Cross-over duct for multicellular structures

Aug. 2, 1938.

J. H. YOUNG ET AL

2,125,366

CROSS-OVER DUCT FOR MULTICELLULAR STRUCTURES

Filed March 17, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 1

<img file="US2125366A_D0001.tif" />

Aug. 2, 1938. j. η young et al 2,125,366

CROSS-OVER DUCT FOR MULTICELLULAR STRUCTURES Filed March 17, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 2

<img file="US2125366A_D0002.tif" />

Aug. 2, 1938. j. h. young et al 2,125,366

CROSS-OVER DUCT FOR MULTICELLULAR STRUCTURES Filed March 17, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 3

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Patented Aug. 2, 1938

2,125,366

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,125,366

CROSS-OVER DUCT FOR MULTICELLULAR STRUCTURES

James Howard Young and Joseph William Wiesmann, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignors to Η. H. Robertson Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania

Application March 17, 1934, Serial No. 716,146

Claims. (Cl. 247—3)

This invention relates to a multicellular floor construction of the type disclosed in United States Patents Nos. 1,855,082 and 1,867,433, and has for its object to provide such floor with a cross over duct of novel construction as will be described, whereby electrical service may be furnished selected cells of the floor in a simple, economical, and most efficient manner.

Another feature of the invention consists in providing the cross-over duct with interchangeable units or sections which are constructed and arranged to provide the sectional duct with a substantially continuous wall for the length of the duct over which the wires or conductors may be readily and easily fished or moved.

The invention also has for its object to render some or all of the sections of the duct accessible from above the finished floor of the building or other structure in which the multicellular floor is used.

The invention further has for its object to provide the accessible sections with a fire-resisting member as will be described.

The sections of the cross over duct are preferably overlapping and interchangeable, and those sections which are accessible from above the finished floor are provided with openings for communication with selected cells of the multicellular floor.

These and other features of the invention will be pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 represents a portion of a building or other structure having a multicellular metal floor provided with a cross over duct embodying this invention;

Fig. 2, a section on an enlarged scale to illustrate one of the accessible units, the section being taken on the line 2—2, Fig. l;

Fig. 3, a plan view of the accessible unit shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4, an inverted plan of the unit shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5, a side elevation of the accessible unit shown in Fig. 3, looking toward the left;

Fig. 6, a front elevation of the unit shown in Fig. 5;

Fig. 7, a rear elevation of the unit shown in Fig. 5;

Fig. 8, a longitudinal section of the eccessible unit provided with a fire-resisting member;

Fig. 9, a detail in plan to show a preferred method of fastening the units together, and

Fig. 10, a detail to show a closure member for the end of the cross over duct.

Referring now to the drawings which as above stated illustrate the preferred embodiment of the invention, 10 represents a cellular metal floor of 5 the structure illustrated in the patents above referred to and which comprises a plurality of units formed by assembling and uniting together, preferably by welding, an upper corrugated sheet 12 and a lower corrugated sheet 14 to form in effect 10 a series of hollow beams connected together by intervening web portions f 5, as illustrated. In practice, it is preferred to manufacture the cellular metal floor in units of varying lengths according to the steel fabrication of the building in 15 which the floor is to be incorporated, and during the erection of the floor the units are laid end to end, preferably being supported upon girders 16 so that the joints between the ends of adjacent units come over the girders 16 and so that the 20 cells of one unit co-operate with and form extensions of the cells of a second unit to provide a plurality of continuous conduits extending across the building and through which wiring for electrical service of various sorts may be drawn, 25 as set forth in Patent No. 1,855,082 above referred to.

The present invention comprises an improvement upon the building construction and particularly the wire-distributing means disclosed in 30 Patent No. 1,855,082 and is designed to permit electrical service to be furnished selected of the floor conduits in a simple; economical and most convenient and efficient manner.

To this end is employed a cross over duct com- 35 posed of units or sections 18, 20, which preferably interlock as will be described to form a continuous duct extended transversely of the floor conduits or cells and which are interchangeable.

Each of the sections or units 18, 20 is provided 40 with a hollow body portion closed at its sides and open at its ends and having a top wall 22, bottom wall 23, and side walls 24. In the preferred construction the top and bottom walls 22, 23 of some of the units, such as the units 18 are provided 45 with relatively large openings 25, 26 respectively, (see Fig. 2). The opening 26 is designed to communicate with a cell or conduit 14 of the floor, and affords opportunity for a wire or conductor in the conduit 14 to be connected with a conductor 50 or wire in the cross over duct. The opening 25 in the top wall affords access to the cross over duct from outside the same.

If desired, each unit or section of the cross over conduit may be provided with the openings 25, 26 55

2,125,366 in the top and bottom walls 22, 23 of its body portion, but inasmuch as present building-wiring systems often employ different types of wiring, each of which it is desirable to segregate, we have 5 shown in Fig. 1, the cross over duct arranged for one of such types of wiring, to wit: one in which three wires or conductors are used. With such a type of wiring, it is preferred to provide the cross over duct between two adjacent sections 18, with 10 sections 20 which do not communicate directly with a floor or cell and are not accessible directly from above the finished floor, and therefore the sections 20 are provided with top and bottom walls 22, 23, from which the openings 25, 26 are omitted.

The sections 18 which communicate directly with a floor cell and afford access directly to such cell, may be designated as accessible sections and the intermediate sections 20 as inaccessible sections. .

It is to be understood that the number of inaccessible sections 20 used will vary according to the type of wiring used, and in some instances, such sections 20 may be entirely omitted and the cross over duct may be composed of the ac25 cessible sections 18 alone, but for sake of economy it is preferred to employ one or more of the inaccessible sections 20 when desirable and permitted by the wiring system used.

It is preferred to interlock adjacent sections 30 or units of the cross over duct so that they may be maintained in alignment and also so that the cross over duct may have a substantially smooth continuous bottom wall over which the wires may be drawn or fished without injuring the in35 sulation thereof.

To this end, the bottom wall 23 of each section or unit of the cross over duct terminates short of one end of the side walls 24, (see Fig. 8), which end may be designated the rear end, while 40 the front end of the bottom wall is extended beyond the front end of the side walls, and is provided with a lip 27 which forms a shoulder 28 with the bottom wall 23. The lip 27 of one unit is designed to extend under the rear end of the ₄₅ bottom wall of an adjacent unit (see Fig. 8), and said rear end is designed to abut against the shoulder 28 of the bottom wall 23.

The top wall 22 of the accessible unit 18 has erected upon it a hollow member 30 (see Fig. 2), ₅₀ which is externally threaded to be engaged by an internally threaded member 32 having at its upper end an outwardly extended flange 33 provided with an upturned annular lip 34, for the reception of a cap or cover plate 35, which rests 55 upon and is secured to the flange 33 by screws 36.

The hollow member 30 is provided at its lower end with an outwardly extended flange 38 which is secured to the top wall 22 by screws 39. The 00 hollow member 30 is centered with relation to the opening 25 in the top wall 22 by an annular lip 40 around said opening. Access may be had to the hollow body portion of the accessible duct unit or section 18 through the tubular member 05 30 after the cap or cover 35 has been removed. The members 30, 32 form a monitor top for the accessible units, and the member 32 forms an adjustable extension of the member 30 to enable the cap or cover 35 to be positioned in close 70 proximity to the finishing floor 41 and thereby compensate for variations in the depth of the space between the cross over duct and the finishing floor, within limits. This space is usually filled with concrete, cinders, or like mate75 rial 42. The tubular member 32 may be secured in its adjusted posiiton on the member 30 by a screw 43 (see Figs. 2 and 5). \

The top wall 22 of the units or sections of the cross over duct is provided at its rear end with a flange 44 which projects beyond the top and 5 side walls 24. of the unit and forms a substantially arch-shaped flange (see Fig. 7).

The front ends of the top and side walls 22, 24 of the body portion are unflanged and are designed to enter the arch-shaped flange 44 at the 10 rear end of an adjacent unit..

It will thus be seen that the body portion of each duct unit is provided at its rear end with a flange 44 which overlies the unflanged front end of the body portion of an adjacent unit, which 15 enables the duct units to be interlocked after the manner represented in Fig. 8.

The duct units or sections are designed to be fastened or secured to the multicellular floor upon which they are laid, and this may be effect- 20 ed by means of suitable screws 48, which are passed through holes 49 in horizontal extensions 50 of the rear end flange 44, and preferably through like holes in horizontal flanges 51 extended from the side walls 24 at their front end. 25 The holes 49 may and preferably will be elongated to enable the interlocking sections or units to be adjusted so that the screws 48 may pass through the extension 50 and the underlying side flanges 51 on aft adjacent unit or section. 30

The side walls 24 of the duct units or sections are preferably provided with outwardly extended substantially arch-shaped flanges 52, which may and preferably will be Integral with the flanges 51, so that when the cross over duct is 85 used with a multicellular floor having the corrugations in the upper member 12 opposed to the corrugations in the lower member 14 as represented in Fig. 1, the body members of the cross over duct can rest on the lower corrugated mem- 40 bers 14 between sections of the upper corrugated members 12 and have the ends of the corrugated sections 12 extended into and be overlapped by the side wall flanges 52.

As a result of this arrangement, the cross over 45 duct cooperates with the corrugated upper member 12 of the multicellular floor to form a continuous support for the filling material 42.

When the cross over duct is used with a multicellular floor having its upper member made as 50 a flat metal sheet, the arch-shaped side flanges 52 on the side walls 24 of the units or sections may be omitted if desired.

In Fig. 1, the cross over duct is more or less conventionally represented and only one of the 55 accessible units 18 is shown with its monitor top, the other accessible units being shown without their monitor tops to enable the wires within the cross over duct to be shown.

At selected points over the finished floor are 60 located outlet fixtures 54, which are connected with accessible units by wires indicated by the dotted lines 55. .

The cross over duct may be closed at its end by a closure member having a vertical wall 56 65 from which extends an overlying flange 44 and a bottom flange 57 corresponding to the bottom wall 23 of the units (see Fig. 10).

From the above description, it will be observed that the units or sections of the cross over duct 70 are interchangeable so that the accessible units 18 may be properly positioned to afford access to a floor cell according to the type of wiring employed in the building and to enable any or all of the cells of the multicellular floor to be ren- 75

3,198,366 dered accessible and utilized as a wiring conduit. The accessible units 18 may be provided within their monitor tops with a heat-insulating member or fire-stop to conform to the requirements 5 of the authorities. The fire-stops may be of gypsum or like material molded into the form of a plug 80 (see Fig. 8), which substantially fills the member 30 of the monitor top and is provided at its lower end with a bottom portion 61 10 forming a shoulder which rests upon the upturned lip or rim 40. The opening 26 in the bottom wall of the accessible unit 18 may be closed by a metal cover member 65 to cut off communication with the floor cell when the accessible unit is is not being used as such.

It will also be observed that the cross duct may be made at a minimum cost, Inasmuch as the body portion of the accessible and inaccessible units are of similar construction except as to 20 the openings 25, 26 in the top and bottom walls of the accessible units, and said body portions are Interchangeable which enables the body portions of the units to be arranged to meet conditions of use, and further said sections co-oper25 ate to provide the cross duct with a substantially smooth and continuous wall to facilitate fishing of the wires or conductors lengthwise of the duct.

It will also be observed that the monitor tops for the accessible units* are secured to the top 3θ walls of the accessible rmits and may be made of any desired length to meet variations in the depth of the filler space.

The screws 48 are designed to enter threaded holes in the webs 15 of the multicellular floor, so 35 as to firmly secure the sections or units of the cross over duct to the metal floor and form a continuous practically one-piece duct.