US3130950A

US3130950A - Shore assembly for concrete floor slabs

Info

Publication number: US3130950A
Application number: US121545A
Authority: US
Inventors: George F Bowden; Byron E Ruth
Original assignee: Symons Manufacturing Co
Current assignee: General Electric Co
Priority date: 1961-01-24
Filing date: 1961-07-03
Publication date: 1964-04-28
Anticipated expiration: 1981-04-28

Description

April 23,v 1964 G. F. BOWDEN ETAL 3,130,950

Y FOR CONCRETE Original Filed Jan. 24, 1961 5 Sheets-$heet 1 INVENTOR-S Geanae F. Sawosu BY BVIIONERUT'H A'r'm A ril 28, 1964 a. F. BOWDEN ETAL 3, 30,95

SHORE ASSEMBLY FOR CONCRETE FLOOR SLABS Original Filed Jan. 24, 1961 3 Sheats-$heet 2 b E q; ml" llllllll. A k M.

INVENTORS Gsuecia F. Bowozu Apnl 28, 1964 e. F. BOWDEN ETAL 3,130,950

suoms: ASSEMBLY FOR CONCRETE FLOOR sums 3 Sheets-$heet 3 Original Filed Jan. 24, 1961 INVENTORS GEORGE F: BowoEN Bv RONERU'I'H United States Patent 7 Claims. (Cl. 248-354) The present invention relates to devices for use in concrete construction and has particular reference to a novel shore assembly by means of which the longitudinal and transverse panel-supporting stringers which are associated with a floor slab during erection of a concrete building are maintained in position preparatory to and during concrete pouring operations, as well as during concrete hardening after pouring operations have been completed.

Shore assemblies which are constructed according to the principles of the present invention are designed for use specifically in connection with the erection of concrete building structures according to the method of our copending United States patent application Serial No. 84, 574, filed on Janary 24, 1961 and entitled Method of and Apparatus for Erecting Building Structures Having Concrete Floor Slabs, the present patent application being a division of said copending application.

The advantages of the present shore assembly are manifold, and principal among them is the fact that the assembly makes provision for small incremental elevational adjustment of the slab-supporting panels after they have been placed in position on the stringers, the adjustment being possible either from above or below the panels. Thus, a workman, operating above or below the panels, may effect elongation or shortening of a given shore assembly to raise or lower, as desired, an end of a stringer which is connected to such shore assembly and on which the panels are supported.

Another advantage of the present shore assembly resides in the tubular construction of its component parts and in the use of sections of insert tubing by means of which the over-all length of the shore members may be varied at will in relatively large increments of adjustment, which at the same time, positive alignment of the various shore sections is assured so that the tendency to bend under load will be reduced to a minimum. This provision for effecting a coarse adjustment of the shore assembly for height is entirely independent of the pro-. vision for effecting a fine or infinite adjustment as mentioned above.

The shore assembly of the present invention has associated therewith a novel shore-to-stringer connection in the form of a bracket which is capable of effectively supporting one end of a stringer or the adjacent ends of a pair of aligned stringers, and not only assures end register and alignment of the two adjacent ends of the stringers but also holds the stringers squarely in position on the upper end of the shore assembly and prevents both lateral displacement and tilting movements of the stringers. This shore-to-stringer supporting bracket also is so desired that, after the stringers are in place thereon and the panels operatively positioned on the stringers, no interference is offered by the bracket to adjustment of the shore members for height either from above or below the panels. The bracket also serves as a protective enclosure for a portion of the adjustment mechanism of the shore assembly.

A still further advantageous feature of the present invention is the use of a special plastic foam filler material which, when introduced into the interior of the shore assembly, prevents indenting of the sections which cooperate to make up the assembly.

3,130,950 Patented Apr. 28., 1964 A further feature of the present shore assembly resides in the provision of effective sealing means for preventing the infiltration of concrete or moisture into the interior of the tubular shore body or into the shore-to-stringer bracket during concrete pouring operations, thus affording protection to the mechanism height-adjusting means of the assembly and preventing fouling of the wrenchreceiving torque-applying member which is associated with the adjusting means.

The provision of a shore assembly of the character briefly outlined above being among the principal objects of the present invention, numerous other objects and advantages will readily suggest themselves as the following description ensues.

In the accompanying three sheets of drawings forming a part of this specification, one illustrative embodiment of the invention has been shown.

In these drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a typical concrete form installation involving the formation of a horizontally disposed concrete floor slab and showing a number of the composite shore assemblies of the present invention operatively installed therein;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged side elevational view of one of the shore assemblies, illustrating, in the upper regions of the view, a shore bracket which forms a part of the assembly, the bracket being operatively applied to the adjacent ends of a pair of stringers;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 33 of FIG. 2 in the direction indicated by the arrows;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of a portion of the shore assembly of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 55 of FIG. 2 in the direction indicated by the arrows;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 2 in the direction indicated by the arrows;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 77 of FIG. 2 in the direction indicated by the arrows;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken on the line 88 of FIG. 2 in the direction indicated by the arrows;

FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of the shore bracket of FIG. 2 and an adjacent portion of a stringer, together with a grout seal employed in connection with the bracket; and

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary exploded top plan view illustrating the manner in which the improved shore and a stringer are operatively assembled with respect to each other.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, and in particu lar to FIG. 1, there has been disclosed in this view a typical installation involving the supporting surface for a concrete slab (not shown) resulting from the pouring of concrete on such surface. The entire installation has been dsignated in its entirety at 10 and involves a series of shore assemblies 12 embodying the present invention. These shore assemblies will, for convenience of description, hereinafter be referred to simply as shores. The shores 12 are vertically disposed in the installation and the upper ends thereof serve to support a series of longitudinally extending stringers 14 which, in turn, support the end regions of a series of transversely disposed form panels 16. The shores 12 may be set up in the usual manner of installation on mud sills (not shown) which are positioned upon the ground or other supporting foundation surface and serve to prelocatethe vertically disposed shores. It will be understood that the various shores 12 may be cross-braced in any suitable manner by struts or the like, such cross-bracing being omitted herein since it forms no part of the present invention.

The installation It is merely illustrative of a typical installation in which the shores 12 are arranged in four spaced apart, longitudinally extending rows and with the panel units 16 having their own longitudinal direction extending transversely of the installation between the adjacent parallel stringers 14. The panels 16 in theillustrated form are conventional steel ply panel units of the type which is shown and described in copending United States patent application Serial No. 854,967, filed on November 23, 1959 by George F. Bowden and entitled Tie Rod Assembly for Concrete Form Panels, now Patent No. 2,997,769 and no claim is made herein to any novelty associated with the same. The particular panel units are in the form of shallow rectangular box-like structures of tray-like design. Each unit includes a plywood facing 18 which is bounded by marginal steel frame members including elongated side members 20 and end members 22. Steel ply panel units of this general character are made up in standard sizes, specifically in three, four, six and eight-foot lengths, and in one, one and one-half, two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen, twenty and twenty-four inch widths, any combination of such lengths and widths being available.

For purposes of description herein, both in the specification and claims appended hereto, and in the interests of clarity, the direction of extent of the stringers 14 will be considered to be the longitudinal direction of the slab and of the installation on which it is formed, while the elongated direction of the panels 16, i.e., the direction of their length, will be considered as the transverse direction of the slab and its supporting structure. Directions with respect to the slab or supporting structure therefor will be referred to either as longitudinal or transverse, while directions with respect to the individual panels 16 will be referred to in terms of the long and short dimensions, respectively, of the panels.

It will be observed that the supporting surface for the slab is made up of two series of full length panels of equal width, the panels being arranged in contiguity with their long edges abutting one another. On the far side of the installation as viewed in FIG. 1, there is a small odd dimension which has been made up by the use of a series of the panels 16 positioned with their long edge regions resting on the stringers 14 and with their short edges in abutment. The odd dimension selected for illustration herein has for convenience been shown as being equal to a panel width, but it will be understood that greater or lesser odd dimensions may be made up by the use of wider or narrower panel units in any of the standard sizes in which the panels are manufactured. If necessary, where fractions of an inch are concerned, pieces of lumber may be cut and fitted as to size so as to serve in place of the prefabricated panel units.

The basic arrangements of parts thus far described, without regard to any specific form of shoring, of stringers, or of panel units, is more or less conventional in that in the erection of a building construction involving superimposed slabs, the slab foundation is almost invariably comprised of contiguously arranged panels supported upon stringers which are, in turn, supported upon shoring, the general arrangement and disposition being substantially the same as that illustrated in FIG. 1. It is to be noted, however, that the upper concrete-receiving faces of the plywood facings 18 of the various panels 16 lie substantially flush with the upper edge faces of the stringers 14 so that these upper edge surfaces of the stringers constitute a limited portion of the slab-supporting surface as a whole. In other words, the ends of the panels 16 do not rest directly upon the upper edges of the stringers as in conventional installations, but lie flush with these surfaces so that adjacent ends of the panels are separated from each other by an intervening portion of a stringer 14. The end regions of the various panels 16 are supported upon vertically shiftable rails or support bars 24 which are movably mounted on the sides of the stringers and may be locked in raised positions so that the panel facings lie flush with the upper edges of the stringers. The support bars 24 are capable of being released or' lowered, in which case the panels are free to be withdrawn from the underneath side of the hardened slab, while the stringers remain in their supporting relationship with respect to the portions of the slab which they underlie.

Still referring to FIG. 1, at the upper end of each shore 12 is a shore-to-stringer connection in the form of a bracket 30. The latter is a constituent part of the shore assembly. It is hereinafter referred to simply as the shore bracket and serves to maintain the adjacent ends of a pair of aligned stringers 14 in supported relationship with respect to the shore. The nature and specific function of the various shore brackets 30 will be described in greater detail subsequently, but for the present, it is deemed sufficient to state that these shore brackets enable adjustment of the panels for grade by permitting elongation or shortening of the shores 12, either from above the slab-supporting surface offered by the panels, or from below the same after the panels are in place. This dual adjustment feature constitutes an important feature of the present invention.

The shores or shore assemblies 12 themselves, apart from the shore brackets 3th, are capable of both a fine and a coarse adjustment for length. As will be described subsequently in connection with FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, each shore is made up of telescopic tubular sections so that it is possible by selecting the proper shore sections to build up a given shore of approximately the correct length for the proper elevation of a horizontal panel structure and, after the various shores have been thus set up or erected, the stringers positioned thereon, and the panels operatively applied to the stringers, a final shore adjustment may be made either from above or below the panel level to secure the desired grade so that the tops of the shores will have the proper elevation for a horizontal slab structure.

Each shore bracket 30 is adapted to be permanently installed at the upper end of its shore assembly 12 and to remain permanently thereon. Thus, as previously indicated, each shore bracket, in effect, constitutes a functional part of its associated shore assembly and throughout this specification and in the claims, it will be treated as an element or part thereof. The details of each shore bracket are illustrated in FIGS. 6 to 10, inclusive and the details of the body portion of each shore assembly are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5a. In FIG. 3, an entire shore assembly, including both the body portion and the bracket, are illustrated.

Referring now to FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, each shore 12 is in the form of a composite post which is made up of tubular sections of cylindrical tube stock, the shore shown in FIG. 2 being comprised of four such sections including a lower fixed section 50, a next adjacent fixed section 52, a third fixed section 54 immediately above the section 52, and an upper rotatable section 56. The lower section 50 is provided with a suitable foot .piece 58 and the upper end of this section is provided with a small hole 60 (FIG. 4) which is designed for registry with a slot 62 in -a short pilot section 64. The latter is telescopically received within the lower end of the section 5-2 and is Welded therein as at 66. The pilot section 64 is receivable within the upper open end of the shore section 50 to the extent that the lower rim 68 of the section 52 abuts the upper rim 70 of the section 50, at which time the hole and the slot 62 may be moved into registry and a fast pin 72 passed through the hole and slot in order to lock the two sections together. A similar connection between the

sections

52 and 54 involving a pilot section and a fast pin is provided. From the above description, it will be seen, therefore, that the three

sections

50, 52 and 54, when assembled upon one another and secured in position by the fast pins '72, are relatively fixed. The section 56 is of apron-like design and it is both rotatable and telescopically movable axially relatively to the shore section 54.

As best seen in FIG. 3, the upper end of the shore section 54 is provided with an end closure plate 80 in the form of a ring having a central opening 82 therethrough. A vertically disposed elevation screw 84 projects through the opening 82. It is threadedly received through a nut 86 which is welded as at 88 to the upper face of the plate 80. The upper end of the shore section 56 is provided with a closure plate 90 which is similar to the plate 80 and has a central opening 92 through which the shank portion 9'4 of the elevation screw 84 projects. A nut 96 is welded as at 93 to the plate 9% and as at 100 to the elevation screw 84 so that, upon turning of the upper section '56, the nut 96, the plate 90 and the elevation screw 84, together with the section 56, will turn bodily as a unit, thus feeding the elevation screw through the nut 82 in one direction or the other, depending upon the direction of rotation of the section 56, to effect a relatively fine adjustment of the elevation of the section 56. The depending portion of the upper section constitutes an apron which closely hugs the outer cylindrical surface of the section 54 and lends reinforcement to the elevation screw 84.

As shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, each of the

sections

50, 52 and 54 has disposed within, and completely filling the same, a mass of reinforcing material 102 which possesses an appreciable degree of resistance to compressional force. While various materials are suitable as a filler material for these sections, the material employed is preferably a commercially available cellular material containing occluded air cells and commonly referred to as Plastic Foam. Various grades of such material are manufactured and sold by the Glidden Pain-t Company of Cleveland, Ohio under the trade name of Glidfoam, the particular grade of which employed herein offers an appreciable degree of resistance to compressional forces, but which, nevertheless, is somewhat resilient. Such a material is widely sold for ice box insulation purposes. It has been described in greater detail and its physical properties set forth in co-pending patent application Serial No. 49,672, filed on August 15, 1960 by George F. Bowden and entitled Concrete Wall Form Panel Unit With Reinforcing and Insulating Means, now abandoned. This filler material, when in position within the

sections

50, 52 and 54, rigidifies the shore as a whole and inhibits the tendency of the same to become indented or warped when bending stresses are applied to the shore. As shown in FIG. 5, the filler material is recessed as at 104 to accommodate the fast pins 72 and, as shown in FIG. 3, a relatively deep socket 106 is formed in the material 102 in registry with the opening 82 in the plate 84} to accommodate reception of the lower end of the threaded portion of the elevation screw 84.

The sleeve-like upper section 56 is provided with a series of spanner holes i108 near the upper end of the section, and they are designed for cooperation with a spanner wrench so that the sleeve-like shore section 56 may be turned relatively to the other shore sections. Turning of the section 56 will effect turning movement of the fixed nut 96 and the elevation screw 84 as a whole to vary the elevation of the section 56 with respect to the section 54 and thus elongate or shorten the over-all extent of the shore 12. The upper end of the elevation screw 94 is squared as at 110 to accommodate reception thereover of a torque Wrench. The spanner holes 168 make it possible for the height of the shore to be adjusted from beneath the positioned panels 16 while the wrenchreceiving squared portion 110 of the elevation screw permits of such adjustment from above the panels 16.

The shore bracket 30 of the shore assembly 12 has been illustrated in detail in FIGS. 9 and and it is shown in a selected environment in FIGS. 3 to 7, inclusive. Referring now to these views in detail, the shore bracket 30 involves in its general organization an open- 6 ended tubular'body member 120, the lower open end of which is seated within the confines of a short piece 122 of channel stock. The tubular body member and the channel piece 122 constitute the two principal parts of the bracket assembly 30. The sides 124 of the channel piece straddle the lower end of the tubular body member 120 and the medial regions of the sides are pressed inwardly as at 126 and are welded as at 128 to the opposite sides of the tubular body member 120. The lower open-end of the body member 120 seats squarely on the bottom 130 of the channel piece, and a hole 132 is formed in said bottom 130 in registry with the longitudinal axis of the tubular body member 120, this hole serving to provide clearance for the elevation screw 84 when the bracket is assembled at the top of a shore member as shown in FIGS. 3 and 6. The bottom 130 has associated therewith a pair of rivets 135 the head portions of which underlie said bottom and are welded thereto, and the shank portions of which project upwardly through the bottom 130, as best seen in FIGS.

9 and 10, these upwardly projecting portions of the rivets serving as locating pins for attachment of a pair of the longitudinally extending stringers 14. The front and rear sides of the tubular body member 120 have welded thereto pairs of small angle pieces 134, with the pieces of each pair being arranged in spaced relationship to define therebetween a stringer-receiving slot 137.

The tubular body member 120 of the shore bracket 30 is provided with a pair of spaced aligned holes 136 (see FIG. 9) on opposite sides thereof to facilitate insertion of a taper pin 138 (see FIG. 3) through the elevation screw 84. The longitudinal extent of the taper pin 138 is greater than the diameter of the central open ing 92 in the closure plate 90 of the shore section 56 so that, when the taper pin is in position on the elevation screw 84, the shore bracket 30 is loosely held to the section 56 against removal. A grout seal 139 in the form of a closure cap of rubber or other elastomeric material is provided with a spring clip 141 by means of which the seal may be maintained in position over the upper open-end of the tubular body member 120 of the shore bracket 30 during concrete-pouring operations.

The shore bracket 30 has been designed specifically for use in supporting the adjacent ends of a pair of the aligned stringers 14, these stringers being of special construction and of the type shown and described in our aforementioned copending application Serial No. 84,574. The stringers 14 form no part of the present invention, and in the various views of the drawings, only the end regions of the stringers which are adjacent to the shore bracket 31) have been disclosed, since these end regions suffice to show the manner in which the stringers are operatively connected to the various shore brackets 30. Reference may be had to such application for a full disclosure of the nature of the stringers 14, but for descriptive purposes herein, it is deemed suflicient to state that each stringer 14 includes a body portion in the form of an I-beam having upper and lower horizontal flanges and 142, respectively, and an interconnecting vertical web 144. The web 144 is provided with a series of arcuate slots 146 at spaced regions lengthwise of the I-beam. On opposite sides of the web 144, in straddling relationship with respect to the latter, is a pair of the previously-mentioned movable support bars 24. Each support bar is in the form of an angle piece having a horizontal flange 148 and a vertical flange 150. The flange 148 projects outwardly beyond the lateral extent of the I-

beam flanges

140 and 142. A series of clamping nut and bolt assemblies 152 extends through the web 144 and the vertical flanges 150 of the two support bars 24 and serves releasably to clamp the support bars hard against the sides of the web 144 in either an elevated panel-supporting position or in a lowered panel-releasing position.

Near the opposite ends of each stringer 14, the lower horizontal flange 142 is provided with a pair of holes 160 (see FIGS. 2 and 10), the holes of each pair being disposed on the opposite sides of the web 144. These holes 160 are adapted to receive therein the upwardly extending shank portions of the rivets 135 as shown in FIGS. 2, 6 and 7 to lock the ends of the stringers in a supported position on the shore bracket 30. These rivets and holes serve to maintain adjacent ends of adjacent stringers 14 in longitudinal alignment as shown in FIGS. and 6. With each end of the stringer thus supported upon the bottom 130 of a bracket 30, the web 144 of the stringer is confined within the slots 137 between adjacent pairs of angle pieces 134 to stabilize the stringer and prevent angular tilting thereof.

It is to be observed that with a given stringer 14 operatively supported at its ends on respective shore brackets 30, and with the latter operatively positioned on the upper ends of respective shores, and furthermore, with the nut and bolt assemblies 154 disposed within their respective slots 146 at the extreme upper ends of the slots as shown in FIG. 3, the upper edges of the various panels 16 will lie flush against the top flange 1463 of the stringer. Stated otherwise, with the support bar 24 in its upper position, the distance between the horizontal flange 148 of the support bar 24 and the upper horizontal top flange 140 of the stringer 14 is equal to the over-all thickness of one of the panels 16 so that with the panel resting upon the horizontal flange 148, its upper edge surface will lie flush with the upper face of the top flange 140. When the nut and bolt assemblies 154 are disposed in their lowermost positions within the slots 14, the entire support bar 24 will be lowered bodily to such an extent that its horizontal flange 148 will be spaced below the top flange 140 of the stringer 14 an appreciable distance so that the panels 16 supported upon the flange 148 will be released.

From the above description, it will be seen that the present shore assembly 12, including the lower sectional body part and the upper bracket part, constitutes a prefabricated and assembled unit which, in a floor slab installation such as has been shown in FIG. 1, enables a pair of stringers such as the stringers 14 to be easily applied to the upper end thereof without requiring the use of tools and which, after the stringers are applied, will permit vertical adjustment thereof either from above the form panels which are supported by the stringers, or from below such panels. To effect the connection be tween the shore assembly and stringers, it is merely necessary to insert the end edges of the web 144- of each stringer between the two angle pieces 134, and then align the holes 160 in the lower horizontal flanges 142 of the stringers vertically with the shank portions of the rivets 135, after which the ends of the stringers may be lowered so that these shank portions enter the holes and lock the stringers in place on the shore bracket 30. Thereafter, and as previously set forth, the ends of the stringers may be adjusted for elevation either from below the panels 16, utilizing a spanner wrench or similar tool in connection with the holes 108 in the sleeve-like upper section 56 of the shore, or from above the panels 16, utilizing a suitable socket wrench in connection with the squared end 110 of the elevation screw 84. If the adjustment is made from above the panels, the seal 139 will, of course, be applied to the upper end of the tubular body 120 before concrete-pouring operations are commenced.

The invention is not to be understood as restricted to the details set forth since these may be modified within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. As an article of concrete hardware, a stringer and panel-supporting shore comprising, in combination, an

elongated post presenting an internally threaded vertical bore at its upper end, a rotatable elevation screw threadedlyreceived in said bore and capable of axial shifting movement in opposite directions upon turning of the screw in opposite directions respectively, means on said screw defining an upwardly facing shoulder, a nonrotatable tubular member coaxial with said screw, encompassing the same, having its lower end supported on said shoulder, and having an open upper rim disposed above the level of the upper end of the screw, and a pair of supports extending laterally from said tubular member in op posite directions and adapted to receive loosely and removably thereon the adjacent ends of a pair of aligned panel-supporting stringers, the upper end of said elevation screw within the tubular member having a portion which is noncircular in transverse cross section for cooperation with a conformably shaped torque-applying tool inserted through the open upper rim of the tubular member, and a tubular apron having its upper end fixedly secured to the elevation screw and telescopically received over the upper end of the post, said tubular apron constituting a torque-applying element whereby the elevation screw may be rotated in opposite directions either by manual turning of said apron from below the stringers, or by use of the tool from above the stringers.

2. As an article of concrete hardware, a stringer and panel-supporting shore as set forth in claim 1 and wherein said elevation screw is provided with a shank portion which projects upwardly through the nonrotatable tubular member to a region closely adjacent to the upper rim of such member and above the level of said supports.

3. As an article of concrete hardware, a stringer and panel-supporting shore as set forth in claim 2 and including, additionally, a closure cap removably fitting within the open upper rim of the tubular member.

4. As an article of concrete hardware, a stringer and panel-supporting shore comprising, in combination, an upstanding elongated tubular post provided with screw threads at its upper end, an upstanding rotatable elevation member disposed above and in axial alignment with the tubular post, having screw threads mating with the screw threads on said tubular post, and capable of axial shifting in opposite directions upon turning of it in opposite directions with respect to the post, means on said elevation member defining an upwardly facing shoulder, said elevation member being provided with an elongated upward rod-like extension, a nonrotatable tubular member coaxial with said extension, encompassing the same, having its lower end supported on said shoulder, and having an open upper rim disposed above the level of the upper end of the extension, and a pair of supports extending laterally from said tubular member at the lower end thereof in opposite directions and adapted to receive loosely and removably thereon the adjacent ends of a pair of aligned horizontal panel-supporting stringers, the upper end of said extension being disposed within the tubular member and having a portion which is noncircular in transverse cross section for cooperation with a conformably shaped torque-applying tool inserted through the open upper rim of the tubular member, said elevation member being provided with an apron portion surrounding the tubular post and depending below the level of the mating screw threads, said apron portion constituting a torque-applying element whereby the elevation member may be rotated in opposite directions either by manual turning of the apron portion or by use of the tool from above the stringers.

5. As an article of concrete hardware, a stringer and panel-supporting shore as set forth in claim 4 and including, additionally, a closure cap removably fitting within the open upper rim of the tubular member.

6. As an article of concrete hardware, a stringer and panel-supporting shore comprising, in combination, an upstanding elongated tubular post, provided with screw threads at its upper end, an upstanding rotatable elevation member, disposed above and in axial alignment with the tubular post, having screw threads mating with the screw threads on said tubular post and capable of axial shifting in opposite directions upon turning of it in opposite directions with respect to the post, means on said elevation member defining an upwardly facing shoulder, said elevation member being provided with an elongated upward rod-like extension, a channel piece including a bottom web portion loosely supported on said shoulder and through which said extension projects, and upstanding side portions, said channel piece overhanging the opposite sides of said elevation member to thus provide a pair of upwardly opening cradle supports for the adjacent ends of a pair of aligned horizontal panel-supporting stringers, a nonrotatable tubular member coaxial with said extension, encompassing the same, having its lower end supported on said web portion and having an open upper rim disposed slightly above the level of the upper end of the extension, the upper end of said extension being disposed within the tubular member and having a portion which is noncircular in transverse cross section for cooperation with a conformably shaped torque-applying tool inserted through the open upper rim of the tubular member, said elevation member being provided With an apron portion surrounding the tubular post and depending below the level of the mating screw threads, said apron portion constituting a torque-applying element whereby the elevation member may be rotated in opposite directions either by manual turning of the apron portion or by the use of the tool from above the stringers.

7. As an article of concrete hardware, a stringer and panel-supporting shore as set forth in claim 6 and wherein the medial regions of the upstanding side portions of said channel piece are instruck and welded to the outer and opposite sides of the tubular member at the lower end region of the latter.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,352,600 Brackett July 4, 1944 2,984,417 Voorhees May 16, 1961 2,997,762 Imparato Aug. 29, 1961 FOREIGN PATENTS 541,737 Great Britain July 7, 1941 851,533 Great Britain Apr. 28, 1958

Claims

1. AS AN ARTICLE OF CONCRETE HARDWARE, A STRINGER AND PANEL-SUPPORTING SHORE COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, AN ELONGATED POST PRESENTING AN INTERNALLY THREADED VERTICAL BORE AT ITS UPPER END, A ROTATABLE ELEVATION SCREW THREADEDLY RECEIVED IN SAID BORE AND CAPABLE OF AXIAL SHIFTING MOVEMENT IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS UPON TURNING OF THE SCREW IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS RESPECTIVELY, MEANS ON SAID SCREW DEFINING AN UPWARDLY FACING SHOULDER, NONROTATABLE TUBULAR MEMBER COAXIAL WITH SAID SCREW, ENCOMPASSING THE SAME, HAVING ITS LOWER END SUPPORTED ON SAID SHOULDER, AND HAVING AN OPEN UPPER RIM DISPOSED ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE UPPER END OF THE SCREW, AND A PAIR OF SUPPORTS EXTENDING LATERALLY FROM SAID TUBULAR MEMBER IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS AND ADAPTED TO RECEIVE LOOSELY AND REMOVABLY THEREON THE ADJACENT ENDS OF A PAIR OF ALIGNED PANEL-SUPPORTING STRINGERS, THE UPPER END OF SAID ELEVATION SCREW WITHIN THE TUBULAR MEMBER HAVING A PORTION WHICH IS NONCIRCULAR IN TRANSVERSE CROSS SECTION FOR COOPERATION WITH A CONFORMABLY SHAPED TORQUE-APPLYING TOOL INSERTED THROUGH THE OPEN UPPER RIM OF THE TUBULAR MEMBER, AND A TUBULAR APRON HAVING ITS UPPER END FIXEDLY SECURED TO THE ELEVATION SCREW AND TELESCOPICALLY RECEIVED OVER THE UPPER END OF THE POST, SAID TUBULAR APRON CONSTITUTING A TORQUE-APPLYING ELEMENT WHEREBY THE ELEVATION SCREW MAY BE ROTATED IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS EITHER BY MANUAL TURNING OF SAID APRON FROM BELOW THE STRINGERS, OR BY USE OF THE TOOL FROM ABOVE THE STRINGERS.