AU609321B2

AU609321B2 - A space frame

Info

Publication number: AU609321B2
Application number: AU38265/89A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Edwin Thomas Codd
Original assignee: Harley Systems Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Harley Systems Pty Ltd
Priority date: 1988-07-29
Filing date: 1989-07-20
Publication date: 1991-04-26
Anticipated expiration: 2009-07-20
Also published as: AU3826589A

Description

-Im 31-- l L 111111 i i"~l 60932 L This doctuent contins the arnendnii s imade utnder Section 49 and is corrc for printing.

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1952 t t t 'It.

ft Ir Name of Applicant Address of Applicant Actual Inventor Address for Service HARLEY SYSTEMS PTY LTD 10 Shettleston Street, Rocklea, Queensland, 4106, Australia Edwin Thomas CODD GRANT ADAMS COMPANY, Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 333 Adelaide Street, BRISBANE. QUEENSLAND. 4000

AUSTRALIA.

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ft f 1a ft COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR THE INVENTION ENTITLED: "A SPACE FRAME" ft* 2 ft p.4.

ft S The following statement is a full description of the invention including the best method of performing it known to the applicant.

oo o 00 9 o 0 0 0 «1 09.9 9 0 e o o o p 0o 0 0 9 9 e a l| Q t !f B s 6 THIS INVENTION relates to a space frame.

The space frame described and illustrated in the specification of our Australian Patent Application No. 28695/89 is of double-layer flat grid type, in which one grid is skewed or angularly displaced by relative to the other, the two grids being so arranged that the centres of the rectangles or squares of the upper grid are directly above the centres of the larger rectangles or squares of the lower grid. The nodes of the two grids are rigidly interconnected by oblique struts which lie in the vertical planes of the longitudinal and lateral chords of the lower grid.

The general object of the present invention is to provide a space frame of this type which is 15 particularly simple to make and to assemble.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention resides. broadly in a space frame of double-layer flat grid type~wherein, at a nod-: two chords are superimposed; one pair of opposed oblique struts in a vertical plane through one chord have terminals disposed on that chord; a second pair of opposed oblique struts lying in a vertical plane through the other chord have 25 terminals interposed between the two chords; the chords and the strut terminals at the node are interconnected by connecting means passed through the chords and the strut terminals and each pair of opposed oblique struts is asingle unit comprising a pair of struts interconnected by and diverging from a common terminal. Preferably the common terminal of each pair of struts is formed with a single bolt hole and the connecting means includes a single bolt or the like through the chords and the common strut terminals.

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Other features of the invention will become apparent from the following description.

In order that a preferred embodiment of the inventiun may be readily understood and carried into practical effect, reference is now made to the accompanying drawings, wherein: FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of part of a space frame of the type in which one grid is skewed relative to the other; FIG. 2 is a partly broken-away perspective view of a member forming a pair of oblique struts of the space frame; and 0U FIG. 3 is a partly broken-away perspective view of interconnected nodes of the upper and lower 15 grids of the space frame shown in FIG. 1.

o0 In the space frame shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1, the lower grid is composed of longitudinal chords 10 and lateral chords 11 arranged in squares.

The upper grid is composed of a series of chords 12 and a perpendicular series of chords 13 which are assembled in squares. These squares of the upper grid are smaller than those of the lower grid and their chords are, in *t plan view, at angles of 45 to the chords of the lower grid, each lower grid node 14 (except for those at the corners or sides of the space frame) being directly below the centre of a square of the upper grid and therefore equidistant from four nodes 15 of the upper pltt Le grid. The location of oblique struts 16 interconnecting the nodes of the upper and lower grids are indicated in broken lines in FIG. 1, these struts lying in vertical planes through the chords 10 and 11 of the lower grid.

The chords 10 and 11 of the lower grid and the chords 12 and 13 of the upper grid are all of fairly light gauge sheet metal roll-formed to lipped channel shape. At each node of the upper and the lower grid one 3

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i r S t I ait a a iir I Ii a Ia ae a a t at it t~ t t I chord member is superimposed on the other, the upper with its channel opening upwards, the lower one reversed so its channel opens downwards.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the struts or web members 16 are made as unitary pairs, each of which is formed of a single length of metal tube which at its middle is formed with a flattened section to serve as a middle terminal plate 17 and through which a single bolt hole 18 is formed. The two tubular sections or struts 16 diverge from this middle terminal plate and each, at its distal end, is flattened to form an outer terminal plate 19 which is substantially parallel to the middle terminal plate, is mitred at its extremity and has a single bolt hole 20 formed through it.

15 At each upper grid node 15 two outer terminal plates 19 of two of the double strut members are interposed between the superimposed upper chord 12 and lower chord 13 and are secured by bolts 21 through the chords and interposed strut terminal plates.

Preferably, as shown, four bolts 21 are used at the node, two diagonally opposed bolts securing the strut terminal plates 19 as described, the other two bolts engaging spacer washers (not shown) of equal thickness to the strut terminal plates and interposed between the two chords, At each lower grid node 14 the middle terminal plate 17 connecting one pair of opposed struts 16 is interposed between the lower or inverted chord channel 11 and the upper chord channel 10. The middle terminal plate connecting two other opposed struts 16 is seated within the upper chord channel 10 flush upon its web. A single bolt 22 is passed through registering bolt holes 18 of the two middle terminal plates 17 of the two pairs of struts 16 and through registering bolt holes in the webs of the upper chord channel 10 and the lower chord channel 11.

It will be seen that the components of the space frame may be simply and economically manufactured.

The double strut members which have their middle terminal plates 17 interposed between the lower or inverted chord channels 11 and the upper chord channels of the lower grid of the space frame are made with struts 16 which are somewhat longer than those of the double strut members having their middle terminal plates seated within the upper chord channel 10. However, the strut members of each series may be identical, and the only other struts required for the whole construction are those single strut members located about the periphery of the space frame and which may be as itt •described and illustrated in the specification of our 15 co-pending patent application No. 28695/89.

The attachment of the strut members to the cc 11 lower grid by single bolts permits considerable economies of time and labour in the assembly of the components into a space frame. It should be understood that the particular embodiment of the invention above described and illustrated may be inverted, so that the grid with the larger number of chords and of squares is the lower rather than the upper grid. This and many other modifications of constructional detail and design, which will be readily apparent to skilled persons, are considered to lie within the scope of the invention.

Claims

2. A space frame according to Claim 1 wherein: the common terminal of each pair of struts is formed with a single bolt hole; and the connecting means includes a single bolt or the like through the chords and the common strut ea terminals.
3. A space frame according to either of the 44 preceding claims wherein: the chords of one grid are skewed at angles of about 45' relative to correspobnding chords of the other grid; each said node is in the said other grid and equidistant from nodes of the said one grid; and at each node of the said one grid a pair of opposed oblique struts have terminals interposed between two chords of the said one grid, the chords and the said strut terminals being interconnected by connecting means through the chords and the strut terminals.
4. A space frame according to any one of the preceding claims wherein: 6 j the chords of each grid are channels, the upper of the superimposed chords opening upwardly, the lower of the chords opening downwardly; and each pair of opposed oblique struts is tubular, its middle part being flattened to form the middle terminal, its extremities being flattened and bent to lie in a plane parallel to that of the middle terminal. A space frame substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this seventeenth day of July 1989. HARLEY SYSTEMS PTY LTD By their Patent Attorneys GRANT ADAMS COMPANY. rC III t cI