Patent Grant
10077868
The present invention relates to the field of hanging objects on truss. Tubular truss is used in the entertainment industry in both temporary and permanent rigging systems to hold lights, speakers, and other entertainment equipment. There is a need in the construction industry for safe ways to attach objects to truss.
The features of the present invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The present invention, both as to its organization and manner of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may be best understood with reference to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:
The present invention is a device for mounting objects and coupling loads imposed by those objects to space frame trusses or beams in a manner which utilizes the full moment capacity in bending, shear and torsion of the space frame truss or other type of beam. The device in all of its embodiments entraps the cross section of the truss in such a way as to not locally load in torsion or local bending a truss chord or flange independent of the entire truss or beam structure.
Most truss mounts circumferentially clamp on a single truss chord with either a U-bolt or other type of circumferential clamp or a clamp which compresses on a flange of a beam. If a moment load is coupled through to the chord tube or flange through this attachment the local stresses in the tube or flange may become quite high as a result of the small length of engagement relative to the moment arm. This in combination with other stresses from bending or twisting of the structure that may be present become additive and cause unplanned local yielding of the structure.
Generally the choice is to hang loads from the lower truss chord or flange of a space frame truss or beam as it seems to be a convenient place to suspend a load. This may be the region of the highest tensile stress present in the structure as in triangular trusses which usually are oriented with a single chord in tension. This method can cause highly unpredictable stressing (local loading) of the structure and consequent sudden failure as an individual chord tube failure may cause a catastrophic and progressive failure of the whole structural element.
The devices of the present invention utilize the entire bending and moment capacity of the structural member as intended as the device is configured to wrap around the entire structural member and apply a light compressive load with the tensioning device present in the mount body. In this way the mount couples its loads in bending, twisting, and moment loading effectively through the entire cross section of the structural member.
A small preload applied to the tensioning device in the mount body allows a large moment loading to be applied to the mount body and coupled to the structural member without causing excessive loading of any individual truss chord.
The mounts of the present invention may be tightened so as to grip the cross section of the beam or truss so as not to slide along its length if the beam is of uniform cross section. The mount may also be loosened without removing and slid along the length to any desired position unless obstructed by some non-uniform cross sectional feature. Because the device wraps around the outer perimeter of the truss, the location of the device will not be impeded by any internal truss members.
The mounts of the present invention may be used to hang any object off of space frame truss or a beam. Objects include but are not limited to televisions, speakers, lights, or other trusses. The mounts of the present invention are also not sensitive to the orientation of the beam or truss.
Various embodiments having been thus described in detail and by way of example, it will be apparent to those of skilled in the art that variations and modifications may be made and still achieve the desired outcome. The embodiments described herein include all such variations and modifications as fall within the scope of the claims.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/373,540, filed on Dec. 9, 2016, now abandoned, which, in turn, is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/700,087, filed on Apr. 29, 2015, now abandoned, which, in turn, claims the benefit of and priority from U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61/986,038, filed Apr. 29, 2014, all of the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20170268721 A1 | Sep 2017 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61986038 | Apr 2014 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 14700087 | Apr 2015 | US |
| Child | 15373540 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15373540 | Dec 2016 | US |
| Child | 15612041 | US |
