Claims
- 1. A structural deck plank capable of carrying a load through the span of its length and also through its width by interconnection with adjacent, parallel, similar deck planks, comprising:
- an integrally extruded, elongated metal plank having a generally flat deck section at an upper side and stiffening means extending downwardly from the deck section and extending longitudinally, for stiffening the plank,
- the extruded metal plank having tongue and groove connection means at opposed edges of the deck section, including a tongue flange formed at one edge of the deck section and a groove formed at the opposite edge of the deck section, both the tongue and the groove extending longitudinally along the length of the plank,
- and the plank further including hooked, rotation connection means extending from the stiffening means below the deck section, for engaging the lower ends of adjacent connected planks together against pulling apart when a load is placed on the top of the connected deck planks, including an arcuate hook connector on one side of the plank, arcuate in cross section with an arched top and positioned to extend laterally toward an adjacent plank, and including a socket on the opposite side of the plank, the socket being arcuate in cross section and open laterally toward the position of an adjacent plank so as to be capable of closely receiving the hook connector of an adjacent plank, and the arcuate hook connector and the socket having sufficient arcuate length such that when hooked together the hook connector extends arcuately deep enough into the socket that the hooked, rotation connection means will not pull apart when a stress is placed on the assembled deck planks tending to separate the rotation connection means,
- whereby adjacent structural deck planks can be connected together by first inserting the arcuate hook connector of one plank into the arcuate socket of the adjacent plank while one plank is tilted laterally downwardly relative to the other, then the one plank can be rotated upwardly as the arcuate hook connector slides into the socket to a position wherein the deck sections of the two planks are generally coplanar and in which the tongue enters the groove at the upper sides of the planks.
- 2. A structural deck plank capable of carrying a load through the span of its length and also through its width by interconnection with adjacent, parallel, similar deck planks, comprising:
- an integrally extruded, elongated metal plank having a generally flat deck section at an upper side and a pair of stiffening portions extending downwardly from the deck section and extending longitudinally at opposed sides of the deck plank,
- the extruded metal plank having tongue and groove connection means at opposed edges of the deck section, including a tongue flange formed at one edge of the deck section and a groove formed at the opposite edge of the deck section, both the tongue and groove extending longitudinally along the length of the plank,
- and the plank further including hooked, rotation connection means at lower ends of the stiffening portions for engaging the lower ends of adjacent connected planks together against pulling apart when a load is placed on the top of the connected deck planks, including an arcuate hook connector at the lower end of one stiffening portion on one side of the plank, arcuate in cross section with an arched top and positioned to extend laterally toward an adjacent plank, and including a socket on the opposite stiffening portion on the other side of the plank, the socket being arcuate in cross section and open laterally toward the position of an adjacent plank so as to be capable of closely receiving the hook connector of an adjacent plank, and the arcuate hook connector and the socket having sufficient arcuate length such that when hooked together the hook connector extends arcuately deep enough into the socket that the hooked, rotation connection means will not pull apart when a stress is placed on the assembled deck planks tending to separate the rotation connection means,
- whereby adjacent structural deck planks can be connected together by first inserting the arcuate hook connector of one plank into the arcuate socket of the adjacent plank while one plank is tilted laterally downwardly relative to the other, then the one plank can be rotated upwardly as the arcuate hook connector slides into the socket to a position wherein the deck sections of the two planks are generally coplanar and in which the tongue enters the groove at the upper sides of the planks.
- 3. A cover for an open-topped structure such as a tank having a cover-supporting rim or edge, the structure having a relatively narrow width, comprising:
- a series of panels arranged in parallel, edge-to-edge fashion to span across the open-topped structure, including fixed panels and removable access panels, each panel having a width for spanning transversely from one edge to an opposite edge of the open topped structure,
- each panel being formed of a plurality of side-by-side edge-connected elongated deck slats, each slat comprising a metal extrusion, and means retaining the panel together as a unit, and
- a transverse spanning beam at the edge of each panel where a fixed panel joins an adjacent removable panel such that at a junction of two adjacent panels, a first transverse spanning beam forms a part of the fixed panel and a second transverse spanning beam forms a part of the removable panel, and the transverse spanning beams each having a flange at its lower side oriented toward the removable panel such that the flange on the first transverse spanning beam extends outwardly relative to the fixed panel and the flange on the second transverse spanning beam extends inwardly relative to the removable panel, and the spanning beams being so located and configured that the flanges of said second transverse spanning beams of the removable panel rest on the flanges of said first transverse spanning beams of adjacent fixed panels when the removable panel is in place within the cover.
- 4. The cover of claim 3, wherein the flanges have turned-up ends configured to nest the flanges of the second transverse spanning beams into the flanges of the first transverse spanning beams.
Parent Case Info
This is a division of application Ser. No. 08/887,677, filed Jul. 30, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,259, which was a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 08/835,290, filed Apr. 7, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,662, which was a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/270,010 filed Jul. 1, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,617,677, which was a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 07/932,491, filed Aug. 20, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,646.
This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 835,290, filed Apr. 7, 1997, which was a continuation of application Ser. No. 270,010 filed Jul. 1, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,617,677, which was a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 932,491, filed Aug. 20, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,646.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
887677 |
Jul 1997 |
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Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
270010 |
Jul 1994 |
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Continuation in Parts (2)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
835290 |
Apr 1997 |
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Parent |
932491 |
Aug 1992 |
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