GB2036235A

GB2036235A - Assembly of hollow elongate members

Info

Publication number: GB2036235A
Application number: GB7939496A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: MENELAOU X
Current assignee: MENELAOU X
Priority date: 1978-11-14
Filing date: 1979-11-14
Publication date: 1980-06-25
Also published as: GB2036235B

Abstract

This invention relates to assemblies of hollow elongate members and methods of assembling such members. Fig. 1 shows a connector 10 formed from a pair of inter- slotted plates 11 and 12, which define apertured flanges 15. The flanges 15 are received in slots 18 formed in hollow members 17 and is secured to hollow members 17 by means of bolts 22 which pass through the hollow members 17 and flanges 15. Connector 10 provides a simple method of connecting hollow members 17 together and is particularly useful for providing frame works for shelving or buildings. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Assembly of hollow elongate members This invention relates to assemblies of hollow elongate members, particularly but not exclusively, assemblies of such members which form frame works or structural units and methods of assembling such members.

According to the present invention there is provided an assembly of hollow elongate members comprising a connector constituted by at least two plate members connected at an angle to each other and having portions defining flanges, each flange having at least one aperture through which a bolt can pass, each hollow elongate member having means for receiving a flange in one end thereof and being mounted on a flange of the connector, with the flange received in said receiving means, by means of a bolt extending through the aperture in the flange and through at least one aligned aperture formed in said one end of the hollow elongate member.

The receiving means of at least one hollow elongate may comprise a pair of aligned slots formed in the wall or walls of the hollow elongate member and extending axially from said one end thereof.

The receiving means of at least one hollow elongate member may comprise the hollow end of the hollow elongate member.

The assembly may comprise at least one strengthening member disposed between and connected to the flange and the hollow elongate member.

At least one of the hollow elongate members may be perforate along its length.

The plates of the connector may be releasably connected together.

There may be a plurality of connectors releasably connected together.

The hollow elongate members may extend at right angles.

At least one of the plates of the connector may be generally T-shaped.

According to another aspect of the invention there may be provided a method of connecting hollow elongate members comprising the steps of forming at least.a pair of aligned slots in the end of each hollow elongate member, inserting a respective flange of a connector comprising at least a pair of plates connected as an angle to each other having apertured portions defining flanges, forming at least one aperture in each hollow member aligned with an aperture in the flange, passing a bolt through at least a pair of aligned apertures in each hollow elongate member and its respective flange to bolt the respective hollow elongate member to its respective flange.

The or each aperture may be formed in the hollow elongate member prior to the insertion of the flange.

The hollow elongate members may be cut to length prior to the forming of the slot and/or the apertures in the hollow elongate members.

Specific embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is an exploded view of a connector for assemblying hollow elongate members, with alternative forms of the connector shown in dotted line; Figure 2 shows a plurality of hollow elongate members interconnected the connector of Fig. 1; Figure 3 is an exploded view of an alternative form of connector; and Figure 4 is a perspective view of a plurality of hollow elongate members interconnected by the connector of Fig. 3.

Fig. 1 shows an exploded view of a connector generally indicated at 1 0. The connector comprises a pair of rectangular plates 11 and 12. Plate 11 has a slot 1 3 extending axially from one end thereof part way into the body of plate 11. The length of slot 1 3 is less than the width of plate 1 2. Plate 1 2 has a corresponding slot 14 extending transversely from one side into its body. The length of slot 14 is less than the length of plate 11.

The plates 11 and 1 2 are interconnected as indicated in Fig. 1 by interslotting the plates to form connector 10. When interslotted the plates define a number of flanges indicated at 1 5. Each flange has a pair of apertures 1 6 formed therein. As will be seen by the extensions shown in dotted line in Fig. 1 plates 11 and 1 2 can be made bigger. Further the positions of slots 1 3 and 1 4 can be altered if an off-set form of connector is required.

Fig. 2 shows how the connector 10 is used to connect together a plurality of hollow rectangular section members 17. Before assembly each hollow member 1 7 is cut to required length. Aligned axially extending slots 18 are then cut into the top 1 9 and bottom 20 of the hollow member at the end of the hollow member, which is to be connected in the assembly. Aligned pairs of apertures 22 are formed in the sides 21 of the hollow member 1 7 adjacent the end of the hollow member.

Each hollow member is then slid on to a respective flange portion 1 5 of the connector 10 such that the flange portion 1 5 is received in slots 1 8 and, such that apertures 1 6 are aligned with respective pairs of apertures 20.

Bolts 23 are then passed thiough aligned sets of apertures 20 and 1 6 and secured by means of nuts 24.

It will be seen that the connector 10 is capable of easy manufacture and it provides an easy method of connecting hollow rectangular section members together. In particular it enables frame works to be assembled on site, such as a building site, by a semi-skilled person, even when the exact dimensions re quired for the hollow members are not known prior to the commencement of the job. This is because only very simple machining is needed to prepare the end of a hollow member for connection by connector 10.

The fact that the plates 11 and 1 2 can be readily separated means that they can be transported in their disassembled state thus greatly reducing the volume taken up by the connectors during transport. This is particularly advantageous where the assembly of members in connectors is being used to form the frame work of a building, when it will be appreciated that the dimensions of the connector will be quite large.

In cases where the assembly is to be used for smaller applications, such as shelving it may be desirable to cast the connector 10 in a single piece.

Fig. 3 showns an alternative form of connector, generally indicated at 25. Connector 25 is formed from 4 T-shaped plates 26. Each plate 26 has a pair of spaced slots 27 extending downwardly from the upper edge of the T.

The free ends of the T form flanges 28. Each flange 28 is formed with a pair of apertures 29. The connector 25 is formed by positioning a pair of plates 26 so that they are spaced from one another but mutually parallel with their slots 27 extending upwardly and positioning the other pair of plates 26 above the first mentioned pair. The second mentioned pair are spaced apart mutually parallel but extend at right angles to the first mentioned pair and have their slots 27 facing downwardly in alignment with the slot 27 of the first mentioned pair. The pairs of plates 26 are then interslotted to form connector 25. It will be appreciated that the connector 25 provides six pairs of flanges 15, each pair extending at right angles to its neighbouring pairs.

An assembly using the connector 25 is shown in Fig. 4. The dimensions of the connector 25 are such that a pair of flanges is a sliding fit into the open end of a hollow rectangular section member 1 7. Thus each pair of flanges can be received within the open end of a hollow section member 1 7 and the hollow member 1 7 can then be bolted to its respective flanges to secure each hollow section member to connector 25. Preferably separate bolts 30 are used to bolt each flange 28 to its respective hollow member, in which case at least one of the top or bottom of hollow members 1 7 must be cut away as shown at 31 to enable nuts 32 or bolts 30 to be done up.

It will be appreciated that at the corner and outside of an assembly of the type described above not all pairs of flanges 28 will be required and therefore for economic reasons it may be desirable to form connectors 25 omitting at least one of the pairs of flanges 28.

Claims

1. An assembly of hollow elongate members comprising a connector constituted by at least two plate members connected at an angle to each other and having portions defining flanges, each flange having at least one aperture through which a bolt can pass, each hollow elongate member having means for receiving a flange in one end thereof and being mounted on a flange of the connector with the flange received in said receiving means, by means of a bolt extending through the aperture in the flange and through at least one aligned aperture formed in said one end of the hollow elongate member.

2. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the receiving means of at least one hollow elongate member comprise a pair of aligned slots formed in the wall or walls of the hollow elongate member and extending axially from said one end thereof.

3. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the receiving means of at least one hollow elongate member comprises the hollow one end of the hollow elongate member.

4. An assembly as claimed in any of the preceding claims further comprising at least one strengthening member disposed between and connected to the flange and the hollow elongate member.

5. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein at least one of the hollow elongate members is perforate along its length.

6. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the plates of the connector are releasably connected together.

7. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein there are a plurality of connectors releasably connected together.

8. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the hollow elongate members extend mutually at right angles.

9. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein at least one of the plates of the connector is generally Tshaped.

1 0. A method of connecting hollow elongate members comprising the steps of forming at least a pair of aligned slots in an end of each hollow elongate member, inserting a respective flange of a connector comprising at least a pair of plates connected at an angle to each other having apertured portions defining flanges, forming at least one aperture in each hollow member aligned with an aperture in the flange, passing a bolt through at least a pair of aligned apertures in each hollow elongate member and its respective flange to bolt the respective hollow elongate member to its respective flange.

11. A method as claimed in claim 10 wherein the or each aperture is formed in the hollow elongate member prior to the insertion of the flange.

12. A method as claimed in claim 10 or claim 11 wherein the hollow elongate members are cut to length prior to the forming of the slots and/or the apertures in the hollow elongate members.

1 3. An assembly of hollow elongate members substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Fig. 1 and 2 or Fig. 3 and 4 of the accompanying drawings.

14. A method of connecting hollow elongate members substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Fig. 1 and 2 or Figs. 3 and 4 of the accompanying drawings.