US2602322A - Method of wall construction and skeleton therefor - Google Patents

Description

July 8, 1952 A. Y. PREBLE ErAL 2,602,322

METHOD OF WALL CONSTRUCTION AND SKELETON THEREFOR 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed Aug. 2, 1946 INVENToR. yq Zrezz/YPM le I'o n,

July 8, 1952 A. Y. PRT-:BLE ET A1. 2,602,322

METHOD OF WALL. CONSTRUCTION ANO sxELETON THEREFOR 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed Aug. 2, 1946 INVENTORS zfZrewfe Patented July 8, 1952 UNITED s'l-MEs` PATENT, ortica METHoD F WALL ooNs'rRUc'rioN AND f sKELE'roN 'rnnnsron Andrew Y. Preble and Joseph F. Golden,

' El Centro, Calif.

Application August 2, 1946, serial No. 638,102

(ci. "z2- 32) Liv Claims'. l This invention relates to Wall construction, and particularly to walls which include a cementitious materialsuch as a concrete mix, or thelike.

In constructing a Wall including concrete for buildings, or the like, it is the usual practiceltoi construct and set up an outside form member which is a solid Wall built of planks. A similarly formed Wall is set up on the inside of the space in which the concrete Wall is to be moldedfand in some cases inside forms, or cores, are seti-inplace so as to form a hollow wall of the concrete. The concrete is usually poured into the `formsl from above in a succession of operations, and when the concrete is suciently set, the internal cores are removed. In some instancesy hollow, box-form cores have been employed, which are left in place in the wall when poured. The practice outlined above, requires a considerable amount of hand labor and a considerable quantity of lumber that is used in the inner and outer retaining Walls for the poured concrete. The Walls of the forms are usually builtin sections, -butthese sections are relatively heavy and usually necessitate the employment of severalmen to handle them and set them up. l k p One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a simple Wall construction and method of erecting the same, which will `avoid the objections pointed out above, but which will resultv in producing a wall that requires a minimum amount of cementitious material to produce it; also,'to provide a method which will require very 'simple labor operations to enable the placing of the cementiti'ousmaterial to be effected.

Another object of the invention isto provide a. method for constructing a Wall involving the placement of cementitious material Whichwill result in producing a Wall having high insulating characteristics, that is to say, which involves the employment of cores which may be, and preferably are, of insulating material, which remain embedded in the completed concrete Wall, and which. can be very readily set up in position preparatory to placing the cementitious material that' separates them and preferably covers their superficial faces.

AnA ordinary concrete Wall is illadapted for the attachment of built-in accessories such asv cabinet work, book-shelves, or the like.- One of the ob jects of this invention is to produce a Wall, a considerable area of which is adapted to receive and retain. fastening devices such as nails, screws, Or the like.

Another object of theinvention is to provide a composite Wall which can be readily constructed:

Z by using simple operations, and which` will produce a wall that has substantial sound-proof qualities.

In the practice of the, method about to be de# scribed, We form a skeleton Wall by vsettingup panels or -core ymembers that are spacedequidistant from each other soy vas to form molding spaces forstud material Whichvis injeot'edfrom one side of the skeleton wall into these vertical channel-form mold spaces between the upright core members. In buildinga Wall, a cementitious material is applied at one side of the skeleton Wal-l While upright mold members or boards are employed to close the stud spaces on the other side of the wall, One of the objects of the invention is to provide a method and means for not only effecting the placement of the o'ementitiousmaterial to form studs in the nnished Wall, but also to provide a method for forming a bonding beam at the upper ends of the studs integral and monolithic with the studs. In conducting these operations, the cementitiousA material is preferably placed by a pneumatic nozzle or cement gun such `as is commonly used for placing concrete through the agency of'compressed air.

VAnother object of the invention is to provide, a Wall construction employing spaced upright cores adapted to have concrete studs placed in the spaces between them, and to provide a method andv means for facilitating the placing of reinforcements in the placed cementitious material, particularly'diagonal reinforcing members for reinforcing the Wall proper, and for anchorage into the footing of the Wall and the bonding beam that connects the upper ends of the placed stud material.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tie of a form particularly adapting` it for use in setting up a skeleton Wall in accordance with my method.

v Another object of the invention is to provide a skeleton vvall particularly adapted to enable a cement gunning operation to form a concrete vvall` including concrete studs and bonding beams monolithic With the studs.

Further objects of the invention Will hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novelv method to be describedl hereinafter, and also resides'i'n the novel features and combination of features that are embodied in the resulting wall construction.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the following specification, While the broad scope of the invention is pointed out in theappended claims.

vvappear In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a horizontal section through a typical section of skeleton wall, set up ready for application of the cementitious material, the ends of the section illustrated being merely broken away.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but illustrating a wall after the cementitious material has been placed at the studs and an outside diaphragm monolithic with the studs. In this view the simple form members that are illustrated in Fig. l, are omitted.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section through a wall such as illustrated in Fig. 2, and illustrating the wall after the cementitious material has been placed, and before the backing forms, or backing members, have been removed from the side of the wall against which the concrete or other cementitious material is placed. This View illustrates the manner in which a mold is formed for the bonding beam located at the heads of the placed studs, and illustrates the manner in which a cap sill operates as atop side molding form for the bonding beam so that it will operate thereafter as a support for the ends of the roof girders.r

Fig. 4 vis'an isometric view illustrating the manner inwhich diagonal reinforcing may be placed in Ythe-,wall when the'wall is being built. j y Fig. 5 is also an isometric view representing a corner-of a building-with thecementitious material cut away and shown partially in section so as to disclose an arrangement of reinforcing that may be employed in practicing this invention.

Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken at the level where a bonding beam is formed, and illustrat- '1.

ingmeans employed for enabling the depth of the molding space for the bond beam tobe readily adjusted to facilitate forming a bonding beam of any desired depth. Y

Before proceeding to a detailed description of our method-and the resulting Wall, it should be stated that in practicing the invention in accordance with this method, we set up substantially equidistant upright core members or panels to form a skeleton wall. While these core panels may be made of any desired material, for this purpose we prefer to employ pre-formed material of light weight. In other words, this is preferably hardened plastic material which has incorporated init a large proportion of light weight aggregate such as vermiculite, cnders, pumice, perlite, or other light weight insulating material. Byreasonof their composition, these panels give body to the wall and insulation characteristics. They carry no part ofthe load carried by the wall.

These panels are set up upright against backing means to close off one side of the skeleton wall so as to form vertical channel-shaped spaces or channel gaps located between the core Amembers. In practice, instead of employing a heavy wall section for this purpose, we merely provide upright backing members in the form of boards placed in a vertical position with their. side edges overlapping the adjacent edges Yof the cores. After this is accomplished, we inject moist cementitious material into the channel gaps from the side of the wall remote from the backing members. In doing this, we prefer to use a pneumaticA nozzle or similar means Yfor delivering the cementitious material with a high velocity and under pressure. In this way, the cementitious material is placed in a workmanlike manner, to ll the entire channel molding spaces formed between the cores.

The core members that we employ are pref- 4 erably of a composition which renders them per- Vious to fastening means which can be driven into them. This facilitates the use of ties to connect the adjacent edges of the core members, and has other advantages that will be described more in detail hereinafter. These cores have solid bodies.

Referring to the drawing and particularly to Figs. 1 to 3, in building a wall in accordance with our method, vwe erect it upon a footing I of concrete or other suitable material which, if desired, may be formed with a shelf 2 for the ends of floor beams 3 on which a oor d may be secured, the level of which is substantially the same as that of the upper face 5 of the footing.

On the upper face 5 of the footing, we set up the backing or picket fence for holding upright a plurality of core members or core panels 6 formed of any suitable pre-molded material such as those suggested above, and preferably having insulating and sound-proofing qualities, in addition to having a bonding property for plaster. These cores are preferably'in the-form of panels having a Width corresponding to the desired spacing for lthe studs that are to be formed inthe wall. As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, these cores are preferablypof cuneiform cross-section, and present supercial inside faces 'I and superficial outside faces 8. In this way, a skeleton wall is formed with cuneiform vertical channel-shaped gaps 9 between the adjacent-inclined faces or edges I0 of the core members. At the outer side of this skeleton wall, we prefer to employ'small ties II of metal (see Figs. 1 and 2), which may be of bent wire, that is, wire that is bentto form an elongated eye l2 at about the middle point of the tie, which eye may be bent around or. slipped ontovertical reinforcing .rods I3 as shown. Each tie includes two arms I4 extending in opposite directions andformed with integral pointed spurs l5 at their ends, that can be forced, or driven, into the outer faces 8 of the cores. If desired, the reinforcingV rods `I3 may be anchored in position by employing wire hairpin ties I6, the bights of which form sockets for the reinforcing rods I3 on their outer side; the inner ends of the wire ties I6 are inserted through small holes I6a drilled into the backing members II and twisted into a knot ISb on the outer side of the board. These backing members are preferably boards (2" X 6) of sumcient width to enable their side edges to overlap the adjacent edges of the cores, after the cores have been set up against them. These backing members I'I may be secured together at their lower ends and at higher levels also, if desired, by means of horizontal stringers I8 which may be secured to them by nails, or other means not illustrated. This forms the picket fence referred to above, and whichoperates as the backing for the gunnite operations.

After setting up a skeleton wall as shown in Fig. 1, cementitious material is then applied preferably from a cement gun, from the outer side of the wall, and this `cement is shotlinto place in the cuneiform channel gaps 9. In this way, the studs are built upfrom the upper face of the sill I, up to the upper ends of the cores.

In Fig. 3 we illustrate a construction in which the wall has a, height necessitating the use of two tiers of core members I9 and 20, the cores I 9 being in the lower tier, and the upper core members 20 being supported so that a horizontal molding space is formed into which cementitious material is placed by the gun, to form a Stringer 2l monolithic with the cementitious material that .is placed between the lower core members I9 and after' placing; materialfor this beam 2 i., the: gunning operation is, continued upwardly in. the. channel gaps. between. the; core members 20 up to their upper ends. If it is desired' to. form a bonding beam 22 of the cementitious--material monolithic with the'studs 2-3, we provide ahorizontalbacking Stringer 24- (see Fig. 3) that issupported on the upperi ends of. the backing members 11o `(see Fig. 3) andv the inner face of which laps the upper ends of thecore members` 210.' This Stringer. mem.- ber 24' should bethick soas togive it*A considerable rigidity, and if desired,y the backing; members I1a also may be made ofthel same thickness.A If this is done, it facilitates the application of.. short cleats 25 that are secu-red tothe coremembers Ilaand the stringere 24, by fastening devices, such as thenai-ls'f26..

In completing the molding space forthe bonding beam 22,4 we prefer to employ a cap= sill 21j, the inner edge of which is-V supported onV the upper edge of the Stringer 24; This cap'sill may support upright reinforcing member-S113. If desired,r the up.- per ends of these reinforcing members t3' may car,- ry heads such` as the head 28', that scat-on. the upper faces of the cap sill 21, when the rods: I3 are dropped down through openings in-. the ycap sill to receive them. If necessary, any suitable means may be employed between` the upper ends of the coremembers 2.0 and the under face of the cap sill 21 to prevent any possibility of its outer edge sagging down. Such means are-notillustrated..

After completing. the` placing of the studs', up to the upper ends of the core me bers 2-0,4 the con-A crete is shot into the beam` mold space between theiry upper ends and the under faceof. the cap sill 2.1, soas to.- make the beam. monolithic with the studs, and the intercostal sectionsof the beam between the-studs are thenI shot with thel gunite above theupper ends of the core members 20.

The cap sill 21 is left in place, although after the concrete sets,v the Stringer 24 is removed together with all of the backing members. I.1a;A and any stringers, such as the Stringer 29. and. shores 3i),v are removed.

The; cap. sill 21 is adapted to support the endof a roof truss 3|, but'. if it isl desired to form a firewall 32, thisshould be formed before theroof; trussl is put in place. andwouldl be. accomplished.l by placing a continuous/backing; or form 33.v in position as indicatedbyl the dotted lines in Fig. ,3, against .which the cementitiousmaterial maybe shot to form a fire wallf 32 Whichwould operate-as an .extensionto the. diaphragm or outer slab 34 of the cementitious material, which can be shot after the Studs and the bonding beam 22 vare formed; or if desired, this diaphragm can be shot continuous- 1y With the shootingof the studs? faces,v and the level of the diaphragm 34 carried on up as, the height of the studs increases. .y

Such a diaphragm or outer slab 34 can be reinforced if desired, by means of reticulatedV reinforcing material indicated by dotted linesi 3`5=` in Fig. l.r This may be in the formof wire mesh held in position by furring nails 36'- driven into the outer faces 8 offthe core memberst'. Y

In Fig. 4 weI illustrate the manner in which Vdiagonal reinforcingy can beincorporated inY a wall buil-t i-naccordance with ourmethod. In order to accomplislfil this', one of thejsuperficial' faces-y of certain of the core members 6'.' such as.' the `core members 6c and 6b shown in Fig. 4, are provided with diagonally extending channels or grooves 31 to receive diagonal reinforcingrods 38 disposed in them as shown. If the footing I is already in place, and such diagonal reinforcing is to be emcial; requirements.

ployed, and itis desired; to secure; a good anchor for the lower endl of.' each rod, it. is preferable. te support. the corezmembers 6a so thatA` their lower ends are disposed slightly'above thev floor line indicated at. 3.6 in. Fig. 4. This enables a super-sill la to: be formedy in a space between the floor level andthe loweredges of. the core members Sawhich would be monolithic withl the studs 40. The lower endsY of the diagonal reinforcing. rods 38Wou1d have bent ends forminganchor4 Shanks 4 l; extend.- ngin the direction of the super sill lav andl embedded in the same when the cementitious material is shot in to. form it. When constructing: a partition wall, or aA light wall withouti a da# phragm or slab 34, the grooves 31 would. be used and' made deep enough to place the rods 38. down below the surface ofi the panels; so as not to interfere with surfacing the; wall with wall. board, or plaster. Y

If it. is; not desired to form a super sill la, then the; lower end of the reinforcing rod can4 be.v bent upwardlyl into a channel gap that is to receive stud material. v f

At their upper ends the diagonal reinforcing bars 38 would have horizontal anchor Shanks 42 that would run intermediately between horizontal reinforcing bars 43 that. would be placed in the bonding beam 22a.

Fig.v 4 also indicates the position of a. vertical' reinforcing rod |3a. These would be embedded on themed-ial plane ofthe studs 4B.

In Fig. 5 I illustrate a corner of a building, the wall of which is constructed in accorda-ncewith the invention.` This view illustratesv a wall con.- struction in which.Y diagonal reinforceing rods. 44 are provided near the outer face of the. wall embeddedV in the diaphragm or outer slab. 45. This location for the diagonalreinforcing can be used where the diaphragm itl` has sucient depth to embed the reinforcingV satisfactorily.

In this. embodiment of the invention, at a corner 445. of' a. building; 'the upper end of" reinforcingv going to the corner, would be bent to form a shank 41 extending: longitudinally: with the meeting wall of. the building and preferably lying alongside of. longitudinal. reinforcingV bars 48. that. run along in` the bonding beam. 49. In this view, the reinforcing at the corner 46 is illustrated as consisting of two parallel vertical rods 50 embedded in the corner ory lreyy stud v5I at which the two walls unit-e that form. the

corner.

The dotted line 52 in- Fig. 2 indicates the depthof plaster that. can be applied to the inner face.: ofi the wall. If: desired", the ends of the wire ties td (that will be left projecting out after the form boards l1. have been removed) can be used asties for fastening plaster reinforcing'.

Before plastering the inside of the wall', the location of the faces of the panels Gcanbe" noted so. as; to facilitate properly locating' builtiin ii'xturesY Y k.'lhepre-molded corefpane'ls' should have' a surracethatis rough andv pitted with! Smau holes. This makes an admirable surface for receiving and hol-'ding of the plaster.

Inf Fig. 6' We. illustrate simple means that we may employ rwhere it is desired tofacilitate adapting the depth of the bonding beam to spe- For example, ifA the beam has an abnormal span, the means illustrated enables the depth of the beam to be made greater. Referring to this figure, 53 indicates the upper portion of a core member, or panel, above which the upper end of a rafter 54 may be located and supported on an 'X-frame including a diagonal brace 55 constituting one of the bars of the X- frame supporting the rafter. In this case, the cap sill 56 Vcan be secured by driven fasteners or nails applied at the line 57, to support the cap sill on the projecting end of the rafter, that is to say,-the portion of the rafter that projects over the wall. The rafter 54 of course would be located in a space between an upright or backing board 58 of 'the picket fence which would include a waler or stringer 59. Insteadof employing a backing stringer such as the Stringer 24 illustrated in Fig. 3, we may provide a sheet metal backing apron 60 having a flange 6| at its'upper edge, that hangs on the rear edge of the cap sill 56, the bodyof the apron hanging down so that its lower edge laps the upper.v ends of the core panels 53,'. and being located between the core panels and the backing boards 58. If a bonding beam is not tohave great depth, the upper tips of the core panels 53 may be located at a relatively high elevation indicated by the dotted line at 62, in which case it would only be necessary to employ a pair of reinforcing bars such as the bars 63. Y

' If, however, a 'beam of greater depth were required, the upper end face 64 of the panel members could be located at a lower level, giving the beam almost double the depth that it wouldv have had ifv the bottom of the beam were to be 1ocated at the level of the line 62. In this case, additional reinforcing members 65 could be employed as indicated by dotted lines in this figure. These aprons would be made of thin sheet metal, and when Ya number of them are used, they would be used in any convenient lengths with their ends overlapping each other. They would of course be removed after the cement 66 has been shot into the channel spaces and into the molding space for the beam that is formed under the cap sill and above the upper ends of the core panels 53. In Fig. 6, this cement is illustrated as being monolithic with the diaphragm slab 61 that forms the outer face of the wall.

It is obvious that if desired, the wall can be shot with a cement gun from the inside of the Wall instead of from the outside. And the panels 6 may be set up with their wider faces at either side of the wall.

`Many other embodiments of the invention may be resorted to Without departing from the spirit of the invention.

We claim as our invention:

r 1. A method of constructing a wall structure, whichrincludes setting up upright backingmembersspaced apart from each other, setting up substantially equidistant 'upright core panels composed of pre-formed material having a composition that is pervious to inserted fasteners, and incapable of supporting wall load, and disposed so that their side edges overlap the adjacent edges of the backing members to form channel gaps between the panels opening toward one side thereof, and having suilcient horizontal cross-section to mold studs capable of supporting all the load on the wall, placing reinforcing rods in the said channel gaps, applying wire ties to the reinforcing rods with their ends engaging the faces of the panels; and injecting a moist cementitious material into the open sidesof said channel gaps to fill the same and form reinforced studs capable of supporting all the wall load, and

continuing the injection of moist cementitious material above the upper ends of the panels and onto the faces of the panels to unite the said studs and to embed said ties; and removing the backing members thereafter.

2.7A skeleton Wall operating as a form, ready to receive an injected cementitious material, comprising the combination of a plurality of premolded equidistantly spaced non-load bearing core panels, an upright backing for the core panels overlapping the adjacent edges of the core panels so as to co-operate with the core panels to form a plurality of substantially vertical channel-form spaces to receive-the cementitious material forming studs capable of carrying all the load of the nished wall, a cap sill, means for supporting the cap sill spaced above the ends ofthe panels, an apron of sheet material backed up by the backing, and bridging the space at one side between the upper ends of the core panels and the'cap sill, andi cooperating therewith to form a molding space for injection of cementitious materialto form a bonding beam.

l3. A skeleton Wall according to claim 2, in which the upper edge of the apron is formed with a flange projecting over the upper face of the cap sill to support the apron. f4. A method of constructing a wall structure whichincludes setting up panels spaced apart at their side' edges to form upright. stud-molding gaps between them, closing said' gaps at one side of said panels, and leaving their 'other sides open, said'gaps having Ysuicient horizontal cross-sections to mold studs of cementitious material therein capable of supporting all the' Wall load; placing substantially-vertical reinforcing rods in the said stud molding gaps; supporting a backing Stringer on the side of the'panels where said stud molding gaps are closed; supporting a cap sill above the upper ends of the panels and forming with the Stringer and panels a bonding beam molding space open on the 'same side as the stud molding gaps between the panels are open; suspending the reinforcing rods in said stud molding gaps from the cap sill; land injecting cementitious material into the upright molding gaps to embed the reinforcing rods, and into the bonding beam molding space to form a bonding beam embedding the upper ends of the suspended reinforcing vrods and monolithic with the cementitiousmaterial placed in the s'tu'd molding Spaces between the said panels. f

ANDREW Y. PREBLE. JOSEPH F. GOLDEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Deuel Dec. 28,

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