Static structures (e.g. – buildings) – With adjunctive means for assembly or disassembly – Removable prop or brace combined with structure component
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-19
2003-04-22
Canfield, Robert (Department: 3635)
Static structures (e.g., buildings)
With adjunctive means for assembly or disassembly
Removable prop or brace combined with structure component
C052S149000, C052S150000, C248S235000, C248S241000, C248S351000, C182S082000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06550188
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The field of the invention is that of apparatus:
used to cause walls of plastic, concrete-receiving forms to be vertical before and during the pouring of concrete slurry into the forms; and
used to provide a platform (scaffold) for a person to stand on safely while guiding the pouring of concrete slurry.
The plastic most used for such forms is expanded polystyrene and the plastic shall be so described although other types of plastic might be used.
The field of the invention also includes such apparatus that one person can erect and use to adjust walls of expanded polystyrene, concrete-receiving forms so as to be vertical. The field of the invention further includes such apparatus that may readily be used with the expanded polystyrene, concrete-receiving forms of any manufacturer.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
A method of constructing high quality walls has become popular, especially in areas with cold Winters or hot Summers. This method uses a quantity of expanded polystyrene, concrete-receiving forms to effect a wall into which is poured concrete slurry. The result is a solid wall with a concrete core and an expanded polystyrene, insulating outside. The resulting wall is strong, tends to have very little air or vermin intrusion, and provides excellent thermal insulation. The technique of using such forms and concrete is believed to be about fifty years old with at least a score of companies presently selling such forms in North America.
The expanded polystyrene, concrete-receiving forms (also herein, and in the industry, referred to as insulated or insulating concrete forms or ICFs) are most often cast using an air-entrapped plastic or foam such as expanded polystyrene, are light enough to be stacked as a wall with little effort, and include some type of keying so that adjacent forms partially fit, or lock, into each other. Voids are provided within the forms, communicating with each other, into which, in due course, concrete and reinforcing rods are placed. Imbedded near, or on, the outside surface of the forms are studs which are stiff strips of material into which one may attach cladding, or the like, using fasteners such as screws. The forms are stacked and locked to each other such that the studs are alined in a set of vertical columns with a fixed horizontal spacing between adjacent columns of studs that differs between manufactures of the forms.
Additional information about ICFs may be found in the Internet site of the Insulating Concrete Form Association at: http://www.forms.org/. Further information may be found in the commercial Internet site of: http://www.icfwveb.com/. A representative block ICF, appropriate for use with the present invention, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,933 (which is incorporated herewith by reference) and is sold by the Phil-Insul Corporation under the trade name of IntegraSpec. Further information about this ICF may be found in the Internet site of the Phil-Insul Corporation at: http://www.Phil-Insul-Corp.com.
An inherent problem with the use of ICFs is having a wall of ICFs be vertical both just before concrete is poured into the forms and while concrete is poured into the forms. The desirability of maintaining a vertical wall of forms is obvious. A well known part of the solution to the problem involves using a concrete slurry with an appropriate viscosity. Additionally, it is known to place a horizontally extending sequence of flat pieces of wood, or the like, against the wall of foam blocks vertically and to brace each vertical piece with a diagonal brace (called a “kicker”) that extends from the vertical piece to the floor or ground. For each such pair of vertical piece and kicker, one member of a crew monitors the plumb of the wall and communicates to a second member of the crew while that member of the crew adjusts the length of the kicker until the wall of blocks is about vertical near the relevant vertical piece. The success of this scheme depends on the stiffness of the vertical piece, the care taken by a two person crew, and the degree of adjustability of the length of the kicker. With the common kicker formed of overlapping boards that are nailed or clamped together, adjustability is limited.
The ReechCraft company might make a kicker that is adjustable in length. Their Panel Jack System appears to consist of an aluminum channel used as a vertical-member and a cylindrical brace-member described as being able to be adjusted in length with a “twist.” It further appears that the channel vertical-member is screwed directly into the ICF wall's studs and has no provision for accommodating to wall movement. Further information may be available in the Internet site of ReechCraft at http://www.reechcraft.com/paneljack/
The objectives of the present invention include a apparatus for causing a wall of ICFs blocks to be vertical and include:
1 an adjustable length vertical-member of ample stiffness while maintaining a weight such that one person may readily move the apparatus from place to place;
2 an adjustable length brace-member that needs no further adjustment once it is affixed to the floor or ground;
3 an adjustment scheme, usable by one person who is situated in a favorable position to determine the plumb of a wall of ICF blocks, to bring the wall into plumb without the need for any tools;
4 a scheme for temporarily attaching vertical-members to the studs in a wall of ICF blocks independently of the horizontal spacing of the studs and able to accommodate slight vertical movement of the ICFs; and
5 a bracket suspended from the vertical-member for implementing a safe scaffold for supporting the person adjusting the plumb of the wall of ICF blocks and for supporting the person guiding the filling of the forms with concrete;
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The preferred embodiment of the present invention, as most likely seen by a user removing the invention from the bed of a pickup truck, is a nested set of three telescoping, square cross section metal tubes (forming the vertical-member) to which is pivotally attached the top brace-member (itself a square cross section tube) and a bundle of two more telescoping brace-members. The pivot extends from the side of the top vertical-member. Accompanying the two sets of pivotally connected telescoping tubes (one set forming a vertical-member and the other set forming a brace-member) are asymmetrical P-brackets (used to attach the vertical-members to the wall firmly; that is: with slight looseness), a platform-bracket (used to hold the platform and railing-post that constitutes the major parts of a scaffold), and a set of stout pins. The platform-bracket or the pins could be detachably attached to the members or loose.
The user will place the vertical members vertically against the ICF wall just to one side of a column of studs such that the pivot is directly in front of a column of studs. The user will extend the vertical members so that they reach from the floor or ground to a desired height and then place pins through pairs of vertical members (through cooperating holes provided for that purpose) so as to fix the height of the assembly. The foot of the bottom vertical-member is affixed to the ground or floor and the foot is capable of flexing. The setting of the height of the total vertical-member may be performed prior to placing the total vertical-member against the ICF wall. Both flanges of several vertically distributed P-brackets will be detachably attached to the studs while each P-bracket surrounds the vertical-members. The surrounding is such that the vertical member is held up while allowing for slight vertical movement of the wall of ICFs when the wall is made vertical (by the scheme shortly to be described) and when the concrete slurry is poured into the forms. This firm, but not solid, attachment to a wall of ICFs by the vertical member is an important feature of the present invention. The shorter flange of each P-bracket will be attached to, and aligned with, the column of studs that are directly behind the pivot. It is preferred that the shorter fla
Bolinger David N.
Ross Edward J.
Canfield Robert
McLaughlin James C.
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