AU2018271358B2

AU2018271358B2 - Hip Truss Fascia Connecting Bracket

Info

Publication number: AU2018271358B2
Application number: AU2018271358A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Jordan Edward Hagan; Paul Mcdonnell; Daniele James Strangio
Original assignee: Steel Building Systems Australia Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Steel Building Systems Australia Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2017-11-29
Filing date: 2018-11-29
Publication date: 2024-02-08
Anticipated expiration: 2038-11-29
Also published as: AU2018271358A1

Abstract

The invention resides in hip truss fascia connecting bracket which is a folded metal strip that has: a. A rectangular top flat surface; b. descending either side from the top flat surface, are two triangular sides which are formed by folding the metal strip at 900 on either side of the top flat surface, then folding the strip back upon itself at a 45 angle; and c. two flanges extending from the 45° folds, on either side of the bracket. 3b 25 5 2 7 3a e e 3a 6 3b FIGURE 4 FIGURE 5 4 6 FIGURE 6

Description

3b 25 5 2 7 3a

e e 3a 6

3b

FIGURE 4 FIGURE 5

4 6

FIGURE 6

Editorial Note 2018271358

There are only nine pages of description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990

COMPLETE PATENT SPECIFICATION HIP TRUSS FASCIA CONNECTING BRACKET

The invention is described in the following statement:

HIP TRUSS FASCIA CONNECTING BRACKET FIELD OF INVENTION

[001] The invention relates to a bracket for connecting hip truss to the fascia board during the construction of buildings such as houses.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

[002] The roof of the house has a number of roof trusses and depending on the shape of the roof there may be many different kinds of trusses: valley trusses, Jack trusses, normal trusses and hip trusses. Running around the lower edge of the roof is the fascia board which is attached to the trusses by using a fascia bracket, and attached to the fascia board is the guttering. Usually the trusses meet the fascia board at a 900 angle and so attaching the fascia bracket is an easy procedure. But in a hip roof there is a truss that runs diagonally from the ridge of the roof to the lowest corner of the roof bisecting the 90°corner to be formed by the fascia board. This means a hip truss meets the fascia board at an angle, usually 450, and in the corner of the roof it is difficult to attach the fascia brackets to the truss.

[003] There is usually an issue at the junction of the hip truss and the fascia board as there are no flat surfaces close to the corner onto which the fascia board, via the fascia bracket, may be attached and this area becomes a weak spot in the construction of the house. Often in this situation a tradesperson will improvise a surface on which to attach the fascia bracket from materials at hand on the building site and attaches them to the hip truss. This is inefficient, and depending on the materials at hand may not be as strong as it ideally should be.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

[004] It is an object of this invention to provide an easy to use bracket which attaches both to the hip truss and provides a solid flat surface on which to attach the fascia brackets to which the fascia boards are then attached to form the corner of a roof.

[005] Another object of this invention is to provide a bracket which is as strong as the roof truss and is capable of being attached in a secure manner to avoid any weak spots in the roof.

[006] In the first embodiment the invention resides in a hip truss fascia connecting bracket which is a folded metal strip forming a bracket that has: (a) a rectangular top flat surface ; (b) descending either side from the top surface, two triangular sides which are formed by folding the metal strip at 900 on either side of the top flat surface, then folding the strip back upon itself at a 45 angle; and (c) two flanges extending from the 45 folds, on either side of the bracket.

[007] In a second embodiment of the invention resides in a hip truss fascia connecting bracket which comprises 2 pieces of folded metal in which: (a) each piece has a rectangular top flat surface; (b) descending from either the left or right side of the top surface is a triangular side which is formed by folding the metal strip at 90° to the top flat surface, and then folding the strip back upon itself at a 45 angle; and (c) a flange extending from the 45 fold.

[008] In a third embodiment of the invention resides in a hip truss fascia connecting bracket which comprises 2 pieces of folded metal in which: (a) each piece has a rectangular top flat surface to sit atop a truss; (b) descending from either the left or right side of the top surface is a triangular side which is formed by folding the metal strip at 90° to the top flat surface, to provide a surface that aligns with the vertical sides of the hip truss, and then folding the strip back upon itself at a 45 angle; and (c) a flange extending from the 45 fold, which provides a flat surface, onto which a fascia bracket may be attached.

[009] In the second embodiment, two pieces, one with triangular side on the left of the top surface and one with a triangular side on the right side of the top surface, are attached to the hip truss so that a triangular side is either side of the truss. In this embodiment, the invention can be used with trusses of any width or configuration or material.

[010] In the most preferred embodiment the invention resides in hip truss fascia connecting bracket which is a folded metal strip forming a bracket that has: (a) A rectangular top flat surface which sits atop the hip truss and through which the bracket may be attached to the hip truss; (b) descending either side from the top surface, are two triangular sides which formed by folding the metal strip at 900on either side of the top flat surface , providing surfaces that align with the vertical sides of the hip truss, and then folding the strip back upon itself at a 450 angle; and (c) two flanges extending from the 450 folds, on either side of the bracket, which provide flat surfaces onto each of which a fascia bracket maybe attached, and from the fascia brackets, two fascia boards are attached to form the corner of the roof.

[011] In the fourth embodiment the invention resides in hip truss fascia connecting bracket which is a folded metal strip forming a bracket that has: (a) a rectangular top flat surface which sits atop the hip truss; (b) descending from the opposite sides of the top surface, are two triangular sides which formed by folding the metal strip at 900 on either side of the top flat surface, providing surfaces that align with the vertical sides of the hip truss, and then folding the strip back upon itself at a 450 angle; and (c) two flanges extending from the 450 folds, on either side of the bracket, which provide flat surfaces onto each of which a fascia bracket maybe attached, and from the fascia brackets, two fascia boards may be attached to form the corner of the roof.

[012] The invention also includes a hip roof corner comprising: (a) a hip truss; (b) a hip truss fascia connecting bracket; (c) 2 fascia brackets; and (d) 2 fascia boards; characterised in that the hip truss fascia connecting bracket is a folded metal strip forming a bracket which comprises 2 pieces of folded metal in which: i. each piece has a rectangular top flat surface to sit atop a truss; ii. descending from either the left or right side of the top surface is a triangular side which is formed by folding the metal strip at 900 to the top flat surface, to provide a surface that aligns with the vertical sides of the hip truss, and then folding the strip back upon itself at a 450 angle; and iii. a flange extending from the 450 fold, which provides a flat surface, onto which a fascia bracket may be attached.

[013] The invention further includes a hip roof corner comprising: (a) a hip truss; (b) a hip truss fascia connecting bracket; (c) 2 fascia brackets; and (d) 2 fascia boards; characterised in that the hip truss fascia connecting bracket is a folded metal strip forming a bracket which comprises 2 pieces of folded metal in which: i. each piece has a rectangular top flat surface to sit atop a truss; ii. descending from either the left or right side of the top surface is a triangular side which is formed by folding the metal strip at 900 to the top flat surface, to provide a surface that aligns with the vertical sides of the hip truss, and then folding the strip back upon itself at a 45 angle; and iii. a flange extending from the 45° fold, which provides a flat surface, onto which a fascia bracket may be attached.

[014] The invention also includes a hip truss fascia connecting bracket which comprises: (a) a rectangular top flat surface; (b) descending from opposite sides of the top surface, two right angle triangular sides in which the right angles of the triangles are adjacent to the top surface, and are both at the same end of the top surface; and (c) two flanges extending from the hypotenuse of the triangular sides, on either side of the bracket at an acute angle in relation to the top surface.

[015] Finally, the invention includes a hip truss fascia connecting bracket which comprises 2 pieces of material in which: (a) each piece has a rectangular top flat surface; (b) descending from either the left or right side of the top surface is a right angle triangular side; and (c) a flange extending from the triangular side, along its hypotenuse, at an acute angle in relation to the top surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[016] Figure 1 is a perspective view of the bracket of the invention. Figure 2 is a top down view of the bracket of the invention. Figure 3 is a top down view of the bracket of the invention in situ and use with a pair of fascia boards, a pair of fascia brackets and a hip truss. Figure 4 is a perspective view of the bracket of the invention in use with a pair of fascia boards, a pair of fascia brackets and a hip truss. Figure 5 is a perspective view of the bracket in place on a hip truss.

Figure 6 is an exploded view of the bracket etc as shown in Figure 4. Figure 7 shows the two part embodiment of the bracket of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[017] The following detailed description of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings and the following description to refer to the same and like parts. Dimensions of certain parts shown in the drawings may have been modified and/or exaggerated for the purposes of clarity or illustration.

[018] The object of the invention is to provide a strong, easy to use bracket to attach the fascia boards to the hip truss.

[019] In the prior art, a fascia board is usually attached to the trusses using a fascia bracket. Fascia brackets are used in this invention and are shown in the drawings, but there is nothing inventive about them. These fascia brackets are standard, commercially available brackets, that are either generic pieces of metal or have specific forms designed to interact with the profile of the fascia board and do not form part of the invention.

[020] The means of the attachment between the bracket of the invention and the hip truss and the bracket of the invention and the fascia bracket are not important features of the invention. Any suitable means of attachment may be used - screws, rivets, nuts and bolts. Ideally for ease of use, the means of attachment are commercially available tek screws which would already be in the tradesman's standard tool kit. The drawings show tek screws being used but the invention is not limited to the use of tek screws.

[021] The position of the attachment of the bracket of the invention to the truss is not important. The applicant has its own proprietary roof steel truss, and due to its shape (as shown in Figure 5), connection through the top surface of the bracket and the top of the truss is the strongest and most practical. However, if the truss was, for examples, a boxed C channel metal truss or a wooden truss, the bracket of the invention may be connected to the truss through the triangular sides of the bracket into the side of the truss.

[022] The applicant is a manufacturer of steel building frames and developed the invention originally to work with its proprietary roofing system, so the preferred material for the production of the bracket of the invention is steel of the same or similar thickness to the steel used to make its roof trusses, which is 0.75mm thick steel. This means that the bracket of the invention is of the same strength as the rest of the roof and there is no potential for a weak spot in the corner of the roof. However, for different climate areas, for different building systems, or for different rooves, the steel may be thicker or thinner, as long as it provides the strength required by local building codes and is appropriate to the individual circumstances of the roof. It is also possible that when using the bracket with wooden roof trusses the material may need to be thicker or thinner, and other manufacturing or commercial considerations may affect the thickness of the steel used. It may be possible to produce the shape out of another material, for example aluminium, or using different processes, for example being 3D printed, but this would still be considered within the scope of the invention.

[023] The other dimensions of the bracket of the invention are not fixed. For example, the width of the strip from which the bracket is fashioned can be any width that provides enough surface for the attachment of the fascia bracket as well as the strength as a building material. The dimensions of the top surfaces only need to provide enough contact with the hip truss to allow for means to affix the bracket to the truss. The angle of the triangles may be altered if the hip truss is a bastard hip truss (doesn't bisect the corner of the roof) or is a truss above a bay window. The shape of the flanges is not important, as long as they provide enough space and strength to attach the fascia brackets and are big enough to be in the correct position for the fascia brackets to be attached.

[024] In the broadest possible terms, the invention is a means to connect a hip truss to the fascia boards by providing a solid anchoring point either side of the hip truss, to ensure that the hip corner of the roof is not a weak point in the roof structure, and is easily constructed.

[025] There are two preferred embodiments of the invention. The first embodiment is a single/unitary means that attaches to the hip truss providing an anchoring point for a fascia bracket on either side of the truss. The second embodiment is simply the first embodiment cut in half through the top surface.

[026] The first embodiment is useful for a manufacturer of a roofing system in that the dimensions of the bracket can be customised to fit exactly with the trusses made by the manufacturer. The second embodiment is useful for a manufacturer of fixtures and fittings, and the two halves can be manufactured and be used on any roof truss of any width.

[027] The shape of the bracket that means that it can be moved up and down the roof truss until it is in a suitable position for the fascia brackets to be attached and different sizes or lengths are not required. Different lengths of metal may be used to produce the bracket depending on the thickness of the material used to make the hip truss, or to provide longer or shorter flanges if desired.

[028] The bracket of the invention is shown in Figure 1. The top flat surface, 2, is shown with two pre-drilled holes for attaching the bracket to the hip truss, but this is not an essential feature of the invention. Descending either side of the top flat surface are the triangular sides, 4, and extending from the 45 fold at the bottom of the triangular sides are the flanges 3a and 3b.

[029] The bracket of the invention is shown in Figure 2 looking down on the top flat surface, 2, and it can be seen that the flanges, 3a and 3b, extend from the top flat surface at a 45° angle.

[030] Figure 3 shows the bracket of the invention in use. The top flat surface, 1, is shown sitting on the hip truss, 5, with the flanges 3a and 3b extending away from the hip truss, and being connected to the fascia brackets, 6. The fascia brackets then interact with the fascia boards, 7, by design, and the corner of the roof is formed. The hip truss can be seen extending to the corner formed by, the fascia boards, but this is not enough to provide a strong connection between the boards and the truss. Figures 4 and 6 show different views of the same arrangement as shown in Figure 3 and exemplify why the current invention was required. Whilst in Figure 3 it appears that the fascia boards overlap the truss, because of the profile and shape of the boards, there is no real connection between the hip truss and the fascia boards without the use of the bracket of the invention and the standard fascia brackets.

[031] Figure 5 shows the bracket of the invention attached to the hip truss of the applicant's proprietary roofing system. The bracket may be attached in the factory based to minimise the installation on the building site, or may be provided separately to allow for adjustments on site.

[032] Further advantages and improvements may very well be made to the present invention without deviating from its scope. Although the invention has been shown and described in what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope and spirit of the invention, which is not to be limited to the details disclosed herein but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent devices and apparatus. Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of the common general knowledge in this field.

[033] In the present specification and claims (if any), the word "comprising" and its derivatives including "comprises" and "comprise" include each of the stated integers but does not exclude the inclusion of one or more further integers.

Editorial Note 2018271358

There are only three pages of claim

Claims

1. A hip truss fascia connecting bracket which is a folded metal strip forming a bracket that comprises: (a) a rectangular top flat surface; (b) descending either side from the top surface, two triangular sides which are formed by folding the metal strip at 900on either side of the top flat surface, then folding the strip back upon itself at a 45 angle; and (c) two flanges extending from the 45 folds, on either side of the bracket.

2. A hip truss fascia connecting bracket which comprises 2 pieces of folded metal in which: (a) each piece has a rectangular top flat surface; (b) descending from either the left or right side of the top surface is a triangular side which is formed by folding the metal strip at 900to the top flat surface, and then folding the strip back upon itself at a 45 angle; and (c) a flange extending from the 45 fold.

3. A hip truss fascia connecting bracket which comprises a folded metal strip forming a bracket that comprises: (a) A rectangular top flat surface which sits atop the hip truss and through which the bracket may be attached to the hip truss; (b) descending either side from the top surface, are two triangular sides which are formed by folding the metal strip at 900 on either side of the top flat surface ,

providing surfaces that align with the vertical sides of the hip truss, and then folding the strip back upon itself at a 45 angle; and (c) two flanges extending from the 45 folds, on either side of the bracket, which provide flat surfaces onto each of which a fascia bracket may be attached, and from the fascia brackets, two fascia boards may be attached to form the corner of the roof.

4. A hip roof corner comprising: (a) a hip roof truss; (b) a hip truss fascia connecting bracket; (c) 2 fascia brackets; and (d) 2 fascia boards; characterised in that the hip truss fascia connecting bracket is a folded metal strip forming a bracket that has: i. a rectangular top flat surface which sits atop the hip truss; ii. descending either side from the top surface, are two triangular sides which formed by folding the metal strip at 900on either side of the top flat surface, providing surfaces that align with the vertical sides of the hip truss, and then folding the strip back upon itself at a 45 angle; and iii. two flanges extending from the 45 folds, on either side of the bracket, which provide flat surfaces onto each of which a fascia bracket maybe attached, and from the fascia brackets, two fascia boards may be attached to form the corner of the roof.

5. A hip roof corner comprising: (a) a hip roof truss; (b) 2 hip truss fascia connecting brackets; (c) 2 fascia brackets; and (d) 2 fascia boards; characterised in that the hip truss fascia connecting brackets each comprise a folded metal strip in which: i. each piece has a rectangular top flat surface to sit atop a truss; ii. descending from either the left or right side of the top surface is a triangular side which is formed by folding the metal strip at 90° to the top flat surface, to provide a surface that aligns with the vertical sides of the hip truss, and then folding the strip back upon itself at a 45 angle; and iii. a flange extending from the 45 fold, which provides a flat surface onto which a fascia bracket may be attached; and in which there is both a right sided bracket and a left sided bracket attached to the hip roof truss.

6. A hip truss fascia connecting bracket which comprises: (a) a rectangular top flat surface; (b) descending from opposite sides of the top surface, two right angle triangular sides in which the right angles of the triangles are adjacent to the top surface, and are both at the same end of the top surface; and (c) two flanges extending from the hypotenuse of the triangular sides, on either side of the bracket at an acute angle in relation to the top surface.

7. A hip truss fascia connecting bracket which comprises 2 pieces of material in which each piece comprises: (a) a rectangular top flat surface; (b) descending from either the left or right side of the top surface is a right angle triangular side; and (c) a flange extending from the triangular side, along its hypotenuse, at an acute angle in relation to the top surface.

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FIGURE 1 2

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FIGURE 2

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FIGURE 3

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FIGURE 4 FIGURE 5

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