ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,385,247, issued on Aug. 12, was assigned to Columbia Insurance Co. (Omaha, Neb.).
"Girder tie" was invented by Steven Brekke (Lakeville, Minn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A girder tie for connecting a building component to a rigid rod to resist uplift forces applied to the building component comprises a connector including a building component connector and a rigid rod connector coupled to the building component connector. The rigid rod connector attaches to the rigid rod. The building component connector includes first and second back flanges free of direct connection to one another. The first and second back flanges can each be atta...