Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION:
Field of the Invention
The present inven-tion relates to spacers to be
used between nested galvanized metal pieces positioned one
on top of another, such as elongated angle iron pieces,
with stacks of such pieces being positioned side-by-side
and strapped to form a bundle.
Description of Prior Art
When shipping elongated pre-formed galvanized
metal pieces having a nestable profile, it is customary to
stack these metal pieces one on top of another to form
stacks and then to bundle these stacks side by side. It
is also customary to provide an insert between each nested
piece so that air can circulate between these pieces and
water drained therefrom whereby to prevent the formation
of white rust between the nested pieces in the bundle.
This was accomplished by providing wooden inserts between
the nested metal pieces but this practice is now substan-
tially discontinued for the reason tha-t wood absorbs
moisture and still produced rust in the area where the
wood pieces were positioned. It is usually the practice
to stack these profile pieces wi-th their peaks facing up
so that water will drain downwards during shipping.
In order to a-ttempt to overcome the above-
mentioned disadvantage of the use o~ wooden inserts, there
is now provided small preformed plastic pieces of like
profile as the nested material pieces and which fits in
the crest of the nested pieces. These plastic inserts are
provided with opposed flat surfaces to provide good
contact with the metal pieces so that the inserts do not
fall out. However, there are several problems with these
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small plastic inserts and one is that they are time-
consuming to install as they have a tendency to ~all off,
due to their small sizes. Also, because they are
constructed of plastic, they tend to compress when
subjected to a heavy load. Still further, it is not
possible to make a high stack wi-th these plastic inserts
as the stack will bend due to its instability created by
the small plastic inserts provided in the nested crest
portions. A still further disadvantage is that by using
plastic inserts, the inserts soften at high temperatures
and compress even more. When subjected to cold tempera-
tures, the plastic inserts become brittle and often break
by vibrations imparted to the bundle. Thus, there results
metal-to-metal contact and corrosion can take place. When
the plastic inserts compress, the strappings of the bundle
also become loose and the metal pieces within the load
start shifting causing damage to the surroundings and are
particularly hazardous during transportation of such
bundle on a flat-bed truck or on a ship where the metal
pieces can become loose or fall off a truck. Accordingly,
the use of such plastic pieces has not been found to be
adequate, particularly when shipping bundles for long
distances where the bundle is exposed to salt-water spray.
A still further method has been utilized in
order to prevent stacks of nested elongated metal pieces
from bending to permit higher stacks to be formed. That
method comprised inverting one or more metal anyle pieces
between opposed stacks, and at spaced intervals, whereby
to bridge the stacks and provide better stacking of a
bundle. A disadvantage of using inverted metal pieces
throughout the bundle is that these pieces then act as
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troughs in which water can be collected and these pieces
will quickly rust, particularly when exposed to sal-t-water
spray such as on ships or on flat-bed trucks when
displaced over roadways which have been salted during
winter seasons. Also, the adjacent metal pieces which
engage with this inverted piece also rust and this rust
will flow down into the bundle. Accordingly, this method
has also not been found adequate for shipping these
bundles in an environment where there is salt-water spray.
SUMMARY OF I NVENT I ON:
. _
It is a feature of the present invention to
provide an improved spacer for spacing nested formed
galvanized metal material pieces having a nestable profile
and wherein the pieces are stacked one on top of another
to form stacks with at least two stacks of the nested
material pieces being disposed and secured in side-by-side
relationship to form a bundle and wherein the spacer is
formed of a wire having a shape of similar profile as the
cross-section of at least part of the profile of two of
the material pieces positioned side by side and wherein
the spacer wire has a corrosive resistant coating.
Another ~eature of the present invention is to
provide an improved metal wire spacer as above described
and wherein the cross-section of the spacer provides
reduced contact with the surface of opposed nested ones of
the galvanized metal pieces.
Another feature of the present invention is to
provide an improved metal spacer as above described which
is a pre-formed me-tal wire of circular cross-section and
wherein the wire is galvanized and treated with a chromate
solution.
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Ano-ther ~eature oE the present invention is to
provide an improved method of making a bundle of elongated
metal channel pieces of nes-table profile to substan-tially
reduce the forma-tion of white rust between the galvanized
metal pieces and wherein the bundle is formed with a
plurality of spacers formed by pre-formed lengths of metal
wire of similar profile as the cross-section of at least
part of the profile of two adjacent channel pieces when
positioned side-by-side and wherein the wire spacer has a
corrosive resistant coating.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS:
... .... _ ...
A preferred embodiment of the present invention
will now be described with reference to the accompanying
drawings in which:
FIGURE 1 is a side view of the pre-formed metal
wire spacer of the present invention;
FIGURE 2 is a side view of a slightly modified
pre-formed wire spacer of the present invention;
FIGURE 3 is a perspective view showing a bundle
of nested metal material pieces incorporating the wire
spacer of the present invention;
FIGURE 4 is an end view of Figure 3;
FIGURE 5 is an enlarged view showing the area
between opposed side-by-side s-tacks of metal material
pieces with the wire spacer ex-tending therebetween; and
FIGURE 6 is a top fragmented view of a bundle
showing the disposition of aligned wire spacers of the
present invention.
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DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMsoDIMENTs:
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Referring now to the drawings, and more parti-
cularly to Figures 1 and 2, -there is shown the construc-
tion of the wire spacer of the present invention. As
shown in Figure 1, the wire spacer 10 is formed from a
single wire piece, such as a steel wire, which is
galvanized, and formed with a similar profile as the
cross-section of at least part of the profile of two
material pieces to be positioned side-by-side in the
bundle. Herein, the cross-section of material pieces
would be of -triangular shape. Thus, the wire is formed
with a series of right angle triangular profiles or
triangles 11. In order to enhance the corrosive resis-
tance of the galvanized wire, it may also be treated with
a chroma-te solution after the galvanizing process and
while the wire is still hot. Also, in order to provide
reduced contact with the surface of opposed nested metal
material pieces, as will be described later, the wire is
formed with a cross-section to reduce contact with the
surface of opposed nested ones of these metal pieces, and
as more clearly shown in ~igure 5, these wires are formed
with a circular cross-section.
Figure 2 illus-trates a slight variation of the
wire spacer of Figure 1 and as herein shown, the spacer
10' has the end ones of its triangular profiles 11'
provided with an outer arm 12 which is terminated shorter
than the remaining arms of the triangular profiles so that
when positioned between stacks of nested metal pieces, the
outex arms will not extend to the edge or out of a bundle.
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As shown in Figure 3, there is provided a bundle
15 formed from a plurality, herein four, of adjacen-t
stacks 14 of elongated right angle metal pieces 13 which
are nested one on top of the other. Each of the metal
pieces 13 are stacked with a pre-formed wire spacer 10
disposed between adjacent metal pieces 13, as is more
clearly shown in Figures 4 and 5. Accordingly, in order
to form the stack as shown in ~igure 3, the wooden support
studs 16 are first placed on a floor surface and the
bottom layer 13' of the metal pieces 13 are positioned in
side-by-side relationship with their peaks 13" extending
upwardly so as to permit wa-ter to flow downwardly out of
the stack. A plurality of wire spacers 10 of the present
invention are then disposed transversely across the bundle
and at spaced intervals along the length of the bottom
layer 13'. As herein shown, spacers are provided at four
locations and substantially in the areas where the metal
straps 17 are disposed. The spacer is also preferably
provided with four triangular peaks to span the entire
width of the bundle. Alterna-tively, these may be formed
with three peaks as shown in Figure 1 or as shown in
Figure 2 with two of these metal wires, and are aligned
across the width of the bundle disposed with at least an
end one of its triangular profile, such as the end
profiles 11', overlapped in side~by-side relationship, as
shown at 18 in Figure 6. Also, as shown in Figure 6,
there are five rows of stacks 14'~
After these wire spacers are positioned over the
bottom row 13', a second row of metal pieces 13 are
disposed over the wires and nested with the bottom row.
Accordingly, the wire spacers are rigidly in place and
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provide retention of the metal pieces transversely of the
bundle. Addi-tional wire spacers are positioned on top of
the second row and a third row of metal pieces are then
positioned over these and so on. secause the wires form
attachments transversely of the bundle being formed, it is
possible to form bundles having very high stacks without
having to invert metal pieces in the area between each
bundle, thus causing white rust, as previously described.
Also, because the metal wires will not compress when
subjected to loading once the bundle is strapped, it will
remain rigld during transportation. Still further,
because the spacers are formed with a cross-section having
only small surface contact with the nested metal pieces,
there will be good aeration between the metal pieces and
any water lodging therebetween will not be trapped and
flow out of the bundle by gravity or by air flow.
Although the wire spacer of the present inven-
tion was developed for use in makiny a bundle of
galvanized elongated metal channel pieces of nestable
profile whereby to substantially reduce the formation of
rust, such as whi-te rust when transporting galvanized
angle iron pieces, it is intended to cover any obvious
modifications of the present invention, provided such
modificatlons fall within the scope of the appended
claims. For example, the profile of the wire spacer may
have any desired profile depending on the cross-section of
the metal pieces, provided such metal pieces have a nest-
able profile. For example, the profile could be arcuate,
semi~circular, or have flat walls with flared side walls,
etc. The cross-section profile of the wire may also have
many configurations.
