Sliding hold-down clip for standing seam metal roof

Claim 1

In a standing seam roof for an infrastructure, said roof having a pair of adjacent roof panels formed with interleaved upwardly directed portions providing a standing seam, a compound clip having a lower base part adapted to be attached to said infrastructure and an upper hold-down part, said hold-down part positioned between said adjacent upwardly directed roof panel portions and coacting with said seam to prevent the seam from moving upwardly away from the hold-down part of said clip, a slidably interlocking joint between said hold-down part and said base part adapted to permit sliding motion between said upper and lower clip parts, means carried by said upper clip part to prevent relative longitudinal movement between said roof panel seam and said upper clip part, a projection carried by said upper clip part, a pair of stops positioned on opposite sides of said projection and adapted to coact with said projection to limit its sliding motion, and means for fixing one point of each of said roof panels against longitudinal motion while allowing the opposite points of the panels floating movement owing to thermal expansion and contraction, the distance between said projection and the stop nearer the floating points of the panel being less than the distance between said projection and the stop nearer the fixed point of the panel, the construction being such that it will accommodate excessive thermal expansion by allowing the roof panels to buckle, thus preventing permanent damage to the roofing system, while permitting contraction without placing the roof panels in tension, thus also preventing permanent damage to the roofing system.