Aluminum Company of America

Ebert Composites Corporation

Other

Stoughton Composites, Inc.

George Korzeniowski

David W Johnson

W Brandt Goldsworthy

William B Goldsworthy

Douglas A Pilling

To produce a pultrusion which can be machined without undue strength loss bidirectional woven fiber fabric is modified to be pultrudable into a high shear strength composite member. In a preferred form of the invention the fabric is pleated in the pultrusion process to create an endless wall of stacked switch-back pleated layers which defines a box beam wall in one example, and the shaft of a bolt in another. Products produced by this process have improved isotonic strength qualities over currently produced pultrusions, which are limited to unidirectional fibers, continuous fiber mats, or alternating layers of non-woven 0.degree. and 90.degree. cloth and do not have the shear strength inherent in the pleated configuration.

High shear strength pultrusion

A structure derives its structural strength and integrity entirely from interlocked pultruded composite members. The disclosed techniques can be used in a wide variety of applications including replacement for steel frame structures and is especially useful where the electrical properties of steel are undesirable, such as in high voltage transmission towers. Two types of pultrusions are used as structural members to build the entire structure. Lock-in butt joints between all members are made by inserting the compressed ends of the resilient bifurcations of the crossmembers into openings in the receiving member, where they expand to lock in place and are blocked against subsequent compression by inserts. Channels spanning the entire column lengths permit insertion of a crossmember anywhere along the channel where there is an access opening. Cruciform crossmember supports used throughout are made by passing one member through an expandible slit in the other member until corresponding notches interlock, with the joints so created allowing a few degrees of scissoring between the members to facilitate engagement of the crossmembers in the column channels through the smallest window possible.

Composite structure

A column and beam joint system is used to make possible the construction of a large tower such as an electrical transmission tower, which has at least three and probably four corner legs or columns which are interconnected and supported by a lattice structure of cross members. The columns have specialized channels extending substantially their full lengths and the cross members have specialized locking ends which lock into retaining structure defined in the channels, permitting braces to be inserted and locked in place at any selected point along the channel. A technique for connecting a cross member brace between a column and another cross member is also disclosed. All of the principle parts of the tower are pultruded composites which are either used in their longitudinally extended form or sectioned as required by the application. The entire tower can thus be formed of pultruded composites without the use of metal fasteners or connecting structure, enabling the tower to be made smaller and more compact, thus reducing induced EMF around the base of the tower.

Bifurcated column joint system for electrical transmission tower

An intermodal vehicle hauler, particularly, for the storage and transport of automotive vehicles such as passenger automobiles and the like. The vehicle hauler is generally rectangular in shape and is comprised of a pair of side walls, a roof and a floor, which are all made of a reinforced plastic composite materials. In a preferred embodiment, the side walls and even the roof may also be formed in a manner so that they are light translucent thereby enabling some light exposure to the interior of the vehicle hauler to facilitate loading and unloading of automotive vehicles.

Reinforced plastic composite intermodal vehicle hauler

A freight container made of plastic composite material comprised of (1) an outer skin including a roof, floor and side walls and (2) a main frame structure. The frame structure includes longitudinally extending upper beams and lower beams which extend for the full length of the container. Upright beams connect the upper and lower longitudinal beams at selected locations. The container is also provided with connector regions for connecting two or more intermodal containers in a stacked arrangement and for being engaged by a crane to raise and lower the container. The connector regions are located at intersections of the upper and lower longitudinal beams respectively with certain of the upright beams. The main longitudinal beams are of a tubular construction. Metal reinforcing members are located at each of the upper connector regions and these connectors are effectively incorporated in the hollow beams. Metal lock receiving members are disposed within the upper beams and secured to the reinforcing members. The design is unique in that the metal reinforcing members are effectively integrated into the reinforced plastic composite material construction.

Reinforced plastic intermodal freight container construction

A method for making substantially continuous, fiber-reinforced resin stock without drawing the fibers through a separate resin bath comprises: providing a plurality of fiber layers and resin film layers for positioning into an array having fiber layers for its outermost layers. This array is passed, preferably pulled, through a die having an entrance, an exit downstream from the entrance, and a pool area adjacent the die entrance, said pool area having a larger cross-sectional configuration than that of the array. Upon heating of the die, the resin film layers of the array melt to form a pool of molten resin in the pool area of the die. The fiber layers passing through the die are impregnated with resin from the pool area before the resin-impregnated fibers are optionally shaped, then compressed and solidified to form resin stock. A pultrusion die for making substantially continuous, fiber-reinforced stock from a low viscosity thermoplastic resin is also disclosed.

Growing community of inventors

Sherman Oaks, CA, United States of America

George Korzeniowski