AU2005200912A1 - A fence rail - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT A fence rail Technical field [01] This invention relates to the field of fencing, and in particular to fences using panels or palings in a lapped configuration.

Background [02] Fences have been made of hardwood palings nailed to upper and lower rails. These fences suffer from a number of problems, including shrinking of the palings, rusting of nails, and shrinkage of the wood from around the nails.

[03] Treated softwood such as pine is a more recent substitute for hardwood. While softwood does nor shrink to the same extent as hardwood, the problems of corrosion of nails and warping of the timber need to be addressed.

Summary of the invention [04] This invention provides a fence rail including a profiled linear array of recesses adapted to receive overlapping palings.

The rail can be substantially shaped with the free ends of the legs of the folded over and profiled to receive overlapping palings.

[06] The profile can be a castellation pattern.

C05006 [07] The castellations on one leg can be staggered in relation to the castellations on the other leg to provide a projection on one leg opposed to a recess on the other leg.

[08] projections.

[09] palings.

The width of the recesses can be greater than the width of the The width of the recesses can be greater than the width of the The invention also provides a pre assembled fence panel including a top rail and a bottom rail, the bottom rail being as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, and the top rail being inverted with respect to the bottom rail.

[11] The panel can include an intermediate rail.

[12] The intermediate rail can include two halves, a first half being attached to a first side of the panel and the second half being attached to the second side of the panel.

[13] The panel can be adapted to permit the palings to be skewed in relation to the rail.

[14] The invention also provides a fence assembled from such panels.

Brief description of the drawings Figure 1 illustrates a section of a fence rail according to a first embodiment of the invention.

[16] Figure 2 is a view of the rail of Figure 1 with palings inserted.

C05006 [17] Figure 3 is an end view of the rail including palings.

00 [18] Figure 4 is a plan view the rail showing the overlapping pattern.

[19] Figure 5 is a partial exploded view of a panel of fencing installed on a slope.

N [20] Figure 6 illustrates the installation of a panel on a slope.

[21] Figure 7 illustrates a plan view of a rail according to an alternative embodiment of the invention.

[22] Figures 8 9 show a further embodiment of the invention.

Description of the embodiments of the invention [23] Figure 1 shows a segment of rail made according to a first embodiment of the invention. The rail 100 is generally shaped 100 and has the free ends of the legs of the castellated and folded inwards. The castellations are formed by a pattern of projections and recesses. The rail may be of any chosen length, but is preferably terminated at each end by a projection on at least one leg.

[24] The castellations form a rectangular pattern with projections 114 delimiting recesses 112. Preferably the projections are shorter than the recesses.

The patterns on opposite legs are staggered, so that a projection on one leg is opposed to a recess on the other leg.

The distance 116 between the bases of opposed recesses can be designed to receive an overlapped pair of palings with sufficient pressure to C05006 substantially limit movement of the palings transverse to the longitudinal axis of the rail.

oO (Ni [26] The width of a recess can be designed to be slightly larger than the width of a paling.

[27] The rails can be formed of rolled or pressed metal strip.

N [28] The distance 118 between the end of a projection and the base of its opposed recess can designed to be large enough to accommodate the thickness of a paling. This can be a loose fit.

[29] The projections limit the longitudinal movement of the palings.

Figure 2 illustrates the rail 100 of Figure 1 with palings 202, 204, 206, 208 inserted.

[31] Palings 202 and 204 are the installed in recesses in the front leg 106, and are shown in ghost for clarity. Palings 206, 208 are inserted in recesses in the rear leg 104 of the rail 100. As shown in Figure 2, paling 204 overlaps both paling 206 and paling 208, as is evident from the "footprint" of the palings adjacent to the base 102 of the rail. This pattern of overlapping can be repeated along the length of the rail 100.

[32] As mentioned, paling 206 is in a rear recess. A clearance has been provided in the recess, so that the recess is wider than the width of the paling.

Thus, while the right edge of paling 206 is shown as butted against the adjacent projection defining the left end of the recess, the right edge of the paling 206 is spaced from the right hand projection defining the right end of the recess by a distance 210. It is not necessary for the palings to be butted against an end of the recess, and paling 206 is shown in this manner to illustrate the gap 210.

C05006 [33] Figure 3 is an end-on view showing a pair of palings 306, 308, 00 N, wherein projection 302 limits the lateral movement along the longitudinal axis of the rail) of paling 306, while paling 308 is shown in recess 304. The space between the opposed recesses (116 in Figure 1) is chosen to provide a friction fit 0 for the pair of overlapping palings 306, 308. Thus paling 308 is held from lateral movement by its frictional engagement with paling 306.

[34] The repeating pattern of overlapping palings is shown in Figure 4.

Palings 410, 412, 414, 416, are shown in an overlapping pattern. Paling 414 is located in recess 406, while projection 418 server to maintain the separation of palings 410 and 410. Effectively, the width of the projections plus the clearance (210 in Figure 2) define the average non-overlapped distance of each paling, and conversely the average overlap is the width of the paling minus the width of the paling plus clearance.

The invention also provides the ability to provide pre-assembled panels of fencing.

[36] The panels can include a top and bottom rail as described with reference to Figures 1 to 4, the top rail being an inverted bottom rail. In some cases a middle rail, 512, 516 may be added, as shown in Figure 5 which shows only a partial view of the rail while the top rail is omitted for clarity and ease of understanding the drawing. This middle rail can be a two piece rail as shown. The two halves of the middle rail can be joined by a bolt 514, which is preferably located at or near the centre of the length of the panel. The bolt 514 passes through a hole (not shown) in the front half of the rail 512 and through a hole 518 in the rear half of the rail 516 and can be fastened by a nut (not shown).

[37] As shown, the rail halves 512, 516 have a generally shape, but other shapes can also be used.

C05006 [38] Such a middle rail is useful in preventing warping of the palings due to weathering, ageing, and variations in humidity, etc. Soft wood palings, such as treated pine palings are prone to such distortion.

[39] These panels can be readily assembled to fence posts which also delimit the end of the panel and prevent the palings from falling out of the ends of 0 the rail when the panels are assembled to the posts. Preferably the fence posts have N a channel configuration adapted to accommodate the top, and bottom rails and the middle rail if present, within the channel. Pairs of such channels can be assembled back-to-back to provide for continuous fencing.

A feature of such panels is that they can be adapted to follow an incline fence line. As shown inn Figure 5, the rail can be aligned to follow an incline of 6 to the horizontal, and the palings 502, 504, 506 can be skewed to remain vertical. Because the palings are held by friction, with the exception of the paling through which bolt 514 passes, the palings can be made to readily conform to the skewed configuration.

[41] The skewing is limited by the clearance (210 in Figure 2) between the width of the palings 5 12 and the width of the recesses 5 [42] In one embodiment, the maximum slope which can be accommodated is given by the formula: Wp Wr*cosG; where WP is the width of the paling and W, is the width of the recess.

[43] Figure 6 shows the skewing of the palings 602, 604, 606, and the fact that the height 614 needed between the upper and lower rails 610, 608, is C05006 expanded when the palings are skewed compared with the height of the palings 0 612.

00 [44] Figure 7 shows a plan view of an alternative configuration in which the individual palings 704, 706, 708 are lapped in an alternating manner so that the O overlapping for each panel is in front at one end and at the rear at the other end.

This results in the palings having their widths at an angle to the axis of the rail 700, Srather than substantially parallel thereto as in the earlier embodiments.

(-i In the embodiment shown in Figure 7, the recesses are defined by triangular projections 702 which are staggered on the opposed legs to produce the required overlap.

[46] In a further embodiment shown in Figures 8 9, the rail 800 includes a straight through slot 812 having a width 816 adapted to receive palings 814.

[47] The channel can have a shape adapted to provide adequate rigidity.

For example, the rail may have a polygonal section or a conic section. However, the rail shown in the figures is rectangular, having a base 802, sides 804, 806, and a split upper surface 808, 810, defining the slit 812.

[48] The rail can also be an open ended rectangle without the split upper edges 808, 810, the width of the rectangle defining the slit.

[49]

Claims (16)

1. A fence rail including a profiled linear array of recesses adapted to receive overlapping palings.

2. A rail as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rail is substantially shaped with the free ends of the legs of the folded over and profiled to receive Soverlapping palings.

3. A rail as claimed in claim 2, wherein the profile is a castellation pattern.

4. A rail as claimed in claim 3, wherein the castellations on one leg are staggered in relation to the castellations on the other leg to provide a projection on one leg opposed to a recess on the other leg.

A rail as claimed in claim 3 or claim 4, wherein the width of the recesses is greater than the width of the projections.

6. A rail as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the width of the recesses is greater than the width of the palings.

7. A pre-assembled fence panel including a top rail and a bottom rail, the bottom rail being as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, and the top rail being inverted with respect to the bottom rail.

8. A panel as claimed in claim 7, including an intermediate rail.

9. A panel as claimed in claim 8, wherein the intermediate rail includes two halves, a first half being attached to a first side of the panel and the second half being attached to the second side of the panel.

C05006 A panel as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the panel is adapted 00 to permit the palings to be skewed in relation to the rail.

11. A fence assembled from panels as claimed in any one of claims 7 to

12. A fence as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 11, including an intermediate rail having a first half attached to a first side of the panel and a second half attached Sto the second side of the panel.

13. A fence as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 12, including two or more posts having a channel section adapted to receive the rails of the panel.

14. A fence rail substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A fence panel substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

16. A fence substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this 2 8 th day of February 2005 MICHAEL JONES Patent Attorneys for the Applicant: HALFORD CO