GB1563721A - Spacers in reinforced concrete structures - Google Patents

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO SPACERS IN REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES (71) We, MAX FRANK GmbH & Co., K.B., a company existing under the laws of the Federal German Republic, of 8441 Leiblfing, Bayern, Federal German Repub lic, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: The invention relates to reinforced concrete structures comprising elements for spacing concrete reinforcements, hydraulic cement bonded material, such as asbestos cement, concrete or cement mortar.

Spacing components of this kind are known and they are made with a variety of cross sectional profiles and sizes and in a wide range of lengths and they are used to maintain the necessary distance between the reinforcement (reinforcement steel bars) and the prepared ground, site placed concrete surface or formwork, on casting of building components (walls, slabs etc.) made from concrete. The rod-shaped spacing components or profiled rods are distributed in the case of horizontal or slightly inclined foundation ground simply on this foundation ground, and steel reinforcement bars are placed on these rod shaped spacing components so that the cross section of the spacing components determines the distance between the prepared ground (formwork, site placed concrete etc.).Since the spacing components are made from cement bonded material, they will therefore form a firm connection with the placed concrete and they do not form a foreign body in the concrete.

A certain disadvantage on using these spacing components is the relatively high danger of fracture, so that it can happen that the spacing components will fracture on placing on the supporting ground and the individual fractured pieces are displaced so that the reinforcement bars will no longer rest on the spacing components but directly on the prepared supporting ground (formwork etc.), with the result that the required distance between the reinforcement and this supporting ground is no longer ensured.

The object of the present invention is to overcome this disadvantage.

According to the invention, there are provided reinforced concrete structures wherein the reinforcing elements are supported within the concrete by means of elongate spacing elements which are made of matrix material bonded by hydraulic cement and are reinforced by continuous or overlapping fibres of non-metal material which are additional to the matrix material and are embedded therein and extend longitudinally thereof, the reinforcing elements resting on said spacing elements.

Said cement bonded material may be selected from asbestos cement, concrete and cement mortar.

The individual pieces of this spacing component are held together by means of the fibres embedded into the spacing component according to the invention even if the spacing component is fractured. This ensures that the fragments of the spacing component are not displaced relative to each other and the reinforcement hence rests on the spacing component and not directly on the prepared supporting ground, for example, the formwork.

The foregoing and further features of the invention may be more readily understood from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a perspective view of a rod shaped spacer.

The accompanying drawing shows a rodshaped spacing component for use in concrete structures according to the invention and made from hydraulic cement bonded material, such as asbestos cement, concrete or cement mortar, which has a rectangular cross section and which is represented in the figure in partly broken form for clarity of exposure of the fibres 2-5 within this spacing component 1. The fibres 2-5 which consist of non-metallic material, preferably an elastic plastics material, are situated in the region of corners and edges of the spacing component cross sections. It is also possible to arrange the fibres 2-5 at other positions, for example in the middle of the cross section side of the rectangular spacing component 1 and/or they can be adapted according to the given application purpose, using more less than four fibres.The rod shaped spacing component 1 itself can also have any required arbitary cross section.

As indicated in the figure with broken lines the fibres 2 - 5 extend preferably over the whole length of the spacing component 1, which, for example, has a length up to 125 cm.

As shown at 6 however, it is also possible that the individual fibres are not continuous but interrupted, in which case these interruption positions in the individual fibres 2 5 are placed so that in the region of the discontinuity position 6 for the fibres 5 the remaining fibres 2 - 4 do not have discontinuities, and this arrangement applies equally when there is a higher or lower number of fibres.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. Reinforced concrete structures wherein the reinforcing elements are supported within the concrete by means of elongate spacing elements which are made of matrix material bonded by hudraulic cement and are reinforced by continuous or overlapping fibres of non-metal material which are additional to the matrix material and are embedded therein and extend longitudinally thereof, the reinforcing elements resting on said spacing elements.

2. Reinforced concrete structures as claimed in claim 1 wherein said material bonded by hydraulic cement is selected from asbestos cement, concrete and cement mortar.

3. Reinforced concrete structures as claimed in claim 1 wherein said fibres are made of an elastic material.

4. Reinforced concrete structures as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein said fibres are made of a plastics material.

5. Reinforced concrete structures as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein four reinforcement fibres are provided.

6. Reinforced concrete structures substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (6)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. or cement mortar, which has a rectangular cross section and which is represented in the figure in partly broken form for clarity of exposure of the fibres 2-5 within this spacing component 1. The fibres 2-5 which consist of non-metallic material, preferably an elastic plastics material, are situated in the region of corners and edges of the spacing component cross sections. It is also possible to arrange the fibres 2-5 at other positions, for example in the middle of the cross section side of the rectangular spacing component 1 and/or they can be adapted according to the given application purpose, using more less than four fibres. The rod shaped spacing component 1 itself can also have any required arbitary cross section. As indicated in the figure with broken lines the fibres 2 - 5 extend preferably over the whole length of the spacing component 1, which, for example, has a length up to 125 cm. As shown at 6 however, it is also possible that the individual fibres are not continuous but interrupted, in which case these interruption positions in the individual fibres 2 5 are placed so that in the region of the discontinuity position 6 for the fibres 5 the remaining fibres 2 - 4 do not have discontinuities, and this arrangement applies equally when there is a higher or lower number of fibres. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. Reinforced concrete structures wherein the reinforcing elements are supported within the concrete by means of elongate spacing elements which are made of matrix material bonded by hudraulic cement and are reinforced by continuous or overlapping fibres of non-metal material which are additional to the matrix material and are embedded therein and extend longitudinally thereof, the reinforcing elements resting on said spacing elements.

2. Reinforced concrete structures as claimed in claim 1 wherein said material bonded by hydraulic cement is selected from asbestos cement, concrete and cement mortar.

3. Reinforced concrete structures as claimed in claim 1 wherein said fibres are made of an elastic material.

4. Reinforced concrete structures as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein said fibres are made of a plastics material.

5. Reinforced concrete structures as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein four reinforcement fibres are provided.

6. Reinforced concrete structures substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.