US2055804A - Frame for constructing building boards - Google Patents

Description

INVENTO ATTORNEY Sept. 29, 1936. A. RAFTER I FRAME FOR CONSTRUCTING BUILDING BOARDS Filed Oct. 22, 1935 Patented Sept. 29, 1936 UNiTED STATES PATENT OFFIQE Albert Rafter, Glen Ridge, N. J., assignor to Rafter Machine Company, Belleville, N. J., a partnership composed of Albert Rafter and John C. Rafter, Jr.

Application October 22, 1935, Serial No. 46,078

7 Claims. (01. 72-68) This invention relates to frames used in constructing building boards and the like of gypsum or similar cementitious material.

Boards made of gypsum or a composition of 5 matter of a similar nature are used to a considerable extent in building construction for flooring, walls, ceilings, etc. These boards are fireproof and durable and they have been found superior in many respects to wood and other 10 wall boards. The boards are usually made in sizes of ten feet long and approximately fifteen inches wide and two inches thick. However, it is desirable at times to make boards of less thickness, at the same time providing the requisite 15 strength for the purpose intended. It is also necessary to provide means to fit adjacent boards snugly to each other; and heretofore, for this purpose, frames of the boards have been provided with a tongue and groove arrangement as is commonly used in fitting wood panels. However, the ordinary tongue and groove arrangement is unsatisfactory in that the strength and rigidity of the frame is considerably decreased by providing a centrally located groove or a centrally lo- 25 cated tongue, as such an arrangement causes the sides of the frame to bend inwardly, resulting in improper securing of the gypsum or other composition of matter thereto, and also causing the gypsum to crack and crumble when the board is subjected to large loads and excessive handling.

It is an object of this invention, to provide exceedingly rigid frames for making building boards of gypsum or similar cementitious material which frames have means enabling adjacent frames to 35 be conveniently fitted to each other without in any way affecting the strength of the frames.

A further object is the provision of a frame for making building boards which is so shaped as to enable the gypsum or other cementitious material 40 to readily flow into all corners and parts of the frame, thereby providing a secure and effective binding between the frame and cementitious material.

These and other advantageous objects which 45 will later appear, are accomplished by the simple and practical construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and exhibited in the accompanying drawing, forming part hereof, and in which:

50 Fig. 1 is a perspective View partly in section of a building board having a frame embodying my invention,

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective View partly in section, showing the manner in which two ad- 55 J'acent frames are connected to each other, and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view in section showing details of my frame members when applied. toa building board.

Referring to the drawing, it will be seen that the building boards are rectangular in shape with 5 two adjacent sides of each board having frame members of the same construction provided with a groove and the other two sides of the board having frame members of the same construction 7 provided with a tongue, thereby enabling adjacent 10 frame members to be fitted to each other. As will be seen in Fig. 3, one of the frame members has a vertical side 4 which is bent inwardly to provide a horizontal ledge 5 which in turn is bent downwardly and outwardly at an angle as shown at 6 and then bent inwardly parallel to the ledge 5 to provide the bottom wall I which is provided with an upturned flange 8. The upper end of the Vertical side wall 4 is provided with an inwardly and downwardly directed flange 9.

On the opposite side of the board, the frame member is provided with a vertical side wall M, and an outwardly directed horizontal ledge 15, which is bent inwardly at an angle as shown at 6 and then bent inwardly to provide the hon zontal bottom Wall H, the latter being provided with an upturned flange l8. The side wall M is provided at its upper edge with an inwardly and downwardly directed flange l9. Cementitious material is molded between the two frame members as shown in Fig. 3.

The side walls 4 and [4 have a plurality of spaced apertures which are surrounded by inwardly directed cylindrical flanges l0 integral with said side walls. These apertures and flanges provide means for anchoring the cementitious material to the frame members and at the same time greatly increase the strength of the frame member.

From the above description, it will be seen that the shape of the frame members enables the cementitious material to be easily crowded into all corners of the frame members; and the flanges 9 and 8, or l8 and I9, serve to anchor the cementitious material in position. Adjacent 5 frame members may be conveniently fitted together as shown in Fig. 2, the tongue formed by the parts [5 and I6 fitting into the groove formed by the parts 5 and 6. The arrangement of the tongue and groove on the frame members also enables the making of a board of less thickness than heretofore has been possible with metal frame members, at the same time in no way affecting the strength of the frame members.

The foregoing disclosure is to be regarded as descriptive and illustrative only, and not as restrictive or limitative of the invention, of which obviously an embodiment may be constructed including many modifications, without departing from the general scope herein indicated and denoted in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a frame for constructing composition building boards, a metal frame member having a side wall provided at one edge with an inwardly downwardly directed flange and the other edge bent inwardly and at right angles thereto to provide a ledge, the inner portion of the ledge being bent outwardly and downwardly to form a groove, and then bent inwardly at right angles to the side wall to provide a bottom wall for the frame member, said bottom wall having an upwardly directed flange.

2. In a frame for constructing composition building boards, a metal frame member having a side wall provided at one edge with an inwardly and downwardly directed flange and the other edge bent outwardly at right angles thereto to provide a ledge, the outer portion of said ledge being bent inwardly and downwardly, said portion being bent at right angles to the side wall to provide a bottom wall for the frame member.

3. In a frame for constructing composition building boards, a metal frame member having a side wall provided at one edge with an inwardly and downwardly directed flange and the other edge bent at right angles thereto to provide a ledge, the portion of the ledge remote from the wall being bent downwardly and at an angle, said portion being further bent at right angles to the side wall to provide a bottom wall for the frame member, said bottom wall having an upwardly directed flange.

4. In a frame for constructing composition building boards, a frame member having a side wall provided on one edge with an inwardly and downwardly directed flange and the other edge bent at right angles thereto to provide a ledge, a portion of the ledge remote from the wall being bent downwardly and at an angle, said portion being then bent at right angles to the side wall to provide a bottom wall for the frame member.

5. In a frame for constructing composition building boards, a frame member having a side wall provided on one edge with an inwardly and downwardly directed flange and the other edge bent at right angles thereto to provide a ledge, a portion of the ledge remote from the wall being bent downwardly and at an angle, said portion being then bent at right angles to the side wall to provide a bottom wall for the frame member, said side wall having a plurality of spaced apertures along the longitudinal center line thereof, and cylindrical flanges integral with the side wall and surrounding the apertures.

6. In a frame for constructing composition building boards, a metal frame member having a side wall having one edge thereof bent at right angles thereto to provide a ledge, the portion of the ledge remote from the wall being bent downwardly and at an angle, said portion being then bent at right angles to the side wall to provide a bottom wall for the frame member, said side wall having a plurality of spaced apertures along the longitudinal center line thereof, and cylindrical flanges integral with the side wall and surrounding the apertures.

7. In a frame for constructing composition building boards, a metal frame member having a side wall provided at one edge with an inwardly and downwardly directed flange and the other edge bent at right angles thereto to provide a ledge, the portion of the ledge remote from the wall being bent downwardly and at an angle, said portion being further bent at right angles to the side wall to provide a bottom wall for the frame member, said bottom wall having an upwardly directed flange, said side wall having a plurality of spaced apertures along the longitudinal center line thereof, and cylindrical flanges integral with the side wall and surrounding the apertures.

ALBERT RAFTER.

Images