US3924368A

US3924368A - Building construction having three-hinged arched lattice girders

Info

Publication number: US3924368A
Application number: US438535A
Authority: US
Inventors: Kristen Hald Pedersen
Original assignee: Jens Villadsens Fabriker AS
Current assignee: Jens Villadsens Fabriker AS
Priority date: 1973-02-02
Filing date: 1974-02-01
Publication date: 1975-12-09
Anticipated expiration: 1992-12-09
Also published as: FR2216407A1; DK134190B; DK134190C; NO740340L; CA991371A; NO137329B; NO137329C; CH575522A5; FR2216407B3

Abstract

In a building comprising a bearing construction of a number of arched lattice girders interconnected by stays and a roof covering comprising interconnected plates of a plastics material, said plates comprising arched edge portions, the arched edge portion of one plate being snap-locked to that of the adjacent plate so as to partially overlap one another and the overlapping arched edge portions being snaplocked to a flange on the outer side of the arched lattice girders, the heads and the feet of the arched lattice girders being interconnected by zigzag shaped struts and the stays being connected to the arched lattice girders by connecting means which are firmly attached to the feet of the girders and are releasably attached to the heads thereof.

Description

United States Patent [191 Pedersen Dec. 9, 1975 [75] Inventor: Kristen Hald Pedersen, Hvidovre,

Denmark [73] Assignee: Aktieselskabet Jens Villadsens Fabriker, Herlev, Denmark [22] Filed: Feb. 1, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 438,535

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Feb. 2, 1973 Denmark 566/73 [52] US. Cl. 52/86; 52/643; 52/650 [51] Int. C1. E04B 1/32 [58] Field of Search 52/86, 638, 650, 643, 687, 52/689, 690

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,567,211 12/1925 Tubbs 52/650 X 2,252,533 8/1941 Tench 52/650 2,612,854 10/1952 Fuge 52/643 X 2,735,383 2/1956 Gerbracht 52/643 X 3,062,341 11/1962 Klaus 52/650 X 3,341,990 9/1967 Mouton 52/86 Primary ExaminerJ. Karl Bell Attorney, Agent, or FirmWatson, Cole, Grindle & Watson [57] ABSTRACT In a building comprising a bearing construction of a number of arched lattice girders interconnected by stays and a roof covering comprising interconnected plates of a plastics material, said plates comprising arched edge portions, the arched edge portion of one plate being snap-locked to that of the adjacent plate so as to partially overlap one another and the overlapping arched edge portions being snaplocked to a flange on the outer side of the arched lattice girders, the heads and the feet of the arched lattice girders being interconnected by zigzag shaped struts and the stays being connected to the arched lattice girders by connecting means which are firmly attached to the feet of the girders and are releasably attached to the heads thereof.

3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures Sheet 1 of 3 US. Patent Dec. 9 1975 US. Patent Dec. 9 1975 Sheet 2 of3 3,924,368

U.S. Patent Dec. 9 1975 Sheet 3 of3 3,924,368

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION HAVING TI-IREE-IIINGED ARCHED LATTICE GIRDERS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a building comprising a bearing construction consisting of a number of parallel 3-hinged arched lattice girders which are interconnected by stays, each arched lattice girder comprising at its outer side a flange of a circular cross-sectional shape, and a roof covering comprising plate elements of a plastics material, said plate elements being mounted parallel to one another and to the flanges at the outer sides of the arched lattice girders, each plate element comprising at its longitudinal edges arched edge portions having a periphery extending over at least 180, the arched edge portion of one plate element partially overlapping the arched edge portion of an adjacent element, so as to interconnect said plate elements, the flanges at the outer sides of 'the arched lattice girders being mounted within said overlapping arched edge portions of two adjacent plate elements so as to attach the roof covering to said girders.

In a prior art building of the above mentioned type each arched lattice girder consists of two parallel metal rods of circular cross-sectional shape, said metal rods being interconnected by rectangular plates which at their ends are welded to said metal rods. The rectangular plates also comprise holes serving to attach stays to said arched lattice girders.

These arched lattice girders suffer from the drawback that they are statically indeterminate and as a result thereof larger buildings comprising such arched lattice girders cannot be officially approved.

Furthermore, such buildings suffer from the drawback that the mounting of the stays presents difficulties. Thus, the arched lattice girders have to be raised to an upright position and only then the stays can be inserted in the holes between the two parallel metal rods and attached to said plates.

The object of the invention is to provide a construction comprising statically determinate arched lattice girders to which the stays can be easily attached.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The building of the invention is characterized in that the head and foot of each arched lattice girder are interconnected by zigzag shaped struts and that the stays are connected to the arched lattice girders by stay-connecting means which are firmly attached to the feet of the girders and are releasably attached to the heads of the girders.

When using the above defined arched lattice girders, a statically determinate construction is obtained and by using the above mentioned stay-connecting means, the construction becomes spatially stable and the stays are easy to mount. The stable construction obtained is due to the fact that the stays through the stay connection means are firmly attached to the feet of the arched lattice girders and the easy mounting of said stays is due to the fact that the stay-connecting means are releasably attached to the heads of the girders. When mounting the stays, they are inserted in the openings of the arched lattice girders which are to be connected and subsequently those parts of the stay-connecting means which are releasably attached to the heads are inserted. Finally, the stay-connecting means are firmly attached to the feet of the girders.

In a preferred embodiment of the building of the invention each. stay-connecting means consists of two angular plates of which one is welded to the outer side of thefoot of the arched lattice girder and the second angular plate is releasably connected to the head of said girder, the adjacent ends of the two angular plates being bolted together around the stay.

A building of this type presents the advantage that it allow the use of arched lattice girders in which both the head and the foot consist of a flange having a circular cross-sectional shape. Furthermore, this construction makes it possible to provide a covering consisting of plate elements at both the exterior side and the interior side of the construction of arched lattice girders and stays.

In a further preferred embodiment of the invention that part of the angular plate which is releasably connected to the head of the arched lattice girder is'longitudinally slit and the flanges thus obtained are bended in opposite directions. Such angular plates are particularly easy to mount because it is possible to insert the slit angular plates in a manner so that the flanges are located on opposite sides of the zigzag shaped struts at the places at which the struts are connected to the head of the arched lattice girder. Subsequently, the stay can be inserted between the two angular plates and the plates can be bolted together around the stay. When bolting the angular plates together around the stay, narrow clearances may be formed between the flanges and the struts but in practice this has been found acceptable because the end of the angular plates which is releasably attachedto the head of the arched lattice girder primarily has the function of preventing a deflection of the column formed by the head of the arched lattice girder under loading and because the deflection forces under a small deflection are relatively small. Thus, there is no need for preventing a small deflection of the head of the arched lattice girder provided it is ensured that said deflection is maintained within predetermined limits.

Problems may arise in the case when the building has to carry a very heavy load for example a top of wet snow unless special measures are taken to prevent a deflection of the foot of the arched lattice girder. However, a deflection of the foot of the arched lattice girder is possible only if it is accompanied by a torsion of the head. By providing stays which are firmly connected to the feet of two adjacent arched lattice girders and when the stay-connecting means are releasably attached to the heads of the girders, there is created a great resistance against initial torsion of the head and consequently an increased resistance against deflection of the foot. The building of the invention reduces or eliminates the need for the provision of fixed points, for example in the form of gables, wire arrangements or similar in order to counteract a deflection of the feet of the girders in case of heavy loadings.

Loading tests have shown that two arched lattice girders having a length of 8 meters, a spacing of 1.20 meters and externally covered by plate elements but without stays can resist a maximum load at the top of about 210 kg before deflection phenomena occur. By providing three stays within each fourth of the arched girder and by attaching these stays by means of the above mentioned stay-connecting means, the loading could be increased to about 850 kg before deflection phenomena occurred.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows an arched lattice girder having stayconnecting means for use in a building according to the invention,

FIG. 2 shows a sectional view along the line II in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 shows part of an arched lattice girder used in a building according to the invention, and

FIG. 4 shows a portion of a building incorporating the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The arched lattice girder shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises a head 1 consisting of a metal rod having circular cross-sectional shape and a foot 2 which also consists of a metal rod having a circular cross-sectional area.

The head and the foot of said arched lattice girder are connected by means of a zigzag shaped strut 3 which is welded to the head at 4 and to the foot at 5.

An angular plate 6 is welded to the outer side of the foot 2. The plate 6 and a further angular plate 8 is bolted to a stay 9 by means of bolts 7. The outermost end of the angular plate 8 is longitudinally slit so as to form three flanges 10, two of said flanges being located at one side and the remaining flange at the other side of the strut 3.

FIG. 3 shows part of a 3-hinged arched lattice girder in a building according to the invention. As will appear from FIG. 3, two stays which are also connected to adjacent girders are connected to the part of the arched lattice girder shown.

FIG. 4 shows a portion of a building construction incorporating the invention. Such a building comprises a plurality of parallel 3-hinged arched lattice girders supporting a roof covering comprising parallel plate elements 11 interlocked together and mounted to head rods 1. For example, a curved or arched edge portion of one plate partially overlaps a curved or arched portion of an adjacent plate, or partially overlaps a head rod 1.

I claim:

1. A building comprising a bearing construction consisting of a number of parallel 3-hinged arched lattice girders which are interconnected by stays, each arched lattice girder comprising at its outer side a flange of a circular cross-sectional shape, and a roof covering comprising plate elements of a plastics material, said plate elements being mounted parallel to one another and to the flanges at the outer sides of said arched lattice girders, each plate element comprising at its longitudinal edges arched edge portions having a periphery extending over at least the arched edge portions of one plate element partially overlapping the arched edge portion of an adjacent plate element so as to interconnect said plates, the flanges at the outer sides of the arched lattice girders being mounted within said overlapping arched edge portions of two adjacent plate elements so as to attach the roof covering to said girders, characterized in that the head and foot of each arched lattice girder are interconnected by zigzag shaped struts and that the stays are connected to the arched lattice girders by stay-connecting means which are firmly attached to the feet of the girders and are releasably attached to the heads of the girders.

2. A building according to claim 1, characterized in that each stay-connecting means consists of two angular plates, one angular plate being welded to the inner side of the foot of the girder and the second angular plate being releasably connected to its head, the adjacent ends of the two angular plates being bolted to the stay.

3. A building according to claim 2, characterized in that the part of the angular plate which is releasably attached to the head of the arched lattice girder is longitudinally slit and that the flanges thus obtained are bended in opposite directions.

Claims

1. A building comprising a bearing construction consisting of a number of parallel 3-hinged arched lattice girders which are interconnected by stays, each arched lattice girder comprising at its outer side a flange of a circular cross-sectional shape, and a roof covering comprising plate elements of a plastics material, said plate elements being mounted parallel to one another and to the flanges at the outer sides of said arched lattice girders, each plate element comprising at its longitudinal edges arched edge portions having a periphery extending over at least 180*, the arched edge portions of one plate element partially overlapping the arched edge portion of an adjacent plate element so as to interconnect said plates, the flanges at the outer sides of the arched lattice girders being mounted within said overlapping arched edge portions of two adjacent plate elements so as to attach the roof covering to said girders, characterized in that the head and foot of each arched lattice girder are interconnected by zigzag shaped struts and that the stays are connected to the arched lattice girders by stay-connecting means which are firmly attached to the feet of the girders and are releasably attached to the heads of the girders.