate said shaft and sleeve in an opposite direction to unwind said folded band portions from said sleeve to a position in which said band is in a loose, readily removable position about said support.