WO1989010453A1

WO1989010453A1 - Connectors

Info

Publication number: WO1989010453A1
Application number: PCT/GB1989/000361
Authority: WO
Inventors: Geoffrey John Higgins
Original assignee: Stramit Industries Limited
Priority date: 1988-04-27
Filing date: 1989-04-07
Publication date: 1989-11-02
Also published as: EP0449818A1

Abstract

A connector for fastening to the edge of a composite panel has inner and outer tongues (65, 61) to embrace the spaced plasterboards (22, 23) of the panel. The panel may have a bridge (69) extending into the filler (21) between the boards (22, 23) and a wall fastener (77) may secure the bridge to a surface (72) to form a T-junction. Alternatively the connector may have further tongues (11, 12) facing opposite the first tongues to enable two panels to be abutted in alignment.

Description

Title: Connectors

Field of the invention

This invention concerns connectors, and relates in particular to devices for connecting together panels of the type having a sandwich structure.

Background to the invention

In the building industry and allied fields it is now common practice to use panels made from a sandwich of parallel sheets of plasterboard mounted on either side of a filler which is typically a foamed plastics or a honeycomb of folded paper .

It is often necessary to abut two such panels edge to edge, and join the two one to the other, so that they remain in alignment, and cannot pull apart. It is also desirable to be able to butt-join one panel to the faw of another panel.

When a flush joint on the exposed face is required it is present practice to join such panels by a short length of strong rigid material such as a suitably sized length of wood, which is edgewise forced into the relatively weak filler along one exposed edge to be butt-joined to another of the panels so as to leave one half the width of the joining material out. A groove is then made along the length of the exposed filler in the abutting edge of the other panel, and the two panels are pushed together, so that the projection from the one panel enters the groove in the other. The panels are prevented from pulling apart by driving nails through the panels on either side of the join so as to secure the joining material in place.

Although cheap and simple this method of joining is somewhat hit and miss, and the panels can readily pull away from the joining piece of timber. Thus the edge of the panel is weakened by removal of the core filler and the joint is likely to be unsatisfactory, particularly if the piece of timber is not precisely dimensioned or is of insufficient quality to resist warping and skrin age.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a connector that can more securely join one panel to another in edge to edge or edge to face relationship.

Summary of the invention

According to the present invention there is provided a connector for fastening around the edges of a composite panel formed by two spaced boards, characterised by a pair of inner tongues engageable with the inside margins of the two boards, a bridge piece connecting the pair of first tongues, and a first outer member associated with each first tongue and engageable with the outside margin of the respective board.

For convenience reference is made herein to the outer sheets of the sandwich panel as being of plasterboard, but it is to be understood that such sheets may, for example, instead be made of plywood, chipboard or fibreboard (including mineral fibreboard). The internal faces of the tongues may be formed with protrusions to grip the surfaces of the plasterboard, to further assist in securing the connector to the two boards .

Separate pairs of tongues are provided for the boards on the two faces of the composite panel, and coveniently four pairs of tongues are provided in a single connector for embracing and securing to the four edges of plasterboard at an abutting joint, the two pairs on one side of the panel being linked to the two pairs on the other side of the panel by a bridge assembly which separates the two pairs of tongues at one end from those at the other end by a distance equal to the thickness of the filler material.

The invention thus provides a connector for joining together edge to edge two sandwich construction panels which comprises two parallel spaced pairs of tongues, arranged back to back and in which the two pairs of tongues are tied together by at least one transverse bridging member.

The tongues and the bridging member may be formed integrally from a single sheet metal stamping.

The opposed tongues of each pair may be drawn together b- means of screws, which when tightened cause t e sandwiched edge of the plasterboard to be squeezed there-between.

In a modified version, the connector enables the edge of one sandwich panel to be joined to the flat surface of an adjoining similar panel, to form a Tee-joint. In this form of connector the two pairs of tongues which normally engage the two sheets of plasterboard at one of two abutting panels, are omitted and the bridge between the two remaining pair of tongues is adapted to be secured as by a screw or bolt, to the plasterboard of the panel to which the first panel is to be secured at right angles .

Alternatively an ear may be formed from the spine between each pair of remaining tongues, and the connector joined to the flat surface by securing a screw or the like through a hole in each ear and into the flat surface.

The purpose of the tongues is to grip the plasterboard layers, and there are several ways in which this can be achieved.

Firstly, the connector may be of some deformabic material such as mild steel or aluminium sheet, so that at least one of each pair of tongues can be bent into qripping contact with the plasterboard and having been so bent, can be maintained thus as by glueing or more preferably by screws, particularly self-tapping or thread forming screws, inserted through suitably positioned holes in the outer tongues to engage second aligned holes in. the inner tongues .

Secondly aligned inner and outer tongues which form the pair of tongues for gripping the abutting edges of two aligned plasterboards, may be formed in two separate members which are securable as by a screw or fir tree connection extending through the junction between the twc boards .

If the bridge is formed of a thermally conductive material then heat can easily be transferred from one pair of tongues on one side of the composite panel to the other, in the event of a fire. It is preferred, therefore if the bridge assembly includes a section of reduced thermal conductivity as by a region of reduced cross section or a link of low thermal conductivity material, joining two otherwise separate sections of the bridge, to form a thermal break. Thus, if the bridge assembly is for the most part formed from a good conductor such as sheet metal, it preferably includes a break which is joined by a link formed from a poor conductor such as a plastics or ceramics material.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Various embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a connector of one embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 shows the connector of Figure 1 in position on one panel;

Figure 3 shows in perspective a connector similar to that of Figure 1, but with a thermal break in the bridge section;

Figure 4 is a section in plan through another embodiment of the invention for joining two panels;

Figure 5 is a section in plan through a further embodiment of the invention for joining two panels;

Figure 6 is a section in plan showing how the invention can be used to join or connect an edge of one composite panel to the face of another to form a Tee-joint;

Figure 7 and 8 are respectively perspective and sectional views in plan showing an alternative connector for forming a Tee- oint.

Figure 9 is a perspective view of a modification of the connector of Figure 1; and

Figures 10 and 11 are respectively a sectional plan view taken on the line X-X of Figure 11 and side view of a lug of the connector of Figure 9.

Description of Embodiments

The connector shown in Figure 1 and 2 has four vertically spaced pairs of lugs or tongues

i21_ and 12r_ joined by common spines 13, 14.

The two tongues of each pair are apertured and to this end the two apertures in the two tongues 15, 16 of the nearest pair 121 are denoted by 17 and 18, the latter being of larger diameter than the former, so that a self-tapping or thread forming screw can pass through aperture IS and engage in aperture 17, so that on being turned, the two tongues are pulled together.

The pair of tongues 111_ and 121_^ are joined by a bridge I9I_ while the two pairs of tongues llr_ and 12 are joined by a bridge 19r_.

Use of the connector for joining together two panels in edge to edge relationship is shown in Figure 2. At matching positions on the two opposed panel edges the core filler material 21 is scooped out from between the two outer plasterboard layers 22, 23, and the bridge 1 of the connector is driven into the cavity and the outer tongues (such as 16) are bent into contact with the outer surfaces of the plasterboards and screws (not shown) are pushed through the apertures and turned to engage in the inner apertures so as to draw the tongues together and grip the plasterboard sheets . One such screw head is shown at 24.

The second panel (not shown) is then offered up to the projecting pairs of tongues 111_, 121_^, with an appropriate cavity in its filler to accommodate the bridge 191_, and is secured by screws in the same way.

The variant shown in Figure 3 is similar to that of Figure 1 except that the bridges are discontinuous and are linked by a thermally insulating material such as plastics or ceramics at 31_1_ and 31r_.

Figure 4 shows a further embodiment of the invention in which each two aligned pairs of tongues are formed by a common inner plate 41 and a separate outer plate 42 having a protruding stem 43 formed with a fir tree and a section for fitting into a groove 44 in the inner plate 41. A single bridge 45, joins two inner plates 41 at a spacing equal to the thickness of the filler 21 and may if desired include a discontinuity joined by a plastics or ceramic element as shown in Figure 3.

The connector of Figure 5 is formed in one piece, within inner and outer plates 51 and 52 at each end of a central bridge 55. The tongues formed by the inner and outer plates 51, 52 have spurred edges (as at 56) which penetrate surfaces of the plasterboards attached to the connector. Screws may be employed as in Figures 1 and 2 to draw the tongues together to grip the sandwiched plasterboard if desired.

The outer plates 42 and 52 of the connectors of Figures 4 and 5 are in fact thinner than shown, so that a substantially flush joint is achieved at the exposed faces of the plasterboard.

The Tee-joint connector of Figure 6 is in effect the right half of the connector of Figure 1, with the two opposed pairs of tongues 611_ and 61r_, each pair comprising an inner tongue such as 65 and an outer tongue 66 with apertures 67 and 68 respectively through which screws 70 can be passed to draw the tongues together and therefore squeeze the plasterboards 22 and 23 there-betwee -

The two pairs of tongues 611_^ and Slτ_ are joined by a stepped bridge 69, with a bridge section 71 in contact with the flat face 72 of a second panel made up of two plasterboard panels 72, 73, and a filler (such as honeycombed paper) 74. The latter are cutaway as shown at 75 to enable a flat nut 76 to be threaded onto a bolt 77 which passes through a hole in the plasterboard panel 72 and secures the bridge section 71 thereto. Preferably, however, the nut 76 is of the spring toggle type, enabling it to be inserted blind into the hole in the panel 72.

In practice the connector of Figure 6 is secured to the panel 72 first and the Tee joint formed with the abuttinq composite panel 22, 23 is formed subsequently by offering up the edge of the second panel 22, 23 to the connector after it has been secured to the panel 72.

The connector may also be adapted for fitting to a single thickness panel similar to panel 72. In this case a smaller hole is formed in the bridge section 71 so that the connector can be secured by passing a screw through the back of the panel and tightening it into the hole in the section 71. The boards 22, 23 are then clamped between the tongues 611. and 61r_ as before.

In a further modification (also not shown) such a connector can also be used with the boards 22, 23 to form a right-angle corner with another panel. This is achieved by cutting away the filler and a part of the inner board of such panel, and securing the connector (already secured endwise to the boards 22 and 23) to the edge of the inner board by passing a screw through the small hole in the bridge section 71.

Figures 7 and 8 show an alternative Tee-joint connector adapted particularly for fixing a panel to a wall or flat structure .

The connector has a bridge 80 and an upper pair of tongues 82 joined by a spine 84. Extending outwards from the spine 84 below the tongues 82 is an ear 86 adapted to be secured to a wall 88 (Figure 8). To the right the connector has a similar pair of tongues 90 and an ear 92, except that on this side the tongues are below the ear. Fixing holes 94 are formed in the ears 86, 92 and the tongues have screw fixing holes 96, similar to the apertures 67, 68 of the connector of Figure 6. As shown in Figure 8, the bridge 80 is fitted into a suitably recessed part of the filler between two boards 98, Whose ends are thus engaged between the respective pair of tongues 82 and 90. A screw 1.00 (only one shown) is then passed through each of the pairs of tongues to draw them together against the boards 98; and a further pair of screws 102 (only one shown) are then used to secure the connector to the wall 88.

The connector of Figure 7 can, as described, be fixed to the sandwich panel before being secured to the wall or the like, and it is therefore in use more flexible than the connector of Figure 6.

Figures 9 to 11 show a modified connector similar to Figure 1, end is also fabricated from a single sheer. .τιprai stamping.

The connector has a pair of spines 113 and 114 along the middle of each of which is formed a reinforcing rib 116.

A pair of inner tongues or panels 118 extend to the left from the lower inner sides of the spines 113 and 114, while a similar pair of panels 120 extend to the right from the upper inner sides of the spines .

The respective pairs of panels 118 and 120 are PRCV. connected by a bridge 122 whose upper and lower edges are scalloped so as to reduce the amount of metal in the central section of the bridge. As with the ceramic links 311_^ and 31r_ of the connector of Figure 3, in the event of a fire the scalloped bridges 122 have the effect of minimising the heat transfer between the opposed boards of the composite panels to which the connector is fitted. Each bridge 122 is stiffened by a reinforcing rib 124, similar to the ribs 116.

Extending from the outer sides of the spines 113 and 114, and confronting the respective panels 118 and 120 are four outer tongues or lugs 126, each having a circular countersunk or dished portion 128 formed at the end of a relatively narrow strip 130, as best seen in Figures 10 and 11. Each dished portion 128 is formed with a centra] hole 132 through which in use a self-tapping screw can be passed to enter a smaller hole 134 in the confronting inner panel, such as panel 120.

The lugs 126 are likewise shaped (as the scalloped bridges 1^'22) to reduce the amount of metal which would be exposed to heat in the event of a fire, and thereby minimise heat transfer.

Claims

1. A connector for fastening around the edges of a composite panel formed by two spaced boards, characterised by a pair of first inner tongues (15) engageable with the inside margins of the two boards, a bridge piece (191J connecting the pair of first tongues, and a first outer member (16) associated with each first tongue and engageable with the outside margin of the respective board.

2. A connector according to claim 1 characterised in that each outer member is an outer tongue (16) joined by a spine (13, 14) to the associated adjacent inner tongue (15).

3. A connector according to claim 1 or claim 2 characterised by a pair of second tongues (llr_) and a pair of second outer members (12r), the second tongues and second outer members being substantially in alignment with the respective first tongues and first outer members, but facing in the opposite direction, whereby said composite panel can be connected to an aligned second composite panel.

4. A connector according to any one of claims 1 to 3 characterised by fastener means (70) for securing each outer member to the associated inner tongue so as to compress the respective board therebetween.

5. A connector according to any preceding claim characterised in that the bridge piece (19] includes a section of reduced thermal conductivity, in particular of thermally insulating material (313 . ^•

6. A connector according to any one of claims 3 to 5 characterised in that each first inner tongue and associated first outer member are connected with the adjacent second inner tongue and second outer member at each side by a common spine (13, 14), the parts being offset so that the connector can be fabricated from a single sheet of material.

7. A connector according to any one of claims 3 to 6 characterised in that the bridge piece (122) and the outer members (126) are shaped to present a minimum area, so as to reduce heat transfer in the event of a fire. (Figure

9)

8. A connector according to claim 3 characterised in that each first and second outer members comprises a plate (42) connectable with a groove (44) adjacent the inner tongue (41) . (Figure 4)

9. A connector according to claim 2 characterised in that the bridge piece is stepped to form a section (71) aligned with said spines and having an aperture therethrough for securement to a flat surface. (Figure 6)

10. A connector according to claim 2 characterised in that each spine extends to form an ear (92) for securement to a flat surface. (Figure 7)