Apparatus for securing a profile to a course of bricks

Abstract

An apparatus for securing a profile to previously laid courses of bricks. The apparatus comprises a bracket 12 securely attachable to the profile (30 fig 2). A flexible cable (16 fig 2) is provided wi

Description

Field The invention relates to an apparatus for securing a profile to previously laid courses of bricks. The term “bricks” will be used herein to include all building blocks used in construction, regardless of their size and the material from which they are made. Background A profile is a vertical post used by bricklayers as a guide to ensure walls are built vertically, with evenly spaced courses and with bricks that line up correctly at corners. Profiles are usually constructed as tubes of square cross section and having 5.8 cm (2”) sides. Lines extending between profiles are used for horizontal alignment of brick courses and the profiles themselves are used to ensure correct vertical alignments of bricks at a corner. Profiles can be positioned at comers so that one face of the profile directly abuts a face of the course of bricks. This however is not desirable as the profile impedes access to the bricks that it abuts, making it difficult to achieve a neat finish on the edge of the cement layers between the bricks. It is preferred instead to position a profile so that, in the case of a convex comer of a wall, the comer of the wall is adjacent to a corner of the profile without any overlap between the sides of the profile and the comer under construction. To erect such a profile, a corner is at first constructed by laying two or three courses of bricks. A rule and spirit level may be used to ensure that these first courses are laid correctly. The lower end of the profile is then secured to these courses of bricks and used to ensure current alignment of further courses. In the case of a Blake’s profile, the lower end of the profile, which is made of steel, is provided with plates that are welded to its outer surfaces and project at right angles to one another to overlie the sides of the previously constructed comer. The plates each have a hole to receive an anchoring rod on which there is mounted a bracket for engaging between two previously laid bricks. A screw on the rod can adjust its length, to place the rod under tension. The plates have adjustable abutments, such as bolt heads, above and below the anchoring rods allowing the inclination of the profile to be trimmed before the rods are fully tensioned. A disadvantage of this construction of the profile and its method of attachment is that the bricklayer needs to carry several different attachments to suit different situations (e.g. bricks of different size) and different profiles are needed when positioning a profile midway along a wall rather than at a comer. Summary of the invention With a view to mitigating at least some of the foregoing disadvantages, there is provided in accordance with a first aspect of the present invention an apparatus for securing a profile to previously laid courses of bricks, comprising a bracket securely attachable to the profile, a flexible cable provided with pins for engaging in holes in the previously laid course of bricks, the holes being disposed on opposite sides of the profile, and a rotatable threaded member mounted on the bracket and serving to tension the cable. The holes into which the pins engage may either be drilled into the cement between bricks or they may be formed of by spaces intentionally left unfilled with cement between some bricks during the laying of the first courses, for later pointing when the profile is removed. In an embodiment of the invention, each pin is connected to a clamp that is slidable along the cable, the clamp having jaws for frictionally engaging to the cable in any desired position of the pin. The bracket may be designed either to engage the profile directly, or to engage a block slidably mounted on the profile. The block may for example be a line block as described in the Applicant’s earlier GB Patent Application No. 2208197 and as will be described below. According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a system for attaching a profile to previously laid courses of bricks, comprising a block for slidably mounting on the profile to abut the laid courses of bricks and maintain a predetermined distance between the profile and the laid courses of bricks, and an apparatus as set forth above, for securing the profile at a second location along the length of the profile to the laid courses of bricks. It is an advantage of the system of the invention that no plates need be welded to the profile and accordingly the profile may simply be any desired length of extruded tubing. Furthermore, the tubing may be made of aluminium, thereby considerably reducing its weight. Brief description of the drawings .....................................................................................................................■'.................................................................................................................................................................................................... The invention will now be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus, hereinafter referred to as a cable clamp, for securing a profile to previously laid courses of bricks, Figure 2 shows a cable clamp as shown in Figure 1 when used to secure a profile to a convex corner of a building, Figure 3 is a similar view to that of Figure 2 but showing the cable clamp when used in conjunction with line blocks that serve to position the profile relative to the courses of bricks, Figure 4 shows a cable clamp as shown in Figure 1 when used to secure a profile at an intermediate position along a wall, and Figure 5 which is a view similar to that of Figure 2 but showing the cable clamp secured to a line block instead of being directly mounted to the profile. Detailed description of the drawings The cable clamp 10 shown in the drawings comprises a bracket 12 to be secured by means of bolts 14 to a profile. The bracket 12 is formed in two initially separate 12a and 12b that are permanently secured to one another. The part 12a has two limbs is in the form of an “L” having their ends turned inwards to lie parallel to one another. The turned-in ends of the two limbs are formed with threaded holes to receive the bolts 14. The separation of the ends of the limbs exceeds the diagonal dimension of the profile (about 7.2 cm or 2.3”) so that they may straddle a profile in any orientation. After being urged against the profile, the bolts 14 are tightened to grip the profile. The part 12b is generally U-shaped and the ends of its parallel limbs are secured to the first part 12a. For example, the ends of the limbs of the U-shaped part 12b may have projecting tongues that pass through holes in the limbs of the first part 12a, the tongues either being bent or welded in place to secure the two parts to one another. The parallel limbs of the second part 12b are formed with elongate slots 12e through which there is threaded a steel cable 16. In between the two parallel limbs, there is positioned a tubular cable guide 12f through which the cable passes. It would be alternatively possible for the cable guide to be permanently secured to the cable. A threaded rod projects radially from the cable guide through a hole in the base of the U-shaped second part 12b. The rod is threaded into an internally threaded member or nut 18 which can be rotated manually. Rotation of the nut 18 will in this way move the cable 16 towards and away from the base. Two pin assemblies 20 are provided on the cable on opposite sides of the bracket 12. Each pin assembly comprises a friction clamp 20a that allows the assembly to be secured in any portion along the length of the cable 16 and a projecting pin 20b to be inserted into a hole that is drilled into or left devoid of cement when laying the course of bricks to which the profile is to be attached. Figure 2 shows how the cable clamp of Figure 1 can be used to urge a profile 30 against a pre-constructed corner of two courses of bricks. The bracket 12 of the cable clamp is urged against the profile until the two limbs of the first part 12a of the bracket come into contact with two sides of the profile 30. The bolts 14 are then tightened to hold the bracket in place. As the forces that act on the bracket 12 urge it against the profile 30, there is no need for the grip of the bolts on the profile to be strong. One can therefore use bolts 14 that can be simply tightened by hand, thereby avoiding the need for tools. After the bracket 12 has been attached to the profile, the pins 20b of the two pin assemblies 20 are inserted into holes in the brickwork. The friction clamps 20a, which may for example comprise two jaws made of a hard rubber shaped to envelope the cable 16, are released and the cable 16 pulled through them until it is taught. The friction clamps 21a can then be tightened to grip the cable 16 firmly. To urge the profile 30 against the comer of the bricks, the nut 18 is turned, once again by hand, to tension the cable by pulling the cable guide towards the base of the U-shaped second part 12b of the bracket 12. The cable clamp 10 of the invention, on its own, will not correctly position a profile against a course of bricks as it will not set the distance of the profile from the bricks nor will it ensure that the profile is vertical. Figure 3 shows a complete installation of a profile 30 in which the cable clamp 10 is used in conjunction with line blocks to position the profile correctly in relation to the brickwork. Each of the line blocks 50 and 52 in Figure 3 may be based on the line block disclosed in the Applicant’s co-pending patent application GB 2208197.0. Each line block 50, 52 has as a main component a tubular extrusion 50a of square cross section and sized to closely surround the profile 30. The extrusion, which is preferably made of aluminium, has a bolt 50b to clamp the profile to its inner surface. Projections 50c with undercuts along their vertical edges are provided on all four sides of the extrusion to serve as a means of securing attachments to the line block. No such attachments are secured to the line block 52 but each of the line blocks 50 has two laterally projecting wings 50d slid onto two of its sides. An adjustable abutment in the form of a bolt 50e is screwed into each wing. After the corners of the line blocks 50 are abutted against the comer of the brickwork and the cable clamp 10 is tightened to hold the profile 30 at the desired distance from the brickwork, the bolts 50e, which abut the brickwork, are adjusted to ensure that the profile is plumb. The block 52 is slidable on the profile and its purpose is to position a line at the desired height, to serve as a guide for maintaining the courses of bricks horizontal. The line block 52 is made from the same aluminium extrusion as used for the blocks 50 but the block is machined to provide guide surfaces to position the line and an anchoring point around which the line may be wound. Figure 4 shows how the same cable clamp 10 can be used to secure a profile at an intermediate position along a wall. In this case, the block 50 ensures that the profile 30 lies in a plane parallel to the face of the brickwork but cannot ensure that the profile extends vertically in that plane. To ensure that the profile is perpendicular in a plane parallel to the face of the brickwork, a second cable clamp may be used at a higher level. The cable clamp in both Figure 3 and Figure 4 is shown as directly engaging the profile, but the bracket 12 may be dimensioned to fit onto a line block. Such an arrangement is shown in Figure 5, in which the same reference numerals have been used in order to avoid repeating the description. 5 It is an important advantage of the invention that no plates need to the welded directly to the profile, enabling the use as a profile of length of square tubing, without any special attachment fixtures. A few readily portable items, namely cable clamps and line blocks, suffice to secure a profile at both outside comers and intermediate positions.

Claims

1. An apparatus for securing a profile to previously laid courses of bricks, comprising a bracket (12) securely attachable to the profile (30), a flexible cable (18) provided with pins (20b) for engaging in holes in the previously laid course of bricks, the holes being disposed on opposite sides of the profile, and a rotatable threaded member (18) mounted on the bracket and serving to tension the cable (16).

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, each pin (12b) is connected to a friction clamp (12a) that is slidable along the cable (16), the friction clamp having jaws for engaging the cable in any desired position of the pin.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the bracket (12) is configured to be engageable selectably directly with a profile, or with a block slidably mounted on the profile.

4. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the bracket comprises two parts, a first part (12a) carrying threaded bolts (14) to grip the profile (30) or a block slidable along the profile, and a U-shaped second part (12b) of which the parallel limbs include elongate slots (12e) through which the cable (16) passes, the rotatable threaded member (18) being provided on the second part to urge the cable towards the base of the U-shaped second part (12b).

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein a tubular guide (12f) is provided between the parallel limbs of the second part (12b) of the bracket 12 for receiving the cable (16), and wherein a threaded shaft projecting radially from the guide passes through a hole in the base of the second part and is engaged by a nut that is rotatable to tension the cable.

6. A system for attaching a profile to previously laid courses of bricks, comprising two blocks for slidably mounting on the profile to abut the laid courses of bricks and maintain a predetermined distance between the profile and the laid courses ofbricks, and an apparatus as set forth in any preceding claim, for securing the profile to the laid courses of bricks.

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