Method of securing an object to a low-strength support structure

Claim 1

A method of installing an expansion anchor member in a low-strength support structure having internal cavities bounded by walls, comprising the steps of providing an anchoring hole in the support structure; inserting a leading end portion of an expansion anchor member having an internal passage and leg portions into the hole so that a leading end region of the passage communicates with an internal cavity of the structure; providing an injection device with a source of quick-setting substance; inserting the injection device into a trailing end region of the passage; only partially filling the internal cavity with the quick-setting substance by actuating the injection device and injecting the quick-setting substance through the passage to the circumambient region of the leading end portion of the expansion anchor member at a rate such that hardening of the quick-setting substance begins upon the emergence of the substance into the internal cavity and is completed upon the partial filling of the same, so that the quick-setting substance forms about the leading end portion of the expansion anchor member a plug which prevents withdrawal of the expansion anchor member from the anchoring hole and relative to the internal cavity, said plug surrounding the leading end portion of the anchor member but being spaced from the walls of a respective cavity; removing the injection device from the passage of the anchor member; and screwing a mounting screw into the passage of the anchor member only after the injected quick-setting substance is hardened, so that the leg portions move apart from one another by a limited distance and the screw becomes secured in the anchor member.

Claim 2

A method of installing an expansion anchor member in a low-strength support structure having internal cavities bounded by walls, comprising the steps of providing an anchoring hole in the support structure; inserting a leading end portion of an expansion anchor member having an internal passage and leg portions into the hole so that a leading end region of the passage communicates with an internal cavity of the structure; providing an injection device with a source of quick-setting substance; inserting the injection device into a trailing end region of the passage; only partially filling the internal cavity with the quick-setting substance by actuating the injection device and injecting the quick-setting substance through the passage to the circumambient region of the leading end portion of the expansion anchor member at a rate such that hardening of the quick-setting substance begins upon the emergence of the substance into the internal cavity and is completed upon the partial filling of the same, so that the quick-setting substance forms about the leading end portion of the expansion anchor member a plug which prevents withdrawal of the expansion anchor member from the anchoring hole and relative to the internal cavity, said plug surrounding the leading end portion of the anchor member but being spaced from the walls of a respective cavity; removing the injection device from the passage of the anchor member; and screwing a mounting screw into the passage of the anchor member only after the injected quick-setting substance is hardened, so that the leg portions move apart from one another by a limited distance and the screw becomes secured in the anchor member.