I have an idea what it does however I never seen it before. I could use some help on what it is and it’s function. There is no damage to the trusses with through bolts holding the spacer in place.
Thanks, Bruce
Roof looks pretty steep. Could this have been an anchor for a safety harness. Was there anything on the exterior of the roof in this area?
Stephen,
I don’t believe this would be an anchor for an harness for the way it is bolted to the truss. No the roof is not too steep for I could walk it without any problem. My line of thought was maybe one of the truss was twisted and this would hold in place. My second thought was maybe the owner was going to install a dish in this area.
Bruce
All the harness anchors I’ve seen are installed directly above a rafter, for example:
http://www.westernsafety.com/superanchor/superanchorpg1.html
What room was beneath the anchor thingy?
Bedroom with no signs of other work. I’m still not convinced it is an anchor system for a harness. I never seen one where they would drill threw the truss and bolt it in.
Might it have been an anchor point for a Rope and Pulley type device to hoist an AH into the attic space?
Name that gadget! This is fun. My reaction is it’s way too heavy duty for Fall Protection alone. Its looks like its made for useage with either 2 x 4 (in this case) or even for 2 x 6 top chords. For a moment, I was thinking it was a device for use with a crane to possibly position a gang of trusses all together, at the same time. But that would require 3 more of these devices. Unless is there is evidence of others equally spaced? … I’m leaning more towards the anchor base for a roof top mounted … ? something … what …? sun-tracker …? star tracker?
John, I agree it looks like it can either be used on a 2x4 or 2x6. It is pretty heavy duty and noticed the center nut welded to the middle. There’s not to many homes that have AH units in the attic in this area. Besides this is a pre- fab truss system where you can’t have anything on the bottom chord other than the ceiling. But that’s a good guess and who knows maybe who ever put it there thought it might get a AH in the attic.
I have seen something similiar being used as a heavy duty mount for a chandelier or fan or something of that nature, But it would need to be mounted on the ceiling joists and not the rafters. Maybe !!? 
IMHO
Some builders prebuild the roofing into sections or even the whole roofs including the shingling and then LIFT them onto the framing. Then remove the lifting eye. Others will leave the lifting eye attached. So if you see what looks like an circle on a bolt, (lifting eye) or a few dabs of roofing tar on the roof that is what it was for. They have to have pretty good bracing for that to attach to. Hence the welded nut, (lifting eye screws into that nut) is there.
Maybe that is what it is?
A ceiling mount support for a Chandelier would face down, not up.
If it were a device to assist in lifting a prefabbed roof assembly, I would expect it to be installed at a truss joint.
Truss Joint?
The decking keeps the trusses from collapsing together, they attach a spreader bar for large lifts and just attach to the hook for small lifts, then bring down the slings/chokers and attach them to the lifting eyes that are secured by lifting support plates. At 2, 3 or 4 points on the roof.
The eyes are mathematically spaced to even the load out. That would be the En Ga Neers job, I’m only a licensed rigger, so I leave the lift points on something like this to the En Ga Neer. Odd shape, different angles and slopes and weights all over the place. They have to figure in the weights of different wood, nails, splice plates of the trusses, even the moisture content of the wood on large lifts and sometimes on the smaller ones for proper angles. Complicated to say the least.
Shell Building in Oakalnd, read the fourth paragraph.
http://home.hawaii.rr.com/shellsite/Filbert.html
Shell building instruction for lifting,
http://www.sipweb.com/Manual/placing_roof_panels.asp
First pic small lift,see the spreader bar in the top of the picture also. second picture… SMALL MULTI MAN LIFT,
looks way too neat to be fab’d on site, so i’d think it was part of a pre-engineered roof system
The first pic looks like a SIP panel, which is easy to lift compared to a trussed roof.
It doesn’t look adjustable for width, so that center bolt looks like it’s there to anchor an eye-bolt. Sometimes they’ll build the whole roof on the ground where it’s easy, then have a crane lift it right up and set it on top of the house. Was this the only one or were there more? like… 3 more.
Where OSHA has any force, or where insurance rates are high (or employees scarce) they install lanyard connections even on roofs which aren’t steep.