AU2004100262A4 - Safety device - Google Patents

Description

P001 Section 29 Regulation 3.2(2)

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Application Number: Lodged: Invention Title: Safety device The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: SAFETY DEVICE TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a safety device for the building and construction industry, and in particular to a safety device for application to scaffolding or formwork.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Scaffolding and formwork assemblies generally comprise of an arrangement of tubes connected together by clamping means to form a latticework assembly. The clamping means commonly utilized include a body having at least a pair of scaffold tube receiving recesses, with each recess having a cover and a co-acting bolt riveted to the body and adapted to clamp a tube in each of said recesses. The clamps can be arranged so as to connect tubes in line or orthogonally in two or more axes, for example, at right angles. Each cover is generally bolted to clamp a tube by tightening a nut in threaded engagement with each bolt. The resulting scaffold assembly often includes exposed tube ends, and also exposed ends of the bolts in the clamping means. It has been noticed that, where such assemblies are employed, personal injury often occurs due to tradesmen, site inspectors, surveyors etc., backing into and/or having passing contact with an end of a bolt protruding from the scaffolding clamps and/or tube ends. Furthermore, it has been noticed that injuries also often occur where objects such as welding rods and screwdrivers etc., are placed in ends of scaffold tubes. Such objects can result in injury to a person backing into them, and especially when the scaffolding assembly is stripped and disassembled such that the objects fall out, leading to risk of serious injury to person working below.

One solution to the aforementioned problems currently known is to wrap adhesive tape and/or cloth rags around the ends of the scaffold tubing and the scaffold clamps in order to pad the tubing and clamps to prevent personal injury.

However, adhesive tape and rags are relatively expensive for such application, and also there is a significant time and manpower factor involved in applying adhesive tape and rags to a large number of tube ends and scaffolding clamps.

Such a solution is generally inefficient in requiring a relatively large input in time and manpower, and is also not cost efficient. Furthermore, the time and, effort, and manpower required in removing a large amount adhesive tape and rags from such a scaffolding assembly is inefficient and costly.

One previously suggested product is a hard plastic cover arranged to envelope an entire scaffolding clamp, including the clamp body and bolts. Such a device is relatively costly to manufacture for such an application and are cumbersome to apply to the scaffolding assembly. Also, the scaffolding clamp generally only has one bolt protruding that is likely to cause injury, whereas, the known cover is bulky and encompasses the whole clamp. Thus, many potential users are reluctant to purchase and use such cover due to their unnecessary size and complexity and relatively high price.

With the aforementioned problems in view, it is an object of the present invention to provide a safety device for scaffolding and formwork assemblies which alleviates the risk of personal injury from an exposed end of a tube or clamp bolt.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION With the aforementioned object in mind the present invention provides a safety cap for scaffolding or formwork, the safety cap including a protective portion for covering an end of a tube or clamp bolt, and a body including at least one first wall defining a first recess arranged to receive an end of a scaffolding or formwork tube and at least one second wall defining a second recess arranged to receive and end of a bolt of a scaffolding or formwork clamp.

Thus, an advantage is realised in that the safety cap according to the present invention is adapted to protect either an exposed end of a scaffold or formwork tube, or an exposed end of a clamp bolt. That is, the present safety cap can be swapped between either of the applications. Thus, the safety cap according to the present invention provides a relatively simple and low cost device for reducing the risk of personal injury from an exposed tube end and/or bolt end. Furthermore, the safety cap according to the present invention can be less cumbersome and bulky compared with known clamp covers of the prior art and are smaller and therefore more convenient to carry on site and into confined areas.

Preferably, that at least one first wall and/or the at least one second wall can be resilient so as to resiliently retain said safety cap on said tube or said bolt respectively.

Preferably, the safety cap of the present invention is formed injection or blow moulded, from a plastics material, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC, or ABS. However, other materials are envisaged, such as metal, rubber, polycarbonate, or combinations of any of the aforementioned materials.

Preferably, one or more embodiments of the present invention include the at least one first wall defining a tube receiving recess and the at least one second wall defining the bolt receiving recess wherein said recesses can be at coaxial with one another. That is, that both the tube end receiving recess and the bolt end receiving recess are at the same end or portion of the safety cap.

Alternatively, the tube end receiving bore and the bolt end receiving recess can be provided remote from one another at different portions of the safety cap, for example, at opposite ends of the safety cap.

Preferably, the first and/or second walls form outer and/or inner skirts respectively. Furthermore, preferably the safety cap can be a push fit or interference fit with the respective tube and/or bolt end. Thus, the safety cap may be simply and easily removably retained on a tube or bolt end.

More preferably, the at least one first wall and/or the at least one second wall may have one or more protrusions or ridges providing means for engaging or gripping the respective outer surface of the tube end and/or bolt end. Thus, the safety cap according to the present invention can provide an advantage in having a simple and efficient push fit arrangement to the exposed end of a scaffold tube or, with the same safety cap, a push fit to the exposed end of a scaffold clamp bolt. It will be appreciated that the safety cap according to one or more embodiments of the present invention can be a relatively simple, self contained device to cover an exposed end of a scaffold tube or clamp bolt end. Thus, a person can effectively carry a relatively large number of the aforementioned safety caps of one or more embodiments of the present invention, and easily and quickly mount the safety caps to a corresponding large number of tube ends and/or bolt ends in a quick and efficient manner, without the need for adhesive tape, cloth rags, or bulky and cumbersome covers.

A preferred embodiment of the present safety cap includes a domed or rounded cap end so as to help further reduce the risk of injury by helping to deflect a body part when struck when compared with a square cut end of a tube or bolt.

One or more embodiments are envisaged wherein the at least one first wall is an outer skirt, and/or the at least one second wall is an inner skirt.

It will be appreciated that, although one or more embodiments of the present safety cap include an outer skirt for receiving an end of a scaffold tube, and an inner skirt for receiving a bolt end that are both at the same end of the body, that the outer and inner skirts defined openings in the body that are at a common end of the body, it is envisaged that one or more embodiments may include the inner and outer skirts may be remote from one another. That is, the inner and outer skirts may be coaxial with one another, or may be incorporated into the body remote from one another, facing different directions.

Preferably one or more forms of the safety cap include at least one third wall defining a third recess for receiving, and more preferably releasably engaging, a nut or similar retaining means of a scaffold clamp. Thus, the third recess can provide an additional means for retaining the safety cap to a scaffold clamp. The third recess may include one or more protrusions or grooves for assisting engagement with the nut or retaining means. More preferably, the at least one third wall is/are an extension of the at least one second wall defining the second recess. Alternatively, or in addition, the at least one second wall can extend between the at least one first wall defining the first recess and the at least one second wall defining the second recess. The third recess may be concentric with the first and second recesses.

In order to provide a better understanding of the present invention, preferred embodiments of the safety cap according to the present invention will hereinafter be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Figure 1 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the safety cap according to the present invention.

Figure 2 shows an alternative perspective view of an embodiment of the safety cap according to the present invention.

Figure 3 shows a sectional view of an embodiment of the safety cap according to the present invention fitted to a bolt of a scaffold clamp.

Figure 4 shows an alternative sectional view of an embodiment of the safety cap according to the present invention fitted to a bolt of a scaffold clamp.

Figure 5 shows a sectional view of an embodiment of the safety cap according to the present invention fitted to an end of a tube.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION Figure 1 shows a safety cap according to one form of the present invention. According to the embodiment shown in Figure 1, the at least one first wall is an outer skirt defining a bore or recess for receiving a scaffolding tube end and the at least one second wall is an inner skirt defining a bore or recess for receiving a scaffold clamp bolt end. However, it will be appreciated that the at least one first wall and/or the at least one second wall do not necessarily need to be in the form of skirts and may be recesses or bores formed by other arrangements provided that the at least one first wall defines a tube end receiving recess or bore, and the at least one second wall defines a bolt end receiving recess or bore. In the following embodiments, the terms "outer skirt" and "inner skirt" are used to describe the following preferred embodiments of the invention only, and the skilled addressee will appreciate that other forms and embodiments of the invention are envisaged. The safety cap includes an integrally moulded outer skirt and an integrally moulded inner skirt The outer skirt is formed so as to have an inner diameter approximately equal to the outer diameter of a scaffold or formwork pipe such that the safety cap can be a push fit to cover the exposed end of the tube. Similarly, the inner skirt of the embodiment shown in Figure 1 has an inner diameter approximately equal to the outer diameter of the exposed end of a bolt of a scaffolding or formwork clamp such that the inner skirt is arranged to have a push fit over the exposed end of a bolt. As shown in Figure 1, the inner skirt may include one or more protrusions or ridges, for example, a helical raised threaded portion, to provide positive engagement of the skirt with the screw thread of the bolt.

Although the safety cap shown in Figure 1 has a domed or convex closed end, it is envisaged that the closed end may be flat or even concave. The skilled addressee will appreciate that the outer skirt and/or the inner skirt (3) need not necessarily be circular or annular. Provided the safety cap is constructed to allow the cap to be fitted over the end of a tube and also over the end of the clamp bolt, the cap may take other shapes. For example, apart from having an outer skirt and an inner skirt of circular cross-section, the outer skirt and/or inner skirt may have a cross-section of a regular or irregular polygon, for example, hexagonal or octagonal.

Furthermore, it will be appreciated that the outer skirt and/or the inner skirt need not be closed to form solid walls. Rather, one or other of the skirts or both, could be constructed of a number of sections of first and/or second walls respectively or even as a series of walls forming "fingers" depending from the body of the cap towards the open end defined by each of said skirts for receiving respectively a tube end or bolt end.

The safety cap shown in Figure 1 includes an optional intermediate portion in the form of an intermediate skirt The intermediate skirt may include a depending portion The intermediate skirt shown forms the third recess defined by at least one third wall. The safety cap shown in Figure 1 further includes ribs extending between a portion of the outer skirt and the intermediate skirt and also ribs extending between the intermediate skirt and the inner skirt The ribs include cut out portions to permit the end of a scaffold tube to extend into the safety cap such that the outer skirt (2) extends over and covers the end wall of the scaffold tube.

It will be appreciated that the sections between adjacent ribs may be hollow or solid, or have further ribs to provide strengthening between adjacent ribs It will be appreciated that the sections between adjacent ribs may be solid, hollow, or otherwise. The ribs provide strength and stability to the side wall forming the outer skirt of the safety cap and to the side wall of the inner skirt Figure 2 shows an alternative view of the safety cap as shown in Figure 1.

The gripping protrusions or ribs are more clearly shown on the inner surface of the bore of the inner skirt Whilst the gripping portions are shown as concentric rings extending concentrically into the bore of the inner skirt it will be appreciated that other arrangements of gripping portions may be utilized. For example, random projections, grooves, teeth, or a roughened surface. The gripping portions may be in the form of teeth projecting towards the closed end of the bore such that the projections will engage with the thread of a bolt and resist removal of the safety cap from the bolt, thus enhancing retention of the safety cap to the bolt. Although not shown, the bore of the outer skirt may further include means to enhance gripping of the outer diameter of a tube.

Figure 3 shows one form of the safety cap (20) fitted in place over a knuckle joint of a scaffold clamp. The inner skirt (22) is shown extending around the exposed end (21) of a bolt. The intermediate skirt in this embodiment, extends over and engages with the outer surface of a nut (26) in threaded engagement with the bolt The nut (26) is threaded onto the bolt (21) and tightened to apply a force to a cover portion of a clamp so as to trap a scaffold tube within the clamp means.

Figure 4 shows a further sectional view of the embodiment shown in Figure 3. A portion (25) can be longer than the remaining portion (24) of the outer skirt such that the portion (25) can extend further along the longitudinal axis of the bolt on the open side of the clamp means, and the short portion (24) of the outer skirt can extend to abut the cover of the clamp means. Thus, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the safety cap may include a cut-out portion in the outer skirt to permit the remaining lower portion of the outer skirt to overhand the peripheral edge of a portion the scaffold clamp cover.

Although not shown, the outer skirt and/or inner skirt need not be solid, rather, one or both skirts may be in the form of fingers. In such an arrangement, the fingers can be resilient to provide the necessary pressure to retain the safety cap onto the end of the pipe or bolt end, as appropriate.

Some or all of the fingers may be joined together by connecting sections (not shown).

Figure 5 shows a sectional view of the safety cap positioned on the end of a scaffold tube. The first wall forming the outer skirt extends over the outer wall of the tube and the closed i.e. domed end of the safety cap protects against personal injury. An end 35 of a scaffold or formwork tube is shown extending into the first recess of the safety cap 30. In first wall 34 releasably retains the tube end 35 by resiliently engaging the outer wall 36a,36b of the tube. The inner face of the first wall (skirt) ie the surface facing the tube may include a ridge, protrusion or groove, or combination thereof to enhance gripping of the tube wall.

The cap can be removed by pulling or levering under the rim of the skirt forming the first wall 34 with a suitable tool eg screwdriver. The intermediate wall 31 is shown in section extending into the bore of the tube.

Although Figures 1 to 5 show forms of the safety cap having openings at one end thereof for receiving alternatively both the tube and/or the bolt end, it will be appreciated that the inner skirt forming the recess for the bolt end may extend into the safety cap from another direction. Thus, the recess for receiving the bolt end and the recess for receiving the pipe end need not be coaxial, and may, for example, extend into the safety cap from opposite directions.

It is envisaged that the safety cap may be a one piece construction moulded from a plastics material, for example, blow-moulding or injection moulding of polypropylene or polyethylene. However, the skilled addressee will appreciate that the safety cap may be formed of other materials, for example, foam, plastic or rubber, solid rubber, metal or other plastics materials such as PVC or ABS. The safety cap may be a domed, convex device of rounded appearance. However, the safety cap need not be domed and could a flat or concave closed end. Furthermore, it is envisaged that the end of the safety cap distal from the opening receiving the respective bolt end or tube end could have apertures to allow for drainage to help prevent water or other liquids from collecting in the cap so as to reduce the risk of corrosion to a pipe or bolt end etc.

Apertures or other means, such as one or more notches or grooves, may be provided for connecting or permitting a removal device to be used to remove the safety cap from a tube or clamp, for example, string or metal hook etc. Such apertures or means help to increase the ease of removing the safety cap from its fitted position on a tube or clamp bolt.

Claims (11)

1. A safety cap for scaffolding or formwork, the safety cap including a protective portion for covering an end of a tube or clamp bolt, and a body including at least one first wall defining a first recess arranged to receive an end of a scaffolding or formwork tube and at least one second wall defining a second recess arranged to receive and end of a bolt of a scaffolding or formnwork clamp.

2. A safety cap according to claim 1, wherein said at least one first wall includes at least one projection or groove within said recess to aid retention of said cap on said tube.

3. A safety cap according to claims 1 or 2, wherein said at lest one second wall includes at least one projection or groove with said recess to aid retention of said cap on said bolt.

4. A safety cap according to any one of claims 1, 2 or 3, wherein said cap is arranged to form a push fit or interference fit with the tube or bolt.

5. A safety cap according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said at least one first wall and/or said at least one second wall resiliently engage the tube or bolt respectively.

6. A safety cap according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said at least one first wall and said at least one second wall are integrally formed with said body.

7. A safety cap according to claim 6, wherein said safety cap is a one piece moulded cap.

8. A safety cap according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said first and second recesses are concentric with one another.

9. A safety cap according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said cap is formed of a plastics material.

A safety cap according to any one of the preceding claims further including at least one third wall defining a third recess for receiving a nut or retaining means of a scaffold clamp.

11. A safety cap substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying Figures. DATED this 6 th day of April 2004 METALBUILT PTY LTD WATERMARK PATENT TRADE MARK ATTORNEYS LEVEL 21 "ALLENDALE SQUARE TOWER" 77 ST GEORGES TERRACE PERTH WA 6000 AUSTRALIA