A SIX-WAY CONNECTOR

Abstract: A six-way connector, for use with soldiers, comprises an upper plate(2) a lower plate(1) and four vertical plates extending therebetween. Each plate is provided with a plurality of apertures to enable a soldier to be secured to the respective plate. At least two of the plates are provided with apertures to re­ ceive bolts from the soldiers so that the plates may have one soldier centrally connected thereto, or two soldiers connected thereto in side-by-side relation­ ship.

Description: THE PRESENT INVENTION relates to a six-way connector and more particularly relates to a six-way connector intended for use with elongate formwork elements known as "soldiers". It has been proposed previously to provide a six-way connector adapted to be utilised to secure together a number of soldiers which extend vertically above and beneath the connector and which extend horizontally to either side of the connector and to the front and to the back of the connector. It can be thus seen that the soldiers extend in six directions away from the connector. Such connectors are often utilised in connection with a support structure for formwork. De-A-2521759 discloses a six-way connector for use with a soldier. The connector is in the form of a cubicle structure having an upper plate, and a lower plate, and four vertical plates extending therebetween. Each face of the cube (i.e. each plate) is provided with apertures to enable a soldier to be secured to the respective plate. Each of the plates is provided with a plurality of apertures to receive bolts from the soldier so that said plate may have one soldier centrally connected thereto. Whilst such an arrangement does enable six soldiers to be connected together it does not provide any degree of flexibility in the design of the resultant structure. The present invention seeks to provide an improved connector of this type. According to this invention there is provided a six-way connector, in combination with two or more soldiers, said connector comprising an upper plate, and a lower plate and four vertical plates extending therebetween, each plate being provided with a plurality of apertures to enable a soldier to be secured to the respective plate, at least two of said plates being provided with a plurality of apertures to receive bolts from said soldiers such that said plates may have one soldier centrally connected thereto, wherein said two plates have further apertures to permit two soldiers connected thereto in side-by-side relationship. Preferably each of said at least two plates is so configured that it may receive a single soldier in a central position in either of two relative orientations. Conveniently each of the said at least two plates adapted to receive two soldiers in side-by-side relationship is provided with such apertures that the plate may receive said two soldiers in side-by-side relationship in each of two alternative relative orientations. Preferably said at least two plates comprise the upper plate and the lower plate. Advantageously each vertical plate is configured that it may receive a single soldier in either of two relative orientations. Conveniently each said vertical plate is associated with an extending part of the lower plate which forms a platform for supporting a soldier being connected to said vertical plate. Preferably each platform is associated with two laterally positioned upstanding webs, the webs being dimensioned to engage the sides of a soldier, presented to the plate, when the soldier is one relative orientation, and to support a soldier brought into engagement with said plate when the soldier is in another relative orientation. Conveniently a plurality of said plates are provided with one or more apertures therein adapted to receive tie rods extending axially of the soldier or soldiers connected to the said plate. Preferably the plates are held in their relative positions by means of a cruciform web. In order that the invention may be more readily understood, and so that further features thereof may be appreciated, the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a six-way connector for use with two or more soldiers in accordance with the invention, FIGURE 2 is a perspective view illustrating a soldier being brought into mating engagement with the connector of Figure 1, FIGURE 3 is a further corresponding view illustrating four soldiers being brought into engagement with the connector of Figure 1, and FIGURE 4 is a further view, corresponding to Figure 3, and again showing four soldiers being brought into engagement with the connector of Figure 1. Referring now to Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings a six-way connector for use with two soldiers comprises a lower horizontal plate 1 and an upper horizontal plate 2 located at a position above the lower plate 1. The plates 1 and 2 lie in parallel planes. The plates 1 and 2 are maintained in a spaced apart condition by a cruciform vertical web 3 located between the plates 1 and 2, and by four vertical face plates only three of which 4, 5, 6 are illustrated in Figure 1. The fourth face plate corresponds to the visible plate 5. The described structure is symmetrical. It is to be observed that the lower horizontal plate 1 has a greater width and a greater length than the upper horizontal plate 2. The upper plate 2 is of generally rectangular form and is provided with a central aperture 26. Located towards each end of the plate is a further oval aperture 7 located on the central axis of the plate. The end of the aperture 7 towards the central aperture 26 is associated with two generally radially disposed elongate apertures 8, which are located adjacent, but spaced from, the aperture 7. Two further pairs of round apertures 9 are provided adjacent but spaced from the ends of the upper plate 2. The lower horizontal plate 1 has a similar pattern of apertures to that described with reference to the upper plate 2, but, because it is longer and wider than the upper plate 2, the lower plate 1 is of a generally lozenge shape. The vertical plates 4, 5 and 6 each extend vertically between a free edge of the upper plate 2 and the lower plate 1. Because the lower plate 1 is larger than the upper plate 2, each vertical plate 4, 5, 6 abuts the lower plate 1 at a position spaced inwardly from the free edge of the lower plate 1. Thus platform areas 10, 11, 12 are created defined by that part of the lower plate 1 adjacent the lower edge of each of the vertical plates 4, 5, 6. Each platform region is bounded by two upstanding vertical webs 13 located adjacent the base of the vertical plates 4, 5 and 6 and extending perpendicularly thereto. The webs 13 are aligned with the vertical edges of the plates 4, 5 and 6. Each vertical plate 4, 5, 6 is provided with a central circular aperture 14 which is surrounded by four generally targentially inclined oval apertures 15. Referring now to Figure 2 a soldier 16, which is a well-known item per se can be brought into engagement with the described six-way connector to extend horizontally therefrom. It can be seen that the end of the soldier that is to be engaged with the six-way connector may be rested upon the platform 10. When the soldier rests on the platform 10 apertures 17 formed in the end plate of the soldier are aligned with the oval apertures 15 formed in the vertical plate 4 and appropriate nuts and bolts may be used to secure the soldier to the end plate 4. There are four apertues 17. They do not, however, lie on the corners of a notional square, but instead lie on the corners of a notional rectangle. It is to be appreciated that whilst the soldier 16 has been shown being brought into engagement with the six-way connector in one orientation, the soldier may be rotated through 90° about its horizontal axis and may be still brought into engagement with the six-way connector. In this condition the end of the soldier will rest on top of the webs 13, and the arrangement is such that the apertures 17 are still being aligned with the oval apertures 15. It is for this reason that the oval apertures 15 are oval and have an axial extent, since the apertures 17 formed in the end plate of the soldier are not totally symmetrically located. Whilst a soldier has been described being brought into engagement with the vertical plate 4 it will be readily appreciated that since the plates 5 and 6 are of the same design and each have an associated platform region, with associated webs 13 exactly the same technique may be utilised to bring a soldier into engagement with any one of the vertical plates 4, 5, 6 as described above. The web portions 13 serve to prevent the soldier sliding from side-to-side relative to the six-way connector before the bolts have been inserted in position through the apertures 17 in the end plate of the soldier and the oval apertures formed in the vertical plate of the six-way connector, when the soldier is in one relative orientation, and serve to support the soldier with the apertures 17 in alignment with the apertures in the vertical plate in another relative orientation. It will be appreciated that the central aperture 6 and the oval apertures 8 formed in the upper plate 2 (and in the lower plate 1) of the six-way connector have precisely the same relative size and configuration as the aperture 14 and the oval apertures 15 as described with reference to the vertical plate 4. It will thus be appreciated that a soldier may be brought into engagement with the central part of the upper plate 2, and the central part of the lower plate 1 and may be secured in position by means of bolts passing through the end plate of the soldier and passing through the oval apertures 8 formed in the upper plate 2 and the lower plate 1 of the six-way connector as shown in Figure 1. The soldiers may be in either of two relative orientations. However, the six-way connector of the present invention is provided with further apertures formed in the upper plate 2, and the lower plate 1, these further apertures being provided so that, as shown in Figure 3, two soldiers 16 may be connected to the upper plate 2 and two further soldiers 16 may be connected to the lower plate 1, with the soldiers being in a side-by-side parallel relationship. In this case the apertures 17 formed in the end plate of each soldier will be aligned either with one of the oval holes 8 or with one of the round holes 9. The central aperture in the end plate of the soldier will be aligned with the aperture 7. Whilst Figure 3 illustrates two soldiers connected to the upper plate 2 and two soldiers being connected to the lower plate 1 in one relative orientation it is to be appreciated that the soldiers to be connected to the upper plate 2 and the lower plate 1 may have an alternative relative orientation, as illustrated in Figure 4, whilst still being in a side-by-side relationship. In this case some of the apertures 17 in the end plates of the soldiers are aligned with the other one of the two round apertures 9. The apertures 6, 7 and 14 are provided so that tie rods may pass completely through the six-way connector to enable the entire structure to be tensioned thus increasing the strength of the resultant structure. An appropriate aperture 18 is also provided at the centre of the cruciform web 3 for this purpose. From the description provided above it will be appreciated that the six-way connector of the invention enables various structures to be fabricated. The six-way connector is able to receive either one or twin soldiers in at least two directions, thus enabling the strength of the structure to be selected in accordance with the load carrying capacity required. In all six directions soldiers can be fixed to the six-way connector in two different relative positions. This provides a great degree of flexibility when designing a structure to be fabricated from soldiers and six-way connectors. Where each soldier joins the connector, regardless of the orientation of the soldier and regardless of the number of soldiers connected to the connector in any one direction, an aperture is provided to allow a tie rod passing through the soldier to pass also through the six-way connector. Finally the bottom plate of the connector is extended to provide means to support each horizontal soldier whilst it is being connected to the six-way connector, thus making assembly easier. Each platform is associated with vertical webs which serve to prevent the soldier from moving from side-to-side when the soldier is in one relative position, and which support the soldier when the soldier is in the other relative position, so that the central axis of the soldier is still aligned with the central aperture formed through the vertical plate. Whilst the six-way connector has been described in the orientation in which it will normally be used, the connector may be used in other orientations if desired.

Claims: 1. A six-way connector, in combination with two or more soldiers(16), said connector comprising an upper plate(2), and a lower plate(1) and four vertical plates(4,5,6) extending therebetween, each plate being provided with a plurality of apertures(8,15) to enable a soldier to be secured to the respective plate, at least two of said plates(1,2) being provided with a plurality of apertures(8) to receive bolts from said soldiers such that said plates may have one soldier centrally connected thereto, characterised in that said two plates have further apertures to permit two soldiers to be connected thereto in side-by-side relationship. 2. A six-way connector according to Claim 1 wherein each of said at least two plates(1,2) is so configured that it may receive a single soldier(16) in a central position in either of two relative orientations. 3. A six-way connector according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein each of the said at least two plates(1,2) adapted to receive two soldiers(16) in side-by-side relationship is provided with such apertures(8) that the plate may receive said two soldiers in side-by-side relationship in each of two alternative relative orientations. 4. A six-way connector according to Claim 2 or 3 wherein said at least two plates(1,2) comprise the upper plate and the lower plate. 5. A six-way connector according to any one of the preceding Claims wherein each vertical plate(4,5,6) is configured that it may receive a single soldier in either of two relative orientations. 6. A six-way connector according to any one of the preceding Claims wherein each said vertical plate(4,5,6) is associated with an extending part(11) of the lower plate(1) which forms a platform(11) for supporting a soldier(16) being connected to said vertical plate. 7. A six-way connector according to Claim 6 wherein each platform(11) is associated with two laterally positioned upstanding webs(13), the webs being dimensioned to engage the sides of a soldier(16), presented to the plate, when the soldier is one relative orientation, and to support a soldier brought into engagement with said plate when the soldier is in another relative orientation. 8. A six-way connector according to any one of the preceding Claims wherein a plurality of said plates(1,2,4,5,6) are provided with one or more apertures(26,14) there in adapted to receive tie rods extending axially of the soldier or soldiers (16) connected to the said plate. 9. A six-way connector according to any one of the preceding Claims wherein the plates are held in their relative positions by means of a cruciform web(3).

Inventors: CORNISH, JOHN ROBERT EARL
Applicants: SGB HOLDINGS LTD.
Application year: 1989
Main classification: F16B7
IPC codes: E04G17, E04B1