Importance

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Abstract

A fabricated wood I-beam is formed with a pair of elongated chord members and planar web members interconnected to the chord members by specially shaped mechanically interlocking and adhesively secured joints. Elongated chord members are provided with longitudinally extending grooves which have cross sections shaped to provide a necked-down groove width at a groove depth intermediate the open mouth of the groove and the bottom of the groove. Opposite edges of the web members are shaped to provide cross sections with a necked-down thickness along each of such web edges and configured so that the shaped web edges substantially mate with the chord member grooves to form a mechanically interlocking fit. Methods for making such wood I-beams include methods for making chord grooves of desired configuration, making correspondingly shaped web edges, and assembling the shaped web edges in the chord grooves to form a mechanically interlocking joint which is adhesively secured. Such methods of making such wood I-beams also include a preferred gluing system by which, prior to inserting shaped edges of the web members into mating chord grooves, glue is applied by positive metered feed to upwardly disposed surfaces of the web edges and the chord grooves at a rate correlated to the rate at which said chords and web members are moved in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the chords so that glue is applied to those upwardly disposed surfaces as a continuous glue line bead extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the chords.

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First Claim