AU2005222570B2 - Elongate building member and wall system including same - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract The invention relates to an elongate building member and a wall system incorporating such a member. The elongate building member includes an elongate T-section retaining portion, which further includes a planar back section, and a flange extending therefrom. Furthermore, it includes an elongate mounting portion extending from a distal edge of the flange of the T-section retaining portion and being adapted to be mounted on a structural member of a wall system. Page 2 of3 F; .. ... ..... ... .

Description

Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT (ORIGINAL) Name of Applicant(s): Boral Australian Gypsum Limited, A.C.N. 004 231 976, of 676 Lorimer Street, Port Melbourne, Victoria 3207, AUSTRALIA Actual Inventor(s): WILLIAM POYNTER and ANDREW CLOSE Address for Service: DAVIES COLLISON CAVE, Patent Attorneys, of 1 Nicholson Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia Invention Title: "Elongate building member and wall system including same" Details of Associated Provisional Application No: 2004906646 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: Q:\OPER\Axd\2005\Oct\ 2537270 287.doc- 14/10/05 ELONGATE BUILDING MEMBER AND WALL SYSTEM INCLUDING SAME The present invention relates to an elongate building member and a wall system that includes such a member. In particular, the present invention relates to an elongate building 5 member that may be used in combination with a structural member of a wall system, such as a stud. More particularly, the invention relates to an elongate building member that may be used in combination with a C-section stud of a wall system. Wall systems that include C-section steel studs are known. In some instances, such studs 10 are rolled so that they include not only the C-section of the stud, but also an integral H section. Such building members are generally coined CH-section members. However, rolling of such members is generally quite difficult, requiring special rolling equipment. Furthermore, the market for these members is relatively small and it is generally difficult to produce an order that will satisfy the minimum order requirement of manufacturers for 15 these members. Also, due to the difficulty and lack of regularity of manufacture, it may be difficult to predict the lengths of these members that will be required for any given time period. That is, if the members are only produced twice a year, a party ordering the members may not be in a position to comfortably decide on what lengths will be required for the 6 month period. 20 There is now provided an alternative elongate member, generally intended to be used in combination with a C-section stud or timber stud in a wall system, that is easily produced and used to provide a similar effect to a standard CH-section member, 25 In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a unitary elongate universal base member for forming a CH-section building member, the universal base member including: an elongate T-section retaining portion including a planar back section and a planar central flange extending perpendicularly along a central portion of the planar back section, 30 and an elongate L-section mounting portion extending from a distal edge of the central flange of the T-section retaining portion, a first part of the L-section extending from the -2 distal edge of the central flange in an orientation parallel to said planar back section and a second part of the L-section being folded perpendicularly from an outer edge of the first part to extend away from the back section in an orientation parallel to the central flange, thereby defining a channel between the first and second parts, 5 wherein the L-section mounting portion is arranged to seat a separately formed elongated C-section beam, with an edge of the C-section beam located in said channel along the length of the mounting portion, to form the CH-section building member. As used herein, the term "T-section" is intended to mean not only an elongate portion that is T-shaped in cross-section, but is also intended to include within its scope portions that 10 have a flange extending substantially perpendicularly from a point on the back section that is not a mid point of the back section. As used herein, the term "planar" is intended to include not only flat sections, but also substantially flat sections. For example, a section having a small amount of corrugation 15 may also be included within the scope of the term "planar". The T-section retaining portion is generally adapted to receive and retain sheet material of the wall system, such as shaft liner or plasterboard or the like. More particularly, the T section retaining portion and the mounting portion extending therefrom and/or the 20 structural member of the wall system define recesses, each of which receive an edge of the sheet material of the wall system. The mounting portion may take any suitable configuration provided that it facilitates mounting of the elongate building member on the structural member of the wall system. 25 For example, the elongate mounting portion may include an elongate track that is adapted to be mounted along a side of the structural member, for example along the side of a timber stud or C-section steel stud. However, according to one embodiment the mounting portion is a section of angle extending perpendicularly along the length of the T-section retaining portion. It will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that the term "angle" 30 generally refers to an elongate right-angle section. As used herein, the term "angle" is also intended to include sections that are not right-angled, but still facilitate mounting of the -3 mounting portion on the structural member of the wall system. The elongate building member may be formed by any suitable means, but is preferably rolled or pressed. Therefore, it is generally preferred that the mounting portion be integral 5 with the T-section retaining portion. More particularly, the mounting portion and the T section retaining portion are preferably formed from a single sheet of material, such as by rolling a sheet of metal. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an elongate 10 CH section building member including: a unitary universal base member as described above and a separately formed C section beam coupled along its length to the universal base member, wherein the C-section beam is seated in the L-section, with a central back part of the C-section resting against the second part of the L-section, and a perpendicular flange of 15 the C-section resting against said first part and extending beyond the planar central flange so as to form an H-section with the central flange and the back section. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wall system including: 20 at least one structural member; a universal base member as described above, the elongate L-section mounting portion of the universal base member being mounted on the structural member; a first sheet of building material retained along an edge thereof by one side of the T-section retaining portion; and 25 a second sheet material retained along an edge thereof by an opposing side of the T-section retaining portion. As will be appreciated from the above description, the structural member of the wall system may include, for example, a timber stud. However, the structural member will 30 generally include a C-section stud, such as a steel C-section stud. In that case, the elongate mounting portion of the elongate building member, generally a section of angle extending C:\NRtPonlb CC\USBTUS4426_ DOC.-2 009/ii -4 perpendicularly along the length of the T-section retaining portion, receives and is mounted along an edge of the wall stud. It will be appreciated that the wall system described above will be useful in not only 5 systems that currently use a CH-section member described in the introductory section above, but will also be useful were timber studs have been employed. Likewise, it will be appreciated that the wall system described above may include any number of structural members, elongate building members and sheets of building material depending on the area to be covered by the wall system. 10 A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 illustrates a perspective view of an elongate building member according to the invention; 15 Figure 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the elongate building member of Figure 1; Figure 3 illustrates the elongate building member of Figure 1 applied to a timber stud; Figure 4 illustrates the elongate building member of Figure 1 applied to a C-section 20 stud; and Figure 5 illustrates a plan view of the elongate building member of Figure 1 applied to a wall system. Referring to Figures 1 and 2, an elongate universal base building member 10 is illustrated. 25 The elongate building member 10 includes an elongate T-section retaining portion II and elongate L-section mounting portion 12. The T-section retaining portion 11 includes a planar back section 13 and a central flange 14 extending perpendicularly along a central portion of the planar back section. The L-section mounting portion 12 extends from a distal end 15 of the central flange 14 and is adapted to be mounted on a structural member 30 of a wall section (as illustrated in Figures 3-5).

C\N'RPonb\DCC\$N82±426 .DOC.20)09/2OI I -5 More specifically, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, a first part of the L-section mounting portion 12 extends from the distal end 15 of the central flange 14 in an orientation parallel to said planar back section 13. A second part of the L-section mounting portion 12 is folded perpendicularly from an outer edge of the first part to extend away from the back 5 section 13 in an orientation parallel to the central flange 14, thereby defining a channel between the first and second parts. As will be appreciated from Figures 1 and 2, the elongate building member 10 may be formed from a single sheet of material, such as a sheet of metal. Particularly, the elongate 10 building member 10 is advantageously formed from a single sheet of galvanised mild steel. Turning to Figures 3 and 4, the elongate building member 10 may be mounted on a structural member such as a wooden stud 30 or a C-section steel stud 40 such that an edge 31, 41 of the stud 30, 40 is received by the mounting portion 12 of the building member 10. The mounting portion 12 may be secured to the stud 30, 40 by any suitable means, 15 such as by attachment of screws. As shown in Figure 4, the L-section mounting portion 12 is arranged to seat the separately formed C-section steel stud 40, with an edge 41 of the C-section steel stud 40 in a channel along the length of the mounting portion 12 to form a CH-section building 20 member. In particular, a central back part of the C-section (ie. the vertical part of the "C") rests against the vertical second part of the L-section 12, and a perpendicular flange (ie. the lower horizontal part of the "C") of the C-section rests against the horizontal first part, extending beyond the intersection with the planar central flange 14. In this way, the perpendicular flange of the C-section forms an H-section with the central flange 14 and the 25 back section 13. A plan view of a wall system 50 that incorporates the elongate building member 10 is illustrated in Figure 5. The wall system 50 includes a C-section stud 40 that is secured to sheets of fire resistant material 51. It will, however, be appreciated that the sheets of fire 30 resistant material 51 may be suitably replaced with another wall substrate, An elongate building member 10 is secured to the C-section stud 40, generally along a length of 3,000 C:MRfPOb1DCtS6Id46_LDOC-20/D9/201 -6 millimetres such that recesses 52 are defined by the planar back section 13 of the T-section retaining portion 11, the angle portion 12 and a side 42 of the C-section stud 40. Sheets of building material 53 such as shaft liner material, in particular 25 millimetre Boral shaft liner, may be retained within the recesses 52 and optionally secured to the building 5 member 10. The dimensions of the elongate building member may be determined depending on the wall system in which the building member 10 is being used. It will be appreciated that the recesses 52 defined by the building member 10 and stud 40 on which it is mounted will be 10 somewhat dependant on the width X of the sheet material 53 to be retained within the recesses 52. According to a particular embodiment, the length X of the flange 14 is 25 millimetres, the length Y of a mounting arm 54 of the mounting portion 12 is 22 millimetres, the mounting arm 54 being secured to the stud 40 by means of 10 by 16 screws 55 at 600 millimetre centres. The width A of the back section 13 of the T-section 15 retaining portion 11 is, in this preferred embodiment, 35 millimetres, while the distances B from an edge of the back section 13 to an inner edge of the flange 14 is 17.25 millimetres. It will also be appreciated that the single piece of sheet material 53 illustrated may be replaced with two or more sheets of material if desired. 20 Throughout the specification the aim has been to describe the preferred embodiments of the invention without limiting the invention to any one embodiment or specific collection of features. Those of skill in the art will therefore appreciate that, in light of the instant disclosure, various modifications and changes can be made in the particular embodiments 25 exemplified without departing from the scope of the present invention. All such modifications and changes are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.

Claims (9)

1. A unitary elongate universal base member for forming a CH-section building member, the universal base member including: 5 an elongate T-section retaining portion including a planar back section and a planar central flange extending perpendicularly along a central portion of the planar back section, and an elongate L-section mounting portion extending from a distal edge of the central flange of the T-section retaining portion, a first part of the L-section extending from the distal edge of the central flange in an orientation 10 parallel to said planar back section and a second part of the L-section being folded perpendicularly from an outer edge of the first part to extend away from the back section in an orientation parallel to the central flange, thereby defining a channel between the first and second parts, wherein the L-section mounting portion is arranged to seat a separately 15 formed elongated C-section beam, with an edge of the C-section beam located in said channel along the length of the mounting portion, to form the CH-section building member.

2. A member according to claim 1, wherein the mounting portion and the T-section 20 retaining portion are formed from a single sheet of material.

3. A member according to claim 2, wherein the member is formed by roll-forming said single sheet of metal. 25

4. A member substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

5. An elongate CH section building member including: a unitary universal base member as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 and 30 a separately formed C-section beam coupled along its length to the universal base member, -8 wherein the C-section beam is seated in the L-section, with a central back part of the C-section resting against the second part of the L-section, and a perpendicular flange of the C-section resting against said first part and extending beyond the planar central flange so as to form an H-section with the 5 central flange and the back section.

6. A wall system including: at least one structural member; a universal base member according to any one of claims 1 to 4, the elongate 10 L-section mounting portion of the universal base member being mounted on the structural member; a first sheet of building material retained along an edge thereof by one side of the T-section retaining portion; and a second sheet material retained along an edge thereof by an opposing side 15 of the T-section retaining portion.

7. A wall system according to claim 6, wherein the structural member is a wall stud.

8. A wall system according to claim 7, wherein the wall stud is a C-section wall stud. 20

9. A wall system according to claim 7, wherein the channel of the elongate L-section mounting portion of the universal base member receives and is mounted along an edge of the wall stud. 25 DATED: 20 September, 2011 by DAVIES COLLISON CAVE 30 Patent Attorneys for the Applicant(s): Boral Australian Gypsum Limited