GB2140478A - Lintels and supports for cladding - Google Patents

Abstract

The lintel or support comprises a corrugated L-shaped metal plate which may be produced by hot or cold rolling stainless steel to the required thickness and then rolling corrugations into the plate and bending the plate at right angles to form an L-shaped elongate member. The lintel 10 (Fig. 2) supports courses 11 of bricks. The thickness of the lintel including its corrugations is substantially the thickness of the standard layer of cement. The member may be used additionally or alternatively as a cladding support 22 (Fig. 3) for supporting bricks 25 (or panels) on concrete beams 24. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Lintels and supports for cladding This invention relates to devices used in the building industry for providing support which includes lintels, used for example in providing the upper and sometimes the lower edges of door and window apertures, and to support for the exterior cladding of buildings. For example in cladding a building with finished stonework such as marble provision has to be made for supporting the slabs of finishing stone from the basic wall which may be of concrete or other material.

An object of the invention is to provide a lintel or cladding support which can be made of relatively thin material but which derives its strength from its structural form and method of producing that form.

In accordance with the invention a lintel or a support for cladding comprises an elongated corrugated metal plate of substantially L-shape.

Preferably the plate is made of stainless steel so that a relatively thin plate may be used which, because of the inherent strength of the work hardened stainless steel and the additional strength provided by the corrugations, has much greater strength than standard angle steel lintels and is also very much more resistant to corrosion.

The invention also comprises the method of producing a lintel or a cladding support comprising hot or cold rolling or forming a corrugated stainless steel sheet or plate and then forming the sheet or plate into at least a pair of angled elongated parts, preferably arranged at substantially right-angles to each other.

Preferably the overall thickness of the corrugated sheet or plate, when used or intended for use as the lintel is of from 5 to 10 mm, with a preferenefor 8mm, so as to accommodate the normal mortar thickness between bricks. Thus not only does the lintel in accordance with this invention provide additional strength and resistance to deflection when supporting a load, but it provides a key for mortar or plaster.

The pitch of the corrugations may for example be in the range 10 to 20mm with a preference for 16 mm. A preferred curvature of the corrugations is 3mm internal radius and 6mm external radius.

The lintels in accordance with this invention are particularly useful for single thickness walls although they may also be used in cavity walls.

When used as a support for cladding fascias on concrete frame buildings, the angle is bolted to the concrete frame and brickwork, stone, marble or other facings supported on it. Used in this particular application the corrugations may be deeper and of greater pitch than when used for lintels. For example the corrugations may be of 20 to 30 mm pitch and may have an overall depth of 7.5 to 20mm.

The corrugated lintel in accordance with this invention may be entirely made of the corrugated stainless steel or component parts of a fabricated lintel may be made of the corrugated stainless steel.

The advantage of doing this is that the additional strength of the material would effect a metal saving and also lighten the total weight of the component In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is an end elevation of a corrugated stainless steel lintel or cladding support for use in accordance with this invention, only a portion of the lintel or cladding support being shown for the purposes of illustration; Figure 2 illustrates the use of the simplest form of lintel to provide the upper edge of a window frame in a single brick thickness wall; Figure 3 shows a pair of supports for the exterior cladding of a building in accordance with the present invention.

The lintel or cladding support shown in Figure 1 is formed by hot or cold rolling a stainless steel plate, of elongated form, to the required thickness and then rolling corrugations into the plate and bending the plate substantially at right angles to form an L-shape elongated lintel or cladding support. As an example the steel plate may be rolled to a thickness of 3mm and the corrugations may be so formed that they have an exterior radius V of 6mm, an interior radius W of 3mm, a pitch X of 16mm and an overall thickness Y of 8mm.

The thickness chosen would depend inter alia on the span of the support and the design loading required.

The dimensions would be considerably increased if it is intended to use this article as a cladding support, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 2 shows the use of the lintel of Figure 1 in a single thickness brick wall. The lintel 10 supports a number of courses of bricks 11 with cement 12 between the bricks in the conventional manner. It will be noted that the thickness of the lintel 10 including its corrugations is such as to correspond substantially to the thickness of the standard layer of cement between bricks.

For completeness a window frame 14, window 15 and sill 16 are shown.

Figure 3 shows in section a pair of horizontal concrete beams forming part of a concrete frame building. The beams carry cladding supports 22 in the form of elongated corrugated stainless steel angles attached to the beams 24 by expansion bolts or resin anchors 23. The cladding may for example be a number of courses of bricks 25 or may be fabricated panels.

The brickwork or cladding panels may be secured in conventional ways and the relatively thin corrugated stainless steel cladding supports present a pleasing appearance to the eye at the exterior of the building.

The corrugated L-shaped supports could for example be made from cold formed stainless steel corrugated in a hot mill and subsequently bent at substantially right angles to form elongated strips of cladding support. The strips might be supplied in standard lengths of say 4 meters or 8 meters.

A common usage of stainless corrugated angle will be in the refurbishment of domestic dwellings owned by public authorities where lintel and cavity wall tie corrosion has resulted in widespread exterior wall distress. In these situations the existing exterior lintel plus associated ties, depending on age and cavity conditions of the dwelling, would be replaced by a corrugated stainless angle.

Claims (12)

1. A lintel or a support for cladding comprising an elongated corrugated metal plate of substantially L-shape.

2. A lintel or support according to claim 1 in which the plate is made of stainless steel so that a relatively thin plate may be used which, because of the inherent strength of the work hardened stainless steel and the additional strength provided by the corrugations, has much greater strength than standard angle steel lintels and is also very much more resistant to corrosion.

3. A lintel according to claim 1 or claim 2 and in which the overall thickness of the corrugated sheet or plate, when used, oF intended for use as the lintel, is of from 5 to 1 Omm so as to accommodate the normal mortar thickness between bricks.

4. A lintel according to any of claims 1 to 3 and in which the pitch of the corrugations is in the range 10 to 20 mm.

5. A lintel according to any of claims 1 to 5 and in which the curvature of the corrugations is 3 mm internal radius and 6 mm external radius.

6. A support according to claim 1 or claim 2 and in which the corrugations are of 20 to 30 mm pitch and have an overall depth of 7.5 to 20 mm.

7. A corrugate lintel according to any of claims 1 to 5 entirely made of the corrugated stainless steel.

8. A lintel according to claim 1 or claim 2 and in which component parts of the fabricated lintel are made of the corrugated stainless steel.

9. A method of producing a lintel or a cladding support comprising hot or cold rolling orforming a corrugated stainless steel sheet or plate and then forming the sheet or plate into at least a pair of angled elongated parts, preferablyarranged at substantially right-angles to each other.

10. A lintel substantially as hereinbefore particularly described and as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

11. A support substantially as hereinbefore particularly described and as illustrated in Figure 3 of the accompanying drawings.

12. A method of manufacturing a lintel or support substantially as hereinbefore particularly described.