Reinforced concrete appliance

Claim 1

An appliance for holding a pair of elongated non-coaxial reinforcement members for a cast material relative to one another and spaced from the surface of a form while said material is being cast and is hardening, said appliance comprising: a pair of resilient non-coaxial legs each adapted to encircle and grip a corresponding one of said reinforcement members, each of said legs being helically preformed to a multi-turn helix having a predetermined internal diameter and an open pitch, said internal diameter of each helix being less than the external diameter of the corresponding reinforcement member and said pitch of each helix being long enough that the leg can be wrapped around the corresponding reinforcement member without exceeding the elastic limit of the material from which the appliance is made, the axes of said legs lying in a common first plane, said legs having first ends spaced apart and interconnected by a bridging portion lying in a second plane extending through said first ends perpendicular to said first plane, said bridging portion including opposite ends each integral with one of said first ends of said legs and a form surface engaging portion extending between said opposite ends and spaced from said legs to engage said form surface and space said legs therefrom, each said leg gripping the corresponding reinforcement member against displacement relative thereto and said bridging portion being entirely spaced from said reinforcement members and maintaining said legs in said non-coaxial relationship, whereby said legs and bridging portion cooperatively position said reinforcement members relative to one another and space said reinforcement members from said form surface.