AU663404B2 - Protective structures - Google Patents

Description

r -7 663404

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor: TUBE TECHNOLOGY PTY. LTD.

LESLIE DAVID GOLEBY Address for Service: CULLEN CO., -T i A i 240 Qu--ee S-t-ree-t. Bribanc, Att-stra-l-i-a-.

C<?R-<re C^oby Invention Title: PROTECTIVE STRUCTURES ADDRLESS i'OR SERVICE Details of Associated Provisional Application: No. i/gr4 14,dated 1 September 1992 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: i_ r -W 2 V This invention is concerned with protective i structures and particularly, although not exclusively, with retractable shade structures.

i In certain climates, adverse weather conditions often cause difficulties in management of particular crops and animal herds. Lot fed beef cattle, for example, are restrained in relatively small yards for an intensive feeding program with limited opportunity for exercise to avoid condition loss. Although the animals are provided with adequate food and water, such facilities usually lack adequate shade to protect the animals from summer sun in particular. Prolonged hot periods have caused severe dehydration, and even death, to such animals in the past.

Although it is possible to construct animal shelters to protect cattle from dehydration and heat exhaustion due to prolonged exposure to intense sunlight, significant problems arise from the crowding of animal within the shelter. Accumulated urine and faecal deposits within a sheltered area give rise to a constantly wet and muddy ground surface which, in combination with high ambient temperature and/or humidity, encourages the growth of micro-organisms in the soil. The animals are thus subject to considerable health risks.

It has been proposed to use portable shelters to enable previously enclosed contaminated soil areas to dry out and sterilise by exposure to sunlight. Although portable shelters may be effective for this purpose, the high capital cost and high labour requirement of constantly moving such shel.ters is prohibitJ.i-. In certain climatic zones, shade enclosures would only be required for 2-3 months each year while in other zones, longer periods of protection would be required.

Similar problems exist in horticultural management. Certain crops require shading from the sun at different times of the year to maximise yields while other crops require protection from hail without i ~I F- -VI 3 K restriction from sunlight.

For the protection of such crops as stone fruits, cut flowers and the plant nursery industry, it has been proposed to erect a permanent framework structure which may then be covered with shade cloth for sun protection or a coarse woven mesh for hail protection.

In the case of shade cloth enclosures for sun protection, it is necessary to move plants in containers in or out of the enclosure frequently, or otherwise to remove and re-erect the shade cloth material depending upon weather conditions. It is customary however to move plants from the shaded enclosure to an unshaded position as required, but as synthetic shade cloths degrade in sunlight, the material must be replaced on a regular basis in any case.

Hail enclosures pose a particular problem.

Although the hail mesh is only required at certain times of the year, these structures tend to permanent.

It is believed that the shading effect of the hail protective mesh adversely affects plant growth during hail free seasons.

S It is an aim of the present invention to S 25 overcome or alleviate the abovedescribed problems by providing a simple and cost effective shade structure which may be retracted quickly and easily when not required.

r -7 -I L 4 According to the invention there is provided a protective structure comprising:spaced upright support structures; substantially parallel spaced support tendons extending between elevated positions on adjacent support structures; and flexible sheet material extending between adjacent support structures, the sheet material being supported at opposed edges thereof by the tendons, the sheet material being movable between a retracted position and an extended position to provide an elevated protective barrier, wherein the sheet material is wound on a reel member when in its retracted position, the reel member being rotatably mounted in an elevated position on one of the support structures.

Suitably, the support structures each comprise a pair of spaced posts. The posts may be freestanding, or part of a fencing arrangement. A transverse member is suitably mounted across the top of the posts, if required, to support the reel on which the sheet material is wound.

Alternatively, the support structures may ~co o each comprise a T shaped post or an inverted L shaped 44 41 post having an upright leg and a transverse arm mounted thereon.

Preferably each support tendon comprises a taut or tensionable element extending between the amI 4a spaced support structures, the tendons being located I at either end of the transverse member.

SSuitably the flexible sheet material comprises a solid, perforated or woven material. If required, the flexible sheet material may be connected to the support tendons by slide members, such as releaseable clip members, rollers or the like, adapted to slide along the support tendons.

In the preferred embodiment, the protective structure is used as a shade structure for a feedlot yard.

In a modified embodiment, the protective structure may include one or more upright retractable walls, each comprising flexible sheet material supported in an upright plane on a tendon extending between spaced support structures.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood and put into practice, a preferred embodiment will now be described with reference to the 20 following drawing which is a perspective view of a protective shade structure for use in a cattle feedlot.

0 00 V6 1< l r As shown in the drawing, the protective shade V structure 10 comprises spaced upright support structures.

Each support structure is formed by a pair of steel posts 11 supporting a transverse arm 12. The posts 11 may be mounted to, or form part of, a fencing system.

Upright brackets 13 are mounted on the transverse arm 12 to rotatably support reel drums 14 onto which a respective web of shade cloth material 15 is wound. A crank handle 16 is provided to turn each reel drum 14.

Tendons, such as tensioned support or catenary wires 17, are mounted adjacent each end of reel drums 14 to support the edges of the web 15 when it is extended.

In its simplest form, the web 15 is attached to, and tensioned between, catenary wires 17 by releasable sliding clips (not shown) which are attached to the web 15 and slide along wires 17.

The shade cloth 15 may be extended by grasping the free end thereof and pulling it longitudinally of wires 17 to unwind it from its reel drum 14. A weight is suspended from each reel 14 by a wire wound on the reel in reverse sense to the web 15. The weight serves to maintain longitudinal tension on the web 15 by imparting a counter-rotating bias to the reel 14. However, any other suitable mechanism may be used to maintain longitudinal tension on the web The free end of web 15 may be suitably attached to a transverse arm 12 of an adjacent support structure by releasable clips, hooks or the like.

To retract the shade cloth web 15, the retaining clips or hooks on the distal end of web 15 are released and the web is wound onto reel drum 14, progressively releasing the side clips (not shown) as the web accumulates on the drum.

In an alternative embodiment, the reel drums 14 may be dispensed with and the retained end of the web may be secured to the transverse support arm 12. In this embodiment, the web, in a retracted position, accumulates I 6 i as concertina-like folds adjacent the retained end of the web.

In yet another embodiment, the wires 17 are joined to opposite edges of the shade cloth web 15 so that the wires 17 are unfurled from the reel drum 14 with the web 15 as it is extended. The wires 17 are tensioned along with the web, and such tensioning will bias the wires apart. The web 15 may also include a rigid transverse rod at its free end, as well as rigid transverse rods at spaced locations therealong, in order Sto ensure that the wires 17 at the edges of the web remain spaced apart. One advantage of this embodiment is that there are no wires extending between the spaced support structures when the shade cloth is retracted.

In a further embodiment, the web 15 may be fixedly secured to a pair of catenary wires 17 which are wound between reels 14 of spaced support structures. In this case, the catenary wires 17 extend for approximately twice the distance of the web. The leading portion of each catenary wire is accumulated on a respective reel 14 located on the far support structure when the web is extended from the near support structure. The advantage of this embodiment is that the web can be extended and retracted simply by turning the reel of the far or near support structure, respectively.

As shade cloth is typically made from synthetic plastics material which is subject to weathering, the i rolled or folded web in the retracted position may be i protected from the effects of sunlight by an enclosure or 4 30 shade barrier (not shown) supported above transverse support arm 12.

It will be clear to a skilled addressee that many modifications and variations may be made to the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

For example, hand operated roller mechanisms may be remotely positioned on an upright support post 11 at a convenient height and coupled to the reel 14 via any

I

convenient mechanism such as geared shafts or a cable winder.

Alternatively one or more powered mechanisms may be provided for remote or on-site extension and/or retraction of web 15. For example, a small hydraulic motor can be releasably coupled to the shaft of each reel 14. This motor is driven by a hydraulic pump via hydraulic hoses. The hydraulic pump is suitably mounted on a tractor and driven by the tractor's PTO. The stator of the motor suitably includes an extension arm whose end releasably engages with the post 11, a fence rail or other reaction point, to prevent rotation of the stator.

In this manner, each reel can be power-actuated successively by the hydraulic motor driven from the tractor.

In a feedlot environment such as that illustrated in the drawing, each web may be 25-50 metres in length and about 3.5 metres in width. Suitably, the structure is aligned in a north/south position such that the shaded ground region moves away from the longitudinal central axis of the structure to expose the ground surface immediately under the webs to sunlight at different times of the day. In this manner it is possible to maintain the ground surface in a reasonably dry and sterile state.

For horticultural applications, suitable modifications may be made to the invention depending upon its end use. For example, in protection of crops from hail, web 15 comprises a mesh with appropriately sized apertures and the support structure is dimensioned to be positioned at an appropriate height above small plants, J large shrubs or trees.

In some horticultural applications, it may be appropriate to include fixed or retractable side walls of shade cloth or other sheet material, e.g. for windbreaks.

The retractable walls can be suspended from catenary wires extending between roller drums supported on suitable support structures.

Claims (8)

1. A protective structure comprising: spaced upright support structures; substantia.11- parallel spaced support tendons extending between elevated positioning on adjacent support structures; and flexible sheet material extending between adjacent support structures, said sheet material being supported at opposed edges thereof by the tendons the sheet material being movable between a retracted position and an extended position to provide an elevated protective barrier, wherein the sheet material is wound on a reel member when in its retracted position, the reel member being rotatably mounted in an elevated positiun on one of the support structures.

2. A structure as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a crank handle connected to the reel member to enable the sheet material to be wound manually onto the reel member.

3. A structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reel member includes a shaft having an end extending axially thereof, further comprising motor means adapted to be coupled to the end of the shaft to enable the sheet material to be power wound onto the reel member.

4. A structure as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the sheet material is shade cloth. tj U U t U ~L I- 9 A structure as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the sheet material is detachably connected at opposite edges thereof to the tendons by releaseable connectors.

6. A structure as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the sheet material is joined along opposite edges thereof to the tendons, such that the tendons are extended and retracted with the sheet material.

7. A structure as claimed in any preceding claim, when used as a shade structure in a feedlot yard.

8. A structure as claimed in claim 8, said structure being of elongated form and orientated generally north-south.

9. A protective structure comprising spaced upright support structures, at least one tendon extending between elevated positions on adjacent support structures, and flexible sheet material extending between adjacent support structures, the sheet material being supported from the at least one tendon in an upright orientation, and the sheet material being movable between a retracted position and an extended position to provide a protective barrier wherein the sheet material is wound on a reel member when in its retracted position, the reel member being rotatably mounted in an elevated position on one of the support structures. r -1 9a DATED this 31st day of July 1995 TUBE TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD By its Patent Attorneys FISHER KELLY .6:j I ABSTRACT A protective shade structure particularly suitable for feedlots, comprises lengths of shade cloth extending between elevated positions on spaced posts Each length of shade cloth (15) is wound on a reel (14) mounted in an elevated position on a post (11). When the shade cloth (15) is unwound from the reel (14) and extended to the adjacent post the edges of the shade cloth (15) are supported by spaced wires (17) also extending between the posts The shade cloth can be deployed as and when required by unwinding it from its reel When the shade function is no longer required and the shade cloth is to be retracted, the reel (14) is rotated, either manually by handle (16) or by a motor, to rewind the shade cloth on to the reel. o i4o i I'