IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND CARRYING UP CONCRETE WALLS AND OTHER STRUCTURES AND IN APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES THEREFOR COMMONLY KNOWN AS CRIBBING OR TEMPORARY MOLDS
Year: 1885

page_text: I ERNEST LESLIE RANSOME of Number 402 Montgomery Street, San Francisco
County of San Francisco, State of California, in the United States of America,
Artificial Stone Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND CARRYING UP CONCRETE WALLS AND OTHER
STRUCTURES AND IN APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES THEREFOR COMMONLY KNOWN AS
CRIBBING OR TEMPORARY MOLDS, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
In building walls and other structures of concrete, the material is confined and
kept in form until set by the use of a temporary mould sometimes called cribbing
that is formed of boards placed edgewise one upon the other for both sides and
faces of the structure and held in such position by upright braces on the outside.
Metal rods running through the braces and the mold from one side to the other,
hold the braces in line and prevent them from spreading.
Such cribbing or frame-work is best adapted to a rapid and economical carrying
on of the work when the construction of its parts permits the sides to be raised
from time to time as the structure advances in height and to this end and purpose
the parts that form the sides of the mold should be and generally are constructed
in parts or sections of which the lowest portions can be withdrawn from the
bottom and applied to the top to carry up the sides of the mold.
The work is then carried up to any height with a limited amount of cribbing,
whereby the expense for material is greatly reduced.
But the practice heretofore followed of running the tie-rods through holes in the
upright braces of the cribbing, however, greatly reduces the limit of adjustment
and prevents ready movement and change of the parts, as it compels the upright
braces to be drawn off from the tie-rods in order to permit them to be shifted and
the planking or sides of the cribbing to be removed from below and placed on the
top, while in addition to this objection there is the difficulty of setting the uprights
in position again on a higher level.
My invention as an improvement in these parts or appliances and in the mode
of carrying up walls and structures of concrete, consists in the production of a

page_text: standard or upright brace that can be shifted or raised vertically at intervals
without disconnecting the tie-rods or disturbing the connection of the tie-rods and
standards or materially reducing the pressure of the standards as supports against
the sides of the mold.
It also consists in the improved construction of cribbing or molds for concrete
and similar work, and in the application thereof to the building of house walls,
retaining walls, bulk-heads and all structures of the kind both plain and ornamental
or with more or less irregularity of outline and variety of projection; and also in
an improved form of tie rod for use in such work.
Referring to the accompanying drawing:
Figure 1, represents in perspective a portion of a concrete wall in process of
construction with a portion of mold or cribbing constructed after my invention.
Figure 2 is a vertical cross section through such wall and cribbing; Figure 3 is a
cross section representing a mode of forming banks or retaining walls with a post
in place of an inner standard; this style of cribbing being provided for use in such
situations where only one side or face to the mold is required; Figure 4 represents
in horizontal section the inanner of forming the cribbing at corners and angles
where two walls or surfaces meet. Figure 5, is a vertical section representing the
manner of carrying out the face of the mold to form projections on the wall or
surface being built; Figures 6, 6ª, show the construction of the sliding standards;
Figures 7 and 8, represent a form of tie-rod produced for use with a single piece
standard; Figure 9 shows the form of the mold boards at the point where the tie
rods pass through.
A A represent the upright braces or "standards" as I have termed them and
B B are the bolts or tie-rods with a threaded portion b to receive a screw-nut b*.
CC are boards or panels that form the sides of the mold.
Ι
In constructing a concrete wall where access to both sides is afforded (as shown
in figures 1, 2, and 4, of the drawing,) I usually place the standards in pairs with
a space between them equal to the required thickness of the wall and with such
additional space as the boards will take up and also place these pairs at such
distance apart as the work may require.
For a wall 12 inches thick the standard of each pair would be set at 12 inches
apart and as much additional thereto as the thickness of the boards for the inner
side and the outer side of the mold would require, say one inch at each side.
The standards of each pair are then connected together by passing the tie-rods
through both standards and screwing the nuts on the outer ends, the boards that
form the sides being placed in edgewise, one upon another.
These boards are loose, or are not secured to the standards and are also detached
from one another so that they can be placed and removed separately of one another,
while, in like manner, the standards can be moved and shifted independently of
them. The boards C have apertures C*, for the tie-rods, and the standards and
tie-rods have such connection that by simply loosening the binding nuts of the tie
rods the standards can be shifted upon the boards without disturbing the rods in the
concrete and without materially releasing the strain of the rods, as it will be only
necessary to loosen the connection of the two standards of a pair to a degree
sufficient to allow them to slide upon the boards or outer face of the mold. In the
operation of these parts, as the concrete work reaches to the height of the mold
the nuts are slackened and the standards are pushed up to the height sufficient to
receive and confine one or more boards, after which the standards are fixed by
tightening the nuts and the lowermost board on each side released from the lower
end of the standard, is removed from below and used again at the top of the mold.
This operation can then be carried on without disturbing the tie-rods until the
bottom of the standard approaches the lowermost one of the tie-rods (of which there
are usually two employed for each pair of standards) and then it becomes necessary
to withdraw this lowerinost tie-rod and apply another tie-rod at the upper part,
when the upper rod becomes the lower one in the pair of standards.

page_text: In some cases however where the embedded tie-rods could be useful to support
brackets for a scaffolding, I provide for sliding the standard clear of the tie-rod to
be left, and without drawing it away from the boards, or panels. For this purpose
I construct a standard in such manner that the blocks a a can be removed at either
end to open the slot and let the tie-rod pass out as the standard is moved upon the
boards, C.
A construction suitable for this purpose is represented in figure, 6; of the drawing
where the blocks a a are fixed bý dovetailed joints to the planks..
In this way the standards are moved vertically a short distance each time and
for the greater part of their length they are kept always bearing upon the set or
earlier formed portion of the wall so that their perpendicularity is preserved at all
times during progress of the work.
In forming piers, and projections of various kinds, at corners and at other parts
along the surface of a wall, I make the inner faces of the standards of suitable
shape to correspond to the angles and corners and properly confine the boards or
panels. Figure 4 illustrates this feature as employed to form a mold at the
intersection of two walls.
Bulkheads or retaining walls that are built directly against a bank, may be
formed by substituting a post or a pile, x, for one standard (as represented in
figure 3,) and then providing the inner ends of the tie-rods with serew-threaded
points to be screwed into the post from the outside of the cribbing. This post
serving for the inner standard of a pair, may be left in the bank.
Figure 5 of the drawing illustrates how a portion of the cribbing may be carried
out at any point to form such parts on the face of the wall as window-caps and sills,
pediments, cornices, and the like.
This is done by placing a mold or form, D, of the desired style in position and
confining it by means of other standards A*, set against the principal standards A
and held by tie-rods as shown in figure 5.
That portion of the cribbing above this projection where the wall is brought
back to the general form and thickness is held by the use of other standards A²
Any material suited to the purpose can be used to form these standards A, A*, but
I have found it convenient to make them of lumber from four to.six feet long, the
two pieces placed one inch apart and secured together by two blocks of 1"x4"
inserted between them at top and bottom and fixed by nails or bolts, or by dove
tailed joints as before described.
Through the slot thus produced the tie-rods are inserted as shown in the
drawing; rods with a head on one end and screw-threaded on the other end, or
with both ends threaded for nuts can be used.
A form of standard made of a single piece of timber without slot and a tie-rod
for use with it, has also been devised by me as another form of standard having the
same features of operation as the first described standards.
In this construction however the more simple form of the standard does not
offset the more expensive character of tie-rod.
The rod B¹ provided for this purpose has a hook B* on one end to embrace the
standard while the other end is attached by a screw-thread and nut to a clamp, E,
composed of a metal plate bent into U-shape and with its two limbs, E*, of such
length that when placed around the timber the ends will bear against the boards of
the cribbing.
To remove the tie-rods, B, from the concrete they are driven from one end and
for this purpose I provide a projection on the end beyond the thread and preferably
of conical shape to fit into a corresponding recess in the end of a drift or driving-
tool. This tool is placed against the end of the rod and the blows are received by
it instead of being applied directly to the rod, which in such case would destroy
the thread.
These parts may be placed in reverse position as well, that is with the cavity in
the end of the tie-rod and the projection on the driving-tool.

page_text: From this description of the manner in which I construct, use and carry out my
invention it will be seen that the standards are free to slide upon the panels or
sides of the cribbing without disturbing the panels or removing the tie-rods.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1 In a mold or cribbing for concrete work the combination with the boards or
panels, C, and tie-rods, B, embedded in the concrete, of the standards, A, in pairs or
sets, and free to move upon said panels and tie-rods without disturbing said panels
or removing said rods, substantially as set forth.
2-In a mold or cribbing for concrete work, the combination of tie rods or bolts
embedded in the concrete, and a standard which is adapted to slide upon said rods
without removing them from the concrete and without removing the standard from
the rods, substantially as set forth.
3-A mold or cribbing consisting of the boards or panels, C, and tie-rods, B,
passing through said panels and through the body of concrete, and slotted standards
detached from the panels, C, and adapted to be moved thereon and on the tie rods
while both the panels and the tie-rods remain undisturbed against and in the work,
substantially as set forth.
4-A standard for molds or cribbing, as described, constructed as shown in and
according to figures, 6, 6ª, of the drawing, for use with tie-rods or bolts in the
manner set forth.
5 The combination with a sliding standard, of a tie-rod or tie rods constructed
as shown in and according to figures 7 and 8 of the drawings, for operation as
set forth.