US3809347A

US3809347A - Clip and hanger structure for buildings

Info

Publication number: US3809347A
Application number: US00296122A
Authority: US
Inventors: W Pekarek
Original assignee: Aluminum Company of America
Current assignee: Howmet Aerospace Inc
Priority date: 1972-10-10
Filing date: 1972-10-10
Publication date: 1974-05-07
Anticipated expiration: 1991-05-07

Abstract

A clip and hanger structure for attachment to a building roof, and for disposal in interlocking engagement with each other at at least three locations in a high strength manner enabling the hanger and the structure supported thereby to withstand high upward and downward forces imposed thereon.

Description

United States Patent 1191 Pekarek 1 May 7, 1974 [5 CLIP AND HANGER STRUCTURE FOR 3,333,803 8/1967 BUILDINGS 3,344,562 10/1967 2,431,012 11/1947 Inventor: William a Pittsburgh, 3,612,453 10/1971 Zimmer 248/481 [73] Assignee: Aluminum Company of America,

P g Pa. Primary ExaminerJ. Franklin Foss [22] Filed, Oct. 10, 1972 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Elroy Strickland [21] Appl. No.: 296,122

[57] ABSTRACT 2? 248/48'1 52/ A clip and hanger structure for attachment to a buildd 48 2 300 ing roof, and for disposal in interlocking engagement 0 can 14 with each other at at least three locations in a high strength manner enabling the hanger and the structure References Cited supported thereby to withstand high upward and UNITED STATES PATENTS -Meunier 248/48.l

downward forces imposed thereon.

4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDIAY 11914 sum 1 or 3 PATENTEU W 7 9 4 sum 2 [1F 3 FIG. 2.

FIG. 3.

PATENTED m 7 1974 SHEET 3 [IF 3 1 CLIP AND HANGER STRUCTURE FOR BUILDINGS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to building structures, and particularly to a simple, inexpensive clip providing easy interlocking engagement with a high strength hanger for supporting separately fabricated overhang structures along the edges of a building roof.

It has been a well known practice to prefabricate roof trusses at a factory location and then ship them to a building site. Similarly, modular house constructions with roofs are prefabricated and transported to building sites. The overall size of the trusses or modular roof structures is often limited by wide load regulations for highways and by the width of railroad tunnels and bridges. In order not to unduly limit the size of the building structure because of the wide load regulations and clearance problems, it has been proposed that the eave portions of prefabricated roofs be separately fabricated and installed at the building site. An example of such an eave is shown in application Ser. No. 281,326, filed Aug. 17, l972 by B. C. Merkin, R. C. Ray, M. J Tobias and R. L. LaBarge in which the eave is a, unitary gutter, soffit and fascia structure attached to the lower edge of a building roof by hangers. Such a structure allows the building and roof to be originally constructed without an eave. After the building is constructed, the combined gutter, soffit and fascia flanges to engage the same in interlocking relationship. The clip and hanger are dimensioned such when the hanger ledge moves past the clip edge, the hooks of the clip moved into the slots of the hanger wall to similarly engage the hanger wall in an interlocking manner. The interlocking edge and ledge of the clip and hanger enables the hanger, and thus the structure being supported by the clip and hanger, to resist high downward and outward forces and loads imposed on the hanger and structure. The interlocking hooks of the clip and the rear wall of the hanger prevent the supported structure from rising upwardly under the force of upwardly directed winds and air currents. Further, the strengths of the clip and hanger are such that the hanger does not need to be fastened to the truss ends through a rear wall of the supported structure thereby allowing the struc' ture to freely longitudinally expand and contract relative to the hanger and clip.

THE DRAWINGS The invention, along with its objectives and advantages, will be better understood from consideration of structure is quickly attached to the building roof to provide it with an eave overhang.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a relatively simple clip and hanger structure adapted to secure and support an overhang structure, such as an eave, gable and/or gutter, to a building roof in a high strength manner that interlocks the clip and hanger at at least three locations. Briefly, the clip comprises a simple unitary, essentially L-shaped structure with two, opposed edges of a first wall of the L provided with flanges folded over to provide two, oppositely located and inwardly facing channels, the folded flanges having a portion which forms a rearwardly facing edge spaced from the surface of the wall. The second wall of the L is provided with two spaced integral hooks extending outwardly from and normal to the plane of the wall. The clip is fastened to a roof deck by fasteners, such as nails, extending through the first wall of the clip in the area between the opposed channels, and into the roof deck, and to the end of a truss by a fastener driven into the truss end through the second wall portion of the clip.

The hanger of the invention includes a rear, substantially planar extension of a main body portion thereof for insertion between the opposed channels of the clip, and a forwardly facing ledge provided on the upper surface of the planar extension. The hanger includes further an integral rear wall portion located below the rear extension of the hanger, and forwardly of the ledge, with slots spaced apart a distance corresponding to the spacing of the clip hooks. To secure the hanger to the clip, and thus to the edge of a building roof, the rear extension of the hanger is simply inserted between the opposed channels of the clip and moved therethrough until the forwardly facing ledge of the hanger moves past the rearwardly facing edge of the clip the following detail description in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the hanger and clip structures of the invention shown attached to a building roof and supporting an eave structure made separately fromthe roof;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the clip alone;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of the clip;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the hanger of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of the hanger of FIGS.

1 and 4; and I FIG. 6 is a rear elevation view of the hanger.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings, there is shown a clip 10 comprising a first wall portion 12 and an integral, depending wall portion 14 adapted to be respectively fastened to a 'roof l6 FIG. 2) of a building by two fastening means 18, such as two nails, extending respectively through the two wall portions. The nail in the wall portion 12 extends into the roof deck while the nail in portion 14 extends into the end of a truss 19 (FIG. 1). Two, opposed edges of the first (or upper) wall portion of the clip (which portion is inclined at the angle of the pitch of the roof to provide an essentially vertical disposition for the depending wall 14 of the clip) has two flanges 20 folded over the wall portion to form two inwardly facing, spaced apart channels 22. The flanges extend to a location over the upper surface of the first wall portion to define a space 23 between the flanges extending longitudinally of the clip. A rear portion 24 of each of the folded flanges is shown extending to a location adjacent the transverse center of the first wall portion to essentially bridge the space 23 between the folded flanges 20.

In the embodiment of the clip depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, the bridges of the flanges do not join at the transverse center though they might so join in an embodiment not shown. In such a case, the wall portion 12 of the clip could be formed of two planar portions essentially meeting by not joining at the transverse center thereof.

Further, the bridge portions bulge outwardly from the folded flanges and away from the surface of the first wall portion, the bulge inclining or sloping outwardly (or upwardly in FIGS. 2 and 3) from the plane of the flanges 20 in a forward direction, i.e., in the direction of the roof edge and the end of the first wall portion havingthe depending wall portion. The folded flanges have a rearwardly facing edge portion indicated by nu- -meral 25. In forming the bulge in the flange portions 24, the metal thereof is work hardened to increase the strength thereof. This increase in strength in 24 is particularly advantageous since 24 is in a critical area of the clip as will be appreciated hereinafter.

, Continuing with reference to the clip 10, the second or depending wall portion 14 of the clip is provided with two spaced apart hooks 26 having planar body portions located in planes essentially normal to that of the wall 14. When mounted on a roof deck, the planes of the hooks are essentially vertical and parallel, with the end of each hook pointing in a direction away from the plane of the first wall portion. As shown in FIG. 2, the hook body portions extend along the two vertically extending edges of the wall portion 14, and have a downwardly facing edge 27 between each hook end and the wall 14.

The clip is made of a suitably resilient alloy, such as 5052-H34 aluminum, though the invention is not limited thereto. v

The hanger structure of the invention, indicated by numeral 30 in FIGS. 1, 4, and 6, comprises an elongated, essentially planar main wall and'body portion 32 and a first or upper wall portion 34 formed integrally therewith along a portion of an upper inclined edge of the 'main body beginning at location intermediate the ends thereof. The wall 34 extends rearwardly from the main body in a plane substantially perpendicular thereto for insertion between the flanges 20 of the clip 10. Beneath the upper wall and rear extension 34. of the hanger, the main body 32 thereof terminates in a flange 36 providing a second wall adjacent the rear of the hanger and extending in a plane essentially normal to that of the main body and intersecting that of the first wall. In the position at which the hanger is mounted on a roof, wall 26 and the main body 32 extend in substantially vertical planes. The incline of the first wall 34 may increase slightly beyond the location of the second wall 26, as best seen inFIG. 5.

The forward end of the main body terminates in a hooked flange 38 comprised of two wall portions substantially perpendicular to each other and to the plane of the main body portion.

The main body and

first wall portions

32 and 34 of the hanger 30 are preferably provided with longitudinally extending

ribs

42 and 44 respectively.

At a location near the rear edge or end of wall 34 of the hanger is provided a forwardly facing ledge or shoulder portion 45. If the wall 34 is provided with the strengthening rib 44, as shown, the ledge is simply formed by using suitable press tooling to provide an indent and a slanted surface 46 in the rib. The slanted surface is in front of the ledge 45, as best seen in FIG. 5 and'inclines upwardly from the bottom of the ledge in the direction of the main body of the hanger. With the rib 44 preferably located in the transverse center of the wall 34, the ledge, indent and slanting surface is located in the transverse center. The end of wall portion 34 and rib 44 behind the ledge 34 is provided with a slanting surface 47 similar to that of 46.

The ledge 34 is spaced from the vertical plane of the rear wall 36 of the hanger 30 a distance corresponding to the distance between rear edge 25 of flanges 20 of the clip 10 and the vertical plane of the depending wall 14 of the clip.

As best seen in FIG. 6 of the drawings, the rear wall 36 of the hanger 30 is provided with two vertically extending slots50 having length and width dimensions corresponding to those of hooks 26 of the clip 10, and spaced apart a distance corresponding to that of the spaced hooks. The location of the slots 50 in relation to the plane of wall 34 of the hanger also corresponds to that of the hooks and the plane of wall 12 of the clip.

In addition, the rear wall 36 of the hanger is shown traversed by a horizontally extending slot 52, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, located beneath the vertically extending slots 50. As shown in FIG. 5, the slot 52 may extend a short distance into the wall of the main body 32, and into a wall portion 54 formed integrally with the edge of the wall 36 opposed to and essentially parallel with the edge joining the main wall. As seen in outline in FIG. 5, the wall 54 maybe slightly angled toward the main body of the hanger beneath the upper wall 34.

In using the clip and hanger structures of the invention, the clip is first fastened to the deck of a roof in the manner shown in FIG. 2, the upper wall portion 12 thereof lying on the surface of the deck, with the depending wall surface disposed against and fastened to the roof edge or end. Preferably, the clips are positioned over and fastened to the truss and truss ends, such as 19, located beneath the .deck to insure highstrength attachment of the clips to the roof.

The hanger is secured to the clip and thus to the roof by simply inserting the rear extension of the upper wall portion 34 into the opposed channels 22 of the clip, with the rib 44 being centered in space 23 between the channels. The hanger is moved rearwardly until the ledge 45 thereof is located behind the rear edge 25 of the clip flanges 20, and the hooks 26 of the clip extend through the slots 50 in the rear wall 36 of the hanger, as shown in FIG. 1. The sloping bulge of the flange portions 24 of the clip has the resilient characteristic of the metal of the hanger which, in cooperation with the slanted end 47 of the hanger rib 44 and the slope of the flange portions 24, facilitates insertion of the hanger wall 34, the rib of the hanger forcing the flange portions 24 apart as the rib passes therebeneathyWhen the ledge 45 passes the rear edge 25 of the clip flanges,-the flanges snap back and thus return to a normal position in front of the ledge. With the ledge of the hanger located behind the edge of the clip flanges, and with the hooks of the clip extending through the hanger slots in rear wall 36, the hanger and clip are thus interlocked together at the three locations thereof. In this manner, the hanger is firmly held by the clip so that nailing of the hanger to the roof is not necessary, the strength of the combined structure, as thus far described, being limited only by the strength of the fasteners 18 securing the clip to the roof.

The holding strength of clip is further increased by the above-mentioned work hardened flange portions 24 thereof, the hardened flange portions being located in front of the ledge 45 of the hanger to resist forces operating in a downward and/or outward direction on the hanger.

The clip and hanger structures of the invention can be used to support a variety of elongated structures along the gable and eave edges of a building roof in a high strength yet economical manner. With the manufa'cture of module house sections, the clips can be quickly fastened to the roof edges of the sections at a factory location to arrive at the building site ready to receive the hangers 30 in the process of mounting a separately fabricated eave or gable overhang structure to the house sections.

In FIG. 1 of the drawings, the clip and hanger of the invention are shown supporting a structural eave 60, at the edge of roof 16, though the invention is not limited thereto, the eave being a combined gutter, soffit and fascia structure for a building, the walls of the soffit and fascia, in combination with an integral rear wall 62 of the structure forming the gutter. The eave structure is initially attached to the roof by an elongated apron strip 64, suitably fastened to the roof, having a depending wall and return bend portion 65 for engaging a similar portion 66 of the rear wall of the eave. With such a structure, the apron strip is first fastened to the roof (at the factory location, for example) before the clips 10 are fastened thereto. At the building site, the hangers 30 are inserted in-clips, and the eave 60 then attached to the roof edge by locating the return bend 66 of the eave behind and in interlocking engagement with the return bend 65 of the apron strip, and locating the upper edge of the fascia of the eave (having a return bend 68) in interlocking relationship with the hook ends 38 of the hangers.

Since the return bend 66 of the rear eave'wall 62 is accommodated behind the return bend 65 of the depending wall of the apron, the depending wall is slightly offset at 69 in a direction extending into the eave. For this reason, the horizontal slot 52 is provided in the rear wall 36 of hanger, the slot 52 accommodating the offset portion 69 of the apron strip, as shown in FIG. 1, when the hanger is attached to the clip in the interlocking manner described above.

Because of the interlocking engagement effected between the clip hooks 26 and hanger wall 36, the hanger need not be attached to the truss ends with fasteners,

such as nails, driven through the rear wall of the eave and hanger structures and into the truss ends. This leaves the eave 60, which is an elongated metal structure, free to move, i.e., expand and contract past the hangers with changes in ambient temperature.

The interlocking engagements effected between the clip and hanger of the invention provide the structure supported thereby with a high strength characteristic capable of resisting both upward and downward forces imposed upon structure and hanger. The interlock provided between the clip edge 25 and the hanger ledge 45 strongly resists downward forces imposed upon the supported structure, while the interlocks provided by clip hooks 26 and hanger wall 36 strongly resist upward forces directed against the structure. For example, with upwardly flowing air currents and wind gusts directed against the underside of eave structure 60, the eave will attempt to rotate upwardly about its location of attachment to the roof; Such rotation moves the rear wall 36 of the hanger into immediate abutting engagement against the downwardly facing edges 27 of the clip hooks 26 to restrain rotation of the eave. Under the force of downwardly flowing winds or with heavy snow or ice loads on the supported structure, such as eave 60, the interlock between hanger ledge 45 and clip edge 25 is highly resistant to such forces and loads. The wall 54 beneath the upper wall 34 further resists downward forces imposed upon the hanger and eave.

To provide the structure of the invention with a further resistance capability to forces directed upwardly against the eave and hanger, the upper wall 34 of the hanger can be provided with shoulders or ledges 70 located in front of the forward ends or edges of the clip flanges 20, and on each side of the rib 44, to engage the flange ends when the hanger is disposed in interlocking enagement with the clip 10. Any tendency of the hanger to rotate upwardly is stopped by the shoulders abutting against the ends of the flanges 20.

While the invention has been described in terms of preferred embodiments, the claims appended hereto are intended to encompass all embodiments which fall within the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described my invention and certain embodiments thereof, I claim:

- l. A clip structure comprising: g

a first wall portion and an integral, second wall portion depending from one end of said first wallportion,

said first wall portion having two, opposed edges provided with flanges folded over one-surface of said wall to form two, oppositely disposed, inwardly facing channels, with at least a portion of the folded flanges extending to a location adjacent the transverse center of the first wall portion, with the flange portions adjacent the center of the first wall portion being inclined outwardly from the plane of the remaining flange portions in the direction of the end of the first wall portion having the second, depending wall portion,

said second, depending wall portion having atleast two spaced apart, essentially planar, integral hooks extending outwardly from the second wall portion and away from the plane of said first wall portion in planes essentially normal to the plane of said second wall portion.

2. The structure of. claim 1 in which the material of the clip is an alloy having a resilient characteristic.

3. A hanger structure comprising an elongated, essentially planar main body portion,

a first wall portion formed integrally with said main body portion and extending rearwardly therefrom, and a second, integral rear wall portion terminating one end of said main body portion and extending in a plane essentially normal to that of the main body portion beneath said first wall portion, and a forwardly facing ledge or shoulder portion provided on the upper surface of said first wall portion at a location behind said second wall portion, and

said second wall portion having at least two spaced apart slots beneath said first wall portion.

4. In combination a hanger structure comprising an elongated essentially planar, main body portion, a first wall formed integrally with at least a portion of the upper edge of said main body portion and extending rearwardly from said main body portion for anchoring said hanger to a clip structure adapted to be attached to a building roof, said main body portion terminating at one end threof in a second integral wall extending in a plane essentially normal to that of the main body portion beneath said first wall, said second wall having at least two, spaced apart slots therein, and the upper surface of first wall having at least one forwardly facing ledge or shoulder located behind said second wall, clip structure for attachment to a building roof comprising a first wall portion and a second wall portion depending from one end of said first wall portion, with two, opposed edges of said first wall portion having flanges folded over said portion to form oppositely located, inwardly facing channels for receiving the rearward extension of the first wall portion of said hanger, at least one of said flanges having a rearwardly facing edge for engaging the forwardly facing ledge of said hanger in interlocking relationship when the rearward extension of said hanger is disposed in the channels of said clip and directed therethrough a distance sufficient to locate the hanger ledge behind the flange edge,

the second wall portion of said clip structure having

Claims

1. A clip structure comprising: a first wall portion and an integral, second wall portion depending from one end of said first wall portion, said first wall portion having two, opposed edges provided with flanges folded over one surface of said wall to form two, oppositely disposed, inwardly facing channels, with at least a portion of the folded flanges extending to a location adjacent the transverse center of the first wall portion, with the flange portions adjacent the center of the first wall portion being inclined outwardly from the plane of the remaining flange portions in the direction of the end of the first wall portion having the second, depending wall portion, said second, depending wall portion having at least two spaced apart, essentially planar, integral hooks extending outwardly from the second wall portion and away from the plane of said first wall portion in planes essentially normal to the plane of said second wall portion.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which the material of tHe clip is an alloy having a resilient characteristic.

3. A hanger structure comprising an elongated, essentially planar main body portion, a first wall portion formed integrally with said main body portion and extending rearwardly therefrom, and a second, integral rear wall portion terminating one end of said main body portion and extending in a plane essentially normal to that of the main body portion beneath said first wall portion, and a forwardly facing ledge or shoulder portion provided on the upper surface of said first wall portion at a location behind said second wall portion, and said second wall portion having at least two spaced apart slots beneath said first wall portion.

4. In combination a hanger structure comprising an elongated essentially planar, main body portion, a first wall formed integrally with at least a portion of the upper edge of said main body portion and extending rearwardly from said main body portion for anchoring said hanger to a clip structure adapted to be attached to a building roof, said main body portion terminating at one end threof in a second integral wall extending in a plane essentially normal to that of the main body portion beneath said first wall, said second wall having at least two, spaced apart slots therein, and the upper surface of first wall having at least one forwardly facing ledge or shoulder located behind said second wall, a clip structure for attachment to a building roof comprising a first wall portion and a second wall portion depending from one end of said first wall portion, with two, opposed edges of said first wall portion having flanges folded over said portion to form oppositely located, inwardly facing channels for receiving the rearward extension of the first wall portion of said hanger, at least one of said flanges having a rearwardly facing edge for engaging the forwardly facing ledge of said hanger in interlocking relationship when the rearward extension of said hanger is disposed in the channels of said clip and directed therethrough a distance sufficient to locate the hanger ledge behind the flange edge, the second wall portion of said clip structure having at least two integral hooks extending outwardly therefrom in planes essentially normal to that of said second wall, and spaced apart a distance corresponding to that of the slots provided in the second wall of said hanger, said hooks being adapted to extend through said slots and in interlocking engagement with the second wall of said hanger when the first wall portion thereof is directed through the opposed channels of said clip to locate the edge and ledge of said clip and hanger in said interlocking relationship.