Component for use in the production of a concrete floor plate

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a method of assembly of a stud rail clip for use in performing such method, and to a kit of parts for performing such method.

Background of the Invention

Stud rails are widely used components in the production of concrete floor plates, such floor plates being used extensively in the construction of multi-storey buildings. It is widely known that concrete floor plates supported on columns experience a punching shear which may result in cracking of the floor/penetration of the column into the floor plate. These highly stressed areas need a complex internal arrangement of reinforcing to spread the forces around the perimeter of the column. The problem is well understood in the reinforced concrete construction industry and all the major suppliers have their own shear solution systems., These include stirrups, closed links, hooks, bent up bars, shear ladders, double headed studs, stud rails and shear heads, stud rails being the most cost effective and therefore most widely used.

Basically, most if not all prior art systems comprise a double headed rod tying the lower and upper layers of the slab together welded to a metal rail serving as a carrier for a row of studs at predetermined spaced apart locations, and sometimes additionally serving as a head on the rod, but its main purpose is to pitch the rods and create a single assembly for easy positioning in situ and attachment to re-bar.

As an alternative to a metal rail, it is believed that a plastics rail system also exists, with the ladder pre-formed, at spaced apart locations, whereby a stud may be positioned, where required, along the ladder. Object of the Invention

A basic object of the invention is the provision of an improved method of assembly of a stud rail, to a kit of parts to perform such method, and to a stud rail constructed by such method and from such kit of parts.

Summary of a First Aspect of the Invention

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of manual assembly of a stud rail, for use in the construction of a concrete floor plate, comprising the steps of

(i) forcing one end of a double-headed stud into receiving aperture of a clip by that end displacing mutually spaced-apart, resilient portions of the clip, which resilient portions, after entry of the end of the stud into the aperture, latch the stud to the clip to form a clip and stud unit, and

(ii) attaching a plurality of such clip and stud units at selected locations, along a pair of circular section, parallel supports which are located in a common, horizontal plane, by engaging one of a pair of spaced-apart projections of the clip with each of the parallel supports, to form a stud rail, with the head of the stud associated with the clip located between the parallel supports, wholly, or substantially, within the plane of the parallel supports.

Summary of a Second Aspect of the Invention

According to a second aspect of the invention, of independent significance, there is provided a method of manual assembly of a stud rail, for use in the construction of a concrete floor plate, comprising the steps of:-

(i) attaching a plurality of such clip at selected locations, along a pair of circular section, parallel supports which are located in a common, horizontal plane, by engaging one of a pair of spaced-apart projections of the clip with each of the parallel supports, and

(ii) forcing one end of a double-headed stud into receiving aperture of a clip by that end displacing mutually spaced-apart, resilient portions of the clip, which resilient portions, after entry of the end of the stud into the aperture, latch the stud to the clip to form a clip and stud unit, with the head of the stud associated with the clip located between the parallel supports, wholly, or substantially, within the plane of the parallel supports.

Summary of a Third Aspect of the Invention

According to a third aspect of the invention, of independent significance, there is provided a clip for use in mounting a reinforcing stud at a user-selected position along a pair of circular section, parallel supports, such as re-bar, by the method of the first or second aspects, the clip comprising a generally planar base carrying a pair of spaced-apart, resilient deformable tabs extending in a first direction, by which the clip and stud may be latched together to form a clip and stud unit, and also carrying a pair of projections extending in a second, orthogonal direction, one of which projections is adapted to be engaged with each of the parallel supports.

Summary of a Fourth Aspect of the Invention

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, of independent significance, there is provided a kit of parts for the manual assembly of a stud rail, for use in the construction of a concrete floor plate, by the method of Claim 1 , comprising:-

(i) a plurality of double-headed studs;

(ii) a plurality of clips in accordance with the third aspect; and

(ii) elongate supports of circular section, such as re-bar, with a pair of supports adapted to be located in spaced-apart, parallel disposition, with a plurality of clip and stud units engaged with the pair of parallel supports, at longitudinally spared-apart, user-selected locations along the parallel supports, to form a stud rail.

Advantages of the Invention

By following the method of the first or second aspect of the invention, and using the clips of the third aspect and the kit of parts in accordance with the fourth aspect, the need for welding is eliminated and there is provided the highly advantageous option of assembling stud rails, on site, by hand, with the capability of extensive flexibility of the stud spacing, length, and diameter, whilst meeting engineer's specification and building regulations, in contrast to most, if not to all, prior art systems known in practice which involve delivery to site of fabricated stud rails with studs of predetermined length and diameter and already positioned at predetermined locations, which may or may not be the optimum stud dimensions and spacing for the concrete floor plate being produced. The advantageous possibility for on-site assembly does not of course preclude off-site assembly if this is found more beneficial or suitable for a particular installation. In addition, by avoiding bespoke stud rails and employing mass production techniques for the method and kit of parts of the invention, considerable cost savings can be achieved compared with prior art systems. Furthermore, the construction critical path is simplified in that the time drag of ordering and awaiting manufacture and just-in-time delivery to site of bespoke stud rails is totally avoided. Preferred or Optional Features of the Third Aspect of the Invention

Both the tabs and the projections extend from the same side of the base.

Two pairs of flanges project from the same side of the base, being a first pair of flanges carrying the tabs, which tabs are so spaced-apart that an end of a double-headed stud may deform one or both tabs such that the end enters a receiving aperture of the clip and the tabs engage a portion of the stud to latch the clip and stud together as a unit, and a second pair of flanges being orthogonal to the first pair and being so spaced apart that each engages one of the parallel supports at a user-selected position, to form the stud rail.

A head of the stud is employed to displace one or both resilient tabs, with the tabs engaging a rear surface of the head to latch the clip and head together, as a unit.

The clip is of skeleton structure.

The clip is of synthetic plastics, and thereby corrosion resilient.

The clip is of spring steel, preferably stainless steel and thereby corrosion resilient. The clip is a sheet metal pressing manufactured in progression tooling.

The pair of projections comprise a pair of opposed mounting arms terminating in downwardly hooked ends, whereby each clip and stud unit may be hooked over the tops of a pair of circular section, parallel supports, whereby the clip and stud units are mounted on the parallel supports, to form a stud rail.

The hooked ends are provided with arcuate engagement surfaces.

The pair of projections incorporate latching means to ensure that the projections cannot be readily disengaged from the parallel supports, whereby the studs may either project upwardly or may hang downwardly.

The parallel supports are adapted to radiate from a spacer coaxial with the column. Description of the Drawings

The various aspects of the invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of examples, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of clip in an inverted condition ready to receive one end of a double-headed stud;

Figure 2 is a plan view of Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is an end elevation of Figure 2,

Figure 5 is an underneath plan of Figure 1 ;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of clip, that is clipped to a stud;

Figure 7 shows examples of studs for use with various embodiments of clips.

Figures 8A, 8B and 8C are respectively a top plan, a front elevation and a perspective view from below, of a third embodiment of clip;

Figure 8D is a perspective view from above showing a clip of Figures 8A to 8C clipped to an upper end of a stud, with this clip, in turn, clipped on to two adjacent rungs of a prefabricated wire ladder, and which is itself supported on a conventional re-bar grid;

Figure 8E is a perspective view from below of a portion of Figure 8D;

Figures 9A, 9B and 9C are respectively a top plan, a side elevation and a perspective view from below, of a fourth embodiment of clip; Figure 9D is a perspective view from above showing a clip of Figures 9A to 9C clipped to an upper end of a stud, with this clip, in turn, clipped on to two adjacent rungs of a prefabricated wire ladder, which is itself supported on a conventional re-bar grid, and

Figure 9E is a perspective view from below of a portion of Figure 9D.

In the embodiment of Figures 1-5, a clip 1 , is blanked and pressed from annealed carbon steel strip subsequently austempered to the skeletal shape indicated and comprises a body member 2 providing a planar support surface 3 adapted, in use, to be engaged by a planar end surface 4 of one head 5 of a double-headed stud 6, examples of which are best seen in Figure 9, being produced by hot, upset forging from a suitably cut length of industry- standard re-bar, a shank 7 of the stud extending to its other head 8.

From each parallel edge strip 9 of the body member 2 projects an integral arm 10 carrying centrally a resilient tab 11 , the tabs of each arm 10 being splayed apart by the push-fitting of the head 5 but returning to their neutral position illustrated in Figures 1-5 after passage of the head 5, with terminal ends 12 of the tabs being formed with a concave recess to engage the shank 7, and also engage the underside or annulus of the head 5 to latch the stud 6 to the clip A to form a clip and stud unit.

From each parallel side strip 13 of the body member 2 projects an integral, and generally U-shaped arm 14 providing a hooked end 15 adapted to be fitted over a pair of parallel, circular section support bars 16, preferably re-bars, partially shown in Figure 2, located in a horizontal plane P and one only shown in Figure 3, and latched to the support bars 16 by a resilient tab 17 of each arm 14 engaging the underside of each support bar 16, so that head 5 associated with the clip 1 , is located between the parallel bars 16 and within the plane P.

Clip and stud units are located, again as a push-fit, by splaying the resilient tabs 17 to latch the clip and stud units to the support rods 16, with location of the clip and stud units being at suitable pitch along the support rods 16 to suit the floor plate to be cast, and to thus provide a stud rail capable of on-site assembly. In the embodiment of Figure 6, like reference numerals are employed in like components, but with a "B" suffix. A clip 1 B has an aperture 18 with a flared mouth 19B defined between two spaced-apart walls 20 to receive a portion of the shank 7 of a stud adjacent a head 5, with the annulus face 21 of the head 5 seating on upper surfaces 22 of the clip 1 B. Also shown in Figure 6 are arms 14B, with arcuately apertured or hooked ends 15B to snap onto bars 6.

Figure 7 simply shows three forged studs 6.

In the embodiment of Figures 8A to 8E, a clip 1 C has a flared mouth 19C (Figure 9A) defined by a pair of spaced-apart, inturned, resilient tabs 23, which are splayed further apart during manual insertion of the stem 7 of a stud 6 with the clip 1 C, with annulus face 20 of the head 5 again seating on upper surfaces 22D. Figure 9D shows a clip and stud unit fitted across rungs 24 of a ladder 25, with parts of a conventional re-bar lattice indicated at 26, and Figure 9E shows the underside of a clip and stud unit.

In the embodiment of Figures 10A to 10E, clip 1 D has a mouth to receive a portion of the shank 7 of a stud 6 defined by two U-shaped notches 27 formed in resilient tabs 28, which also serve to support and suspend the stud 6 when the clip and stud unit has been fitted to the ladder to form a stud rail 29, the tabs 28 being lifted by a simple too) such as a screwdriver to achieve insertion of a head 5 of a stud 6 into the clip 1 D.

In this embodiment, arms being asymmetrical, one arm 14E hooking over a circular section rung of the ladder, and the other arm 14F having an orthogonal flange 27 to engage an adjacent rung.