Light weight building material

[0001] The present invention generally relates to a building material, especially to a light weight building material for use in structural work.

[0002] With our forest fast diminishing, timber supply is getting scarce and inconsistent in grade. This makes the cost of timber as a building material prohibitively high. Over the years, building contractors and developers have been forced to look for alternatif materials to reduce the cost of building construction. Many approaches have been proposed in the past to utilise light weight building material made from metal for structural works such as roof trusses or the likes, however until the present invention, the results have not been very encouraging. In many prior art parctices, the truss members are formed from a U-shape section of a metal sheet. In one example,the ends of the legs of the U-section are tightly folded back to form a thick double edge. The top chords in prior art practices, are formed of inverted U-shaped sections having flanges projecting outwardly from the ends of each of the legs to provide greater rigidity.

[0003] One of the major difficulties with many of the prior art practices to manufacturing of metal roof trusses is that different components are used for bottom chords and the top chords resulting in two different fabrication lines or at least two different set ups for fabrication lines are required. Furthermore, two different stock items must be maintained in inventory. In addition, because of the flanges of the top chord members, it is necessary to provide for cutting the flanges off at least one of the top chords at the apex of the truss.

[0004] Due to the unfriendly U-shaped of the building material, handling and working with the building material is rather difficult adding unnecessary cost to the construction. Strength and rigidity of the building material are also suspect. The present invention attempts to solve at least partially if not completely these problems.

[0005] Accordingly, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide a light weight building material for use in structural work.

[0006] It is another object of the present invention to provide a light weight building material for use in structural work that has a considerable strength and rigidity.

[0007] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a light weight building material for use in structural work that is rust proof for long life.

[0008] These and other objects of the present invention are accomplished by

[0009] A light weight building material (1) having a wall section (11)

[0010] characterized by

[0011] said wall section (11) being in a piece of metal sheet forming an endless wall.

[0012] The present invention may be better understood from reading of the following Detailed Description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

[0013] FIG. 1 illustrates a light weight building material according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0014] FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the light weight building material.

[0015] Referring now to FIG. 1 which illustrates a light weight building material according to one embodiment of the present invention and FIG. 2 which illustrates a cross-sectional view of the light weight building material. The light weight building material (1) comprises at least three walls, but unlike the U-section of the prior art, the present invention uses a triangular-section. However, a rectangular-section having four walls, a first wall (11), a second wall (12) a third wall (13) and a fourth wall (14) is preferred. Alternatively, a round section may also be used. The close section will eliminate the necessity to fold back to form the double edge for strength and rigidity of the prior art practice.

[0016] The light weight building material (1) is formed from a single piece of metal sheet, advantageously a galvanised mild steel sheet. The metal sheet is cut to size and rolled-formed to form the light weight building material (1). This is a simple single run machining.

[0017] To form the light weight building material (1), the metal sheet is first being provided with a first interlocking means (31) on one end and a second interlocking means (32) on the other end. As the metal sheet is rolled over the roll-forming machine, the first interlocking means (31) will mate the second interlocking means (32) to thereby formed the light weight building material (1). To further strengthen the joint, rivets may be applied along the mating line of the interlocking means.

[0018] To further strengthen the light weight building material, the first and second walls (11, 12) are provided with a reinforcing means (2). The reinforcing means (2) may be a plurality of ribs or corrugations formed on the walls (11, 12)

[0019] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made to the invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore it is intended that the foregoing description is merely for illustrative purposes and not intended to limit the spirit and scope of the invention in any way.