AU689944B2

AU689944B2 - Flooring

Info

Publication number: AU689944B2
Application number: AU33123/95A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Henk Vereyken
Original assignee: VEREYKEN BROTHERS Pty Ltd
Current assignee: VEREYKEN BROTHERS Pty Ltd
Priority date: 1994-11-15
Filing date: 1995-10-09
Publication date: 1998-04-09
Anticipated expiration: 2015-10-09
Also published as: AU3312395A

Description

Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act, 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION TO BE COMPLETED BY THE APPLICANT

*C

NAME OF APPLICANT: ACTUAL INVENTOR: ADDRESS FOR SERVICE: INVENTION TITLE: DETAILS OF ASSOCIATED PROVISIONAL APPLICATION NO(S): VEREYKEN BROTHERS PTY. LIMITED (ACN 003 543 548) HENK VEREYKEN Peter Maxwell Associates Blaxland House, Suite 10, 5 Ross Street, NORTH PARRAMATTA NSW 2151

FLOORING

PM 9459 15th November 1994 PN 0944 8th February 1995 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it know to us:-

I

This invention relates to flooring and more particularly to flooring for animal enclosures such as piggeries.

For the sake of convenience, the invention will be described in relation to flooring for piggeries but it is to be understood that the flooring of the invention will have other applications.

Modern piggeries have enclosures for pigs that incorporate a flooring made of spaced apart metal bars, the spacing of the bars being sufficient to allow for animal refuse to fall therethrough but insufficient to allow a pig's or piglet's trotter to become wedged or caught between adjacent bars.

One such prior art metal flooring utilises triangular, parallel steel bars that are welded to support bearers with a flat side of the triangle uppermost to provide a substantially planar floor. Typically, the triangular bars are of isosceles cross-section with the upper face of each bar being mm wide. The downwardly facing apex of each bar is welded to the support bearers to form a grid-like flooring with the spacing between the upper flat face of adjacent bars being 10 mm.

A problem with such prior art flooring is that the substantial planar upper face does not incorporate any means for preventing a pig from sliding sideways on the flooring. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide such a flooring that does incorporate means to prevent, or at least limit, the sliding of an animal along the otherwise substantially planar surface of the flooring.

According to the invention there is provided an animal enclosure flooring comprising a plurality of elongated spaced apart members mounted on cross support bearers, each member having a substantially planar upper face so that adjacent members provide a substantially planar upper face for S the flooring, and animal movement restriction means comprising a plurality S9/02/98 I a of spaced apart discontinuities in the planar upper face, and wherein each of the spaced apart members is a bar of triangular cross-section and wherein the animal movement restriction means comprises a plurality of restrictor bars each positioned between a pair of adjacent spaced apart members, each said restrictor bar having a height somewhat higher than the height of the spaced apart triangular bars to define the discontinuities.

The use of square bars will ensure that the spacing between the square bar and the upper face of the adjacent triangular bars is the same irrespective of the height of the square bar.

In a preferred form of the invention, each of the spaced apart bars has a plurality of spaced apart downwardly deformed portions along its length with the deformed portions being substantially aligned to constitute the spaced apart discontinuities in the planar upper face.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which:- Fig. 1 is a broken away perspective view of flooring according eoooo to one embodiment of the invention, Fig. 2 is a side view of the flooring shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a broken away perspective view of the flooring according to a second embodiment of the invention, and Fig. 4 is a side view of the flooring shown in Fig. 3.

The flooring 10 shown in Fig. 1 includes support bearers 11 to which are welded triangular bars 12 and square bars 13. Each triangular bar is of isosceles cross-section and is welded to the bearer 11 by apex and has an upper planar face 14. Adjacent bars 12 provide a substantially planar upper face 16 of the flooring 10. In this instance, each triangular 9/02/98 II I- bar is 8 mm high and its upper face 14 is 10 mm across with the spacing between each bar being 10 mm.

Spaced along the flooring 11 are square bars 13 which in this instance have sides of 10 mm so that their upper face is 2 mm higher than the upper face of the triangular bars 12 thereby providing a means for preventing sideways sliding of animals across the flooring 10. Although in this instance there are nine triangular bars 12 between each square bar 13, the number of triangular bars 12 between each square bar 13 could be varied to suit particular circumstances.

The portion of the flooring 10 shown in Fig. 1 is part of a sheet that is 755 mm wide with four triangular bars 12 at each side and four square bars 13, the first square bar 13 being after the fourth triangular bar 12 and each of the other square bars 13 being spaced apart by nine triangular bars 12.

The uoper face 14 of each bar need not be flat or planar. For .example, the upper face 14 may have a plurality of spaced apart transverse grooves formed in the upper face with each adjacent pair of grooves being S"separated by a flat surface. In one instance, the flat surfaces are 2 to 3 mm wide and the grooves are 4 to 6 rnm wide both dimensions being in the longitudinal direction of the triangular bars 12. The depth of the groove may be of the order of 1 to 2 mm. Any configuration of grooves could be formed in the upper face 14 of each triangular bar 12.

"The flooring 20 shown in Fig. 2 includes upper bars 21 that are welded to cross bearers 22. The 8 mm high bars 21 are similar to the triangular bars 12 of the first embodiment. Spaced along each upper bar 21 are downwardly deformed portions 23 which constitute the means for preventing longitudinal sliding movement of the animal. In this instance, 9/02/98 L- ~Ld each deformed portion 23 is 70 mm long and the bottom face 24 of each deformed portion 23 extends 10 mm below the bottom face 25 of the undeformed portion of the bar 21. The circular cross bearers 22 are mm in diameter so that they, with the bottom of the deformed portion 23, provide a substantial planar bottom face of the flooring Various modifications may be made in details of the design and construction without departing from the scope and ambit of the invention.

9/02/98 ir oe• oa 9 o ee ee19 'I I-~Cc,

Claims

1. Animal enclosure flooring comprising a plurality of elongated spaced apart members mounted on cross support bearers, each member having a substantially planar upper face so that adjacent members provide a substantially planar upper face for the flooring, and animal movement restriction means comprising a plurality of spaced apart discontinuities in the planar upper face, and wherein each of the spaced apart members is a bar of triangular cross-section and wherein the animal movement restriction means comprises a plurality of restrictor bars each positioned between a pair of adjacent spaced apart members, each said restrictor bar having a height somewhat higher than the height of the spaced apart triangular bars to define the discontinuities.

2. Flooring according to claim 1 wherein the restrictor bars are square bars.

3. Flooring according to claim 1 wherein the upper face of each spaced apart member has transverse grooves formed therein with each adjacent pair of grooves being separated by a flat surface.

4. Flooring according to claim 3 wherein there are four triangular bars at each side of the flooring, a square bar inwardly of each group of four triangular bars and nine triangular bars inwardly spaced between each rectangular bar. 9/02/98 Flooring, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings. Dated this 9th day of February, 1998 VEREYKEN BROTHERS PTY LIMITED Patent Attorneys for the Applicant PETER MAXWELL ASSOCIATES ee o a e 9/02/98 ~-~Is ABSTRACT Flooring for a piggery has a plurality of elongated spaced apart members (12) mounted on cross support bearers Each member (12) has a substantially planar upper face (14) so that adjacent members (12) provide a substantially planar upper face for the flooring. Movement restriction means (13) are located between adjacent groups of the spaced apart members (12). e. 0. t S. a.. 0 fl i I I bl-Dq--l r CTI cOP C01 MEMEM CV)