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US 6,886,484 B2Granted
Composite tension rod terminal systems
OwnerGeorg K. Thomasinventor
Life of this patent
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OwnerGeorg K. Thomasinventor
Estimating the term…
A composite tension rod is received in the sleeve portion of a shank that forms part of a terminal fitting, and is spaced from the shank sleeve and connected thereto by a potting resin. The shank sleeve wall tapers out from thin at its distal end to thick at the bury depth of the rod. The rod is tapered outwardly from a point of minimum diameter at its inner end to its full diameter a given distance from the end. The shank sleeve and rod have complementary dual tapering along said length such that as the diameter of the rod along said distance increases, the wall thickness of the shank sleeve decreases. The resin layer and the rod are secured to each other against relative longitudinal movement, as are the resin layer and the shank sleeve. In another aspect of the invention, a tension rod sleeve is fixed to the tension rod and extends over the distal end of the shank sleeve and along all or a majority of the length of the shank sleeve. The rod sleeve is tapered so that its wall thickness decreases to a minimum in the vicinity of the proximal end of the shank sleeve, or the rod sleeve, as it extends along the shank sleeve, is divided, or divides, into two halves or bands which join to form loop extending around a loop-engaging, convex, fiber-turnaround face formed on the terminal fitting. Such face extends transversely from one side to the other of the fitting.
A slim-geometry high-strength terminal system for transferring tensile loads carried by a composite tension rod from an end of the rod to a terminal fitting that includes an annular shank with a sleeve portion at its distal end, or from said fitting to said rod, said shank sleeve having an interior bore, one end of said composite tension rod extending into the entry end of the bore and along the bore and ending at or near the inner end of the bore, the wall of the shank sleeve being tapered, continuously or in steps, from a small wall thickness and cross-sectional area at the entry end of the bore to increasing wall thicknesses and cross-sectional areas at increasing depths within the bore, said rod being tapered, continuously or in steps, from minimum cross-section at its end to its full entry-end cross-section at a given distance from said end, said rod and said shank sleeve being spaced from each other throughout the length of said bore, said spacing being filled by a cured potting resin to form a resin layer between said rod and said wall of said sleeve, said resin layer and said rod being secured to each other against relative longitudinal movement, said resin and said shank sleeve also being secured to each other against relative longitudinal movement.
A slim-geometry high-strength terminal system for transferring tensile loads carried by a composite tension rod from an end of the rod to a terminal fitting that includes an annular shank with a sleeve portion at its distal end, said shank sleeve having an interior bore, one end of said composite tension rod extending into the entry end of the bore and along the bore and ending at or near the inner end of the bore, a rod sleeve fixed to the rod at a region short of said entry end, the rod sleeve extending from that region past said entry end of the bore and over the distal end of the shank sleeve and on the outside thereof along all or a majority of the length of the shank sleeve, said rod and said shank sleeve being spaced from each other throughout the length of said bore, said spacing being filled by a cured potting resin to form a resin layer between said rod and said shank sleeve.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.