Patent Publication Number: US-4838437-A

Title: Monorail and fishplate assembly

Description:
This is a continuation of co-pending application Ser. No. 07/018,194, now abandoned, which was filed on Feb. 24, 1987. 
    
    
     The present invention relates to the support of beams and more particularly to the support of beams which act as a girder for a girder trolley. 
     Girders providing a support for a girder trolley have conventionally been attached to a support sructure by means of brackets welded to the top flange of the girder, which brackets are in turn welded to a support beam. 
     The abovediscussed girder support has the disadvantage that the loads are concentrated and considerable effort is required for assembling and disassembling of the girder trolley and its associated support structure. 
     It is the object of the present invention to overcome or substantially ameliorate the above disadvantages. 
     There is disclosed herein a girder support for a girder having a web with at least one flange extending transverse of the web so as to protrude therefrom, said support comprising a fishplate with a body defining a recess complementary to the transverse cross-section of said girder so as to encompass said flange and web to enable removably fixing thereto, said recess being at least partly defined between two legs between which the web is to be located, a mounting flange extending from said body enabling attachment of the support to a supporting structure. 
    
    
     A preferred form of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevation of a girder trolley, support girder and fishplate; 
     FIG. 2 is a schematic end elevation of the girder trolley and support therefor of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a schematic end elevation of the fishplate employed in Fig. 1; and 
     FIG. 4 is a schematic end elevation of the girder and fishplate employed in FIG. 1. 
    
    
     In the accompanying drawings there is schematically depicted a girder trolley 10 having wheels 11 which are supported on a girder 12 having a bottom flange 13 and a top flange 14 joined by a web 15. The girder 12 is supported by one or more fishplates 16 which is in turn are supported on a beam 17 by means of a U-bolt 18 and support bracket 19. Extending between the legs of the support bracket 19 is a bolt 20 over which the U-bolt 18 passes. The U-bolt 18 receives a pin 21 which passes through the fishplate 16. 
     As best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4 the girder 12 has an &#34;I&#34; cross-section while the fishplate 16 has a body with a cross-section defining a T-shaped recess complementary to the cross-sectional shape of the web 15 and flange 14 so as to encompass the web 15 and flange 14. More particularly the fishplate 16 has a top vertical flange 22 through which the pin 21 passes, and portion 23 defining a recess 24 within which the flange 14 is located. Extending downwardly is a pair of legs 25 which define a recess 26 within which the web 15 is located. Passing through the legs 25 and the web 15 is one or more bolts 27. 
     It is preferred that the girder 12 and its associated fishplate 16 are formed of extruded aluminium. The fishplate 16 is resiliently deformable so as to facilitate installation by the outward deflection of the legs 25, thereby effectively enlarging the recesses 24 and 26.