Abstract:
A foam panel concrete form is provided for using concrete reinforcement rods which extend on each side of a joint in the foam panel concrete form and into complementary shaped openings in ties which hold two adjacent panels in a spaced and parallel relationship. The concrete reinforcement rod can pass into the openings in adjacent ties with little resistance in a first rotary position of the concrete reinforcement rod. When the concrete reinforcement rod is rotated to a second rotational position within the openings the reinforcement rod is in a tight frictional fit in the openings for helping to hold adjacent ties and the adjacent foam panels in a fixed relationship with respect to each other during a time when concrete is poured between the foam panels, thereby also serving to re-enforce the concrete after the concrete has cured.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is a Divisional of U.S. Ser. No. 11/774,707, filed Jul. 9, 2007, entitled IMPROVED METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USING FOAM PANELS AS FORMS FOR MAKING CONCRETE WALLS, and is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
     
    
     FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY 
       [0002]    The present invention relates generally to ties for concrete wall forming systems of a type using foam panels; and more particularly to a special tie utilized to secure adjacent panel sections together. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    While wall forming systems have been in use for many years, the last two decades has seen considerable development in this industry in the use of expanded polystyrene panels as forms for poured concrete walls. After the concrete has hardened, the panels may be left in place on the walls to serve as permanent insulation, or they may be stripped off to reveal the exposed concrete. 
         [0004]    Upon introduction of this new wall forming system, it was found that it was unnecessary to use small “building blocks” to create the form panels to build a form system for receiving poured concrete. Rather, larger and larger panels are now being utilized to create the concrete forms. Developments in this field include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,765,109 and 4,916,879 to Boeshart, which show how to make right angle corners and “T” intersections, which patents are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
         [0005]    Adjacent sections of foam panels have pre-formed mating tongue and groove connections that hold them together on the main portions of the foam panel sections. But sometimes these tongue and groove portions need to be trimmed off to make a foam panel form that is shorter than the length of a standard foam panel length. When this occurs it is necessary to find another way to hold adjacent foam panels together during the time that the concrete is being poured and cured. Solving this problem in the industry has been difficult and labor intensive, with many proposed solutions being not sufficiently reliable. Accordingly there remains a need for solving this difficult problem. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    The present invention relates to a foam panel concrete form using concrete reinforcement rods which extend on each side of a joint in the foam panel concrete form and into complementary shaped openings in ties which hold two adjacent panels in a spaced and parallel relationship. The concrete reinforcement rod can slide into the openings in adjacent ties with little resistance in a first rotary position of the concrete reinforcement rod. When the concrete reinforcement rod is rotated to a second rotational position within the openings, the reinforcement rod is in a tight frictional fit in the openings for helping to hold adjacent ties and the adjacent foam panels in a fixed relationship with respect to each other during a time when concrete is poured between the foam panels, thereby also serving to re-enforce the concrete after the concrete has cured. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention providing a concrete form constructed of foam panels; 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of  FIG. 1  of the present invention showing ties formed in the foam panels to hold adjacent foam panels in a spaced parallel relationship and concrete reinforcement rods placed on and in the ties to hold the form sections together and to reinforce the concrete after it has cured, with some reinforcement rods being shown in dashed lines to indicate where they can be placed; 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  is a top view of the structure shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
           [0010]      FIG. 4  is a side view of that portion of a tie in  FIG. 3  that is exposed between the two foam panels; 
           [0011]      FIG. 5  is a side elevational view of the foam panel structure shown in  FIG. 4 , but showing the foam panels in dashed lines and the ties in solid lines; 
           [0012]      FIG. 6  is a side elevational view of one of the corner tie structures shown in the lower right portion of  FIG. 7 ; 
           [0013]      FIG. 7  is a top plan view of one of the corner structures of the present invention; 
           [0014]      FIG. 8  is a side elevational view of one of the sections of a tie used in the lower left and upper right portion of  FIG. 7 ; 
           [0015]      FIG. 9  is a perspective view showing how a fastener is used to connect the structure of  FIG. 8  to the structure of  FIGS. 10 and 11 ; 
           [0016]      FIG. 10  is a side elevational view of one of the sections of a tie used in the lower left and upper right portion of  FIG. 7 ; 
           [0017]      FIG. 11  is a side elevational view of one of the sections of a tie used in the lower left and upper right portion of  FIG. 7 , this section just being longer than the one shown in  FIG. 10 , but otherwise identical; 
           [0018]      FIG. 12  is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of  FIG. 1  of the present invention showing ties formed in the foam panels to hold adjacent foam panels in a spaced parallel relationship and concrete reinforcement rods placed on and one tie only being illustrated to hold the form sections together and to reinforce the concrete after it has cured, it being understood that other reinforcement rods would be placed in the other aligned holes shown that are of a similar shape; 
           [0019]      FIG. 13  is a perspective view showing how a reinforcement rod is in position to be inserted into an opening in one of the ties; 
           [0020]      FIG. 14  is a perspective view like  FIG. 13  but showing how a reinforcement rod has been inserted into an opening in one of the ties in the direction of an arrow; 
           [0021]      FIG. 15  is a perspective view like  FIG. 14  but showing how a reinforcement rod has been rotated in the direction of an arrow in the opening in one of the ties to frictionally lock the reinforcement rod against the sliding movement along the line of the arrow in  FIG. 14 ; 
           [0022]      FIG. 16  is a perspective view of adjoining foam panels showing the tongue and groove relationship used to lock adjacent panels together by moving them relatively up or down as shown by the arrow in  FIG. 16 ; 
           [0023]      FIG. 17  is a perspective view of abutting foam panel forms wherein the tongue and groove portions are not present, for example because one of the forms needs to be shorter than a standard length of form, and also showing the use of a glue gun to seal the abutting edges together as well as reinforcement rods which are installed after the abutting edges are glued together; 
           [0024]      FIG. 18  is a top view of a T-joint of the present invention where one concrete wall to be formed will join with another concrete wall; 
           [0025]      FIG. 19  is a perspective view of a top portion of the structure of  FIG. 18 ; 
           [0026]      FIG. 20  is a top view of a corner section of the present invention where one concrete wall to be formed will join with another concrete wall; 
           [0027]      FIG. 21  is a perspective view of the corner section of  FIG. 20 , portions of which are also shown in  FIGS. 6-11 ; 
           [0028]      FIG. 22  is a perspective view showing how the ties can be held together for shipping purposes in a very compact fashion; 
           [0029]      FIG. 23  is a perspective view of a foam panel concrete form which has been pre-assembled and showing in dashed lines places where “jack-o-lantern” type holes can be cut the foam wall to insert reinforcement rods there through; 
           [0030]      FIG. 24  is a perspective view of a foam panel showing “jack-o-lantern lid” shaped holes being cut in the foam wall to insert reinforcement rods there through; and 
           [0031]      FIG. 25  is a perspective view of a foam panel showing how a piece of “jack-o-lantern lid” shaped piece of foam is reinserted in the one of the holes after the insert reinforcement rods have been installed, and showing how the a piece of “jack-o-lantern lid” shaped piece of foam is pinned with nails or the like to hold it in place while concrete is being poured into the form. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0032]    Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views,  FIG. 1  shows a perspective view of a preferred embodiment 10 of the present invention. Foam panels  22  have a tongue portion  22   t  on one edge and a groove portion  22   g  on the other edge thereof for mating with one another. The top of each panel  22  has a projection portion  22   p .  FIG. 12  shows the bottom of the structure of  FIG. 2  and shows recessed portion  22   r  of panels  22  and  FIG. 16  shows how the tongue portion  22   t  fits into the groove portion  22   g  of adjacent panels  22 . 
         [0033]      FIG. 5  is an end view for example, from the front of  FIG. 2 , but showing the foam panels  22  in dashed lines and ties  11  in solid lines. These ties  11  are made of a solid plastic material which are preferably made of the same material as the ties in the two patents referred to above which are incorporated herein by reference. Each side of the tie  11  has a portion  12  which is molded inside of the panel  22 , but of course could be the type that slips down into a groove in panels  22  if desired. Portions  13  have an opening  16  thereof which can be seen in greater detail in  FIGS. 13-15 , which will be discussed later. A portion  14  of the tie  11  extends between the portions  13  and has a plurality of extension tabs  14   t  thereon to allow an ultimate user to put a reinforcement rod  21  between adjacent tabs  14   t , for example as shown in the right-most reinforcement rod  21  shown in solid lines in  FIG. 2 . This allows the concrete to be formed between the foam walls  22  and when it cures the reinforcement rod  21  will be in a proper position to hold the concrete even if it cracks. 
         [0034]    Hinge portions  19  allow the concrete forms to pivot to a position wherein the portions  14  and  13  of the tie will be more or less parallel to the interior walls of the foam panels  22 . When the form is desired to be used on the job site, it can be folded out to the position shown in  FIGS. 2 ,  3  and  12 , for example. 
         [0035]    Referring now to  FIG. 7 , it is noted that a corner portion is shown. In this top view, portions  112  of the corner structure are virtually identical to the portions  12  of the ties  11  of  FIG. 5 . Essentially, the center section  14 , including tabs  14   t , have been cut off to make the structure shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7 . Additionally, a fastener  121  is used and is shown in detail in  FIG. 9 . This fastener  121  has tabs  121   t  and  121   b  thereon which fit into the opening  116  and through the top part  116   t  of opening  116  and through the bottom  116   b  of opening  116 . Once the portion  121   a ,  121   b  and  121   c  extend through portions  113 , then the handle portion  121   h  of the fastener  121  is turned so that the tabs  121   b  and  121   t  are not aligned with the portion of the opening  116   b  and  116   t  to thereby lock the portions  113  together as shown in  FIG. 7 .  FIG. 6  also shows the structure at the lower right portion of  FIG. 7  before it has been bent into the position shown in  FIG. 7 . 
         [0036]    The other braced portion in the corner of  FIG. 7  uses portions  112 ,  113 , hinge  119 , etc., similar to that shown in  FIGS. 8 and 9 , but instead of locking the portions  113  together, a “bow tie” shaped portion  211  is used as shown in  FIGS. 10 and 7 . This bow tie  211  has openings  216  therein with a top portion  216   t  and a bottom portion  216   b  so that the fastener  121  shown in  FIG. 9  can be used in the same way to first extend it through opening  116  of the tabs  113  and also through the openings  216  in bow tie  211  to secure the bow tie  211  in place as shown in  FIG. 7 .  FIG. 11  merely shows a longer bow tie  311  with end sections  313  and openings  316 . 
         [0037]    Referring now to  FIGS. 2 and 12  which show the top and bottom, respectively, of a form comprised of two foam panels  22  being held in spaced relationship by a plurality of ties  11  which are formed therein and extend between the two forms  22 , it is important to note that sometimes these forms  10  need to be trimmed to be shorter than the standard length because the concrete wall needs to be shorter than a multiple of the length of such standard forms  10 . When this occurs, the tongue portion  22   t  and groove portion  22   g , for example as shown in  FIGS. 12 and 16 , are trimmed off so that they are like shown in  FIG. 17 . A glue gun with hot glue is applied to these planar edges as shown in  FIG. 17  and the adjacent flat edges of foam panels  22  are glued together as indicated by the arrow shown in  FIG. 17 . Once that has been done, there needs to be something more than merely glue to hold this joint when concrete is introduced. Simply stated, the glue is not always sufficient to prevent the joint from coming apart when the heavy concrete and the pressure exerted on the walls  22  occurs due to the pouring of the concrete. Consequently, once the adhesive or glued joint is formed, then the reinforcement rod  21  is inserted in the step-by-step fashion shown in  FIGS. 13-15 . 
         [0038]    Looking at  FIG. 13  for example, the reinforcement rod  21  in the orientation shown, can be slid through the opening  16  in the direction of the arrow. It is noted that when this is done, the top portion  21   t  of the reinforcement rod  21  extends through the top portion  16   t  of the opening  16  in portion  13  of the tie  11 . Similarly, the lower portion  21   b  of the reinforcement rod  21  extends through the lower portion  16   b  of the opening  16 . It will be appreciated that the rod can easily pass into and through the opening  16  in this fashion as shown sequentially from  FIG. 13  to  FIG. 14  in the direction of the arrow. After the reinforcement rod  21  has been passed through all of the openings at the joint shown in  FIG. 17  with the joint glued together, then the reinforcement rod  21  is rotated 90° as shown in  FIG. 15 . This would typically be done by grasping the reinforcement rod  21  with pliers or a vice grip type of tool because there is a considerable amount of friction involved in rotating the tie  21 . Once the tie  21  is so rotated to the position shown in  FIG. 15 , this will hold the joint  17  together where it has been glued. In fact, it may not be necessary to apply the adhesive between the joint. For each of the openings  16  in the ties, for example as shown in  FIGS. 2 ,  12  and  17 , a tie  21  will be inserted in the manner shown sequentially in  FIGS. 13-15 . While it may not be necessary that every one of these openings  16  has a tie  21  therein, the more ties that are installed, the stronger the joint will be. 
         [0039]    Referring now to  FIGS. 18 and 19 , a form is shown in a configuration to pour one wall which is perpendicular to and joined with another wall. A bracing structure comprised of inner-connected elements  401 ,  402 ,  403 ,  404 ,  405 ,  406 ,  407 ,  408 ,  409 ,  410  and  411  hold one course or level of foam of concrete foam walls  22  together so that additional courses of such elements can be placed above those that are shown in  FIGS. 18 and 19  to form a taller concrete form. Of course this can be done as many times as necessary to form a concrete form as tall as desired. 
         [0040]    More importantly to the invention at hand, it is noted that the ties  11  are in place so that a reinforcement rod  21  can be utilized to further hold the joint of the form together by extending the tie  21  through openings  16  sequentially as shown in  FIGS. 13-15 . It is also noted that  FIGS. 18 and 19  show an additional tie  21  which extends between two adjacent tabs  14   t  and 90° to the reinforcement rod  21  which has previously been installed as noted above. This additional reinforcement rod  21  will further hold the concrete joint together after the concrete has cured. More reinforcement rods  21  can be used between the tabs  14   t , and of course, none of these reinforcement rods actually need to be bent down on the end like the ones shown in  FIG. 19 . 
         [0041]    Referring now to  FIGS. 20 and 21 , it is noted that a corner section like  FIG. 7  is shown with a structure  600  thereon which is similar to the devices shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,765,109 and 4,916,879 to Boeshart, which show how to make right angle corners and which patents are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Portions  601  and  602  slip over the extreme outside of the corner and are connected together by braces  603 ,  604  and  605 . Brace  603  extends to member  606  and  607  via members  608  and  609 . 
         [0042]    Member  610  is attached at one end to member  603  and at the other end to member  611 . Member  612  connects members  610  and  613  together. Similarly, member  620  is attached at one end to member  603  and at the other end to member  621 . Member  622  connects members  620  and  623  together. 
         [0043]    Member  630  is attached at one end to member  631  and at the other end to member  635 . Member  632  connects members  631  and  633  together. And on the other side, similarly, Member  630  is attached at one end to member  631  and at the other end to member  645 . Member  642  connects members  641  and  643  together. Member  646  connects member  641  to member  603  and member  647  connects member  631  to member  603 . This structure  600  allows for one course of foam panels  22  to be held in place at a corner and further allows an additional course to be added to the top of the structure  600  shown in  FIGS. 20 and 21 , and held in place by overlapping members  601 ,  602 ,  606 ,  607 ,  612 ,  613 ,  621 ,  623 ,  631 ,  633 ,  641  and  643 . 
         [0044]    Referring now to  FIG. 22 , it is noted that a wooden dowel  421  can be utilized to extend through a plurality of ties  11  for the purpose of holding them together for shipping purposes. This dowel  421  is essentially the same or slightly less of a diameter as the opening  16 . A hard rubber locking block  450  is frictionally held on the end of the dowel  421  for holding the end of the dowel  421 . A hole in the rubber locking block  450  has a diameter than is slightly smaller than the diameter of the dowel, so that rubber locking block  450  can be pushed onto the end of the dowel  421  in the  FIG. 22  configuration to hold all of the ties  11  together for shipping purposes. 
         [0045]    Referring now to  FIGS. 23-25 , it is noted that forms  500  and  501  are essentially identical except that it is necessary, due to the specifications of the wall that the form  501  be shorter in length than the form  500 . When this is necessary, it needs to be trimmed off, for example as shown in  FIG. 17  on the abutting edges at the joint  502 . In  FIG. 17 , as the courses are added one on top of another, it is very easy to reach over the top and insert the reinforcement rods  21  into the opening  16  sequentially as shown in  FIGS. 13-15 . When the concrete form made of foam  500  and  501  are already formed having several courses high, then it becomes necessary to insert the reinforcement rod  21  in a different fashion. One such desired way to insert these rods is to cut an opening  503  as shown in dashed lines in  FIG. 23 . This is done in the manner shown in  FIG. 24  and it is cut with a saw  504 , for example in the manner that someone would cut a top out of a pumpkin when making a jack-o-lantern so that the inside of the opening  503   i  is larger than the portion of the opening  503   o  outside. By cutting the opening in this fashion, the plug  505  will be wedged back into the opening  503  when the concrete is poured and this will prevent it from popping out of the opening  503  if the hole  503  had straight walls instead of tapered walls. 
         [0046]    Once the opening  503  has been cut and the plug  505  pushed inside the wall, a person would reach through the opening  503  and insert a concrete reinforcement rod  21  through the openings  16  in the exact same manner as shown sequentially in  FIGS. 13-15 . It can be seen that this can be done at different levels as shown in  FIG. 23 . After the concrete reinforcement rod  21  has been installed, then the plug  505  is pulled back and reinserted into the opening  503  and nails  506  are used to hold the plug  505  in place. Of course when the concrete is poured between the walls of forms  500  and  501 , the force of the poured plastic or liquid concrete pushes outwardly on the foam walls of the forms  500  and  501 . The plug  505  will be wedged against the inside of the opening  503  and will remain in place in the position shown in  FIG. 25 . 
         [0047]    Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.