AU781766B2

AU781766B2 - Safety rail support assembly

Info

Publication number: AU781766B2
Application number: AU51965/01A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Kevin Elkin
Original assignee: LAKEMONT PINES Pty Ltd
Current assignee: LAKEMONT PINES Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2000-06-21
Filing date: 2001-06-15
Publication date: 2005-06-09
Anticipated expiration: 2021-06-15
Also published as: AU5196501A

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Applicant(s): LAKEMONT PINES PTY LTD A.C.N. 072 889 359 Invention Title: SAFETY RAIL SUPPORT ASSEMBLY r e r The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: 2 SAFETY RAIL SUPPORT ASSEMBLY This invention relates to a safety rail support assembly for supporting a safety rail of a safety system which may be secured about the perimeter of a building during construction of the building.

Safety rails are employed on building sites to provide a safety perimeter about a work area located above ground level. Our International application no. PCT/AU98/00923 discloses a safety rail system for use on construction sites and building. The present invention relates to an improvement to the safety rail support assembly for supporting a safety rail in systems of the type disclosed in our co-pending International application.

The present invention may be said to reside in a safety rail support assembly for coupling to a stanchion of a safety rail system, said assembly including; a first support member for engaging the stanchion, the first support member having a lateral support member and an upright support member; a second support member for engaging the o..

stanchion, the second support member having a second lateral support member and a downwardly projecting support member; the first and second lateral support members, the upright support member and downwardly projecting support member defining a cage area when the first support member and second support member are engaged with the stanchion; and an engagement member for receiving ends of safety rails, the engagement member being locatable through the caged area to support and retain the engagement member and therefore the safety rails with respect to the stanchion.

Preferably the lateral support member of the first support \\melbfiles\hoeS\pauad\Keep\peci\LakCont Pines Safety rail support asseebly.doc 15/06/01 3 member includes a nut for receiving a bolt so that the bolt can be screwed through the nut to engage the engagement member to clamp the engagement member against the second lateral support member of the second support member to firmly secure the engagement member and therefore the safety rails to the stanchion.

Preferably the first and second support members each comprise a sleeve member for location on the stanchion, securing means for locating the sleeve member at a desired position along the stanchion, and the first and second lateral support members being formed from a lateral extending rod extending from the sleeve section and the upright support member and downwardly projecting support member being formed from an end portion of the rod bent substantially at right angles with respect to the lateral portion of the rod, the second support member being inverted with respect to the first support member for location on the stanchion.

S: Preferably the lateral support member is arranged asymmetrically on the sleeve so that when the second S" support member is inverted with respect to the first ^support member and the first and second support members are located on the stanchion, the upright support member and downwardly projecting support member are arranged in side by side relationship.

Preferably the securing means comprises a nut mounted on the sleeve member and a bolt for screw thread engagement with the nut so that the bolt can pass into the sleeve section and clamp the sleeve section to the stanchion.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which; Figure 1 is a perspective view of support member \\melbfiles\homeS\paulad\Keep\speci\Lakemont Pines Safety rail support assembly.doc 15/06/01 4 used in the preferred embodiment; Figure 2 is a front view of the support member of Figure 2; Figure 3 is a plan view of the support member of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a view of an engagement member used in the preferred embodiment of the invention; Figure 5 is a view of an assembled safety system according to the preferred embodiment of the invention; Figure 6 is view similar to Figure 5 but showing the assembly in a fully clamped condition; Figure 7 is a plan view of the system of Figures and 6; and 15 Figure 8 is a front view of the system of Figure 5, 6 and 7.

W .*ith reference to Figure 1 a support member 10 is shown which comprises a sleeve section 12 formed of generally 20 square cross-section tubing. The sleeve section 12 will fit onto a stanchion 100 (see Figure 5) of a safety system 150 shown in Figure 5. The sleeve section 12 has walls 14, 16, 18 and 20. The wall 16 has welded to it a rod 22 which has a laterally extending support rod 24 and a right angled 25 member 26 which is formed by bending the rod 22. The right angled section 26 will form an upright support rod or a downwardly projecting support rod depending on theorientation of the support member 10 on the stanchion 100 as will be described in more detail hereinafter. The wall 20 has a hole 28 and a nut 30 is welded onto the wall 20 so that the opening through the nut 30 registers with the hole 28. A bolt 32 is screw threaded into the nut 30 and can project through the opening 28 into the interior of the sleeve section 12. A nut 34 is welded onto the lateral section 24 of the rod 22 about midway between the wall 16 of the sleeve 12 and the right angled section 26. A bolt can screw threadinly engage the nut 34 to clamp the H:\Luisa\Keep\Speci\Lakemont Pines 51965-Qi.doc 31/03/05 5 safety system securely together as will be described in more detail hereinafter.

As best seen in Figures 3, the support rod 22 which forms the lateral support rod 24 and right angled member 26 is asymmetrically arranged on the wall 16. That is, the rod 22 is closer to the wall 18 than the wall 12. This will enable two of the support members 10 shown in Figures 1 to 4 to be inverted with respect to one another and arranged one above the other without the rods 22 interfering with one another as will be explained in more detail hereinafter.

With reference to Figure 4, an engagement sleeve 50 is 15 shown which comprises a generally C-section sleeve having upper wall 52, side walls 54 and flanges 56. The engagement sleeve 50 can be formed from a piece of purlin.

Safety rails 60 are formed from purlins and are of the same cross-sectional shape as the engagement sleeve 50 but *slightly smaller than the engagement sleeve 50. The safety f rails 60 slide into the sleeve section 50 in the direction of arrows A and B in Figure 4 so that the ends of the safety rail 60 are engaged with and mounted to the engagement sleeve The safety rails 60 may be formed from C-section purlins of 100 mm width. The sleeve section 50 is formed from a Csection purlin section of about 500 mm and 103 mm in width.

The wall 52 of the sleeve 50 is provided with openings and nuts 57 are welded onto the wall 52 so that openings for the nuts 57 register with the openings 55. Bolts 58 can be screwed into the nuts 55 to engage the safety rails 60 to securely couple the safety rails 60 to the sleeve member H:\Luisa\Keep\Speci\Lakemont Pines 51965-Oldoc 31/03/05 6 Turning now the Figure 5 which shows the safety system including the rail support assembly described with reference to Figures 1 to 4. Two rail support assemblies 102 and 104 are provided on the stanchion 100 for supporting upper and lower safety rails 60. The stanchion 100 is connected to tube 106 via sleeve 108 which is welded to the lower end of the stanchion 100. A nut and bolt assembly 110 clamps the sleeve 108 and therefore the stanchion 100 at the desired position along the tube 106.

The tube 106 connects to a building frame 112 by a coupling mechanism 114 which is fully described in our co-pending International application PCT/AU98/00923 (publication number WO 99-28574) the contents of which are incorporated into this specification by this reference. The safety system 150 forms a perimeter about roof 118 of a building which may be in the process of being constructed or alternatively may preform a perimeter around any upper level of the building which is in the process of being constructed so that a safety barrier is provided for "workmen working on the roof or upper sections of the building.

The assemblies 102 and 104 are identical and therefore only the assembly 102 will be described. The assembly 102 utilises two of the support members described with reference to Figures 1 to 3. A first of the suppot members 10 is located on the stanchion 100 and is secured in place by tightening bolt 32 so that the bolt 32 passes through the opening 28 and engages the stanchion 100 to clamp the sleeve 12 securely onto the stanchion 100. Lateral support rod 24 extends outwardly from the sleeve 12 and the right angled section 26 forms an upright support rod 26. Bolt may be partially screw threaded into nut 34.

Safety rails 60 are then engaged with the engagement sleeve as disclosed with reference to Figure 4 so that the \\melb_files\home$\paulad\Keep\speci\Lakemont Pines Safety rail support assembly.doc 15/06/01 7 engagement sleeve 50 joins together adjacent ends of two safety rails 60. The engagement sleeve 50 is then located on lateral support rod 24. A second support member 10 of the type shown in Figures 1 to 4 is then engaged with the stanchion 100 and is labelled with primed reference numerals for identification in Figure 5. The second support member 10' is inverted with respect to the member and the sleeve 12' is engaged on the stanchion 100.

Once again bolt 32' is tightened so as to secure the sleeve 12' in place. The rod 24' forms a lateral support rod 24' and the right angled section 26', in this arrangement, forms a downwardly projecting support rod 26'.

As previously mentioned, the rod 22 which forms the lateral support rod 24 and the upright support rod 26 or downwardly projecting support rod 26 is asymmetrically arranged on the wall 16 of the sleeve section 12. Thus, when the sleeve section 12' is inverted with respect to the sleeve section 12 the rod 24' and rod 26' are arranged in side by side 20 relationship with the rod 24 and rod 26 and can overlap slightly depending on the length of the right angled section 26/26'. However, it will be clear that the right angled sections 26/26' will not interfere with one another when the member 10' is inverted and located onto the stanchion 100.

The lateral support rods 24 and 24' and the upright support rod 26 and downwardly projecting support rod 26' generally define a cage 45 which is an enclosed area through which the sleeve member and safety rail 60 can pass to prevent the safety rail 60 from being moved laterally out of the support members 10 and 10'. The cage 45 is generally in the form of a rectangle, defined by the members 24', 26', 26, 24 and also the sleeves 12 and 12', which is slightly greater than the cross-sectional area of the sleeve 50 and the rails \\mlb-files\homeS\paulad\Keep\speCi\Lakem nt Pines Safety rail support assemblydo 15/06/01 8 Rather than locating the engagement sleeve 50 and rails onto the lateral support rod 24 before location of the member 10' in position, the members 10 and 10' can be secured to the stanchion 100 as shown in Figure 5 and then the support rail 60 together with the engagement sleeve fed through the cage defined by the rods 24', 26', 26 and 24 and supported on the lateral support member 24.

After the member 10' has been secured in position and the engagement sleeve 50 and the rails 60 are supported by the rod 24, the bolt 40 is tightened so as to pass up between the space between flanges 56 of the sleeve 50 (and the corresponding flanges on the rails 60) so as to engage wall 52 of the engagement sleeve 50. This pushes the engagement sleeve 50 upwardly in Figure 5 until the engagement sleeve abuts hard against lateral support rod 24' as shown in Figure 6. Thus, the engagement sleeve 50 together with the safety rail 60 are clamped hard against lateral support rod 24' and therefore secured to the sleeve 10' and also to the stanchion 100 so that the engagement member 50 and also the rail 60 will not rattle.

It will be apparent from the above description that the nut 34' which will be located on the lateral rod 24' is not needed in the assembly. If desired, some of the support members 10 could be provided without nuts 34 and used as the upper members 10' shown in Figure 5. However, so as to avoid the need to locate a particular support member which does have a nut to provide the lower support member 10 shown in Figure 5, it is preferred that all the support members be provided with nuts 34.

In other embodiments not shown, the stanchion 100 may be circular in cross-section and the sleeves 12 also circular in cross-section so as to enable the sleeves 12 to be pivoted on the stanchion 100 to align them in a particular orientation relative to the stanchion 100 if desired.

\\melbfiles\home$\paulad\Keep\speci\Lakemont Pines Safety rail support assembly.doc 15/06/01 9 Since modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention may readily be effected by persons skilled within the art, it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiment described by way of example hereinabove.

e e -ee \\melbfi les\home$\paulad\Xeep\speci\Lkemot Pines Safety rail support assembly.doc 15/06/01

Claims

1. A safety rail support assembly for coupling to a stanchion of a safety rail system, said assembly including; a first support member for engaging the stanchion, the first support member having a lateral support member and an upright support member; a second support member for engaging the stanchion, the second support member having a second lateral support member and a downwardly projecting support member; the first and second lateral support members, the upright support member and downwardly projecting support member defining a cage area when the first support member and second support member are engaged with the stanchion; and an engagement member for receiving ends of safety rails, the engagement member being locatable through the caged area to support and retain the engagement member and therefore the safety rails with respect to the stanchion.

2. The assembly of claim 1 wherein the lateral support member of the first support member includes a nut for receiving a bolt so that the bolt can be screwed through the nut to engage the engagement member to clamp the engagement member against the second lateral support member of the second support member to firmly secure the engagement member and therefore the safety rails to the stanchion.

3. The assembly of claim 1 or 2 wherein the first and second support members each comprise a sleeve member for location on the stanchion, securing means for locating the sleeve member at a desired position along the stanchion, and the first and second lateral support members being formed from a lateral extending rod extending from the sleeve section and the upright support member and \\melbfiles\home$\paulad\Keep\speci\Lakemont Pines Safety rail support assemnbly.doc 15/06/01 11 downwardly projecting support member being formed from an end portion of the rod bent substantially at right angles with respect to the lateral portion of the rod, the second support member being inverted with respect to the first support member for location on the stanchion.

4. The assembly of claim 3 wherein the lateral support member is arranged asymmetrically on the sleeve so that when the second support member is inverted with respect to the first support member and the first and second support members are located on the stanchion, the upright support member and downwardly projecting support member are arranged in side by side relationship.

5. The assembly of claim 3 or 4 wherein the securing means comprises a nut mounted on the sleeve member and a bolt for screw thread engagement with the nut so that the bolt can pass into the sleeve section and clamp the sleeve section to the stanchion.

6. A safety rail support assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this 15th day of June 2001 LAKEMONT PINES PTY LTD By their Patent Attorneys GRIFFITH HACK Fellows Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia \\melb_files\homeS\paulad\Keep\speci\Lakemont Pines Safety rail support assembly.doc 15/06/01