GB2133070A - A scaffold fitting - Google Patents

Abstract

A scaffold fitting for supporting the normally sloping load-bearing tubes of a scaffold structure. The fitting comprises a T-piece (12), the head (11), of which is able freely to swivel, in a captive manner by means of retaining members (9,10) on a base plate (8) forming a base for bearing on a supporting surface. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A scaffold fitting The present invention relates to a scaffold fitting.

When constructing a scaffolding structure it is common practice to rest the ends of the loadcarrying sloping tubes of the structure on the ground or against an appropriate supporting surface, and then holding such a sloping tube in the angled position by lacing tubes.

In such condition, high eccentric and bearing (crushing) loads are produced, and there exists no reliable method of ascertaining the true safe working load for the tube, other than by a designer actually inspecting each individual case and then making appropriate calculations.

It is an object of the invention to obviate the disadvantages of the prior art.

According to the invention there is provided a scaffold fitting comprising a base for bearing on a supporting surface, and a scaffolding support piece swivelable on the base.

In this arrangement, the support piece, for example a scaffold tube or receiving stem therefor, can be laced into a sloping position with the base on a suitable support surface such as the ground, the tube then forming a fully load-bearing member of known capacity, effective for any angle of inclination within 0 to i900 from a vertical position of the scaffold piece with respect to the base.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following which is a description of a preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein: Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of part of a scaffolding structure showing current practice in the field to which the invention relates and including a detail of the manner in which a loadbearing sloping tube of the structure is laced in position; Figure 2 is a schematic view of part of a scaffolding structure using the fitting of the invention; Figure 3 is a front view of the scaffolding fitting of the Invention; Figure 4 is a side view of the fitting of Figure 3 along the line A-A; Figure 5 is a plan view of the fitting of Figure 3 along the line B-B;; Figure 6 is a view along the line C-C of Figure 5 with the T-head omitted for clarity; and Figure 7 is a front view of a fitting according to another embodiment of the invention.

The manner in which a sloping load-bearing scaffolding tube is presently positioned in a scaffolding structure, is shown in Figure 1, and particularly In the detail of that figure.

In short, current practice is simply to place a loaded tube 1 to the required angle between a supporting surface G, such as ground, and another supporting surface such as a wall W, and hold it in this position using the lacing tubes 2, vkith an edge 3 of the end D of the tube 1, bearing directly on the ground G, and similarly with respect to the other end of tube 1, bearing on wall W.

This is unsatisfactory and leads to the settingup of high eccentric and bearing loads on the member. There is also placed a constraint on the ability to calculate the true safe working load for a scaffold tube used in this key position in a scaffolding structure.

The present invention relates to this problem, and is best illustrated by first making reference to Figure 7, showing the fitting of the invention in a basic form.

It comprises a tubular T-piece 4, the head 5 of which can swivel freely in a captive manner in a pair of spaced tubular sections 6 welded to a rectangular base plate 7, provided with securing holes 7'. The T-piece may be made out of ordinary scaffold tubing.

The base plate 7 forms a footing for bearing on a supporting surface, such as ground, and in use the stem 8 of the T-piece 4 is connected by a conventional scaffold sleeve coupling C to the main scaffolding tube 1 forming the load-bearing member (shown in dotted outline), the support surfaces in this example being, at one end, the ground G, and at the other, the wall W of an adjacent building.

With this arrangement the load-bearing capacity of the load-bearing member 1 may be calculated, and this means that the safety factor of a scaffolding structure using the fitting, is improved over that constructed according to present techniques.

A refined version of the fitting according to the invention is shown in Figures 3 to 6. This consists of a rectangular base plate 8, along the longitudinal axis of which are welded three abutting tubular sections, 9 and 10, the middle section 10, being cut down to form merely a segment in section as shown in Figure 6.

Together the sections 9, 10 form a continuous enclosed bearing head for captively receiving the head portion 11 of a tubular T-piece 12, in such a way that the T-piece is able freely to swivel on the base plate 8.

The other arm or stem portion 13 of the T-piece 12 carries a receiving socket 14, attached thereto as by welding, for a standard scaffolding tube (not shown).

One wall of the socket 14 is drilled through, and a nut 1 5 is welded to the wall of the socket 14, so that the axes of the nut 1 5 and the drilling are in alignment. The nut 1 5 carries a free turning captive bolt 16, which can be operated by a standard scaffold spanner.

The arm or stem 13 of the T-piece 12, may be held at any angle with respect to the plane of the base plate 8 within the range 0 to 1 800.

In order to accomplish this, one end of the head portion 11 of T-piece 12, is capped by means of a plate 17 as, similarly, by means of plate 18, is the adjacent end of the tubular section 9.

The plate 1 8 is drilled through and a nut 1 9 is welded over this drilling so that their respective axes are in alignment.

The nut 19 carries a captive bolt 20 which can be actuated by a standard scaffold spanner to bear against the plate 1 7 to form an effective means for locking the T-piece in any desired position throughout its swivelable movement.

In use, a scaffold tube, for forming a loadbearing sloping tube member of a scaffolding structure, is received by the socket 14 and locked therein by operating the bolt 1 6.

At the chosen slope for the load-bearing tube, the bolt 20 is tightened against the plate 1 7 to maintain the fitting in position.

The sloping tube is then rapidly laced to the rest of the scaffolding structure, forming thereby a fully load-bearing member of known capacity and effective for any angle of inclination, theoretically 0 to 1 800 as typified in Figure 4.

The scaffold fitting as described fulfils a need in the scaffolding industry, and can be used in both raking-shore and flying-shore applications. It also requires no specialist manufacturing techniques employing existing scaffolding items where possible, and is therefore, relatively speaking, cheap to construct.

Claims (6)

1. A scaffold fitting comprising a base for bearing on a supporting surface, and a scaffolding support piece swivable on the base.

2. A fitting as claimed in claim 1 wherein the support piece is in the form of a tubular T-piece, the head of which is captively held to the base by means which enable said head to freely swivel thereon.

3. A fitting as claimed in claim 2 wherein said captively holding means comprises a pair of spaced tubular elements attached to the base.

4. A fitting as claimed in claim 3 wherein the end of one of said spaced tubular elements is capped, this capping being drilled to carry a threaded bolt, actuable in the drilling to bear against one end of the head of said T-piece thereby to enable the T-piece to be retained in selected swivelled positions on said base.

5. A fitting as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 4 wherein the stem of the T-piece terminates in a socket portion for receiving a scaffold tube, the socket portion being provided with means for retaining the scaffold tube therein.

6. A scaffold fitting substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.