Dowel for supporting sideways load - has stepped or tapered plug to avoid high loading on wall surface

摘要

When dowels are used e.g. to support a structure on a wall, the weight of the structure will exert a load parallel to the wall which will tend to be heaviest in the plane of the wall. To spread the load more evenly over the length of the dowel and to relieve the load at the opening of the hole, the outside diameter of the dowel at its end nearest the opening, is made smaller than the diameter at the other end. This is done either by tapering the dowel or by stepping down the diameter.