Plate fastener with bolts preassembled

摘要

A belt fastener having an upper plate and a lower plate with holes which align with holes in a pair of belt ends, and bolts are inserted through the aligned holes of the plates and the belt ends, and nuts screwed onto the bolts, to connect the belt ends. A preassembled lower plate and bolt combination is provided in which bolts are retained in their respective lower plate apertures by washers disposed on the bolt shanks. The washers are disposed on the bolt shanks sufficiently close to the lower plate to maintain anti-rotational engagement of the bolts with the lower plate, and spaced sufficiently far from the lower plate to allow outward swinging of the bolts to an insertion position for insertion of the bolts through the belt holes in an outwardly swung position for subsequent drawing together of the bolt and belt ends. The washers are displaceable along their shanks into abutment with the lower plate and deformable under the pressure associated with clamping together of the plates about the belt ends, whereby the washers deform and fill in the spaces between the bolts and the lower plate. The washers are preferably formed with flexible resilient tabs about a central aperture, with the tabs being deflected by the bolt shanks when slid onto their shanks to prevent washer material from being scraped off the washer and into the threads of the bolt when the washer is initially applied to the bolt.