US3010175A - Tie-wire for concrete forms - Google Patents

Description

Nov, 28, 1961 J. C. SHO EMA'KER 3 010 175 TIE-WIRE CONCRETE FORMS Original Filed Jan. 15, 1958 III U IIH United States Patent 6 3,010,175 TIE-WIRE FOR CONCRETE FORMS James C. Shoemaker, Loves Paris, 111., assignor to Simplex Forms System, Inc., Rockford, 111., a corporation of Illinois Original application Jan. 13, 1958, Ser. No. 708,467, now Patent No. 2,920,371, dated Jan. 12, 1960." Divided and this application Aug. 10, 1959, Ser. No. 832,736

1 Claim. (Cl. 25-131) This application is a division of my co-pending application, Serial No. 708,467, filed January 13, 1958, (now Patent No. 2,920,371, issued January 12, 1960) which in turn is a continuation-in-part of another copending application, Serial No. 533,329, filed September9, 1955, which resulted in Patent No. 2,898,659, issued August 11, 1959.

This invention relates to improvements in tie-wires for use with concrete forms.

In the setting up of concrete forms, as disclosed in my co-pending application Serial No. 708,467 and also in my Patent 2,825,956, issued March 11, 1958, an elongated lever pivoted at one end on one of two abutting form sections has a slot provided in its other end portion extending from one longitudinal edge to receive the outer end portion of the tie-wire for the two-fold-purpose of causing abutment of one pair of shoulders: on the' Wire with the back of a metal strip on one of the form sections and also tight abutment 'of another pair of shoulders on the wire with the lever, whereby to fix the form sections of the inner and outer walls of the form in a pro-determined spaced relationship and tie abutting form sections together simultaneously in aligned relationship. In accordance with the present invention, I provide improved tie-wires having, in addition to the usual snap-ofi point inside the forms at or adjacent the surface of the concrete wall, another snapoif point outside the forms adjacent the outer pair of shoulders on the wire adapted to be fractured upon bending or twisting of the wire, so that after the poured concrete has hardened in the forms and while the levers are still inter-engaged with the tie-wires to hold the same against turning, the protruding tip or end portion of the tie-wires may be bent or twisted off to free the levers and the associated form sections relative to the tie-wires for quicker and much easier stripping of the form sections from the concrete wall. Flats are provided on the extremities of the tiewires designed for application of a tool for twisting off the extremities at the aforesaid weakened portions. The additional snapotl portion is defined by grooves or crimps impressed in the Wires next to the outer pair of shoulders, similar grooves or crimps being impressed in' the wires idea of how theshoulders are formed by the-two-way squeezing of the wire at each of the four points in longitudinally spaced relationship and also how the crimps define the weakening which enables easily snapping off the protruding tip or end portion of the tie-wire next to the g lever that is interengaged with it;

at a pre-determined distance inwardly from the outer ends to enable snapping off the protruding portions of the wires at or adjacent the surface of the concrete wall after the forms are stripped therefrom.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a concrete form structure in which tie-wires made in accordance with my invention are illustrated;

FIG. 2 is a section on the line 22 of FIG. 1 showing my improved tie-wire to better advantage.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one end portion of a tie-Wire shown substantially twice size to give a better FIG. 4 is an isolated view of the tie-Wire of FIG. 2 as viewed from above, and

FIG. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts throughout the views.

Referring to the drawing, and first mainly to FIG. 1, the reference numerals 8 and 9 designate the inner and outer walls, respectively, of a concrete form structure made in accordance with my invention. Each of these walls is made up of a number of fairly small and light rectangular panel form sections 10. Each section may, for example, be about two feet wide and about eight feet long, the length being equivalent to the depth of the basement whose walls are to be made from poured concrete. .The sections 10 are disposed in edge to edge abutting relation and secured together by spacer pins or tiewires 11 and locking bars or levers 12, with the inner and outer walls 8 and 9-held in uniformly spaced relation and the sections 10 in each of these walls secured together firmly in coplanar relationship and tight abutment. Each section 10 is preferably of wooden construcnesshaving horizontally extending fiat metal strips 13 secured to the outer side thereof, usually at three levels, namely, at the top, middle and bottom portions of the form sections, althoughmore strips may be employed in the case of form sections for a deeper basement. Screws 14 are used in the fastening of the strips and are preferably entered in sleeve nuts, the heads of which come flush with the inner side of the panels. In the construction of each of the walls 8 and 9, the panels 10 are disposed in edge to edge abutment, excepting at the corners of the structure, where certain variations in this arrangement become necessary. The tie-wires 11, which serve as spacer pins between. walls 8 and 9, extend through notches 15 provided in one end of each panel and have near each end inner and outer shoulders 16 and 17 defined at opposite ends of a vertically flattened portion 18 that is adapted to be entered freely in a bayonet slot 19 in the projecting end portion 20 of a strip 13, whereby loosely to space a form section 10 of the outer Wall 9 preliminary to the final lockup and rigid fastening together of sections in walls 8 and 9 by means of the locking bars or levers 12. The spacer pins or tie-wires 11 are positively connected to the form sections in the slots 19 well enough to serve as coupling pins to be connected to by levers 12 for positively' pulling neighboring form sections in walls 8 and 9 into tight abutment.

When the bars or levers 12 are applied to the spacer pins or tie-Wires 11 serving in their dual capacity both as spacer pins and as coupling pins, the inner and outer walls 8 and 9 are tied together in rigidly spaced relationship, and at the same time the neighboring form sections 10 in each of said walls are tied together in coplanar relationship and tight abutment. The locking bars or levers 12, as disclosed in my Patent 2,825,956, are permanently pivotally secured near one end of'each form section 10 on the reduced smooth cylindrical shank portions 3 provided behind the heads of bolts 21, each of these bolts being entered through a vertical slot 22 in one of the locking bars 12 and through a registering hole in strips 13 and into a sleeve nut, similarly as screws 1 -1. Thus, the locking bars 12 may be swung about the bolts 21 as pivots and also may be adjusted bodily up or down in planes parallel to the outer faces of the form sections at right angles to the ends of the tie-wires 11, each of the bars being arranged to engage the flattened portions 18 of these wires in a slot 23 provided in the free ends of the locking bars. This accomplishes a double tieup or lockup action, namely, the tying together in rigidly spaced relation of the inner and outer walls 8 and 9, and at the same time the tying together in coplanar relationship and tight abutment of the neighboring form sections of these inner and outer walls. edge portion of each locking bar 12 is bevelled onopposite sides of the slot 23 on the outer side, to facilitate the interlocking engagement of the ends of the tie-wires 11 in the slots 23 so that the form sections 10 may be wedged into their final assembled positions as the bars 12 are forced downwardly into tying position. Theelongation vertically of the slots 22 has a two-fold advantage, namely, it enable shifting the bars 12 bodily upwardly or downwardly, as may be necessary to compensate for run-out of the strips 13 from coplanar disposition of the adjoining ends that are to be coupled together on neighboring form sections, and it also enables easier coupling where the ends of the strips13 to be coupled together do not happen to be in abutment or close to abutment, in which case the sliding of the bar 12 downwardly in relation to the bolt 21 gives a slightly longer radius than is usually needed to permit engagement of the projecting end of the tie-wire 11 in the. slot 23, after which it is a simple matter to jog the bar 12 upwardly to locate the bolt 21 nearer the middle of the slot 22, thereby drawing together the ends of the neighboring form sections by cam action much more tightly than would otherwise be possible. To obtain greater rigidity of the formstructure as a whole and at the same time secure more accurate alignment of the ends of the strips 13 and panels 10, and accordingly improve the smoothness of the foundation at the joints between abutting form sections, another bolt 21' is provided in spaced relation to the bolt 21, nearer the end of the strip 13 and at a slightly lower elevation than the bolt 21, as clearly appears in FIG. 1. This bolt 21 is secured to the panel 10 and strip 13 by means'of a sleeve nut in the same way as the bolt 21, and to cooperate with an additional slot 25 is provided intermediate the ends of the bar 12 opening from the same longitudinal edge as the slot 23, and this additional slot receives the head end of the bolt 21, as shown in the upper level in FIG. 1, when the bar 12 is swung down to locking position; That side of the slot 25 nearest the bolt 21 is cut away, as indicated at 26, so that the slot is actually V-shaped and is wide enough at the lower end to receive the reduced shank portion on the head end of the bolt 21, regardless of which end of the slot 22 is used in the pivoting of the bar 12 with respect to bolt 21. Inasmuch as the bar 12 is held by bolt 21' against even such slight deflection with respect to the strip 13 as might otherwise be permitted if only the bolt 21 was relied upon, it follows that when the bar 12 is moved home to locking position there is bound to be more accurate alignment of the ends of the strips 13 and accordingly also of the panels 10, and the connection between the strips is bound to be far more rigid and the rigidity of the form structure as a whole is increased, and, due

to the fact that the form sections are maintained in more accurate alignment, theresulting foundation is smoother at the joints between 'the abutting form sections than would otherwise be true. However, to still further in sure closer accuracy of alignment'of the abutting form sections I may also'provide, as shown in FIG. 1, lineup rails or stringers 27 of channel shaped cross-section to As indicated at 24, the lower fit down over the upper edge portions of the panels 10 and spanning the joints 28 between the abutting sections. These lineup rails are sulficiently above the level to which the concrete is usually poured in the form structure so that there will be nothing to interfere with easy removal of these rails when the forms are to be stripped from the foundation. The lower edge portions 29 in these rails are flared outwardly to facilitate entering the upper edge portions of the panels 10 therein. The lineup rails will, of course, be used on both the inner and outer walls 8 and 9 of the form structure although one is shown in FIG. 1 applied only to the outer wall 9.

The spacer pins or tiewires 11, which are preferably of semi-hard wire, originally of circular section, are flattened first in a horizontal plane the full length'thereof, as indicated in FIG. 5, to provide parallel flat faces 30 on the top and bottom of the pin the full length thereof,

excepting only at the four places 31, 32 33, and 34, where the wire is subjected to a second squeeze or flattening in a vertical plane to define the shoulders 16 and 17 at opposite ends of each of these vertically flattened porportions 31-34, as indicated at 35, with a view to 'defining a thinner and hence weaker section where first the protruding tip or end portion of the tie-wire outside the forms may be most easily snapped off. With this form of tie-wire -a wrench W, as indicated in FIG. 4, can be applied to the flats 36 on the protruding tip or end portions of the tie-wires 11 to twist the same ofl? at the shoulders 17' to loosen the lev'ers 12 so that they can be disconnected more easily from the tie-wires after the concrete has set and the forms are ready to be stripped from the wall. The tie-wires 11 are held by the levers 12 against turning so that this twisting off operation on the protruding tip or end portion is made easy. Of course, after the forms have been stripped from the wall the same wrench can be applied to the flattened portions 31 and 34 to snap off the rest of the protruding end portions of the tiewires at or adjacent the surface of the concrete wall. The vertically flattened extremities 36 are defined between the adjoining lengths defining the separate tie-wires, Where the individual wires are sheared ofi from a continuous length ofv wire after the completion of the second flattening operation.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claim has been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

In combination, a pair of panel sections disposed in coplanar edge to edge abutment to define a joint in one of two walls of a concrete form structure, a tie-wire disposed at right angles to said panel sections and extending through said joint to space said abutting panel sections from another pair of similarly abutting panel sections in the other wall of said concrete form structure,

means for rigidly-but detachably connecting said first mentioned panel sections in abutting coplanar relation comprising a slotted elongated member disposed in transverse relationship to said joint and abutting the outer side of said panel sections and pivotally'connected at its one end to one of said abutting panel sections for swinging movement to and from tying position, said member being detachably connectible by its slotted portion in the tying position to the protruding end portion of said tiewire and to the other of said abutting panel sections, the protruding end portion of said tie-wire having parallel flat surfaces defined on opposite sides thereof behind shoulders to fit in the slotted portion of the elongated member with the shoulders abutting the outer face thereof to prevent outward displacement of said panel sections relative to said tie-wire, the extremity of the protruding end portion of said tie-wire being formed to fit a tool for twisting off said protruding end portion including said shoulders while the tie-wire is held against turning by engagement in the slotted portion of said member, there being a weaker section on said tie-wire immediately behind said shoulders to facilitate the twisting ofl? of the protruding end portion, whereby to speed up stripping of the form sections from a poured concrete wall after the concrete has set.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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