Patent Publication Number: US-5426822-A

Title: Hinge structure

Description:
This is a continuation in part to application Ser. Nos. 276,197 of Nov. 4, 1988, now abandoned; 546,672 of Jun. 27, 1990, now abandoned; and 665,020 of Mar. 5, 1991, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,278. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
     In my Variable Pitch Saddle Hinge Roof Truss Connector System it is to be noted that the wall header plates, which are attached to the wall header, have identical hinge matching elements to the basic hinge. Any desired roof pitch may thus be provided by altering the lengths of the truss elements, which are normally of the same thickness. As only two different parts, the wall header hinge adapter plate and the basic hinge part, in addition to the hinge pin, are required for truss fabrication, production costs can be kept to a minimum while providing extreme flexibility in roof truss design. 
    
    
     IN THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a side view assembly drawing showing the various truss elements connected to each other and to the side wall assembly header. 
     FIG. 2 is a side view of the basic hinge element with &#34;U&#34; shaped saddle adapter. 
     FIG. 3 is an end view of the basic hinge element with &#34;U&#34; shaped saddle adapter. 
     FIG. 4 is a top view of the basic hinge element with &#34;U&#34; shaped saddle adapter. 
     FIG. 5 is a top view of the wall header hinge adapter plate. 
     FIG. 6 is a side view of the wall header hinge adapter plate. 
     FIG. 7 is a side view of the hinge pin. 
    
    
     IN DETAIL THEN 
     Wall header hinge adapter plate 1 (FIGS. 1 &amp; 5) has downwardly extending hollow cylindrical adapter sections 2 on both sides of the plate 1. A half cylindrical section 3 is provided on the opposite corners of the plate 1 and half hollow cylindrical pin adapter spaces 4 and 13 on the other opposite corners. A central hole 5 is provided for insertion of the header to footer tie down bolt 6 (FIG. 1). Appropriately internally threaded sleeves 7 are provided for the attachment to the threaded &#34;J&#34; bolt 8, which in turn is embedded in the concrete building slab 9. 
     Saddle hinge adapter 10 connects the wall header adapter plate 1 to the sloping truss member 11 and the truss cross member 12. At the peak of the roof sloping truss members 11 and 13 are also connected by hinge adapters 10. Lower truss members 12 and 14 may also be connected by truss members 10. Truss brace 15 may be connected to sloping truss member 11 and lower truss member 12 by hinge adapters 10. It is to be noted that hinge adapters 10 have holes 16 (FIG. 2) for insertion of bolts thru appropriately bored holes in the truss members 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 to assemble the truss members. Nailing or screw holes 17 are also provided as an alternate assembly means. As noted in FIGS. 3 and 4 the downwardly extending hollow cylindrical hinge sections 18 are sized to fit within the slots 19 of adjoining hinge sections. The half slot 21 will accept the half hollow cylindrical hinge section 20 which will fit within slot 21 when two hinge sections are joined by round hinge pin 22. Round hinge pin 22 has cotter key hole 23 provided near the end. A conventional button head 24 is provided at the opposite end of hinge pin 22. 
     Additional holes 25 and 26 are provided in the wall header adapter plate 1 for bolts to allign adjoining structural box beam sections 28 and a large hole 27 is provided for concrete fill, with matching holes (not shown) in the box beam header. 
     In essence then, the truss connector system depicted herein, will provide an inexpensive new and novel way of assembling roof trusses, for conventional or special wall systems. The parts can be shipped as individual pieces and easily assembled by the unskilled at on site locations. Any desired roof slope may be provided by changing the length of roof truss members.