GB2448383A

GB2448383A - Anchor device for suspension from underside of deck.

Info

Publication number: GB2448383A
Application number: GB0721233A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Greaves; Martin Phillip Roberts-Jones
Original assignee: Access Technologies Ltd
Current assignee: Access Technologies Ltd
Priority date: 2007-04-14
Filing date: 2007-10-30
Publication date: 2008-10-15
Anticipated expiration: 2027-10-30
Also published as: GB0707245D0; GB0721233D0; GB2448383B

Abstract

An anchor device for securing a supportable member to an elongate re entrant groove comprises a locking member 12 and an anchor body 11 having an inner face (13, fig 1), for confronting a base wall of the groove, and two side faces 18, 19 which each depend from opposite edge regions (14, 15) of the inner face, one side face comprising an abutment portion (23, fig 4) to engage with a side wall of the groove at a position inset from the mouth of the groove and the other side face 19 defining an aperture which lies at one end of a through-bore which extends through the anchor body in a direction inclined relative to said inner face and which has a second end defined by an aperture in an outer face (22, fig 1) of the anchor body, said through-bore locating the locking member which, when in use, engages with the other side wall of the groove, and the anchor body further comprising retention means for retaining a supportable member relative to the anchor body. In use the anchor enables a component to be suspended from a concrete ceiling or deck.

Description

ANCHOR DEVICE

This invention relates to an anchor device for use in particular, though not exclusively, for enabling a suspendable component to be suspended from or supported by an overhead support structure such as that of a ceiling or roof.

In the construction of multi-storey commercial and industrial buildings it is common to provide, between successive floors of a building, floor decking formed from slabs of reinforced concrete, or composite structures of pressed sheet metal and concrete. To enable srvice components such as those for electrical and air conditioning systems to be suspended from a downward facing surface of the decking it is well-known to provide that surface with elongate channels in the form of re-entrant grooves and to provide special anchor devices for location in the grooves and to which a suspendable component may be secured.

In addition to providing a means of suspension of a component, the use of an anchor device in an elongate re-entrant type groove may be employed additionally or alternatively to provide lateral, e.g. horizontal location, for example to provide location and or support to a side or upper edge of a wall panel the weight of which is supported by a floor structure on which a lower edge of the panel rests.

Difficulties which have been experienced with prior art anchor devices include that of the risk of dislocation under the effects of vibratory forces and also the difficulty of accommodating a wide tolerance variation between the dimensions of a re-entrant groove and an anchor device. Known anchor devices also have not been readily or economically adaptable for use with a range of differently sized or differently shaped grooves.

The present invention seeks to provide an anchor device, and an installation comprising an anchor device, in which the aforedescribed difficulties are mitigated or overcome.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided an anchor device for securing a supportable member to a support of a kind which comprises an elongate re-entrant groove having a pair of profiled side walls and a base wall, said anchor device comprising a locking member and an anchor body, said anchor body having an inner face for confronting said base wall when in situ in a re-entrant groove and two side faces which each depend from a respective one of two opposite edge regions of said inner face, one of said side faces comprising an abutment portion to engage with a side wall of the groove at a position inset from the mouth of the groove and the other of said side faces, or other face of the body which faces away from said first side face, defining an aperture which lies at one end of a through-bore which extends through the anchor body in a direction inclined relative to said inner face, said anchor body having an outer face which, in use, at least in part faces outwards of the recess and said through-bore having a second end which is defined by an aperture in said outer face, said through-bore being adapted to receive said locking member and, when in use, to support said locking member in a position at which it engages with the other side wall of the re-entrant groove, said anchor body further comprising retention means for retaining a supportable member relative to the anchor body.

The term "outer face" of the anchor body as used herein refers to a face, which optionally may be part of a side face of the body, which is visible when the anchor device is in situ in a re-entrant groove.

The term "re-entrant groove" as used herein refers to an elongate groove which comprises, in cross-section, a pair of side walls, an interconnecting base wall which extends between the side walls and a mouth wherein the side walls have a spacing which is greater at a position nearer to the base wall than at a position nearer to the mouth region. The groove may be of a type in which each side wall provides a re-entrant feature, that is, as considered in cross-section of the groove and relative to a centre line which is perpendicular to and bisects the base wall, each side wall is spaced from that plane by a greater amount nearer to the base than at a position nearer to the mouth region. The groove may be of a substantially symmetrical shape in cross-section as considered relative to said centre line, an example of a suitable such shape for use in conjunction with the anchor device of the present invention being that of a truncated isosceles triangle.

The anchor body may comprise two or more said through-bores. Two or more locking members may be provided each in a respective one of said through-bores. Said through-bores may each extend parallel with one another or one may be inclined relative to another.

The inner face of the anchor body may be substantially planar or may comprise a region which is substantially planar for confronting and, optionally, in use, bearing against the base wall of a groove.

The abutment portion defined by one of the side faces may comprise a substantially linear edge which extends in a direction substantially parallel with the plane of the inner face of the anchor body and/or with the plane of the base wall of the groove when the anchor body is in situ in a groove, and said substantially linear edge may be positioned inwards of the mouth of the groove for abutting and providing line contact with a groove side wall.

Preferably said edge is at a position such that any force applied to it in a horizontal or other direction substantially parallel with the base wall of the groove, towards the side wall will cause it to move into and not out of the groove. The side face of the anchor body defining said abutment portion may comprise two surface regions which each lie inclined relative to one another.

At least one surface region may be inclined relative to the general plane of the inner face of the anchor body and said abutment portion may be defined by the position at which said two side face surface regions meet. Said surface regions need not be planar; they may for example be curved or of a stepped profile.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention the anchor body comprises a second pair of side faces which each depend from a respective one of two opposite edge regions of the inner face with one of said side faces of the second pair of side faces comprising an abutment portion which extends in a direction substantially perpendicular to the abutment portion of the aforedescribed pair of side faces.

The second pair of side faces preferably has associated therewith a second through-bore positioned in a manner substantially similar to that described above in respect of the through-bore(s) for the first mentioned two side faces.

The or each through-bore associated with the second pair of side faces may each have a second end which extends to the same outer face as that to which extends the or each through-bore associated with the first mentioned two side faces. Alternatively the or each through-bore associated with the second pair of side faces may extend to that face which is the aforementioned inner face which confronts the base wall of the groove when one of the first mentioned two side faces engages a side wall of the groove. Thus when one of the side faces of a second pair of side faces engages a groove side wall that first mentioned inner face becomes an outer face.

The spacing of the two side faces of one pair may be greater than the spacing of the two side faces of the other pair of side faces. Thus, particularly if the anchor device is to be used in a groove in a manner in which a second side face of a pair of side faces contacts or lies close to a mouth region of a groove side wall, the anchor device may be employed to locate in either a first re-entrant groove of one width or a second re-entrant groove of a greater width.

Preferably the or each through-bore is a screw threaded passage, and the locking member may comprise a set screw.

The retention means for retaining a supportable member relative to the anchor body may comprise a screw threaded opening. That opening may be either a through-bore or a blind bore to receive, for example, a screw threaded end of a supportable member. A lock nut may be employed to bear against the outer face of the anchor body thereby to lock a supportable member relative to the anchor body. However, in an alternative construction the anchor body may comprise a cavity which may accommodate a lock nut or other component, such as a Vee or hexagonal nut, and in constructions of such a type it will be understood that the retention means does not need to comprise a screw threaded opening.

The anchor body may comprise only a single or a plurality of retention means, such as the aforementioned screw-threaded openings, thereby to facilitate preferential positioning of a supportable member. It may comprise a plurality of retention means which differ from one another whereby the anchor body may be employed to support supportable members having differently sized end portions or end portions of different types.

The present invention further provides an installation assembly comprising a support which comprises an elongate re-entrant groove having a pair of profiled side walls and a base wall, and an anchor device of the present invention having the anchor body thereof positioned at least in part in the re-entrant groove and with the locking member engaging a side wall of the groove thereby to retain the anchor device within the groove, the abutment portion of the anchor body bearing against the other of the two side walls.

The abutment portion of the or each pair of opposite side faces of the anchor body may provide line contact with one of the side walls of the groove.

Alternatively the side face may be provided with a profile corresponding at least in part to that of a side wall thereby, in the tightened assembly, to provide face to face contact with the side wall.

The locking member, such as a set screw, may have a substantially square end and, in the assembly, engage with a side wall. Although the locking member may engage with both the base wall and a side wall of the groove at positions spaced from an innermost recess of the groove, preferably it only engages with, or only imparts significant reactive force against, a side wall of the groove. Alternatively, the set screw or other form of locking member may have an end shaped to conform substantially with an innermost corner of the groove which, in cross-section, typically will have a curved profile. In a further alternative the locking member may have a pointed end to provide firm point contact with and tend to indent into the material defining an innermost recess of the groove.

Preferably the or each through-bore extends at an angle in the range 100 to 450 more preferably in the range 150 to 400, relative to the inner face of the anchor body, and/or relative to the base wall of the groove in the assembled installation.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:-Figure 1 is a perspective view of the anchor body of an anchor device in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention; Figures 2a to 2f are elevational views of the anchor body of Figure 1; Figures 3 to 5 show stages of inserting the anchor device of the first embodiment in a Richard Lees deck; Figure 6 shows the anchor device of Figure 3 fitted to a Wards deck; Figures 7 to 9 show use of three different positions for different sizes; Figure 10 illustrates stages in insertion and assembly of the anchor device in an SMD deck; Figures 11 a to 11 c are perspective views of an anchor body in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention; Figures 12 and 12a to 12c illustrate an anchor device and installation thereof in accordance with a third embodiment of the invention; Figure 13 shows views of an anchor body in accordance with a fourth embodiment; Figures 14 and 15 shown installation of the anchor body of Figure 13 in an SMD deck, and Figure 16 shows installation of the anchor body of Figure 13 in a Wards deck.

An anchor device 10 in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention comprises an anchor body 11 and a locking member in the form of a set screw 12 (see Figures 1 to 6).

The anchor body is a machined steel block and comprises a planar inner face 13 having a first pair of opposite side edges 14,15 and a second pair of opposite side edges 16,17.

A first pair of side wall 18,19 depend respectively from the side edges 14,15 and a second pair of side walls 20,21 depend respectively from the side edges 16,17. The sixth face of the anchor body block is an outer face 22 which, in use of the anchor device in a re-entrant groove, lies external of the groove.

One side face 18,20 of each pair comprises a pair of surface portions 18a,18b; 20a,20b inclined relative to one another and to the face 13 such that a linear abutment edge 23,24 is defined by the position at which the portions of each pair meet.

The other side face 19,20 of each pair is substantially planar and, although not essential, in this embodiment extends in a plane substantially parallel with the plane of each respective portion I 8b,20b of the other face of the pair, the portions I 8b,20b being portions spaced from the face 13 by the portions 18a,20a.

The anchor body is provided with three screw-threaded through-passages 25,26,27 which each extend between the inrTer and outer face 13,22 in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the inner face 13. Each of the through-passages is of a different diameter and each serves as a retention means into which the screw threaded end of a stud 43 or other such supportable member may be fitted.

The anchor body additionally is provided with two screw-threaded through-bores 28,29 which extend in a direction inclined at 30 relative to the face 13, one 28 extending from the side face 21 to the outer face 22 and the other 29 extending from the side face 19 to the outer face 22. Each through-bore 28,29 is able to receive a set screw 12 which, in use, serves as a locking member to engage with at least a side wall of groove.

Figures 3 to 5 illustrate the manner in which the body 11 may be introduced into a re-entrant groove, in this case a groove of the type employed in a Richard Lees deck. With the abutment edge 23 positioned against a groove side wall 40 (see Figure 4) the body 11 is tilted to the position shown in Figure and a screw driver 41 is then employed to rotate a set screw 12 so that it emerges from the side face 19 to engage with the other side wall 42 of the groove. In consequence the anchor body is then firmly located in the groove and able to support a supportable member such as the stud 43 which is screwed into one of the passages 25,26,27 either before or after the anchor body has been secured in the groove. A lock nut 44 may be tightened against the outer face 22 of the anchor body to ensure that the stud remains securely in position.

The same anchor device may be used also in a groove of a similar nominal width but which has a different profile such as that of a Wards deck as shown in Figure 6. In this case, in the assembled condition the end of the set screw bears firmly against primarily only the side wall 42 of the deck groove, though it may contact and bear very lightly against the base wall 45.

In the case of a groove narrower than those of Figures 3 and 6 the set screw is provided in the other inclined through-bore 28, but otherwise the assembly procedure corresponds substantially with that described above.

Figures 7, 8 and 9 illustrate the free, outward facing end of the socket-type set screw 12 and also the assembly with a stud 43 in each of three different positions in accordance with the size of the stud.

The views shown at Figure 10 also illustrate the manner in which an anchor body is fitted into a groove, in this case the groove of an SMD profile deck.

In contrast to a machined solid block the anchor body 50 may be of a cast metal type as shown in Figures 1 la,l lb and I Ic. Features of the body 50 which correspond with those described in relation to Figures 1 to 6 are similarly numbered.

A casttype anchor body 60, such as the body 50 of Figures ha, lib and hic is shown in Figure 12 in conjunction with three different types of deck grooves.

Figure 12a shows the body 60 arranged to locate in a groove of a first width, and Figure 12b shows it rotated through 900 and arranged in a groove of a second, greater nominal width. Figure 1 2c shows a groove of the same nominal size and shape as that of Figure 12b, but slightly wider due to tolerance variations. The anchor body is able nevertheless to locate firmly within that slightly wider groove because the set screw can extend further outwards from the body. Although the screw is illustrated as having contact with both the base wall and a side wall of the groove, in contrast to contact with only a side wall in the case of Figure 1 2b, substantially all of the reactive force on the anchor device is applied via the side wall.

Figure 13 sets forth views of another cast type anchor body 70. Features which correspond with those described in relation to Figures 1 to 6 are similarly numbered. An additional feature of the body 70 is the provision of an internal cavity 71 and an opening 72 to allow entry of a Vee nut. In this case the retainer means comprises a single aperture 73 which has a smooth bore.

Figures 14 and 15 show the anchor body 70 respectively during assembly and then as installed within the groove 74 of an SMD type deck.

The body 70 may be rotated through 90 so that the abutment 23 instead of the abutment 24 engages with a side wall in the case of a wider groove such as that of a Wards deck. Figure 16 shows use of the anchor body 70 during the stages of installation and final assembly with the groove of a Wards deck.

From the foregoing it is to be understood that the present invention provides a low cost anchor device which is able to be fitted to grooves of two or more different nominal widths or two or more different profiles and which also is able to accommodate the typical tolerance variations associated with either of those nominal widths.

Claims

1. An anchor device for securing a supportable member to a support of a kind which comprises an elongate re-entrant groove having a pair of profiled side walls and a base wall, said anchor device comprising a locking member and an anchor body, said anchor body having an inner face for confronting said base wall when in situ in a re-entrant groove and two side faces which each depend from a respective one of two opposite edge regions of said inner face, one of said side faces comprising an abutment portion to engage with a side wall of the groove at a position inset from the mouth of the groove and the other of said side faces, or other face of the body which faces away from said first side face, defining an aperture which lies at one end of a through-bore which extends through the anchor body in a direction inclined relative to said inner face, said anchor body having an outer face which, in use, at least in part faces outwards of the recess and said through-bore having a second end which is defined by an aperture in said outer face, said through-bore being adapted to receive said locking member and, when in use, to support said locking member in a position at which it engages with the other side wall of the re-entrant groove, said anchor body further comprising retention means for retaining a supportable member relative to the anchor body.

2. An anchor device according to claim I wherein the inner face of the anchor body is substantially planar.

3. An anchor device according to claim I or claim 2 wherein at least a part of the inner face of the anchor body is substantially planar and, in use, confronts and bears against the base wall of a groove.

4. An anchor device according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said abutment portion comprises a substantially linear edge which extends in a direction substantially parallel with a plane of the inner face of the anchor body or, in use, with the direction of the length of the elongate groove.

5. An anchor device according to any one of the preceding claims wherein, in use, the abutment portion comprises a substantially linear edge which lies inwards of the mouth of the groove for abutting and providing line contact with a side wall of the groove.

6. An anchor device according to claim 4 or claim 5 wherein said linear edge is positioned on the anchor body such that, in use, force applied to said body in a horizontal or other direction substantially parallel with the base wall of the groove, towards the side wall, will urge the anchor device into the groove.

7. An anchor device according to any one of the preceding claims wherein that side face of the anchor body defining said abutment portion comprises two surface regions which each lie inclined relative to one another.

8. An anchor device according to claim 7 wherein at least one of said two surface regions lies inclined relative to the general plane of the inner face of the anchor body.

9. An anchor device according to claim 7 or claim 8 wherein said abutment portion is defined by the position at which said two side face surface regions meet.

10. An anchor device according to any one of claims 7 to 9 wherein one or each of said two surface regions is planar or of a curved or stepped profile.

11. An anchor device according to any one of the preceding claims and comprising at least two said through-bores in each of which a locking member may be provided.

12. An anchor device according to claim 11 wherein two of said through-bores extend parallel with one another.

13. An anchor device according to claim 11 or claim 12 wherein one of said through-bores extends inclined relative to the other or another of said through-bores.

14. An anchor device according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the or each through-bore extends at angle in the range 100 to 450 relative to the inner face of the anchor body.

15. An anchor device according to claim 14 wherein said angle is in the range 15 to4O .

16. An anchor device according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the anchor body comprises a second pair of side faces which each depend from a respective one of two opposite edge regions of the inner face of the anchor body with one of said side faces of the second pair of side faces comprising an abutment portion which extends in a direction substantially perpendicular to the abutment portion of the other pair of side faces.

17. An anchor device according to claim 16 wherein the second pair of side faces has associated therewith at least one through-bore which extends through the anchor body, in a direction inclined relative to said inner face, between one of said side faces of the second pair of side faces and an outer face of the anchor device.

18. An anchor device according to claim 16 or claim 17 wherein the or each through-bore associated with the second pair of side faces extends to the same outer face as that to which extends the or each through-bore associated with the other, first said pair of side faces.

19. An anchor device according to claim 16 or claim 17 wherein the or each through-bore associated with the second pair of side faces extends to that face of the anchor body which is an inner face for confronting the base wall of a groove when one of the first mentioned two side faces engages a side wall of the groove whereby, in use, when one of the two side faces of the second pair of side faces engages a side wall of the groove that first mentioned inner face becomes an outer face.

20. An anchor device according to any one of claims 16 to 19 wherein the spacing of the two side faces of one pair is greater than the spacing of the two side faces of the other pair of side faces.

21. An anchor device according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the or each through-bore comprises a screw-threaded passage.

22. An anchor device according to claim 21 wherein the or each through-bore is adapted to receive a locking member which comprises a set screw.

23. An anchor device according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the retention means comprises a screw-threaded opening.

24. An anchor device according to claim 23 wherein said screw-threaded opening comprises a through-bore or blind-bore to receive a screw-threaded end of a supportable member.

25. An anchor device according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the anchor body comprises a cavity to accommodate a component to which a supportable member may be secured.

26. An anchor device according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the anchor body comprises a plurality of retention means thereby to facilitate positioning of a supportable member at two or more different positions.

27. An anchor device according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the anchor body comprises a plurality of retention means which differ from one another whereby, in use, the anchor body may be employed to support supportable members of different types or dimensions.

28. An anchor device according to claim 1 and substantially as hereinbefore described.

29. An installation assembly comprising a support which comprises a elongate re-entrant groove having a pair of side walls and a base wall, and an anchor device according to claim 1 having the anchor body thereof positioned at least in part in the re-entrant groove with the locking member engaging a side wall of the groove thereby to retain the anchor device within the groove, the abutment portion of the anchor body bearing against the other of the two side walls.

30. An installation assembly according to claim 29 wherein the abutment portion of one of a pair of opposite side faces of the anchor body provides line contact with one of the side walls of the groove.

31. An installation assembly according to claim 29 wherein a side face of the annular body has a profile corresponding at least in part to that of a groove side wall whereby, in the tightened assembly, there is face to face contact between said side face and groove side wall.

32. An installation assembly according to any one of claims 29 to 31 wherein the locking member has a substantially square end to engage with a side wall.

33. An installation assembly according to any one of claims 29 to 32 wherein the locking member engages with both the base wall and a side wall of the groove at positions spaced from the innermost recess of the groove.

34. An installation assembly according to any one of claims 29 to 32 wherein the locking member engages only a side wall of the groove to impart reactive force.

35. An installation assembly according to any one of claims 29 to 31 wherein the locking member comprises an end shaped to conform substantially with an innermost corner of the groove.

36. An installation assembly according to claim 35 wherein the locking member comprises a pointed end to provide firm point contact and to tend to indent into the material defining an innermost recess of the groove.

37. An installation assembly according to any one of claim 29 and substantially as hereinbefore described.