Brick tie, in moulded plastic

Details Brick tie, in moulded plastic Brick tie, in moulded plastic

1999-04-01

2001-04-10

Stephan, Beth A. (Department: 3635)

Static structures (e.g., buildings)

Sheetlike element assembled parallel to existing wall,...

Discrete dissimilar tie between stonelike components

C052S565000, C052S698000, C052S379000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06212841

ABSTRACT:

This invention relates to brick-ties. Brick-ties are used for holding a brick wall, including brick cladding, in the correct spaced relationship with a fixed structure such as a stud wall.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
Conventional brick-ties are made of metal, and usually from thin galvanised sheet steel. The steel is usually so thin that the brick-tie is easily able to be bent, or otherwise manipulated, with the fingers. The metal brick-ties provide some resistance to the bricks actually pulling away from the fixed structure of the wall, but they are not very effective.
The invention is aimed at providing an improved brick-tie, which overcomes the disadvantages of the conventional brick-tie, and yet which is inexpensive and simple as to its manufacture and use.
THE PRIOR ART
Previous designs of brick-ties are shown in patent publications U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,310 (Hohmann, June 1997) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,052 (Anderson, October, 1995).
GENERAL FEATURES OF THE INVENTION
The invention lies in a brick-tie, for tying courses of bricks in a brick wall to a fixed structure, and the brick-tie of the invention is a one-piece moulding, in plastic.
The brick-tie includes a horizontal arm, which includes an in-mortar portion and a bridge portion. The in-mortar portion is so structured as to be suitable for placement, in mortar, between courses of bricks in a brick wall, and the in-mortar portion is provided with moulded-in surface configuration, for increasing the securement grip thereof into the mortar. One end of the bridge-portion is contiguous with the in-mortar portion.
The brick-tie includes a means for securing the other end of the bridge-portion to the fixed structure, and the bridge-portion of the brick-tie is dimensioned to be so inflexible that the bridge-portion cannot, in substance, be bent by finger-manipulation.
The flexibility/inflexibility of the bridge portion is an important feature of the invention. When the bridge-portion is inflexible to the degree specified, the bridge-portion can be relied upon to hold the bricks in the correct spaced relationship with the fixed structure. The thin-sheet-metal brick-tie had so little rigidity that the spacing between the bricks and the fixed structure was really not controlled by the brick-ties, except in the grossest sense. There is a requirement for the brick-tie to have some degree of give in the vertical sense, for example because the bricks might settle relative to the fixed structure. But plastic, especially HDPE for example, inherently has enough give in it that this requirement is met automatically.
One benefit of the invention is that a plastic brick-tie cannot go rusty. Galvanised steel cannot be relied upon not to corrode, especially over a period of perhaps many decades.
When the brick-tie was of thin sheet steel, all aspects of the design of the brick-tie were compromised by that fact. When the brick-tie is moulded in plastic, the designer is free to design the difference areas of the brick-tie according to the different functions each has to perform, and each aspect of performance need not be compromised by the others.
In a preferred form of the invention, the brick-tie includes a vertical arm, and an angled junction between the vertical arm and the horizontal arm, and the means for securing the other end of the bridge-portion to the fixed structure comprises a nail-hole, through the vertical arm. Preferably, the nail-hole in the vertical arm is close to the angled junction. Preferably, the portion of the vertical arm that lies between the nail-hole and the angled junction is thick and chunky, and preferably the bridge-portion of the horizontal arm is thick and chunky. Preferably, the nail-hole is smaller than the accompanying nail, and the nail is held gripped by the nail-hole, during transport and sale of the brick-tie.
When the fixed structure is a stud wall, the nail-head holds a region of the brick-tie hard against the stud-wall. The stiffer (i.e the thicker and more chunky) the region around the nail-hole, the larger the area that can be said to be held hard against the stud-wall. In the designs depicted herein, the angled junction being thick, it is not just the portion around the nail that is held by the nail, as was the case with the conventional metal brick-tie. In the depicted designs, the whole angled-junction region is held hard against the wall. An important benefit of the invention is that the designer can make the bridge portion of the brick-tie as if it were unitary with the stud—at least in the horizontal direction towards and away from the stud wall. Thus the brick-tie has excellent stiffness horizontally, but permits some flexibility in the up/down sense.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4875319 (1989-10-01), Hohmann
patent: 5197255 (1993-03-01), Fricker
patent: 5435111 (1995-07-01), Cox
patent: 5456052 (1995-10-01), Anderson
patent: 5634310 (1997-06-01), Hohmann
patent: 5657953 (1997-08-01), Smith
patent: 5669111 (1997-09-01), Rohaly
patent: 5673530 (1997-10-01), Bailey
patent: 5809728 (1998-09-01), Tremelling

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