Static molds – In situ construction engineering type or building type-mold... – Forming building structure
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-15
2001-09-04
Safavi, Michael (Department: 3635)
Static molds
In situ construction engineering type or building type-mold...
Forming building structure
C249S047000, C249S191000, C249S196000, C029S428000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06283439
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a poured concrete wall form panel and, more particularly, to a method of making such a panel.
It is well known in the art to use prefabricated and reusable panel units to construct a wall form for a poured concrete wall. Typically, each panel has a marginal frame welded to an projecting rearwardly from a back face of the panel to include a flange along the spaced side edges of the panel. The flanges are adapted to be positioned in face-to-face relationship with the flange of an adjacent panel to construct a concrete wall form. Holes in the flanges of the adjacent panels can be aligned to receive therethrough the shank of a pin or a bolt. A pair of spaced concrete wall forms are assembled and liquid concrete is poured between the wall forms and allowed to cure or harden thereby forming a poured concrete wall. Once the wall has cured, the concrete wall forms and associated hardware are disassembled for transportation to another job site and reuse.
In the construction of a concrete wall form, a large quantity of panels is necessary to construct the appropriately sized and configured poured concrete wall. Typically, the individual panels used to construct the wall forms are 7′ or 8′ in height and 2′ or more in width. Panels which are less than 12″ in width are typically called fillers. It will be appreciated that a variety of panel sizes, configuration and dimensions is required to appropriately construct a wall form for the various poured concrete wall configurations which are required in modern construction designs.
Currently, wall form panels are manufactured by welding a perimeter frame to the rear face of a generally planar panel. The welded connection between what becomes the rearwardly extending flanges on the wall form panels and the front planar face of the panel is subjected to very high stresses and hydrodynamic forces as a result of the poured concrete between the wall forms. Therefore, the welded connection between the rearwardly extending frames/flanges and the panels weaken or fail in use. The stresses are particularly accentuated along the side edge flanges of the wall form panel because that is the location of the connection between the adjacent panels and the concentration of the forces exerted by the poured concrete on the wall panels.
The concrete poured between the assembled forms acts substantially like a fluid and delivers significant hydrostatic pressures to the wall panels he forms. Typically, the compressive load on a concrete form 8′ high can easily reach 1,000 to 1,200 pounds per square foot. The panel, connection hardware and assembled wall form must be able to withstand these pressures without buckling, deformation or failure.
For this reason, known panels can be quite heavy, typically each weighing about 90 pounds or more. Usually a single worker manipulates the panels and moves them around on the job site. Therefore, a lighter weight panel would not only reduce material and shipping costs, but increase labor productivity while minimizing potential injuries to the workers who handle the panels. However, lighter panels typically suffer from the problem of providing insufficient strength or structural integrity to the assembled wall form.
One solution to these problems with respect to wall form panels is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,910 issued to Myers et al. on a concrete wall form and tie system, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, there is a need in the poured concrete wall industry for an improved wall form panel design which is both light weight and sturdy while being manufactured in an economical manner. Furthermore, the wall form panel should be easily configurable and compatible for a variety of configurations and size requirements to accommodate various poured concrete wall configurations and designs.
The present invention attains these and other objectives through a new wall form panel and method of making such a wall form panel. Advantageously, the wall form panel is preferably extruded from aluminum in sections and complementary extruded sections are joined together to form individual wall form panels. Depending on the sizes of the various extruded wall form sections which are joined together, a wide variety of wall form panel widths according to this invention can be constructed.
Currently, extruding technology limits the maximum available width of extruded members to 12″ to 14″. However, according to the present invention, extruded wall form panels having widths up to 36″ or greater can be constructed of the appropriately extruded wall form panel sections. Preferably, the wall form panels according to this invention are manufactured in 8′ heights thereby minimizing, if not eliminating, the need for additional filler panels positioned atop standard 7′ high panels for constructing 8′ high poured concrete walls or the like.
In a presently preferred embodiment of this invention, a method of making a wall form panel for use in constructing a poured concrete wall includes extruding from aluminum a first and a second panel section, each having a generally planar front face and an integrally formed side flange projecting rearwardly from a back face of each panel section. The integrally formed side flange extends longitudinally along an outer side edge of each section. Each panel section also has a joint member on an inner longitudinal side edge thereof. A width of each panel section is less than the overall width of the wall form panel and the first and second panels are preferably mirror images of one another with the possible exception of the configuration of the joint member.
A plurality of spaced holes are preferably formed in the side flanges of the first and second panels and a bushing is installed in each of the holes in the flanges.
Depending upon the width of the panel being constructed, an interior panel section may be extruded from aluminum having longitudinal spaced side edges, a generally planar front face and a joint member on each of the longitudinally spaced side edges. The first, second and interior panel sections are then joined together at the mating joint members with the interior panel section intermediate the first and second panel sections. Preferably, the joint members are tongue and groove or a similar configuration and are then welded or glued together to permanently join the panel sections. Additional reinforcing members such as laterally extending struts and longitudinally extending beams are preferably welded or glued to the back face of the joined panel sections for added strength and rigidity.
The juncture between the front sheet and the rearwardly extending flanges, up until this invention, has been readily recognized in the industry as a high failure area for poured concrete wall panels due to the forces exerted on the panels from the poured concrete and the associated connection hardware between the adjacent panels. Advantageously, the side flange of the wall form panel in this invention is integrally formed with the panel section thereby strengthening the juncture between the front panel and the rearwardly extending flange in comparison with known side flanges which are welded to the front panel face.
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Cottongim Norman
Johnson Floyd P.
Myers Dallas E.
Feather Lite Innovations Inc.
Safavi Michael
Wood Herron & Evans L.L.P.
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