GB2382598A

GB2382598A - A construction formed from a plurality of plastic elongate members

Info

Publication number: GB2382598A
Application number: GB0224734A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Barry Inman; Anthony John Michael Jurkiw
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-11-30
Filing date: 2002-10-24
Publication date: 2003-06-04
Anticipated expiration: 2022-10-24
Also published as: GB0224734D0; GB0128650D0; GB2382598B

Abstract

A construction suitable for flooring, decking or walling comprises a plurality of elongate members 2, 2', which are mutually engageable and also engageable with a support means 26 on which they are located. Each member is formed from an extruded plastic material, such as high density polyethylene (HDPE) and has engagement means along opposing elongate edges so that adjacent members may be connected. Each member further comprises a location formation 24 such as a T-shaped slot, which facilitates connection to the support means, via a complementary location member (28, Fig 4A). The members 2, 2' may have internal ribs which define longitudinal channels 14. A sealing layer (20, Fig 1) may be provided between the members. A non-slip layer may also be provided on the upper surface of the members. The construction may be a load bearing floor for a vehicle trailer 35.

Description

Construction and Elongate Members therefor The current invention which is the subject of this application relates to the use of plastics material to form various forms of construction elements. The use of the plastics material replaces conventional materials such as concrete, wood, metal or such like, without altering and indeed enhancing the performance of the construction elements.

Conventionally many elements used in construction such as floor beams, doors, lintels, storage areas, to name a few, have been manufactured by using elements made from natural material such as wood or metal. Recent developments have meant that certain elements, such as lintels, have been manufactured from concrete, but even in these instances disadvantages are found in that the concrete can crack and the elements manufactured can be extremely heavy. Up to the present date plastics material has not been used to any great extent in the manufacture of construction elements which can be used independently; as part of a construction, or can be used in combination to form a construction.

The use of plastics material to form elongate members which, in combination can be used to form the floor, doors or walls of a goods storage area, is known. These elements have been found to be at least as strong as the conventional flooring elements such as wood and also to have the advantages of being able to be cleaned more easily than wood and hence the use of plastics material represents improvements in hygiene and allows ease of cleaning and repeated use.

One aim of the present invention is to provide further improvements to the use of components in the form of extruded lengths of plastics material to form a construction in the form of flooring, decking and/or walls and a further aim is to provide a wider range of possible

uses to which the plastic material can be put to provide construction elements which can be used independently or in combination to achieve at least the level of performance as currently achieved using conventional materials.

The present invention provides a construction formed from a combination of elongate members in mutual relationship in contact with support means, said elongate members manufactured from plastics material and provided with location means formed therein to allow engagement with the support means and wherein said elongate members are formed with engagement means along opposing elongate edges of the same such that a series of the elongate members with the elongate edges engaged and located with the support means form the construction.

In one embodiment one elongate side edge of the elongate member is provided with a first form of engagement means and the opposing side edge of the elongate member is provided with a second form of engagement means. Typically a male engagement means is provided along one side of the elongate member and a female engagement means is provided along an opposing side edge of the elongate member such that when the elongate members are brought into side by side arrangement to form part of the construction the female and male engagement means are engaged by the side by side location of the two adjacent elongate means.

In a further embodiment at least one of the engagement means is provided with a sealing layer to seal the join between adjacent components. In one embodiment the sealing layer is formed as an integral part of the member and in one embodiment two layers are extruded at locations on one of the side edges. Alternatively, the sealing layer is a separate strip positioned between the edges of the

adjacent members prior to engagement of the same.

In one embodiment the elongate elements are extruded with a top surface, a spaced bottom surface and side edges and a series of internal strengthening ribs are disposed between the top and bottom surfaces and pass along the length of the element. Said strengthening ribs are typically formed in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the elongate member. In addition to the internal strengthening ribs, reinforcing struts can be placed into the longitudinal channels defined between the strengthening ribs to further strengthen the elongate member and improve the load bearing capacity of the construction.

When the elongate members are used to form load bearing surfaces the profile of the components preferably has a width to height ratio of greater than 2: 1.

The construction can, in one embodiment, include at least one surface with slip controlling or non-slip material to improve the control of slip of items placed thereon and thereby improve the safety. Thus the construction characteristics can be tailored to specific requirements. The non-slip material can, in one embodiment, be included as part of the material which forms the elongate member so that even if a surface of the same is scraped or cut or otherwise removed, the required non-slip characteristics will still be obtained as the non-slip material passes all the way through the elongate member.

Preferably the elongate member is extruded to the required length with the engagement means formed therein.

The sealing layers, and/or reinforcing struts can be coextruded with the plastics material.

In one embodiment the elongate member is provided with a ridged surface or surfaces which are created following extrusion of the component by running a roller along the same to produce the required formation.

The plastics material used is preferably a load bearing thermoplastics material such as High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). Typically the HDPE used to give the preferred effect is a Class 3 High Density Catalyst HDPE which also contains a filler to increase the modulus of the plastics material. In one embodiment the filler is in the form of talcum powder in a preferred range of 25-35% and yet more preferably 30%. The plastics has a preferred melt index of between 0.5 to 1.0. A plastics material of this form is manufactured by Dow Chemical Corporation In a further aspect of the invention there is provided an elongate member for use to form at least part of a construction as herein described wherein the member is manufactured from extruded plastics material with a top surface, a spaced bottom surface, elongate side edges spacing the top and bottom surface and a series of internal strengthening ribs disposed between the top and bottom surfaces and running parallel with the side edges.

Typically blocks can be provided as part of the support means which may be used independently or in conjunction with the elongate members and to connect elongate members together to form the construction in question.

Preferably, the component is provided with at least one location formation which allows the component to be secured to one or a number of construction support means which in combination may form a frame. This allows the members to be secured to the support

means to form the construction such as a floor and for the component to be held in the required position. In one embodiment the location formation is a T-section slot and the members are rotatable bolts with a formation shaped to be moved between an engaged and disengaged position.

While the elongate members are most preferably used to form a construction such as a load bearing floor for a vehicle trailer they can also be used in combination to form trailer doors, sliding doors, roller shutter doors, pallets, scaffolding boards, vegetable boxes, folding boxes, patio flooring, patio blinds, vehicle trailer or truck floors, ship decking, fences, market stalls, dock jettys, patio and canteen benches, refrigerated trailers, mezzanine floors, or as integral parts of shelving, crash barriers, portable cabins and stairs.

When the elongate members are used in conjunction to form a construction, the engagement means allow the same to be held together, typically in conjunction with conventional components for fixing. When used to form a pallet the elongate elements can be used to form the load bearing surfaces with plastic blocks used to separate and displace the load bearing faces.

The use of plastics material to form these elongate members as so described allows raw materials to be saved and conserved which is an increasingly important feature, the members are also more hygienic and easily cleanable. This allows materials to be stored and used in constructions which previously was not possible due to hygiene, handling or other difficulties. The elongate member can include and be extruded with anti-bacterial chemicals included.

Typically the plastics components are extruded and it has been found that plastics extrusion machines having a single screw with a weight of

approximately 2kg per linear metre are particularly well suited.

Specific embodiments of components according to the invention are now described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein; Figure 1 illustrates an end elevation of a cross sectional elevation of one of the elongate members of the invention; Figure 2 illustrates an elongate member in position with a construction frame; Figures 3A and B illustrate a series of elongate members with support means in accordance with a constructiop in one embodiment of the invention; and Figures 4A and B and 5 illustrate the elongate member, support means and location member locating the same together.

Referring firstly to Figure 1, there is shown an end elevation illustrating one possible profile of an elongate member according to the invention. The members are provided for use in combination with other like for forming, for example, floors for vehicle trailers, trucks or ship decking. Each member 2 is formed from extruded plastics material and formed with a top surface 4, bottom surface 6, elongate side edges 8 which have formed therein engagement means

10', 10"and end faces 11. Each member has along one side edge a female engagement means 1 0', and along the opposing side edge 8 a male engagement means 10". Intermediate the side edges 8 a plurality of supporting ribs 12 are formed which define longitudinal channels 14 therebetween.

In use, the female engagement means 10'on one side edge 8 of a first

member receives the male engagement means 10"on the side edge 8 of a second member 2'when the respective members edges are brought together and so the adjacent members 2,2'are engaged along adjacent side edges 8 as illustrated in Figure 1 with the adjacent members 2'shown in broken lines at each end. This can then be repeated with further members 2 on each side of the members 2'and so on until the construction of the required size is formed.

In this embodiment sealing layers 20,21 on each member are provided to allow a watertight location between adjacent members 2,2'to be achieved. In this embodiment the sealing layers are extruded with the member located on the male engagement means 10".

Slip controlling elements, such as sand or other coarse particles can be provided in the polymer material from which the members are extruded so that the members have a non-slip characteristic, even when worn, and slip controlling means can be applied onto the top surface 4 after extrusion by passing along ridged rollers.

Figure 1 also shows a location formation 24 which is a T-shaped slot and passes along the length of the member.

Figures 4A, B and 5 illustrate a member with the location formation 24 shown in position for engagement with a support means in the form of frame element 26 on which the members are supported and secured thereto.

The components are secured via a series of location members 28 such as shown in Figure 4A and B and plate 30 shown in Figure 5 so that the member 28, formed with a head portion 32 can pass into the engagement formation 24 in the first orientation shown in broken lines in Figure 4B and can then be rotated 35 as shown in Figure 4B

with respect to the same so that the head 32 engages in the slot as shown in Figure 4A and cannot be removed. Subsequent tightening of the nut 34 on the threaded section 33 against the plate 30 and hence support element 26, through which the engagement member passes, causes the component 2 to be drawn towards the support means and secured thereto.

The use of the plastics material and the components as shown herein allow distinct advances to be made in the performance of the plastics component and also widens the scope of uses to which the HDPE plastics material can be put. This, in turn, allows considerable savings to be achieved in terms of raw material such as wood and allows the same to be conserved. Figure 3A illustrates in perspective, part of a construction in the form of a floor for a vehicle trailer. It can clearly be seen how the elongate members 2, 2'have elongate edges which abut and the top surfaces 4 of each form the top surface of the vehicle trailer floor 31. In this case, in certain of the elongate apertures 14 support members 16 are located to strengthen the members and hence increase the floor load bearing capability. Figure 3B illustrates the finished floor 33 of the trailer 35 with each of the elongate members located via the location slots 24 and location members as herein described to the support means 26 at spaced intervals along the floor.

Claims

Claims 1. A construction formed from a combination of elongate members in mutual relationship, in contact with support means, said elongate members manufactured from plastics material and provided with location means formed thereon to allow engagement with the support means and wherein said elongate members are formed with engagement means along opposing elongate edges of the same such that a series of the elongate members with their elongate edges engaged and located to the support means form the construction.
2. A construction according to claim 1 wherein one elongate side edge of each member is provided with a first form of engagement means and the opposing side edge is provided with a second form of engagement means.
3. A construction according to claim 2 characterised in that a male engagement means is provided along one side of the elongate member and a female engagement means provided along the opposing side edge of the elongate member.
4. A construction according to claim 3 wherein, when adjacent elongate members are brought into contact, the same are arranged such that a first elongate element has a side edge with a male engagement means contacting a side edge of an adjacent element having a female engagement means so as to allow the same to be engaged by the location of the engagement means.
5. A construction according to claim 1 wherein when adjacent elongate elements are brought together to form the construction, a sealing layer is provided between adjacent elongate elements.

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6. A construction according to claim 5 wherein the sealing layer is provided as part of one of the elongate elements.
7. A construction according to claim 5 wherein the sealing layer is positioned as a separate item between the adjacent elongate members, prior to moving the same together.
8. A construction according to any of the preceding claims wherein on at least one face of the construction there is provided slip controlling or non-slip material forming at least a portion of the outer face thereof.
9. A construction according to claim 8 wherein the slip controlling or non-slip material is provided as an integral part of the elongate members where formed.
10. A construction according to claim 1 wherein the elongate members in conjunction with the support means form a floor of a vehicle trailer.
11. A construction according to the preceding claim wherein the location means is a T-section slot with rotatable bolts of a formation shape to locate with the elongate member and slot and move between an engaged and disengaged position in the T-section slot.
12. An elongate member for use in the construction as described in claims 1-11 wherein each elongate member is made from extruded plastics material with a top surface, a spaced bottom surface, elongate side edges spacing the top and bottom surfaces and a series of internal strengthening ribs are disposed between the top and bottom surface and running parallel with the side edges.

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13. An elongate member according to claim 12 wherein the internal strengthening ribs pass along the length of the elongate member.
14. An elongate member according to claim 13 wherein reinforcing struts are placed into longitudinal channels along the elongate member which are defined between the strengthening ribs.
15. An elongate member according to claim 12 wherein the width to height ratio of the member in cross section are greater than 2 to 1.
16. An elongate member according to claim 12 wherein the member is formed from a plastic material in the form of high density polyethylene (HDPE) of a class 3 high density catalyst formula.
17. An elongate member according to claim 16 wherein the HDPE includes filler in a range of 25-35%.
18. A construction as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
19. A construction comprising a series of elongate elements as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.