The present invention relates generally to building construction and reinforcement, and specifically to a continuity system that resists tension from wind uplift forces or overturning forces from wind or seismic events while compensating for the downward settling of buildings caused by shrinkage of wooden members. Most specifically, the present invention relates to a ratcheting take-up device that reduces slack due to wood shrinkage and building settling in a holdown system of continuous rods, eases installation and compensates for imperfectly aligned rods.
A continuity system is a secondary support system that ties walls or other building elements together and resists lateral overturning forces or uplift forces from events such as earthquakes or strong winds. Earthquake and wind forces produce overturning and uplift loads in the building, which load the building elements in overturning or uplift with respect to the building foundation. A continuity system resists such movements of the building elements. A continuity system generally comprises a plurality of interconnected vertically-oriented elements, typically metal rods and bearing plates, or holdowns, that provide a discrete structural mechanism or load path framework for the transfer of loads through the building from the structural elements that are intended to resist such forces, such as roof or floor diaphragms and shearwalls, to the continuity system, and then to the foundation. For example, the presence of a continuity system enables wall panels to resist overturning and/or moments that might damage or destroy the wall.
A known continuity system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,314 (“the '314 patent”), the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. The '314 patent describes a system in which at least one tie rod is connected to the foundation through a simple threaded coupler and a foundation anchor. Although the tie rod system can be used in a single-story structure, it is particularly suited to multistory structures, as illustrated in the '314 patent. In a multistory structure, a series of anchor elements is used to couple multiple tie rods in a line from the foundation to the top plate of the top story of the structure. The anchor elements of the '314 patent, in addition to coupling tie rods together, are used to secure the tie rods at each level of the structure to eliminate initial slack in the system. The principal shortcoming of the system of the '314 patent is the lack of a means of compensating for slack that builds up in the system as the wood structural members shrink over time. As slack builds up in the system, the system's capacity to resist uplift is correspondingly reduced.
The prior art includes a number of technical solutions to the problem of increasing slack in continuity systems. Simpson Strong-Tie Company's Anchor Tiedown System uses the TUD and ATUD take-up devices, as well as the CTUD coupling take-up device. The CTUD coupling take-up device is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 7,905,066, granted to Steven E. Pryor et al. All three devices are driven by a torsion spring. The TUD and ATUD are slipped over the tie rod between a horizontally disposed member and a nut threaded onto the tie rod, and they expand to fill the space as it expands enlarges. The CTUD threads onto and couples the vertically-aligned ends of two tie rods, drawing the two together to maintain tight connections between the wood and steel elements as the wood structural members shrink over time.
Similar continuity systems with ratcheting take-up devices are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,284 the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,744,322, the entire disclosure of which is also hereby incorporated herein by reference. These devices, while similar in both basic form and function to the present invention, lack inventive features of the present invention.
The ratcheting take-up device of the present invention eases installation of continuity systems, compensates for tie rods that are not perfectly perpendicular to the top and bottom plates, and takes up slack in the continuity system after installation.
The take-up device of the present invention has a plurality of insert segments with concavities that form an inner bore. The insert segments are contained within a housing that has an outer bore. The lower portion of the outer bore in the housing narrows. The lower portions of the insert segments and the lower portion of outer bore contained by the housing have frusto-spherical bearing surfaces. The insert segments are formed and arranged so that they grasp and hold a tie rod received in the housing when a wind uplift or a shear wall overturning force is applied to the wall of which the take-up device is a part. When a wind uplift or a shear wall overturning force is applied to the wall, the tie rod is placed in tension from an anchoring, reactive force pulling on the tension rod from below the housing while the structural member that is part of the wall to which the take-up device is attached pushes upwardly on the housing of the take-up device. The tie rod, the insert segments and the housing are formed such that when the tie rod moves downwardly with respect to the housing, the insert segments will be pulled downwardly in the housing as well. The tension on the tie rod combined with the narrowing in the lower portion of the outer bore of the housing causes a constriction of the insert segments about the tie rod forcing them to grasp and hold the tie rod, preventing any further downward movement of the tie rod with respect to the housing and thus to the building component to which the housing is attached.
An important advantage of the take-up device of the present invention is that its frusto-spherical bearing surfaces allow it to anchor imperfectly aligned tie rods by swinging about a central pivot on the vertical axis of the device in any direction without a reduction in the bearing surfaces or the strength of the anchorage. The lower portions of the insert segments collectively have the geometry of a spherical segment—a spherical cap with the top truncated, or a spherical frustum. The first frusto-spherical bearing surface is the outward-facing, lower surfaces of the insert segments taken together. The second frusto-spherical bearing surface is the inward-facing lower portion of the outer bore of the housing. The insert segments are inserted in the outer bore of the housing. The frusto-spherical sections of each, solid in the segments and hollow in the outer bore, are closely matched. Because the lower bearing surfaces of the insert segments are able to rotate or swing to be in contact with a matching surface in the lower portion of the outer bore of the device housing, there is little or no reduction in the net bearing interface when the rod received by the nut segments is out of alignment with the vertical axis of the housing.
A further advantage of the present invention is that the housing and insert segments are shaped and arranged to allow a tie rod to be quickly inserted through the inner bore formed by the insert segments by pushing the tie rod up through the bore. When a tie rod is first inserted up into the housing, the upward movement of the tie rod forces the insert segments apart from a constricted position—the constriction preferably caused by the downward force of gravity and possibly by a compression member placed above the insert segments, combined with the narrowing in the lower portion of the outer bore of the housing—to the width of the tie rod. The interface between the surfaces of the tie rod and the insert segments creates a ratcheting action as the tie rod is pushed up and the insert segments move up and out laterally, allowing the tie rod to be inserted as far as needed into the housing for installation. When the building shrinks, the relative movement of the tie rod and the housing is similar to movement during installation. The relative upward movement of the rod with respect to the housing pushes the insert segments up and out laterally, and gravity and any relative downward movement of the tension rod as well as the usual tension that is placed on the rod once it is installed pulls the insert segments downwardly and inwardly in combination with the narrowing of the outer bore of the housing and thus against the rod, holding it with respect to the housing.
A further object of the present invention is to provide insert segments that are made with flat tops and bottom edges and in the preferred embodiment are compressed by a member with a flat surface so that it allows tie rods to be inserted with a minimal risk of jamming the take-up device because the insert segments are held in place by a flat, hard washer above, which interface with flat surfaces at the tops of the insert segments to stabilize them as they expand away from and constrict towards the central vertical axis of the device. Another object of the present invention is to provide the housing with a small ledge which interfaces with the bottom edges of the insert segments to stabilize them as they expand away from and constrict towards the central vertical axis of the device.
For clarity and convenience, the take-up device 1 of the current invention is described in a single, most common, orientation (except as noted otherwise) in which a top faces up and a bottom faces down. The take-up device 1 can, nevertheless, be installed in essentially any orientation, so that a top can face down or to the side and a bottom can face up or to the side.
As best shown in
The top surface 3 need not be planar, but it is generally advantageous to maximize the area of the top surface 3 because the top surface 3 is where the insert segments 2 are pushed down by compression member 46 which helps to prevent the insert segments 2 from rotating too far out of their upright orientation when the tie rod 24 pushes them upwardly and outwardly during shrinkage of the building or installation of the tie rod 24, and thus the insert segments 2 are properly positioned to grasp the tie rod 24 as firmly as possible when the tie rod 24 is in tension again. The top surface 3 of each insert segment 2 preferably has a concave inner bore-defining edge 4 that has a first end 5 and a second end 5. The inner bore-defining edge 4 is preferably an arc 4. Preferably, a substantially straight first side edge 6 connects the first end 5 of the concave inner bore-defining edge 4 to the first end 8 of a convex outer bore edge 7. Preferably, a substantially straight second side edge 6 connects the second end 5 of the concave inner bore-defining edge 4 to a second end 8 of the convex outer bore edge 7. The first and second substantially straight side edges 6 of the top surface 3 are preferably orthogonal to each other. The outer bore edge 7 is preferably a nearly 90-degree arc 7 except where the arc 7 is interrupted by a tab 9 that projects from the convex outer bore edge 7. Preferably, the tab 9 has a slightly curved outer edge 10 with first and second ends 11 that are connected to the arc 7 by first and second substantially straight side edges 12, respectively. The tab 9 is preferably formed as an integral part of the insert segment 2, rather than as a separate part attached to the insert segment 2.
In the currently preferred embodiments of the invention optimized to grasp a ⅜″ or ½″ diameter threaded rod, in which there are four insert segments 2, as shown in
As best shown in
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Currently, the inventors have engineered and developed two preferred sizes of the take-up device 1 of the present invention. The inventors contemplate developing additional sizes for larger sizes of tie rods 24 and will adjust dimensions to maximize the performance of the take-up device with the different tie rods 24. Currently, the two sizes differ only in the dimension of the right circular cylindrical surfaces 15 that define the inner bore 16, which in a first embodiment is sized to accept a ⅜-16 UNC threaded rod 24 (best shown in
As best shown in
Also, in the currently preferred embodiments of the present invention, the cylindrical vertical body 28 preferably has an outer diameter of 1.283 inches. The vertical body 28 has a top edge 33. The outer bore 27 within the vertical body 28 has a diameter at the top edge 33 of 1.123 inches. Therefore, the vertical body 28 has a wall 34 that is preferably 0.16 inches thick at the top edge 33. The cylindrical vertical body 28 is 1.209 inches in diameter from the middle of the wall 34 across to the middle of wall 34 opposite. The top edge 33 is preferably flat except where it is notched with a number of indentations or slots 35 that match the tabs 9 on the insert segments 2. Each tab 9 preferably fits in an indentation 35 and preferably extends outside the vertical body 28, and the interlock prevents the insert segments 2 from rotating around the central axis 100. The interface between the tabs 9 and the indentations 35 also helps to stabilize the insert segments 2, helping to keep them level especially when a threaded rod 24 is inserted into the inner bore 16. Rather than being screwed into the inner bore 16, the threaded rod 24 is preferably pushed in without rotation and the insert segments 2 react by moving apart and together, ratcheting when the threaded inner bore 16 interfaces with a threaded bolt 24. The compression member 46 allows the insert segments 2 to move up within the housing 26, and the upwardly-widening outer bore 27 allows the insert segments 2 to move apart. This allows the threaded bolt 24 to be inserted into the inner bore 16, and as the threaded bolt 24 and the threaded portion of inner surfaces 14 of the insert segments 2 slide against each other, the segments 2 are moved up and outwardly and down and inwardly repeatedly, the inward motion urged by the compression member 46 and the narrowing outer bore 27 in the housing 2. The threaded bolt 24 can only be inserted in one direction because when it is pulled down, the downwardly-narrowing outer bore 27 forces the insert segments 2 against the threaded rod 24 so that the threaded bolt 24 and the threaded portion of inner surfaces 14 of the insert segments 2 interlock as if the threaded bolt 24 had been screwed into a conventional solid nut.
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In its simplest form, the present invention is a take-up device 1 that has a housing 26 and a plurality of insert segments 2. The housing 26 has an outer bore 27 and the outer bore 27 has a lower inward-curved portion 43 that is frusto-spherical. The insert segments 2 each has an outer bore-interfacing surface 17 that interfaces with the inward-curved portion 43 of the outer bore 27 of the housing 26. The outer bore-interfacing surfaces 17 of the plurality of insert segments 2 are at least in part collectively frusto-spherical. Each insert segment 2 has a concave inner bore-defining surface 14 and the plurality of concave inner bore-defining surfaces 14 define an inner bore 16. Preferably, the outer bore 27 of the housing 26 has a ledge 45, the insert segments 2 each have a bottom edge 21, and the bottoms edges 21 of the insert segments 2 interface with the ledge 45 in the outer bore 27, stabilizing the insert segments 2. The take-up device 1 preferably has four insert segments 2. Each insert segment 2 preferably has a substantially planar top surface 3. The top surface 3 preferably has a concave inner bore-defining edge 4 with first and second ends 5, a convex outer bore edge 7 with first and second ends 8, a first substantially straight side edge 6 that connects the first end 5 of the inner bore-defining edge 4 to the first end 8 of the outer bore edge 7, and a second substantially straight side edge 6 that connects the second end 5 of the inner bore-defining edge 4 to the second end 8 of the outer bore edge 7. Each segment 2 preferably also has a tab 9 on the convex outer bore edge 7, an inner bore-defining surface 14 that descends from the inner bore-defining edge 4, and an outer bore-interfacing surface 17 that descends from the outer bore-defining edge 7 and tapers a bottom edge 21. Preferably, the inner bore 12 of the take-up device 1 is threaded.
The housing 26 preferably also has a horizontal plate 29 and a vertical body 28 that surmounts the horizontal plate 29 and the outer bore 27 of the housing 26 is contained within the vertical body 28. Preferably, the vertical body 28 is cylindrical and has an outer wall 34 with a top edge 33, a plurality of indentations 35 extend down from the top edge 33 of the wall 34, and a tab 9 of an insert segment 2 interfaces with each of the indentations 35 in the wall 34 of the cylindrical vertical body 28. The insert segments 2 are preferably retained within the outer bore 27 by a compression member 46. Preferably, the compression member 46 has an upper hard washer 47, and a resilient lower soft washer 48 that pushes the insert segments 2 downward in the outer bore 27 and is restrained from upward movement by the upper hard washer 47. The compression member 46 preferably also has a lower hard washer 47 that is between the resilient lower soft washer 48 and the insert segments 2. Preferably, the upper and lower hard washers 47 each have an outer edge 51 with a plurality of projections 49. The outer bore 27 preferably has a groove 40 connected to the indentations 35 in wall 34 of the cylindrical body 28. Preferably, the projections 49 of the upper hard washer 47 project into the groove 40 in the outer bore 27, restraining the compression member 46. The projections 49 of the lower hard washer 47 preferably project into the indentations 35 in wall 34 of the cylindrical body 28, stabilizing the compression member 46.
Preferably, the take-up device 1 is part of a connection 110 that has a first structural member 115 to which the take-up device 1 is fastened, and a tie rod 24 with a top end 124 at least partially held within the inner bore 16 of the take-up device 1 by a plurality of the insert segments 2. The first structural member 115 preferably is a top plate 115 in an at least partially wood frame wall 111, and a bearing plate 120 is disposed between the first structural member 115 and the take-up device 1. Preferably, the tie rod 24 is secured to a foundation 112 below the wood frame wall 111.
The outer bore 27 of the take-up device 1 preferably has a central vertical axis 100. Preferably, when the tie rod 24 is not parallel to the central vertical axis 100 of the outer bore 27, the insert segments 2 that hold the tie rod 24 are canted so the inner bore 16 is parallel to the tie rod 24 where the tie rod 24 is held by the insert segments 2 but the inner bore is not parallel to the central vertical axis 100 of the outer bore 27.
Preferably, the connection 110 is formed by inserting the top end 124 of the tie rod 24 into the inner bore 16 of the take-up device and fastening the take-up device 1 to the first structural member 115. The take-up device 1 is preferably fastened to the first structural member 115 with a plurality of screws or nails 119. Screws provide a stronger connection than nails, but nails are less expensive and can still often provide the necessary strength for the connection.
For purposes of summarizing the invention and the advantages achieved over the prior art, certain objects and advantages of the invention have been described herein above. Of course, it is to be understood that not necessarily all such objects or advantages may be achieved in accordance with any particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, for example, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other objects or advantages as may be taught or suggested herein.
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