US3680835A

US3680835A - Tie rod puller

Info

Publication number: US3680835A
Application number: US91689A
Authority: US
Inventors: Arthur W Rose
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1970-11-23
Filing date: 1970-11-23
Publication date: 1972-08-01
Anticipated expiration: 1989-08-01

Abstract

A tool for exerting a pulling force on a tie rod extending between opposing walls of a concrete form to draw the walls into contact with wall spacing shoulders on the tie rod. The tie rod puller has a lever with a handle at one end and a transverse fulcrum projecting beyond opposite sides of the lever between its handle and other end, and a puller arm pivoted on the other lever end and having tie rod gripping means at its free end. In use, the puller arm is inserted between the reinforcing timbers or socalled ''''whalers'''' of one form wall to a position of gripping engagement with the tie rod wherein the lever fulcrum engages the whalers at the sides of the lever and a force is exerted on the lever handle in a direction to exert a pulling force on the tie rod and thereby draw the form walls toward one another into contact with the tie rod spacing shoulders.

Description

United States Patent Primary Examiner-Andrew R. .luhasz Assistant Examiner-David R. Melton Attorne'y-Boniard I. Brown Rose [4 1 Aug. 1, 1972 v[54] TIE ROD PULLER [72] Inventor: Arthur W. Rose, 3917 Pamela [57] ABSTRACT Road, Chino, Calif- 91710 A tool for exerting a pulling force on a tie rod extend- [22] Filed: Nov. 23 1970 ing between opposing walls of a concrete form to draw the walls into contact with wall spacing shoulders on PP 91,639 the tie rod. The tie rod puller has a lever with a handle r at one end and a transverse fulcrum projecting beyond 52 L U opposite sides of the lever between its handle and 35}: other end, and a puller arm pivoted on the other lever [58] Field A 30 131 end and having tie rod gripping means at its free end.

In use, the puller arm is inserted between the reinforc- [56] References Cited ing timbers or so-called whalers" of one form wall to a position of gripping engagement with the tie rod UNITED STATES PATENTS wherein the lever fulcrum engages the Whalers at the sides of the leverand a force is exerted on the lever handle in a direction to exert a pulling force on the tie rod and thereby draw the form walls toward one another into contact with the tie rod spacing shoulders.

2 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAus 1 I972 I lNl/EA/TOR ARTHUR 14 R055 ATMEA/EY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION I 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to the construction field and more particularly to a tie rod puller for use in the erection of concrete forms.

2. Discussion of the Prior Art Concrete shapes such as walls and the like are often poured on the job site with the aid of forms having spaced walls. Each wall has an inner facing sheet of plywood or the like secured to an outer frame including spaced timbers, such as 2 X 4's, commonly referred to as whalers. A form is constructed by placing the form walls side by side, passing tie rods between the walls, and exerting a pulling force on each tie rod to draw the walls toward one another into contact with spacing shoulders on the tie rod. The rod ends extend between the outer form wall whalers and are secured to the walls by means of wedges, referred to as hair pins whichare wedged tightly between heads on the rod ends and the whalers. These hair pins retain the inner wall facing sheets in firm seating contact with the tie rod spacing shoulders which, in turn, provide the proper spacing between the facing sheets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a tie rod puller for use in constructing such concrete forms. The puller has a lever with a handle at one end and a transverse fulcrum extending beyond opposite sides of the lever between its handle and other end. A puller arm is pivotally joined at one end to the other end of the lever. On the oppositefree end of the puller arm are tie rod gripping means.

In use of the tool, its puller arm is inserted between the outer reinforcing whalers of one form wall and the gripping means on the arm are placed in gripping engagement with the end of a tie rod extending from the opposing form wall. At this time the remote end of the rodwill be anchored to the opposing wall by a wedge or hair pin. The lever fulcrum is then engaged with the adjacent form wall whalers, and a force is exerted on the lever handle to rock the lever in a direction to exert a pulling force on the tie rod.

This lever action and pulling force draw the form walls together into seating contact with wall spacing shoulders on the tie rod. These shoulders provide the correct spacing between the walls. When the walls have thus been properly positioned, the pulled end of the rod is anchored to the adjacent form wall by means of a second wedge or hair pin to retain the walls in contact with the tie rod spacing shoulders.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a horizontal cross-section through a concrete form embodying a tie rod to be pulled by the present tie rod puller;

FIG. 2 is a section taken on line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section similar to FIG. 1 illustrating a present tie rod pulling tool in position for exerting a pulling force on the tie rod;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side elevation of the tie rod puller;

FIG. 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a section taken on line 6--6, in FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2, the illustrated concrete form 10 has a pair of spaced walls 12 joined by a tie rod 14. Each wall 12 has an inner facing sheet 16 of plywood or the like and an outer reinforcing frame 18 including timbers 20 which seat against and are secured to the outer surface of the facing sheet. Timbers 22, such as 2 X 4s, commonly referred to as whalers, are secured to the frame timbers 20.

Tie rod 14 comprises a slender metal rod 24 proper with enlarged heads 26 at its ends. The central portion of the rod 24 mounts a pair of collars 28 which provide form wall spacing shoulders 30 and are fixed against movement along the rod by crimping the latter or in any other convenient way.

In the finished form 10, the walls 12 are disposed side by side with their facing sheets 16 in confronting relation. The tie rod 14 extends between the walls and through their facing sheets and the spaces between the whalers 22. The facing sheets seat against the tie rod spacing shoulders 30 which provide the proper spacing betweenthe walls. The outer ends of the tie rod are anchored to the walls 12 by wedges or hairpins 32 which are wedged tightly between the tie rod heads 26 and whalers 18 to retain the walls in contact with the tie rod spacing shoulders 30.

Turning now to FIGS. 36, there is illustrated a present tie rod puller 34 for aiding installation of the tie rod 14 and other similar rods in the concrete form 10. Tie rod puller 34 has a lever 36 with a handle 38 at one end and a transverse fulcrum 40 between the handle and the opposite end 42 of the lever. Fulcrum 40 is a metal block which is welded or otherwise rigidly joined to the lever 36 along one longitudinal edge 44 of the lever. The outer longitudinal'edge 46 of the fulcrum provides a fulcrum edge which extends laterally to opposite sides of the lever. For reasons which will appear presently, the lever handle 38 preferably slopes away from the lever edge 44 in the direction of the free end of the handle.

Pivotally attached by a rivet 48 to the end 42 of lever 36 is a puller arm 50. The pivot axis of the arm is normal to the arm and parallel to the lever fulcrum edge 46. The free end 52 of the arm 50 turns at a slight angle and is laterally enlarged to provide the arm with a relatively broad side face 54. As shown best in FIG. 5, the free end 52 of the puller arm 50 has a flange 56 along one longitudinal edge which projects laterally beyond the arm face 54 and then turns toward the opposite longitudinal edge of the arm to define a channel 58 opening toward the latter edge. A gripping pawl or dag 60 is pivotally mounted on the arm face 54 opposite the channel 58. Dag 60 has an arcuate serrated gripping edge 62 whose radius from the pivot axis of the dag increases in the counterclockwise direction, as the dag is viewed in FIG. 4. As explained below, the flange 56 and dag 60 together constitute a tie rod gripping means 64.

The tie rod puller 34 is used in the following manner. The tie rod 14 is inserted one end first through the walls 12 of the concrete form 10 in the usual manner with a wedge or hair pin 32 at the opposite end of the rod, as shown in FIG. 3. Prior to placement of a hair pin on the leading end of the tie rod, the puller arm 50 of the tie rod puller 34 is inserted between the adjacent form wall whalers 22 and the gripping means 64 are engaged in gripping relation with the leading rod end in the manner shown in FIG. 3. This is accomplished by rotating the gripping dag 60 away from the gripping flange 56, engaging the tie rod member 24 laterally in the As noted earlier and shown in FIG. ,4, the lever handle 38 slopes away from the lever edge mounting the fulcrum 40. This handle slope provides clearance between the handle and the form wall whalers 22 to channel 58 formed by the flange, and rotating the dag 5 permit h h dl t b i d f l i a lli into contact with the rod. Owing to the eccentric location of the dag pivot axis relative to its serrated gripping edge, a right-hand longitudinal pulling force on the puller arm 50 in FIG. 4 tends to rotate the dag 60 clockwise relative to the arm into gripping engagement with the tie rod, with a gripping force which increases as the pulling force increases.

After engagement of the gripping means 64 with the tie rod, a pulling force is exerted on the rod by engaging the fulcrum edge 46 of the puller fulcrum 40 with the outer edges of the form wall whalers 22 and exerting a counterclockwise force on the lever handle 38, as shown in FIG. 3. This force rotates the lever 36 counterclockwise on the fulcrum edge, thereby exerting a right-hand pulling force on the tie rod 14 through the puller arm 50. The form walls 12 are thereby drawn toward one another into firm seating contact with the tie rod wall spacing shoulders 30. A wedge or hair pin 32 is then placed between the whalers 22 and the adjacent tie rod head 26 and driven lengthwise with a hammer to firmly wedge the hair pin in place. The wedging action of the hair pin retains the form walls 12 in firm seating contact with the tie rod spacing shoulders 30 which provide the proper spacing between the form walls 12.

force to the handle.

What is claimed as new in support of Letters Patent 1. A tie rod puller, comprising:

a lever having a handle at one end and a fulcrum rigidly joined to and projecting from one edge of said lever between said handle and the other end of said lever,

said fulcrum having a fulcrum edge along the side of said fulcrum remote from said lever about which said lever is rockable on a rocking axis transverse to the longitudinal axis of the lever,

a puller arm,

means pivotally joining one end of said arm to said other lever end on a pivot axis parallel to said rocking axis, and

gripping means on the other end of said arm for releasably gripping a tie rod to be pulled.

2. A tie rod puller according to claim 1 wherein:

said fulcrum edge extends along said rocking axis beyond opposite sides of said lever a substantial distance in comparison to the thickness of said lever measured parallel to the fulcrum edge.

Claims

1. A tie rod puller, comprising: a lever having a handle at one end and a fulcrum rigidly joined to and projecting from one edge of said lever between said handle and the other end of said lever, said fulcrum having a fulcrum edge along the side of said fulcrum remote from said lever about which said lever is rockable on a rocking axis transverse to the longitudinal axis of the lever, a puller arm, means pivotally joining one end of said arm to said other lever end on a pivot axis parallel to said rocking axis, and gripping means on the other end of said arm for releasably gripping a tie rod to be pulled.

2. A tie rod puller according to claim 1 wherein: said fulcrum edge extends along said rocking axis beyond opposite sides of said lever a substantial distance in comparison to the thickness of said lever measured parallel to the fulcrum edge.