Structural member for supporting loads

Claim 1

A NEW AND IMPROVED, LOAD-SUPPORTING STRUCTURAL MEMBER CHARACTERIZED BY LIGHTWEIGHT CONSTRUCTION, GOOD DURABILITY AND HIGH STRENGTH, INCLUDING HIGH STRENGTH-TOWEIGHT RATIOS AND HIGH CRITICAL AND ALLOWABLE STRESSES, SAID STRUCTURAL MEMBER BEING COMPRISED OF OPPOSITELY DISPOSED CHANNEL MEMBERS CHARACTERIZED BY A DUPLEX STRUCTURAL CONFIGURATION COMPRISED OF A CHANNEL FLANGE SECTION SUBSTANTIALLY ENCASED BY A SECTION OF NICKEL-CONTAINING AUSTENITIC STAINLESS STELL, A PAIR OF RELATIVELY THIN, SMOOTH AND CONTINUOUS, CONCAVE WEBS FORMED OF NICKEL-CONTAINING AUSTENTIC STAINLESS STELL AND SPACED APART IN INWARDLY CURVED OPPOSED RELATION WITH THE EXTREMETIES THEREOF BEING SUBSTANTIALLY STRAIGHT AND PARALLEL TO EACH OTHER AND BEING IN AFFIXED ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID CHANNEL MEMBERS THEREBY FORMING A MEMBER HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY HOLLOW INTERIOR, THE CHANNEL MEMBERS HAVING A THICKNESS GREATER THAN THAT OF THE WEBS WITH THE WEBS HAVING RADII OF CURVATURE WHICH ARE SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL, SAID MEMBER BEING FURTHER CHARACTERIZED IN THAT THE CENTRAL ANGLE SUBTENDED BY THE WEBS IS NOT LESS THAN ABOUT 35* AND NOT GREATER THAN ABOUT 90*, A PAIR OF LONGITUDINAL DIAPHRAGMS EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY THE LENGTH OF THE STRUCTURAL MEMBER AND BEING IN AFFIXED RELATION WITH EACH OF THE INNER SURFACES OF THE WEBS, SAID LONGITUDINAL DIAPHRAGMS BEING OPPOSITELY DISPOSED TO AND APPROXIMATELY EQUIDISTANT FROM THE LONGITUDINAL MIDPOINT OF THE STRUCTURAL MEMBER, A PLURALITY OF INTERNAL STIFFENING DIAPHRAGMS DISPOSED IN TRANSVERSE RELATION TO AND SPACED ALONG SUBSTANTIALLY THE LENGTH OF THE STRUCTURAL MEMBER, SAID STIFFENING DIAPHRAGMS BEING IN AFFIXED ENGAGEMENT WITH ONE OF THE LONGITUDINAL DIAPHRAGMS AND WITH THE CHANNEL MEMBER IN CLOSEST PROXIMITY THERETO, AND A FULL DEPTH END-PLATE DISPHRAGM AT EACH OF THE STRUCTURAL MEMBER, SAID END-PLATE DIAPHRAGMS BEING LOCATED WITHIN THE RESPECTIVE INTERIOR END PORTIONS OF THE STRUCTURAL MEMBER AND IN TRANSVERSE RELATION TO THE LENGTH THEREOF.