Patent Application
20150308126
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of structural systems for restraining surface tiles such as for elevated floors, decks and walkways.
2. Description of Related Art
Elevated building surfaces such as elevated floors, decks, terraces and walkways are desirable in many interior and exterior environments. One common system for creating such surfaces includes a plurality of surface tiles, such as concrete tiles (pavers), stone tiles, clay tiles, ceramic tiles, or wood tiles, and a plurality of spaced-apart support pedestals and/or joists or stringers upon which the tiles are placed to be supported above a fixed surface. For example, in outdoor applications, the surface may be elevated above a fixed surface to promote drainage, to provide a level structural surface for walking, and/or to prevent deterioration of or damage to the surface tiles. In indoor applications, the surface may be elevated to allow for pipes and the like to be concealed between the elevated surface and the fixed surface. The pedestals can have a fixed height, or can have an adjustable height such as to accommodate variations in the contour of the fixed surface upon which the pedestals are placed, or to create desirable architectural features.
Although a variety of shapes are possible, in many applications the surface tiles are rectangular in shape, having four corners. In the case of a rectangular shaped tile, each of the spaced-apart support pedestals can therefore support four adjacent surface tiles at the tile corners. Stated another way, each rectangular surface tile can be supported by four pedestals that are disposed under each of the corners of the tile. Large or heavy tiles can be supported by additional pedestals at positions other than at the corners of the tiles.
One example of a support pedestal is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,264 by Buzon, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The support pedestal disclosed by Buzon can be used in outdoor or indoor environments and is capable of supporting heavy loads applied by many types of building surfaces. The pedestal includes a threaded base member and a threaded support member that is threadably engaged with the base member to enable the height of the support pedestal to be adjusted by rotating the support member or the base member relative to the other. The support pedestal can also include an extender member (e.g., a coupling or coupler member) disposed between the base member and the support member for further increasing the height of the pedestal, if necessary.
Support pedestals are also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,363,685 by Kugler, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0261329 by Kugler et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 8,122,612 by Knight, III et al., each of which is also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
In some support systems and structural assemblies for supporting (e.g., elevating) surfaces formed with discrete building surface components, the building surface components are secured (e.g., mechanically, chemically, etc.) to the underlying support structure (e.g., support pedestals, joists, stringers, etc.) to limit adjacent building surface components from moving relative to each other during disruptive vibrations or high wind events. However, such disruptive vibrations or high wind events can cause increased stress on the portions of the building surface components that are secured to the underlying support structure. For instance, the corner portions of the building surface components are sometimes too weak to safely and securely restrict movement of the surface tiles. This problem is particularly significant for surface tiles fabricated from brittle materials, such as concrete, clay, stone, ceramic, composites, and the like.
In this regard, disclosed herein are systems and methods for limiting relative movement (e.g., vertical movement) between adjacent building surface components in a manner that is free of securing (e.g., mechanically attaching, such as by threaded fasteners, clips, etc.) the building surface components to an underlying support structure. In one aspect, an elevated building surface assembly includes a support structure having a plurality of support members disposed in spaced-apart relation on a fixed surface, a plurality of building surface components operatively disposed on the upper portions of the support members, and at least one spline disposed in openings of abutting outer edge segments of first and second adjacent ones of the plurality of building surface components. Each opening extends from a first of a plurality of corner portions of the building surface component to an adjacent second of the corner portions of the building surface component along an outer edge segment of the building surface component. The first corner portions of each of the first and second building surface components are disposed over a first of the plurality of support members, the second corner portions of each of the first and second building surface components are disposed over a second of the plurality of support members that is adjacent the first support member, the first and second building surface components are free of connections to the first and second support members, and the at least one spline is at least partially disposed over at least one of the first and second support members.
In one arrangement, the at least one spline may pass continuously over an entirety of an upper surface of at least one of the first and second support members. In another arrangement, the at least one spline may include first and second opposite ends, where at least one of the first and second ends is not disposed over either of the first and second support members. In a further arrangement, the at least one spline may be at least partially disposed over both of the first and second support members.
In one embodiment, the at least one spline may be disposed in the openings of abutting outer edge segments of third and fourth adjacent ones of the plurality of building surface components, where the outer edge segment of the third building surface component is substantially collinear with outer edge segment of the first building surface component, and where the outer edge segment of the fourth building surface component is substantially collinear with outer edge segment of the second building surface component. For instance, the first corner portions of each of the third and fourth building surface components may be disposed over the second support member, the second corner portions of each of the third and fourth building surface components may be disposed over a third of the support members that is adjacent the second support member, and the third and fourth building surface components may be free of connections to the second and third support members.
In another aspect, a method for use in constructing an elevated building surface assembly locating a plurality of support members upon a fixed surface with a predetermined spacing between the support pedestals, first placing first and second adjacent corner portions of a first of a plurality of building surface components over respective first and second of the plurality of support members, second placing first and second adjacent corner portions of a second of the plurality of building surface components over the first and second support members, and receiving a connecting spline into openings in abutting outer edge segments of the first and second building surface components, where the first and second building surface components are free of connections or attachments to the first and second support members.
In addition to the exemplary aspects and embodiments described above, further aspects and embodiments will become apparent by reference to the drawings and by study of the following descriptions.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
a is an exploded perspective view of a portion of a building surface assembly and showing a restraint spline for use in restraining adjacent building surface components.
b is an exploded perspective view of a portion of a building surface assembly and showing a restraint spline for use in restraining adjacent building surface components, according to another embodiment.
a is an exploded linear perspective view of a restraint spline for receipt in openings of abutting outer edge segments of first and second adjacent building surface components of a building surface assembly.
b is an exploded plan view of the portion of the building assembly of
c is an exploded plan view of the portion of the building assembly of
a-13b are first and second linear perspective views of a building surface component.
The support pedestals 201 can be placed in a spaced-apart relation on fixed surfaces including, but not limited to, rooftops, plazas, over concrete slabs including cracked or uneven concrete slabs or sub-floors and can be placed within fountains and water features and the like. The elevated building surface assembly 100 can be used for both interior and exterior applications. For instance, each of the building surface components 102 may be placed upon several support pedestals 201 to elevate the building surface component 102 above the fixed surface. As illustrated in
The support pedestals 201 forming the support structure 200 may be fixed-height, height-adjustable, or any combination and may be constructed of any appropriate materials (e.g., plastic). Broadly, each support pedestal 201 may include a lower portion that is adapted to be placed upon a fixed surface, an upper portion for receiving a building surface component 102, and a central section extending between or interconnecting (e.g. perpendicularly) the upper and lower portions. As just one example, and referring to
With continued reference to
Those of skill in the art will appreciate that many other types of support pedestals may be utilized in connection with the present invention. Exemplary support pedestals are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,264 by Buzon, U.S. Pat. No. 6,363,685 by Kugler, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0261329 by Kugler et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 7,921,612 by Knight, III et al.; and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0023385 by Knight, III et al. Further, the support pedestals may be interconnected such as in the manner disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0011012 by Knight, III et al. Each of the foregoing U.S. Patents and Patent Publications is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Also, as is noted above, the building surface components may be supported by other means, such as by structural beams, joists, stringers, etc (e.g., see
As discussed previously, it may be desirable or even necessary restrain or limit relative movement between adjacent building surface components 102 in a manner that is free of securing (e.g., affixing, attaching, adhering, etc.) the building surface components 102 to the underlying support structure 200 on or over which the building surface components 102 are supported. In this regard, and turning now to
As shown, the corner portions 110 of the various building surface components 102 may be supported on upper surfaces 222 of a plurality of support pedestals 201, such as, for purposes of illustration, linearly arranged first, second, third and fourth support pedestals 201a, 201b, 201c and 201d (although it is to be understood that more or fewer than four support pedestals 201 could be included in one or more linear rows of the building surface assembly). For instance, first corner portions 1101 of first and second adjacent building surface components 1021, 1022 may be disposed over and supported on the upper surface 222 of the first support pedestal 201a and second corner portions 1102 of the first and second adjacent building surface components 1021, 1022 may be disposed over and supported on the upper surface 222 of the second support pedestal 201b.
As another example, first corner portions 1101 of third and fourth adjacent building surface components 1023, 1024 may be disposed over and supported on the upper surface 222 of the second support pedestal 201b and second corner portions 1102 of the third and fourth adjacent building surface components 1023, 1024 may be disposed over and supported on the upper surface 222 of the third support pedestal 201c, where the outer edge segments 116 of the first and third building surface components 1021, 1023 are substantially collinear and the outer edge segments 116 of the second and fourth building surface components 1022, 1024 are substantially collinear. As a further example, first corner portions 1101 of fifth and sixth adjacent building surface components 1025, 1026 may be disposed over and supported on the upper surface 222 of the third support pedestal 201c and second corner portions 1102 of the fifth and sixth adjacent building surface components 1025, 1026 may be disposed over and supported on the upper surface 222 of the fourth support pedestal 201d, where the outer edge segments 116 of the first, third, and fifth building surface components 1021, 1023, 1025, are substantially collinear and the outer edge segments 116 of the second, fourth and sixth building surface components 1022, 1024, 1026 are substantially collinear.
Furthermore, each of the plurality of building surface components 102 includes an elongated opening 124 (e.g., slot, slit, groove, track, kerf, etc.) in at least one outer edge segment 116 thereof that extends from a first corner portion 1101 to an adjacent second corner portion 1102, where each opening 124 is configured (e.g., sized, shaped, etc.) to receive a portion of the restraint spline 300. With additional reference now to
In use, and with combined reference to
In one arrangement, the first and second corner portions 1101, 1102 of the first building surface component 1021 may be placed over the upper surfaces 222 of the first and second support pedestals 201a, 201b and then the first side surface 312 of the restraint spline 300 may be inserted into the opening 124 of the first building surface component 1021. Thereafter, the first and second corner portions 1101, 1102 of the second building surface component 1022 may be placed over the upper surfaces 222 of the first and second support pedestals 201a, 201b so that the second side surface 316 of the restraint spline 300 is received in the opening 124 of the second building surface component 1022. See
The restraint spline 300 may also be configured to extend through the openings 124 of abutting outer edge segments 116 of additional pairs of adjacent building surface components 102 (e.g., the third and fourth building surface components 1023, 1024, the fifth and sixth building surface components 1025, 1026, etc.) as well as over additional support pedestals 201 (e.g., the third support pedestal 201c, the fourth support pedestal 201d, etc.). For instance, the second, fourth and sixth building surface components 1022, 1024, 1026 may be placed over the upper surfaces 222 of the first, second, third and fourth support pedestals 201a, 201b, 201c and 201d (e.g., as shown in
Thereafter, the first, third and fifth building surface components 1021, 1023, 1025 may be placed over the upper surfaces 222 of the first, second, third and fourth support pedestals 201a, 201b, 201c and 201d so that the first side surface 312 of the restraint spline 300 is received in the openings 124 of the first, third and fifth building surface components 1021, 1023, 1025. At this point, the restraint spline 300 may extend at least from the first corner portions 1101 of the first and second building surface components 1021, 1022 to the second corner portions 1102 of the fifth and sixth building surface components 1025, 1026 (e.g., as well as over the first, second, third and fourth support pedestals 201a, 201b, 201c and 201d). That is, a first end 324 of the restraint spline 300 may be disposed over the upper surface 222 of the first support pedestal 201a and an opposite second end 328 of the restraint spline 300 may be disposed over the upper surface of the fourth support pedestal 201d. Alternatively, all of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth building surface components 1021, 1022, 1023, 1024, 1025, 1025 may be placed over the first, second, third and fourth support pedestals 201a, 201b, 201c and 201d and then the restraint spline 300 maybe longitudinally inserted through the openings 124 so as to extend from the first corner portions 1101 of the first and second building surface components 1021, 1022.
While
a-13b illustrate another embodiment of a building surface component 102″ that may be used with the restraint spline 300 of
Each building surface component 102 may be placed upon a plurality of horizontal support members 400 to elevate the building surface 101′ above the fixed surface. For instance, a first pair of corner portions 110 of a building surface component 102 may be placed over a top of a first horizontal support member 4011 (e.g., free of any connections or attachments between the building surface component 102 and the first horizontal support member 4011) and a second pair of corner portions 110 of the building surface component 102 may be placed over a top of a second horizontal support member 4012 (e.g., free of any connections or attachments between the building surface component 102 and the second horizontal support member 4011). Additional building surface components 102 may be similarly disposed over the horizontal support members 400. While only four building surface components 102 are shown on the support structure 200′, various additional building surface components 102 may be similarly disposed over the support structure 200′. Additionally, one or more of the outer edge segments 116 of the building surface components 102 may include openings 124 (not shown in
The foregoing description has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. Furthermore, the description is not intended to limit the invention to the form disclosed herein. Consequently, variations and modifications commensurate with the above teachings, and skill and knowledge of the relevant art, are within the scope of the present invention. For instance, while the drawings illustrate only a single restraint spline 300 for use with a single linear row of support pedestals, it is to be understood that numerous additional parallel and/or perpendicular restraint splines 300 could be used to restrain additional pairs of adjacent surface tiles 102 over additional rows of support pedestals as part of an elevated building surface assembly in any appropriate configuration. Furthermore, at least some of the building surface components 102 may include openings 124 in more than one outer edge segment 116 (e.g., two or more outer edge segments 116, all outer edge segments 116, etc.) for receipt of a plurality of restraint splines 300 in any appropriate manner. Still further, at least some of the outer edge segments 116 may include a plurality of openings 124 therein for receipt of multiple restraint splines 300 therein. In one arrangement, one or more of the restraint splines 300 may extend between adjacent support pedestals 201 but not to or even over the adjacent support pedestals.
It is also to be understood that the various components disclosed herein have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For instance, the restraint spline 300 may actually be much thinner than depicted in the figures (e.g., in the event the restraint spline 300 is constructed of sheet metal, plastic, and/or other material or the like). Also, many components have been labeled as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc. merely to assist the reader in understanding the relationships between the components should not imply that an elevated building surface assembly encompassed herein need have the specific arrangement shown and described herein. Furthermore, while small gaps have been shown between some of the components in the figures (e.g., between the restraint spline 300 and the inside surfaces of the openings of the surface tiles 1021, 1022 in
While various embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, it is apparent that modifications and adaptation of those embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art. However, it is to be expressly understood that such modifications and adaptations are within the scope of the present invention.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 14/264,859, entitled “EXTENDED KERF CUT AND SPLINE RESTRAINT SYSTEM FOR ELEVATED FLOORING SURFACES,” and filed on Apr. 29, 2014, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein as if set forth in full.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 14264859 | Apr 2014 | US |
| Child | 14453835 | US |
