GB1559379A

GB1559379A - Device for application to a wooden stair or step

Info

Publication number: GB1559379A
Application number: GB1900576A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Carver and Co Engineers Ltd
Current assignee: Carver and Co Engineers Ltd
Priority date: 1977-08-08
Filing date: 1977-08-08
Publication date: 1980-01-16

Description

(54) A DEVICE FOR APPLICATION TO A WOODEN STAIR OR STEP (71) We, CARVER & CO. (EN GINEERS) LIMITED, a British Company, of Coppice Side, Brownhills, Walsall, West Midlands WS8 7ES, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particular ly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to a device for application to a wooden stair or step, said stair or step comprising a tread and a riser.

Wooden staircases in dwelling houses freguently become badly worn in the course of time, the wear taking place more particularly on the front portions of the treads of the stairs. A typicapa, wear pattern is shown in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, which Figure shows a wooden stair 1 having a wooden tread 2 and a wooden riser'. In the example shown in this Figure, considerable wear has taken place on the tread at the area indicated at 4. In the case of severe wear, the nose of the tread 2, indicated at 2a, may break off. A stair tread in a worn condition may present a danger to users of the stairs, particularly to elderly or unsteady people, and to children.

Total replacement of worn trends such as the tread 2 is usually ruled out because the treads, as in the case of the tread 2, are usually fitted into slots formed in side boards or strings of the staircase and secured in place by wedges (in Figure 1 a string of the staircase is shown at 5. and a wedge is shown at 6), and the treads in such a case can only be removed from under the stairs, The removal may result in damage to plaste.

A conventional method of repairing a worn stair of the construction shown in Figure 1 is illustrated in Figure 2. In this conventional method, the front part of the tread is cut away and a hardwood substitute tread nose 7 is then glued and screwed into position, and this is followed by nailing down a piece of plywood 8 to form a facing for the tread. This sequence of operations is time-consuming, and the renewal in this manner of all the treads of a 13-step flight may take 1 l/2 to 2 working days. Moreover, the substitute nosing 7 is often not very secure and can develop looseness ; and a further disadvantage is that, because of the thickness of the plywood facings for the tread, the effective height of the bottom step of a flight is increased but the effective height of the last step is decreased, in a case where all the treads of such flight are faced with the plywood pieces.

Frequently the width (i. e. the front-toback dimension) of treads of wooden stairs may be too narrow from the point of view of safety. If, when carrying out the abovedescribed conventional method of repair, the extent of projection of the substitute nose 7 is increased in an attempt to gain tread width, the overhang of the nose may result in its being insufficiently supported.

An object of the present invention is to provide means such as to enable a worn wooden stair or step to be effectively repaired in a time considerably shorter than the time usually needed to repair a stair or step by the above-described conventional method.

According to the invention, there is provided a metal cover unit for a wooden stair or step comprising : a top cover part for securing against the upwardly-presented face of the tread of the stair or step ; a depending part having a lower portion for securing against the riser of the stair or step and having an upper portion which slopes forwardly in an upwards direction ; a nose part connecting said top cover part to said depending part ; and an upwardly-extending reinforcing part which is disposed inwards of said nose part and connected at the top to said top cover part and at the bottom to said depending part, and which is for location against or forwards of the front edge of the said tread. Said reinforcing part may be secured at the bottom to said forwardly- sloping upper portion of said depending part. In a preferred construction, the top part is integral with the nose part and the nose part is integral with the depending part, and the reinforcing part is a plate secured to the top cover part and to the depending part. Preferably, the unit has therein dimples or depressions for receiving nails for securing the unit in place on the stair or step, with said dimples or depressions being such as to be pierceable only by nails of adequate strength for holding the unit firmly in place on the stair or step.

According to another aspect of the invention, there may be provided a metal bar of a construction such that said bar can be divided transversely to form thereby a plurality of cover units each of a construction set forth in the last preceding paragraph hereof.

Figures 3 and 4 of the accompanying drawings show, by way of example, a stair cover unit constructed in accordance with the invention, Figure 3 being a rear perspective view of a stair cover unit and Figure 4 showing the said cover unit, shown in Figure 3, applied to the wooden stair shown in Figure 1.

Referring to Figures 1, 3 and 4 of the drawings, a stair cover unit 9, suitable for application to the wooden stair 1, is of strip form and, in this example, is of 22 gauge (0.028 inches thick) galvanised mild steel sheet, which may be in the form of pressings. Said steel unit 9 consists of: a horizontal top cover plate 10 ; a rounded nose part 11 forwards of and integral with said top cover plate 10 ; a depending plate 12 integral with and below said rounded nose part 11 and having a vertical lower portion 12a and an upper portion 12b which slopes forwardly in an upward direction, and an upwardly- extending reinforcing plate 13 having an integral bottom flange 13a spot welded to the inner face of the portion 12b and having an integral top flange 13a spot welded to the underside of the top cover plate 10. The unit 9 has therein, spaced along the rear portion of the plate 10 and along the lower portion 12a, a plurality of dimples or depressions 14.

In order to instal the unit 9 in place on the stair 1, the unit 9 is applied to the stair 1 as shown in Figure 4, with the top plate 10 applied against the upwardly presented face of the wooden tread 2 and with the lower portion 12a applied against the wooden riser 3, and with the reinforcing plate 13 and the nose part 11 disposed forwards of the front edge of the tread 2. The unit 9, thus positioned, is then firmly secured to the stair by driving nails through the dimples or depressions 14. The dimples or depressions 14 are such that they cannot be pierced by unduly weak nails and are only piercable by nails of adequate strength for holding the unit 9 firmly in place on the stair. The penetration of the steel by the nails tends to form, out of the material of the unit 9, metal fangs which grip the wood and thus give additional security to the fixing.

When thus secured in place on the stair 1, the unit 9 constitutes a neat and robust cover for the worn part of the tread 2 and constitutes an effective and economical repair to the worn stair and improves the safety thereof. The unit 9 may remain in place permanently. No site preparation of the unit 9 is required, and a complete 13-step flight of wooden stairs can be fitted with such units in a time of the order of 2 hours. Because of the thinness of the metal plate 10, compared with the thickness of the plywood facings used in the hereinbeforementioned conventional method of repair, the increase in the effective height of the bottom step and the decrease in the effective height of the top step, in the case where a complete flight of stairs is fitted with units of the same construction as the unit 9, is insignificant.

The provision of the reinforcing plate 13 below the place where, in use, maximum load is applied is applied to the unit 9 by the feet of the users of the stair, enables a saving in material to be effected, in that it enables comparatively thin metal to be used for the unit.

In the unit 9 illustrated, the reinforcing plate 13 extends for the entire length of the unit, but if desired the plate 13 may, in the unit 9 as supplied, terminate short of the ends of the unit, whereby, if it is necessary to trim the unit to fit the stair by slightly shortening the unit, it will only be necessary to cut through the thickness of the parts 10, 11 and 12, without having to cut through the thickness of the part 13 also.

The unit 9 shown can be fitted to a narrow wooden tread whereby to increase the width available for treading upon, and thereby improve safety, without the creation of a weak overhang, the reinforcing part 13 being present at the place of maximum load.

Units of the construction shown can be fitted further back on some treads than on others, in order to correct for varying tread width, if such a variation in tread width is present. Hand pressure on appropriate parts of the unit is all that is needed if it is required to change, before fitting the unit to the stair, the distance by which the plane of the portion 12a is set forwards of the rear edge (shown at 1 0a) of the part 10. If desired it may be arranged that the reinforcing plate 13 engages the front edge of the tread 2, instead of being spaced forwards of said edge.

If a stair fitted with the unit 9 is shown is carpeted, the slight step between the rear edge 10a of the part 10 and the tread is insignificant or imperceptible.

The unit may be of any other suitable material. The material may be of any other suitable thickness.

If desired, there may be provided a metal bar which is of a cross-section conforming to the cross-section of a unit constructed in accordance with the present invention, and which can be divided transversely to provide thereby a plurality of such units.

Claims

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A metal cover unit for a wooden stair or step comprising a top cover part for securing against the upwardly-presented face of the tread of the stair or step; a depending part having a lower portion for securing against the riser of the stair or step and having an upper portion which slopes forwardly in an upwards direction; a nose part connecting said top cover part to said depending part; and an upwardly-extending reinforcing part which is disposed inwards of said nose part and connected at the top to said top cover part and at the bottom to said depending part, and which is for location against or forwards of the front edge of the said tread.

2. A metal cover unit, as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said reinforcing part is secured at the bottom to said forwardly- sloping upper portion of said depending part.

3. A metal cover unit, as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, wherein the top cover part is integral with the nose part and the nose part is integral with the depending part, and the reinforcing part is a plate secured to the top cover part and to the depending part.

4. A metal cover unit. as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the reinforcing plate is secured by welding to the top cover part and to the depending part.

5. A metal cover unit, as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the nose part is of rounded form.

6. A metal cover unit, as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said unit has therein dimples or depressions for receiving nails for securing the unit in place on the stair or step, with said dimples or depressions being such as to be pierceable only by nails of adequate strength for holding the unit firmly in place on the stair or step.

7. A metal bar of a construction such that said bar can be divided transversely to form thereby a plurality of cover units each of a construction set forth in one of the preceding claims.

8. A wooden stair or step having secured thereto a metal cover unit of a construction set forth in any one of Claims 1 to 6.

9. A metal cover unit substantially as herein described with reference Figures 3 and 4 of the accompanying drawings.

10. a wooden stair or step provided with a metal cover unit, substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1, 3 and 4 of the accompanying drawings.

11. A metal bar of a construction such that said bar can be divided transversely to form thereby a plurality of metal cover units each of a construction in accordance with Claim 9.

12. A method of repairing an existing worn wooden stair or step comprising securing to said stair or step a metal cover unit of a construction set forth in any one of Claims 1 to 6 or 9.