US3229436A

US3229436A - Metal siding panel

Info

Publication number: US3229436A
Application number: US207559A
Authority: US
Inventors: Roland T Gerhart; Hans O Rose
Original assignee: Integral Engineering and Manufacturing Corp
Current assignee: Integral Engineering and Manufacturing Corp
Priority date: 1962-07-05
Filing date: 1962-07-05
Publication date: 1966-01-18
Anticipated expiration: 1983-01-18

Description

Jan- 18, 1956 R. T. GRHART ETAL 3,229,436

METAL S IDING PANEL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 5, 1962 INVENTORS ROLAND 'I'. GERHART HANS C)A ROSE BY wwwa/42M AT TORN EYS Jam 18, 1966 R. T. GERHART ETAL 3,229,436

METAL S IDING PANEL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 5, 1962 INVENTORS. ROLAND 'l'. GERHART HANS O. ROSE MM, @0MM/@6% ATTORNEYS United States Patent Oh ice 3,22%,435 Patented Jan. 18, 1966 3,229,436 METAL SIDING PANEL Roland T. Gerhart, West Bloomfield, and Hans 0. Rose,

Birmingham, Mich., assignors to Integral Engineering and Manufacturing Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed July 5, 1962, Ser. No. 297,559 1 Claim. (Cl. 52-521) This invention relates to metal siding panels and a method for making same and, more particularly, relates to a metal siding panel which has an integral fastening tab and which requires less metal for its manufacture than known metal siding products.

The metal siding art is a highly developed one and a wide variety of functionally satisfactory siding products are available. However, the relatively high cost of such products has prevented their use in many situations. The cost of raw materials, particularly the cost of the sheets from which the siding panels are formed, is a major portion of the total cost of the metal siding product. Hence, if the amount of raw material required to make a metal siding panel were reduced, the manufacturing cost would be lessened correspondingly.

Heretofore, it has been thought that in order to provide adequate strength and weather sealing, it was necessary to provide a continuous interlock structure along and between the overlapping edges of adjacent siding panels. Accordingly, the prior art structures have been provided with continuous ange structures along their upper and lower edges, which flange structures have various cross-sectional shapes, all intended to provide a secure interlock between the edges of adjacent siding panels. We have discovered, however, that such continuous interlock structures are not essential and that ksubstantial savings can be achieved by the use of longi tudinally spaced interlock structures.

Most of the prior metal siding products heretofore available have required the use of special clips or fastening devices of various kinds for securing the siding panels to the structure on which the panels are to be mounted. These devices are separate from the siding panels themselves and are separately manufactured and, hence, constitute a further item of expense which can be eliminated by providing means integral with the metal siding panel whereby the panel can be secured to the support structure therefor, such as the frame of a building.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved metal siding Ipanel which can be manufactured at a lower cost.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved metal siding panel, as aforesaid, in which the panel has an improved interlock structure which makes it possible for the panel to be produced at a lower cost.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an iinproved metal siding panel, as aforesaid, which has integral fastening tabs thereon.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved metal siding panel7 as aforesaid, which provides an effective weather seal and which has adequate strength.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a method for making the improved siding panel.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved metal siding panel, as aforesaid, which can be manufactured using the same general type of equipment and following generally similar procedures as those presently used for making other types of metal siding panels.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to persons acquainted with products and methods of this type upon reading the following disclosure and inspecting the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE l is a perspective view of fragments of three siding panels constructed in accordance with the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a broken sectional View taken .along the line II-II of FIGURE l and rotated 90.

FIGURE 3 is a broken plan view of a fragment of the siding panel.

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of a portion of a sheet from which two siding panels are to be cut and illustrating the slitting pattern between the two panels.

Referring to the drawings, in FIGURE l there are shown three interlocked

siding panels

10, 11 and 12 constructed according to the invention. The panels are made of a suitable metal, usually aluminum. It will be understood that in use, these panels are secured to a suitable support structure, such as the wall 15 of a building but such is not shown in detail because it can be of any suitable type and forms no part of the invention. Since the siding panels 1t), 11 and 12 are identical, only panel 11 will be described in detail herein and it will be understood that this description applies also Ito the other panels. Corresponding parts on the

other panels

10 and 12 will be identified by the same reference numerals with the suffixes a and b applied thereto, respectively.

The panel 11 is comprised of a main body portion 13 which is here shown as being dat. Retaining hooks 14 are provided at longitudinally spaced points along the upper edge 16 of the main body portion 13 and are integral therewith. The retaining hooks 14 are identical and each has -a web section 17 which extends upwardly from the upper edge 16 and which is substantially coplanar with the main body portion 13, The hook 14 is bent through an angle greater than 90 with respect to the main body portion 13 of panel 11 to provide an outwardly and downwardly extending portion 18. The outermost portion 19 of the hook 14 is curled under and its innermost edge 20 is located close to the lower surfaces of portion 18 between the inner and outer edges thereof.

As Will be described further hereinbelow, the hook 14 is formed by bending or rolling a portion of a sheet. Such portion has the shape of a trapezoid, here an isosceles trapezoid, and the wider one of the parallel edges therewith is integral with the upper edge of the main body portion 13 of the panel.

A fastening tab 26 is lanced out of the central region of the rst portion 18 of the hook 14. The fastening tab 26 also is substantially trapezoidal and the wider one of the parallel edges thereof is integral with the web portion 17 of the hook 14. The tab 26 projects upwardly from the web portion 17 and the main body portion 13 of the panel. The tab 26 is disposed so that it can lie flat against the structure upon which the panel is mounted. In the usual case, the main body portion 13 will extend at a small angle, such as 3 to 5, with respect to the structure upon which the panel is mounted so that the panel will give the appearance of conventional Wood siding. The tab 26 has an elongated slot 27 therethrough through which fastening means, such as a nail, is receivable whereby the panel can be secured to the support structure therefor.

A continuous, lengthwise flange 31 extends inwardly from the lower edge of the panel 11. The flange 31 extends substantially perpendicularly, here at an angle of about with respect to the main body portion 13 and is continuous and unbroken between the longitudinal ends of the panel 11.

A flat wall portion 32 extends upwardly from the free inner end of flange 31 along the entire lengthwise extent thereof. The wall portion 32 is substantially parallel and contiguous with the main body portion 13b (FIG- URE 2) of the adjacent lower panel 12 adjacent to the upper edge thereof. Desirably, each panel has a lengthwise extending, outwardly projecting ridge 33 adjacent its upper edge against which the upper end of the wall portion 32 of the next higher panel is adapted to abut. The ridge 33 strengthens and -stiffens the edge of the panel and prevents recoil marks on the panel as the result of the lancing operation. A further wall portion 34 extends from the upper end of wall portion 32 back toward the main body portion of the panel 11 and said portion 34 is received between the main body portion 13b and the hook 14b on the adjacent lower panel 12. The wall portion 34 terminates in an arcuate portion 36 which is adapted to engage the lower surface of the portion 18h of the hook 141:. The fit of these parts is such that the wall portion 32 is maintained in snug engagement with the upper edge portion of the panel 12. Since the flange 31 is continuous, there are no gaps or openings between it and the upper edge portion of the adjacent lower panel. Hence, an effective weather seal is provided between adjacent panels.

The siding panels can be assembled in substantially the same way as prior art siding panels. That is, the siding panel 12 (FIGURE 2) can be secured to the wall of a building by placing fasteners, such as nail 60, through the slots in the fastening tabs 26h thereof and then securing such fasteners to the support structure. The next higher panel 11 can be mounted by placing the wall portion 32 thereof against the outer face of the panel 11 below the hook 14b thereof and then moving said panel 11 upwardly until the arcuate portion 36 engages the lower surface of the hook 14b and the wall portion 32 abuts against the ridge 3312. The fasteners 60 are placed in the slots 27 in the fastening tabs 26 and then such fasteners are secured to the wall structure of the building. Other panels (such as panel 10) can then be assembled in a similar fashion.

Manufacture of the panels is carried out by starting with a flat sheet 38 which is wide enough to form two panels or whole number multiples of two panels. FIG- URE 4 shows a fragment of sheet 38 froml which two separate panels 11 and 12, for example, are being cut. Ordinarily, the sheet 38 is in the form of a web and it is cut by passing it through rolls having slitting dies thereon (not shown). The machinery used for slitting the sheet can be of any conventional, known type and forms no part of the invention.

In order to form the upper edge portions of two siding panels, the sheet is cut along a continuous line 39 having parallel, longitudinally and laterally

oset line portions

41 and 42 which are connected by intermediate, transversely extending

line portions

43 and 44. The zones between two adjacent

intermediate line portions

43 and 44 define

ears

45 and 46 from which the hooks 14 can be formed. Ear 45 is integral with sheet section 47 and ear 46 is integral with sheet section 48. Thus, the hooks for two siding panels are formed from the

ears

45 and 46 of the sheet, which ears are longitudinally aligned and offset from their respective sheets. Thus, by using longitudinally spaced, interitting hooks, it is possible to make the hooks for two siding panels from the same portion of a single sheet. This provides a substantial savings of raw material over previous practice. For example, if two continuous retaining structures, which extended along the entire lengthwise edges of the panels, were used, the sheet would have to be wider by an amount at least as great as the distance between the

line portions

41 and 42.

The portions from which the tabs 26 and 26b are formed can be provided by slitting the sheet 38 along 4 the

lines

49 and 50 at the same time that the slit line 41 is made.

After the sheet is slitted as aforementioned, the hooks 14 etc., the flanges 31 etc. and associated structure can be formed to their final shape in any suitable, conventional fashion, such as by roll forming.

Thus, the invention provides a metal siding panel having integral fastening tabs, which panel is formed by slitting a sheet to form two panels, the width of the sheet being substantially less than it would otherwise have to be if a continuous retaining or interlock structure were used along both edges. It has been found that, for example, au eight inch siding panel constructed according to the invention can be made from 13.5 percent less material than a conventional eight inch siding product not embodying the invention.

While a particular preferred embodiment of the invention has been described, the invention contemplates such changes or modications therein as lie within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A metal siding strip or the like, comprising:

an elongated panel having along its upper edge a series of longitudinally spaced, separate retaining hooks, the space between adjacent retaining hooks on said panel being at least as large as the width of the hooks so that two panels can be cut simultaneously from the same elongated metal vsheet with the portions thereof which provide the hooks on the respective panels being provided by longitudinally aligned, alternately arranged portions of the sheet, said hooks each having a first, outwardly and downwardly turned portion and an integral fastening tab lanced out of said first portion and projecting upwardly from said upper edge of said panel, said hooks also having a second portion extending inwardly from said first portion;

said panel having an inwardly turned flange along its lower edge with an edge portion extending upwardly from said ange for reception between the first portion of the hooks of another similarly constructed panel and the upper edge of said other panel;

said retaining hooks inplan view each having the shape of a trapezoid with the wider one of the parallel sides thereof being integral with said upper edge, said trapezoid being bent outwardly adjacent the wider side thereof away from the panel through an angle in excess of to provide said first portion and also having a reversely bent-under arcuate portion at the free end thereof which extends substantially to the underside of said rst portion, said arcuate portion forming said second portion of said hook.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,43 2,999 10/ 1922 Greenstreet 52-5 31 1,510,533 10/1924 Abraham 52,-523 1,510,614 10/1924 Torrence 52--529 2,749,603 6/1956 Trussel 29-415 2,991,592 7/1961 Rauen 52-531 3,037,271 6/ 1962 Schilberg 29-415 3,120,082 2/ 1964 Mendelsohn 52-531 3,159,943 12/1964 Sugar et al. 52-278 RICHARD W. COOKE, I R., Primary Examiner.

L. R. RADANOVIC, Assistant Examiner.