AU615158B2 - Frame construction - Google Patents

Description

1.15 1.4 116 ZAXMAAlsi b douwjiI 4 ZAXMAfl1C.)dONWIffIHO! j,4 AV Id O-T125 14 r-- LODGED AT SUB-OFFrCE I ej ADD QW 4flI 1515' COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 1952-69 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

FOR OFFICE USE: Class Int. Class Application Number: Lodged: 71 re? Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: Published: FE 4PTo 'ALUE OF MAIL. OFPICR~ATAH Related Art: IName of Applicant: Address of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service-, DAVID9 GARY W-AV- 3 PDANI-DACF eLOE, i~

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NEW SOUTH WALES, COMMONWEALOPH OF AUSTRALIA.

DAVID GARY WEAVER WATERMARK PATENT TRADE MARK ATTORNEYS SUITE 6, FLOOR 16t TOWN HALL HOUSE, 456 KENT STREET SYDNEY NSW 2000 Complete Specification for the Invention entitled-, "FRAME CONSTRUCTION' The following statement is a full description of this Invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us- This invention relates to frames and more particularly to rapidly constructable frames suitable for the enclosing, with insect screening material, of large areas.

It is highly desirable to be able to enjoy outdoor activities about the purlieus of a house or other building but it is a fact that airborne insects such as flies and mosquitoes are a great nuisance. It is common to provide so-called "fly-screens" and "screen doors" for windows and dcors to prevent entry of these and other insect pests to a building but in the case of outdoor areas the problem has always been how to enclose large structures without sagging or other undesirable deformation of the spans of screening material.

A typical conventional insect-screen framework is either a wooden structure or an aluminium box-section with insect-screening mesh material stretched over it and secured by such as quadrant strip and small nails or panel pins. Such a framework is time-consuming to erect and invariably has a poor appearance.

It is thus an object of the present invention to overcome the above and other disadvantages by the provision of frame elements capable of being rapidly put together and erected so as to provide a visually pleasing frame work particularly suited co the enclosure of such as large terraces, landscaped pools and their surrounds, and the like.

To this end, in a first aspect, the present invention therefore provides a frame element for use in constructing a framework for an enclosure; said frame element comprising a hollow beam of rectangular transverse cross-section provided with, at each of at least two adjacent corners thereof, a longitudinally-extending, outwardly-opening keyway of subtantially rectangular transverse cross-section and adapted to receive therein an elongated, flexible and deformable spline element of substantially corresponding cross-section; the arrangement being such that the angle defined between a side of said frame element and a web portion of said keyway is in the order of 100° to 1200: characterised in that the said frame element is constituted by a pair of matable half-elements each in the form of a channel having parallel sides connected by a web and having the said obliquely-oriented keyways at the corners thereof; each said side having orie longitudinally-ridged surface and one planar surface disposed so that one planar surface faces inwardly and one faces outwardly; the said hollow beam configuration being formed by juxtaposing said half-elements, ridged surface mating with ridged surface, and securing together the overlying sides.

Preferably the elongated, flexible and deformable spline element may have parallel sides joined by semicircular edges; ideally, it will be an extruded plastic strip or a strip of such a natural or synthetic rubber.

In a second aspect thereof, the present invention provides a method of constructing a framework for an enclosure, comprising assembling a plurality of matable half-elements, as described above; securing an appropriate number of purlins .o between the webs of pairs of half-elements; and mating and securing pairs of half-elements together so as to form the said framework.

Advantageously, there may be included the further step of passing a marginal strip of a panel of insect-screening mesh about a said spline element and thereafter forcing the oo o mesh-wound spline element into a said keyway; and repeating said further step until the said framewok is insect-screened.

One or more angles may be formed in frame elements of said framework, the formation of each angle comprising the

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i steps of:jmitring ends of a pair of hollow beams intended to coeisitute said angle; placing said mitred ends together in abutting relationship; and .3 /I A nm Joininq said pair of mitred hollow beams together by bolting thereabout two mated short lengths of half-element each having had one side thereof removed, thereby forming a deep channel adapted to receive a portion of the said mitred, angled hollow beams.

Each frame element, or half-element, is ideally an extrusion or extrusions of aluminium or aluminium alloy.

According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of attaching a sheet of flexible material to a rigid frame member, se id frame member having one or more long itud inally-extending outwardly-opening keyways of substantially rectangular transverse cross section disposed obliquely and adjacent one or more corners of said frame 15 ember, whereby said flexible material is attached to said member by placing an edge of the flexible material 04.: about an elongate floxible and deformable spline element having a cross-section substantially correspondingi to the cross section of the or each said keyway, and thereafter forcini the mesh-wound spline element into a said keyway.

2C In order that the reader may gain a better understanding of the present invention, hereinafter will be 444 described a preferred embodiment thereof, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in 0 4a 0 which:- Figure 1 is a transverse cross-section through an inventive frame half-element; Figure 2 is a similar cross-section through a second inventive half-element; Figure 3 shows how half-elements can be connected by purlins; Figure 4 shows how two inventive hollow beams may be joined together; Figure 5 is a fragmentary cross-section through a corner of the inventive frame element showing a first mode of affixing insect-screening mesh material therein; and Figure 6 is a similar cross-section but illustrating a second fixing mode.

In Figure 1 is to be seen a transverse cross-section through a half-element according to the present invention.

This half-element is preferably an aluminium or aluminium alloy extrusion in the form of a channel havinq sides 1 and 2, and a connecting web 3. ThiE Figure, as also is Figure 2 of the drawings, is to scale 1:1 and although it is conventional to cross-hatch such sections, in this instance this has not been done in the interests of clarity. Each side 1 and 2 has one fli~t surface, respectively referenced 4 and 5, and one ridged or treaded surface, respectively referenced 6 and 7. Ridged surface 7 and flat surface 4 01 face inwardly while ridged surface 6 and flat surface 5 face outwardly, for a purpose later to be explained.

At each c-rner of the half-element is formed an obliquely oriented keyway, respectively referenced 8 nd 0 00.0 9 these keyways are each adapted to receive therein a 000 spline element, as will be dascribed hereinafter with~ reference to Figures 5 and 6.

Figure 2 is a similar cross-section through a second inventive half-element, the main difference being purely ir 00 the dimensions, although web 12 of this element does have a pair of longitudinally-extending ribs or lands 13 and 14; the re~ason for the incorporation of these will be described hereinafter with reference to Figure 4. Here again, there are provided corner keyways 15 and 16. As in the case of 4 the half-element of Figure 1, sides 10 and 11 each have a flat side 17, 18 and a ridged side 19, Two half-elements of each kind may be juxtaposed to constitute a hollow beam, their ridged sides a.butting to form a slip-fcee union.

Fiqure 3 illustrates the method by which an inventive frame may be constructed. An appropriate number of half-elements required to construct a desired frame is assembled and purlins, as referenced 21, of suitable length, are affixed as by bolting, or self-driving "Tek" screws, as T at 22, to each complementary pair of inventive half-elements.

When the desired number of half-element-purlin-halfelement "sets" have been assembled, pairs of the elements are "mated", as generally referenced 23, and affixed I together as at 24. In this way, a frame-work, particularly but not exclusively for insect-screening an enclosure, may be easily and rapidly erected without the need for preliminary scaffolding and, for example, an enclosure that would conventionally require, say, three days' work to screen, may well be completed in one half day.

Figure 4 shows how two inventive hollow beams may be conjoined to constitute an angle in a frame. Each beam 23, 23' is formed from a complementary pair of the halfelements of Figures 1 or 2, their ends to be mated being mitred, as at ,S In a manner directly analogous to two wooden rafters joined via a so-called "gang nail", the two beams 23 and 23' are joined by a part-beam 26, that is to say, two inventive half-elements each having had one side removed. In another manner, web 12 of the half-element shown in Figure 2 may be oo, cut lengthwise between ribs or land 13 and 14. The resulting joining member is bolted to hollow beams 23 and 23' as at 27.

Figure 5, to an enlarged scale, is a fragmentary cross-section through that corner of a frame element which is formed with keyways 8 or 15. The keyway is adapted to receive therein an elongated, flexible and deformable, spline element 28, preferably an extruded plastic strip or a similar strip of natural or synthetic rubber. Spline element 28 ideally has parallel sides and semicircular ends.

The marginal strip of a panel of insect-screening mesh material 29 is taken about spline element 28 as shown, and the assembly is forced into the keyway using a known kind of spline tool. Such a tool may take the form of a wheel or narrow roller journalled at one end of a handle, or of a __cC 1"1~1- specially-configured boss, again at the end of a handle.

Figure 5 shows a configuration in which spline 28 is easily and rapidly inserted. It is highly suitable for enclosing areas such as smaller verandahs and balconies but is not quite as rugged and strong as the configuration shown in Figure 6. As will be appreciated, with resnect to Figure the corner of Figure 6 has been re-oriented through while mesh 29 has been re-oriented through 180°. The optimum angle between a side of the frame element and a web portion of the keyway may be about 110°, that is to say, the angle 0 indicated in Figure 5 may be about 200.

This method of attachment of flexible screen mesh material to a rigid frame provides a particularly strong and 04 taut attachment, which is far superior to the previously °o a° 1 5 used method. In the previously used method the panel of insect screen material is positioned so as to over lie a groove or channel in the frame member, ard then a length of flexible and deformable cylindrical rubber or plastic tubing a is placed on top of the insect screen above the groove or channel and is forced therein by means of a spline tool.

ao The respective geometries of the groove or channel and the O oO flexible tubing, in working inter-relationship, are such Sthat in the previously used method the screen mesh material is very easily loosened in, or pulled completely out from, the insect-screen frame member.

The half-elements may be anodised in various colours or metallic finished while the screening material may advantageously be a high-strength fibreglass mesh of perhaps the density and weave of strandard insect-screen material.

From the abovegoing, the reader will readily appreciate that frames constructed in accordance with the present invention will provide the public with a new or much-improved article of commerce or, at the very least, offer to it a useful and attractive choice.

Although the invention has been described above with reference to examples and to preferred embodiments, it will I L mbe appreciated that the invention may be embodied in other forms or carried out in other ways without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The above description is therefore to be considered as in all respects, illustrative and not restrictive, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency are intended to be embraced herein.

6 000 0 0 O 0 0 oQoA 0000 600 0 s*

Claims (7)

1. A frame element for use in constructing a framework for an enclosure; said frame element comprising a hollow beam of rectangular transverse cross-section provided with, at each of at least two adjacent corners thereof, a longitudinally- extending, outwardly-opening keyway of substantially rectangular transverse cross- section and adapted to receive therein an elongated, flexible and deformable spline element of substantially corresponding cross-section; the arrangement being such that the angle defined between a side of said frame element and a web portion of said keyway is in the order of 100o to 1200: characterised ir ihat the said frame element is constituted by a pair of matable half-elements each in the form of a channel having parallel sides connected by a web and having the said obliquely-oriented keyways at the corners thereof; each said side having one longitudinally-ridged surface and one planar surface disposed so that one planar surface faces inwardly and one faces outwardly; the :'.said h'llow beam configuration being formed by juxtaposing said half-elements, ridged .*sturface mating with ridged surface, and securing together the overlying sides.

The frame element is claimed in Claim 1 wherein said spline element has parallel sides joined by semicircular edjes.

3. The frame element as claimed in claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein said spline element is an extruded strip of plastic material, or a strip of natural or synthetic rubber.

4. A method of constructing a framework for an enclosure, comprising the steps of:- assembling a plurality of matable half-elements as claimed in any one of the Sprbceding claims; securing an appropriate number of purlins between the webs of pairs of half- elements; and mating and securing pairs of half-elements together so as to form the said framework.

The method as claimed in Claim 4, including the further step of passing a marginal strip of a panel of insect-screening mesh about a said spline element and S A w. thereafter forcing the mesh-wound spline element into a said keyway; and repeating said Turther step until the said framework is insect-screened.

6. The method as claimed in Claim 4 or Claim 5 in which one or more angles are formed in frame elements of said framework, the formation of each angle comprising the steps of:- mitring ends of a pair of hollow beams intended to constitute said angle; placing said mitred ends together in abutting relationship; and joining said pair of mitred hollow beams together by bolting thereabout two mated short lengths of half-element each having had one side thereof removed, thereby forming a deep channel adapted to receive a portion of the said mitred, angled hollow beams.

7. The frame element as claimed in any one of Claims 1, 2 or 3, being an extrusion Sor extrusions, of aluminium or aluminium alloy. A frame element for use in constructing a framework for an enclosure, ;ubstantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. I A method of constructing a framework for an enclosure, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 'PDated this twenty fifth day of June1991 TREMONT PTY LIMITED J C. \f