Patent Application
20140270983
Not applicable.
Not Applicable
Not Applicable.
The present invention relates to an anchor particularly suited as an anchor for concrete and to an anchoring system for fixing the anchor in place.
Many different anchors and anchoring systems have been proposed some of which are particularly suited to providing an anchor that may be embedded in concrete and to which other structure(s) may be attached. See for example EPC application published as no 0029354 on May 27, 1981: Canadian patent application no 2,703,627 published May 14, 2009 U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,771,746; 4,339,217; 4,393,638; 4,770,580; 4,789,284; 4,968,200; 5,531,535; 5,352,077; 5,921,733; and 6,851,492; and US Patent Applications 2008/0310930; 2011/0062617; and 2012/0192404. The common theme in these inventions is to provide some form of undercut in the bore hole in which the anchor is to be secured and expand a part of the anchor to substantially fill the undercut area. In some most of these patents the anchor itself is provided with some form of cutter that forms the undercut or in some cases expanding part of the anchor is simply forced into the surrounding medium, so the anchor itself forms the and to substantially fill and/or block off entrance to the undercut area so as to stop flow of material past the expanded portion.
US patent application 2011/0062617 is different in that it teaches applying vibrations to a fluid to define pores in the material to which the anchor is being embedded
It is an object of the present invention to provide an anchoring system that is particularly suited to providing an anchor suited for use in concrete and the like and which permits the effective use of a resin such as epoxy resin to more securely hold the anchor in position whether in an upright or inverted position.
Broadly the present invention relates to an anchor system comprising an anchor having a shaft, a head adjacent to one end of said shaft and extending laterally of said shaft, a sleeve surrounding said shaft and extending axially thereof, a rectangular plate having a major and a minor axis, said plate having a substantially V-shape the apex of which is substantially parallel to said minor axis, said plate having a central hole through which said shaft passes and being positioned on said shaft between said head and said sleeve so that movement of said sleeve along said shaft towards said head deforms said V-shape into a substantially plainer configuration with the ends of said plate on said major axis extending laterally beyond said head and means for a moving said sleeve axially of said shaft.
Preferably, the apex is adjacent to said sleeve.
Preferably the system further comprises a bore hole having an open end and a closed end remote from the open end, an undercut section formed in said bore hole spaced from said open end, said anchor being positioned within said bore hole and said ends of said plate with said plate deformed into said substantially plainer configuration being received in said undercut section.
Preferably the system further comprises a cover closing said open end, said cover including an inlet for passage of a resin into said bore hole and an outlet for venting gases from said bore hole.
Preferably an venting tube extends from adjacent said closed end to said outlet for venting gases.
Preferably the system further comprises further comprising a resin substantially filling said bore hole around said anchor and including said undercut section.
The present invention also relates to a method of installing and anchor using a resin to improve the connection of the anchor to the substrate in which it is mounted comprising cutting an undercut in a bore hole between an open end and a closed end of said bore hole, mounting an anchor in the bore hole by deforming a plate into the undercut, said plate occupying a minor amount of space in said undercut and being smaller than said bore hole to permit access for resin injected from said open end to pass said plate and enter into said undercut from the side of said plate adjacent to said open end and fill said undercut and thereby surround said anchor with said resin.
Preferably said bore hole is inverted so that said closed end of said bore hole is at an elevation higher than the elevation of said open end and said open end is closed by a cap and resin is injected through said cap and a passage is provided from said cap to said closed end, said passage venting of air from said bore hole as said resin is injected.
Further features, objects and advantages will be evident from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which;
As shown in
A pressure applicator 22 which when the shaft 12 is threaded as in the preferred embodiment is in the form of a nut thread on the treads of the shaft 12 and which is turned to move the sleeve along the shaft and press the plate 16 toward the head 20 thereby distorting the plate and causing it to expand to its expanded position as shown in dash lines at 24 in
In its initial condition (before distortion into the expanded position shown in dash lines at 24) the plate 16 is substantially V-shaped with the apex 26 of the V-shape which acts as a hinge preferably positioned adjacent to the sleeve 14, as shown, but it may be inverted if desired.
The plate 16 has a major axis (longitudinal axis) as indicated at 28 and a mutually perpendicular minor axis 30, the major axis 28 in effect depicts the longer length of the plate 16 after deformation of the plate 16 into its expanded condition as indicated by the dash lines at 24 of
Turning to
As shown in
After the anchor 10 has been positioned as described it is preferred to fill the bore hole 40 including the undercut 42 with a suitable resin as indicated at 62 (see
The cap 70 may be held in position via a suitable nut 82 threaded to the shaft 12 and the height of the anchor 10 in a non-inverted (upright) bore hole 40 may be adjusted by changing the axial spacing between the plate 16 and the cap 70 using the nut 82.
Thus in practicing the method of the present invention bore hole 40 is first made and then an undercut 42 is produced in the hole 40 preferably using the tool 100. The anchor 10 is positioned in the bore hole 40 with the plate 16 at the required level relative to the undercut 42 and the plate 16 distorted by applying pressure to the sleeve 14 to squeeze the plate 16 between the sleeve 14 and the head 20 and thereby change the configuration of the plate 16 from the initial V-shape to a substantially plainer final shape with the ends 50 and 52 of the plate 16 received in the undercut 42. The cover 70 is then applied and if the application is to an inverted bore hole 40 as shown in
In some cases if the space between the undercut 42 and the closed end 60 is sufficient the venting of air may not be required and the trapped air simply compressed provided sufficient resin can be injected to substantially fill the bore hole 40 to about the level of the wall 58
If the bore hole is in upright position it will be apparent that the tube 80 may be omitted and in many cases the venting outlet for air may be provided by an imperfect seal of the cover 70 to the substrate in which the anchor 10 is being used
Having described the invention, modifications will be evident to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
