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Bar Grating Glossary of Terms

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Band – A flat welded to a side or end of a grating panel, or along the line of a cutout, and extending neither above nor below the bearing bars

Load carrying band: A band used in a cutout to transfer the load from unsupported bearing bars.

Trim band: A band which carries no load, but is used chiefly to improve appearance.

Bearing Bars – Load-carrying bars made from steel strip or slit sheet or from rolled or extruded aluminum and extending in the direction of the grating span.

Bearing Bar Centers – The distance center to center of the bearing bars.
Clear Opening – The distance between faces of bearing bars in a rectangular grating, or between a bend connecting bar and a bearing bar in a riveted grating.

Cross Bars – The connecting bars, made from steel strip, slit sheet, or rolled bars, or from rolled or extruded aluminum, which extend across the bearing bars, usually perpendicular to them. They may be bent into a corrugated or sinuous pattern and, where they intersect the bearing bars, are welded, forged or mechanically locked to them.

Cross Bar Centers – The distance center to center of the cross bars.

Finish – The coating, usually paint or galvanizing, which is applied to the grating

Grating – An open grid assembly of metal bars, in which the bearing bars, running in one direction, are spaced by rigid attachment to cross bars running perpendicular to them or by bent connecting bars extending between them.

I-Bar – An extruded aluminum bearing bar having a cross sectional shape resembling the letter “I”.

Length – The dimension of a grating panel measured parallel to the bearing bars.

Nosing – A special L-section member serving as the front or leading edge of a stair tread, or of grating at the head of a stair.

Pressure-Locked Grating – Grating in which the cross bars are mechanically locked to the bearing bars at their intersections by deforming or swaging the material.

Rivet Centers – The distance center to center of rivets along one bearing bar.

Riveted Grating – Grating composed of straight bearing bars and bent connecting bars, which are joined, at their contact points, by riveting.

Serrated Grating – Grating which has the top surfaces of the bearing bars or cross bars, or both, notched.

Span of Grating – The distance between points of grating support, or the direction of this dimension.

Swaging – A method of altering the cross-sectional shape of a metal bar by pressure applied through dies.

Welded Grating – Grating in which the bearing bars and cross bars are joined at their intersections by a resistance weld. Heat produced by the resistance of the material to the flow of electric current causes the material to become plastic. At this point the pressure on the cross bar is rapidly increased causing the cross bar and bearing bar to be fused together.

Width – The overall dimension of a grating panel, measure normal to the bearing bars.