Towards the end of 2021 we received, from Australia, a slightly-leftfield enquiry for our Atlas retention sockets. Normally, our retention sockets are used as foundations for things like sign-support poles, traffic signal poles, bollards etc. However, Steve Huppert from S.R. Huppert Engineering, in Pakenham, Victoria, wanted to use Atlas sockets as foundations for a canopy over a ‘food-truck park’ in St Kilda, Melbourne.
Steve was working on a project to convert an old church into a pub with outdoor eating area and the architects had designed a decorative canopy to support lighting and to provide shelter for the picnic tables in front of the pub. He needed to use retention sockets as the foundations for the eight support pillars for the canopy over the food-truck park. The pub and park were being fitted out to a very high finish, so the stainless-steel Atlas sockets fitted the bill.
Ritherdon has performance information for its sockets on torque resistance and foundation sizes to resist, for example, a sign pole twisting or overturning in the wind (see Atlas datasheets).
However, the canopy for the St Kilda pub covered a large area and so Steve had to be sure that the pillars would not be lifted up, out of their foundations, by the wind. Working with Ritherdon’s Technical Support Engineer – Arthur – Steve was able to calculate and confirm the sockets’ resistance to vertical, wind uplift using the figures for torque resistance that Ritherdon had already measured for the Atlas retention sockets.
Once all the engineering calculations were complete, the eight 168 mm diameter pillar retention sockets were packed and shipped off to Melbourne. The sockets were installed, followed by the pillars and the food-truck park’s canopy for a great result and the Trinity, St Kilda venue opened in April 2022. There are more details of the venue in this article on the Melboune Broadsheet website.
