Concrete form assembly

Claim 1

A concrete form assembly comprising spaced apart forms, spacers spanning the space between said forms and establishing a preselected distance therebetween, said forms having holes positioned such that holes in one form are aligned with holes in the other form, plastic tie rods spanning the space between said forms and projecting through pairs of said aligned holes, and anchors on the outsides of said forms and receiving said rods, said anchors each including a tapered shell having a smaller end presented toward the adjacent form and abutting an appurtenant portion thereof; a plurality of arcuate tapered jaws in each shell that are longitudinally juxtaposed to define a tapered jaw cluster with a bore that receives the rods, said jaws having teeth presented to said bore for gripping the rod, each of said shells having spring means therein that urges said jaw cluster therein toward the adjacent form and into gripping engagement with the rod such that forces tending to move the forms further apart upon pouring concrete between said forms act on said shells at the respective smaller ends thereof to increase the grip on said rod by said jaw teeth and thereby maintain said preselected distance despite said forces, said tie rods being of such size, crosssection and composition as to be manually breakable, and said anchors being exposed for manual gripping and movement with the smaller ends thereof fulcruming on the appurtenant portions of the forms to break off the tie rods adjacent to and exteriorly of said forms.