Splicing Means for Faced Insulation Batts

This invention relates generally to faced insulation for ceilings of metal buildings, and more particularly to splicing means for faced insulation batts installed as insulation and ceiling finish in metal buildings.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,790 discloses a roof/ceiling insulation system wherein insulation supporting tubes are suspended from and extend parallel to the purlins or auxiliary support beams, and faced fibrous insulation batts are strung over the tubes perpendicularly to the purlins in each bay defined by a pair of adjacent main support beams. This system requires a tedious special operation for insulating over the main support beam between each bay. A vapor barrier, preferably a plastic film, has to be strung over each section of a main support beam between two adjacent purlins, and then stapled to the facing of the adjacent faced insulation batts strung over the tubes on opposite sides of the main support beam, as shown in FIG. 6 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,075. Insulation then has to be placed on top of the plastic film running over the main support beam. Further, many items such as lights, rods, pipes, support hooks, etc. are often hung from the purlins. Whenever these items don't happen to be located between insulation strips, the faced insulation has to be cut.

In accordance with the invention, a roof or ceiling insulation system is disclosed wherein insulation supporting tubes are suspended to run perpendicularly to the purlins and parallel to the main beams. Because the tubes are not interrupted by the main beams, they can be connected to extend all the way across one dimension of a building. The faced insulation batts or strips can then be strung over the tubes and main beams, and any items hung from the purlins can extend between the insulation strips, eliminating the cutting formerly required and the former tedious operation for insulating over the main beams. Further, in large buildings, splices between ends of faced insulation batts or strips can be located over main beams and thereby concealed from below. In particular, this invention discloses means for making such splices.

The invention is hereinafter more fully explained, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary broken-away plan view of a metal building with roofing plates omitted to show the roof/ceiling insulation system of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through a main beam, taken generally along the line 2--2 of FIG. 1 and illustrating the faced insulation batt splicing means of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a push-on splicing member of the faced insulation batt splicing means of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a clamping strip of the batt splicing means of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary isometric view of an installed batt splicing means of the invention.

With reference to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows main beams or I-beams 10 of a metal building. Supported by and crossing I-beams 10 at right angles are auxiliary beams or purlins 12. Suspended from the purlins 12 are insulation supporting tubes 14 extending parallel to the I-beams 10. Faced glass wool insulation batts 16 are strung parallel to the purlins 12 across the tubes 14 and I-beams 10.

The faced batts 16 are normally supplied in roll form, each roll normally comprising a seventy-five-foot or one-hundred-foot length of rolled, faced batt. I-beams 10 of metal buildings are normally spaced about twenty-five feet apart. Therefore, each roll of faced batt 16 normally extends across two or three I-beams 10 when unrolled. In buildings where the purlins 12 extend more than one hundred feet, faced batts 16 must be spliced together at adjacent ends, preferably on top of an I-beam 10.

FIGS. 2-5 illustrate means for splicing the faced batts. A push-on splicing member 18 is shown mounted on an upper flange of an I-beam 10 in FIG. 2. Assuming that the faced insulation batts 16 are being installed from right to left as viewed in FIG. 2, an inner roll end 16b of the right-hand batt 16 is first clamped to the right-hand face of the splicing member 18 by a clamping strip 20. Tension in the right-hand batt 16 thus tends to hold the splicing member 18 on the I-beam 10. An outer roll end 16a of the left-hand batt 16 is then clamped to the left-hand face of the splicing member 18 by another clamping strip 20 and the roll is unwound toward the left.

FIG. 3 shows a sheet metal splicing member 18 in greater detail, the splicing member including a normally vertical backing portion 18a for the clamping strips 20, a normally horizontal support portion 18b supported by an upper flange of an I-beam 10 when the splicing member is installed, a normally vertical stop portion 18c for engaging an edge of an upper flange of the I-beam 10, and an inclined gripping portion 18d for gripping the lower surface of the upper flange of the I-beam 10.

FIG. 4 shows a clamping strip 20 of the batt splicing means. The strip 20 is shown as though bent along a longitudinal axis to present an inwardly concave clamping surface with clamping action concentrated at the edges and is provided with four sets of two holes 20a for receiving self-tapping screws 22 as shown in FIG. 5. Typically, a clamping strip 20 is four feet long.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary isometric view of a central portion of FIG. 2. The self-tapping screws 22 tap into the backing portion 18a to secure the clamping strips 20 and roll or batt ends 16a and 16b thereto. A facing 16c is clearly shown on one of the batts 16.

There in an advantage to using the splicing means of the invention over merely splicing every two adjacent batt ends to each other. By securing the batt ends to a splicing member at every splice, and essentially also to the respective I-beam, each separate batt can be pulled tight, without excessive tension, to present a smooth facing for good ceiling appearance.

Various modifications may be made in the structure shown and described without departing from the scope of the invention.