EP0748906A1 - Balustrade - Google Patents

Abstract

The panels or bars (7) are supported between upper (8) and lower (9) horizontal rails, which in turn are connected by fasteners to vertical uprights. The uprights are secured into the ground surface and also support a handrail at their top ends above the panels or bars. The upper and lower horizontal rails are formed as U-section channels, with a longitudinal rib (14a,b) running along each internal lateral wall. The transverse face (8c,9c) of each U-section channel has a pair of shallow side lips (13a,b).A rubber or aluminium insert (19,22) is engageable in the internal cavity of each the U-section channel.

Description

The present invention relates to a railing of the kind in which filling panels or bars are held between an upper beam and a lower beam which are fixed by fasteners to vertical uprights, these being anchored in the ground and bearing a handrail at their upper end.

Such a guardrail is described in French Patent No. 2,123,879, but it has the particular disadvantage of being usable only for filling panels, and not for bars. In addition, to adapt the device to a given inclination of the railing with respect to the horizontal, it is necessary to make holes provided for this purpose in the heald fasteners, which makes mounting difficult. Finally, the fastening of the fasteners on the uprights takes place by means of bolts which are located behind the filling panels and which are therefore difficult to access.

Also, one of the aims of the present invention is to propose a railing of the kind mentioned at the start which can include bars as well as filling panels, which is easy to adapt to the dimensions of the panels or bars, as well at the inclination of the railing relative to the horizontal, and whose assembly is easy and quick.

This goal, as well as others which will appear later, such as that which consists in creating a railing whose cost is advantageous, both for its manufacture and for its assembly, are achieved by means of a railing of the specified kind. above which is characterized by the fact that its healds comprise means so that they can be used interchangeably for railings with filling panels or for railings with bars and / or so that, in the case of the 'use of bars, these can be fixed either on the rails by crimping or screwing.

To this end, the beams in question are advantageously constituted by profiles whose general shape in cross section is that of a U and whose substantially planar wings each have on their inner face a continuous longitudinal rib, the two ribs of each beam being located opposite one another.

In this way, the same heald can be used to hold a filling panel, in which case the latter is capped by the heald, with possible interposition of a seal and protection, and to fix bars whose end crosses the sole of the heddle to be housed by crimping in the hollow volume of the latter while coming into abutment against the aforementioned ribs.

It can therefore be seen that the solution according to the invention makes it possible to produce a railing with filling panels or a railing with bars with the same ease, which was one of the aims. It is even possible to combine bars and filler panels in a single railing, without the need to change profiles for the beams.

In a variant, the crimping of the bars can be replaced by their screwing, and in this case, the heddles are advantageously constituted by profiles whose general shape in cross section is that of a U and whose substantially planar wings extend to the beyond the flat sole of the heddle by a continuous longitudinal rib of low height. The end of the bar then comes to bear on the outside face of the sole of the heald, between the aforementioned ribs, and it is tightened against the sole in question by means of a screw which is introduced from the open end of smooth and whose assembly is therefore easy.

It is advantageous for the heald according to the invention to be provided with both types of ribs, namely the internal ribs present on the wings of the heald and the external ribs which border the sole thereof, which allows the exact same profile to be used for both types of fastening. It is easy to see that this leads to a reduction in costs, thanks to the increase in the quantities produced and the reduction in the number of different profiles to be stored.

Preferably, the rails of the railing according to the invention consist of profiles whose general shape in cross section is that of a U and whose substantially planar wings each have on their inner face at least one continuous longitudinal groove, two grooves each belonging to a heald being located each time opposite one another and used for the attachment of corresponding lateral ribs of a rubber or aluminum cover. The need for such a cover results from the fact that the same heald is used for panels, in which case the open end of the heald profile is closed by the panel and by the possible joint, and for bars fixed on the side of the sole of the heald, opposite its other open end which is not closed. It is therefore necessary to provide in the latter case a cover to close this gaping end, and this, both for aesthetic reasons - at least for the parts of the stringer which are not covered by the fasteners, as will be seen below - only to avoid the accumulation of various foreign bodies in the beam concerned.

In this respect, it is advantageous that the wings of the multipurpose heald according to the invention each have on their inner face a pair of continuous longitudinal grooves, the grooves facing them closest to the free end of the wings used for the hooking of corresponding lateral ribs of a rubber cover with an essentially rectangular cross section, and the facing grooves furthest from the free end of the wings used for hooking corresponding snap edges curved towards the exterior of an aluminum cover with U-shaped cross section. Again, this is the same boom profile which is used, regardless of the type of cache which is provided, with the resulting advantages which have been explained above.

So that the covers in question can perfectly fulfill their function as a seal and can be easily aligned on the edges of the beams, it is advantageous that they have continuous longitudinal fins which extend outwards from their face turned towards the outside and which are intended to cover the free edges of the heddles.

As regards now the fasteners which connect the beams to the vertical uprights of the railing according to the invention, and in an advantageous embodiment, they are constituted by a profiled part comprising a U-shaped cross-section part which covers the associated heald and of which the wing in contact with the upright is extended by a lug extending opposite to all of the healds, and the abovementioned lug is provided with a hole intended for the passage of a fixing bolt to the amount.

The fact that this fixing bolt is provided on a lug which extends towards the outside of the railing with respect to the fastener itself makes it extremely easy to assemble, unlike what happened in the case of the solution proposed by the aforementioned prior patent. In addition, the angular position of the fastener relative to the upright can be adjusted without difficulty by rotating the fastener around the bolt before tightening it, and locking it in the desired position by tightening the bolt, this which allows you to easily give the beams the inclination you want, depending, for example, on the slope of a staircase or an access ramp.

In addition to this angular adjustment, it is also easy to adjust the height position of the fastener on its upright if, according to an advantageous embodiment, this upright has, on its side facing the rails, a T-shaped groove, vertical and continuous, which is intended to receive the nut of the fastening bolt on the post. It is easy to understand that this bolt can be placed, before tightening, at any height of the upright by vertical sliding of its nut in the associated groove, to then block it at the desired height. In fact, the bolt in question can be constituted by a simple stainless steel dish provided with a thread and, to facilitate assembly, it is advantageous that it cannot rotate in its vertical groove.

Advantageously, the wing of the fastener of the railing according to the invention which is in contact with the corresponding upright is provided with tapped holes intended to each receive a screw which clamps the rail against the opposite wing of the fastener.

Furthermore, the amount of the railing of the invention preferably has a continuous vertical channel whose cross section is small compared to that of the amount, this avoiding the addition of the frame or the stiffener which is usual in the prior art.

Finally, it should be noted that the arrangements specified above lead to mounting the bars or the filling panels in front of the vertical uprights, which makes it possible to produce bar panels whose appearance seems continuous, because they do not have the cut normally due to the uprights.

• Les figures 1 et 2 montrent une vue en élévation d'un garde-corps horizontal et d'un garde-corps d'escalier, respectivement ;
• La figure 3 représente une vue en coupe d'un garde-corps selon l'invention, prise selon la ligne III-III de la figure 1 ou à un endroit correspondant de la figure 2, ce qui veut dire que, dans les deux cas, elle montre un panneau de remplissage ;
• La figure 4 est analogue à la figure 3, mais cette vue en coupe est prise selon la ligne IV-IV de la figure 1 ou à un endroit correspondant de la figure 2, de sorte que, dans les deux cas, c'est un barreau que l'on voit en coupe, l'extrémité de ce dernier étant fixée par sertissage à la partie supérieure de la figure et par vissage à sa partie inférieure, et ces parties supérieure et inférieure de la figure montrant respectivement un cache en caoutchouc et un cache en aluminium ;
• Les figures 5a et 5b montrent une vue en élévation de l'attache qui sert à fixer une lisse inférieure à un montant, et ce, respectivement, pour le garde-corps d'escalier de la figure 2 et pour le garde-corps horizontal de la figure 1 ; et :
• Les figures 6a, 6b et 6c représentent, dans diverses formes de réalisation, une vue en coupe d'un montant prise selon la ligne VI-VI de la figure 3 ou de la figure 4.

The description which follows, and which has no limiting character, will make it possible to understand clearly how the present invention can be put into practice. It should be read against the accompanying drawings, among which:

• Figures 1 and 2 show an elevational view of a horizontal railing and a staircase railing, respectively;
• Figure 3 shows a sectional view of a railing according to the invention, taken along line III-III of Figure 1 or at a corresponding location in Figure 2, which means that, in both cases , she shows a panel of filling;
• Figure 4 is similar to Figure 3, but this sectional view is taken along the line IV-IV of Figure 1 or at a corresponding location in Figure 2, so that in both cases it is a bar seen in section, the end of the latter being fixed by crimping to the upper part of the figure and by screwing to its lower part, and these upper and lower parts of the figure respectively showing a rubber cover and an aluminum cover;
• FIGS. 5a and 5b show an elevation view of the fastener which is used to fix a rail less than an upright, and this, respectively, for the staircase railing of FIG. 2 and for the horizontal railing of Figure 1; and:
• FIGS. 6a, 6b and 6c represent, in various embodiments, a sectional view of an upright taken along line VI-VI of FIG. 3 or of FIG. 4.

In all that follows, it will be assumed that the railing described is in its normal position of use shown in FIG. 1 or in FIG. 2, as the case may be, which gives meaning to terms like "vertical" and "horizontal" or "upper" and "lower".

However, the horizontal railing of Figure 1 is generally designated by the reference 1, and it is constituted, in a manner known per se, by vertical uprights 2 which are anchored in the ground 3 by the intermediate fixing bases 4 and at the upper end of which is fixed a handrail 5. The space between two consecutive uprights 2 is closed by a filling constituted by a continuous panel 6, often transparent or translucent, as is represented on the right half of figure 1. This filling can be replaced by a series of vertical bars 7, parallel and equidistant, which shows the left half of the same figure. Of course, it is conventional that the railing 1 comprises only panels 6 or only bars 7, but it is desirable that the alternating use of panels 6 and bars 7 is also possible, depending on architectural requirements and aesthetic wishes. In all cases, the filling or the bars are held between an upper horizontal rail 8 and a lower horizontal rail 9, the two rails 8 and 9 being fixed for their part to the vertical uprights 2 by means of upper fasteners 10 and of lower fasteners 11, respectively, as will be explained later.

The staircase railing 1 'in Figure 2 includes the same components as the horizontal railing 1 in Figure 1, and these elements are therefore designated by the same references. However, the handrail 5 and the beams 8, 9 are inclined so as to follow the slope of the staircase 12, the filling panel 6 having the shape of a parallelogram, while the fasteners 10, 11 must be able to join, as will be specified later, elements which are no longer perpendicular to each other, namely the vertical uprights 2 and the oblique beams 8, 9 whose inclination depends on the slope of the staircase.

Referring now to the vertical section view of Figure 3 which corresponds to a railing 1 or 1 'provided with continuous filling panels, there is an upper rail 8 and a lower rail 9 which cover the corresponding edges of a panel 6 and which are fixed to a vertical upright 2 by means of fasteners 10 and 11, respectively.

More specifically, the heddles 8 and 9 are constituted by profiles with a U-shaped cross section, and they are identical to each other, so that one will be content to describe the heald 8.

The wings 8a, 8b of the latter are essentially flat, and they extend beyond the sole 8c corresponding by ribs of low height 13a and 13b, respectively. In addition, the inner face of each wing 8a, 8b has at the same height a respective longitudinal rib 14a, 14b. Finally, this same inner face is hollowed out, in the vicinity of the open end of the U which the heddle forms in cross section, by a pair of longitudinal grooves 15a and 15b respectively, the two grooves of each pair being not far apart, one from the other. The main reason for the ribs 13 and 14 and the pairs of grooves 15 will appear later, but it will now be noted that, in the case of the panel railing of Figure 3, a longitudinal profiled elastic joint 16 is interposed between each stringer 8, 9 and the upper or lower edge of the panel 6, in order to avoid damaging the latter which is often made of glass. In this case, the ribs 14a, 14b serve to retain and tighten this seal 16 in the associated rail.

In the case where the filling is replaced by bars, the comparison of FIGS. 3 and 4 shows that the same beams 8 and 9 are used exactly, but after having rotated them 180 ° around a longitudinal axis, this which means the opening of the U that the upper rail 8 forms in cross section is directed upwards, the opening of the U of the lower rail 9 then being obviously directed downwards.

The bars 7 can be fixed to the rails by crimping, which is shown in the upper part of Figure 4. The end of each bar 7 then passes through an opening in the sole 8c of the corresponding rail, and it comes be housed without play in the space between the wings thereof coming into abutment on the respective ribs 14a and 14b of these wings.

Another fixing possibility is the screwing shown in the lower part of FIG. 4. The bar 7 here comes to bear on the sole 9c of the heald 9 by adjusting between the corresponding external ribs 13a, 13b of this heald, and it is fixed with a screw 17 which is blocked from the inside of the profile of the heald concerned, which is easy during assembly, by means of a simple screwdriver, since this profile is then open towards the outside at its end opposite to the screw 17.

Although these two methods of fixing the bars 7 have been shown in the same figure, for practical reasons, it is very clear that the two ends of the same bar will generally be both fixed in the same way, it that is to say either by crimping or by screwing, and that all the bars of the same railing will normally be fixed by a single and same process.

In the case of the railing with bars of FIG. 4, the rails 8, 9 are open towards the outside, at least between the fasteners 10, 11 which cover them, so that provision is made to cover them with profiled longitudinal covers. At the upper part of Figure 4, there is shown a cover which is made of rubber, or a similar material, and which consists, essentially, of a hollow section 19 with rectangular cross section. This profile 19 is inserted without play between the wings 8a, 8b of the heddle, the upper side of the rectangle which it forms in cross section extending laterally by longitudinal fins 20a, 20b which cover the free ends of the wings 8a, 8b of the stringer. In addition, the lateral sides of the rectangle formed by the profile 19 are each provided, in the vicinity of the lower side of the profile, with a longitudinal rib 21a or 21b, respectively, which is housed elastically in a groove of the pair of longitudinal grooves 15a or 15b, respectively, which have been mentioned above and which are formed in the inner faces of the wings 8a, 8b of the heddle. The profile 19 is therefore securely attached to the corresponding rail by conjugation of the shapes between the ribs 21 and the grooves 15, in the manner of a snap-fastening. Such a cover therefore provides excellent sealing, its external appearance being moreover extremely satisfactory.

A variant shown at the bottom of Figure 4 is to use an aluminum cover instead of a rubber cover. This cover is constituted by a U-shaped profile 22 in cross section which is inserted by its open end into the open end of the profile of the heddle 9. The sole of the profile 22 of the cover is extended on both sides. other by lateral fins 23a and 23b, respectively, which cover the free ends of the wings 9a, 9b of the heald 9. On the other hand, the free edges of the wings of the profile 22 are curved outwards to form in cross section kinds of lugs 24a and 24b, respectively, which snap into place during mounting in a groove of the pair of aforementioned longitudinal grooves 15a or 15b, respectively, which are formed in the inner faces of the wings 9a, 9b of the heddle 9, which ensures a solid fixing of the cover.

Advantageously, the ribs 21a, 21b of the rubber cover 19 are housed in the grooves of the pairs of grooves 15a, 15b which are closest to the open side of the corresponding rail, while it is in the most distant grooves that s 'snap the curved edges 24a, 24b of the aluminum cover 22. In all cases, one and the same heald profile can be used for the two types of covers.

As regards now the fasteners which connect the beams to the uprights 2, reference will be made to their description in the lower part of FIG. 3, as well as in Figures 5a and 5b. Furthermore, it will be sufficient to describe the fastener 11 which connects the lower stringer 9 to the upright 2, it being understood that the fastener 10 which fixes the upper stringer 8 to the same upright 2 is identical and simply rotated 180 ° around from its fixing point.

As can be seen in the above figures, the fastener 11 is constituted by a profiled part of relatively short length which is applied to the upright 2. This profiled part has the shape of a U in section transverse, and its wing, part of which is in contact with the upright 2, extends downwards by a tab 25, the transverse section of the latter being triangular to increase the mechanical resistance. The U-shaped portion of the fastener 11 receives the heald 9 practically without play, while its tab 25 has a flat hole intended for the passage of a bolt 26 which tightens the fastener 11 on the upright 2. It results from this arrangement which can easily be given to the fastener 11 in any relative angular position relative to the upright 2, by rotation around the bolt 26 before tightening thereof, as is suggested by the arrows F1 of Figure 5b, the desired position is then fixed by tightening the bolt 26. It is therefore easy to obtain both the horizontal position of Figure 5a, which of course corresponds to a horizontal railing, as an oblique position as that of FIG. 5b which is intended for a staircase railing or an access ramp, the slope of this staircase or this access ramp can be absolutely arbitrary.

It is also possible to adjust the height position of the fastener 11 relative to the upright 2. To this end, the latter is constituted by a profile, the application face of the fasteners has a continuous vertical groove in the shape of a T or dovetail in cross section. Figure 6b shows a T-shaped groove 27, while Figures 6a and 6c show a dovetail groove 28. Such a groove is intended to receive the nut 29 of the bolt 26 of the fastener 10 or 11, as can be seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, so that by sliding this bolt 26 along the groove 27 or 28 before having tightened it, which is indicated by the arrows F2 in FIG. 5a, the fastener concerned can be placed at any height on the upright 2, the chosen position then being fixed by blocking the bolt 26. Quant with the nut 29 of the latter, it can be constituted by a simple stainless steel dish provided with a tapped hole. It is in any case chosen from a in such a way that it cannot rotate in the groove 27 or 28, this facilitating the mounting which is also made easy thanks to the fact that, unlike previously adopted solutions, the bolt 26 is easily accessible, since it is located on the tab 25, which in turn is external to the U-shaped part of the fastener.

Finally, one of the wings of the fastener 10 or 11 - and preferably that which is in contact with the upright 2 - has two tapped holes 30 and 30 'equidistant from the large edges of the fastener. These holes receive screws which tighten the corresponding rail against the opposite wing of the fastener.

We also see in Figures 6a, 6b and 6c that the upright 2 has a continuous vertical channel 31 whose cross section is small compared to that of the upright 2, so that the latter can support the railing without it it is necessary to insert a stiffener in this channel 31, its inertia being sufficient to meet the requirements of the standards in force. Furthermore, the uprights 2 can be sealed in the ground or fixed on bases of any known type.

Without departing from the scope of the present invention, numerous modifications could be made to the embodiments which have just been described. Thus, for example, there could be provided a single pair of grooves 15 for attaching the covers, or even a number of pairs greater than two, depending on the types of covers available on the market.

Claims (10)

Railings of the type in which filler panels (6) or bars (7) are held between an upper rail (8) and a lower rail (9) which are fixed by clips (10, 11) to uprights vertical (2), these being anchored in the ground (3, 12) and carrying a handrail (5) at their upper end, characterized by the fact that said heddles (8, 9) are formed by profiles of which the general shape in cross section is that of a U and the substantially planar wings (8a, 8b; 9a, 9b) each have on their inner face a continuous longitudinal rib (14a, 14b), the two ribs of each stringer being located opposite each other. Railing according to claim 1, characterized in that the said healds (8, 9) include means (13a, 13b; 14a, 14b) so that the said bars (7) can be fixed either on them by crimping or by screwing . Railing according to either of Claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the said healds (8, 9) are constituted by profiles whose general cross-sectional shape is that of a U and whose wings are substantially flat (8a, 8b; 9a, 9b) extend beyond the flat sole (8c, 9c) of the heddle by a continuous longitudinal rib of low height (13a, 13b). Railing according to any one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the said healds (8, 9) are formed by profiles whose general cross-sectional shape is that of a U and whose wings are substantially flat (8a, 8b; 9a, 9b) each have on their inner face at least one continuous longitudinal groove (15a, 15b), two grooves which each belong to a heddle being located each time opposite one another and used to the attachment of corresponding lateral ribs to a rubber (19) or aluminum (22) cover. Railing according to claim 4, characterized in that said wings (8a, 8b; 9a, 9b) each have on their inner face a pair of continuous longitudinal grooves (15a, 15b), the grooves facing closest to the free end of the wings used for hooking corresponding lateral ribs (21a, 21b) of a rubber cover (19) with a substantially rectangular cross section, and the opposite grooves furthest from the end free of the wings used for hooking corresponding snap edges (24a, 24b) curved outwards from an aluminum cover (22) with U-shaped cross section. Railing according to either of Claims 4 and 5, characterized in that the said covers (19, 22) comprise continuous longitudinal fins (20a, 20b; 23a, 23b) which extend outwards from their face facing outward and which are intended to cover the free edges of said healds (8, 9). Railing according to claims 1 and 3, characterized in that said fasteners (10,11) are constituted by a profiled part comprising a U-shaped cross-section part which covers the associated beam and whose wing in contact with said upright (2) is extended by a lug (25) extending opposite the set of heddles (8, 9) and by the fact that said lug (25) is provided with a hole intended for passage a bolt (26) for fixing to said upright (2). Railing according to claim 7, characterized in that the said upright (2) has, on its face turned towards the said healds (8, 9), a T-shaped groove (27, 28), vertical and continuous, which is intended to receiving the nut (29) of said bolt (26). Railing according to any one of claims 7 and 8, characterized in that the wing of said fastener (10, 11) which is in contact with said upright (2) is provided with tapped holes (30, 30 ' ) each intended to receive a screw for locking the corresponding beam (8, 9). Railing according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that said upright (2) has a continuous vertical channel (31) whose cross section is small compared to that of the upright.

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