Modular Reinforced Structural Beam and Connecting Member System
A modular reinforced structural beam and connecting member system that includes at least one composite beam having two oppositely oriented triangular closed head portions and a transversally extending web interposed between said two closed head portions, each of said beams consisting of two separate members arranged such that corresponding head portions of said two members are nested one within the other and adjacent elements of the two members are in mutual stabilizing contact. A plurality of connecting members are connected to, and are in force transmitting contact with, one of the composite beams and another structural element.
The present invention relates to the field of structural beams. More particularly, the invention relates to a modular reinforced structural beam system comprising connecting members, which is based on a novel lightweight beam having triangular head portions.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONVarious types of structural beams are used in commercial and residential construction, including fabricated wooden girders, laminated wooden beams, reinforced concrete beams, and steel beams. Steel is the most commonly used material for beams, and such beams are configured by an I-section, H-section, C-section, Z-section and channel section. The various configurations of structural steel beams are most commonly manufactured by hot or cold rolling processes, and generally result in a relatively heavy beam for a given load bearing capacity.
I-beams are the most commonly used type of structural beam for constructing steel frames due to their relatively high load bearing capacity and moment of inertia. Such beams have a web and a pair of flanges perpendicular to, and in opposite edges of, the web such that the beams may be employed individually or in conjunction with a plurality of beams, and generally with a plurality of elements adapted to connect two or more beams, so as to safely support substantial static loads applied thereon. An assembly constructed from at least one beam or post, and generally from a plurality of beams or posts, and from a plurality of connecting elements will be referred herein as a “beam system”.
I-beams are formed by a hot rolling process following the casting of molten iron in a billet. Most I-beams that are delivered to a construction site have standard dimensions, e.g. a length of 6 or 12 m, and undergo additional construction processes, so that they will be customized to the architectural and engineering specifications of the given construction project, including cutting and welding one or more webs or one or more flanges to achieve a beam of desired dimensions, welding a connecting element to the beam, smoothing welded junction points, painting and galvanizing the beam or beam system, and assembling the beam or beam system in the frame structure. These additional construction processes are time consuming and costly.
It would be desirable, and that is the intent of this invention, to reduce the production and assembly costs of a beam system without compromising its structural properties.
Numerous structural beams fabricated from sheet steel, which require less steel than I-beams while providing the same load bearing capacity, are known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 991,603 issued to Brooks and U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,224 issued to Dunn et al disclose a metallic pseudo-I beam formed of a single piece of material which is bent to form hollow flanges at the top and bottom. U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,437 issued to the same inventor of the present invention discloses a pseudo-I beam made of two opposite oriented and interleaved members having a triangular head portion, a web portion, a web flange, and tail flange. The triangular shape of the head flange provides improved lateral stability with respect to conventional I-beams due to its biaxial symmetry.
Such prior art lightweight structural beams with triangular head portions are not readily formable by an automatic process. Firstly, the beams are produced by a cold rolling process during which sheet metal is passed through a plurality of pairs of rollers below its recrystallization temperature, annealed and bent to the desired shape. After two apices of the triangular are shaped, the fed metal sheet cannot be suitably supported to form the third apex due to the inaccessibility thereof. Also, the desired length of a structural beam is often 15 m, and the required thickness of the sheet metal needed for the fabrication of a structurally strong beam with triangular head portions is on the order of 8 mm, a thickness much greater than that which most commercial cold rollers can handle.
Butler Manufacturing Company, USA manufactures modular beam systems, as described in http://www.butlermfg.com/building_systems/structural.asp. These beam systems employ various components such as solid-web primary I-beam frames without triangular head portions, prepunched open-web truss purlins, which are secondary structural members, and rod bracing. In these systems, the beam system components are galvanized after the components are fabricated, and are welded together. Consequently the cost of manufacturing and assembly are relatively high. Furthermore, connecting elements are welded to the flange and not to the web portion. Stress is therefore concentrated on the flange, causing the components to be even more massive and costly.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a modular beam system based on a beam having a triangular head portion.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a modular beam system configured such that all of its components are assembled without need of welding.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a modular beam system provided with connecting elements that are attached to the web portion of a beam.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a beam having the same load bearing capacity as an I-beam, yet which is made of sheet metal having a thickness of no greater than 4 mm.
It is yet an additional object of the present invention to provide a method for producing a structural beam with a triangular head portion from galvanized sheet metal.
It is yet an additional object of the present invention to provide a method for producing a structural beam with a triangular head portion which is quicker and more economical than prior art structural beam producing methods.
It is yet an additional object of the present invention to provide a method for assembling a beam system which is quicker and more economical than prior art beam system assembly methods.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention provides a modular reinforced structural beam and connecting member system, comprising at least one composite beam having two oppositely oriented triangular closed head portions and a transversally extending web interposed between said two closed head portions, each of said beams consisting of two separate members arranged such that corresponding head portions of said two members are nested one within the other and adjacent elements of said two members are in mutual stabilizing contact; and a plurality of connecting members, at least two of said connecting members being connected to, and in force transmitting contact with, one of said composite beams and another structural element.
As referred to herein, a “beam” is a rigid elongated structural member, which is supported at each end and is disposed at any convenient orientation, including a horizontal orientation, a vertical orientation when serving as a post, and an oblique orientation when serving as a ridge beam. A “transversal” direction means along the length of the beam. A “longitudinal” direction means the direction between the two triangular head portions of a beam. A “lateral” direction means the direction between the two web portions of the beam.
A connecting member, which is generally of relatively thick sheet metal, is connected to a composite beam by any suitable means, such as by cold fasteners and by welding, and at a region of the beam which requires reinforcement according to engineering considerations.
Each member of the composite beam comprises a first head portion, a second head portion, and a longitudinally disposed web portion interposed between said first head portion and second head portion, said first and second head portions being configured with a corresponding essentially laterally disposed flange, an oblique element extending from a first lateral end of said flange to said web portion, and an oblique lip extending from a first lateral end of said flange and having a length considerably shorter than that of said oblique element.
A first side of a triangular closed head portion comprises the two flanges of the two composite beam members, respectively, and second and third sides thereof comprise an oblique element of one of the composite beam members and a lip of the other composite beam member. With respect to the second and third sides of a closed head portion, the angular spacing between the oblique element and its corresponding flange is essentially equal to the angular spacing between the lip element and its corresponding flange.
Apices of the head portion of a first member are stiffened by the head portion of a second member in which said first member head portion is nested.
In a preferred embodiment, adjacent sides of a triangular closed head portion are angularly spaced by an angle of 60 degrees.
In a preferred embodiment, each beam member is cold rolled. A composite beam is therefore automatically produced by feeding galvanized sheet metal through a plurality of cold rollers; punching apertures in said sheet metal, to facilitate connection to a connecting member or to air conditioning equipment, or through which pass electric cables; bending said sheet metal to a desired shape and with desired dimensions to form a first member; repeating these steps to form a second member; and displacing at least said second member such that corresponding head portions of said first and second members are nested one within the other, that adjacent elements of said first and second members are in mutual stabilizing contact, and that corresponding transversal edges of said first and second members are aligned.
In one aspect, the beam system further comprises means for joining corresponding flanges of the first and second beam members, such as cold fasteners for preventing relative transversal displacement of one of said beam members.
In one aspect, the beam system further comprises means for joining corresponding web portions of the first and second beam members, such as cold fasteners.
In one aspect, the flange of the first head portion of a beam member has a longer lateral dimension than the flange of the second flange portion.
In one aspect, first and second members are identical, said second member being in opposite orientation than said first member such that the first head portion of the second member is nested within the second head portion of the first member and the first head portion of the first member is nested within the second head portion of the second member.
In one aspect, the flange of the first head portion of a beam member has the same lateral dimension as the flange of the second flange portion. The first head portion of the second member is nested within the first head portion of the first member and the second head portion of the second member is nested within the second head portion of the first member.
In one aspect, the first head portion of the second member is nested within the first head portion of the first member and the second head portion of the second member is nested within the second head portion of the first member.
In one aspect, a junction between the oblique element and web portion of the first member and a junction between the oblique element and web portion of the second member are coplanar on a plane parallel to the corresponding flanges.
In one aspect, a connecting member is connected to a composite beam by means of cold fasteners engageable with corresponding aligned apertures bored in the connecting member and beam. Thus a connecting member may be connected to a beam without need of welding, and construction workers assembling a beam system do not require specialized training.
Each beam and connecting member may be fabricated from materials selected from the group of steel, metals, alloys, plastic materials, and composite materials.
The connecting member is preferably an off the shelf product which is connected in situ by means of cold fasteners.
In one aspect, the beam system comprises more than one element which are welded together.
In one aspect, a connecting member is connected to a composite beam by means of cold fasteners and a reaction plate insert attached internally to said beam.
In one aspect, a connecting member is configured as a sleeve having selected transversal, longitudinal and lateral dimensions, and is adapted to completely surround and to be in mutually stabilizing contact with a portion of a composite beam perimeter having said selected dimensions.
In one aspect, a sleeve is connected to two coplanar beams, thereby producing a relatively lightweight combined beam of increased transversal length that can span considerably longer distances and require less bracing than beams of prior art beam systems. If the transversal length of the combined beam is different than the in situ clearance, a construction worker performs a telescopic adjustment of the combined beam by sliding one or two beams of the combined beam relative to the sleeve and connecting aligned apertures of the sleeve and a corresponding beam. If the apertures are not aligned, additional apertures are bored and then cold fasteners are engaged with the aligned apertures.
In one aspect, the sleeve comprises two cold rolled elements that are welded together.
In one aspect, the sleeve comprises a single element, two adjacent edges of which are welded together.
In one aspect, the sleeve comprises two adjacent half sleeves that are connected to the two lateral sides, respectively, of a beam.
In one aspect, the connecting member is configured with only one web.
In one aspect, the web of the connecting member is substantially shorter than the web of the beam to which the connecting member is attached.
In one aspect, the connecting member comprises a plate in force transmitting contact with a web or flange of a beam.
In one aspect, the connecting member comprises two angularly spaced plates and an element extending between, and oblique with respect to, said two plates.
In one aspect, the connecting member further comprises at least one rib.
In one aspect, the connecting member is configured as a moment connection.
In the drawings:
The present invention is a novel lightweight structural beam having two triangularly shaped head portions which provide an increased lateral stability and strength to weight ratio with respect to conventional I-beams. While some prior art beams have been configured with triangularly shaped head portions produced by a cold rolling process, these head portions are closed triangles and the third side thereof cannot be quickly and automatically shaped due to its inaccessibility and the inability of rollers to support the fed sheet metal as it is bent to form a closed triangle. In contrast, the beam of the present invention is a composite beam made of two separate and oppositely oriented members arranged such that corresponding head portions of the two members are nested one within the other. Each head portion is an incomplete triangle, so that the lip, i.e. an extremity, of a member is sufficiently accessible to rollers to allow the desired configuration of the member to be shaped. When a head portion of one member is nested within the corresponding head portion of the other member, a closed triangle having two-layered and therefore stiffened apices is produced. Cold fasteners are used to connect the webs of the two members and to connect the beam to a connecting member, as will be described hereinafter. No welding is needed, and therefore the production of such a beam and the assembly of a beam system employing one or more beams of the present invention are quicker and more economical than, and have substantially the same load bearing capacity than, that of the prior art.
Member 5 has a first head portion 2, a second head portion 12, and a longitudinally disposed web portion 7 interposed between first head portion 2 and second head portion 12. First head portion 2 has an essentially laterally disposed flange 6, i.e. perpendicular to the longitudinally disposed web portion 7, oblique element 3 extending from transversally extending first head portion junction 4 to junction 8 at one lateral end of flange 6, and lip 13 extending obliquely from junction 11 of flange 6 at the other transversal end thereof. Lip 13 is directed to junction 4; however its length is considerably shorter than oblique element 3. Second head portion 12 has an essentially laterally disposed flange 16 having a lateral dimension longer than flange 6 of first head portion 2, oblique element 23 extending from transversally extending second head portion junction 14 to junction 18 at one lateral end of flange 16, and lip 27 extending obliquely from junction 26 of flange 16 at the other lateral end thereof. Lip 27 is directed to junction 14; however its length is considerably shorter than oblique element 23.
The angle between lip 13 and flange 6 of first head portion 2 is essentially equal to the angle between oblique element 23 and flange 16 of second head portion 12. The angle between lip 27 and flange 16 of second head portion 12 is essentially equal to the angle between oblique element 3 and flange 6 of first head portion 2. The longitudinal dimension from junction 14 to flange 16 of second head portion 12 is substantially equal to the sum of the longitudinal dimension from junction 4 to flange 6 of first head portion 2 and of the thickness of flange 6. Thus when first head portion 2 of member 5 is nested within second head portion 12 of member 15, and when first head portion 2 of member 15 is nested within second head portion 12 of member 5 (hereinafter referred to as “the first and second head portions are in an alternately nested arrangement”), corresponding elements of members 5 and 15 are in mutual stabilizing contact, meaning that an element of member 5 is adapted to physically contact and to stabilize a corresponding element of member 15, or vice versa, when an external force is applied to beam 10 which causes insignificant relative displacement of member 5 with respect to member 15. While two elements in mutual stabilizing contact may not necessarily be in mutual physical contact as the first and second head portions are in an alternately nested arrangement, said two elements may be in physical contact during the application of an external force. Thus the mutual stabilizing contact will prevent further displacement of the displaced element. As illustrated, each web portion 7 of members 5 and 15, and each corresponding pair of flanges 6 and 16, of oblique element 3 and lip 27, and of oblique element 23 and lip 13 are in mutual stabilizing contact. Since beam provides mutual stabilizing contact between corresponding elements of members 5 and 15, the thickness of the sheet steel may be only 4 mm, requiring a relative simple cold rolling machine, yet provides the structural strength of 8-mm thick sheet steel.
Composite beam 10 also promotes stiffened apices when the first and second head portions are in an alternately nested arrangement. Although the first and second head portions are incomplete triangles, an essentially closed triangle is formed when they are in a nested arrangement. Thus, with reference to the bottom composite head portion, a closed triangle is defined by a two-layered base consisting of flanges 6 and 16, a first side which is oblique element 23 of member 5, and a second side which is oblique element 3 of member 15. As the first head portion of member 15 is nested within the second head portion of member 5, the vertices, or rounded portions connecting two adjacent elements in the vicinity of a junction, of first head portion of member 15 are stiffened by the vertices of the second head portion of member 5, which are in mutual stabilizing contact therewith. The closed triangle of a composite head portion is preferably an equilateral triangle, although a closed triangle having other combinations of angles is also suitable.
Another advantage provided by the formation of a closed triangle by a composite head portion is that, due to the difference in dimensions of the first and second head portion elements, each pair of first head portion junction 4 and second head portion junction 14 are coplanar on a plane parallel to flanges 6 and 16. If a first head portion junction 4 and second head portion junction 14 were not coplanar on a plane parallel to flanges 6 and 16 in contradistinction to the present invention, regions of the two web portions 7 would not be in mutual stabilizing contact. For example, with reference to the bottom composite head portion, junction 14 of member 5 may be below junction 4 of member 15, causing the region of web portion 7 of member 5 below junction 4 of member 15 to be unsupported and therefore being susceptible to buckling when a sufficiently high force is applied. The closed-triangle configuration of the composite head portion of the present invention therefore increases the lateral stability of the beam, which is of much importance when exposed to high winds or earthquakes.
It will be appreciated that a composite beam of the invention may be used not only as a beam when it is oriented such that the transversal direction is horizontal or oblique, but also as a post when it is oriented such that the transversal direction is vertical. It will be assumed that the following description applies to a beam having a horizontal transversal direction, but all other beam orientations are also applicable.
As members 5 and 15 are identical, as described in reference to
Since the two members of a composite beam of the present invention are in mutually stabilizing contact, the vertices of the top and bottom composite head portions are stiffened, and each pair of first and second head portion junctions are coplanar on a plane parallel to the corresponding flanges, the beam of the present invention requires less steel than beams of the prior art for the same span while providing the same load bearing capacity.
.Tables I-III below compare the beam of the present invention (referred to as “Invention”) to various prior art I-beams in terms of its weight and maximum deflection (referred to as “%”), for a given required moment of inertia (MOI).
As can be seen, the beam of the present invention has a significantly less weight, approximately 55% less, than that of prior art I-beams for the same span and required MOI. Also the maximum deflection for the beam of the present invention is significantly less than that of the present invention.
Heretofore, a beam has been subjected to high stress concentrations when connected by welding to other structural members such as C-shaped or Z-shaped purlins, which are adapted to support a roof support or a metal deck. Due to the concentrated loads, the beams need to be reinforced by e.g. ribs at each stress concentration. The reinforcing members have to be connected to the beam and to the purlin by welding, further increasing the costly, labor intensive and time consuming assembly process.
The beam system of the present invention significantly reduces the cost, labor and time needed to assemble a beam system by providing a prefabricated connecting member that is attachable to the beam by cold fasteners. The connecting member in turn is attached to another structural element, and is therefore adapted to transmit forces or moments from one structural element to another. Apertures, to which connecting members are attached, are bored in the sheet steel during the production of the composite beam, as illustrated in
As shown, connecting member 80 has upper triangular head portion 82, lower triangular head portion 84, and spaced, parallel web portions 86 and 87 longitudinally extending between upper head portion 82 and lower head portion 84. Head portion 82 has a flange 91, and two oblique elements 93 and 94 extending from flange 91 to web portions 86 and 87, respectively. Similarly, head portion 84 has a flange 95, and two oblique elements 97 and 98 extending from flange 95 to web portions 86 and 87, respectively. The webs and flanges are bored with apertures at predetermined locations, to allow connecting element 80 to be attached to a composite beam by cold fasteners. Connecting member 80 is formed with suitable dimensions and with a suitable configuration which facilitate mutually stabilizing contact with corresponding externally facing elements of a composite beam around which connecting member 80 surrounds.
In
Flange fasteners 71 are generally blind rivets, and web fasteners 72 are generally pairs of bolts passing through the aligned web apertures and threadedly engaged with corresponding nuts. Flange fasteners 71 may also be bolts that are threadedly engageable with a reaction plate insert 176 (
In
In
As shown in
With reference to
As shown in the orientation of
If for some reason the apertures of a beam and connecting member 120 are not aligned, the modularity of the beam system of the invention affords a construction worker sufficient flexibility to reposition the beam or connecting member in such a way to ensure that the connecting member and beam will be connected. For example, the beam can be transversally displaced in telescopic fashion until its apertures will be aligned with other apertures of connecting member 120. Alternatively, the apertures of connecting member 120 may be suitably formed, such as by having an elliptical shape, so that when the beam is slightly displaced transversally, a portion of a connecting member aperture will be sufficiently exposed to permit engagement with a cold fastener passing through a corresponding beam aperture even though another portion of said connecting member aperture is covered by the beam periphery. If the beam apertures cannot be aligned with the connecting member apertures, additional apertures may be bored in the beam periphery. It will be appreciated that the other connecting members that will be described hereinafter can also be repositioned in situ in order to quickly and effortlessly connect a beam and selected connecting member.
Alternatively, as shown in
With reference to
In
In
In
In
As shown in
Architects and civil engineers designing a structure which is supported by a beam system of the present invention benefit from a large choice of possibilities. Various combinations of the aforementioned beams and connecting members may be selected based on designed loads and stress concentrations. The load bearing capacity of a beam system can also be varied by changing the thickness of the sheet metal from which a beam or connecting member is fabricated, or by changing the number and location of the cold fasteners used to connect a beam and connecting member.
In beam system 350 illustrated in
In beam system 360 shown in
Beam system 380 comprises a plurality of posts 225, some of which are spaced by a span of L and some of which are spaced by a span of 2L. Front row 382 consists of 6 posts, central row 384 consists of 5 posts, and extreme side row 386 consists of 5 posts. Each post 225 is connected to the foundations by means of a corresponding connecting member 140 (
While some embodiments of the invention have been described by way of illustration, it will be apparent that the invention can be carried out with many modifications, variations and adaptations, and with the use of numerous equivalents or alternative solutions that are within the scope of persons skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the invention or exceeding the scope of the claims.
Claims
1. A modular reinforced structural beam and connecting member system, comprising:
- a) at least one composite beam having two oppositely oriented triangular closed heads and a transversally extending and longitudinally disposed web interposed between said two closed heads, each of said beams consisting of two separate members arranged such that corresponding head portions of said two members are configured with an essentially laterally disposed flange and are nested one within the other and that all pairs of adjacent elements of said two members, respectively, are in mutual stabilizing contact to produce each of said triangular closed heads; and
- b) a plurality of connecting members, at least two of said connecting members being connected to, and in force transmitting contact with, one of said composite beams and another structural element, wherein at least one of said connecting members is connected to a flange and web of a composite beam by a moment connection.
2. The beam system according to claim 1, wherein the connecting member is connected to two composite beams by a moment connection to produce a combined beam, said combined beam being transversally adjustable.
3. The beam system according to claim 1, wherein the connecting member connected to a composite beam by a moment connection comprises at least one element which has the same thickness or is thicker than a corresponding element of the composite beans with which it is in force transmitting contact.
4. The beam system according to claim 1, wherein each member of the composite beam comprises a first head portion, a second head portion, and a longitudinally disposed web portion interposed between said first head portion and second head portion, said first and second head portions being configured with a corresponding essentially laterally disposed flange, an oblique element extending from a first lateral end of said flange to said web portion, and an oblique lip extending from a first lateral end of said flange and having a length considerably shorter than that of said oblique element.
5. The beam system according to claim 4, wherein the first and second head portions are configured with a single corresponding essentially laterally disposed flange, a first side of a triangular closed head comprising the two flanges of the two composite beam members, respectively, and second and third sides thereof comprising an oblique element of one of the composite beam members and a lip of the other composite beam member.
6. The beam system according to claim 5, wherein, with respect to the second and third sides of a closed head, the angular spacing between the oblique element and its corresponding flange is essentially equal to the angular spacing between the lip element and its corresponding flange.
7. The beam system according to claim 5, wherein adjacent sides of a triangular closed head are angularly spaced by an angle of 60 degrees.
8. The beam system according to claim 5, wherein each beam member is cold rolled.
9. The beam system according to claim 1, further comprising means for joining corresponding flanges of first and second beam members, for preventing relative transversal displacement of one of said beam members.
10. The beam system according to claim 9, wherein the flange joining means are cold fasteners.
11. The beam system according to claim 4, further comprising means for joining corresponding web portions of the first and second beam members.
12. The beam system according to claim 11, wherein the web joining means are cold fasteners.
13. The beam system according to claim 4, wherein the flange of the first head portion has a longer lateral, dimension than the flange of the second flange portion.
14. The beam system according to claim 13, wherein first and second members are identical, said second member being in opposite orientation than said first member such that the first head portion of the second member is nested within the second head portion of the first member and the first head portion of the first member is nested within the second head portion of the second member.
15. The beam system according to claim 4, wherein the flange of the first head portion has the same lateral dimension as the flange of the second flange portion.
16. The beam system according to claim 15, wherein the first head portion of a second member is nested within the first head portion of a first member and the second head portion of the second member is nested within the second head portion of the first member.
17. The beam system according to claim 13, wherein the first head portion of the second member is nested within the first head portion of the first member and the second head portion of the second member is nested within the second head portion of the first member.
18. The beam system according to claim 1, wherein apices of the head portion of a first member are stiffened by the head portion of a second member in which said first member head portion is nested.
19. The beam system according to claim 18, wherein a junction between the oblique element and web portion of the first member and a junction between the oblique element and web portion of the second, member are coplanar on a plane parallel to the corresponding flanges.
20. The beam system according to claim 1, further comprising a connecting member which is connected to a web of a composite beam by a shear connection.
21. The beam system according to claim 1, wherein a connecting member is connected to a composite beam by weans of cold fasteners engageable with corresponding aligned apertures bored in the connecting member and beam.
22. The beam system according to claim 21, wherein the connecting member is an off the shelf product which is connected in situ by means of cold fasteners.
23. The beam system according to claim 21, wherein the connecting member comprises more than one element which are welded together.
24. The beam system according to claim 21, wherein a connecting member is connected to a composite beam by means of cold fasteners and a reaction plate insert attached internally to said beam.
25. The beam system according to claim 21, wherein a connecting member is configured as a sleeve having selected transversal, longitudinal and lateral dimensions, and is adapted to completely surround and to be in mutually stabilizing contact with a portion of a composite beam perimeter having said selected dimensions.
26. The beam system according to claim 25, wherein the sleeve comprises two cold rolled elements that are welded together.
27. The beam system according to claim 25, wherein the sleeve comprises a single element; two adjacent edges of which are welded together.
28. The beam system according to claim 27, wherein the sleeve comprises two adjacent half sleeves that are connected to the two lateral sides, respectively, of a beam.
29. The beam system according to claim 21, wherein the connecting member is configured with only one web.
30. The beam system according to claim 29, wherein the web of the connecting member is substantially shorter than the web of the beam to which the connecting member is attached.
31. The beam system according to claim 21, wherein a connecting member comprises a plate in force transmitting contact with a web or flange of a beam.
32. The beam system according to claim 31, wherein the connecting member comprises two angularly spaced plates and an element extending between, and oblique with respect to, said two plates.
33. The beam system according to claim 21, wherein the connecting member further comprises at least one rib.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 12, 2007
Publication Date: Jan 8, 2009
Inventor: Ram Navon (Akiva)
Application Number: 12/279,096