Concrete form panels with hollow reinforcing ribs

Claim 1

A panel for forming a concrete wall comprising: a. a plate having a pair of opposed planar side faces, said plate having opposed side edges and opposed end edges with the end edges substantially transverse to said side edges, one of said opposed side faces presenting a planar surface for forming one surface of a concrete wall; b. said plate having side strips adjacent to and spaced from a respective side edge forming side flanges, said side strips extending from and being substantially normal to the other opposed side face and having opposite ends adjacent said end edges; c. said plate having end strips adjacent to respective end edges, said end strips extending from and being substantially normal to said other opposed side face and having opposite ends adjacent respective ends of said side strips; d. a plurality of hollow reinforcing ribs secured to the other opposed side face, said hollow ribs being generally channel shaped with a web and side legs extending from opposite longitudinal edges thereof terminating in outwardly extending flanges having free edges spaced from a respective leg and having surfaces which lie on portions of said other opposed side face, and gun welds securing said rib flanges to said plate with portions of the engaging flange surfaces and other opposed side face joined together, said flanges being greater in width than the width of the gun welds, said welds being positioned generally centrally between a leg and said flange free edge; e. a plurality of said ribs extending transversely of the longitudinal dimension of said plate in spaced apart parallel relation with said ribs having opposite ends abutting said side strips and being secured thereto; f. the gun welds securing said rib flanges to the plate being in mutually spaced apart relation in lines extending both transversely and longitudinally of said plate and characterized by an absence of warpage in said plate and disfigurement of said one opposed side face; g. said rib legs having inwardly facing longitudinal grooves therein adjacent said other opposed side face, an elongate flat strip member positioned in the interior of said ribS and having opposed side edges seated in said grooves, said flat strip members extending the length of the respective rib for preventing entry of foreign material into a major portion of the space defined by said ribs and said plate.