GB2075569A

GB2075569A - Structural panel, and a method of using the same in house construction

Info

Publication number: GB2075569A
Application number: GB8015170A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1980-04-14
Filing date: 1980-05-07
Publication date: 1981-11-18
Also published as: CA1182973A; NO161338C; SE8102066L; FI70619C; NO161338B; GB2075569B; DK167581A; IS1199B6; DK152550C; FI811143L; IS2551A7; DK152550B; FI70619B; NO811250L

Abstract

A structural panel includes a facing board (2) and a structural post (1) which are interconnected by a tongue and groove arrangement (4); the joining direction of the groove facing in the plane of the board and perpendicular to the edge of the board. Such a panel may form part of a, cavity wall construction, see Figs. 5-8 (not shown) or be used as a lay. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Structural panel, and a method of using the same in house construction The invention is a structural panel f.eks. of wood, consisting of a structural post and a building board, locked together by means of a groove in the plane of the board, so that the structural post and the adjacent boards form a bearing whole requiring no nailing, glueing, or other forms of fastening, and can be snapped together and pulled apart easily and without professional skill.

Different kinds of structural posts, form different kinds of structural panels, single or double, for instance conduits, floors, panelling on external walls, ceilings, insulated walls, complete walls, partial interior walls, or walls with windows or doors.

The basic units may be glued or fastened together to form larger units, increase strength or reduce material.

The invention is designed for house construction but can also be used in model building, toy making and elsewhere.

A plane is the most common form in house construction outside as well as inside. Walls, floors and ceilings panelling on flat surfaces, permanent and movable interiors, and even furniture, are all build up from this simple form. Its unit is called a board.

The form by itself is not sufficient, for strength is also required. The board has least strength and rigidity in the direction of the perpendicular to its plane. In that direction it is flexible and weak.

Therefore a structural frame is built behind the boards and the boards fastened to it, usually by nailing but also often by glueing. This kind of structural surface has no special name, and is in fact thought of as two distinct things, as a structural frame and the covering boards. The structural frame is a bearing whole and is constructed by itself ahead of the rest, since it must, among other things, sustain the hammering involved in nailing the boards onto it.

The structural frame must be adapted to the size of the board, since under each board edge there must be a post to carry the perpendicular thrust on the board and to fasten the board into.

Therefore the construction of the frame calls for fairly accurate measurement. The structural posts must not bend from the straight line of the edge, and must therefore be braced so that each post forms a straight line. The construction of the frame therefore requires professional skill, practical sense, measurement, and a considerable amount of labour.

The boards are then nailed onto the frame and all nails set, which is a time-consuming job. All nail holes must be filled and the filler left to dry properly. after which it must be sanded down.

Electric wiretupes run vertically within walls, so that holes must be drilled in the braces to thread the conduits through. Door and window frames are not automatically produced but must be made separately and fastened to the frame. The result of all this is that two thirds of the cost of a wall without door or window frames is accounted for by the labour described above, consisting for the most part in measuring, nailing, and repairing the damage associated with nailing.

The basis of the invention is the real judgement that this labour is unnecessary. The purpose of measurement is to locate posts where two boards meet. This can be done by changing the order of operations and placing each post after the board is already in position, thus making the board determine the iocation of the post, which in turn determines the location of the next board.

This makes measurement unnecessary.

The purpose of nailing is to fasten the board and the post together. Nailing is an immovable and permanent form of fastening which does not allow a separation without some damage and even total damage. This kind of fastening is far from desirable, since it is an indisputable advantage to be able to change interior arrangements. The reason for nailing must be that firm and separateable fastening does not exist. To replace nailing it is therefore necessary to invent such a fastening.

Grooving is a known method of joining that does not have the drawbacks of nailing but has nevertheless not been used to fasten board and post together. The groove has only been used to join surface units, as a plane joints, and then only to provide a character of continuity across the joint, provide continuity, and make the joint rigid in the plane of the surface, but not to fasten the surface-forming elements to structural-elements.

For that purpose nailing is used, even when the surface-forming elements are joined by means of a groove. Thus the groove is known only as a planejoint, of constructing a surface of plane units, but not as a means of joining plane units and at the same time attaching them to a supporting frame nor as a means of simply attaching them to a supporting frame nor as a means of simply attaching such units to a frame. All this may be summed up in the conclusion that the groove is known as a plane-joint but not as a structural frame joint or joining individual structural posts to other structural members or, in other words, as a means of bearing joint. Such a use of groove is indispensible for the purpose of the invention.

The purpose of the invention is a new product which has the bearing characteristics of the structural frame and the surface characteristics of the board covering but instead of being based on glueing, nailing or any kind of permanent fastening is self-bracing and can be taken apart.

The invention is a structural panel according to Fig. 1, including a board (2) to form a surface (3) and a structural post (1) to provide strength, where the supporting post (1) is located at the edge of the board (2) and the bearing direction of the structural post (1) is perpendicular to the board surface (3), and the board (2) and the structural post (1) are joined by means of a groove (4), where the joining direction of the groove (4) is in the plane of the board (3) and is perpendicular to the edge of the board.

Since an ordinary groove is a rigid joint in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and the direction of joining, in other words, at right angles to the surface, in the direction of the perpendicular to it, and the bearing direction of the supporting post (1) is directed in the direction of the perpendicular, the groove becomes a rigid joint or fastening in the bearing direction. Since the structural post (1) is rigid in the direction in which the board is flexible and is connected to it by a joint that is rigid in the same direction, the rigidity of the structural. post (1 ) is transferred to the board (2), which thus becomes rigid both to and from the structural post (1), but that is precisely the function formerly served by nailing. This is the function of a "transverse" groove.

The "transverse" groove (4) thus does not function as plane-joint, for it does not join two surface units, but instead joins a suface unit to a bearing unit, but this was formerly the function of nailing. The result is a bearing, surface-unit, a structural panel according to Fig. 1, a new product.

By joining the same structural post (1 ) to two boards (2) in the same plane, a plane joint is formed between the boards, where the structural post (1) is an intermediary member. Therefore the structural panel may be defined as a panel consisting of surface-units joined by means of a groove and is characterized by, the groove-joint not being between the surface-units, but between one surface-unit and a bearing intermediate member and then again between the same intermediate member and a second surface-unit, so that the groove-joint is indirect and the intermediate member a bearing one.

This does not necessarily include that the intermediate member becomes a part of the surface. On the other hand, it can be, if so desired.

This is a matter of free choice, but not indispensable principle.

From structural panel units a surface may be constructed that is equivalent to an ordinary groove-joint surface but haste advantage of requiring neither nailing, glueing, nor a structural frame, since bearing ability and rigidity are included characteristics. This is a structural panel.

Theoretically a joining direction of a groove between the structural post (1) and the board can be either in the plane of the board or perpendicular to it, i.e. in the direction of the normal. In the latter case the groove is not fixed in the bearing direction of the structural post, which under a load becomes slightly bended, which would suffice to loosen the joint. Moreover, it does not utilize the surface strength of an ordinary chip-board, which is one of the most common kinds of board used in house building, but instead it depends on the strength within the board, perpendicular to the surface, where such a board is weakest. For these two reasons a groove in the direction of the perpendicular to the plane of the board is unsuitable for the construction of a structural panel.Neither does such a groove resist a force in the direction away from the surface, caused, for instance, by a sudden drop in air pressure or by the weight of shelves or other things suspended from the surface. A groove in the plane of the board does bear such forces, it is fixed in the normal direction, which is a necessary condition for transferring the bearing ability from the structural post to the board, since the resistance is in the poopsite direction. In addition the groove allows the bending referred to above and also makes use of the surface strength of a chip board.

A structural panel according to the invention is assembled on the site by pacing the supporting post (1) against the edge of the board (2), or vice versa, and locking the groove-joint by pressing the units together. This includes that the structural panel itself locates the structural post (1), and therefore a measurement is unnecessary. Since, moreover, the "transverse groove serves the purpose of nailing, the labour involved in measuring and nailing the frame together, as well as in nailing and setting of nails, filling of nail holes, and sanding, is eliminated with the realization of this new product, the structural panel.

The form and design of the groove depends on circumstances, such as the bearing qualities and thickness of the board and the desired character of the surface, whether, for instance, the structural post is to be concealed, visible between the boards, or aligned in the plane of the board. It is important that the groove is narrow enough to prevent moving of the board in the bearing direction in spite of natural shrinkage, but still wide enough to made assembly suitably easy and allow disassembly without damage.

These requirements are contrary, and consequently for that purpose the groove according to Fig. 2 is important, which allows for a two-stage assembly where the second stage involves two parallel contact surfaces on each side of the groove, which are not opposite each other and consequently exert a bending force on the tongue filling the groove. Such a groove utilizes the elasticity of the wood for the purpose of a firm hold in the groove. Furthermore, it allows for an amount of shrinkage in the locking direction of the groove corresponding to the length of the contact surfaces. Such a groove is called double if it has two contact surfaces and triple if it has three; furthermore, it it a "transverse" groove.

Fig. 3 shows a triple elastic "transverse" groove.

Such a groove conceals the structural post under the surface of the boards.

Fig. 4 shows a single structural panel.

Fig. 5 shows two single structural panels forming an insulating wall.

Fig. 6 shows a double structural panel forming a complete interior wall.

Fig. 7 shows a double structural panel with an end member, forming a partial interior wall.

Fig. 8 shows a double structural panel with a frame.

The above description together with the accompanying drawings gives only an example of the application of the invention, made for the purpose of obtaining patent protection, and does not in any way limit the invention.

The inventors know, that the invention is applicable to other materials than wood, even though wood has here been chosen for the illustrative purpose already mentioned.

The assembled wholes according to Fig. 4 to 8 are attached to other structures by means of a positioning peace (5) fastened by conventional nailing.

It is evident that the invention here described also constitutes a method applicable to house construction.

Claims

1. A structural post for a surface-board together with a surface-board, where the structural post is located along the edge, and the bearing direction of the structural post is perpendicular to the plane of the board, and is characterized by a transverse groove of the supporting post and each board, where the joining direction of the transverse groove lies in the plane of the board and perpendicular to the joint, such that the units are joined necessarily and sufficiently to form a bearing whole, a structural panel, without nailing, glueing, or other permanent fastening, and can thus with ease and without professional skill be snapped together or pulled apart at will.

2. A structural panel according to claim 1, characterized by a double elastic transverse groove including two contact surfaces on the tongue, these surfaces not being located opposite each other, and opposite each of these surfaces a corresponding contact surface in the groove.

3. A structural panel according to claim 2, characterized by the tongue being on the board and the anterior contact surface being on the surface of the board.

4. A structural panel according to claim 1, characterized by a triple elastic transverse groove including two contact surfaces on the tongue, these surfaces not being located opposite each other, and opposite each of these contact surfaces a corresponding contact surface in the groove, and in addition a third contact surface, not located opposite the nearer of the former two, and opposite to this third contact surface a corresponding contact surface on the other unit.

5. A structural panel according to claim 4, characterized by two of the three contact surfaces of the elastic transverse groove being at the edge of the board.

6. A structural panel according to claim 1 with a transverse groove according to claims 2 to 5, characterized by a transverse groove on either side of one end of the cross section of the structural post, thus forming along with the adjoining boards a single structural panel which together with positioning members can form, for instance in conduits, floor or panelling on exterior wall and together with hooks for suspension, makes a suspended ceiling.

7. Two single structural panels according to claim 6, characterized by being parallel to each other with the structural posts facing towards each other and a supporting post in one structural panel is opposite the space between posts in the other panel, and a layer of insulating material being placed between the structural panels thus forming an insulating wall.

8. A structural panel according to claim 1 with a transverse groove according to claim 2 to 5, and is characterized by a transverse groove on either side of both ends of the cross section of the structural post, thus forming a double structural panel, which together with positioning peaces forms a complete interior wall.

9. A structural panel according to claim 1 with a transverse groove according to claim 2 to 5, and is characterized by a transverse groove at both ends of one side of the cross section of the structural post and on its other side an extension, reaching to the outer surfaces of the adjoining boards, such that the structural post can be an end piece on a double structural panel according to claim 7 to 8 and together with it form a partial interior wall.

10. A structural panel according to claim 9, characterized by a window-jamb and/or door-jamb on the other side of the structural post, such that the strucural panel together with a structural panel according to claim 7 to 9 forms a wall with a windowframe, and/or a door frame.

1 A structural panel according to claim 6 to 10, characterized by glueing of some of the joints of the structural panel to increase its strength and reduce material without, however, preventing the glued units being snapped together or pulled apart at will.

12. A structural panel according to claim 1 with a transverse groove according to claim 2 to 5 forming wholes according to claim 6 to 11, and is characterized by glueing of the transverse groovejoints for increasing its strength and to reduce its material and form inseparable wholes in a factory or on the site.

13. A structural panel according to claim 1 with a transverse groove according to claim 2 to 5 forming wholes according to claim 6 to 12, characterized by being designed for uses other than house construction, such as model building, toy making or other uses.

14. A method of house construction including forming a groove in the side of a structural post, forming a corresponding tongue in the edge of the adjacent board, and pressing the tongue into the groove to form a structural panel according to claim 1 with a groove according to claim 2 to 5 to form wholes according to claim 6 to 10.

1 5. A method of house construction according to claim 14, including glueing of some of the joints according to claim 11.

1 6. A method according to claim 14 and 1 5 including glueing the joints according to claims 12.

1 7. A structural panel according to claim 1, substantially as herein described with reference to, and as shown in, any of the accompanying drawings.