Patent Publication Number: US-2003233804-A1

Title: Joint reinforcement

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] 1. Field of the Invention  
       [0002] The present invention relates to a joint reinforcement, and more particularly, to a joint reinforcement having an improved structure and method of manufacture that allows the eye sections to be welded in line.  
       [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art  
       [0004] Joint reinforcements are used to strengthen and stabilize walls constructed using masonry units. Joint reinforcements typically are either of a ladder type or a truss type. The ladder type joint reinforcement typically includes a pair of side rods having perpendicular cross rods that connect the two side rods. The truss type joint reinforcement has angled cross rods forming a zigzag pattern to connect the two side rods. The builder places the joint reinforcements between various courses in the masonry wall as dictated by the particular application and code requirements.  
       [0005] Sometimes, for example in multiwythe walls, joint reinforcements placed in the backup wythe also include eye sections to receive and hold pintle sections attached to an exterior wythe. FIG. 1 depicts such a conventional prior art joint reinforcement. Prior art joint reinforcement  10  includes a pair of side rods  12   a,b  and cross rods  14 . Joint reinforcement  10  also includes eye sections  16   a,b . Joint reinforcement  10  can be placed between courses in a backup wythe. Pintle sections are embedded in an exterior wythe placed in proximity to the backup wythe. The pintle sections extend away from the exterior wythe and then downwardly to protrude through eyes  17   a,b  of eye sections  16   a,b  to add strength and stability to the wythes.  
       [0006] Joint reinforcement  10  is manufactured by first using an inline process to manufacture side rods  12   a,b  and connecting cross rods  14 . Cross rods  14  are electric resistance welded to side rods  12   a,b . Subsequently, independently assembled eye sections  16   a,b  are overlaid and welded onto side rod  12   a . Each eye section  16   a,b  is manufactured as an integrated unit with two eyes  17   a,b , which requires material joining eye  17   a  to eye  17   b . This is done so that eyes  17   a  and  17   b  can be readily spaced at the proper distance from one another to receive the pintle sections. Proper placement and welding of eye sections  16   a,b  is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 1, welding eye sections  16   a,b  onto side rod  12   a  in this manner causes the side of joint reinforcement  10  with side rod  12   a  to be thicker than the side with side rod  12   b . This makes the joint reinforcement difficult to position within a specified thickness of mortar joint and also limits the eye section to thin wire assemblies. Additionally, it makes stacking joint reinforcements  10  for transport difficult. Although flipping half of joint reinforcements  10  in the stack 180° allows for even stacking, this process is time consuming. Also, the extra thickness created by welding eye sections  16   a,b  onto side rod  12   a  limits the quantity of joint reinforcements  10  that can be stored in a given volume.  
       [0007] Thus, it would be desirable to have a process for manufacturing joint reinforcements, such as ladder and truss joint reinforcements, that connected eye sections in a more efficient manner, used less material for cost and weight savings, and resulted in joint reinforcements that could be readily stacked without alternating orientation, could be more densely stacked into a given volume of space, have greater application, and provide the installer a more productive product for usage.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008] The present invention comprises an improved joint reinforcement and method of manufacture. The joint reinforcement is manufactured using an inline process to manufacture a pair of side rods and at least one cross rod, or other means to interconnect the pair of side rods. Eye sections are manufactured and attached concurrently with the cross rods. The eye sections can be welded in any fashion to the side rod. The present invention results in a more efficient assembly of eye sections, a decrease in material used, yielding cost and weight savings, and an improved joint reinforcement that can be more densely stacked into a given volume, has enhanced application, provides optimal fit into a mortared joint and increases the productivity of the user. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0009]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a prior art joint reinforcement;  
     [0010]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a joint reinforcement made in accordance with the present invention; and  
     [0011]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a joint reinforcement made in accordance with the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
     [0012] Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a joint reinforcement  40  made in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a ladder type joint reinforcement, but the described embodiment is also applicable to truss type joint reinforcements or any other type of joint reinforcement. Joint reinforcement  40  includes a pair of side rods  42   a,b  and one or more cross rods  44 , or any other appropriate means of connecting side rods  42   a  and  42   b . Joint reinforcement  40  also includes one or more eye sections  46   a - d  for receiving pintle sections in eyes  47   a - d . In joint reinforcement  40 , each eye section  46   a - d  has only one corresponding eye  47   a - d . Thus, there is no material connecting eye section  46   a  to eye section  46   b  or connecting eye section  46   c  to eye section  46   d . Although two pairs of eye sections  46   a - d  are shown in FIG. 2, joint reinforcement  40  can include any appropriate number of eye sections positioned at suitable locations, for example to accommodate the desired number, type and location of pintle sections. Furthermore, although FIG. 2 shows eye sections  46   a - d  positioned on either side of cross rods  44 , eye sections  46   a - d  can be positioned at any location along either side rod  42   a,b  or both side rods  42   a,b.    
     [0013] Joint reinforcement  40  is manufactured by using an inline process to manufacture side rods  42   a,b  and cross rods  44 . Eye sections  46   a - d  are manufactured concurrently with cross rods  44  by simultaneously feeding and cutting material for both cross rods  44  and eye sections  46   a - d . A free end of eye section  46   a - d  is bent into a loop to form eye  47   a - d , respectively. Cross rods  44  and eye sections  46   a - d  are simultaneously attached, for example, by electronic resistance welding or any other type of welding, onto side rod  42   a . Eye sections  46   a - d  may be lap welded or welded in any other fashion. The attachment occurs at a welding station having at least one point of contact. The welding station may, for example, have 4 points of contact—two for the ends of cross rod  44 , one for eye section  46   a  and one for eye section  46   b . Alternatively, the welding station may have any number of points of contact appropriate for a given application. There can be one such welding station or many, depending on the user&#39;s requirements.  
     [0014] This method of manufacturing joint reinforcement  40  is more efficient than conventional methods, because no secondary assembly is required. The production and welding of eye sections  46   a - d  concurrently to the production and welding of cross rods  44  saves time and money over conventional manufacturing methods. Joint reinforcement  40  also provides savings in terms of material because eye sections  46   a - d  require less material than conventional eye sections, such as eye sections  16   a,b , for joint reinforcements. In particular, conventional eye sections  16   a,b  each have two corresponding eyes  17   a,b  and require material to connect the eyes. Eye sections  46   a - d  of the present invention have only one eye  47   a - d , and therefore do not include material to connect eye section  46   a  to eye section  46   b  or to connect eye section  46   c  to eye section  46   d.    
     [0015] Now referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a joint reinforcement  60  made in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows a ladder type joint reinforcement, but the described embodiment is also applicable to truss type joint reinforcements or any other type of joint reinforcement. Joint reinforcement  60  includes a pair of side rods  62   a,b  and one or more cross rods  64 , or other appropriate means of connecting side rods  62   a,b . Joint reinforcement  60  includes one or more eye sections  66   a - d  for receiving pintle sections in eyes  67   a - d . Although two pairs of eye sections  66   a - d  are shown in FIG. 3, joint reinforcement  60  can include any appropriate number of eye sections positioned at suitable locations to accommodate the desired number, type and location of pintle sections. Furthermore, although FIG. 3 shows eye sections  66   a - d  positioned on either side of cross rods  64 , eye sections  66   a - d  can be positioned at any location along either side rod  62   a,b  or both side rods  62   a,b.    
     [0016] Joint reinforcement  60  is manufactured in a similar manner to joint reinforcement  40  of FIG. 2. However, eye sections  66   a - d  of joint reinforcement  60  are butt welded to side rod  62   a . This yields the advantage that joint reinforcement  60  has an essentially uniform thickness, unlike conventional joint reinforcement  10  of FIG. 1 or joint reinforcement  40  of FIG. 2. This provides a more efficient usage of the product due to a better fit within a specified confined mortar joint thickness. The process also allows for a thicker side rod width to be used. Use of a thicker side rod provides a greater area of steel in the wall, therefore making the product more applicable for optimal structural conditions. Additionally, when a plurality of joint reinforcements  60  have to be transported to a job site, they can be readily stacked without having to alternate the orientation of various joint reinforcements  60 . Moreover, the lesser thickness of joint reinforcement  60  allows more joint reinforcements  60  to be stored in a given volume of space. This yields additional cost savings in transporting joint reinforcements  60 .  
     [0017] Thus, there has been described a method for manufacturing joint reinforcements that attaches eye sections in a more efficient manner and requires less material to be used to manufacture the eye sections. This method creates a product with greater utility and efficient installation. Joint reinforcements manufactured in accordance with the present invention also can be readily stacked for transport and stacked more densely than conventional joint reinforcements.  
     [0018] Whereas the present invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various changes and modifications will be suggested to one skilled in the art and it is intended that the invention encompass such changes and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims.