SYSTEM FOR SECURING CONCRETE FORM PANELS

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention is broadly concerned with improved concrete forms and components thereof which permit the forms to be easily assembled, used and disassembled in the field without the need for special tools or time-consuming assembly/disassembly operations. More particularly, the invention is concerned with such concrete forms, the individual form panels making up the complete forms, and the connection hardware used to interconnect the form panels.

Description of the Prior Art

Many present day poured concrete structures are constructed using prefabricated, reusable, interlocking form sections or panels. These panels are necessarily of relatively high strength, yet preferably are compact and lightweight. Thus, concrete form panels are advantageously constructed from aluminum, and are designed to be interconnected end-to-end as well as in opposed relationship, to present a wall form for example. For purposes of end-to-end interconnection, the panels generally include vertically extending end walls having a series of spaced openings therethrough. When placed in juxtaposition with the end wall apertures in alignment, the individual panels are typically interconnected by means of slotted pin and wedge assemblies. Thus, slotted pins are driven through aligned end wall apertures, and a wedge is then placed within the pin slot in order to lock the individual panels together. When the form is disassembled, the wedges are loosened and removed, and the pins extracted from the form panel apertures. Other types of form panel connection apparatus have been proposed, wherein the connectors are wholly or largely permanently affixed to the panels. See, e.g., U.S. Patent Nos. 5,251,861 and 7,182,308.

Cross-connection of concrete form panels is often accomplished using what is referred to as "taper-tie" connectors. In such situations, a series of elongated connecting rods extend between opposed form panels and are secured at their outer ends by means of threaded fasteners. The inner portion of the connecting rods between the opposed form panels is covered with a tubular conical sleeve to permit extraction of the connection rods after a concrete wall is formed.

These connecting rods are typically located at the central region of the form panels, rather than at the side margins thereof. This is because it is difficult to attach the connecting rod fasteners at the side margins, where the later form connection hardware is located. However, such central taper-tie assemblies can be difficult to install, and do not give maximum support at the critical joints between the form panels.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention overcomes the problems outlined above and provides an improved concrete form assembly broadly including first and second, multiple-panel wall sections of special design, together with a connection assemblies serving to rigidly interconnect the multiple panels of each wall section, and also to cross-connect the wall sections. Broadly speaking, a concrete form assembly in accordance with the invention comprises a first wall section including a pair of juxtaposed first form panels each having an inner surface and an outer surface and side marginal structure, wherein the first panel marginal structures are adjacent each other and cooperatively define a joint between the first form panels, and a first through bore. The form also has a second wall section including a pair of juxtaposed second form panels each having an inner surface and an outer surface and side marginal structure, the second panel marginal structures being adjacent each other and cooperatively defining a joint between the second form panels, and a second through bore. The first and second wall section are positioned in spaced, opposed relationship with the inner surfaces of the panels thereof in adjacency and with the first and second bores in general alignment.

The connection assemblies each include an elongated connector bridging the first and second wall sections and extending through the first and second bores, the connector presenting opposed, threaded ends respectively extending outwardly beyond the outer faces of the proximal panels. A first connector clip assembly is threadably coupled with the threaded end of the connector extending beyond the outer faces of the first panels, and a second connector clip assembly is ϋkewi se threadably coupled with the threaded end of the connector extending beyond the outer faces of the second panels.

In preferred forms, the side marginal structures of the first and second form panels each have outermost marginal recesses, the recesses of the first form panels being in alignment and cooperatively defining first bores at the joint between the first form panels. Likewise, the

recesses of the second form panels are in alignment and cooperatively define second bores at the joint between the second form panels. In this fashion, the connectors extend through aligned openings along the joints between the form panels making up the first and second wall sections, to provide maximum structural rigidity to the overall form. Each of the first and second connector clip assemblies are preferably in the form of a U- shaped bracket having an elongated connection pin. During installation, the pin is inserted across aligned openings provided in adjacent panel sidewalls, and the bracket is rotated toward the panels to bridge the adjacent panel sidewalls and to pull the panels together. Threaded couplers are provided as a part of the clip assemblies in order to secure the latter to the threaded end of the connector.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a first concrete form wall section comprising a pair of juxtaposed form panels, illustrating the outside surface of the wall section with connector clip assemblies in accordance with the invention located along the juncture between the panels;

Fig. 2 is a is a perspective view depicting the inside surface of the wall section illustrated in Fig. 1 , and further depicting the insertion of threaded connectors through marginal bores at the iuncture between the form panels, and installation of tubular, conical sleeves over the connectors;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view similar to that of Fig. 2, but illustrating the positioning of a pair of form panels during installation of a second concrete form wall section in spaced, opposed relationship to the fiist wall section;

Fig. 4 is a greatly enlarged, fragmentary perspective view showing the positioning of the form panels making up the second wall section;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the first and second wall sections oriented to form a part of a concrete form, and further showing the installation of connector clip assemblies over the ends of the threaded connectors adjacent the outside surface of the second wall section;

Fig. 6 ib ά ff tidily enlarged, fragmentary perspective view illustrating the first step in the installation of one of the connector clip assemblies to the outside surface of the second wall section;

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Fig. 7 is a greatly enlarged, fragmentary perspective view illustrating the second step in the installation of one of the connector clip assemblies to the outside surface of the second wall section;

Fig. 8 is a greatly enlarged, fragmentary perspective view illustrating the final placement of one of the connector clip assemblies to the outside surface of the second wall section, and installation of associated locking nuts onto the threaded connector.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged, fragmentary perspective view illustrating the final construction of one of the connector clip assemblies including the associated locking nut to the outside surface of the second wall section; Fig. 10 is a sectional view taken along line 10-10 of Fig. 9 and illustrating one of the complete connector assemblies serving to interconnect the first and second wall sections;

Fig. 11 is a sectional view taken along line 11-11 of Fig. 9 and illustrating the construction of one of the connector clip assemblies secured to the outer surface of the second wall section; Fig. 12 is a perspective view of one of the connector clip applied to the outer surface of the second wall section, viewing the outboard surface of the clip;

Fig. 13 is a perspective view of the clip illustrated in Fig. 12, but viewing the inboard surface thereof;

Fig. 14 is a perspective view ot one of the connector clips applied to the outer surface of the first wall section, viewing the outboard surface of the clip; and

Fig. 15 is a perspective view of the clip illustrated in Fig. 14, but viewing the inboard surface thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF TFIE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The present invention is directed to concrete forms assemblies typically formed of a series of adjacent and opposed, interconnected metallic (e.g., aluminum) form panels, as well as the form panels themselves and the connection hardware employed in erecting such forms. Generally speaking, the concrete forms of the invention include opposed walls defining therebetween a concrete-receiving space. When erected, concrete is poured into the spaces between the form walls and allowed to set, whereupon the panels, and certain of the connection hardware components, are removed from the resulting concrete wall structure for reuse.

In greater detail, a complete concrete form 20 (Fig. 10) in accordance with the invention includes a first wall section 22 made up of at least two juxtaposed first form panels 24 and 26 situated in side-by-side relationship as illustrated in Fig. 1 , and a second wall section 28 likewise made up of two juxtaposed second form panels 30 and 32. The form panels 24, 26 and 30, 32 are identical, and broadly include (see Figs. 2 and 3) a primary, essentially planar panel segment 34 presenting a substantially flat inner form surface 36 and an opposed, outer connection surface 38.

The outer connection surface of each panel includes a pair of identical, outwardly extending lateral sidewalls 42 as well as interconnected upper and lower walls 44, 46. The walls 42-46 are welded or otherwise affixed to the surface 38 and define a circumscribing, rearwardly extending wall frame located slightly inboard of the outer edges of the panel segment 34. The sidewalls 42 include four mated pairs of openings 48 and 50 along the length thereof. As best seen in Fig. 4, apcrrured wear plates 52 are affixed to the inner surfaces of the sidewalls 42, at the regions of the openings 48, 50, and have openings 54 therein in registry with the associated openings 48, 50. Further, the outer surfaces 38 of the sidewalls 42 have pairs of tubular abutments 56 and 58, again positioned in registry with the openings 48 and 50. As shown in Fig. 4, the lateral butt edges 60 of the panel segments 34 outboard of the sidewalls 42 have a series of essentially semi-circular recesses 62 located between each pair of openings 48, 50 and corresponding abutments 56, 58. These recesses are located in lateral alignment, such that, when a pair of form panels are placed in juxtaposition with the butt edges 60 thereof in engagement, the recesses 62 cooperatively define a series of circular openings 64 along the length of the panels (see Fig. 2) at the juncture or joint between the panels. Each outer panel surface 38 is also equipped with a series of laterally extending, vertically spaced apart reinforcement beams 66 which are welded to outer panel surface 38 and to the inboard faces of the sidewalls 42, The panels 24, 26 and 30, 32 are interconnected to present a concrete form 20 through use of a series of identical connection assemblies 68. Each such assembly 68 includes an elongated, threaded connector 70, a conical ly-shaped tubular spacer 72, a first wall connection clip assembly 74 and a second wall connection clip assembly 76.

The connector 70 is externally threaded throughout and is of a length to bridge the wall sections 22 and 28 and to present threaded end sections 78 and 80 which extend outwardly beyond the first and second walls 22, 28, respectively (see Fig. 10). The end 80 has an outermost

square wrench segment 82. The spacer 72 presents a tapered, conical outer surface 84 as well as a central, axial, internal bore 86 sized to telescope over connector 70.

The first wall connection clip assembly 74 (see Figs. 14 and 15) includes a generally U- shaped bracket 88 having an outer wall 90 presenting a slot 92, a first sidewall 94, and an opposed, spaced apart second sidewall 96. The first sidewall 94 is equipped with a laterally projecting pin 98 extending toward second sidewall 96, as well as an obliquely oriented, exteriorily mounted operating handle 100. The second sidewall 96 has an oblique, out-turned terminal end 102 which facilitates installation of the bracket 88 as will be explained. The complete first connection clip assembly 74 includes an apertured reinforcement block 104 secured to the outer face of bracket wall 90. The block 104 has an elongated, projecting, tubular, internally threaded ferrule 106 m registry with the block opening and slot 92 (Fig. 15). The internal threading provided in ferrule 106 mates with the external threading on connector end 80 as will be explained.

The second wall connection clip assembly 76 (see Figs. 12-13) includes a bracket 88 identical with that previously described, but does not have the block 104 or ferrule 106. However, the clip assembly 76 has a locking nut assembly 108 (Fig. 11) in the form of a wing nut 110 threadable onto connector end 80.

The steps involved in the construction of a concrete form 20 will next be explained. Tn this discussion, first and second wall sections 22, 28 will be assumed to have only two form panels per wall section; it will of course be appreciated that in normal practice a large number of individual form panels are interconnected in the manner to be described, in order to produce a form of appropriate length. However, the addition of further panels proceeds in exactly the same manner as described below.

In the first step (Figs. 1-2), the first wall section 22 is erected by placing a pair of first form panels 24,26 in side-by-side, abutting relationship, so that the butt edges 60 thereof are in engagement to cooperatively define a first joint 114, and the with the openings 64 defined by the individual aligned recesses 62. In this orientation, the tubular abutments 56 are in face-to-faee contact, and the sidewalls 42 of the two form panels are in close adjacency. Next, the first wall clip assemblies 74 are installed in bridging relationship relative to the proximal sidewalls 42, using the aligned openings 50 provided in the sidewalls 42. As best illustrated in Fig. 1 , each clip assembly 74 is installed by first inserting pin 98 into and through a pair of aligned openings 50,

followed by grasping handle 100 and pivoting the clip assembly 74 inwardly about a generally horizontal axis toward the panel segments 34 until the bracket sidewalls 94, 96 come into frictional, compressive locking engagement with the wear plates 52 attached to the inner surfaces of the sidewalls 42 (see Fig. 10). Any temporary misalignment of the form panels 24, 26 is accommodated by the out-turned terminal end 102 of clip sidewall 96 during installation of the clip assembly 74. At this point, it will be seen that the threaded ferrules 106 of the clip assemblies 74 are in alignment with the individual openings 64 along the length joint 114.

In the next step (Fig. 2), the ends 78 of the connectors 70 are inserted through the openings 64 in first wall section 22 and are threaded into the ferrules 106. If needed, a wrench is applied to outer segments 82 of the connectors to assist in installation thereof. Thereupon, the tubular spacers 72 are telescoped onto the individual connectors 70, and slid into contact with the inner faces of the form panels 24, 26 making up the first wall section 22.

The second wall section 28 is erected by placement of second form panels 30 and 32 in side-by-side relationship (Fig. 3). During such placement, the panels 30, 32 are oriented in alignment with the projecting connectors 70, i.e., the aligned recesses 62 provided in the butt edges 60 of the panels 30, 32 are located around each connector 70, with the inner surfaces 36 of the planar segments 34 in abutting relationship with the ends of the spacers 72. In this configuration, the outwardly extending ends 80 of the connectors 70 extend outwardly beyond the second wall section 28. In the next step, the second wall connection clip assemblies 76 are applied to the adjacent sidewalls 42 of the second form panels 30, 32. This involves insertion of the pins 98 of brackets 88 into aligned openings 50, followed by grasping the handles 100 and pivoting the brackets about generally axes inwardly toward the panel segments 34 until the brackets assume a bridging position with respect to the adjacent sidewalls 42 (see Fig. 11). As illustrated in Fig. 7, the slots 92 provided in the outer walls 90 of the brackets 88 permit such pivoting movement without interference from the projecting ends 80 of the connectors 70. In this orientation the bracket sidewalls 94 and 96 come into compressive engagement with the wear plates 52 affixed to the inner surfaces of the sidewalls 42, in order to bring together the form pane The final step involves threading the wing nuts 110 onto the ends 80 of connectors 70 until the nuts tightly engage the outer walls 90 of brackets 88, thereby forming the complete connection clip assemblies.

In its final constructed condition, the concrete form 20 presents a rugged, structurally sound form which can be filled with concrete in the usual fashion. Once the concrete has set to form a concrete wall (not shown) between the form wall sections 22 and 28, the form 20 can be easily disassembled for reuse. This involves loosening of the locking nut assemblies 108 by unthreading the nuts 110 from the ends 80 of the connecting connectors 70. Next, each bracket 88 is removed by pulling outwardly on the handle 100 until the bracket 88 clears the connector 70, followed by laterally pulling the bracket 88 to disengage pin 98 from the sidewall openings 50. This permits complete removal of the form panels 30, 32 from the concrete wall. At this point, each connector 70 is removed by counterclockwise rotation thereof, using wrench segment 82 if necessary. This serves to withdraw the connector 70 from threaded ferrule 106, permitting the connector to be pulled completely out of the formed wall. If desired, a conventional extraction tool may be used to remove the remaining conical spacers 72 from the wall; alternately, the spacers may be left in place. It is then only necessary to detach the connection clip assemblies 74 affixed to the form panels 24, 26 of first wall section 22. This is accom- pushed in the same manner as detachment of the clip assemblies 76, i.e., each handle 100 is grasped and the bracket 88 is pivoted outwardly, whereupon the bracket 88 is shifted laterally to remove the pin 98 form the sidewall openings 50. At this point, the first wall section form panels 24 and 26 can be detached from the formed concrete wall.

A principal advantage of the concrete form assemblies of the invention is that the connectors are positioned at points closely adjacent (and preferably along) the juncture between individual form panels making up the form wall sections. In this manner, a secure connection is provided at these joints, rather than at central locations midway between the outer sidewalls of the panels. Furthermore, form construction is facilitated because the user does not have to simultaneously insert threaded connectors between opposed wall sections while threading the connector into both of the wall sections.

While the invention has been described with reference to a presently preferred embodiment, it will be appreciated that the invention is not so limited. For example, conventional taper-tie couplers can be used in lieu of the preferred connectors 70, and other changes in the hardware and configuration of the form components can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.