Wear resistant panel arrangement

Claim 1

A releasable fastening arrangement for a wear resistant panel arrangement for fastening the panels of such an arrangement to an apertured support structure in which the fastening arrangement includes a plurality of pins and a plurality of resiliently deformable half tubular protrusions of a synthetic plastic material provided on the peripheral region of the panel integral with the panel and spaced from each other to correspond with the apertures in the support structure so that the half tubular protrusions on adjacent panels can fit in pairs in the apertures in the support structure, each protrusion defining a stepped half bore having at its free end a web blanking off the half tubular bore in the protrusion so that when a pair of such protrusions are fitted in an aperture in the support structure a stepped blind full bore is formed in which one of said pins is insertable to force apart the webs on the blanked off regions of the protrusions to thereby spread the portions of the protrusions projecting from the aperture and to thereby fasten the panels to the support structure; each said protrusion having an exterior locking shoulder to lock the protrusion in its associated aperture after full insertion of one of said pins; each said web having a wall thickness generally equal to that of the protrusion adjacent the web; each said pin comprising a head and a stem; each said stem having a chamfered leading edge and having substantially cylindrical portions of predetermined diameter adjacent its head and leading end, and an enlarged portion between said substantially cylindrical portions; each of said bores defined by said protrusions having a first region of relatively large diameter for accommodating the head of the pin, a second region of decreased diameter approximately equal to the diameter of the cylindrical portions of the pin, and a third region of further decreased diameter adjacent said webs; wherein said enlarged portion of said pin comprises a portion of substantially uniform diameter disposed between a tapered leading face of increasing diameter and a tapered trailing face of decreasing diameter, said tapered leading face functioning to force apart said protrusions during insertion of said pin by engagement first with said stepped blind full bore formed by said protrusion, and subsequently by engagement of said webs, said enlarged portion functioning to stably maintain said protrusions in a spread configuration so as to maintain locking engagement of said exterior locking shoulders with said apertured support structure after full insertion of said pin, said trailing face functioning to facilitate subsequent withdrawal of said pin from said bore.