Formwork for cylindrical columns

Abstract

It is applicable to a formwork made from a tubular body in plasticised wood, rigid plastic or the like, conveniently stabilised by means of an outer envelope made of a glass fiber mesh rolled up helicoidally, with or without the intercalation of a second tubular body made of expanded polystyrene; the improvements of the invention consist in obtaining an inner tubular body in plastic or wood made of a single plate (7) which width coincides with the perimeter of the formwork to be obtained, having said plate (7) a continuous internal side (8) and with an external side (10) wherein a plurality of longitudinal cuts (9) are established, evenly distributed, affecting mainly the thickness of said plate, defining weakened zones (11) allowing an easy deformation of said plate (7), which is initially flat, in order to convert it into a cylindrical and tubular element.

Description

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention refers to a new formwork for obtaining cylindrical columns, which has been specially conceived as a disposable or single-use element and which is specially adapted for obtaining columns made of reinforced concrete.

[0002] The object of the invention is to achieve optimal results by using such a formwork with a simple and therefore economical structure, with the highest dimensional and formal precision and with an optimum finishing of the column to be obtained.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] In order to build a column made of, for example, reinforced concrete, it is required to have a mould or formwork to provide the definitive configuration and dimensions to the column; said formwork must comply with two different but complementary characteristics: it must assure a perfect superficial finishing of the column and its cost has to be sufficiently low to make it profitable for the constructor, especially taking into account that this is a disposable formwork.

[0004] In this sense it is worth to mention the Spanish patent having application number 9800419, of which the present applicant is the owner, wherein a disposable formwork for columns is described, being structured from a tubular core or body, based on a plurality of expanded polystyrene pieces, fixed to each other by means of adhesive along their joint edges; said tubular core being innerly coated with a plastic sheet constituting a watertight barrier, fixed to said core by means of an adhesive layer; externally, the whole formwork is completed with a reticulated support made of a glass fibre mesh, rolled up helicoidally on the tubular core and fixed to the same also by means of adhesive, in such a way that said mesh provides to the whole set an appropriate mechanical rigidity against the radial forces generated by the concrete mass to be placed inside the formwork.

[0005] This solution, specially designed for columns having a rectangular or square cross section, has been subsequently improved with the Certificate of Addition to said patent having the application number 9802487, wherein it is foreseen to replace the plastic sheet, constituting a watertight barrier and fixed to the core, by a series of plates made of plasticised wood on their inner side, or made of rigid plastic, said plates being fixable to each other with the help of adhesive tapes conveniently mounted on their inner side, in correspondence with the joining edges of the plates, so as to configure an inner tubular body having a substantially smooth and watertight surface, on which the polystyrene pieces were then placed, constituting the intermediate rigid tubular body and on which, in turn, finally, the external fixing layer made of said glass fibre mesh rolled up helicoidally was established, for providing the appropriate mechanical resistance to the formwork as a whole.

[0006] The aforementioned formwork is still designed for columns having a prismatic cross-section and the presence of expanded polystyrene is required for providing the formwork with an external cylindrical surface in order to enable the operation leading to the placement of the glass fibre mesh rolled up helicoidally and to enable its functionality.

[0007] Furthermore, the inner adhesive tapes used as watertight means between the plates forming the inner or operative surface of the formwork, even though they have a reduced thickness, they define small gradings on the external surface of the column, which sometimes may be undesirable.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0008] The formwork provided by the present invention is based essentially on the structural philosophy of the Patent of Invention 9800419 and solves in a fully satisfactory manner the problems mentioned above, making it possible to obtain cylindrical columns with a perfect superficial continuity and with a maximal structural simplicity of the same formwork, with the corresponding repercussion in its cost.

[0009] To achieve this, more particularly, said formwork is structured from an annular body in which the rigid plates from the Certificate of Addition 9802487 which width was coincident with the width of the sides of the column, are replaced by laminates of reduced width, being more reduced when the bigger is the degree of proximity to the perfect cylinder to be achieved, said laminates being also obtainable from plasticised wood or from an appropriate rigid plastic, which in any case are sealed by means of an inner self-adhesive film, covering the whole surface of the annular body, continuously, so as to avoid the problem of the small superficial grading mentioned above and to assure a perfect sealing of the formwork; the whole set is completed with a glass fibre mesh rolled up helicoidally on the annular body, for the obvious purpose of fixing said laminates and due to the absence in this case of the tubular body made of expanded polystyrene pieces.

[0010] This basic solution can be taken as a departing point and it presents only the problem of the lack of formal stability of the formwork which in fact tends to adopt an oval configuration during its manipulation, without reaching the total flat state because the external reinforcement does not allow it; nevertheless this is not an important problem because the pressure that will be later exerted by the concrete will urge the formwork to adopt a perfectly cylindrical configuration; however, it may create a certain number of manipulation problems and this is why it has been foreseen that optionally the structure described can be complemented with a series of belts or bands conveniently distributed along the formwork, having a rigid constitution in order to avoid its deformation; said belts can be metallic in which case they will be in the form of recoverable adjustable clamps or they can be also made of expanded polystyrene, in which case they will be disposable as the rest of the formwork.

[0011] It has also been foreseen that, in order to provide the formwork with a structural rigidity, instead of said belts or bands, an intermediate layer of expanded polystyrene being placed between the annular body made of rigid laminates and the external reinforcement, in such a way that it extends along the whole formwork and is sufficiently thick so as to provide the appropriate structural rigidity.

[0012] According to another embodiment of the invention and in order to achieve a higher precision in the dimensions and in the form and a better finishing of the column to be obtained, it has been foreseen the possibility to use, replacing said rigid laminates, a single plate made also of plasticised wood or rigid plastic, having a width matching the perimeter or circumference of the column to be obtained, with the special particularity that said plate includes, in its external side, a plurality of longitudinal cuts, parallel and evenly distributed, within a distance, for example, equivalent to the width of the classical laminates, said cuts affecting mainly to the thickness of the plate, in an amount of, for example, 80% of said thickness, in such a way that the plate is easily deformable for converting it into a cylindrical tube, but having a continuous internal surface which, in turn, makes it unnecessary to use the classical self-adhesive inner film.

[0013] Optionally, for economical reasons, non plasticised wood can also be used, to which a film is fixed on its inner side, preferably at the same time as it is slotted.

[0014] Furthermore, said slotted plate, after the adoption of the cylindrical configuration, receives the classical external envelope made of a glass fibre mesh rolled up helicoidally, with or without the intermediate tubular body made of expanded polystyrene contributing to make it rigid.

[0015] Preferably, and according to another feature of the invention, said external envelope, instead of being structured as a glass fibre mesh, can be made of a self-adhesive tape provided with threads of glass fibre exclusively along the longitudinal direction, which are the effective ones, once the tape has been rolled up helicoidally on the rest of the formwork; this eliminates or spares the transversal threads of the classical mesh and facilitates the fixation of said envelope.

[0016] As a complement to what has been described above and according to another feature of the invention, it has been foreseen that a pair of end rings, having a section in “U” and a diameter corresponding with that of the same formwork, collaborate with said wooden plate; the ends of the wooden or plastic plate are to be introduced inside the rings, once the cylindrical configuration has been achieved, such as to facilitate the shaping of said plate and to confer a higher rigidity to the formwork for its transport, while assuring a perfect circular form of the cross section of the formwork during its placement in the building site.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] In order to complete the present description and to contribute to a better understanding of the features of the invention, a set of drawings according to a preferred embodiment of the invention is included for illustrative and not limitative purposes, where

[0018] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a formwork for cylindrical columns, madeaccording to the object of the present invention, more particularly according to the simplest embodiment, in which the formwork is deformable when not in use.

[0019] FIG. 2 shows, according to a representation similar to FIG. 1, the same formwork of the preceding figure having here belts or bands appropriately distributed along the same.

[0020] FIG. 3 shows, according to a representation similar to the preceding figures, the same formwork being stiffened here by means of a continuous tubular body made of expanded polystyrene.

[0021] FIG. 4 shows, according to a schematic perspective view, the plate made of wood or rigid plastic used in the second embodiment of the present invention, in which the external side of said plate is shown.

[0022] FIG. 5 shows a profile of the plate shown in the preceding figure.

[0023] FIG. 6 shows again a profile of the plate shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, once it has adopted the definitive cylindrical configuration of the formwork.

[0024] FIG. 7 shows a diametrical cross section of one of the closing rings used to be coupled to the ends of the plate shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, after the cylindrical configuration of said plate.

[0025] FIG. 8 shows a partial detail in a perspective view of the self-adhesive tape used as external stiffening means of the formwork.

[0026] FIG. 9 shows, finally, a detail in cross section of the tape shown in the previous figure.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

[0027] Concerning the figures and more particularly FIG. 1, the formwork of the present invention is structured, according to the simplest embodiment, with an annular body (1) made of a plurality of rigid laminates (2) which, as mentioned above, may be made of plasticised wood or of rigid plastic; they may be flat, in which case their width will be the minimum in order to obtain a good circumferential alignment when all of them are coupled to each other, but they could also present a certain curvature, according to the column to be obtained. The annular body (1) is conveniently stabilised with the help of a glass fibre mesh (3), rolled-up helicoidally on its external side, and is also perfectly sealed by means of an inner film (4), self-adhesive, covering continuously the whole inner surface of the annular body (1).

[0028] A formwork structured in such a way is perfectly valid for obtaining a cylindrical column having a diameter according to the same formwork; the formwork is deformable when empty, tending to acquire an oval section, and this is the reason for which it has been foreseen the possibility to include in this structure, according to FIG. 2, a plurality of belts or bands (5), appropriately distributed along the formwork, and made of any convenient rigid material, like, for example, expanded polystyrene or even metal, in such a way that the rigidity of said belts (5) gives the appropriate formal stability to the formwork as a whole during its handling. Said belts or bands (5) are placed on the outer side of the glass fibre mesh, as it can be noted especially in the enlarged detail in FIG. 2.

[0029] However, these belts or bands (5), according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, can be replaced by a tubular body (6), also made of expanded polystyrene, which can be fragmented in several portions, as it can also be seen in FIG. 3, to facilitate its coupling to the annular body (1) made of laminates (2); in any case, the enveloping glass fibre mesh (3) remains on the outer side of said tubular body (6) made of expanded polystyrene as it can be seen particularly in the enlarged detail in FIG. 3.

[0030] In such a way, a structurally simple and consequently economic slab is obtained, offering an operative surface tending to form a continuous cylinder, perfectly sealed against the aqueous component included in the concrete to be received in its interior.

[0031] In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 to 7 it has been foreseen to replace said rigid laminates (2) by a single plate (7) as the basic element of the formwork, which can be made of rigid plastic or of wood plasticised on the side that will be the internal side (8); said plate has a rectangular configuration, having a length according to the height of the column to be obtained, and a width according to the perimeter of said column.

[0032] Said plate (7) is initially flat and it is provided, to facilitate its shaping, with a plurality of longitudinal cuts or slots (9) affecting mainly to its thickness, as it can be seen particularly in FIG. 5; said slots are open towards their outer side (10) and they define weakened zones (11) providing the plate (7) as a whole with the appropriate deformability in order to achieve an easy transformation of the flat element in FIG. 5 into the tubular and cylindrical element of FIG. 6.

[0033] The position of said tubular and cylindrical element in FIG. 6 is stabilised with the help of a pair of narrow rings (12), like the one shown in FIG. 7; said rings have a cross-section in “U” which groove (13) will receive the correspondent end of the tubular body making the plate (7); the lateral branches of the “U” are asymmetric, as it can also be seen in FIG. 7, in order to facilitate the mounting and the shaping of the plate (7). In this way, the plate adopts, by means of the end rings (12), a perfectly cylindrical configuration. However, said rings can be made simply with a rectangular section, enveloping the plate (7) and having a weakened zone in order to facilitate their cut-away and their elimination together with the rest of the formwork.

[0034] The plate (7) may present a thickness of about 2.5 millimeters and their slots (9) will have such a depth that the weakened zones (11) will present a height between about 0.3 and 0.5 millimeters; said grooves (9) are evenly distributed and separated by a distance between 35 and 50 millimeters, depending on the bending radius of the column to be obtained, the above mentioned data being given as an example because said parameters may vary outside the pre-established limits depending of the specific needs in each case.

[0035] Furthermore, the formwork will be stabilised, like in the case shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, with the help of an envelope on the outer side of the plate (7), not shown, made of a glass fibre mesh, rolled up helicoidally with or without the interposition of a tubular body made of expanded polystyrene; similarly, on the outer side of said glass fibre mesh a plurality of bands could be established, evenly distributed along the formwork, made of any rigid material, in order to collaborate with the end rings (12) mentioned above.

[0036] The glass fibre mesh (3) shown in the embodiments in FIGS. 1 to 3, as well as the one foreseen but not shown in the embodiments in FIGS. 4 to 6 can be replaced by a self-adhesive tape (14) made of, for example, a support (15) of paper or the like, in one of which sides (16) a layer of adhesive glue is included, where longitudinal threads (17) are embedded, evenly distributed, in such a way that the support (15) serves simultaneously as a support for the glass fibre threads (17), physically independent to each other, and, together with its layer of self-adhesive glue (16), as fixing means of the tape (14) to the formwork, in the absence of the classic transversal threads which where required, in the conventional mesh, to keep the position of its longitudinal threads; this is done without reducing the functional performance of said envelope because the only threads that support the efforts to which the formwork will be submitted are said longitudinal threads (17), which will be substantially transversal to the axis of the formwork after the rolling up of the tape, while the classical transversal threads of the band, after said rolling up, where placed in parallel to the axis of the formwork being therefore discontinuous and inoperative.

Claims

1. Formwork for cylindrical columns, of the type including an annular body made of rigid plates, in plasticised wood, rigid plastic or the like, conveniently fixed in such a way that said annular body adopts, in use, the section corresponding to the column to be obtained,

characterized in that said rigid plates constituting the annular body (1) are made of laminates (2) having a reduced width, more reduced when greater is the degree of proximity of the formwork to the perfect cylinder, said laminates (2) being fixed to each other to configure said annular body with the help of an external envelope (3) made of a glass fibre mesh rolled up helicoidally on said annular body, while said annular body (1) receives innerly a self-adhesive film (4) covering continuously the whole inner surface of all the laminates (2) in order to provide the formwork with an appropriate tightness.

2 Formwork for cylindrical columns according to claim 1, characterized in that optionally, in order to provide the formwork with a complete formal stability when handling the same in an empty state, a plurality of belts or bands (5) are established on the envelope (3) made of glass fibre mesh, conveniently distributed along the formwork and made of a rigid material such as, for instance, metal or expanded polystyrene.

3. Formwork for cylindrical columns according to claim 1, characterized in that optionally, in order to provide the formwork with a complete formal stability when handling the same in an empty state, a tubular body (6) made of expanded polystyrene, acting as a stiffening element, is established between the annular body (1) made of rigid laminates (2) and the envelope (3) made of glass mesh.

4. Formwork for cylindrical columns according to claim 1, characterized in that said annular body made of plasticised wood, rigid plastic or the like, is formed by a plate (7), initially flat, having a length according to the height of the column to be obtained and a width according with the diameter of said column, said plate (7) being affected by a plurality of longitudinal cuts or slots (9) open towards their outer side (10) and defining in said plate (7) some lines (11) remarkably weakened, allowing the deformation of said plate in order to change its original flat configuration into a cylindrical, tubular configuration, according to the column to be obtained.

5. Formwork for cylindrical columns according to claim 4, characterized in said plate is helped by two end rigid rings (12), having a “U” section, defining each one of them an annular groove (13) which receives in its interior the corresponding end of the plate (7), by means of which the perfect cylindrical shaping of said plate (7), and consequently of the formwork as a whole, is assured.

6. Formwork for cylindrical columns according to claim 5, characterized in that the lateral branches of the rings (12) having a “U” profile are asymmetric, in order to facilitate the positioning inside the groove (13) of the corresponding end of plate (7) and hence the cylindrical shaping of said plate.

7. Formwork for cylindrical columns according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is included, as an outer stiffening envelope (3), a self-adhesive tape having a plurality of glass fibre threads (17), disposed longitudinally and evenly distributed, in such a way that said band is fixed to the rest of the structure of the formwork due to its self-adhesive condition, with an helicoidal path and preferably with a partial overlap of the same, in such a form that the fibres are in a substantially transversal position with respect to the imaginary axis of the formwork.

8. Formwork for columns according to any preceding claim, characterized in that said self-adhesive tape (14) consists in a support (15) made of a sheet of paper or the like, including in one of its sides a layer (16) of self-adhesive glue wherein the glass fibre threads (17) are embedded.