Fire sprinkler alignment bracket

Claim 1

An alignment bracket for holding and aligning a pipe relative to a pair of building support members, comprising: a central elongate tubular member of square cross-section; a pipe holder slidably mounted on the central member comprising a U-shaped bracket having opposed straight arms and clamping means for urging the arms towards one another and securing their free ends together for releasably clamping the arms around a pipe extending transversely through the arms, the bracket having aligned square openings in its arms adjacent the closed end of the U-shape for slidably engaging over the central member, each arm having a plurality of spaced openings at different distances from its free end which are aligned with corresponding openings in the other arm, and the clamping means comprising screw means for engaging through a selected pair of aligned openings adjacent the free ends of the arms to draw the arms towards one another, the spaced openings allowing the bracket to be clamped around different diameter pipes; and a pair of elongate, channel section slide members telescopically engaged in respective opposite ends of the central member, the slide members being of part square cross section corresponding to that of the central member so that they are a close sliding fit in opposite ends of that member, each slide member having attachment means at its outer free end for securing it to a respective one of a pair of spaced building members; the central member being of a deformable metal and the slide members being of a harder metal, the central member being deformable relative to the slide members to grip against opposing surfaces of the slide members to prevent relative sliding movement when the assembly has been adjusted to the desired length.