Patent Grant
7039965
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of plumbing hardware, and in particular to a bracket for supporting plumbing pipes between building members.
2. Description of the Related Art
Plumbing support brackets of the type used to locate and support plumbing pipes in a bay between building members are well known in the art. These brackets are especially useful in locating stub-outs for faucets, showerheads, and the like between wall studs. U.S. Pat. No. 4,550,451 to Hubbard discloses a simple bracket having pipe receiving openings spaced along its entire length. The bracket is attachable to the outer edges of adjacent studs by inserting fasteners such as nails or screws through fastener openings located intermediate the pipe receiving openings.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,461 to Collins describes an improved bracket having pipe receiving notches in addition to the pipe receiving holes. The notches have flanges around their bases which allow the pipes to be snapped into position and then soldered in place. The bracket includes a mounting tab at each end. The bracket is attachable to the studs by a pair of locating tabs which are formed on each mounting tab and can be hammered into the outer edges of adjacent studs. The mounting tabs are not adapted to be bent so that the bracket can be attached to adjacent stud faces between the studs. The center portion of the bracket between the mounting tabs is stiffened by a flange along its lower edge.
In order to allow plumbing pipes to be soldered to the brackets, prior art plumbing brackets have been coated with copper oxide after fabrication, a process which produces a very thin layer of copper which can easily burn off during soldering, thereby exposing the steel and creating the potential for galvanic action with the pipes, which can cause leaks.
The present invention comprises a plumbing support bracket having a center section and a pair of end tabs which are bendable relative to the center section so that the bracket can be attached either to adjacent stud faces between the studs or to the outer edges of the studs. The center section has a plurality of pipe receiving notches formed in its upper edge and a row of longitudinally spaced pipe receiving holes. The center section is made more rigid than the end tabs by first and second ribs. The first rib comprises a flange formed along the lower edge of the bracket and the second rib comprising an elongate longitudinal bulge formed between the bases of the pipe receiving notches and the row of pipe receiving holes.
The bracket is formed of relatively thin steel, for example 0.032–0.048 inches thick, which is plated with relatively pure copper before the bracket is fabricated. Circumferential flanges are formed around each pipe receiving hole and around the bases of the pipe receiving notches. The thin metal allows the end tabs to be easily bent and the copper plating allows the plumbing pipes to be soldered to the circumferential flanges.
As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed structure. The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments of the present invention and illustrate various objects and features thereof.
Certain terminology will be used in the following description for convenience in reference only and will not be limiting. For example, the words “upwardly,” “downwardly,” “rightwardly,” and “leftwardly” will refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. The words “inwardly” and “outwardly” will refer to directions toward and away from, respectively, the geometric center of the embodiment being described and designated parts thereof. Said terminology will include the words specifically mentioned, derivatives thereof and words of a similar import.
Referring to the drawings in more detail, the reference number 1 generally designates a plumbing support bracket according to the present invention. The bracket 1 is used for supporting plumbing pipes 3 in a bay 5 between building members 7, such as studs.
The bracket 1 is preferably formed of relatively thin sheet steel, for example 0.032–0.048 inches thick, which is plated with pure copper. The copper plating is applied to the steel before fabrication of the bracket 1 and allows solder to adhere to the bracket 1 so that the plumbing pipes 3 may be soldered to the bracket 1.
The bracket 1 includes a first or front face 9, a second or back face 11, a first or top edge 13, a second or bottom edge 15, and opposed first and second ends 17 and 19, respectively. A first end tab 21 is positioned proximate the first end 17 and a second end tab 23 is positioned proximate the second end 19. Between the end tabs 19 and 21 is a center section 24. The end tabs 21 and 23 each include a plurality of fastener holes 25, which are laid out in two parallel rows 27. The fastener holes 25 are sized to receive a fastener 29, such as a nail or screw used to secure the bracket 1 to the building members 7. The end tabs 21 and 23 are easily bendable relative to the center section 24 such that the bracket 1 can be installed between the building members 7, as shown in
The center section 24 includes a plurality of longitudinally spaced pipe receiving holes 31, each of which is sized to receive a respective plumbing pipe 3. The pipe receiving holes 31 are shown as including six larger holes 31a sized to receive ¾″ CTS (Copper Tube Size) pipe 3 and seven smaller holes 31b sized to receive ½″ CTS pipe 3. The holes 31a and 31b are shown as being arranged in an alternating pattern and centered along a line extending parallel to the top and bottom edges 13 and 15 of bracket 1. Each pipe receiving hole 31 includes a circumferential flange 33 which extends outwardly from the back face 11 of the bracket 1. The flanges 33 each provide a surface to which a respective plumbing pipe 3 may be soldered.
The center section 24 also includes a plurality of pipe receiving notches 35 formed along the top edge 13 of the bracket 1. Each of the pipe receiving notches 35 is sized to receive a respective plumbing pipe 3 and includes a flange 37 which extends outwardly from the back face 11 of the bracket 1 around the base of the notch. Each flange 37 preferably comprises a portion of a circle which is slightly more than 180 degrees such that the respective plumbing pipe 3 will snap into place when inserted into the respective notch 35. Each flange 37 then serves as a surface to which the respective pipe 3 can be soldered. The bracket 1 is shown as having seven notches 35 in alignment with the smaller pipe receiving holes 31b. As shown, the notches 35 are sized to receive ½″ CTS pipe 3.
The center section 24 is preferably approximately fourteen inches in length to fit within a bay 5 between building members 3 on standard sixteen inch centers. The end tabs 19 and 21 are preferably approximately three inches in length so as to provide an overall length of approximately twenty inches, which is generally sufficient to allow the bracket 1 to lay flat across two building members 7. The pipe receiving holes 31a and 31b, as well as the notches 35, are preferably spaced on approximately two inch centers. Additional fastener receiving holes 38 are spaced along the length of the center section 24.
The end tabs 19 and 21 are easily bendable due to the thinness of the metal used to form the bracket 1, whereas the center section 24 is made rigid by first and second reinforcing ribs 39 and 41, respectively. The first reinforcing rib 39 comprises a flange formed along the bottom edge 15 of the bracket 1 by making a respective triangular cut 43 proximate each end of the center section 24 and bending the intervening portion of the bracket 1 outwardly at a right angle toward the back face 11. The second reinforcing rib 41 is stamped into the bracket 1 between the pipe receiving holes 31 and the pipe receiving notches 35 and comprises an elongate depression or gutter when seen from the front face 9 and an elongated bulge or blister when viewed from the back face 11. The second reinforcing rib 41 is shown as being tangential to both the flanges 37 of the pipe receiving notches 35 and the flanges 33 of the larger pipe receiving holes 31a.
The first and second reinforcing ribs are preferably approximately fourteen inches long. When the end tabs 19 and 21 are bent, to extend perpendicular to the center section 24, the length of the bracket 1 from the outwardly directed front face 9 of one end tab 19 to the other end tab 21 is approximately fourteen and one-half inches and sized to fit between two adjacent studs on sixteen inch centers. The bracket 1 can therefore be oriented between studs 7 with the front face of the 9 center section 24 extending generally perpendicular to the floor or ground or parallel thereto as shown in
In a preferred embodiment, the distance from the bottom edge 15 of the bracket 1 and the radial center of each pipe receiving notch 35 is approximately 1½″ (1.5″) to 1⅞″ (1.875″). This distance spaces the notch 35 approximately halfway between the front and rear edges of a vertically extending 2×4 stud, when the bracket 1 is positioned as shown in
An alternative embodiment of the present invention designed for use with building members on twenty-four inch centers is shown in
The center section 124 includes a plurality of longitudinally spaced pipe receiving holes 131, each of which are sized to receive a respective plumbing pipe 3. The pipe receiving holes 131 are shown as including four large holes 131a sized to receive 1″ CTS pipe 3, four intermediate holes 131b sized to receive ¾″ CTS pipe 3, and eight small holes 131c sized to receive ½″ CTS pipe 3. The holes 131 are shown as being arranged a pattern wherein every other hole 131 is a small hole 131c and the remaining holes alternate between large holes 131a and intermediate holes 131b. The large holes 131a and intermediate holes 131b are centered along a line extending parallel to the top and bottom edges 113 and 115 of bracket 100. The small holes 131c are centered along a line offset from and extending parallel to the line on which the large holes 131a and intermediate holes 131b are centered. In other words, the small holes 131c are located or centered on a first centerline which is laterally offset from a second centerline along which the large holes 131a and intermediate holes 131b are located or centered.
Each pipe receiving hole 131 includes a circumferential flange 133 which extends outwardly from the back face 111 of the bracket 100. The flanges 133 each provide a surface to which a respective plumbing pipe 3 may be soldered.
The center section 124 also includes a plurality of pipe receiving notches 135 formed along the top edge 113 of the bracket 100. The pipe receiving notches 135 alternate between larger notches 135a sized to receive a ¾″ CTS pipe 3 and smaller notches 135b sized to receive a ½″ CTS pipe 3. Each notch 135 includes a flange 137 which extends outwardly from the back face 111 of the bracket 100 around the base of the notch. Each flange 137 preferably comprises a portion of a circle which is slightly more than 180 degrees such that the respective plumbing pipe 3 will snap into place when inserted into the respective notch 135. Each flange 137 then serves as a surface to which the respective pipe 3 can be soldered. The bracket 100 is shown as having eight smaller notches 135b in alignment with the small pipe receiving holes 131c and eight larger notches 135a in alignment with the large holes 131a and intermediate holes 131b.
The small pipe receiving holes 131c and the pipe receiving notches 135a and 135b, are preferably spaced on approximately two inch centers. The large pipe receiving holes 131a and intermediate pipe receiving holes 131b are each spaced on 4″ centers. Additional fastener receiving holes 138 are spaced along the length of the center section 124.
The center section 124 is offset toward the first end 117 of the bracket 100 such that end tab 121 is considerably shorter than end tab 123. For example, the embodiment shown is a twenty-six inch bracket 100 having a 2″ end tab 121 and a 6½″ end tab 123. The additional length of the end tab 123 provides additional flexibility for installations where the building members 7 are on centers of greater than sixteen inches.
The end tabs 121 and 123 are easily bendable due to the thinness of the metal used to form the bracket 100, whereas the center section 124 is made rigid by first and second reinforcing ribs 139 and 141, respectively. The first reinforcing rib 139 comprises a flange formed along the bottom edge 115 of the bracket 100 by making a respective triangular cut 143 proximate each end of the center section 124 and bending the intervening portion of the bracket 100 outwardly at a right angle toward the back face 111. The second reinforcing rib 141 is stamped into the bracket 100 between the pipe receiving holes 131 and the pipe receiving notches 135 and comprises an elongate depression of gutter when seen from the front face 109 and an elongated bulge or blister when viewed from the back face 111.
It is to be understood that while certain forms of the present invention have been illustrated and described herein, it is not to be limited to the specific forms or arrangement of parts described and shown.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2980404 | Andersen et al. | Apr 1961 | A |
| 4550451 | Hubbard | Nov 1985 | A |
| 4618114 | McFarland | Oct 1986 | A |
| 4909461 | Collins | Mar 1990 | A |
| 4957251 | Hubbard | Sep 1990 | A |
| 5593115 | Lewis | Jan 1997 | A |
| 5833179 | VandenBerg | Nov 1998 | A |
| 5971329 | Hickey | Oct 1999 | A |
| 6375128 | Condon et al. | Apr 2002 | B1 |
