GB2070185A

GB2070185A - Scaffold joints: supporting planking: bracing

Info

Publication number: GB2070185A
Application number: GB8104911A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1980-02-22
Filing date: 1981-02-17
Publication date: 1981-09-03
Also published as: GB2070185B

Abstract

Ledgers or transoms 12 have slots 15 in their ends for engaging over upwardly directed, wedge- shaped spigots 14 on the standards 10. Captive wedges 20 in the slots lock the ledgers or transoms to the spigots. The braces 13 pivotally carry slotted members 16 at each end for engaging the spigots. Planking may be supported (a) on brackets 26, 27 which have slots in an upright part 31 for engaging spigots 14; (b) on transom frames 36, 40 which are connected to the spigots 14 and have parts 39, 40 resting on ledgers 12; (c) on horizontal flanges of transoms 41. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Scaffold arrangement THIS INVENTION relates to improved scaffolding.

At present many types of scaffold frames are available including conventional frames utilising separate connector members adapted to join frame components together at any position along the components and frames provided with spaced intermediate connectors whereby the scaffold can be slatted together very quickly. While such devices work efficiently, they are sometimes over-complicated and are prone to damage during dismantling, as the separate components are often exposed and vulnerable, and are not always extremely robust.

The present invention aims to overcome such disadvantages and to provide a scaffold frame assembly and components therefor which will be efficient and reliable in use and quick to assemble and dismantle. Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, this invention resides broadly in a connector assembly for making a releasable connection to an upright scaffold standard, said connector assembly including a spigot assembly having a supporting portion fixed to said standard and supporting an upwardly extending spigot member spaced outwardly from said standard and a housing constituting the terminating portion of the member to be connected to said standard and having therein a socket to accommodate said spigot member and there being provided releasable clamping means associated with said housing and adapted to be actuated to clamp said housing about said spigot member.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a practical embodiment of the invention and wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view of a scaffold frame assembly made in accordance with the present invention: Figure 2 is a perspective view of the connecting end arrangement of a ledger according to the present invention; Figure 3 illustrates collectively in plan and in cross-sectional views the connecting end arrangement of a ledger made in accordance with this invention; Figure 4 illustrates the diagonal brace made in accordance with the present invention; Figure 5 illustrates collectively various standards for use with the present invention; Figure 6 illustrates in detail the spigot members of the standards; and Figure 7 is a perspective view of a hopper bracket in accordance with the present invention.

As illustrated a typical scaffold frame 9 comprises standards 10, supported on adjustable feet 11 and interconnected by upper and lower horizontally extending ledgers 1 2 and diagonal braces 13. Each standard 10 is provided at spaced intervals therealong with a set of plate-like upwardly tapering spigot members 1 4 which are each adapted to be engaged in complementary end sockets 1 5 provided internally at the respective ends of the ledger 1 2. The diagonal braces 1 3 are likewise connected between a respective lowermost and an intermediate spigot 1 4.

As shown in Fig. 4, the diagonal braces 1 3 are provided with end connector members 1 6 which are formed from tubular members slotted at 15a as per the ends of the braces 1 3 and the housings are connected at right angles to the braces by means of a central pinned connection 1 7 whereby the connector members 1 6 may pivot for alignment with the respective spigots 14. These aforementioned components form the basic scaffold structure to which additional members may be connected for selected purposes.

Each socket 1 5 at the end of the ledgers and the braces 1 3 has a constant crosssectional configuration and a wedge member 20 extends there-through and is maintained therein by a retaining pin 25 secured in the slot and passing freely through an elongate cutout 1 8 arranged centrally within the wedge member 20.The back face 1 9 of the wedge 20 is maintained substantially parallel to the face 21 at the back of the socket 15, while the front face 22 of the wedge is spaced from the face 23 at the front of the socket and tapers towards its lower end transverse to the longitudinal direction of the ledger 1 2 and complementary to the outer tapering face 24 of the spigot members 14 whereby is use, the faces 22 and 24 are maintained in edge to edge abutting relationship.

The connection between the ledgers 1 2 and the standards 10 is made by lifting the wedge 20 to open the underside of the respective socket 1 5 sufficiently to enable it to be passed over a spigot 14, whereafter the wedge 20 is driven downwards to clamp the ledgers securely to the spigot 1 4.

After the basic scaffold structure has been erected, it may be adapted to support working planks and the like, as desired, and for this purpose hopper brackets 26 are adapted to be connected to the standards to support planks at the desired level. These brackets 26 may be either single brackets or double brackets and additionally, a joining bracket 27 is provided to enable abutting planks to be supported with their abutting ends adjacent a standard and with each plank supported by a respective one of the spaced side bars 28 at either side of the central bar 29, the plank being retained in its operative position by retaining lugs 30.

The hopper bracket 26 as shown in Fig. 7 is in the form of a right-angled bracket including an upright member 31, which is tubular and which is apertured at 32 adjacent its upper and lower end to receive adjacent spigot members 14. The diagonal braces 33 of each hopper bracket supports a toggle pin 34 to enable a tie bar 35 to be interconnected between respective hoppers for the purpose of increasing the stability of the hopper brackets 26. These brackets 26 enable planks to be supported at the selected elevated position at one side of the scaffold frame, so that the frame may be supported in spaced relationship with the side of a building.Furthermore, if desired, securing flanges 45 may be affixed to the upright member 31 to pass rearwardly thereof and about the standard, so that a locking pin can be passed through the aperture 46 in the outer ends thereof to lock the hopper bracket to the standard.

If planks are to be supported intermediate the ledgers 12, then reinforcing transom brackets 36 and 37 are utilised to spread the load supported by the planks onto a plurality of members to reduce the point loading of the apparatus. As shown, these transom brackets 36 and 37 include a single transom bracket 37 which comprises a main member 38 and a subsidiary member 39, which extends parallel to the main member 38, the latter being slotted at its opposite ends for operative connection to the spigot members 14 of the respective standard in the aforementioned manner, while the ends of the subsidiary member 39 are adapted to overlie the adjacent ledger 1 2 to spread support loads partly onto these ledgers.The double transom bracket 36 as shown incorporates two subsidiary rails 40 the respective ends of which are adapted to overlie the ledgers at opposite sides of the standards to which the main member 38a is connected, and thus the loading taken by the double transom bracket 36 is spread onto the ledgers at each side of the standard and onto the standard itself through the respective connecting brackets 14.

A special transom bracket 41 may be substituted for any one of the ledgers 1 2 for supporting planks between respective pairs of standards 10. Such transom brackets 41 comprise a tubular ledger 1 2 with angle iron brackets, 35 welded thereto at either side thereof and arranged with their lower flanges extending horizontally away from the tubular ledger 1 2 to form edge supports at either side thereof for planking cut to the standard bay lengths of the scaffold.

It will be seen that in the construction of the present invention the components for the scaffold will be relatively inexpensive to manufacture. For example, the cam faces 22 and 24 on both the ledgers and the standards are formed directly onto flat plate members and the sockets 1 5 have a constant cross-sectional configuration throughout their length to further reduce construction costs. In use, the locking together of the components is accomplished without coaction between the end faces 43 of the ledger and the actual standard so that the end faces 43 of the ledgers do not have to be oval shaped, for example, to conform to a particular diameter of standard.

Of course, for this purpose the thickness of the end cap 42 is less than the width of the gap 43 between the spigot 14 and the standard 10.

Additionally, during dismantling the ledgers 1 2 and standards 10 are frequently dropped onto the ground as dismantling progresses. As the socketed members, in this invention, the ledgers are formed with the sockets disposed inwardly of their ends and wholly concealed internally thereof, resultant damage is avoided, as opposed to alternate prior art constructions. Similarly, the standards with their solid spigot members 14 securely welded thereto are inherently robust.

It will of course be realised that while the above has been given by way of illustrative example of the use and advantages of the present invention, it is not exhaustive in description to detail construction and possible modifications as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art, and it is to be realised that all such modifications and variations fall within the broad scope and ambit of the invention as is defined in the appended

Claims

claims. CLAIMS

1. A connector assembly for making a releasable connection to an upright scaffold standard, said connector assembly including a spigot assembly having a supporting portion fixed to said standard and supporting an upwardly extending spigot member spaced outwardly from said standard and a housing constituting the terminating portion of the member to be connected to said standard and having therein a socket to accommodate said spigot member and there being provided releasable clamping means associated with said housing and adapted to be actuated to clamp said housing about said spigot member.

2. A connector assembly according to Claim 1, wherein the outer face of said spigot member is inclined upwardly towards said standard and said clamping means includes a wedge adapted to be supported in said socket outwardly of said spigot and in edge-abutting relationship with said outer face.

3. A connector assembly according to Claim 2, wherein said socket. has a constant cross-sectional configuration throughout its length and is adapted to closely accommodate the side faces of said spigot member.

4. A connector assembly according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said member to be connected to said standard is a tubular member and said housing is constituted by the end portion of said member, said socket extending transversely through said end portion.

5. A connector assembly according to any one of Claims 1, 2 or 3, wherein said housing is connected pivotally to said member for rotation about an axis perpendicular to the axis of said member.

6. A connector assembly according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said wedge is held captive in said socket by means of a pin held captive in said socket, and passing through a longitudinal slot in said wedge.

7. A connector assembly according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said spigot assembly is a plate like member, and wherein the inner face of said spigot member extends parallel to said standard.

8. A scaffold standard assembly including a strut and a plurality of sets of spigot members arranged at intervals therealong, each said set of spigot members including at least two spigot members spaced circumferentially around said strut and in vertical aiignment with adjacent sets of spigot members and each said spigot member being adapted to be connected to a housing to form a connector assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims.

9. A scaffold standard according to Claim 8, wherein there are provided four spigot members in each said set of spigot members arranged in equally spaced relationship around said strut, the latter being provided with adjustable feet whereby the height of said strut above the ground may be selectively varied.

10. A scaffold ledger having at each end thereof a socket to receive a selected spigot member of a standard as defined in Claim 8, and there being provided clamping means operatively associated with said socket the latter being as defined in any one of Claims 1 to 7.

11. A hopper bracket for supporting a plank on a standard as claimed in Claim 8 or 9, including a slotted connector member adapted in use to lie alongside said standard and being secured thereto by a respective pair of said vertically aligned spigot members which extend into upper and lower slots in said connector member, the latter having fixedly secured thereto a supporting bracket adapted to extend horizontally in use to support said plank.

1 2. A transom bracket for scaffolding including a first member adapted to extend between and to be releasably connected to a pair of spaced standards of a scaffold structure, and a second member connected in spaced relationship to said first member and adapted to extend at each end beyond said studs to rest upon ledgers extending between standards at right angles to said first and second members.

1 3. A transom bracket as claimed in Claim 12, wherein the ends of said first member are provided with sockets as defied in Claim 4.

1 4. A scaffold assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 5. A connector assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.