Patent ID: 7373758

Claim:
A seismic brace comprising: an elongated central brace unit having two ends adapted to be connected fixedly to a framework of a building, and a middle portion interconnecting said ends and having a cross-sectional area that is smaller than that of each of said ends; and a restraining member disposed around said middle portion of said central brace unit in a tight fit manner so as to prevent buckling of said central brace unit when the building is subjected to an earthquake, said restraining member including two halves that are interconnected removably, wherein said central brace unit includes two elongated parallel main plates each having a middle portion and two ends that are wider than said middle portion, and four coplanar end plates welded respectively to said ends of said main plates, said brace further including two parallel spacer plates that are disposed between and that are parallel to said main plates and that abut against each other and said main plates such that an assembly of said central brace unit and said spacer plates has a cross-shaped cross-section at two ends of said restraining member to define four tube-receiving spaces in said restraining member; and each of said halves of said restraining member includes two parallel rectangular steel tubes disposed respectively within corresponding two of said tube-receiving spaces in said restraining member and flanking and abutting against corresponding two of said end plates, and a connecting plate welded to said steel tubes so as to interconnect said steel tubes fixedly.