GB2507670A

GB2507670A - Edging product for raised platforms incorporating a tactile surface

Info

Publication number: GB2507670A
Application number: GB1321912.6A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ian Telford; Paul Graham Willis
Original assignee: TECH COPER Ltd G
Current assignee: G-TECH COPER LIMITED
Priority date: 2011-05-13
Filing date: 2011-05-13
Publication date: 2014-05-07
Anticipated expiration: 2031-05-13
Also published as: GB201321912D0; GB201107957D0; GB2507670B; GB2490722A; GB2490722B

Abstract

The edging 1 comprises a tactile unit 5 let into a recess in the upper surface of a coping stone 2 used for edging. The tactile unit is made from a synthetic elastomer that retains compressive and flexional strength to resist loading. The edging is particularly used for raised platforms such as railway platforms or roadside kerb pavements. The edging preferably is in the form of a block, lamina or slab with a recess, indentation or rebate 7 which receives the tactile unit. The tactile unit is preferably thin relative to the coping stone such that the thickness of the stone below the unit is 85% of the overall thickness of the stone. The product allows easier access to those with visual impairments by having a tactile, relieved, studded or ridged surface near the edge of a road or platform, additionally the tactile unit can be made from material which is of a contrasting colour to the coping stone for easier visibility and acting as a warning. The tactile unit may have protrusions which are integral to it or have integers such as bosses, studs or domes attached to it.

Description

Edging Product to Resist Loading The present invention relates to a tactile-surface edging product for raised platforms. The present invention relates in particular to a tactile-surface edging product for raised platforms, which is adapted to replace existing damaged or displaced platform edges and lessen the risk of future such damage and displacement.

When used herein the term raised platform' relates to any structure with an upper surface raised above its surroundings for pedestrian and/or wheeled traffic and with a sufficient drop from an edge that there is a need for the traffic to be warned of its proximity to the edge. Such platforms include passenger and goods railway platforms, rail and road loading bays, roadside pavements with kerbing, swimming pool edges, and horticultural raised platforms, such as terraced beds.

They may be of solid construction or in the form of a framework or skeleton, such as a gantry, scaffold or trestle.

When used herein the term tactile surface' relates to the upper surfaces of edging products for raised platforms that are provided with a regular or irregular relief surface pattern, such as an array or bosses, studs, domes or ridges laid in a desired arrangement, which provide a tactile warning to pedestrians and/or an audible warning to wheeled traffic, such as wheeled suitcases, trolleys and fork-lift trucks, of the proximity of the edge of the platform.

When used herein the term tactile unit' means a laminar structure, the upper surface of which is provided with a regular or irregular relief surface pattern. This is often in the form of a rectangular grid array relief pattern of bosses, studs or domes, with the bosses, studs or domes mutually in register or staggered in adjacent rows of the grid, or a grid array of ridges, as in a road rumble strip.

When used herein the term tactile integers' means the integers, typically projecting upwardly from the upper surface of a tactile unit, an arrangement of which provide the unit with a regular or irregular relief surface pattern.

When used herein the term coping stone' means any integer which fulfils the role of a coping stone (or coper, as it is alternatively called) in the edging product of the present invention, regardless of the material of which it is made.

When used herein terms such as top', bottom', front', rear', side', upper' and lower' are defined with respect to the orientation of the present edging product in use.

There is a market demand and/or a statutory requirement, for reasons of safety, for raised platforms, such as railway platforms, to be furnished with tactile surfaces, for example in the form of an array of raised bosses, studs or domes extending along, spaced back from and conforming to the contours of, the trackside edge of the platform.

When these come into contact with the shoe soles or guide stick end of a blind or partially-sighted passenger, they provide a tactile warning of the proximity of the platform edge. They may also provide a tactile or visual warning to sighted passengers, and an audible warning to passengers with wheeled luggage.

The edging of railway platforms is conventionally formed by a series of mutually abutting rectangular coping stones extending along the trackside edge of the platform. Each coping stone is supported on the top surface of the main body of the platform, and extends forwards from the edge of the main body of the platform to form a projecting lip, which partially spans the gap between the platform and any railway carriage standing at the platform.

A matching series of mutually abutting rectangular tactile units extends along and abuts the series of coping stones on the side away from the trackside edge.

These are also supported on the top surface of the main body of the platform.

The rest of the platform surface is usually made flush with the lower parts of the tactile units with a layer of asphalt or (often concrete) paving flags.

The coping stones and tactile units undergo heavy wear, and are often displaced and/or cracked in a relatively short time. Conventional tactile units are of relatively large upper facial area. The tactile units are installed on a variety of platform surfaces, and there may be uneven erosion or subsidence of the relevant surface to form one or more points or ridges supporting a tactile unit. In this case, even moderate loading on the unit will tend to crack it between such points or ridges.

The cost of frequent replacement of the tactile units and coping stones makes this edging system significantly disadvantageous. Any replacement edging products for such platforms, however, must be so dimensioned, in particular as regards thickness, as to be compatible with the existing platform structure.

It is therefore an aim of the present invention to provide an edging product for raised platforms with a tactile surface which overcomes these disadvantages.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided an edging product for raised platforms, comprising: a tactile surface provided by an upper surface of a least one laclile unit let into an upper surface of a coping stone; wherein the tactile unit is received in a recess in the upper surface of the coping stone and is made from a synthetic elastomer that retains compressive and flexional strength to resist loading.

Aptly the tactile unit is made from a cross linked therrnoset elastomer.

Aptly the elastomer is reinforced with fibres.

Aptly the tactile unit is permanently attached to the coping stone.

Aptly the tactile unit is permanently attached to a floor of the recess in the coping stone by an adhesive or bonding agent.

Aptly the product is in the form of a planar lamina, slab or block.

Aptly the product is shaped to permit tessellation.

Aptly the product consists of a coping stone and a tactile unit combined in a single edging product.

Apfly the tactile unit is provided with a colouring to provide a visual warning.

Aptly the tactile unit is coterminous with the edges of the co-operating recess or smaller than the co-operating recess.

Aptly the thickness of the coping stone below the tactile unit is at least 85% of the overall thickness of the coping stone.

Aptly the coping stone is made from concrete, slate, granite, marble, ceramic, earthenware, lerracotla glazed or unglazed brickwork.

Aptly the upper surface of the coping stone and/or the upper surface of the tactile unit have a dull, matt, abrasive coarse or rough finish.

Aptly the tactile unit comprises tactile integers either attached to or integral with a main body of the tactile unit.

Aptly the tactile unit and the coping stone are contrasting colours.

Aptly the coping stone comprises reinforcement bars and lifting points.

An advantage of the present invention is that because the coping stone and tactile unit are combined in a single edging product, they cannot become mutually displaced on the platform, and the weight of traffic and other downwards stresses on the tactile units is borne by the coping stone, rather than by the tactile unit itself. These factors reduce the risk of damage to the tactile unit, and enable the tactile unit to be made of less dense and thinner, e.g. plastics, material, rather than of, e.g. concrete. All this avoids the significant disadvantages of the prior art edging products for raised platform edging, and fulfils a long-felt market demand for such products.

The product is versatile in Iha it can be readily adapted to exactly replace existing damaged platform edging units with tactile surfaces, in particular coping stones and tactile units of relatively large upper facial area but of proportionately relatively low thickness, whilst still retaining adequate compressive and flexional strength to resist the everyday loading in use which has to be borne by such surface components of raised platforms, and does not require the use of equipmerfl or methods of installation other than those used for the prior art installation of current raised platform edging products.

The product enables faster installation of raised platform edging products with tactile surfaces, as the installation of the edging product of the present invention installs a coping stone and a tactile unit in a single step, rather than the two steps required for conventional platform edging products.

The present invention is not limited to tactile-surface edging products for railway platforms, but is applicable to all categories of raised platforms, including those listed hereinbefore, where there is a need for a surface comprising a plurality of tactile units, especially of relatively large upper facial area.

The present edging product may have any construction or arrangement that is compatible with its role in forming part of a continuous platform edging with a desired tactile surface.

It is generally installed on the planar upper surface of a platform, and is normally required to form part of a continuous planar upper surface of the platform edging.

It is thus normally required to be in the form of a planar lamina, slab or block. It will typically be shaped to permit tessellation, that is, lying in a continuous repeat pattern, such as a rectangular shape, although other such shapes, such as hexagonal are not excluded.

Since the coping stone is the largest component in the edging product, it will have the same construction and arrangement as the product.

The upper face of the coping stone in the present edging product is so constructed and arranged that it will conform to and receive one or more tactile units, often a single tactile unit.

In a preferred embodiment, the product is adapted to exactly replace existing damaged platform edging units with tactile surfaces, in particular coping stones with tactile units disposed on the side of the coping stones away from the platform edge. In such an embodiment, the or each tactile unit is received in the top surface of the coping stone at or near the side of the coping stone away from the platform edge when the edging product is installed, usually in a co-operating recess, indentation, or rebate.

In order to match existing damaged platform edging units, the recess or rebate in the upper surface of a typical rectangular coping stone will in general be open on the side of the coping stone away from the platform edge in use and the two adjacent sides to form a rebate in the coping stone upper surface.

S

Alternatively, the upper surface may extend around all or part of the perimeter of any recess surface on which the tactile unit or units are mounted, to form a recess wall along the side of the coping stone away from the platform edge in use and/or the two adjacent sides, optionally with one or more median walls if it is desired to define more than one recess. Suitably the side recess wall may correspond to the outline of the coping stone. In such cases, any tactile units may be of relatively close fit in individual recesses.

In all cases, the or each tactile unit is normally attached to the floor of the recess or rebate, as appropriate to the materials of the tactile unit and of the coping stone, e.g. permanently attached with an adhesive or bonding agent or permanent fastening means, or releasably attached by releasable fastening means, such as those described in further detail hereinafter.

Generally, one tactile unit is received in a single such recess or rebate, and is coterminous with the edges of the co-operating recess or rebate, or preferably is slightly smaller from front to back than the co-operating recess or rebate. The latter configuration is intended to permit the insertion of a fillet, for example of mastic, between the tactile unit and the upper surface of the coping stone and the rest of the platform upper surface respectively. Each of the coping stone upper surface and the rest of the platform upper surface is in general slightly below the upper surface of the tactile integers, to provide a tactile surface, but suitably only to the extent that they do not create a trip hazard.

The upper facial areas and dimensions of the units present in the present edging product, the coping stone and the tactile unit, may be adjusted as appropriate to their application and to individual product user requirements.

Any replacement edging products for platforms, however, should be so dimensioned, in particular as regards thickness, as to be compatible with the existing platform structure.

In the case of an edging product comprising a tactile surface for railway platforms, each unit may often be elongate rectangular with a cross-dimension greater in a first direction, which is that of the platform edge, than in a second direction at right angles to the first.

To be compatible with the existing platform edging structure, the overall dimensions of the coping stone may suitably be from 1050 to 1250 mm by from 850 to 1050 mm, for example from 1000 to 1100 mm by from 900 to 1000 mm.

The dimensions of the coping stone surface alongside the tactile unit may suitably be from 650 to 850 mm by from 1000 to 1100 mm, for example from 700 to 800 mm by from 900 to 1000 mm. Those of the tactile unit may suitably be from 300 to 500 mm by from 850 to 1050 mm, for example from 350 to 450 mm by from 900 to 1000 mm. The thickness of the coping stone may suitably be from SOto 120 mm, for example from YOto 110 mm.

To ensure optimal load-bearing support for the tactile unit, the thickness of the coping stone below the tactile unit should be at least 85 %, preferably 90 %, of the overall thickness of the coping stone. The corresponding depth of the recess or rebate may suitably be less than 18 mm, and preferably less than 8 mm.

For reasons of cost, the coping stone in the present edging product is most beneficially made of concrete, particularly in industrial or transport applications, although engineering plastics materials and synthetic rubbers are increasingly used for roadside kerbing. In other applications, e.g. in swimming pool edges or horticultural raised platforms, such as terraced beds, it may be of slate, granite, marble, sandstone or other stonework, ceramic, earthenware, terracotta or glazed or unglazed brickwork.

The coping stone may be provided with a desired finish. The coping stone may for example have a dull, matt, abrasive, coarse or rough finish on its upper surface, to reduce the risk of pedestrians slipping and/or falling down or tumbling and/or an wheeled traffic sliding, skidding or slewing on the tactile unit, for example in particular in the wet. It may favourably be made of a material which naturally has, or can take such a finish, for example concrete, which may be sandblasted or cut back to expose an aggregate surface.

As noted above, the construction of the present edging product usefully allows the tactile unit to be made of less dense and thinner, e.g. plastics, material, rather than of, e.g. thicker concrete as in the prior art edging products for raised platform edging, whilst still retaining adequate strength to resist the everyday loading in use which has to be borne by such surface components of raised platforms.

B

Thus, the tactile unit may be made of a synthetic polymer or a fibre-reinforced plastics composite material made of a polymer matrix reinforced with fibres.

The polymer may suitably be an epoxy, polyvinyl ester or polyester ambient-temperature curing material with a fluid precursor; a thermosetting plastics material; an engineering plastics material, such as a high aromatic polymers, such as PEK, PEEK, PES; or a synthetic elastomer, preferably a highly cross-linked thermoset elastomer.

A polymer matrix may be reinforced with fibreglass or carbon or aromatic polyamide (aramid) fibres in a two dimensional or three dimensional orientation.

The material is preferably a glass-reinforced plastics composite material made of a polymer matrix, which may suitably be an epoxy resin, a thermosetting plastic (most often polyester or polyvinyl ester) or a thermoplastic.

The material is more preferably an epoxy resin, reinforced by fine glass fibres, typically 5 to 30, for example 9 to 25 micron in diameter, in a two dimensional or three dimensional orientation.

In other applications, the tactile unit may be of ceramic, earthenware, terracotta or glazed or unglazed brickwork, in particular a high temperature firing material with a fluid precursor.

Any material, in particular a polymer or polymer matrix material may be further reinforced against abrasion, and to reduce the risk of pedestrians slipping and/or falling down or tumbling and/or an wheeled traffic sliding, skidding or slewing on the tactile unit, for example in particular in the wet, by for example incorporating a mineral particulate, such as alumina or glass, into the matrix of the material of the tactile unit.

As noted above, the tactile unit is a laminar structure, the upper surface of which is provided with a regular or irregular relief surface pattern. This is often in the form of a rectangular grid array relief pattern of tactile integers, such as bosses, studs or domes, with the bosses, studs or domes mutually in register or staggered in adjacent rows of the grid, or a rectangular array of parallel ridges, as in a road rumble strip.

In the edging product of the invention, the tactile integers may be attached to the body of the tactile unit, as appropriate to the materials of the body of the unit and of the integers, e.g. permanently attached with an adhesive or bonding agent, such as an acrylic adhesive, or by thermowelding (including friction welding) in the case of some polymer or polymer matrix materials, or releasably attached by releasable fastening means, such as screws or captive bolts.

However, they may alternatively be integral with the main body of the tactile integer. For example, many of the tactile units in the edging product of the invention (such as a polymer or fibre-reinforced plastics composite material made of a polymer matrix reinforced with fibres, or a ceramic) may be formed with tactile integers integral with the main body of the tactile unit by forming or casting an ambient-temperature curing fluid system, or a high temperature tiring fluid system in a conventional manner on a former or mould with a support surtace defining the body of the tactile unit and the tactile integers, and then curing or firing the layer of material so formed.

The overall thickness of the tactile unit which is let into the upper face of the coping stone will usually be such that the tactile integers project slightly above the upper surface at the coping stone, to provide a tactile surface, but suitably only to the extent that they do not create a trip hazard. The projection may suitably be up to 8 mm, preferably up to 6 mm. Where the tactile integers are bosses, studs or domes, or ridges, the smallest lateral cross-dimension may suitably be 10 to mm, for example 20 to 30 mm.

The tactile unit may be provided with a desired surface colouring and finish. A surface colouring may be desirable, so that the final tactile can provide an appropriate visual warning to sighted pedestrian and/or wheeled traffic ot its proximity to the edge of the relevant raised platform, as well as a tactile warning to blind or partially-sighted pedestrians and/or an audible warning to wheeled traffic.

The tactile unit may for example have any colouring which contrasts with that of the (often grey) colouring of the coping stone and/or the (often grey or black) surface of the rest of the platform, such as white, off-white, buff, light brown, yellow, vermilion or other red shades, optionally striped with black It may favourably be made of a material such that a colouring pigment can be dispersed throughout the material, rather than being confined to the surface, such as concrete, particularly in industrial or transport applications, plastics materials, including resins and synthetic rubbers, ceramic, earthenware, terracotta or unglazed brickwork. This will reduce the risk of wear to the tactile integers removing the warning colour from the tactile surface formed by the tactile units, for example from the upper faces of a grid array relief pattern of bosses, studs or domes or a grid array of ridges.

The tactile unit may be provided with a desired finish. As noted above, the tactile unit may for example have a dull, matt, abrasive, coarse or rough finish on its upper surface, including its relief surface pattern to reduce the risk of pedestrians slipping and/or falling down or tumbling and/or an wheeled traffic sliding, skidding or slewing on the tactile unit, for example in particular in the wet. It may favourably be made of a material which naturally has, or can take such a finish, for example by the addition of suitable additives, as described hereinbefore.

As noted above, the or each tactile unit is normally attached to the floor of the recess or rebate, as appropriate to the materials of the tactile unit and of the coping stone, for example, permanently attached with an appropriate adhesive, bonding agent or permanent fastening means, or releasably attached by releasable fastening means. The tactile unit may be attached to the floor of the recess or rebate at the point of manufacture or sale of the edging product of the present invention, or preferably at the point of installation of the edging product as part of a platform edging on a support surface of the platform.

Any adhesive or bonding agent suitably covers all the floor of the rebate or recess evenly.

Suitable adhesive materials for the polymer-based tactile units of the present edging product include ambient-temperature curing fluid systems such as fluid elastomer, for example natural or synthetic rubber precursors, or an acrylic adhesive, typically an acrylic adhesive.

Suitable bonding materials for the mineral-based tactile units of the present edging product include mineral-based bonding agents, in particular waterproof or water-resistant grouting or mortar.

Where the tactile unit is attached with adhesive or a bonding agent, it will typically be pierced upwardly by a plurality of, generally regularly disposed, air-holes to permit the escape of air and excess adhesive or bonding agent as the tactile unit is being attached to the floor of the rebate or recess.

Where the tactile unit is to be attached to the floor of the recess or rebate at the point of installation of the edging product, it may be supplied with its lower face in use already provided with a layer of a suitable adhesive material or bonding material. In such case, the layer may be provided with a protective peel sheet, which is removed before attaching the tactile unit to the recess or rebate floor.

Suitable but less preferred permanent fastening means for the tactile units of the present edging product include masonry nails, pins or spikes. Suitable releasable fastening means for the tactile units of the present edging product include screws and captive bolts.

Alternatively but less preferably, where the material of the tactile unit is a made from an ambient-temperature curing or thermosetting fluid system, or a high temperature firing fluid system the tactile unit may be formed or cast in situ in the recess or rebate, optionally around any desired permanent or releasable fastening means then curing or firing the layer of material so formed. Suitable materials for this process include such polymer matrices as glass-reinforced plastics composite materials, and ceramic, earthenware, terracotta or glazed or unglazed brickwork.

Such a process may be easier if the coping stone upper surface extends around all or part of the perimeter of any recess or rebate surface on which the tactile unit or units are formed, to form a recess or rebate wall along the side of the coping stone away from the platform edge in use and/or the two adjacent sides, optionally with one or more median walls if it is required to define more than one recess.

Suitably the side recess wall may correspond to the outline of the coping stone.

In such cases, any tactile units may be of relatively close fit in individual recesses.

Such a process is preferably carried out at the point of manufacture or sale of the edging product of the present invention. The last step of the process for making the tactile unit, in situ or preferably in pre-sale production, may be incorporating any surface finish considered necessary.

Installation of the edging product as part of a platform edging is typically carried outby a) spreading a layer or regular or irregular pattern of an appropriate adhesive or bonding agent on a support surface of the platform near the relevant edge, b) placing the edging product, optionally comprising the tactile unit in the upper surface of the coping stone, on the surface of the adhesive or bonding agent on the support surface, and c) allowing the adhesive or bonding agent to cure or set.

The support surface of the platform generally has an even surface which extends from the relevant edges of the platform. The support surface may be part of a solid base, foundation or underpinning of the platform, made of concrete or of brickwork, above all in industrial or transport applications, as or as concrete decking or flooring, for example as thick paving flags, normally laid out in a regular, e.g. rectangular grid pattern. Slates, or rectangular pieces of granite, marble, sandstone or other stonework may be used as such decking or flooring in other applications of the present edging units with a textured surface. Such a surface may be supported on a framework or skeleton, such as a gantry, scaffold or trestle.

In particular where the edging products of the present invention are being used to replace existing tactile units and coping stones, installation of the edging products as part of a platform edging is typically carried out by laying them in a conventional regular pattern of a series of mutually abutting rectangular coping stones extending along and defining the edge of the platform with conventional expansion joints between the coping stones often spaced at every 5 coping stones.

They are laid and with the recesses on the side of the coping stones away from the edge to form an extended rebate for a matching series of mutually abutting tactile units which extends along and abuts the remaining upper surfaces of the series of coping stones on the side away from the platform edge.

Where the tactile unit is not already in the upper surface of the coping stone, this may be attached in the recess or rebate in the coping stone by an adhesive or bonding agent, or by permanent or releasable fastening means, as described above, before or after the curing or setting process is complete, leaving expansion joints between abutting tactile units, which are normally in register with the expansion joints between abutting coping stones, and where appropriate a gap at each of the front and rear edges of the tactile unit to permit the insertion of a fillet, for example of mastic, between the tactile unit and the upper surface of the coping stone and the rest of the platform upper surface respectively.

Alternatively, the edging product may be attached to the support surface of the platform by other permanent or releasable fastening means, optionally with the tactile units already in the coping stone upper surface.

Where the tactile unit is not already in the upper surface of the coping stone, this may be attached in the recess or rebate in the coping stone by an adhesive or bonding agent, or by permanent or releasable fastening means, as described above, after installation of the coping stone.

The present invention will now be illustrated with reference to the following Figures, in which: Figure 1 shows a plan view of an edging product of the present invention for manufacturing a continuous platform edging with a tactile surface.

Figure 2 shows a side cross-sectional view of the edging product of Figure 1 on section 4 -4 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 shows an isometric view of a tactile unit shown in Figure 1, for producing a tactile surface in the continuous platform edging produced from the present edging products.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, an edging product 1 for the manufacture of an edging with a tactile surface for raised platforms comprises a coping stone 2, here of concrete, which is slightly elongate from its front face 3 to its rear face 4.

A tactile unit 5, here of glass fibre-reinforced epoxy resin, in the edging product 1 sits in, and is adhered with an ambient-temperature curing acrylic adhesive to the floor 6 of, a rebate 7 in the upper face 8 and adjacent to the rear face 4 of the coping stone 2, as may be seen in Figure 2.

The tactile unit 5 is generally coterminous with the perimeter of the coping stone 2 on which it has been mounted. (In Figure 1, the tactile unit 5 is omitted for clarity.) In use, the coping stone 2 is mounted on, and bonded with a mortar bed (here a Portland Cement; sand, 1:3 mortar) to, and defines or overhangs the edge of, the planar surface of a raised platform (not shown).

The coping stone 2 is constructed of concrete, reinforced with two longitudinally extending, and two transversely extending, steel bars (not shown). The two longitudinally extending steel bars are arranged to lie in close contact with and are wired tofour lifting point and reinforcement mat sockets 9, 9.

Referring to Figure 3, the tactile unit 5 which is mounted in the face 8 of the coping stone 2 is constructed of a buff-coloured ambient-temperature curing epoxy resin, reinforced by fine glass fibres.

The tactile unit 5 is provided with a regular relief surface pattern in the form of a rectangular grid array of domes 10, 10 integral with the unit 5 and mutually staggered in adjacent rows of the grid. The top of the domes 10, 10 project above the upper surface 8 of the coping stone 2, here by 3 to 4 mm, to provide a visual warning and tactile surface which is not a trip hazard. The lower face 11 of the tactile unitS bears a continuous coterminous layer of an acrylic adhesive 12, in turn covered by a protective plastics peel sheet 13 (12 and 13 not shown).

The concrete upper face 8 of the coping stone 2 has an exposed aggregate finish, and the domes 10, 10 of the tactile unit 5 incorporate particulate alumina, in both cases to provide and anti-slip finish, and in the case of the domes 10, 10 as an anti-wear additive.

The coping stone 2 here is in the range of 90 to 100 mm in thickness, making it suitable for replacement railway platform edging in the United Kingdom.

Certain embodiments of the present invention also include the subject matter of the following numbered paragraphs: 1. An edging product for raised platforms, comprising a tactile surface, characterised in that the tactile surface is formed by the upper face of a tactile unit which is let into the upper face of a coping stone.

2. A product according to paragraph 1, in the form of a planar lamina, slab or block.

3. A product according to paragraph 1 or paragraph 2, which is shaped to permit tessellation.

4. A product according to any of paragraphs 1 to 3, adapted to replace existing damaged platform edging units with tactile surfaces.

5. A product according to any of paragraphs 1 to 4, wherein the edging unit comprises a coping stone with tactile units disposed on the side of the coping stone away from the platform edge when the edging product is installed.

6. A product according to any of paragraphs 1 to 5, wherein the tactile unit is received in the upper surface of the coping stone at or near the side of the coping stone away from the platform edge when the edging product is installed, in a co-operating recess, indentation or rebate.

7. A product according to paragraph 6, wherein the tactile unit is coterminous with the edges of the co-operating recess, indentation or rebate or smaller than the co-operating recess, indentation or rebate.

8. A product according to any of paragraphs 1 to 7, wherein the tactile unit is permanently or releasably attached to the coping stone.

9. A product according to any preceding paragraph, wherein the thickness of the coping stone below the tactile unit is at least 85% of the overall thickness of the coping stone.

10. A product according to any preceding claim, wherein the coping stone is made from concrete, slate, granite, marble, ceramic, earthenware, terracotta glazed or unglazed brickwork.

11. A product according to any preceding paragraph, wherein the upper surface of the coping stone and/or the upper surface of the tactile unit have a dull, matt, abrasive, coarse or rough finish.

12. A product according to any preceding paragraph, wherein the tactile unit is made from plastics material, optionally reinforced plastics material.

13. A product according to any preceding paragraph, wherein the tactile unit comprises tactile integers either attached to or integral with the main body of the tactile unit.

14. A product according to paragraph 13, wherein the tactile integers project above the upper surface of the coping stone.

15. A product according to any preceding paragraph, wherein the tactile unit and the coping stone are contrasting colours.

16. A method of making a edging product for raised platforms, comprising a tactile surface, characterised by letting a tactile unit into the upper face of a coping stone, the upper face of the tactile unit forming the tactile surface.

17. A method of installing an edging product according to any of paragraphs 1 to 15 or made according to paragraph 16.

18. An edging product for raised platforms, substantially as herein described with or without reference to the drawings.

19. A method of making an edging product for raised platforms, substantially as herein described with or without reference to the drawings.

20. A method of installing an edging product for raised platforms, substantially as herein described with or without reference to the drawings. -18-

Claims

CLAIMS: 1. An edging product for raised platforms, comprising: a tactile surtace provided by an upper surface of at least one tactile unit let into an upper surface of a coping stone; wherein the tactile unit is received in a recess in the upper surface of the coping stone and is made from a synthetic elastomer that retains compressive and flexional strength to resist loading.
2. A product according to claim 1 wherein the tactile unit is made from a cross linked thermoset elastomer.
3. A product according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the elastomer is reinforced with fibres.
4. A product according to any of claims 1 to 3 wherein the tactile unit is permanently attached to the coping stone.
5. A product according to claim 4 wherein the tactile unit is permanently attached to a floor of the recess in the coping stone by an adhesive or bonding agent.
6. A product according to any preceding claim, in the form of a planar lamina, slab or block.
7. A product according to any preceding claim, which is shaped to permit tessellation.
8. A product according to any preceding claim wherein the product consists of a coping stone and a tactile unit combined in a single edging product.
9. A product according to any preceding claim where the tactile unit is provided with a colouring to provide a visual warning. -19-
10. A product according to any preceding claim, wherein the tactile unit is coterminous with the edges of the co-operating recess or smaller than the co-operating recess.
11. A product according to any preceding claim, wherein the thickness of the coping stone below the tactile unit is at least 85% of the overall thickness of the coping stone.
12. A product according to any preceding claim, wherein the coping stone is made from concrete, slate, granite, marble, ceramic, earthenware, terracotta glazed or unglazed brickwork.
13. A product according to any preceding claim, wherein the upper surface of the coping stone and/or the upper surface of the tactile unit have a dull, matt, abrasive coarse or rough finish.
14. A product according to any preceding claim, wherein the tactile unit comprises tactile integers either attached to or integral with a main body of the tactile unit.
15. A product according to any preceding claim, wherein the tactile unit and the coping stone are contrasting colours.
16. A product according to any preceding claim wherein the coping stone comprises reinforcement bars and lifting points.
17. A method of installing an edging product according to any of claims 1 to 16.