WO2001096680A1

WO2001096680A1 - An adjustable bolt or nut assembly

Info

Publication number: WO2001096680A1
Application number: PCT/AU2001/000704
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ernest Comerford
Original assignee: Adjustabolt Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2000-06-16
Filing date: 2001-06-14
Publication date: 2001-12-20
Also published as: AUPQ822800A0

Abstract

An adjustable bolt or nut assembly having a retainer attachable to or attached to an end of a bolt, a housing (13, 14) within which the retainer is loosely contained, a tube (6) that extends from the housing (14) through which the bolt extends when attached to the retainer, and two conduits (7, 8) for introducing hard-setting fluid into the housing (13, 14). The housing comprises a lid (14) and a base (13) that snap-fit together. The assembly has legs (9) that extend from the base (13) that determine the depth at which the assembly is to be embedded in concrete. The assembly has a well (12) extending from the base (13) for receiving the bolt. In use, a bolt is attached to the retainer and to the building component. The position of the retainer within the housing (13, 14) may be adjusted when attaching the bolt. A predetermined amount of grout is then injected into the housing (13, 14) by way of a conduit (7 or 8) and the conduits (7, 8) are sealed with caps.

Description

TITLE OF THE INVENTION

AN ADJUSTABLE BOLT OR NUT ASSEMBLY THIS INVENTION relates to an adjustable bolt or nut assembly for positioning an adjustable bolt or nut in hard-setting fluid such as concrete. In particular, the invention relates to an adjustable bolt or nut assembly that may itself be filled with hard-setting fluid.

The invention has been developed primarily for use in holding building components such as columns or roof structures against concrete slabs or concrete walls in which the adjustable bolt or nut assemblies are embedded, and will therefore be described in this context. It is to be appreciated however that the adjustable bolt or nut assembly may be embedded in hard-setting fluid other than concrete and may be used to hold an object other than a building component (eg. a piece of machinery).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Hold down bolts and ferrules are used in the construction industry, particularly for erecting prefabricated buildings. These are typically pre- positioned on formwork prior to the pouring of a concrete slab. Once a concrete slab containing a bolt or ferrule has set, an end of the bolt is attached to a penetration provided in a prefabricated building component or a bolt is screwed into the ferrule to attach a building component. If the bolt or ferrule is out of alignment with the penetration, then it may not be possible to attach the building component to the bolt or ferrule. A way of correcting this occurrence is to simply bend the bolt into alignment or to alter the building component so that it may be attached to the ferrule. The disadvantage with this practice, however, is that the bolt will not be parallel to imposed loads on the bolt during use. Another disadvantage is that bolts that are heated, to facilitate the bending of the bolt, may be damaged by the heat. In the case of altering a building component to allow a bolt to be screwed into a ferrule, the alteration may affect the strength of the joint. OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide an adjustable bolt or nut assembly which at least minimizes a disadvantage referred to above or provides the public with a useful or commercial choice. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention there is provided an adjustable bolt or nut assembly having: a retainer adjustably attachable to or attached to an end of a bolt; a housing within which the retainer is loosely contained; a tube extending from the housing through which the bolt extends when attached to the retainer; and at least one passage, other than a passage provided by the tube, for communicating fluid to or from the housing. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Prior to or after bolting the assembly to an object (such as a prefabricated building component), a predetermined amount of hard-setting fluid (such as grout) may be used to fill the housing to hold the bolt and the retainer in a predetermined position relative to the housing. The grout may also serve to impede corrosion of the bolt and retainer.

Preferably the assembly has two passages, the first for receiving the hard- setting fluid and the second for displacing air from within the housing. These passages may themselves be completely filled with the hard-setting fluid.

The passages may be provided by conduits that extend from the housing. The conduits and the tube may be of any suitable shape. Preferably, they are round when viewed in transverse cross-section, and the conduits are of smaller diameter than the tube. The tube and conduits may extend substantially parallel to one another.

The housing may be of any suitable shape. Preferably, the housing is substantially rectangular in shape and has a lid that is attachable to a base. The lid may have formations for mating with formations of the base so that they may "snap-fit" together.

The base may have a bottom wall and four side walls. The lid may have a top wall and four side walls. The mateable formations may be located on the side walls of the lid and base.

The tube may extend centrally from the lid and the conduits may extend from opposing corners of the lid. Preferably, each corner from which a conduit extends is substantially pinched or drawn out from a remainder of the lid and base. The assembly may further have caps for sealing an end of the tube and of each conduit. Capping these ends may be important for preventing concrete from spilling into the housing by accident.

At least one cap may have means for allowing the cap to be fastened to an object, such as to formwork, should the assembly be used on an incline as opposed to horizontally. In the simplest form of the invention, the cap may be nailed to the formwork.

The assembly may further have a pipe that is attached to an end of the tube and an end of each conduit. This will be important if the height of the concrete slab is to exceed the height of the assembly. Prior to pouring the concrete, a pipe would be attached to the end of each conduit and to the end of the tube in a fluid-tight manner so that when the concrete is poured it will not spill into the housing.

The assembly may have fins extending from the tube and from each of the conduits. Preferably, each said fin extends radially from the tube and the conduits. These fins may provide further structural stability and may be of such shape as to allow the fixing of reinforcing bars across a top of the assembly to hold the assembly in place during vibration of the concrete.

The assembly may have four legs that extend from the base and the legs may extend in an opposite direct to that of the tube. Preferably, each leg is located at a corner of the base. The legs may determine the depth at which the assembly is to be embedded in the concrete slab.

The base may further have a well located between the legs into which the bolt may be received. Preferably, the well has a stepped periphery and extends centrally from the base.

The retainer may be attached to the end of the bolt in a fixed or in an adjustable manner. This may be achieved in numerous ways. For instance, in a first form of the invention, the retainer may comprise a substantially rectangular plate having at least one aperture through which the bolt may extend. In a second form of the invention, the retainer may comprise a substantially rectangular plate having at least one threaded aperture. The length of bolt protruding from the tube could be shortened by screwing the bolt through the retainer into the well. In yet another form of the invention, the threaded aperture may be replaced with an aperture and a nut fixed to one side of it.

Preferably, parts of the assembly comprise plastics material, except for the retainer which may comprise a steel plate. These materials may, however, be substituted for any other suitable corrosion-resistant, long-life materials.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is an exploded detailed view of part of an adjustable bolt or nut assembly according to an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a detailed top plan view of part of the assembly of Figure 1 ; Figure 3 is a detailed sectional view through plane A-A of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a detailed top plan view of part of the assembly of Figure 1 ; Figure 5 is a detailed sectional view through plane A-A of Figure 4; Figure 6 is perspective view of a bolt attached to a retainer of an adjustable bolt or nut assembly, according to an embodiment of the invention; and

Figure 7 is a side elevation view of a bolt attached to a retainer of an adjustable bolt or nut assembly, according to an embodiment of the invention. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In all of the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like parts. Figure 1 shows an exploded view of two parts of an adjustable bolt or nut assembly. The assembly has a housing comprising a lid 14 and a base 14, a tube 6 that extends from the lid 14, and two passages that are provided by conduits 7, 8 and which communicate fluid to or from the housing 13, 14.

Figures 6 and 7 show two embodiments of a third part of the adjustable bolt or nut assembly, namely, a rectangular metal retainer 1 attached to an end of a bolt 2.

The base 13 has four upstanding side walls 4 and a bottom wall 3 from which extends four legs 9. The bottom wall 3 also has a well 12 that has a stepped periphery. The lid 14 has a top wall 5 and four side walls 10. Tube 6 extends centrally from the top wall 5 and conduits 7, 8 extend from opposing corners of the top wall

5. These corners are pinched from a remainder of the housing. The tube 6 and conduits 7, 8 have radially extending fins 17 that help hold them to the top wall 5.

The base 13 has a plurality of locking fingers 15 spaced about side walls 4 and side walls 10 of the lid 14 have a plurality of sockets 16 for receiving the fingers 5. The fingers 15 and sockets 16 enable the lid 14 and base 13 to snap- fit together.

In use, the retainer 1 fits loosely within the housing 13, 14 and the bolt 2 extends through the tube 6. The retainer 1 is sized such that it cannot revolve completely within the housing 13, 14, which means that it will not revolve freely when bolting an object to the assembly, nor can the retainer 1 pass through the tube 6, which means that the retainer 1 cannot be pulled from the housing 13, 14 when tightening the object to the assembly.

Figures 6 and 7 represent two embodiments of the retainer 1 and bolt 2. In Figure 6, an end of the bolt 2 is threaded and is received within a threaded aperture 18 of the retainer 1. The other end of the bolt 2 is attached to the object that is to be held. To shorten the length of bolt 2 extending from the tube 6, the bolt 2 is screwed through the retainer 1 into the well 12. To lengthen the bolt 2 relative to the tube 6, the bolt 2 is screwed the other way. In the embodiment of Figure 7, the bolt 2 is slideably received within a non-threaded aperture 19 of the retainer 1. In this case, the bolt 2 has a head 20 that cannot pass through aperture 19. To shorten the length of bolt 2 extending from the tube 6, the bolt is simply slid to the bottom of the well 12.

Ways of using the assembly, for holding a building component against a newly poured concrete wall, will now be described. First, a retainer 1, like that shown in Figure 6 but without the bolt 2, is placed within the housing 13, 14. The assembly is placed into the required position on the formwork. The legs 9 determine the depth at which the assembly is to be embedded in the concrete. Caps (not illustrated) are used to seal the ends of the tube 6 and conduits 7, 8 to prevent accidental spillage of concrete into the housing. The concrete is poured to the height of the assembly.

After the concrete has set, the concrete wall is stood upright in the desired position and the caps are removed. A bolt 2 is attached to the retainer 1 and to the building component. The position of the retainer 1 within the housing 13, 14 can be adjusted when attaching the bolt 2. An upper end of the bolt 2 is fastened to the component until the retainer 1 abuts the top wall 5 of the lid 5. A predetermined amount of grout is then injected into the housing 13, 14 by way of the conduit (7 or 8) closest to the ground. The grout flows through this conduit (7 or 8) and fills the housing 13, 14 and conduits 7, 8 themselves. The conduits 7, 8 are then sealed with caps. In this way, the retainer 1 and bolt 2 are fixed in position and corrosion is impeded.

If pouring a concrete wall in situ, a fully capped assembly is sandwiched between vertically spaced formwork at the required position. The cap of the tube 6 is nailed to the formwork to hold the assembly in position. The assembly may further be supported by structural members extending between the formwork. After the concrete wall has been poured and has set, the formwork is removed, a building component is attached to the retainer 1 with a bolt 2 (like that shown in Figure 6) and grout is used to fill the assembly. In some instances, numerous assemblies configured in a certain way will be needed to hold an object in place. Instead of positioning each assembly at the time of pouring the concrete, which may be rather time consuming, the assemblies may be pre-fastened, in the required configuration, to a common plate. The plate may have markings to indicate where each assembly is to be fastened. At the time of pouring the concrete, the plate is simply placed at the required location for supporting the object and the concrete is then poured.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. An adjustable bolt or nut assembly having: a retainer adjustably attachable to or attached to an end of a bolt; a housing within which the retainer is loosely contained; a tube extending from the housing through which the bolt extends when attached to the retainer; and at least one passage, other than a passage provided by the tube, for communicating fluid to or from the housing.

2. The assembly of claim 1 having two passages, the first for receiving a hard- setting fluid and the second for displacing air from within the housing.

3. The assembly of claim 2, wherein said passages are provided by conduits that extend from the housing.

4. The assembly of claim 3, wherein the conduits are of smaller diameter than the tube, and the tube and conduits extend substantially parallel to one another.

5. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the housing is substantially rectangular in shape and has a lid that is attachable to a base.

6. The assembly of claim 5, wherein the base has a bottom wall and four side walls, the lid has a top wall and four side walls, and the side walls of the lid and base have formations for releasably attaching to one another.

7. The assembly of claim 5, wherein the tube extends centrally from the lid and the conduits extend from opposing corners of the lid.

8. The assembly of claim 5, wherein each corner from which a conduit extends is substantially pinched or drawn out from a remainder of the lid and base.

9. The assembly of claim 3 further having caps for sealing an end of the tube and each of the conduits.

10. The assembly of claim 9, wherein at least one cap has means for allowing the cap to be fastened to an object.

11. The assembly of claim 3 further having a pipe attached to an end of the tube and an end of each conduit.

12. The assembly of claim 5, wherein the assembly has fins extending from the tube and conduits.

13. The assembly of claim 12, wherein each said fin extends radially from the tube and the conduits.

14. The assembly of claim 5, wherein the assembly has four legs that extend from the base and the legs extend in a direction opposite to that of the tube.

15. The assembly of claim 14 further having a well located between the legs into which the bolt may be received.

16. The assembly of claim 15, wherein the well has a stepped periphery and extends centrally from the base.

17. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the retainer comprises a plate having at least one aperture through which the bolt may extend.

18. The assembly of claim 17, wherein the retainer comprises a substantially rectangular plate.

19. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the retainer comprises a plate having at least one threaded aperture for receiving a threaded end of the bolt.

20. The assembly of claim 19, wherein the retainer comprises a substantially rectangular plate.

21. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the retainer comprises a plate having at least one aperture and a nut fixed to one side of the aperture for receiving a threaded end of the bolt.

22. The assembly of claim 21 , wherein the retainer comprises a substantially rectangular plate.