GB2395208A

GB2395208A - Stair protector assembly

Info

Publication number: GB2395208A
Application number: GB0310764A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Brian Derek Richards
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-11-12
Filing date: 2003-05-12
Publication date: 2004-05-19
Anticipated expiration: 2023-05-12
Also published as: GB0310764D0; GB0226323D0; GB2395208B

Abstract

A stair protector assembly protects stairs from mechanical damage and/or dirt on either a temporary or semi-permanent basis. Tread panels 10 are hingedly connected to respective riser panels 12 at each stair nose, and they are also connected, preferably also hingedly, at each inner stair bend. The latter connection may be by way of elongate hollow elements 16. To hold the assembly in place on the stairs, retractable retainers 18 are provided at the side edges. These may be nut devices 18 which engage in the ends of the elements 16, and can be threadedly adjustable or spring loaded. The assembly may further provide triangular protector plates (20, figure 13) for mounting at the stair edges.

Description

- 1 STAIR PROTECTOR ASSEMBLY

This invention concerns an assembly of components for protecting stairs from mechanical damage and dirt.

Staircases of all types, but particularly wooden, stone or tiled staircases can be badly damaged when heavy objects are dragged up or down or careless people with heavy and/or dirty boots are using the stairs, as may be the case when building work is being carried out on the premises. Staircases in commercial premises, such as public houses, hotels and the like may also be subject to damage by transportation of heavy deliveries, e.g. metal kegs, up or down same.

There is a need to protect such attractive and expensive staircases from damage and dirt, either on a temporary or permanent basis.

Individual stair nosing is known for protection of the outer angle between risers and treads Be. rate panels for protection of risers or treads or both are also known, DE 19926548 discloses an assembly made up of all these components connected together.

An object of the invention is to provide an alternative stair protector assembly which has advantages thereover, including easier assembly from its component parts and the possibility of storage or transportation in its assembled condition.

According to the present invention a stair protector assembly comprises at least one tread panel and at least two riser panels, each tread panel being hingedly connectable to a lower riser panel for location at a stair nose and also being connectable to an upper riser panel, and retainer means which in use project laterally relative to the riser and/or tread panels to hold the assembly in position on the stair or stairs.

The retainer means may comprise retractable devices. They may be threadedly adjustable. They may be spring-loaded. Their purpose is to grip or firmly abut the adjacent walling at the staircase edges in order to keep the assembly securely in position over the stair or stairs to be protected. However, the retainer means are also relatively easy to release so the assembly may be installed as a temporary measure only, e.g. during a period of building work and potential heavy wear and tear to the stairs.

One tread panel and two riser panels is the minimum to cover a single step, with one above at an upper level. A typical staircase may have twelve treads and thirteen risers and a corresponding number of such panels would be provided and would

T be connected in an assembly of the invention to protect these.

However, any number is possible to match the number of stairs to be covered and protected.

The connection between the riser and tread panels at the stair nose is hinged. This enables the released assembly to be folded about the hinge connections for transport or storage. The other connection between each tread panel and the riser panel thereabove, at the inner angle of the stairs may also be hinged, but it need not be. It may be accomplished by way of separate connector elements or a special elongate connector, to which the retainer means may then be mounted. However, in other embodiments the retainer means could be mounted to either the riser panels or the tread panels or both.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view, exploded in part, of a preferred practical embodiment of a stair protector assembly of the invention; Figure 2 is an exploded partial perspective view showing how a hinged connection is achieved between a riser panel and a tread panel in the assembly of Figure 1;

Figure 3 shows a rod or pin used for the hinged connection of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of part of the Figure 1 embodiment to an enlarged scale; Figure 5 is a further enlarged, fragmentary detail of the connector element in Figure 4; Figures 6, 7 and 8 are end views of three different embodiments of connector element as may be used in other assemblies in accordance with the invention; Figure 9 is an enlarged perspective view of a retainer device, as shown in Figure 1, but of modified form; Figure 10 is an end view sketch showing use of a tool to turn the retainer device of Figure 9; Figure 11 is an end view of part of an assembly, similar to that shown in Figure 1, when folded; Figure 12 is a reduced scale perspective view of a staircase upon which an assembly of the invention has been installed; Figure 13 is a sketch of part of a staircase showing edge protector plates in position;

l - 5 - Figure 14 is a plan view of a pair of such edge protector plates; Figure 15 is a partial perspective view of a further embodiment of stair protector assembly of the invention in which protector panels are arranged side by side; Figure 16 is a partial perspective view of the same embodiment as in Figure 15 showing how it may be used as a floor protector; and Figure 17 is an enlarged scale perspective view of a connection device for the assembly of Figures 15 and 16.

Referring to Figures 1 to 5, 11 and 12, preferred embodiments of the stair protector assembly of the invention comprise a plurality of tread panels 10, a plurality of riser panels 12, a plurality of hinge pins 14 (Figure 3), a plurality of elongate hollow connector elements 16 and a plurality of screw threaded retainer devices 18.

The panels 10, 12 may be formed of heavy duty polycarbonate, which may be about 5mm thick. They may be transparent or translucent, and the tread panels 10, in particular, may be formed with a roughened, dimpled or grooved surface to provide sufficient grip for footwear. In a typical example, for use on a staircase of standard dimensions, these panels may be 800mm wide,

- 6 the tread panels 10 may be 250mm deep and the riser panels may be 200mm high. Obviously other dimensions would be possible and these would be chosen to match the measurements of the particular stairs or staircase to be covered/protected.

A typical staircase, as shown in Figure 12, has twelve treads and thirteen risers. Thus, to cover/protect this will require: 12 tread panels 10 13 riser panels 13 12 connection elements 16 24 retainer devices 18 36 hinge pins 14 24 triangular protector plates 20 These components could be packed into a relatively compact package for transportation to the site of the staircase, where they would be assembled together.

As shown in Figure 2, the tread panels 10 and the riser panels 12 are hingedly connected to each other at each stair nose by interdigitating lugs 22, suitably at 10mm intervals. The lugs 22 have bores 24 therethrough, through which a respective hinge pin 14 is inserted so that the panels 10, 12 can pivot relative to each other to lie flat (i.e. at 180 to each other) or at approximately 90 to each other over the stairs, or at a small

- 7 angle of, say, to 10 to each other in a temporary folded condition, as shown in Figure 11.

The hinge pins 14 may have screw threaded ends and be capped by small nuts (not shown) so they are held in position, even if the connected assembly is removed from the stairs and folded, as in Figure 11.

As best shown in Figures 4 and 5, the tread panels 10 and the riser panels 12 are also hingedly connected at each inner stair bend by means of respective hollow connector elements 16. At least the end portions of these elements 16 are internally screw threaded at 28, so as to receive the threaded retainer devices 18. Respective sets of lugs 26 are provided, again suitably at lOmm intervals for hinged interconnection with corresponding lugs 22 on the tread and riser panels 10, 12 by means of further hinge pins. The connector elements 16 are preferably 40mm shorter than the panels 10, 12 to that there is a 20mm overhang of the panels 10, 12 at each end once these are connected, as shown in Figure 4.

This is to allow room for the heads 23 of the retainer bolts 18 when the latter are fully screwed into the ends of the connector elements 16. In that condition their heads 23 will be flush with the panel side edges. The bolts 18 can then be unscrewed so as to abut the edges of the staircase (in a region sometimes

- 8 - referred to as the strings). The retainer bolts 18 have a screw threaded shaft diameter of about 25mm. Their heads 23 may be hexagonal and have a diameter of 30-40mm. As shown in Figures 9 and 10, a simple manner of unscrewing these to grip the strings, or alternatively screwing them back in to release the assembly is to have a series of bores 25 formed in the head 23 and provide a tool 27 which can be inserted to turn the devices 18. This avoids the need for spanner or pliers, for which access would be difficult. The connector elements 16 in Figures 4 and 5 have lugs 26 which extend oppositely approximately at a tangent to the cylindrical form of the main body 21. In other embodiments other arrangements of lugs are possible on the connector elements, as shown in Figures 6, 7 and 8. There are lugs 38 diametrically opposed in Figure 8, lugs 36 extending at right angles in Figure 6 and four sets of corner lugs 37 in Figure 7.

To protect the side walls (strings) on the staircase where the retainer units 18 make contact, the triangular plates 20 shown in Figures 13 and 14 may be provided and fitted. These plates 20 may be made of plastics and can be relatively thin.

If the protector assembly is to be used only occasionally or intermittently, it can be stored when not in use in an assembled, but folded condition, as shown in Figure 11. On the other hand,

when it is to be installed for semi-permanent use, screws can be driven through the panels 10, 12 to fix them to the stairs more securely. In the case of wider stairs, two or more panels 10, 12 of appropriate size can be fitted side by side, as shown in Figure 15. They can be held in alignment by modified retainer devices 14 (Figure 17), which may be screw threaded for part of their length 47 to threadedly engage the inner end of one connector element 16, and smooth for the remainder of their length 49 so as just to locate in the end margin of the adjoining element 16.

Such an assembly could also be laid flat on a floor as a temporary floor protector, as shown in Figure 16, so long as the various hinge joints allow for co-planar arrangement of the respective panels. Indeed a single panel width stair protector assembly in accordance with the invention could also be used in this alternative manner, as a floor protector, so long as all the joints between the tread and riser panels allowed them to lie in a co-planar arrangement.

The foregoing is only illustrative of the scope of the invention.

Numerous other variations in detailed arrangements and components are possible in other embodiments. For example the connector elements need not extend the full width, the connection between riser and tread panels at the inner bend need not be

hinged, or may not allow such a wide range of pivoting movement as in the illustrated embodiments. The retainer devices need not be screw threaded. They could alternatively or additionally be spring loaded.

Claims

J CLAIMS

A stair protector assembly comprising at least one tread panel and at least two riser panels, each tread panel being hingedly connectable to a lower riser panel for location at a stair nose and also being connectable to an upper riser panel, and retainer means which in use project laterally relative to the riser and/or tread panels to hold the assembly in position on the stair or stairs.
2. An assembly according to claim 1 wherein the retainer means comprise devices projecting beyond both side edges of the panels.
3. An assembly according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the retainer means comprise retractable devices.
4. An assembly according to claim 3 wherein the retainer devices are threadedly adjustable.
5. An assembly according to claim 3 wherein the retainer devices are spring loaded.
6. An assembly according to any preceding claim wherein each tread panel is connectable to the respective upper riser

- 12 panel by way of separate connector means to which the retainer means are mounted.
7. An assembly according to claim 6 wherein the tread panel and/or the upper riser panel are hingedly connectable to the connector means.
8. An assembly according to claim 6 or 7 wherein the connector means is an elongate element extending between the tread panel and the upper riser panel.
9. An assembly according to claim 8 wherein the connector means is hollow and is internally threaded at at least one of its end margins.
10. An assembly according to any preceding claim wherein respective tread panels and respective riser panels are arranged side by side with further tread panels and riser panels, respectively, and these are connectable laterally by modified retainer means.
11. An assembly according to any preceding claim further including triangular protector plates for mounting at the stair edges.

- 13
12. A stair protector assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in any of the accompanying drawings.