BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The invention relates to a penetration reinforcement as claimed in the preamble of claim 1 and particularly to a penetration reinforcement comprising a vertical part which protrudes from a casting surface of a reinforced concrete casing slab and comprises locking means for connecting to a reinforcement of a surface casting to be formed onto the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab, and adjustment means for connecting the locking means at an optional distance to the reinforcement of the surface casting on the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab.

[0002] Concrete as such is a pressure-proof material but, nevertheless, its tensile strength is low, wherefore reinforcement is provided in concrete structures to transfer tensile forces. In reinforced concrete slabs there are local points where shearing stress is high. These points include sections where a slab is supported on a column, an end or edge of a wall. Without auxiliary reinforcement there is a danger that under high stress the slab is penetrated into the upper end of the column supporting it, for instance.

[0003] Various kinds of penetration reinforcements for preventing a concrete slab from being cut through at a high local shearing force are known. Conventionally, hooks bent from deformed bars or vertical pins formed into lines have been used as penetration reinforcements.

[0004] However, a problem with prior art arrangements described above is that, depending on the application, reinforced concrete casing slabs and surface castings to be formed thereon have different thicknesses. Due to the varying thickness of the slabs, different penetration reinforcements must be used for each slab thickness. Using a plurality of different penetration reinforcements causes a risk of mixing them up and sets limits to the storage capacity, since many kinds of penetration reinforcements have to be stored.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0005] It is thus an object of the invention to provide a penetration reinforcement, by which the above problems can be solved. The object of the invention is achieved by a penetration reinforcement as claimed in the characterizing part of claim 1 , characterized in that the penetration reinforcement comprises a vertical part protruding from a casting surface of a reinforced concrete casing slab or being located at the lower part of a reinforced concrete

slab and comprising locking means for connecting to a reinforcement of a surface casting to be formed onto the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab or to a reinforcement of the upper surface of the reinforced concrete slab, and adjustment means for connecting the locking means at an optional distance to the reinforcement of the surface casting on the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab.

[0006] The preferred embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the dependent claims.

[0007] The invention is based on the realization that the penetration reinforcement fastened to reinforcement bars of the reinforced concrete casing slab comprises a vertical part extending from the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab to the surface casting to be formed thereon and comprising adjustable locking means for connecting to a reinforcement of the surface casting. Due to adjustability, the vertical part of the penetration reinforcement may be fastened to the reinforcements of the surface casting at different heights from the reinforcement bars of the reinforced concrete casing slab and/or the casting surface, whereby this same part may be used for slabs of different thicknesses. Adjustability is implemented by independent adjustment means, by which the locking means of the vertical part can be set to a height corresponding to the slab thickness in question.

[0008] The penetration reinforcement of the invention provides the advantage that the same penetration reinforcement may be used for concrete slabs of different thicknesses. Consequently, the risk of mixing up the penetration reinforcements during the mounting is not so high, because there is only one kind of penetration reinforcement. Also, the production of penetration reinforcements becomes more effective, since only one type of penetration reinforcement is produced.

[0009] In an embodiment of the present invention, the locking means are provided in a separate locking member, which is fastened to the vertical part of the penetration reinforcement, protruding from the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab.

[0010] Furthermore, in an embodiment both the vertical part and the locking member are formed of a metal sheet by cutting and edging.

[0011] In another embodiment of the present invention, the locking means are an integral part of the vertical part of the penetration reinforcement, protruding from the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] In the following the invention will be described in greater detail in association with preferred embodiments with reference to the attached drawings, in which

Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 shows a locking member to be fastened to the vertical part of the embodiment according to Figure 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0013] With reference to Figure 1 , it shows an embodiment of a penetration reinforcement according to the present invention. According to Figure 1 , the penetration reinforcement 1 comprises a lower part 2 to be fastened to reinforcement bars 10 in the lower part of a reinforced concrete casing slab or a reinforced concrete slab, and an upper part 4 protruding from a casting surface 30 of the reinforced concrete casing slab or to the upper part of the reinforced concrete slab. In the upper part 4 of the penetration reinforcement 1 there are locking means 22 for fastening the penetration reinforcement 1 further to a reinforcement 20 of a surface casting to be formed onto the casing slab. Since different sites have different requirements for the thickness of a casing slab and a surface casting, the penetration reinforcement 1 is provided according to the present invention with adjustment means 23, 24, 26 for adjusting the penetration reinforcement 1 to fasten to the reinforcement bars 10 of the casing slab at an optional distance from each other and to the reinforcement 20 of the surface casting. These adjustment means allow the adjustment of the distance between the lower part 2 of the penetration reinforcement 1 and the locking means 22, which means that the same penetration reinforcement shown in Figure 1 may be used for various slab thicknesses. A broken line in Figure 1 stands for the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab.

[0014] According to the present invention and as illustrated in an embodiment of the invention of Figure 1 , the penetration reinforcement 1 comprises a vertical part 4 protruding from the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab and comprising the locking means 22 for connecting to the reinforcement 20 of the surface casting to be formed onto the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab, and adjustment means 23, 24, 26 for connecting the locking means 22 to the reinforcement 20 of the surface

casting at an optional distance on the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab. It is to be noted that although Figure 1 shows a certain kind of lower part 2 of the penetration reinforcement 1 , which is fastened to the reinforcement bars 10 of the casing slab, this lower part may also be formed in other ways not limited by the present invention. In other words, the lower part 2 may, for instance, be welded directly to the reinforcement bars 10.

[0015] In the embodiment of the present invention shown in Figure 1 , the penetration reinforcement 1 comprises an independent locking member 23 described in greater detail in Figure 2. In this embodiment the locking means 22 are provided, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, in the independent locking member 23, which is fastened to the vertical part 4 of the penetration reinforcement protruding from the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab. Both the vertical part 4 and the locking member 23 are preferably made of a metal sheet by cutting and edging but they may also be manufactured in a different manner, e.g. assembled from different pieces combined with each other by welding, for instance, or in some other manner.

[0016] The independent locking member 23 comprises fastening means for fastening it to the vertical part 4. The fastening means comprise, in the embodiment of Figures 1 and 2, grooves 28 provided in the locking member 23, in which grooves the vertical sides 19 of the vertical part 4 transverse to the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab may be placed. The grooves 28 are formed in the lateral edges of the planar locking member 23 by bending, whereupon the locking member 28 can be slid onto the vertical part 4. The grooves 28 are fairly tight with respect to the thickness of the vertical part 4, whereby the vertical part 4 is set rather tightly into the grooves 28 of the locking member 23 so that the locking member 23 remains firmly in place and is not removed unintentionally. These fastening means may also be realised in another alternative manner. It is, however, advantageous but not necessary that the locking member 23 can be fastened to the vertical part 4 without separate tools or fastening techniques.

[0017] According to the invention, the penetration reinforcement comprises adjustment means for adjusting the penetration reinforcement to fasten to the reinforcement bars 10 of the casing slab at an optional distance from each other and to the reinforcement 20 of the surface casting. In the embodiment of Figure 1 , the adjustment means of the penetration reinforcement comprise at least one tongue 26 provided in the locking member 23 and at

least one opening 24 provided in the vertical part 4 for receiving the tongue 26 of the locking member 23, in which case there are at least two openings 24 or tongues 26, provided at different distances from the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab when the penetration reinforcement is mounted in its place, for fastening the locking member 23 to a desired position in the vertical part 4. Preferably there are several tongues 26 and openings 24, whereby it is possible to set the locking member 23 to various positions relative to the vertical part and the casting surface / the reinforcement bars 10 of the casing slab. Thus, the locking means 22 of the locking member 23 can be placed at a desired height from the casting surface 30 of the casing slab. In the solution of Figure 1 , when the locking member 23 is set in its place so that the grooves 28 receive the vertical sides 19 of the vertical part 4 and the reinforcement 20 of the surface casting is mounted in the locking means of the locking member 23, the locking member 23 is pressed downwards so that the tongues 26 therein are set into the openings 24 in the vertical part 4. The locking member 23 is pressed as down as is necessary in each case, depending on the concrete slab thickness, until it is possible to tighten the reinforcement 20 of the surface casting by means of the locking means of the locking member 23, as shown in Figure 1. The reinforcement bar 20 of the surface casting yields when the locking member 23 is pressed downwards, also allowing firm tightening of the vertical part 4 and the locking member 23 when the bent reinforcement 20 causes a tension between the locking member 23 and the vertical part 4.

[0018] The tongues 26 are shaped so as to fit into the shape of the openings 24 in the vertical part 4. In addition, the tongues are shaped in such a manner that, when the locking member 23 is pressed downwards, the tongues 26 can be settled into the next lowest opening 24 but they cannot return to the next highest opening 24 anymore. Figure 2 clearly shows that the tongues 26 are opened in an upward direction, whereupon, when mounted in the opening 24 and tightened by the reinforcement 20, the tongues are pressed against the upper edges of the openings 24 of the vertical part 4, thus preventing the locking member 23 from moving upwards, as may be seen from Figure 1.

[0019] In an alternative embodiment, the adjustment means of the penetration reinforcement comprise at least one tongue 26 provided in the locking member 23 and at least one notch or the like provided in the vertical part 4 for receiving the tongue 26 of the locking member 23, in which case

there are at least two notches or tongues 26, provided at different distances from the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab when the penetration reinforcement is mounted in its place, for fastening the locking member

23 to a desired position in the vertical part 4. It is to be noted that both the tongues 26 and the openings 24 may be replaced by other similar means allowing the adjustment of the relative positions of the vertical part 4 and the locking member 23. The tongues may be, for instance, pins, bulges or the like, and the openings 24 may be notches, recesses or the like. It is also to be noted that tongues 26 may also be provided in the vertical part 4 and openings

24 in the locking member 23. In addition, the tongues may be directed obliquely in a downward or upward direction relative to the locking member 23, or in some other suitable manner.

[0020] In order to fasten the locking member 23 to the reinforcement 20 of the surface casting, the locking member 23 comprises locking means. In the embodiment of Figures 1 and 2, the locking means are a bend 22 which is provided in the locking member 23 and to which the reinforcement 20 of the surface casting is connected, whereupon, when the penetration reinforcement is fastened to the casing slab, the penetration reinforcement locks the reinforcement of the surface casting to the casing slab by means of the bend 22. According to Figure 1 , the bend 22 is substantially parallel to the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab in such a manner that the reinforcement 20 of the surface casting is connected to the bend 22 under the bend, being pressed between the reinforced concrete casing slab and the bend 22. The bend may also be in a different direction to the casting surface of the slab. For example, it may be turned towards the casting surface. The locking means may also be provided in some other alternative manner, such as by a hook, slot, groove or another similar design provided in the locking member 23. Furthermore, the locking means may consist of independent parts, by which the reinforcement 20 of the surface casting is fastened to the locking member 23. Another alternative is to fasten the reinforcement 20 to the locking member 23 by a known fastening technique, such as by welding.

[0021] According to another embodiment of the present invention, the locking means are an integral part of the vertical part 4 of the penetration reinforcement, protruding from the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab. In this case, the penetration reinforcement does not comprise an independent locking member but the locking means are provided or may be

provided directly at the vertical part 4. In one case, the adjustment means comprise at least two independent locking means provided at different distances from the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab. These locking means may be hooks, bends, grooves, slots or the like capable of receiving the reinforcement 20 of the surface casting.

[0022] In another case, the adjustment means comprise weakening points provided in the vertical part 4 at different distances from the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab, and the vertical part 4 may be shaped at these weakening points in order to form the locking means at a desired distance from the casting surface of the reinforced concrete casing slab. In this case, the locking means may be a bend provided in the vertical part 4, to which the reinforcement 20 of the surface casting is connected, whereby, when the penetration reinforcement is fastened to the casing slab, the penetration reinforcement locks the reinforcement of the surface casting to the casing slab by means of the bend 22. In this case, a bend similar to that of Figures 1 and 2 may be provided in the vertical part 4 at the points defined by the weakenings at a different distance from the reinforcement 10 of the casing slab and/or the casting surface 30 of the casing slab. This bend 22 is preferably substantially parallel to the casting surface 30 of the reinforced concrete casing slab in such a manner that the reinforcement 20 of the surface casting is connected to the bend 22 under the bend, being pressed between the reinforced concrete casing slab and the bend 22. According to this embodiment, the locking means provided at a desired distance from the casting surface 30 of the casing slab tighten the reinforcement 20 of the surface casting, allowing firm fastening of the penetration reinforcement in its place.

[0023] It is to be noted that the vertical part may also be mounted in the lower part of the reinforced concrete slab, whereby the locking means 22 may be fastened to the reinforcement of the upper part of the reinforced concrete slab. In this case, there may not necessarily be a separate surface casting.

[0024] It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that, as the technology advances, the inventive concept can be implemented in various ways. The invention and its embodiments are thus not limited to the examples described above but may vary within the scope of the claims.