Braced structural member

A haunch connector for use in building trusses comprises two channels secured together at an angle and clamping means for clamping elements of the truss into the channels. The construction permits the assembly of large trusses without the need for pre-drilling old holes in the ends of the trusses, thus strengthening the points of connection of the structural elements and permitting limited adjustment of the angles of adjacent elements within desired limits.

This invention relates to haunch connectors also known as knees, for use in 
building trusses. 
Trusses have achieved wide acceptance in the art of building, primarily 
because of the ease with which they can be manufactured in a factory and 
shipped to a building site, where they are assembled to form a complete 
building. 
The prefabrication of complete trusses for small structures such as houses 
presents no technical difficulty, since the complete truss can be 
manufactured, easily placed on a truck bed, and carried to the 
construction site. However, with trusses of substantial size such as those 
used in the construction of barns and large storage buildings it is 
clearly not possible to prefabricate the whole assembled truss since such 
trusses are of a size such that they are not transportable, or at least 
are not transportable on conventional vehicles. For this reason, trusses 
for use in large buildings are prefabricated in parts, and later assembled 
on site. 
It thus becomes necessary to provide for safe and convenient connection of 
the several parts of a prefabricated truss on site, often using unskilled 
labour and a minimum of ordinary tools and materials. To this end, many 
proposals have been made for the prefabrication of building frames such as 
Woodworth in U.S. Pat. No. 2,653,360, granted on Sept. 29, 1973. 
The "knee" for joining an upright post to a beam proposed by Woodworth 
comprises a pair of plates 10,11 joined together at an angle and braced 
together by a brace 21 which maintains the angular orientation of the 
plates. The knee proposed by Woodworth is connected to the wooden 
structural elements by a bolt and by a clamp like structure to a knee cap. 
The two structural elements which are mitered and rabbeted are, placed 
alongside the two plates, and are secured thereto by two bolts and by a 
cap plate which in turn is bolted to the knee. 
A disadvantage of the Woodworth construction is difficulty of assembly, the 
requirement for precise formation of the miter and rabbets prior to 
location of the parts in relation to each other before the knee can be 
assembled to the frame and limited resistance to racking loads. 
It is the purpose of the present invention to provide a haunch connector 
that can easily be assembled to the wooden elements of a truss, on site, 
without the requirement for predrilling or rabbeting of any of the wooden 
elements, while providing for adjustment of the specific angular 
orientation of the parts of the structure once assembled and strengthening 
of the structural elements in the area of the joint. 
To this end I provide a haunch connector for connecting two adjacent 
structural elements in a building construction at a given angle, 
comprising a pair of metal channels joined together at said angle, a knee 
brace connecting said channels for rigidly maintaining a fixed angular 
relationship between the channels of the pair, clamping means for 
attachment to said channels and for surrounding the structural elements 
and clamping them into the channels, and means for tightening the clamping 
means to grip the structural elements between the clamping means and the 
channels. 
The above arrangement overcomes the problems of the prior art. The channels 
readily accommodate the ends of the structural elements that are to be 
joined, and the clamps surround the structural elements and can be 
tightened to compress them into the channels so that the two structural 
elements to be joined assume the angular relationship of the channels. 
Adjustment can be affected by loosening the clamping means, shimming in 
known manner between the channels and the structural elements, and 
retightening the clamping means. Further, by extending the channels a 
predetermined distance, for example down a wooden column, the strength of 
the column is increased and a saving of materials can be realized.

In the drawings 10 and 11 are a pair of channel sections, made for example 
from a suitable material such as steel, that are welded together at 12 to 
form an angular structure. The chord 13 is welded to the channels to form 
a rigid triangular construction. Referring to FIG. 1, three connectors of 
the type described above will be used, one at the peak of the roof and one 
at each edge of the roof. Along the flanges of each of the channel 
elements 10 and 11 are arranged a number of outwardly projecting ears 14 
which are predrilled to receive bolts in a manner to be described below. 
Also part of the combination are clamping strips 15, also predrilled to 
receive the aforementioned bolts. 
Referring to FIG. 3, the manner in which the elements are secured together 
is illustrated. Shown in section is an assembly of wooden elements 16 
comprising two side pieces 16a and 16b of lesser vertical height than the 
central wooden elements 17 which may be a composite of the type shown in 
copending application Ser. No. 342,823 filed Dec. 31, 1979. An upper 
clamping member, formed as a metal strip having a shape conforming to that 
of the beam with which it is to be used, is superimposed on the beam and 
it will be noted that the beam rests in the channel 10. Bolts 18 are used 
to clamp the clamping member 15 securely down, pressing the beam 16 
securely into the channel. 
A pair of structural elements clamped into the channels in the above manner 
bear a fixed angular relationship to each other and it will be noted 
particularly that there is no need for predrilling of the wooden elements 
which would interfere with the strength of the wooden elements. Also, the 
structure of the invention eliminates the problem of having to align 
predrilled holes with preformed connectors. 
If as illustrated in FIG. 1 the channel member 10 is extended down the leg 
19 a substantial distance "A." The result is strengthening of the leg 19 
so that lumber of a smaller size can be used than would otherwise be 
necessary. For example, in a composite construction that would normally 
require three 2 by 12 wooden elements the extension of the channels down 
1/2 of the length of the wooden elements provides sufficient additional 
strength that 2 by 10 lumber may be used.