Clamp assembly for mounting panels to i-beams

A clamp assembly for securing a panel to an I-beam so that the plane of the panel and the longitudinal axis of the I-beam are substantially perpendicular one to the other, and wherein the clamp is secured to a freely accessible pair of opposed flanges of the I-beam above the bottom surface of said I-beam, comprising:

• a pair of side blocks each being generally in the shape on an inverted “L”, and each having an upper and outer side surface, and end surfaces, all in mutually perpendicular relationship, a bottom surface parallel to said upper surface, a lower clamping surface parallel to said upper surface, and an inclined wedge surface extending downwardly and outwardly from its intersection with said lower clamping surface to its intersection with said bottom surface;
• a single clamping block generally in the shape of a “T”, and having an upper surface, an outer surface across the head of the “T” and perpendicular to said upper surface, an inner surface at the foot of the “T” and perpendicular to said upper surface, a bottom surface of the leg of the “T” parallel to said upper surface thereof, and a pair of sloping wedge surfaces along the sides of the leg of the “T”, each of which slopes downwardly and inwardly along at least a portion of the length of the leg of the “T” from its respective intersection with said upper surface of the clamping block to a respective intersection with the bottom surface thereof;
• and
• a bolt of sufficient length that it is longer than the width of the bottom surface of the I-beam to which said clamp assembly will be installed;
• wherein each side block has an opening formed through the leg of the “L” passing between the respective side surface and the inclined wedge surface thereof;
• whereby upon attachment of said clamp assembly to an I-beam so that the respective lower clamping surfaces of the pair of side blocks face respective upper surfaces of the pair of opposed flanges at the bottom of said I-beam, and so that the respective inclined wedge surfaces of said side blocks face respective sloping wedge surfaces of said clamping block, a tightening action of said bolt passed through said openings of said side blocks will cause a sliding and wedging action of the sloping wedge surfaces of the clamping block relative to and in opposition to said inclined wedge surfaces of the respective side blocks, so as to thereby secure a clamping action therebetween and so as to induce a clamping action between the upper surface of the clamping block and the bottom surface of the I-beam to which said clamp assembly is attached.