EP0271246A1

EP0271246A1 - Sheet securing system

Info

Publication number: EP0271246A1
Application number: EP87310330A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Stanley Joseph Seeff; Bernard Roy Seeff
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1986-11-21
Filing date: 1987-11-23
Publication date: 1988-06-15
Also published as: AU8161187A

Abstract

A method and apparatus for securing a roof or cladding sheet (10) to an underlying support (11) wherein a strip-like bracket (12), which is secured by means of screws (13) to the support (11), has two hooking formations (14) which can lockingly engage a protrution (17) located inside the corrugation (16) of the sheet 10 to lock the sheet (10) to the bracket (12) and hence to the support (11); the sheet (10) accordingly serving to shield the joint zone (13) against the deleterious effect of the elements of nature.

Description

THIS invention relates to a sheet securing system. More particularly it relates to a method and means for securing a sheet to an underlying support such as, for example, a roof sheet to a roof support, or a cladding sheet or the like to a wall or the like.
It is conventional to secure a sheet such as a roof or cladding sheet, which in most cases comprises a corrugated metal sheet, to an underlying support by means of suitable fastening means such as nails or screws which are driven through the sheet material into the support. In this specification the term "corrugated sheet" will be used as referring to a sheet of which the corrugations are of any suitable profile, such as, for example, sinusoidal, trapesoidal, etc.
Although extensive care is usually taken to try and make the joint between the fastening means and such sheet material as water tight as possible, water leaks still tend to occur at such joints, especially after a period of time when the sheet material in the joint area gets corroded and/or the fastening means works itself loose as a result of thermal expansions which cause relative movement between it and the sheet material to take place.
It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for securing such a sheet to a support by means of which the aforesaid problem may be overcome.
According to the invention a method for securing a sheet, such as a roof sheet or the like, to a support include the steps of providing fastening means which can be secured to the support, the fastening means including at least one locking formation which can lockingly engage a complementary formation on the sheet when the latter overlies it.
It will be appreciated that with the sheet so locked to the fastening means, and hence to the support, the means through which the fastening means is secured to the support is covered by the overlying sheet which accordingly shields it against the action of the elements and which accordingly minimises the possibility of water leaks occuring in this area. Furthermore, because the fastening means serve to fix the position of the sheet relative to the underlying support, the "pitch" of the overlying sheet is fixed and there is accordingly no need accurately to measure out the positions on the sheet where the securing means have to be applied.
Further according to the invention apparatus for carrying the aforesaid method into operation includes fastening means which is adapted for securement to a support, and which includes a formation adapted lockingly to engage a complementary formation on a sheet when the latter overlies the fastening means and which serves to secure the sheet to the support.
Where the sheet is of the corrugated type the complementary locking formation on the sheet is preferably located on the inside of the corrugation and the locking formation on the fastening means preferably comprises a transversely extending projection which can engage the said complementary formation from inside the corrugated profile.
Preferably the locking formation on the fastening means defines a hook and the locking formation on the sheet a complementary shaped ridge or groove which can be engaged by the said hook.
The said ridge or groove can be provided in the sheet in any suitable manner such as, for example, by pressing or rolling it into the sheet material.
Such pressing or rolling of the ridge into the sheet material can, for example, be effected substantially at the same time when the corrugations are pressed or rolled into the sheet material.
Preferably each corrugation is provided with two longitudinally extending parallel disposed diametrically opposed ridges or grooves, and the locking formation on the fastening means includes two oppositely directed hooks which can each engage one of the ridges or grooves.
Preferably also the hooks can be spring loaded in a direction away from each other to improve their locking engagement with the ridges or grooves.
The fastening means may preferably be provided in the form of an elongated strip-like bracket which is intended to be secured to the support so that it extends in a direction substantially at right angles to the intended direction of the corrugations of the sheet, the bracket being provided with a plurality of hooks of the aforesaid kind which are so spaced apart that a plurality of them will extend in line with at least some, but preferably all, of the corrugations of the sheet.
Preferably the brackets and the hooks are of sheet metal material, although they could be of any other suitable material.
In one form of the invention at least one of the hooks can be made integral with the sheet material of the bracket.
In another form of the invention a pair of hooks is constituted by the bent over ends of two adjacently located brackets of sheet material which are suitably secured to each other.
It will be appreciated that by securing a plurality of such brackets in parallel spaced apart relationship to one another to a support, one or more corrugated sheets may be secured to the support by causing the hooks in the brackets lockingly to engage the ridges or grooves in the overlying corrugations. As will be appreciated further, this can be done without the need of having to measure out accurately the positions where the sheets have to be secured to the support.
It will be appreciated further that although it will be difficult to remove such a sheet from the support, this can be done in some instances by sliding the sheet in a direction parallel to its corrugations until the ridges or grooves have all disengaged the hooks. If this is not practically possible, the sheet can be forced in a direction away from th support until the hooks have disengaged the ridges or grooves.
The brackets may be secured to te support in any suitable manner, but preferably this may be done by driving screws or nails through them into the underlying support. For this purpose a "cut out" may be provided in the hook in order to allow easy access for a suitable tool to such screws or the like.
The invention will now be described further by way of example with reference to the enclosed drawing which is a diagrammatic side elevation of on embodiment of a sheet securing system according to the invention.
In this embodiment of the invention a system for securing a corrugated metal sheet 10 to an underlying roof support (or purlin) 11, includes securing a plurality of elongated metal strip-like brackets 12 to support 11 by means of screws or nails 13 which are driven through brackets 12 into support 11 at positions located towards the outer ends of brackets 12.
Each bracket 12 has each of its opposite ends bent over to define a substantially "C"-shaped formation of which the free ends defines a hook 14.
Adjacent brackets 12 are secured to one another by fastening means 15 which may be "pop" rivets, screws, bolts or inter-engaging lip-and-groove arrangements which are provided in the sheet material in the "body" of the "C"-shaped formations. It will be appreciated that in the latter instance the interconnecting of adjacent brackets 12 can be effected without the need of special tools or the like.
A plurality of parallel spaced rows of brackets 12 are secure in similar manner to support 11 so that their corresponding hooks 14 are all located in line.
Each of the corrugations 16 of sheet 10 is provided on its inside with two diametrically opposed longitudinally extending ridges 17 which are pressed into the sheet material in such a position that when a corrugation 16 is located over the hooks 14 of two adjacent brackets 12, the free ends of hooks 14 can each engage and be trapped behind a ridge 17, the resilient flexibility of the material of bracket 12 allowing the hooks 14 to be pressed passed the ridge 17 from below.
It will be appreciated that when a plurality of the corrugaions 16 of a sheet 10 are made to engage and be trapped behind the hooks 14 of bracket 12, sheet 10 will firmly be secured to support 11.
It will be appreciated further that because the fastening means 13 and 15 are sheltered by the overlying corrugations 16 of sheet 10, they are protected against the action of the elements such as rain, for example, and the problems referred to above as being encountered with the existing arrangements can accordingly be overcome.
It will be appreciated still further that there are no doubt many variations in detail possible with a method, apparatus and system of securing a sheet to a support according to the invention without departing from the scope of the appended claims. Thus, for example, instead of having a ridge 17 as the locking formation, a groove may be pressed in substantially the same position into the sheet material from inside a corrugation 16 so that the ends of hooks 14 can be trapped in such groove.

Claims

1. A method for securing a sheet, such as a roof sheet, cladding sheet, or the like, to a support including the steps of providing fastening means which can be secured to the support, the fastening means including at least one locking formation which can lockingly engage a complementary formation on the sheet when the latter overlies it.

2. Apparatus for carrying the method of claim 1 into operation including fastening means which are adapted for securement to a support, the fastening means including a formation adapted lockingly to engage a complementary formation on a sheet when the latter overlies the fastening means and which serves to secure the sheet to the support.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the sheet is of the corrugated type and the complementary locking formation on the sheet is located on the inside of the corrugation, the locking formation on the fastening means comprising a transversely extending projection which can engage the said complementary formation from inside the corrugation.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the locking formation on the fastening means defines a hook and the locking formation on the sheet a complementary shaped ridge or groove which can be engaged by the hook.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the said ridge or groove is provided in the sheet by pressing or rolling it into the sheet material.

6. The apparatus of any one of claims 3 to 5 wherein each corrugation of a sheet is provided with two longitudinally extending parrallel disposed diametrically opposed ridges or grooves and the locking formation on the fastening means includes two oppositely directly hooks which can each engage one of the ridges or grooves.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the hooks are spring loaded in a direction away from each other to improve their locking engagement with the ridges or grooves.

8. The apparatus of claims 6 or 7 wherein the fastening means is provided in the form of an elongated strip-like bracket which is intended to be secured to the support so that it extends in a direction substantially at right angles to the intended direction of the corrugations of the sheet, the bracket being provided with a plurality of hooks of the aforesaid kind which are so spaced apart that a plurality of them will extend in line with at least some, but preferably all, of the corrugations of the sheet.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherin the brackets and the hooks are of sheet metal material.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9 wheren the hooks are made integral with the material of the bracket.

11. The apparatus of claims 8 or 9 wherein a pair of hooks is constituted by the bent over ends of of two adjacently located strip-like bracket of sheet material which are suitably secured to each other.

12. The apparatus of any one of claims 8 to 11 wherein the brackets are secured to the support by driving screws or nails through them into the underlying support.