Transition Bracket

Abstract

A bracket for securely uniting an Upper Post vertically with a larger bottom post, atop said bottom post, comprised of an upper section, a plate, a lower section, and a reducing portion.

Claims

1. A bracket for securely attaching an upper vertical post to a larger lower vertical post, consisting of: a top section having four vertical sides and one open end, wherein said vertical sides are fused to each other at four corners; a bottom section having four vertical sides and one open end, wherein said vertical sides are fused to each other at four corners; said top section oriented to have said open end of said top section facing the opposite direction from said bottom section and said bottom section oriented to have said open end of said bottom section facing the opposite direction from said top section; wherein said bottom section has a horizontal cross section that is approximately square; wherein said top section has a horizontal cross section that is approximately square; wherein said cross section of said top section is smaller that said cross section of said bottom section; wherein each of said four vertical sides of said top section each have two holes; wherein each of said four vertical sides of said bottom section each have two holes; a plate; wherein said plate has a hole centered in said plate; a cap; a reducing portion having four sides; wherein a lower portion of said top section is internal to said reducing portion, and said top section terminates at said plate and said cap; an upper post; a lower post; wherein said lower post has a horizontal cross section that is larger than a horizontal cross section of said upper post; wherein said bottom section rests over a top of said lower post, and said upper post rests in said top section; and wherein each of said sides of said reducing portion are angled at approximately forty-five degrees from said side of said bottom section, as measured from the interior of said bottom section's side to the interior of said reducing portion's side.

2. A bracket for securely attaching an upper vertical post to a larger lower vertical post, comprising: a top section having four vertical sides and one open end; a bottom section having four vertical sides and one open end; said top section oriented to have said open end of said top section facing the opposite direction from said bottom section and said bottom section oriented to have said open end of said bottom section facing the opposite direction from said top section; wherein said bottom section has a horizontal cross section that is approximately square; wherein said top section has a horizontal cross section that is approximately square; wherein said cross section of said top section is smaller that said cross section of said bottom section; wherein each of said four vertical sides of said top section each have two holes; wherein each of said four vertical sides of said bottom section each have two holes; a plate; wherein said plate has a hole centered in said plate; a cap; a reducing portion having four sides; wherein a lower portion of said top section is internal to said reducing portion, and said top section terminates at said plate and said cap; an upper post; a lower post; wherein said lower post has a horizontal cross section that is larger than a horizontal cross section of said upper post; wherein said bottom section rests over a top of said lower post, and said upper post rests in said top section; and wherein each of said sides of said reducing portion are angled at approximately forty-five degrees from said side of said bottom section, as measured from the interior of said bottom section's side to the interior of said reducing portion's side.

3. The bracket of claim 2 wherein said sides of said top section are fused at four corners; and wherein said sides of said bottom section are fused at four corners.

4. A bracket for securely attaching an upper vertical post to a larger lower vertical post, comprising: a top section; a bottom section; and a reducing portion.

5. The bracket of claim 4 wherein said top section and said bottom section are shaped to fit an upper post and a lower post, respectively.

6. The bracket of claim 4 further comprising a plate.

7. The bracket of claim 4 further comprising a cap.

8. The bracket of claim 4 further comprising a plate and a cap.

9. The bracket of claim 4 wherein a horizontal cross section of said top section is approximately circular; and wherein a horizontal cross section of said bottom section is approximately circular.

10. A bracket for securely attaching an upper vertical post to a larger lower vertical post, comprising: a top section; a bottom section; a cap; and a plate.

11. The bracket of claim 10 wherein said plate has a hole centered in said plate.

12. The bracket of claim 10 wherein said bottom section comprises said cap, said plate, and one or more flanges which extend up each side of a lower Post and connect to said cap.

13. The bracket of claim 10 wherein said bottom section consists of said cap, said plate, and four flanges, each of said flanges extend up one of the four sides of a lower Post and connect to said cap.

14. The bracket of claim 10 wherein said bottom section consists of said cap, said plate, and eight flanges, said flanges extend up each of the four sides of a lower post and connect to said cap, two of said flanges per side of said lower post.

15. The bracket of claim 10 wherein said bottom section consists of said cap, said plate, and twelve flanges, said flanges extend up each of the four sides of a lower post and connect to said cap, three of said flanges per side of said lower post.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] FIG. 1 is a side view of the disclosed bracket.

[0034] FIG. 2 is a top view of the disclosed bracket.

[0035] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the disclosed bracket.

[0036] FIG. 4 is a side view of the disclosed bracket with a reducing portion included.

[0037] FIG. 5 is a cutaway perspective view of the disclosed bracket with a reducing portion included.

[0038] FIG. 6 is a cutaway side view of the disclosed bracket with a reducing portion included, a plate included, and internal sides of the upper section extending into the reducing portion down to the plate.

[0039] FIG. 7 is a cutaway side view of an alternate embodiment of the disclosed bracket with the upper and lower sections consisting of multiple flanges.

[0040] Before explaining the disclosed embodiment of the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the particular arrangement shown, since the invention is capable of other embodiments. Also, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0041] The present invention, which is described more fully hereinafter, provides an improved bracket for securely attaching a larger vertical post with a smaller vertical post placed atop the larger post. This invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the specific embodiments described herein.

[0042] Referring now to FIGS. 1-3, in the preferred embodiment of the bracket the following are the primary components: an upper section; a bottom section; a cap; and a plate.

[0043] Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, an alternate embodiment is presented replacing the cap and plate of the preferred embodiment with a reducing section.

[0044] Referring to FIG. 8, an alternate embodiment is presented with a reducing section, internal sides of the upper section, and a plate.

[0045] Referring to FIG. 9, an alternate embodiment is presented with upper and bottom sections consisting of multiple flanges.

[0046] Referring to FIG. 1, which is a side view of the preferred bracket, an Top Section is fused with a Bottom Section [002] at approximately the center of the bracket [003]. The Bottom Section [002] includes a horizontal cap [004] which partially encloses the Bottom Section [002] and is configured to rest atop the Lower Post. A plate [005] separates the Top Section [001] from the Bottom Section [002] by running horizontally between the two Sections [001], [002]. Each of the four sides of the Top Section [001] and Bottom Section [002] have at least one hole [006] for securing said Sections [001], [002] to the Lower Post and Upper Post. Each of the four sides of the Top Section [001] and Bottom Section [002] are approximately vertical. The plate [005] is approximately horizontal. The top of the Top Section [001] and the bottom of the Bottom Section [002] are open to receive the Upper Post and the Lower Post, respectively.

[0047] Referring to FIG. 2, which is a top view of the preferred bracket, the Top Section [001] sits atop the Bottom Section [002]. The Top Section [001] is fused at its base to the cap [004] portion of the Bottom Section [002]. The plate [005] is also fused to the Bottom Section at the interior edges [007] of the cap. The plate [005] is also fused with the bottom portion of the Top Section [001]. The plate [005] includes at least one hole [006] for securing the bracket to the Lower Post.

[0048] Referring to FIG. 3, which is a perspective view of the preferred bracket, the Top Section [001] is open at the top, and is fused to the Bottom Section [002] at the cap [004] and plate [005]. Each side of both the Top Section [001] and Bottom Section [002] include at least one hole [006] for securing the bracket to the Lower Post and Upper Post.

[0049] Referring to FIG. 4, which is a side view of an alternate embodiment, the Top Section [001] is fused to a reducing portion [008] which is comprised of four sides which run from four bottom sides of the Top Section [001] to the four top sides of the Bottom Section [002]. The reducing section [008] is essentially an angled version of the cap section disclosed in FIG. 1-3. Each side of the reducing portion [008] creates an angle [009] greater than 90 degrees and less than 180 degrees when measured from an interior side of the Bottom Section [002] to a corresponding interior side of the reducing portion [008]. Each side of both the Bottom Section [002] and Top Section [001] include at least one hole [006] for securing the bracket to the Upper Post and Lower Post.

[0050] Referring to FIG. 5, which is a cutaway perspective view of the alternate embodiment displayed in FIG. 4, with an Upper Post [010] and a Lower Post [011] displayed. The Upper Post [010] rests atop the Lower Post [011] within the Upper Section [001] of the bracket. The bracket rests atop the Lower Post [011] by insertion of the Lower Post [011] into the Bottom Section [002] of the bracket. The bracket is prevented from sliding down the Lower Post [011] by contact of the top [012] of the Lower Post [011] with the interior of the reducing portion [008]. Each side of both Top Section [001] and Bottom Section [002] includes at least one hole [006] for securing the Upper [010] and Lower Posts [011] to the bracket. Said reducing portion [008] comprises four relatively flat sides [015] fused to each other at four corners of said reducing portion [008]. Said sides of the reducing portion [015] are angled from the top of the Bottom Section toward the Upper Post at an angle greater than 90 degrees [009] when measured from the interior vertical sides of the Bottom Section [002] to the sides of the reducing portion [008]. In this embodiment the Upper Post [010] inserts through the top of the Top Section [001], down past the top of the reducing section [008], to rest on the top of the Lower Post [011].

[0051] Referring to FIG. 6, which is a cutaway side view of the embodiment disclosed in FIG. 4 with additional optional interior parts, the bracket comprises an Top Section [001], a Bottom Section [002], a plate [005], a cap [004], and a reducing portion [008]. In this embodiment the four sides of the Top Section [001] extend down into the interior of the reducing portion [008] to the fused portions of the cap [004] and plate [005].

[0052] Referring to FIG. 7, which is a side view of an alternate embodiment, the Bottom Section [002] comprises one or more flanges [013] extending up each side of the Lower Post [011], making a 90 degree turn [014] at the top of the Lower Post [011], and running approximately horizontally across the top of the Lower Post [011], to the bottom of the Top Section [001] and fusing with said Top Section [001].

[0053] It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description provide embodiments of the invention and are intended to provide an overview or framework of understanding the nature and character of the invention as it is claimed. Other aspects of this invention will appear from the following detailed description and appended claims, reference being made to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.