Multi-purpose concrete formwork structural member with novel facilities for extending the effective length thereof

Claim 1

An assembly designed for use in supporting or reinforcing concrete formwork and comprising an elongated structural member and a pair of identical but reversely positioned extender members located at one end of the structural member and adapted to extend the effective length of said member, said structural member being generally in the form of an I-beam and embodying a pair of longitudinally extending spaced apart flange arrangements and a connecting web between the arrangements, each of said extender members being of channel shape construction and consisting of parallel outwardly extending side flanges connected together by a medial bight portion and provided along their distal side edge regions with coplanar out-turned flanges, said extender members having their inner end portions positioned on opposite sides of said one end of the structural member in back-to-back fashion and with their bight portions lying flatly against the opposite sides of the web of the structural member, having their outer end portions projecting outwards beyond said one end of the structural member, and being adjustable lengthwise of the structural member by sliding them inwards or outwards, means for releasably clamping said extender members in any of their various adjusted postions, and at least one filler strip secured fixedly within one of the spaces which exist between the projecting outer end portions of the side flanges of the extender members and the corresponding portions of their coplanar out-turned flanges, said filler strip having the outer side surface thereof flush or coplanar with the outer surfaces of the adjacent flange arrangement of the structural member.