AU763738B2 - Improved barriers and barrier systems ad components for barrier systems - Google Patents

Description

P/00/011 Regulation 3.2 *r COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: DON THOMAS PTY LTD C. C C

CC

AHEARNS

Patent Trade Mark Attorneys GPO Box 1149 Brisbane Queensland 4001 "IMPROVED BARRIERS AND BARRIER SYSTEMS AND COMPONENTS FOR BARRIER SYSTEMS" Invention Title: The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: r k -1- IMPROVED BARRIERS AND BARRIER SYSTEMS AND COMPONENTS FOR BARRIER SYSTEMS This invention relates to barriers, barrier systems and components for barrier systems. The invention has particular to safety barriers for the protection of workers on building sites.

Safety standards in some areas require the erection of antifall barriers about the perimeter of roofs of houses, sheds and low level commercial buildings during construction to prevent workers the roof from falling off. Various types of anti-fall barriers are available such as that disclosed in Australian patent application No. 38664/89 to Griek. Typically, such barriers include a bracket or other supporting device which is temporarily mounted to the roof purlins and an upstanding post which is connected to 15the bracket and to which safety rails are secured. Various methods of securing the rails to the support posts are known. For example, United States patent No. 3920221 to Berry and Curtis, shows rails secured to the support post by steel loops in the manner of sliprails and United States patent No. 4666131 to Kettelkamp shows 20 adjustable height hooks for securing the rails. However, the hooks of Kettelkamp do not prevent the rails from being lifted from the hooks and therefore do not provide as much security as is desired.

Other known barrier systems include devices for securing the safety rails to the posts by screw threaded clamps. However, such devices slow to use and repeated use leads to thread failure.

Furthermore, lack of use can lead to seizure of the screw thread.

In this respect it will be appreciated that safety barrier systems are often provided on a hire basis and may be used only intermittently.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a barrier and a barrier system which is reliable and relatively quick to use.

It is another object to provide a post assembly for use in a barrier system and a clamp assembly for use with a post or other elongate member in a barrier system which can be used to secure a or similar elongate member to a post, purlin or the like. It is another object to provide a clamp assembly and a post assembly for use with safety barriers which do not suffer from the same wear problems as threaded clamp assemblies.

-2- With the foregoing in view this invention in one aspect resides broadly in a barrier system for the erection of a safety barrier adjacent the perimeter of a roof to prevent or at least inhibit a person from falling from the roof, said barrier system including: a plurality of post support means adapted to be releasably secured to selected rafters, purlins or battens of the roof; a plurality of post assemblies adapted to be connected to said post support means respectively, each post assembly including a post and clamping means mounted to the post for pivotal movement thereto between a clamping position in which the clamping means clamps a safety rail to the post and a release position in which the rail is released from the post, and securing means operatively connected to said clamping means or said post and being adapted to engage the other of said clamping means and said post S 15 in a predetermined position for securing said clamping means in said clamping position; and a plurality of safety rails adapted to extend between adjacent oooo posts and to be secured thereto by said clamping means respectively.

S 20 In a second aspect the invention resides broadly in a barrier erected adjacent the perimeter of a roof, said barrier including: a plurality of post support means releasably secured to selected rafters, purlins or battens of the roof; a plurality of post assemblies connected to said post support means respectively, each post assembly including a post and clamping means mounted to the post for pivotal movement relative thereto between a clamping position in which the clamping means clamps a safety rail to the post and a release position in which the rail is released from the post, and securing means operatively connected to said clamping means or said post and being adapted to engage the other of said clamping means and said post in a predetermined position for securing said clamping means in said clamping position; and a plurality of safety rails extending between adjacent posts and secured thereto by said clamping means respectively.

In a third aspect the invention resides broadly in a post assembly for use in the erection of a safety barrier adjacent the perimeter of a roof, said post assembly including: an elongate member adapted to be mounted in an upright attitude; clamping means mounted to said elongate member for pivotal movement relative thereto between a clamping position in which the clamping means clamps a safety rail to the elongate member and a position in which the rail is released from the elongate member; securing means operatively connected to said clamping means or said elongate member and being adapted to engage the other of said clamping means and said elongate member in a predetermined for securing said clamping means in said clamping position.

In a fourth aspect the invention resides broadly in clamping apparatus adapted to be mounted to an elongate member for use in constructing a safety barrier, said clamping apparatus including: a sleeve adapted to be slidably mounted on the elongate member; clamping means pivotally mounted to said sleeve for movement between a clamping position in which the clamping means may clamp a rail to the sleeve or an elongate member or post on which the 20 sleeve is mounted and a release position in which the rail may be released from the sleeve; securing means operatively connected to said clamping means or said sleeve and being adapted to engage the other of said clamping means and said sleeve or the elongate member or post on the sleeve is mounted in a predetermined position for securing said clamping means in said clamping position.

Preferably, the clamping means includes a clamping head and an elongate handle operatively connected at one end to the clamping head, the clamping means being mounted to the post, elongate member sleeve intermediate the ends of the elongate handle for pivotal movement about a pivot axis in the manner of a lever and fulcrum.

It will be appreciated that in such form of the invention the handle can be manually operated to cause movement of the clamping head towards or away from the post, elongate member or sleeve by about the pivot axis.

Preferably, the securing means is adapted to engage with a face of the sleeve, post or elongate member in such manner that -4movement of the securing means relative thereto is effective to force the clamping means into the clamping position. It is also preferred that the securing means includes a securing member operatively connected to the handle for sliding movement relative thereto or therealong and adapted to engage with a face of the sleeve, post or elongate member in a wedge type action. It will be appreciated that in such form of the invention the predetermined position will vary depending on the size of the rails to be clamped. In one such form of the invention, the handle has a portion which is inclined relative to the face against which the securing member engages, the inclined portion being effective to create the wedging action. However, in another form a tapered plate is fixed to the sleeve adjacent the handle thus providing an inclined face against which the securing member may engage to create the wedging action, and in such form the handle can be S 15 straight.

Preferably, the post, elongate member or sleeve has at least one flat surface against which the rail may abut and be clamped by the clamping means.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood and 20put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention and wherein; Fig. 1 is a pictorial representation of a portion of a barrier according to the invention; Fig. 2 is an elevation of the barrier portion of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the barrier portion of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a plan view of the barrier portion of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a pictorial representation of the clamping apparatus used in the barrier of Fig. 1 in a different application clamping a post support member to a Z-section purlin; Fig. 6 is a pictorial representation of a prior art post support apparatus adapted for connection to spaced apart Zsection purlins as described in international patent application No.PCT/AU98/00859; Fig. 7 is a plan view of the post support apparatus of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a pictorial representation of an alternative clamping apparatus according to the invention, and Fig. 9 is a pictorial representation of part of a post support apparatus similar to that of Fig. 6 but utilising the clamping apparatus of Fig. 8.

The barrier 10 illustrated in part in Fig. 1 includes a plurality of posts 11 in spaced apart relation, only one of which is shown, to which a bottom rail 12, a mid-rail 13 and a top rail 14 are secured by bottom clamping apparatus 16, middle clamping apparatus 17 and top clamping apparatus 18 respectively. It will seen that the middle and top clamping apparatuses are identical while the bottom clamping apparatus is slightly different as will be explained later. The post and the rails are constructed of square hollow section (SHS) steel tube.

S•Each clamping apparatus includes a clamping head 21 which is S 15 formed by cutting a piece of SHS along a line which is offset from the diagonal and at an angle to it, the SHS being a loose sliding fit on the SHS rails and the cut being such that the clamping head o ~has one full side 21a of the SHS from which it is cut and one almost full side 21b and a very short side 21c. Advantageously, two .o.ooi clamping heads can be obtained fro the one cut. It will be seen that the full side 21a abuts the inner face of the respective rail 12a, 13a, 14a while the side 21b abuts the bottom face and the side 21c abuts the top face of the rail respectively.

A handle 22 is welded to the face 21b and depends from it, the handle being curved for a reason which will be explained more fully later. A pivot pin 25 is welded to the handle 22 and extends through a sleeve 23 which in turn is welded to the post 11, except in the case of the bottom clamping assembly in which the pivot sleeve is mounted to a mounting sleeve 26 which in turn is slidably mounted on the post. It will be seen that this version allows the height of the clamping assembly to be adjusted relative to the post by simply sliding the mounting sleeve along the post. The sleeve can be secured to the post in any desired position by tightening the set bolt 27 which is screw-threadedly mounted to one wall of sleeve and adapted to engage with the post. In both versions the pivot pin is held in the sleeve by a nut 24 screwed to the end of the pivot pin.

-6- A securing device 29 is slidably mounted on the handle and is arranged to engage with the inner face Ila of the post. The mounting device includes a short piece of SHS tube to which a short piece of square steel bar is welded, the axis of the bar being inclined to and spaced from the axis of the bar such that the bar forms a wedging block 31 while the SHS is a loose sliding fit on the handle 22.

In use, the clamping apparatus is moved to the release position by sliding the securing device 29 towards the clamping head thereby allowing the clamping head to pivot away from the post 1011. A rail 12, 13 or 14 can then be placed against the post to rest on the side 21b whereupon the securing device can be slid along the handle towards the free end so that the wedging block 31 engages with the face la of the post thus causing the clamping head to move to the clamping position. Friction between the wedging block and the post is such that the handle is locked securely in place and the rail is therefore well secured against the post. It will be appreciated that the curvature of the handle provides an inclined portion relative to the post(or sleeve) thereby allowing the wedging block to effect clamping.

oeeoo 20 It can be seen in Fig. 5 that the clamping apparatus 16 can also be used to clamp a post support member to a Z-section purlin.

In this case, in order to allow one clamping apparatus to cover many tasks, a short piece of SHS tube 34 (or another suitable spacer block could be used) is fitted between the return flange of the Z-section purlin and the side 21c of the clamping head to provide a satisfactory gripping surface. Two such clamping apparatuses may be fitted to one post support member 30 and be clamped to two spaced apart Z-section or C-section purlins in a manner similar to that illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7 for use as described in the aforementioned international patent application.

In this case it will be appreciated that a post 11 may be slidably mounted in the upstand 36 of the post support member 30 for the erection of a safety barrier similar to that previously described.

It will also be appreciated that the clamping head may be modified for this purpose to engage with the main flange or even the return flange of the C-section or Z-section purlin, thus obviating the need for the spacer block 34.

The alternative clamping apparatus 116 illustrated in Fig. 8 operates in a manner similar to that of apparatus 16 except that the wedging action is created by virtue of a tapered gusset 141 which is welded to the sleeve 126 and the handle 122 is straight rather than curved as in Fig. i. In this embodiment corresponding are referenced by the same reference numerals where appropriate but prefaced by a The clamping head 121 is formed by a short piece of angle iron. This clamping apparatus is constructed for use with a post support apparatus similar to that shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7 and the angle iron clamping head is selected so that one leg 121a may -engage directly with the bottom flange of the Z-section purlin 135 without the other leg *oo.

interfering with the return flange as shown in Fig. 9.

The securing device 129 includes a short piece of SHS tube 132 S which is slidably mounted on the handle 122 and a contact member *..**iTecnac ebri S 15 131 which engages the tapered gusset 141. The contact member in this case is not self-locking as is the wedge block 31 in Fig. 1 and accordingly a locking bolt 142 is screw threadedly mounted in *o o ~one side of the tubular member 132 for engagement with the handle 122.

While the foregoing description has been given by way of illustrative example of the invention, all other modifications and variations thereto as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims (3)

1. A barrier system for the erection of a safety barrier adjacent the perimeter of a roof to prevent or at least inhibit a person from falling from the roof, said barrier system including: a plurality of post support means adapted to be releasably secured to selected rafters, purlins or battens of the roof; a plurality of post assemblies adapted to be connected to said post support means respectively, each post assembly including a post and clamping means mounted to the post for pivotal movement relative thereto between a clamping position in which the clamping clamps a safety rail to the-post and a release position in which the rail is released from the post, and securing means operatively connected to said clamping means or said post and being adapted to engage the other of said clamping means and said post in a predetermined position for securing said clamping means in S• 15 said clamping position; and a plurality of safety rails adapted to extend between adjacent posts and to be secured thereto by said clamping means respectively.

2. A barrier erected adjacent the perimeter of a roof, said 20 barrier including: a plurality of post support means releasably secured to selected rafters, purlins or battens of the roof; a plurality of post assemblies connected to said post support means respectively, each post assembly including a post and means mounted to the post for pivotal movement relative thereto between a clamping position in which the clamping means clamps a safety rail to the post and a release position in which the rail is released from the post, and securing means operatively connected to said clamping means or said post and being adapted to engage the other of said clamping means and said post in a predetermined position for securing said clamping means in said clamping position; and a plurality of safety rails extending between adjacent posts and secured thereto by said clamping means respectively.

353. A post assembly for use in the erection of a safety barrier adjacent the perimeter of a roof, said post assembly including: an elongate member adapted to be mounted in an upright attitude; clamping means mounted to said elongate member for pivotal movement relative thereto between a clamping position in which the clamping means clamps a safety rail to the elongate member and a release position in which the rail is released from the elongate member; securing means operatively connected to said clamping means or said elongate member and being adapted to engage the other of said clamping means and said elongate member in a predetermined position for securing said clamping means in said clamping position. 104. A clamping apparatus adapted to be mounted to an elongate member for use in constructing a safety barrier, said clamping apparatus including: a sleeve adapted to be slidably -mounted on the elongate member; o o S 15 clamping means pivotally mounted to said sleeve for movement between a clamping position in which the clamping means may clamp ~a rail to the sleeve or an elongate member or post on which the sleeve is mounted and a release position in which the rail may be released from the sleeve; oo99o9 20 securing means operatively connected to said clamping means or said sleeve and being adapted to engage the other of said clamping means and said sleeve or the elongate member or post on 9OO S: which the sleeve is mounted in a predetermined position for securing said clamping means in said clamping position. 255. A clamping apparatus according to Claim 4,wherein the clamping means includes an elongate handle which is pivotally mounted to the sleeve intermediate its ends and a clamping head is connected to the handle at one end. 6. A clamping apparatus according to Claim 5, wherein the securing means is adapted to engage with a face of the sleeve, in such manner that movement of the securing means relative thereto is effective to force the clamping means into the clamping position. 7. A clamping apparatus according to Claim 6, wherein the securing means includes a securing member operatively connected to the handle for sliding movement relative thereto or therealong which is adapted to engage with a face of the sleeve in a wedge type action. 8. A clamping apparatus according to Claim 7, wherein the handle has a portion which is inclined relative to the face and is effective to create the wedging action upon movement of the securing member therealong. 9. A clamping apparatus according to Claim 7, wherein a tapered is fixed to the sleeve adjacent the handle, one edge of the plate being inclined to the sleeve and the securing member being adapted to engage the inclined edge to create the wedging action upon movement of the securing member along the handle. A post assembly according to Claim 3, wherein the clamping includes an elongate handle which is pivotally mounted to the sleeve intermediate its ends and a clamping head is connected to the handle at one end. 11. A post assembly according to Claim 10, wherein the securing means includes a securing member operatively connected to the 15 handle for sliding movement therealong and adapted to engage with *o*oo a face of the elongate member in a wedge type action. oeeoo S 12. A post assembly according to Claim 11, wherein the handle has a portion which is inclined relative to the face and is effective to create the wedging action upon movement of the securing member ego* therealong. 13. A post assembly according to Claim 11, wherein a tapered plate is fixed to the sleeve adjacent the handle, one edge of the plate being inclined to the sleeve and the securing member being adapted to engage the inclined edge to create the wedging action upon S 25movement of the securing member along the handle. 14. A barrier system according to Claim 1, wherein the post assembly is constructed according to any one of Claims 10 to 13. A barrier according to Claim 2, wherein the post assembly is constructed according to any one of Claims 10 to 13. Dated this 21st Day of January, 2000 DON THOMAS PTY LTD by its Patent Attorneys AHEARNS