Patent Application
20080265128
The present invention relates with the construction industry and more particularly pertains to a system and apparatus for the purpose of securing anchor bolts and rebar.
One of the main concerns with respect to the construction of any home, building, or other man-made structure is the foundation upon which it is built. The relative strength or structural integrity of the foundation of a structure is acutely problematic in earthquake-prone areas. Poorly fashioned foundations can result in collapsed structures, lost property damage, injuries and even death. World-renowned cosmopolitan cities such as San Francisco have seen first-hand the devastating consequences of poorly built foundations.
Three of the cornerstones of any structural foundations is the anchor bolt, rebar, and concrete. One of the principal materials used in any construction project is concrete. Concrete is cost effective, moldable to virtually any shape desirable, scaleable, and simple to use and implement. Moreover, its intrinsic compressive strength is virtually unmatched.
However, whereas concrete can be compressed with great force, its tensile strength is only negligible by comparison. For this reason concrete must be compositely strengthened with steel reinforcing bars (or “rebar”) to resist tensile forces. The use of rebar acts as an internal skeleton by which the concrete can congeal around and bond with. Whereas anchor bolts are generally used to affix vertical walls with concrete slabs or foundations, or to affix horizontal framing to vertical concrete or masonry walls; rebar is generally used to connect concrete slabs, walls or foundations with other concrete elements.
The importance of anchor bolts may be most readily illustrated in an earthquake. In the event of an earthquake the vertical walls of a structure resisting the forces are swayed horizontally in-plane. This movement, in turn, creates great tension between the interface of the ends of the walls with the concrete. Without the anchor bolts the wall would quickly detach from the concrete slab and may potentially result in the collapse of the structure.
For these reasons, many building codes specify that anchor bolts must be positioned in its final place before pouring concrete. This leads to increased strength in the foundation. If anchor bolts are placed or positioned in the concrete after a pour, the strength of the resulting foundation is lessened quite considerably.
Unfortunately, in operation, the placement of anchor bolts before a pour of concrete is difficult and cumbersome. Strong winds, movement of heavy equipment, construction workers, etc. all risk moving or displacing anchor bolts which are tenuously disposed in their respective positions. Most often, these anchor bolts are positioned using flimsy tools which are bound to become undone by the forces mentioned above. And in particularly egregious cases, anchor bolts are placed into the concrete after the pour despite the contravention of the applicable building codes.
Therefore, what is clearly needed in the art is a system and apparatus to be used for securing anchor bolts in its final resting position before a concrete pour.
This placement should be secure and should be robust enough to withstand strong winds, etc. Moreover, the system should also provide a means to further buttress a structure by tying in its anchor bolts to the nearby rebar.
It is an object of the present invention to increase the foundational strength of a construction project by securing anchor bolts in its final resting position before a concrete pour. By reinforcing the slab or footing through its anchor bolts and rebar network the foundation may become tolerant of strong earthquakes.
Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to further reinforce the foundation by tying the anchor bars to the nearby rebar network. This reinforced foundation may prevent the anchor bolts from being pulled out of a slab in the event of a very strong earthquake.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a unique system and apparatus are used to stabilize an anchor bolt in a final position before a concrete pour. The present invention is described in enabling detail below.
It should be noted here that the wrench is adjustable in its length. As illustrated in
The wrench is comprised of a wrench member 113 and a wrench orifice 114. The wrench member is an elongate tube 115 with a first wrench distal end 116 and a second wrench distal end 117. In some preferred embodiments the elongate tube may also include at least one blaze mark 127. The purpose of the blaze mark is to indicate a particular distance. Oftentimes, the anchor bolts are secured away from a form at pre-determined distances. These blaze marks indicate these pre-determined distances in order to make the particular length of the wrench easier to find without having to measure it. And in other preferred embodiments the elongate tube may further incorporate other indicia 130 such as trademarks, instructions, warnings, specifications, building codes, laws, and the like. The possibilities are endless. The wrench orifice is disposed at the second wrench distal end. The first wrench distal end is sized to fit into the elongate tube of the base.
In some preferred embodiments the present stabilizing apparatus 100 may further include a cradle 118 as shown in
In some preferred embodiments the stabilizing apparatus may optionally include an anchor bolt 124. The anchor bolt has a first anchor bolt distal end 125 and a second anchor bolt distal end 126. The anchor bolt is secured by the wrench orifice at the first anchor bolt distal end. The cradle mentioned above may be disposed around the anchor bolt through its orifices.
The base forms are comprised of an R-member 203 and a receiver 204. The R-member is an elongate member with a first R-distal end 205 and a second R-distal end 206. The first R-distal end is curved and abuts the receiver. The receiver has a first receiver distal end 207 and a second receiver distal end 208, a top side 209 and a bottom side 210. In some preferred embodiments the R-member may further incorporate an R-orifice 216. The R-orifice may enable the R-member to be affixed or secured to batter board or form board by allowing a fastener such as a nail or screw to pass through it.
The base forms are connected to each other with the bridges. The bridges comprise a first bridge distal end 211 and a second bridge distal end 212. Each distal end is affixed to the receiver of each base form. In some preferred embodiments the bridge may further incorporate bridge orifice 216.
In some preferred embodiments the system 200 may further incorporate a thumb screw 213 and a complementary receiver orifice 214. The thumb screw is sized to fit into the receiver orifice. In other preferred embodiments the system 200 may also include bridge indicia 215. The function of the bridge indicia is to indicate pre-determined lengths of the bridges in order to determine where the anchor bolts are to be disposed or positioned. And in some other preferred embodiments, the bridges may further include a plurality of bridge orifices which enable a user several different options of where to dispose an anchor bolt, or alternatively to secure several anchor bolts with the same bridge.
It must be noted here that although the anchor bolt is mentioned here as being part of the present invention, the scope of the present invention should not be construed to include or utilize an anchor bolt in all preferred embodiments. The present invention was designed to be used in a fashion to supplement the anchor bolt. However, other preferred embodiments may optionally include the anchor bolt as part of the claimed invention.
It will be apparent to the skilled artisan that there are numerous changes that may be made in embodiments described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. As such, the invention taught herein by specific examples is limited only by the scope of the claims that follow.
