GB2381011A

GB2381011A - Fence panel

Info

Publication number: GB2381011A
Application number: GB0125046A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Philip Wolstenbolme; Russell Parr
Original assignee: Heras Fencing Systems UK Ltd
Current assignee: Heras Fencing Systems UK Ltd
Priority date: 2001-10-18
Filing date: 2001-10-18
Publication date: 2003-04-23
Anticipated expiration: 2021-10-18
Also published as: GB0125046D0; GB2381011B

Abstract

A fence 10 comprises two vertical members 15, 16, two horizontal members 12, 13 and connectors 20, 21, 22, 23, a panel 25 and two concrete supports 27, 28. Figure 5 (not shown) demonstrates a strengthening means 85, 87, 89 may be disposed between the two bores of the connector. Figure 3 shows that each bore 30, 40 may include a rib 32, 42, to act as a locating means for the engaging vertical or horizontal members which include corresponding grooves 18. Ideally, the horizontal and vertical members are secured to the connecting member by adhesive.

Description

Fencing Panel The present invention relates to fence panels, in particular for temporary fences.

Building sites often require fences to be erected to stop unauthorised access to a dangerous area. The fence surrounding such a building site will seldom be required when the building work is finished; these temporary fences will be replaced by permanent fencing if needed.

Temporary fences are often constructed from prefabricated sections. A known section comprises two horizontal tubular members, and two vertical tubular members, forming a generally rectangular shape. A rectangular planar panel is secured upon the tubular members. The two vertical members extend downwards past the region where the lowermost horizontal member is secured to them, to form two legs, each of which is inserted into a hole of a concrete block, thereby holding the fence section upright.

Such temporary fence sections are placed approximately abutting around the perimeter of the area to be enclosed, and then joined in some fashion.

Usually, at least one of the sections is adapted for use as a door, so that the section may pivot upon one leg, whilst the other leg is unsecured.

Galvanised steel is commonly used for the tubular members. They are joined into their rectangular shape by welding the ends of the horizontal tubular members to the sides of the vertical tubular members. The vertical tubular members extend in one direction to form legs, and may also extend in the opposite direction where they may be topped, for example by barbed wire, when the temporary fence section is erected.

The process of welding destroys the galvanised coating on the steel in the welded region, making the regions where the tubular members are joined vulnerable to corrosion. Alternatively, rather than welding the galvanised tubular members, ungalvanised tubular members may be welded, and the entire frame galvanised after welding. Galvanising an entire frame is much more cumbersome and difficult than galvanising lengths of tube.

The joint between the vertical tubular members and the horizontal tubular members is also relatively weak, as a straight cut end of a horizontal tubular member only meets a curved side of a vertical tubular member at an upper point and a lower point of the end of the horizontal tubular member.

In order to increase the contact area between the horizontal tubular members and the vertical tubular members, it is known to cut the ends of the horizontal tubular members in a curved manner, so that, when viewed in plan, the ends of the horizontal tubular members have a curvature similar to that of the cross section of the vertical tubular members. The mechanical strength of the joint is increased, but the process of joining is slow, and still damages the galvanised coating.

The object of the present invention is to provide a effective temporary fence section which is convenient and efficient to construct.

According to the present invention there is provided a temporary fence section comprising at least two substantially vertical longitudinal members at least two substantially horizontal longitudinal members

connecting means spacing said vertical longitudinal members and horizontal longitudinal members in a substantially rectangular arrangement a panel member between said vertical longitudinal members and horizontal longitudinal members and a support means said connecting means including at least one connecting member having a bore to securely receive one of the vertical longitudinal members and a bore to securely receive one of the horizontal longitudinal members.

Preferably said connecting means is formed in at least two discrete parts, such that at least one of the bores is divided substantially along its longitudinal axis between the two parts.

Preferably one or both of the bores includes a projection, and one or both of the engaging longitudinal members includes a corresponding groove.

Preferably one of the bores has two open ends and extends through the connecting member. The longitudinal members may be secured to the connecting member by adhesive.

The panel member preferably engages with the longitudinal members' groove. The longitudinal members may include an outer convex surface, an inner concave surface, an inner convex surface and an outer concave surface.

Preferably the connecting member includes an aperture communicating with one or both bores, such that a flowable adhesive may be injected between the inner surface of the bore and the outer surface of the longitudinal member.

Further, the bore may include a guiding means for urging the adhesive to contact a

large area and/or encompass the circumference of the tubular member. This guiding means may be helical.

The connector may include strengthening means disposed between its two bores.

It will be seen that such a temporary fence section is easy to construct, and since the tubular members need not be joined by welding, the galvanisation or other coating is not damaged.

A temporary fence section embodying the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a front elevation of a temporary fence section; Figure 2 shows a cross section of a tubular longitudinal member and part of the panel; Figure 3 shows a perspective view of a connector and part of a tubular longitudinal member; Figure 4 shows a perspective view of another embodiment of a connector; Figure 5 shows a perspective view of a further embodiment of a connector; and Figure 6 shows a perspective view of part of another embodiment of the tubular member.

Referring to Figure 1, the temporary fencing section 10 comprises two horizontal tubular longitudinal members 12,13, and two vertical tubular longitudinal members 15,16 arranged in a generally rectangular frame, connecting

means comprising four connecting members or connectors 20,21, 22,23 securing the tubular members, a panel 25 in the frame, and two concrete supports 27,28.

The connector is injection moulded in one piece in a high performance polymer material. Referring to figure 3, each connector 20 has a bore 30 running through it which accommodates a vertical tubular member 15, and a blind bore 40 set perpendicularly to the through bore 30, the blind bore receiving the end of a horizontal tubular member (not here shown). The tubular members are galvanised steel (though it will be appreciated that other materials may be used). The connector includes two buttresses 46,47 between the cylinder of the through bore and the cylinder of the blind bore to strengthen the connector and the fence section.

Both bores 30,40 include straight locating ribs 32,42 extending along their inner surfaces. The vertical tubular members 15 and the horizontal tubular members have corresponding grooves 18 running axially along their entire length.

To construct the frame of the fence section, a vertical tubular member is threaded through two connectors, the grooves of the tubular member engaging the rib on the inner surface of the through bore.

Both the through bore 30 and the blind bore 40 include apertures 34,44, these apertures being through the full thickness of the wall of each bore. Each bore also include a helical rib 35,45, this helical rib being shorter than the locating rib 32,42, so that the tubular members fit snugly in the bores, with each helical ribs touching or nearly touching the surface of the tubular member around its entire circumference (the continuance of helical rib 45 along the bore is shown with a dotted line; 35 is not shown). At an appropriate height, the connectors are fixed by injecting an adhesive through the through bore's aperture. The adhesive is urged around the circumference of the vertical tubular member, guided by the helical rib. A suitable adhesive could be an epoxy resin or similarly highly bonding adhesive.

This process is repeated with the other vertical tubular member. The panel is attached to the horizontal tubular members at around this time, but the details of its attachment are described below.

The uppermost horizontal tubular member is inserted into the blind bore of the uppermost connector of one of the vertical tubular members, again the locating rib of the blind bore engaging with the groove of the tubular member.

This is repeated with the lowermost horizontal tubular member. The free ends of both horizontal tubular members are inserted into the blind bores of the other vertical tubular member in the same way to complete the rectangular arrangement of the frame. The ends of the horizontal tubular members are secured in the connectors by injecting adhesive through the blind bores'apertures. Again, the helical ribs urge the adhesive around the circumference of the tubular members to ensure a secure attachment.

The panel 25 comprises a mesh of stiff wire; two arrays of parallel, equidistantly spaced wires being set perpendicularly to create a rectangular shape similar to that of the frame. Referring to Figure 2, the mesh 50 is slid into the horizontal tubular members'grooves 19 (only the uppermost region here being shown), the uppermost 51 and lowermost horizontal wires of the mesh being inserted into the open ends of the horizontal tubular members during the process of constructing the frame described above. The uppermost wire and the portions of the vertical wires 52 to which the uppermost wire is joined together create a thickening, so that the uppermost wire is constrained in the horizontal tubular member. The lowermost horizontal wire is similarly constrained. The panel could be similarly secured to the vertical tubular members.

Referring to figure 4, the vertical bore 30 and the blind bore 40 may include grooves 70, 71, which allow the mesh to extend through the walls of the bores and engage with the tubular members'grooves 18,19 as described with

reference to Figure 2. The mesh panel may then extend over the entire area defined by the tubular members. The lower buttress may also be divided into to parts 66,67 to allow the mesh to extend though the connector. The upper buttress 47 remains undivided.

In this embodiment, a short locating rib may be provided towards the end of the vertical bore 30, a similar rib being provided in the blind bore 40.

Alternatively, a divided rib, formed from two inwardly extending lips, could be provided along the grooves 70, 71, such that the lips engage the grooves of the tubular members, but allow the mesh to extend therebetween.

This embodiment also shows the apertures 34,44 both having their openings upon a flat raised member 75, which allows a single label to be applied over both apertures after the adhesive has been introduced to the connector.

Referring to figure 5, the connector 20 may be formed in two halves, 81, 82.

Each connector half includes opposing buttresses 85,87, 89, the lower buttresses having blind holes (only one blind hole 86 can be seen here), and the upper buttresses 87,89 having corresponding locating lugs (not visible here), such that the two halves may be conveniently positioned together. A suitable adhesive is applied on the inner surfaces of the two halves 81,82 of the connector, the horizontal and vertical tubular (not here shown) members are positioned in one of the connector halves, and then the remaining connector half is positioned until it engages with its corresponding half. The ends of the vertical and horizontal tubular members are now contained in the connector, and are secured as the adhesive cures, bonding the inner surface of the connector with the outer surfaces of the ends of the horizontal and vertical tubular members. Rather than adhesive, other methods, such as some type of plastic deformation, could be used to join the two parts of the connector, and to secure the tubular members in the connector.

Referring to figure 6, the horizontal and vertical tubular members may comprise a form 95 having a hollow'c'shape section, formed from a circular section tube which is then deformed so as to present a substantially cylindrical outer face 97, and feature a groove 98 with which to secure the mesh, but possess continuous outer and inner surfaces 100, 101. The section of the tubular member thus includes an outer convex surface 110, an inner concave surface 111, an inner convex surface 112 and an outer concave surface 113. Such a form is stiffer than the tubular members described above (i. e. formed from a tube having a groove cut through it), and is particularly good at resisting torsional forces about the longitudinal axis of the form.

The precise form of the connectors may be varied in many ways. It will be seen that features of different embodiments described here could be combined to produce further embodiments. Other forms of aperture and internal urging patterns could be supplied to receive the injected glue, which may additionally be advantageously urged over a larger area.

The tubular members could, additionally or alternatively, be secured in the connectors by mechanically engaging components, such as grub screws tightened through apertures in the connectors'bore walls gripping the tubular members.

Rather than strictly tubular members, other members, such as solid members and non-cylindrical members could be used to form the longitudinal members.

Various types of panels could be fitted in the frame, for example a planar sheet. It may be secured in the groove of the tubular members by thickened edges, or secured to the frame (including securement to the connectors) by other means.

The grooves of the tubular members need only extend along the entire length if a panel is to be fixed in the groove. If the panel is to be fitted by other means, the groove need not be through the entire wall of the tubular members.

For such partial depth or partially extending grooves, more than one groove (and corresponding rib in the receiving bore) may be provided.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A temporary fence section comprising at least two substantially vertical longitudinal members at least two substantially horizontal longitudinal members connecting means spacing said vertical longitudinal members and horizontal longitudinal members in a substantially rectangular arrangement a panel member between said vertical longitudinal members and horizontal longitudinal members and a support means, said connecting means including at least one connecting member having a bore to securely receive one of the vertical longitudinal members and a bore to securely receive one of the horizontal longitudinal members.
2. A temporary fence section according to claim 1 wherein said connecting means is formed in at least two discrete parts, such that at least one of the bores is divided substantially along its longitudinal axis between the two parts.
3. A temporary fence section according to either claim 1 or claim 2 wherein one or both of the bores includes a projection, and one or both of the engaging longitudinal members includes a corresponding groove.

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4. A temporary fence section according to any previous claim wherein one of the bores has two open ends and extends through the connecting member.
5. A temporary fence section according to any previous claim wherein the longitudinal members are secured to the connecting member by adhesive.
6. A temporary fence section according to any previous claim wherein the connecting member includes an aperture communicating with one or both bores, such that a flowable adhesive may be injected between the inner surface of the bore and the outer surface of the longitudinal member.
7. A temporary fence section according to claim 6 wherein the bore includes a guiding means for urging the adhesive to contact a large area and/or encompass the circumference of the longitudinal member.
8. A temporary fence section according to any of claims 3 to 7, wherein the panel member engages with the longitudinal members'groove.
9. A temporary fence section according to any of claims 3 to 8, wherein the section of the longitudinal members includes an outer convex surface, an inner concave surface, an inner convex surface and an outer concave surface.
10. A temporary fence section according to any previous claim, wherein the connector includes strengthening means disposed between its two bores.
11. A temporary fence section according to any previous claim, wherein one or both bores of the connecting means includes a groove through which a part of the panel member may extend.

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12. A temporary fence section according to claim 10 and claim 11, wherein the strengthening means includes a groove through which a part of the panel member may extend.
13. A connecting member according to any previous claim.
14. A temporary fence section substantially as herein described and illustrated.
15. A connecting member substantially as herein described and illustrated.
16. Any novel and inventive feature or combination of features specifically disclosed herein within the meaning of Article 4H of the International Convention (Paris Convention).