Structural concrete members and method and apparatus for manufacturing same
The invention is in the field of poured concrete precast panels particularly such panels when used for foundation structures for buildings. Precast, prefabricated panels include a brick ledge with the brick ledge being set at different elevations to accommodate foundations on sloping ground. L-shaped, concrete, precast, prefabricated panels are used as corner members for such foundations. Individual panels including side panels and corner panels are bolted together at the side edges of the panels to form a complete foundation. The invention also relates to molds for making such precast, prefabricated panels. The mold to cast L-shaped corner panels is hinged about a vertical axis. The molds for making the panels have a selection of forming pans to establish the location of the brick ledge.
This application claims benefit from U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/575,805 filed Jun. 2, 2004, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to precast, prefabricated, structural members which may be in the form of wall panels or corner units. The structural members include an integrally formed brick ledge which may be located at various vertical heights over the length of the structural member. The invention also relates to molds and processes for creating such structural members.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThis invention builds on a previous invention of the present applicant, Canadian Patent 1,296,916 which issued Mar. 10, 1992, the entire disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. Applicant's prior patent illustrates a precast, prefabricated, ribbed, structural wall panel with an integrally formed brick ledge and the capacity to span discrete footings. As the ground elevation at a particular building site may not be constant over a given linear length of wall, it would be desirable to have a panel in which the brick ledge is located at various vertical elevations consistent with the requirements of the elevation of the finished ground at the location where the structure is to be built. In the invention disclosed in applicant's prior patent, corners were formed by abutting wall panels against one another. It would be desirable, to provide an alternate system for establishing corners of a building structure made from such structural members.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn accordance with one aspect of the invention, a mold for casting structural members having an integral brick ledge, includes a plurality of individually movable brick ledge bulkheads so that a structural member having an integral brick ledge at a plurality of different vertical locations may be formed in the mold.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a corner mold, for casting a generally L-shaped structural member having an integral brick ledge, includes an outside mold piece, an inside mold piece, and a hinge. The hinge permits pivotal movement of the inside mold piece relative to the outside mold piece. The outside mold piece includes first and second laterally extending outside wing portions. Each of these laterally extending wing portions have vertically movable wing portion bulkheads for establishing a brick ledge of the structural member.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a mold for casting a structural member having an integral brick ledge comprises a mold bed. The mold bed is tiltably movable between a substantially horizontal casting position and a substantially vertical removal position so that a structural member may be created using the mold bed in the substantially horizontal position and the structural member may be removed from the mold bed when the mold bed is in the substantially vertical position.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is a method of casting a plurality of structural members. The method involves providing a plurality of mold beds as aforesaid. The plurality of mold beds are arranged in an array. The method further involves providing a concrete pouring hopper system and providing a guidance system for the hopper system for guiding the hopper system over each one of the plurality of mold beds. The method further involves pouring concrete from the hopper system into one of the mold beds, thereafter translating the hopper system using the guidance system and pouring concrete from the hopper system into an other of the mold beds.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is a prefabricated, precast, L-shaped structural member which is usable as a load bearing member in a static structure. The L-shaped structural member has a top portion having a reinforced unitary structure of predetermined height. The L-shaped structure includes first and second laterally extending portions arranged to form a corner with the laterally extending portions extending away from the corner. Each of the laterally extending portions include an integral brick ledge extending laterally along the first and second laterally extending portions. In accordance with a particularly preferred embodiment of this aspect of the invention, the L-shaped structural member is reinforced by reinforcing means located at predetermined locations in the structural member. The structural member has at least one load bearing reinforced support beam extending substantially the length of each of the laterally extending portions integrally formed within the structural member and interconnected to the reinforcing means of the structural member for distributing load exerted upon the at least one support beam throughout the structural member.
Further and other aspects of the invention will become apparent to a person skilled in the art when reviewing the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments illustrated herein.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Referring now to
Referring now to
As the brick ledge 141 is displaced by a distance D2, the voids 191 as shown in
Similarly, the voids 193, extend vertically a shorter distance. Again, this distance is correlated to the brick ledge 142 with the difference comprising the final component of the top beam 170.
The panel 100 as illustrated in
The through holes 150 may be used to connect adjacent panel sections having similar through holes. The through holes 151 shown in the bottom beam 175 may be used for insertion of anchoring dowels 180 to provide lateral support to the panel bottom during back filling. The through holes 151 are to be subsequently waterproofed with appropriate caulking material. The bottom beam 175 is designed and dimensioned to adequately distribute the applied loads to the substrate 120. This may enable the elimination of the need for discrete or continuous footings.
Referring now to
As shown in
The corner panel 300 includes a pair of substantially vertically extending ribs 361 and 362. As shown, the corner panel 300 further includes a pair of vertically extending ribs 360 on either side of the corner 314. The corner panel 300 also includes a bottom beam 375 extending along the bottom of each of the laterally extending portions 310 and 312. Similarly, there is an upper beam 370 extending along the laterally extending portions 310 and 312 just below the elevation of the brick ledges 340 and 342.
As illustrated in
The L-shaped corner panel 300, also includes a plurality of laterally extending through holes 350 and a plurality of vertically extending through holes 351. The laterally extending through holes 350 are spaced and placed to line up with the laterally extending holes 150 in the panel 100 so that a corner panel 300 may be bolted to a set of wall panels 100. The vertically extending through holes 351 may be fitted with anchoring dowels 380 to help anchor the corner panel in the underlying soil.
Referring now to
The corner panels 300 with the integrally formed stepped brick ledge and the wall panels 100 with the integrally formed stepped brick ledge provide a foundation system in which the brick ledge can be placed wherever the site soil conditions require. As shown in
Referring now to
The mold bed 260 also includes adjustable end panel bulk heads 204. One such bulk head 204 is illustrated in
The mold 200 also includes a movable top bulk head 201. The movable top bulk head 201 is movable in a direction generally parallel to the general plane of the mold bed 260. The surface of the top bulk head which faces the bottom bulk head 203 establishes the location of the top surface 130 of the wall panel 100. The top bulk head 201 may also be moved by powered means such as hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders 220, or alternatively, may be positioned using various clamping mechanisms, magnetic mechanisms and the like. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, movement of the top bulk head 201 towards the bottom bulk head 203 may be utilized to capture and finally position the end panel bulk heads 204.
The mold bed further comprises a plurality of forming pans 90. The forming pans 90 are preferably made of metal. The forming pans 90 are used to form the voids 190, 191 and 193 of the panel 100 as illustrated in
The mold 200 further includes a plurality of brick ledge bulk heads 202. The brick ledge bulk heads 202, are movably adjustable in a direction which is generally parallel to the general plane of the mold bed 260. The adjustable brick ledge bulk heads may be moved toward and away from the bottom bulk head 203 by hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders 222 (see
The end bulk head 204 is fitted with through holes 250 into which are placed cylindrical forming means 252. The cylindrical forming means can be any solid, such as a rod. The rods 252 are utilized to define through holes 150 of panel 100 as shown in
Prior to pouring concrete into the thus formed mold, reinforcing rods can be inserted into any of the places to be filled with concrete as desired. Thus, it may be desirable to insert laterally extending reinforcing rods extending along what will become the bottom beam 175 and also along the top beam 170. As desired, the vertical ribs which will be created in the spaces 95 between the forming pans 90 may be fitted with reinforcing material as desired. The depth of the reinforcing material from the surface of the concrete to be formed can be maintained by placing the rods on saddles, supports and the like as will be familiar to those who have used poured in place concrete technology. At the same time that various reinforcing rods or the like are inserted in to the voids prior to pouring concrete, a plurality of lifting loops 50 can be placed into the voids. In order to have the lifting loops available after the panel is formed, the brick ledge bulk heads 202 conveniently have a slot through the bottom surface to permit a portion of the lifting loop 50 to remain above the concrete.
In order to form the panel 100 in the mold 200, the bulk heads and forming pans are laid out in the desired pattern and affixed to the mold bed 260. Concrete is then poured into the mold. The concrete then fills all of the voids in the molds between the bulk heads and pans discussed above. The concrete is thus formed into the configuration as shown in
Referring now to
As shown in
Referring now to
Referring now to
The inside mold piece 604 also has first 620 and second 622 laterally extending inside wing portions. Each of the laterally extending inside wing portions include removable forming pans 624 and 626 respectively. The removable forming pans 624, 626 create the voids 375 and 380 respectively as shown in
Forming pan 626 also contains a plurality of apertures 650. When the mold is moved to the closed position with inside forming piece 604 nesting against outside forming piece 602, the apertures 650 of forming pan 626 align with apertures 660 in an end forming panel 670 of the outside mold piece 602. When the apertures 650 and 660 are aligned, cylindrical forming pieces (not shown) are inserted in the two apertures to make voids which ultimately will become the apertures 350 shown in
Forming pans 624 and 626 each have at least one aperture 651. The outside mold piece 602 has a bottom forming surface 607. The surface 607 has apertures 652 which align with apertures 651 respectively. When the mold is closed so that rods (not shown) can be inserted therein so as to define the apertures 351 shown in
To facilitate movement of the inside mold piece 604 relative to outside mold piece 602, inside mold piece 604 is advantageously fitted with a caster 646.
As illustrated in
In order to create a corner piece 300 as shown in
When the concrete is set and no longer plastic, the cylindrical rod members forming the voids which will ultimately become apertures 350 and 351 as shown in
As shown in
Changes and alternations can be made to the preferred embodiments illustrated herein without departing from the scope of the invention, the foregoing description intended to be illustrative only and not limiting. The full scope of the invention is set out in the attached claims.
Claims
1. A prefabricated, precast, L-shaped structural member usable as a load bearing member in a static structure comprising the structural member having a top portion having a reinforced unitary structure of predetermined height, reinforced by reinforcing means located at predetermined locations in the structural member. The L-shaped structural member comprising first and second laterally extending portions arranged to form a corner with said laterally extending portions extending away from said corner, the structural member having at last one load bearing reinforced support beam extending substantially the length of each of the laterally extending portions integrally formed within the structural member and interconnected to the reinforcing member means of the structural member for distributing load exerted upon the at least one support beam throughout the structural member, the structural member defining a brick support ledge remote from the upper surface of the structural member.
2. A prefabricated, precast, L-shaped structural member usable as a load bearing member in a static structure, the L-shaped structural member comprising first and second laterally extending portions arranged to form a corner with said laterally extending portions extending away from said corner, and wherein at least one of said first and second laterally extending portions comprises a brick support ledge.
3. The structural member of claim 2 wherein each of said first and second laterally extending portions comprise a brick support ledge.
4. A mold for casting a concrete structural member having an integral brick ledge, said mold comprising a plurality of independently movable brick ledge bulk heads so that a structural member having an integral brick ledge at a plurality of different locations may be formed in said mold.
5. A mold in accordance with claim 4 comprising a mold bed, said mold bed tiltably movable between a substantially horizontal position and a substantially vertical position so that a structural member may be created using said mold bed in said substantially horizontal position and said structural member may be removed from said mold bed when said mold bed is in said substantially vertical position.
6. The mold of claim 5 further including powered means to move said mold bed from said substantially horizontal position to said substantially vertical position.
7. The mold of claim 6 wherein said mold bed is generally planar and further including at least two independently movable brick ledge bulk heads movable in a direction generally parallel to the general plane of said mold bed.
8. The mold of claim 7 further comprising powered means for adjusting the location of said brick ledge bulk heads.
9. The mold of claim 8 wherein the powered means are hydraulic.
10. The claims of claim 8 wherein the powered means are pneumatic.
11. The mold of claim 8 comprising a plurality of removable mold bed forming pans.
12. The mold of claim 11 wherein the mold bed forming pans are correlated to desired positions of said mold bed brick ledge bulk heads.
13. The mold of claim 12 further comprising a plurality of edge forming bulk heads which are movable relative to said mold bed so that structures of different height and length may be cast on said mold bed.
14. The mold of claim 4 wherein said mold is adapted to cast an L-shaped structural member having an integral brick ledge comprising; an outside mold piece, an inside mold piece and a hinge, the hinge permitting relative pivotal movement of the inside mold piece relative to the outside mold piece, the outside mold piece comprising first and second laterally extending outside wing portions and at least one of said laterally extending wing portions having a vertically movable wing portion bulk head for establishing a brick ledge on said structural member.
15. The mold of claim 14 wherein each of said laterally extending outside wing portions has a vertically movable wing portion bulk head for establishing a brick ledge.
16. The mold of claim 15 wherein each of said wing portion bulk heads are movable by means of a powered operator.
17. The mold of claim 16 wherein the operator is hydraulically operated.
18. The mold of claim 17 wherein the inside mold piece comprises first and second laterally extending inside wing portions.
19. The mold of claim 18 wherein the inside mold piece is supported on a caster wheel for facilitating the pivotal movement.
20. The mold of claim 19 wherein each inside wing portion of the inside mold piece comprise at least one removable mold piece forming pan.
21. The mold of claim 20 wherein the mold piece further includes a set of forming pans each member corresponding to a desired position of said vertically movable brick ledge forming mold bulk head.
22. A method of casting a plurality of structural members comprising;
- providing a plurality of molds in accordance with claim 21,
- arranging said plurality of molds in an array,
- providing a concrete pouring hopper system,
- providing a guidance system for said hopper system for guiding said hopper system over each one of said plurality of molds,
- pouring concrete from said hopper system into one of said molds, thereafter translating said hopper system to another of said molds and pouring concrete from said hopper system into another of said molds.
23. The method of the claim 22 wherein the guidance system is a continuous loop.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 27, 2005
Publication Date: Dec 29, 2005
Inventor: Sheldon Switzer (Thornhill)
Application Number: 11/043,126