Reinforcing bar guide assembly

Not Applicable

Not Applicable

Not Applicable

Not Applicable

Not Applicable

The disclosure relates to building and construction accessories and more particularly pertains to a new reinforcing bar guide assembly for placing and maintaining a reinforcing bar, commonly known as rebar, in a desired vertical position in concrete or cement or mortar within a building component, such as cinder blocks, masonry bricks, and similar building components in which rebar is inserted.

The prior art relates to building and construction accessories. The prior art, as best understood, does not disclose reinforcing bar guide assembly for positioning reinforcing bars that includes a guide structure with a guide orifice for receiving and positioning the reinforcing bars and securing structures that secure the guide structure to the top of a building component, such as a cinder block or masonry brick, which is easily attached and removed and promotes a consistent positioning of the reinforcing bars.

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above in a reinforcing bar guide assembly generally comprising a guide structure, a first securing structure, and a second securing structure. The guide structure is designed to be placed over an opening in a building component into which a reinforcing bar is to be inserted. The guide structure includes a guide orifice designed and positioned to receive and hold a reinforcing bar in an essentially vertical orientation. The first securing structure and the second securing structure are connected to and positioned on opposite sides of the guide structure. The first securing structure and the second securing structure are designed to be placed onto outer edges of a building component to support and hold the guide structure in a desired position over an opening in a building component. The reinforcing bar guide assembly is easily attached and removed and promotes a consistent positioning of the reinforcing bars to allow for more accurate attachment of other building components, such as wood wall studs, to help a builder construct a wooden structure on a block wall or foundation that is straight and structurally sound.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular tothereof, a new reinforcing bar guide assembly embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeralwill be described.

As best illustrated in, the reinforcing bar guide assemblygenerally comprises a guide structure, a first securing structure, and a second securing structure. The guide structureis designed to be placed over an openingin a building component, such as a cinder block or masonry brick, into which a reinforcing baris to be inserted, as best seen in. The parts of the reinforcing bar guide assemblymay be made of plastic, hard plastic, or lightweight metal, or a combination thereof, to minimize the weight of the reinforcing bar guide assemblybut promote strength and durability.

With reference to, the guide structureincludes a guide orificedesigned and positioned to receive and hold a reinforcing barin an essentially vertical orientation. The guide orificehas a shape and diameter substantially similar to a shape and diameter of a reinforcing barto be inserted through the guide orifice. The guide structureincludes a planar guide body, which may be square or rectangular. The planar guide bodyincludes a top surfacedesigned to be positioned to face away from a building componentand a bottom surfacedesigned to be positioned to face toward a building component. The guide orificeis positioned in a central portion of the planar guide body, though in other possible embodiments the guide orificecould be placed in other locations in order to place the reinforcing barin other positions.

The guide structureincludes centering structures positioned within the guide orificeand designed to engage with a reinforcing barto center a reinforcing barin the guide orifice. The centering structures comprise a plurality of wire bristlespositioned to project inwardly from inner side surfaces of the guide orifice. The wire bristlesare flexible to permit insertion of reinforcing barsof different diameters. The wire bristlesare sufficiently stiff such that upon deflection of the wire bristlesby a reinforcing barthe wire bristlesexert a gripping force upon the reinforcing bar. The wire bristleshave a length less than a radius of the guide orificesuch that distal ends of the wire bristlesare positioned a distance from one another and define an open space between the distal ends. The wire bristlesprovide a more flexible design rather than only using a solid-walled passage since reinforcing barscould be of different diameters.

The planar guide bodyincludes a guide projectionpositioned to extend from at least one of the top surfaceand the bottom surfaceto increase the length of the guide orificeto permit additional and more stable engagement with a reinforcing bar. The guide projectionis located on the top surface, as shown in, but alternatively could be located on the bottom surface, or there could be two guide projections, one on each of the top surfaceand the bottom surface. The guide orificeis cylindrical in the embodiment shown since most reinforcing barsare cylindrical, though other shapes of the guide orificeare within the scope of the disclosure.

As best seen in, the guide structureincludes lateral wallsand end wallspositioned to extend away from and transverse to the bottom surface. The lateral wallsand the end wallsdefine a storage recessbelow the bottom surface. A first securing structureand a second securing structureis connected to and positioned on opposite sides of the guide structure. The first securing structureand the second securing structureare designed to be placed onto outer edgesof the building componentto support and hold the guide structurein a desired position over the openingin the building component. The first securing structureand the second securing structureare adjustably connected to the guide structureto permit adjustment of the distance between the first securing structureand the second securing structureto permit placement on building componentsof different widths.

Each of the first securing structureand the second securing structureincludes a planar side bodypositioned transverse to the planar guide body. Each of the first securing structureand the second securing structureincludes at least one connecting arrangementattached to its planar side body, though the embodiment shown inhas two connecting arrangementsfor each of the first securing structureand the second securing structure. As shown in, each of the connecting arrangementscomprises a rodthat is slidably connected to the planar guide bodyto permit movement of the rodinto and out of the storage recessto permit adjustment of the distance between the first securing structureand the second securing structure. In other words, the first securing structureand the second securing structurefunction like an adjustable clamp to clamp onto blocks or bricks of different sizes, as shown in.

In the embodiment shown in, the connecting arrangementalso a stop portionpositioned at an end of the rodand a springpositioned about the rodand between the stop portionand an inner surface of a corresponding one of the lateral walls. Each of the lateral wallsof the planar guide bodyincludes at least one lateral orifice designed and positioned to permit the passage of the rodthrough its corresponding lateral wall. The springis designed to be compressed between the stop portionand its corresponding lateral wall upon extension of the rodout of the storage recess. The spring, upon compression thereof, is designed to exert a return spring force on the stop portionto cause its corresponding planar side bodyto clamp onto a building component. This spring force also can automatically retract the rodback into the storage recessupon release of its corresponding planar side bodyfrom engagement with a building component. In other words, when the reinforcing bar guide assemblyis removed from a block or brick, the springwill snap back its corresponding rodto place the reinforcing bar guide assemblyback into a compact position as shown in, which results in easier transport and storage for the user.

In order for the user to use the reinforcing bar guide assemblyto place reinforcing barsin building components, the user first places the guide structureover an openingin a building componentinto which a reinforcing baris to be inserted. The user then places the first securing structureand the second securing structureonto the outer edgesof the building component, which thereby supports and holds the guide structurein a desired position over the openingin the building component. The user then can insert a reinforcing barthrough the guide orificein an essentially vertical orientation. As shown in, the reinforcing barcan be centered in the openingthe building component. The user can then pour concrete into the openingand about the reinforcing bar. Alternatively, the user could pour the concrete first before placing the reinforcing bar guide assemblyand then insert the reinforcing barbefore the concrete starts to harden, though this may be more difficult. Once the concrete is determined by the user to be sufficiently holding the reinforcing barin a desired position in the concrete, the user can remove the reinforcing bar guide assemblyby releasing the first securing structureand the second securing structureand then sliding the guide structureup and off of the reinforcing bar. The user could use more than one reinforcing bar guide assemblyon different pieces of rebar.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.