Metal Roof Bracket and Hip Plate Assembly

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a metal roof frame formed with the use of a metal roof bracket and hip plate assembly. In particular, the connection between metal roof trusses and truss or support members at a single apex, through the use of a bracket and hip plate arrangement.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present inventor is the owner of the co-pending international patent application, PCT/AU2004/001045 relating to a metal roof truss connection and a co-pending application relating to an improved method of connection. The contents of the co-pending application are incorporated by reference herein.

There are numerous known methods of connecting metal roof trusses and support members to form a roof frame. Most of these methods include a variation of a bracket and bolt connections. Traditional and conventional means of assembly are generally time consuming and difficult. One of the main problems with existing methods is the need for the support member to be connected directly onto a hip plate arrangement, making connection difficult as alignment over a long distance requires great accuracy. Further problems arising from traditional means of metal roof truss assembly and connection are that welding can be time consuming and may not be sound, rivets and screws may not withstand the required loads and drilling can be difficult or awkward.

In particular, difficulties arise where a person must manually hold a support member to a hip plate when attempting to connect the roof support member thereto, for example, at an apex of a roof truss. At elevated heights, this process can be quite dangerous and obviously time consuming.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned problems and to provide the public with a useful alternative.

The present application includes a metal roof bracket and hip plate assembly used to connect up to three trass or support members with a metal roof truss. This novel means of connection, which may well utilise the co-pending application's novel connection method, provides a more efficient means of assembly than the traditional assembly techniques. The

bracket allows the support member to be held by the hip plate whilst aligning the bracket into a position where it may be mounted thereto. It also allows for the support member to be rotated into a desired position before fixing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore in one form of the invention there is proposed a roof truss assembly for use in joining roof support members to an apex of a single plane roof truss whereby the roof support members extend outwardly with respect to said plane, said roof truss assembly characterised by: a hip plate including a mounting means for attaching the hip plate to the roof truss adjacent the apex, and at least one surface which is angled with respect to said plane; and at least one connector bracket to which said roof support member is attached, said connector bracket configured to removably engage said angled surface.

Preferably said hip plate includes two outer surfaces adapted to be connected to said roof truss, and a central pressed portion comprising two or more of said angled surfaces.

In preference said connector bracket includes a fold over portion adapted to be hooked over a corresponding angled surface.

Preferably said roof support member is rotatable about a horizontal axis with respect to said connector bracket when attached thereto.

In preference once the roof support member is rotated to its desired position and fixed, said fold over portion of the connector bracket can be fixed to the corresponding angled surface. In a further form of the invention there is proposed a roof frame characterised by: a roof truss including a plurality of roof support members coming together to form at least one apex; and a hip plate having parallel and angled portions relative to said roof truss, said hip plate being attached at said parallel portions to said roof support members adjacent the apex of the roof truss in a configuration which allows further roof support members to be attached to said hip plate.

Preferably each roof support member is attachable to said hip plate by a bracket.

In preference said bracket includes two spaced apart parallel surfaces connected by a back plate extending beyond said surfaces, said back plate being foldable to allow for said bracket to be located onto one of the angled portions of said hip plate.

In preference said spaced apart parallel surfaces are semi-circular flanges plates having a central aperture adapted to allow for the passage of a bolt there through, said bolt engaging said further roof support member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several implementations of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the advantages and principles of the invention. In the drawings:

Figure 1 illustrates a side view of a metal roof truss having chord and stiffening members;

Figure 2 illustrates a perspective view of a metal roof truss chord member;

Figure 3 illustrates an exploded perspective view of a connector assembly used to connect a chord and stiffening member in accordance with the applicant's co-pending application;

Figure 4 illustrates an exploded perspective view of a connector assembly including a flanged insert in accordance with another of the applicant' s co-pending applications;

Figure 5 illustrates a perspective view of the roof bracket and hip plate assembly of the present invention;

Figure 6a illustrates a top view of the hip plate of Figure 5;

Figure 6b illustrates a front view of the hip plate of Figure 5;

Figure 6c illustrates a perspective view of the hip plate of Figure 5;

Figure 7a illustrates a side view of the metal roof bracket of Figure 5 ;

Figure 7b illustrates a rear view of the metal roof bracket of Figure 5 ;

Figure 7c illustrates a perspective view of the metal roof bracket of Figure 5;

Figure 8 illustrates a perspective view of the metal roof bracket of Figure 5 in its folded state.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following detailed description of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings. Although the description includes exemplary embodiments, other embodiments are possible, and changes may be made to the embodiments described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The present invention relates to a metal roof bracket and hip plate assembly for joining the ends of truss members. As mentioned in the preamble of the invention, the major problems associated with traditional methods of metal roof truss connection are primarily the inefficiencies and awkwardness of aligning and fixing the support members to a bracket mechanism. The use of the bracket and hip plate assembly of the present invention provides a solution to these problems. In order to more clearly appreciate the benefit of the present invention, the description of the applicant's co-pending applications relating to the connector assemblies between chord and stiffening members will first be described.

Shown in Figure 1 is a metal roof truss 10, having stiffening or web chord members 12, 14, 16 and 18 and top and bottom chords or chord members 20, 22 and 24. Although the metal roof truss 10 consists of numerous joints between chord and stiffening members, only one of these is described in detail herein. More specifically, the connection between the end of stiffening member 12 and the bottom chord 20 as shown in Figure 1 is described. It is to be understood however that the following description also applies to the remaining joints.

Truss 10 includes a triangular frame defined by the lower or bottom chord member 20 and the two top diagonal chord members 22 and 24 which join at the apex of the truss 10. The four stiffening members 12, 14, 16 and 18 of the truss 10 serve to support the chord members.

Figure 2 illustrates a section of the lower chord member 20 when disconnected from the truss 10. The chord member 20 is made of strip steel that has been extruded into an elongate C- section beam including an indented base 26, side walls 28 and 30, and upper edges 32 and 34 defining an open channel 36. At opposed ends of the chord member 20, side wall 28 extends longitudinally beyond the upper edges 32 and 34 and base 26 to form semicircular flanges 38

and 40, whilst side wall 30 extends longitudinally in the same manner to form semicircular flanges 42 and 44.

Each chord member 20, 22 and 24 includes circular pressed sections, such as pressed sections 46 and 48 on respective flanges 38 and 40, and those on flanges 42 and 44 which are not seen in the perspective shown. The centre point of each pressed section 46 and 48 is defined by respective apertures 50 and 52. The apertures also define the radial centres of each corresponding semicircular flange 38 and 40. The chord member 20 includes similar pressed sections 54 and 56 and associated apertures 55 and 57 located in the area along the member where another chord or stiffening member is to be mounted. The upper edges 34 and 36 are splayed in this region to form flared edges 58 and 60. The flared edges extend upwardly, outwardly and then inwardly and their function is to provide further strength to the resultant joint when a stiffening member end is connected by biting into the side walls thereof.

Each stiffening member also includes semi-circular flanges 62 and 64, associated circular pressed sections 66 and 68, and corresponding apertures 70 and 72 at their ends. This is evident in Figure 3 which illustrates the connector assembly 74 of the prior art. The pressed sections 54 and 56 of the chord member 20 are correspondingly shaped with pressed sections 66 and 68 of the stiffening member 12 respectively. Thus, when the flanges 62 and 64 of stiffening member 12 are inserted between flared edges 58 and 60 of chord member 20, the pressed sections of each member become engaged. Once engaged, corresponding apertures of each section becomes coaxially aligned so that a bolt or pin 76 may extend there through and engage nut or pin collar 78. Those skilled in the art would realise that when the pressed ^~ sections engage, one section is effectively snapped within the other and prevented from radial movement, or in other words, relative movement of the members along a shear plane.

Tightening of bolt 76 causes the end of the stiffening member 12 to be effectively secured within the receiving section of chord member 20. When the bolt is further tightened, the flanges 62 and 64 will deflect inwards. For this reason, housed within the semicircular flanges 62 and 64 is a cylindrical spacer or ferrule 80. The inner diameter of the spacer 80 is greater than the outer diameter of the pressed sections so that the ends of the spacer fit just over the pressed sections.

The connector assembly of the prior art allows a person assembling the metal roof truss

10 to do so in a shorter amount of time than the previously known methods of assembly, as one

may simply align a free end of each stiffening member with a receiving section of a chord - member by simply rotating the free end until it is correctly aligned with the receiving section. The same applies with connection between chord members.

Figure 4 illustrates an improved connector assembly 100 in accordance with another of the applicant's co-pending application whereby the assembly includes a flanged insert 102. The flanged insert 102 includes two hollow conical ends 104 and 106, and a cylindrically shaped mid-section 108. The internal diameter of the conical ends is slightly smaller than that of the ferrule 80 so that it may fit snugly inside the ferrule 80 and on top of the pressed sections. The flanged insert further includes a central aperture (not shown) which extends centrally through the mid-section 108, and when assembled is coaxially aligned with opposing apertures of the chord members. The flanged insert performs two useful functions.

Firstly, the aperture extending therethrough acts as a guide for the bolt so that when it is inserted through one aperture, rather than fiddling around trying to find the opposing aperture which is hidden from view by spacer 80, one can now easily locate the opposing aperture through use of the guiding insert. Secondly, it maintains the spacer in its desired position, that is, on the outside of the pressed sections as opposed to above the pressed sections. Essentially, in using the locator 102, the bolt can be guided through both apertures, eliminating the time required to align two apertures on each side of the pressed sections, and the need to hold the ferrule in place whilst fastening the bolt is eliminated.

Turning now to the present invention which relates to the use of a hip plate 200 and metal roof truss brackets 202 adapted to be fixed to the roof truss 10 shown in Figure 1. The assembly is shown in Figure 5 which illustrates an enlarged view of the roof truss apex which has the hip plate 200 fixed thereto. Although not shown, bolts are used to secure the hip plate 200 to the stiffening members 14 and 16.

Also shown in the Figure are three metal roof support members 204, 206 and 208 which are fixed to corresponding metal roof brackets 202. The support members effectively constitute further members of the roof truss and extend outwardly with respect to the stiffening and chord members previously described. These could be used for example at an end of a roof where the two outer members extend to the corners and the middle member extend to halfway there between. The hip plate could be used in a variety of different situations.

The hip plate is shown in top view in figure 6a, front view in figure 6b, and perspective view in figure 6c. From the top view it can be seen that the hip plate 200 consists of pressed sections of three equal lengths 210, 212 and 214 in the centre of the hip plate, forming a half hexagon shape where each segment is separated by approximately 60 degrees. On each end of the central pressed section exists two flat mounting segments 216 and 218 that are used to mount the Mp plate 200 to the roof apex. Also illustrated are the pre-drilled apertures 219 used for mounting.

Each metal roof bracket 202 is foldable and is shown in its unfolded state in Figures 7a- 7c, and in its folded state in Figure 8.

Referring now to figures 7a, 7b and 7c, the metal roof bracket 202 is shown, clearly displaying perforations 220 indicating a folding line between upper 219 and lower 221 portions of the rear side of the bracket 202. The rear side of the bracket connects two parallel and spaced apart walls 226 and 228 and associated semi-circular flanges 230 and 232. The assembler can therefore easily fold the rear portion 221 of the rear side of the bracket in half, with the top half . 219 used to overhang or hook onto a hip plate pressed section for ease of connection. Once folded, the pre-drilled holes 222 and 224 align co-axially to allow for insertion therethrough of bolts (not shown). The semi-circular flanges 230 and 232 include central apertures 234 and 236 respectively and are used to house the ends of the support members in the same way as previously described, or simply by insertion and tightening of a bolt.

The abovementioned truss arrangement is by way of example only and is not intended to limit the present invention. For example, metal roof truss 10 may well include nine stiffening members rather than four.

In summary, the present invention discloses an improved method of connecting metal roof truss members in three dimensions through the use of a metal roof bracket and hip plate assembly. Those skilled in the art would realise that the present invention provides for a much more effective and efficient means of installing a roof truss in that one no longer needs to hold the support member in place whilst securing it to the hip plate, may simply hook it over the corresponding hip plate surface and then bolt it down. This is particularly helpful given that when working at dangerous heights above ground where the more hands you have available, the safer you are. For example, the support member could first be equipped with an attached bracket

202 and can then easily be positioned on the hip plate by folding the bracket along the perforations 220 and hooking it onto any one of the three pressed sections 210, 212 or 214.

Further, the folded portion of the bracket can act as a preliminary means of securing the roof support member whilst it is rotated into position and fixed. After it has been fixed into position* then the bracket 202 can be fixed to the hip plate 200 as described above. The action of supporting the truss member in its correct position for easy alignment and fixing, greatly reduces the complexity of the assembly process. Previous methods required the support member to be manually secured to the bracket while it is being aligned.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not to be limited to only this shape of hip plate. For example, it may be necessary to have the support members extending at 45 degrees to one another in which case there would be only two central pressed sections separated by approximately 45 degrees.

Further advantages and improvements may very well be made to the present invention without deviating from its scope. Although the invention has been shown and described in what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope and spirit of the invention, which is not to be limited to the details disclosed herein but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent devices and apparatus.

In any claims that follow and in the summary of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprising" is used in the sense of "including", i.e. the features specified may be associated with further features in various embodiments of the invention.