Other

James A Knowles

Joseph E Knowles

Larry M Knowles

Charles A Porter

Nannette Knowles

Marvin E Knowles

The oxygen tank flotation device is a floating structure adapted for use in recreational water activities. The oxygen tank flotation device is adapted for use with respiratory equipment that is required for use during recreational water activities. The oxygen tank flotation device receives and stores respiratory equipment, such as an oxygen tank, in such a manner that the respiratory equipment will float when the oxygen tank flotation device is placed in a body of water. This arrangement allows the respiratory equipment to float near the user when the user is involved in recreational water activities. The oxygen tank flotation device comprises a vessel, a first float, and a second float.

Oxygen tank flotation device

An improved gravity feeder for poultry and domestic animals which will dispense variable quantities of feed depending upon the dietary requirements of the particular fowl or animal is disclosed. The gravity feeder includes a generally cylindrical feed storage hopper having top and bottom openings mounted on an underlying circular feed tray having an upwardly projecting conical surface and an upwardly extending peripheral side wall wherein feed is dispensed for consumption. The feed tray includes a plurality of hopper support pads disposed at regular angular intervals about the conical surface of the tray coincident with a diameter of the hopper so as to provide adequate support for the same when disposed in functional relation to the feed tray. The hopper support pads are provided with at least one horizontally disposed slot being adapted to interlock with a corresponding pattern of mating notches formed about the lower interior edge of the hopper securing the hopper to the tray and simultaneously setting a vertical dimension for feed discharge openings formed therebetween. In an alternative embodiment the hopper support pads include a plurality of horizontally disposed slots configured vertically to interlock with the mating notches formed on the hopper to provide incremental vertical adjustment of the feed discharge openings to increase the amount of feed dispensed in order to meet the dietary requirements of a particular species at the various stages of life cycle and production.

Poultry feeder

A roof-type ventilator made of a moldable material such as fiberglass with generally vertical sides. Exhaust ports are provided in the upper portion of opposite sides of the ventilator in spaced relation from the roof. Deflecting baffles extend from just below the exhaust openings inwardly to just above the exhaust openings with an opening behind the deflector communicating with the interior of the building. This allows air and fumes from the interior of the building to be exhausted generally horizontally outwardly from the elevated exhaust port while preventing ambient, wind driven rain, snow and the like from entering the building interior through the ventilator. A normally open louver is provided in the area behind the baffles so that the air and fumes from the interior of the building can be controlled.

Roof ventilator

A device and method for producing a finished wood material beam assembly and, in particular, a finished prestressed wood material beam assembly. The device includes a support having a top that has movable chord and web adjusters carried thereon. The adjusters may be selectively moved and adjusted as desired both horizontally and vertically, so that the chords and web of the assembly may be received thereon at selected desired heights. As such, the adjusters may be selectively adjusted to precisely conform to the specific size and dimensions of the chords and the web being supported thereby. Securing cylinders and stops carried by the table are also adjustable to securely hold the assembly in place. A prestressing cylinder and prestressing stop carried by the table are also adjustable to prestress a portion of the assembly disposed therebetween. Mechanical and adhesive fasteners are applied to the portions of the assembly by respective devices. In one embodiment, the mechanical and adhesive fasteners are carried by a movable bridge that extends over width of the top and which is movable along the length of the top.

Device and method for producing wood beam assemblies

An I-beam or joist is formed of a pair of horizontal, parallel wood chords connected together by a wood web. The lower chord is pre-stressed by holding it in compression during assembly of the chords and web. The chords are fastened to the web by U-shaped wire staples whose legs have bevels formed on their free ends which cause the legs to move towards each other and to cross the central axis of their respective staple as they longitudinally penetrate thewood during insertion through a chord and into the wood web. Further, plates are fastened upon the opposite faces of the web at the opposite ends of the web, thereby increasing the web thickness at the opposite ends of the beam to substantially increase the allowable shear stress limits of the beam.

Wood beam assembly

A joist formed of a pair of aligned, vertically spaced apart chords interconnected by angularly arranged sheet metal webs extending between the chords. The chords are each formed of a pair of right angle cross-section metal strips, each having a horizontal leg and a vertical leg. The strips of each pair are aligned with their horizontal legs coplanar and with their vertical legs spaced apart a short distance to form a narrow vertical gap therebetween. The webs have opposite end portions which are snugly fit within the vertical gaps and are fastened to the vertical legs of the chord strips. A wood member is fastened upon at least one of the chords by positioning the wood upon the chord strips' horizontal legs and applying nails through the wood and into the gap so that the nails are frictionally locked between the vertical legs. In addition, vertically arranged wood strips interconnect the chords at the opposite ends of the joist.

Metal joist construction

An improved corrugated staple or fastener for joining together wood members such as wood chords to form a joist-like wood beam. The staple, which is made of sheet metal, has corrugations oriented at three different angles relative to a reference line such as the edge of the staple which is to be inserted into the wood members. The corrugations which are oriented at the first and second angles pull the wood chord members toward each other and when the joist-like beam is subjected to loading, the orientation of the first and second corrugations compresses the wood chords toward each other and increases friction between the chords. The third corrugation is oriented so that when the staple is inserted into the wood chords, the fibers of the wood are temporarily displaced and thereafter move back toward their original position to resist any tendency of the staple to pull out of the chords. The third corrugation also increases the resistance of the staple to horizontal shear forces or bending.

Corrugated staple

A joist-like wood beam formed of parallel, spaced apart, wood chords joined together by end and central elongated wood filler strips which fill the space between the chords at the opposite ends of and at the central portion of the chords. Sheet metal web units formed of angled struts are located between the central and end strips for spanning the space between and for interconnecting the chords between the strips. The chords and strips are joined together by staple-like mechanical fasteners embedded within the face of adjacent edge portions thereof. The fasteners are angled, relative to the chords, upwardly at an acute angle toward their nearest beam end so as to be placed in tension under beam loading thereby tightening the chords and strips together. Due to a tight, frictional, face-to-face engagement between the adjacent chord and filler strip surfaces, the filler strips and fasteners each absorb part of the shear forces resulting from normal beam loading and substantially increase the bending resistance of the beam.

Composite wood beam and method of making same

A sheet metal web unit for interconnecting vertically spaced apart, horizontal wood chords, is formed as an elongated channel-shaped strut with integral, flat, connector plates on its upper and lower ends. The channel is curved and shallower at the lower end of the strut and gradually gets deeper and flatter towards the upper end. The width of the channel gradually decreases and the depth of the channel legs gradually increases from the lower end to the upper end of the strut. A W-shaped web unit is formed of four of such struts integrally connected together by common connector plates. The connector plates overlap vertical face portions of the wood chords and have struck-out teeth for embedding within those overlapped face portions. The ends of the channel leg portions which are closest to the connector plate teeth are extended to overlap and also embed into the adjacent chord face portion to thereby reduce the load on the tooth nearest to the respective strut end. The connector plates are formed with integral, flat, co-planar extension strips which vertically extend into the space between the chords and between the struts which are integral with that plate.

Metal connector struts for truss-type beams

A beam formed of an assembly of a pair of vertically spaced apart wood chord members interconnected by a number of angularly arranged, channel shaped struts located along the vertical faces of the chords and on opposite sides of the chords. The channel base of each strut is V-shaped in cross-section, with an apex angle that increases from top to bottom of the strut so that the base gradually flattens along the strut length in the upwards direction. The channel legs of each strut gradually increase in depth from bottom to top along the strut length, to thereby shift the location of the channel's neutral axis away from the base towards the free edges of the legs at the upper end of the strut. The upper and lower ends of the struts are extended to form enlarged, flat, connector plate portions having struck-out teeth for embedding into the adjacent vertical face portions of the chord members. The struts may be formed in integral groups of four arranged in two V-shapes integrally joined together at their adjacent connector plate portions. The upper chord may be wider than the lower chord so that while the connector plate portions are vertical, the struts are angled downwardly and inwardly relative to the lower chord to present an approximate wedge-like shape cross-section for the beam.

Composite construction beam

A V-shaped, substantially flat, sheet metal, combined web-connector plate having diverging web-forming legs and integral apex and leg end connector portions provided with struck-out teeth for embedding within spaced apart wooden chord members to form a wood chord-metal web type truss. The connector plate is offset inwardly from the end of the chord and the connector plate is positioned to slightly overlap a beam or columnar support to reduce shear stress in the chord.

Truss-web connector

A V-shaped, substantially flat, sheet metal, combined web-connector plate having diverging web-forming legs and integral apex and leg end connector portions provided with struck-out teeth for embedding within spaced apart wooden chord members to form a wood chord-metal web type truss. The truss is assembled upon an apparatus including a horizontal support surface, chord support means for removably positioning the chords above the support surface and means for positioning a number of truss-web connectors beneath the chords, with their teeth extending upwardly towards the chords. Additional web-connectors are located loosely upon the upper surfaces of the chords. A two-unit press is supported upon the support surface on opposite sides of the chords for movement parallel to the chords, and is provided with clamp pressure means which overlap selected apex and leg connector portions on both chords and simultaneously squeeze them toward the chords for embedding their teeth therein. Thus, the finished truss formed on such apparatus is provided with horizontal parallel chords with numerous vertically arranged metal webs located on opposite vertical sides of the chords and secured only to the side faces of the chords by the embedded teeth.

Growing community of inventors

Wallace, NC, United States of America

James A Knowles