Panel systems and installations
The present invention relates to panel systems and installations thereof, and more particularly to systems which are characterized by having panels in the system with flanges on the panels for the flanges to be anchored to sub-structure. 
     An object of the present invention is to lend improvements in the field of anchoring flanges of panel members in a panel system to sub-structure and using cover means to cover the anchored joint. 
     Another object of this invention is to provide panel systems wherein panel and flange means in the system are interrelated in a practical manner with anchor means and with cover means in the system. 
     Other objects herein in part will be obvious and in part pointed out more fully hereinafter. 
     As conducive to a clearer understanding of certain aspects of this invention, panel systems fall into a highly competitive field and are in widespread demand for serving one or more of a variety of purposes, among which, and to exemplify those uses envisioned for the present invention, is to have the panel system installed, as produced so adapted, to cover sub-structure of a building, thereafter to be exposed outdoors as roofing or side wall structure, or in other instances to afford the facing of a side wall or ceiling of a building or vehicle, inside the building or vehicle. By way of exemplifying other uses, also among those further envisioned as outlets in accordance with the present invention, panel systems are needed as components of fences, or to provide flooring, such as where ribbed surfaces are to be introduced upwardly by the panel system serving as a loading platform, or as a floor of a truck or railway car, with the panel system bodily, as provided for the particular need, being strong enough commensurately to endure in use. 
     A further object herein, accordingly, is to achieve in panel systems an anchor joint and cover interrelation which quite satisfactorily allows the system to be produced to have bodily extent and strength for serving in actual practical use, as need may be, and to have the system be competitive on the market from the standpoint of cost and in view of the particular structural features offered in the system by the anchor joint and cover interrelation. 
     Referring now to panel systems constructed in accordance with the present invention, a covered joint, included usually in multiple in the system, entails having panel and flange means comprising first and second panels with flanges thereon longitudinally co-extending adjacent to one another in pair with the pair of panels in the joint, the panel and flange means moreover being provided with engagable means, and the flanges with laterally open longitudinal grooves. As disposed side by side in the pair, the flanges form a gap relatively to one another, having each groove where located widen the gap. Anchor means, also in the aforementioned joint, includes base means, laterally projecting means, and connecting means interconnecting the laterally projecting means with the base means, for the connecting means to lead within the gap between the pair of flanges and the laterally projecting means to extend from the gap into the grooves in the flanges while having the base means secured to sub-structure covered by the panels. Still further, cover means appurtenant to the aforementioned joint, is adapted to engage the engagable means of the panel and flange means while the cover means covers outer lateral ends of the flanges and the base means of the anchor means is secured to the sub-structure, having the connecting means of the anchor means lead in the gap between the pair of flanges and the projecting means of the anchor means extend into the grooves in the flanges. In embodiments which are preferred, the anchor means comprises a plurality of clips spaced apart from one another in a path longitudinally of the joint, having base means of the clips secured to the sub-structure, with connecting means of the clips to lead within the gap between the panel flanges, and projecting means of the clips to reach into the hereinbefore described longitudinally extending laterally open grooves in the panel flanges in the joint. 
    
    
     In the accompanying drawings representing certain embodiments of the present invention, including those which now are preferred: 
     FIG. 1 is an isometric view of part of an installed panel system to bring forth features of the present invention, the view also introducing a transverse cross-sectional representation of further structural details; 
     FIG. 2 is an isometric view of one of the anchor clips used in the panel system of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 represents a few of the clips of FIG. 2 as they occur along a row consistent with FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of portions of the anchor means and panel flanges along a gap in the panel system of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 5 is a transverse cross section of the cover member used in FIG. 1, but modified to include a seal; 
     FIGS. 6 and 7 are enlarged transverse cross-sectional detail views representing two different modifications, and comparable with FIG. 4 as to how panel flanges in a panel system are interrelated with the clips in a row to abut the clips; 
     FIG. 8 is a transverse cross-sectional representation of a modified type of cover member which may be used in the panel system; 
     FIG. 9 provides a transverse cross-sectional view of a modified interrelation of the cover means with the members adjacent thereto in a panel system; and 
     FIG. 10 is a transverse cross-sectional representation of another modified cover member as applied to a related one of the anchored joints in a panel system. 
    
    
     In an embodiment of the present invention provided in accordance with FIGS. 1 to 4, inclusive, in the accompanying drawings, a panel system designated in general by the reference numeral 10 includes a plurality of panels 11a, 11b and 11c. Panel 11a is the web of a channel 12 having laterally opposite parallel side flanges 13a and 14a longitudinally co-extending with panel 11a and thereby forming a trough with the panel. Panels 11b and 11c may be members of channels which are similar to the channel 12, and at least have flanges 14b and 13c which longitudinally co-extend with those panels as members thereof for the panels 11b and 11c to continue the panel system 10 laterally, such as to next flanges which may be present in the panel system. 
     Flanges 13a and 14a have about the same forward reach from the panel 11a in channel 12 and include protuberances in the form of recessed groove-forming components 15 and 16 at their outer lateral ends and the grooves 17 and 18, so formed, open laterally outwardly outside the channel 12 and preferably lie in a plane which is substantially parallel with panel 11a. The bight wall portions 19 and 20 of the groove-forming components 15 and 16 are wall bends outwardly rounded outside the grooves 17 and 18 and interconnect outer lateral legs 21 and 22 with legs 23 and 24 which are inner in the flanges 13a and 14a with reference to the outer legs 21 and 22 and are intermediate legs with reference to panel 11a and the outer legs 21 and 22. Between the panel 11a and the inner legs 23 and 24, there are laterally straight wall portions 25 and 26 of channel 12 which interconnect the inner legs 23 and 24 with the panel 11a, having the laterally straight wall portions 25 and 26 as innermost legs disposed at about right angles relatively to the inner legs 23 and 24 and to the panel 11a, and having the outer lateral legs 21 and 22 lead laterally about parallel to the inner legs 23 and 24 and panel 11a. As shown, the outer legs 21 and 22 and the inner legs 23 and 24 are approximately straight, laterally. Channel 12 is for example fabricated from galvanized sheet steel, from sheet aluminum-base alloy, or from synthetic resin sheeting, or the like, or for example may be an extrusion of any suitable material. 
     As pointed out hereinbefore, panels 11b and 11c may be members of channels which are similar to channel 12 or, if desired, either or both of the panels 11b and 11c on the other hand may be constructed and used for laterally terminating the panel system without having a flange at the lateral terminal end of the system. Let it be assumed, however, for purposes of facilitating further description herein, that panels 11b and 11c both are members of channels similar to channel 12 and that in fact any desired number of units similar to channel 12 may be used in the system laterally to prolong the system to any appropriate lateral and longitudinal terminal ends. 
     Since flange and anchor connections between the panels in system 10 may if desired be similar, attention now will be focused upon the connections which are made at flanges 13a and 14b in the system. Anchor means used includes a plurality of clips 30, each for example being similar to the others and being made from sheet steel or from any other suitable material. A base 31 of clips 30 (see FIG. 2) includes a pair of raised portions 32 formed such as by embossing. Portions 32 are spaced apart from one another with there being an aperture 39 through base 31 between the portions 32 to receive a suitable fastener. A struck-out tongue 33 from a connecting wall 34 in the clip 30 and forming a portion of the base 31 of the clip has an outer surface 33a which is about in the same plane with the outer surfaces 32a of the raised portions 32, thus having that plane be substantially parallel with the bottom of base 31. At outer end, the connecting wall 34 is integral with tabs or projections 35, 36 and 37 which lie in a plane substantially parallel with the bottom of base 31, having the projection 36 oppositely laterally directed relatively to the projections 35 and 37, thus producing a lateral free end of projection 36 on the opposite side of the connecting wall 34 from the lateral free ends of the projections 35 and 37. 
     It will be understood from FIGS. 1, 3 and 4 that in producing a joint with flanges 13a and 13b on the adjacent panels 11a and 11b, a plurality of the clips 30 are introduced in a row in any suitable number spaced apart from one another in the row--note for example FIG. 3 representing a part of a row of such clips. The clips 30 in the row are connected by fasteners 38 through the apertures 39 in the bases 31 of the clips to a sub-structure 40 which is to carry the system 10 and be covered by that system. It will further be seen from FIGS. 1, 3 and 4 that under these conditions, the projections 36 of clips 30 in the row are received in groove 18&#39; in the flange 14b, with the projections 35 and 37 of clips 30 in the row also being received in groove 17 in the flange 13a. As shown, and as preferred, grooves 17 and 18&#39; as engaged with the clips 30 are substantially directly opposite from one another. Further, in the present embodiment, the groove-forming portions 15 and 16&#39; of the flanges 13a and 14b are moved to bring the bight wall components 19 and 20&#39; thereof against the outermost lateral ends of the projections 35, 36 and 37 of the clips inside the grooves 17 and 18&#39;, thus to have the projections 35, 36 and 37 laterally endwise serve as abutments for arresting further movement of the groove-forming portions 15 and 16&#39; of the flanges 13a and 14b toward one another. A gap 41 accordingly is formed between the flanges 13a and 14b having the connecting walls 34 of the clips 30 in the row lead in the gap and having the projections 35, 36 and 37 of the clips 30 lead laterally from the gap into the grooves 17 and 18&#39; which widen the gap in locations adjacent to opposite sides of the clips. Panel 11a meanwhile rests upon or is otherwise contiguous to the outer surfaces 32a of the raised portions 32 of the clips 30 in the row, and panel 11b rests upon or is otherwise contiguous to the outer surfaces 33a of the tongues 33 on the clips 30 in the row. In certain embodiments, still in accordance with the present invention, the raised portions 32 and the tongues 33 are omitted from the clips such as to have the panels along with their flanges suspended in the panel system from projections 35, 36 and 37. 
     Cover means for covering the joint and gap 41 in the panel system 10 includes a snap-on cover member 50 having a pair of side walls 51 and 52 interconnected by a web 53. The side walls 51 and 52 are curved outwardly outside the cover member 50 and inwardly inside the cover member so as to provide laterally entrant cavities 50a and 50b inside the cover member to receive in those cavities the rounded bight wall portions 19 and 20&#39; provided by the groove-forming components 15 and 16&#39; of the flanges 13a and 14b. Lateral end portions 51a and 52a of the cover member side walls 51 and 52 are slanted inwardly toward the interior of the cover member 50 adjacent to the cavities 50a and 50b, to facilitate moving the cover member in favor of attaining a snap action, following which the groove-forming portions 15 and 16&#39; of the flanges 13a and 14b are both in the cavities 50a and 50b. In final position, the cover member 50, as will be seen in FIG. 1, serves to hold the bight wall components of the groove-forming portions 15 and 16&#39; against the ends of projections 35, 36 and 37 inside the grooves 17 and 18&#39;. Cover members similar to the cover member 50 may be added if need be to prolong the coverage of the joint longitudinally or to cover other joints in the system 10 such as the next similar joint with cover member 50&#39; in FIG. 1. 
     It is sometimes beneficial in accordance with this invention to adapt the cover member to snap-engage the groove-forming portions of the flanges loosely and thereafter during installation adjust the cover member as by deforming the same for the cover member, in final position thus provided, to engage the groove-forming portions tightly. In other instances, also in accordance with this invention, the cover member is adapted to engage the groove-forming portions tightly without any need for adjustment after being snapped into place. 
     The cover member 50, represented in FIG. 1, further is provided having the web 53 thereof recessed, which well adapts the cover member 50 to carry a sealant 55, as will be seen in FIG. 5. Sealant 55 may for example be a resilient elastomeric strip cemented to the web 53 to co-extend with the cover member 50 throughout the length of that member, or for example be a mastic substance of similar longitudinal extent applied inside the cover member 50 to the face of web 53. The sealant 55 is adapted to contact and seal against the outer faces of the outer lateral legs 21 and 22&#39; of the groove-forming portions 15 and 16&#39; described hereinbefore with reference to FIG. 1, when the cover member 50 is in final position as installed. Where the sealant 55 is a resilient elastomeric material, the sealant, besides sealing the compound joint, serves to bias the cover member 50 in an outward direction, thereby promoting mechanical and fluid tightness. 
     In a modified embodiment of this invention, represented in FIG. 6, and differing in how the panel flanges 13a and 14b are abutted against the clips 30 in the row, the lateral reach of the clip projections 35, 36 and 37 has been reduced, thereby allowing the laterally straight wall portions 25 and 26&#39; of the flanges 13a and 14b, as installed, to abut against the connecting walls 34 of the clips 30 in the row instead of against the ends of the clip projections 35, 36 and 37. In this same general respect, in another modified embodiment of this invention represented in FIG. 7, the lateral reach of projections 35 and 37 of the clips 30 in the row has been reduced, thereby allowing the laterally straight wall portion of the flange 13a, as installed, to abut against the connecting walls 34 of the clips 30 in the row while the groove-forming portion 16&#39; of flange 14b, as installed, is abutted against the ends of projections 36 of the clips 30 in the row. 
     In FIG. 8, a modification in accordance with the present invention provides legs 52&#39; and 53&#39;, of a snap-on cover member 50a, which are laterally prolonged to reach to be contiguous to the related panel members 11a&#39; and 11b&#39; in the regions of the junctures of the flanges 13a&#39; and 14b&#39; of those panel members in the anchored joint, having the cover member 50&#39; applied. The cover member 50a as associated with the panels accordingly substantially fully encloses the flanges 13a&#39; and 14b&#39; in the anchored joint. 
     In the FIG. 9 embodiment, covered joints similar to those disclosed with reference to FIGS. 1 and 4 are provided in the panel system, except that the outer lateral legs 21&#39; and 22&#34; of the panel flanges in the joint are at least initially outwardly inclined toward one another so as resiliently to press outwardly against the cover member, seen in dotted lines in FIG. 4, after the cover member has been applied. 
     While a snap-on cover feature as described hereinbefore is preferred in panel systems in accordance with the present invention, it will be understood that certain advantages, still in accordance with this invention, are had where instead a non-snap-on type cover member 50&#34;, such as initially in the form of an inverted generally right angular channel, having straight legs as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 10, is seated upon the anchored panel flanges provided as hereinbefore described in the joint, and thereafter is deformed to clench the cover member tightly in place such as by use of machine or manually applied clinching forces. 
     The present invention is, of course, in no way restricted to the specific disclosure of the specification and drawings herein, but also encompasses any modifications within the scope of the appended claims.