SE1451175A1 - Arrangement and method for removal of balconies - Google Patents

Abstract

12 ABSTRACT This inVention relates to an arrangement and method for removal of a balcony,comprising the steps of providing a support structure (400; 503, 504) connected to alifting arrangement (7), positioning said lifting arrangement (7) at a desired locationin relation to said balcony (4), lifting and removing said balcony (4) by means ofsaid lifting arrangement (7), and by providing said lifting arrangement (7) With atleast one remotely controlled and autonomously operated adjustment mechanism(402, 403; 507, 508, 506, 504) to adjustably position at least one part of said liftingarrangement (7) in connection With the lifting of a cut off balcony.

Description

ARRANGEMENT AND METHOD FOR REMOVAL OF BALCONIES TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates to a method and arrangements for removal of a cut off balcony,comprising the steps of providing a support structure connected to a lifting arrangement,positioning said lifting arrangement and said support arrangement at desired locations inrelation to said balcony, lifting and removing said balcony by means of said lifting arrangement away from said wall.

BACKGROUND There is an increased need of removing balconies from house walls. In general it relatesto balconies that more or less a formed from a layer of concretes that has been integrallyattached to the wall on the house, which norrnally has a rectangular form and that protrudes perpendicularly from the wall.

From SE 534368 there is known a method for removal of such balconies that hasprovided significant improvement to the development of methods and equipment forremoving balconies. However, there is a continued need to improve up on the situation,especially in consideration of the consequences if anything should go wrong in connection with removal of a balcony.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is an object of the invention to improve up on the situation as describe above, which is achieved by means of method and devices as defend in the independent claims.

Thanks to the invention advantages are achieved regarding safety, ease of handle and also regarding cost efficiency, BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the following the invention will be described in more detail with reference to thedrawings wherein: Fig. l is a schematic side view of an arrangement for removal of balconies, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a lifting arrangement that may used in connection with an arrangement shown in Fig. l, Fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a fiarther arrangement for removal ofbalconies according to the invention, Fig. 4 shows a modified new lifting arrangement according to the invention usinglifting forks to remove a balcony, Fig. 5 and 6 show different views of a further lifting arrangement using forks toremove a balcony, Fig. 7 a perspective view of one embodiment according to the invention of a liftingarrangement that may be attached to lifting forks, e.g. including attachmentdevices according to the invention to be used for easy and quick positioning of support structures for removal of a balcony.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In Fig. 1 there is shown a house wall 6 having a balcony attached there to. Suchbalconies are often undesired and there is therefore a need to have them removed. InFig. 1 there is shown an arrangement 1, 2, 3 for removal of the balcony 4. The basicstructure of the arrangement 1, 2 is known from SE534368, which is hereby introduced by way of reference.

The arrangement comprises a saw 1 that is positioned below the balcony 4, therebyproviding the advantage that the operator of the saw 1 may handle it without puttinghis/her weight on to the balcony 4, which is the case with the most common prior artdevices. The saw 1 comprises a motor that drives a circle saw within a cover 10. Thecover 10 has supply pipes 15, 16, 17, 18 connected thereto, enabling avoiding spillage, and also supply of cooling liquid and or lubricants.

Further is shown a support structure 2, for supporting the balcony 4 and also the saw 1.The support structure 2 comprises two beams 20, 21 that are parallel arranged andinterconnected by appropriate devices (e. g. pipes not shown). One of the beams 21 isused to support a guide 12, for the saw 1. The guide 12, is fixed within a grippingdevice 14, that in tum is interconnected to the beam 21 by means of an interface member 11 that is moveably arrange in a relation to the beam 21.

Further there is shown an adjustment arrangement 3, comprising a rod 30 with a handle31 that by means of an adjustment mechanism 32, including threaded means, may beused to adjust the position of the adjustment interface 11 for the saw 1. Hence, by screwing the rod 30 the distance between the saw 1 and the wall 6 may be adjusted.

Further there is shown that on to the outer beam 20 there is attached a clamping device24. In this embodiment the clamping device has a turn wheel 25 connected there to, forenabling enforced clamping of the balcony 4. However in most cases the clampingdevice 24 may safely hold the balcony 4 onto the support arrangement without anyenforced clamping, i.e. instead merely by fixing the clamping devices 24 onto thebeams 20, 21 (at least four of them, i.e. a pair on each beam 20, 21, but merely one isshown in Fig. 1) in tight contact with the balcony 4. When using an activation device,e. g. a turn wheel 25 for enforced clamping, this is preferably in the forrn of a threadedshaft, which by means of the turn wheel 25 may be tumed to fix the balcony 4 in between a pair of such clamping devices 24 to the beam 20.

In cooperation with the adjustment mechanism 32 described above, there is alsoarranged a measuring device 33 that enables easy adjustment of the position of the saw1 into a desired path for cutting of the balcony 4. This is a benef1cial arrangement, sinceif the cut of the saw is positioned along a desired path there will be no need for later adjustment of the remaining portion of the balcony 4 after having been removed.

In Fig. 2 there is schematically shown a lifting arrangement 7 that may be used with thearrangement shown in Fig. 1. The lifting arrangement 7 comprises a beam like liftingmember 75, having a pair of connection members 76 adjustably fixed adj acent one endeach of the beam 76 at a position that enables chains 761, 762 (or lifting rods) to extendsubstantially vertically down to lifting devices 246 (see Figs. 5 and 6) where they areattached. Such an arrangement provides the advantage that the balcony fence does notneed to be removed prior to lifting/removing the balcony 4 (in contrast to the method inaccordance with prior art). Preferably therefore the beam like lifting member 75 has alength that extends further than the width of the balcony, thereby providing forattachment of the lifting chains 761, 762 substantially vertically, into each one of aconnection member 76 positioned adj acent each end of the beam like lifting member 75.The connection members comprises a housing 760, that may be secured to the beam andwhich when released is moveable along the beam 75 to enable adjustment of its position for balanced lifting of the balcony 4.

In this embodiment the beam like lifting member 75 includes two lower beam portions750, 751, having substantially the same length, that are safely connected to each otherby means of an upper interconnecting beam 740, to forrn a long beam like liftingmember 75. In the preferred embodiment each lower beam portion750, 751 is at least 2 m long, more preferred about 3 m long, enabling handling of most existing balconies 4, which rarely have a width extending 6 m. Thanks to dividing the beam like liftingmember 75 into two beam portions many advantages are gained, e. g. easier handlingduring transport and reduced weight. Reduced weight may be achieved by using aninterconnecting beam 740 on top of the two other portions 750, 751, that by means ofbolts 752 securely bridges them and creates an assembly 740, 750, 751 that providessuff1cient strength having a substantially lower weight than a one piece beam (as isknown from prior art). Furthermore the interconnecting beam 740 preferably is providedwith the same kind of dimensions, at least at its outer ends, such that the connectionmembers 76 may also be used with the interconnecting beam 740 only, i.e. when abalcony of less width is to be removed. Preferably the length of the interconnectingbeam 740 has a length of about 3 meters (e. g. 3-4 m) which enables vertical chain liftfor most small seized balconies. Moreover, as is shown, the interconnecting beam 740may be integrated into a lifting attachment 74, having a plate like member 741protruding upwardly on top of the interconnecting beam 740. Within this plate likemember 741 there are arranged a number of holes 742, 743 enabling connection tolifting devices, i.e. a centrally positioned hole 742 for connection of the main liftingdevice (not shown, e. g. a hook belonging to a crane) and a plurality of holes 743distributed laterally for attachment of stabilizing chains (not shown) for increased stability during lifting of the balcony 4.

In Fig. 3 there is shown a fiJrther embodiment of a lifting arrangement. Firstly it isshown that instead of using lifting members in the form of eyelets 246 the inventionalso enables using lifting forks 70 to remove a balcony 4. This is especially desired if itrelates to a balcony 4 that is positioned within a comer, i.e. having two sides attached towalls 6. As is evident such a balcony 4 will not allow for using lifting beams 20, 21 thatprotrude on both sides of the balcony 4. Instead there is use of a lifting arrangement 7comprising lifting forks 70. The forks 70 are L-shaped (in a traditional manner) andhave their horizontal parts positioned under the balcony 4. The lifting forks 70 areattached to a body 71 having a beam support 72 arranged thereto. The beam support 72has a through hole carrying a lifting beam 73, extending above and parallel with and inbetween the two horizontal members of the forks 70. A lifting attachment 74 isarranged substantially in the middle of the lifting beam 73, where a lifting machine (e.g.a crane) may hook in to lift. The lifting beam 73 may slide in relation to the beamsupport 72 and the beam support may be repositioned perpendicularly (e.g. along a slot75) in relation to the body 71, enabling the lifting attachment to be positioned in adesired position to facilitate a balanced lifting of the balcony. Further there is shown an additional balancing arrangement 76, 77, 78, at the lower part of the forks 70, comprising a support 76 fixed between the forks 70, a rail 77 and a balancing weight 78 that may be positioned at any location along the rail 77 to obtain good balance.

In order to further improve the ability to quickly remove a balcony, especially regardingan arrangement as shown in Fig. 3, without taking any risks, the support members 22(23 in Fig. 1) between the balcony 4 and beam 20, 21 may be equipped with load cells600 (see fig 7), enabling remote control of load applied to each one of the load cells,such that the lifting arrangement 27 may be pre tensioned to more or less exactlycorrespond to the weight of the balcony, and in a balanced manner. This is especiallytrue after removal of a first balcony from a wall 6, since norrnally there are a plurality ofidentical balconies attached a wall 6 and after having lifted the first balcony 4 the exactweight of that balcony will be known. Regarding the first balcony a calculation may beperformed to apply a pretension that is presumed to be more or less correct. By doing asmentioned above undesired j erks and blows may be eliminated. Further it is possible touse a scale between the lifting attachment 74 and the lifting machine for obtaining feed- back regarding pretension.

In figures 4A and 4B there are shown a first embodiment according to the inventionusing lifting forks 70. The arrangement provides an easy adaptation for lifting balconiesof different sizes in a balanced manner. The first feature for easy adaptation is that thelifting forks 70 are length wise movable arranged in relation to the support frame 400(at lower part thereof), by means of having two passages 401 where each fork 70 mayslide to adjust the length F with which the fork 70 protrudes. The passages 401 arearranged in movable fork holders 4ll (hung onto an interface 400A), which aremovable in a sidewise direction in relation to the support frame 400, in order to enablevaried width between the forks 70.

At the top of the support frame 400 there is arranged a lifting member 402 forconnection/attachment of a lifting hook (not shown) of a crane or similar device. Liftingmember 402 is also movable to enable adjustment and balancing. This is achieved byarranging the lifting member 402 fixed to a body 403 that is slid able within a tubeformed part 404 at the top of the support frame 400. A hydraulic cylinder 4l2 isconnected to the body 403 enabling controlled movement/positioning of the body 403.According to the preferred embodiment the tube formed part 404 is inclined an angle Z in relation to the plane of extension of the forks 70.

Thanks to the arrangement of the movable body 403, with the lifting member 402, theattachments point for the hook (or similar) in relation to the forks 70 may be varied,enabling adjustment to obtain a desired balancing position of the lifting member 402 inrelation to a cut off balcony (not shown) carried by the forks 70. Preferably, furthersecurity means 413 is arranged to safely position the slid able body 403 in a desired position for balanced lifting of a cut of balcony.

Thanks to the slid able forks 70, balconies of different sizes may be handled by thelifting arrangement. Further, depending on the weight of the forks 70 also theadjustment of the forks 70 may assist in achieving balanced lifting of a cut off balcony,since the forks 70 are preferably made of solid steel and therefore may therefore act as counterweights.

In figures 5 and 6 there are shown a further lifting arrangement 500 using forks, to behanged on front of the arrangement 500 in a similar manner as shown in figs 4A, 4B,preferably the same kind of interface. This arrangement is adapted to use for lifting bymeans of a machine (e. g. Telfer) where the lifting arrangement 500 is directly connectedto the lifting tool of the machine (not shown). The arrangement comprises a fixedportion 506 and a pivotal portion 504. The fixed portion 506 includes a connection plate501, preferably with a plurality of fastening sets (e. g. hole for bolts) that provides forattachment to numerous different machines of that kind the connection plate 501 isintended to be positioned to extend substantially vertically on the lifting arm (notshown) of the machine, during use. From the connection plate 501 there protrudes a firstpivot-access support structure 502, including four V-formed members 502 A,B, C,Dproviding a first support member for a vertical pivoting axis A, e. g. one or severalvertical shafts 515. The pivotal portion 504 comprises a second pivot-access supportstructure 505 including two oppositely protruding V-formed members 505A,B toarrange for pivotal fixed positioning of the pivoting portion 504 around the pivotingaxis A that is common for the one or more pivoting shafts 503, used to provide sufficient strength of the design.

Adj acent the protruding V-comers of the support structures 502, 505, and centrally inrelation to their horizontal extension, there are arranged shaft supporting members 505C,D, 502 E, F (e. g. in the form of welded sleeves coaxially with holes in the platemembers), to form a distance D between the connection plate 51 and the outer face 508of the pivoting support structure 505, that is adj acent to the inner ends of the forks 70,and also to have the V-from to enable pivoting of the pivotal portion 504.

In between the connection plate 501 and the pivoting support structure 505 there arearranged two hydraulic cylinders 507, 508, one on each side of the pivoting axis A. Thehydraulic cylinders 507, 508 are connected to a valve unit 509 (schematically shown).The hydraulic cylinders 507, 508 are also arranged I a V-forrn to substantially extendone on each side in parallel with the edges of the V of the V-forrned support 505 A, Bof the pivotal portion 504. Such that their pivotal attachment points 507B, 508B at thefixed portion 506 are closer to each other than the pivotal attachment points 507A,508A at the pivotal portion 504.

The valve unit 509 includes a plurality of valve sets (at least two) that facilitate tocontrol the hydraulic cylinders jointly, by means of having them serially connected.Further the valve unit 509 is arranged with a control valve (not shown) that may divertincoming hydraulic flow to the one or the other set of valves. Hereby a single pair ofhydraulic tubes, connected to the valve unit 509 is sufficient to provide power for morethan one hydraulic cylinder.

Further the control valve is connected to an electronic control device 510. By means ofthe control device 5 10 an operator may choose which direction the hydraulic cylinders507, 508 are to be operated. In the preferred embodiment the control device 5 l0 isremotely operated, by means of a (preferably wireless) remote control unit 5 l l,whereby the operator easily can shift from one direction to the other 508. Thanks to thearrangement a large pivotal movement may be achieved, with a relatively compactarrangement of the hydraulic cylinders, having the serially connected hydrauliccylinders 507, 508 cooperating (one pushing, the other pulling) and without any need ofchanges of the machine, e.g. suff1cient with one pair of hydraulic power tubes. In theshown embodiment the total pivot range is about 60°.

Thanks to this arrangement it will be safer and easier to achieve a lift of a balcony froma desired place/position, since the machine may then be positioned within a wide arrayfor making the lift and still providing a desired positioning of the forks 70 in relation to the balcony.

In f1g. 7 there is shown a perspective view of one embodiment according to theinvention of a lifting arrangement that are attached to lifting forks 70, e. g. to beconnected to a the arrangement shown in fig s. 5 and 6. Most of the devices havealready been described above and will therefore not be described in any detail, e. g. here it is shown a preferred arrangement when using load cells 600. This arrangement also includes novel attachment devices 700 enabling safe clamping onto the beams 20, 21,providing easy and quick positioning of varying devices for removal of a balcony, e. g.fixation of the beams to the forks 70, fixation of the guide beam 12 to one beam 21,fixation of the distance pipes 800 to the beams 20, 21. The attachment devices 700preferably have a common base structure, i.e. a relatively large base plate 701 that iswider than the beams width and two clamping plates 702 on each side, to enable safeclamping. The base plate 701 may then auxiliary be equipped with any king of fixationdevice 703, to connect a desires device thereto, e. g. load cells 600, and/or pipe connectors 801.

Moreover f1g. 7 shows that a power pack 900 for the saw advantageously may be hungon one of the beams 20, preferably hooked onto one of the beams 20 by means of alever support 901, that is safely held by means of gravitation, to have it near the saw, thereby avoiding long, possibly problematic power cables to the saw.

The invention is not limited to what has been described above but may be varied withinthe scope of the appended claims. For instance, it is foreseen that many of the specificdevices that are described above will also enable a similar functionality in othersituations and therefor it is for seen that divisional applications may be filed at a laterstage to possibly attain a protection specif1cally for that device also when used in otherapplication. Furthermore, many of the arrangements may be operated remotely, e. g.instead of using a long tool 30, 33, for making adjustments, implying that it is foreseenthat electrically driven motors may be used to arranged for desired movements, e.g. tomove a balancing weight 78. Further it is evident that different means may be used toachieve the remotely controlled and autonomously operated adjustment mechanism, i.e.not merely hydraulic cylinders (as shown) but also electrically powered or hydraulically operated linear actuators.

Claims (1)

1. l. Method for removal of a balcony, comprising the steps of providing a supportstructure (400; 506, 504) connected to a lifting arrangement (7), positioning said lifting arrangement (7) at desired locations in relation to saidbalcony (4), lifiing and removing said balcony (4) by means of said lifiing arrangement (7),c h a r a c t e r i z e d by providing said lifting arrangement (7) With at least oneremotely controlled and autonomously operated adjustment mechanism (402,403; 507, 508, 506, 504), and adjustably positioning at least one part of said lifting arrangement (7) in connection With the lifting of a cut off balcony. Method according to claim l, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by providing said liftingarrangement (7) With lifting forks (70) and by using at least one linear actuatorin said remotely controlled and autonomously operated adjustment mechanism(402, 403; 507, 508) to achieve a balanced lift of a cut off balcony. . Method according to claim l or 2, c h ar a c t e r i z e d by providing said adjustment mechanism With a slid able body (403) carrying a lifting member(402), to achieve adjustable positioning of said lifting member (402). Method according to claim 3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by having said lifting forks(70) slid able in relation to said support structure (400) of said lifting arrangement. Method according to claim 4, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by providing at least onesecuring member (413) safely securing the slid able body (403) in a desired secured position. Method according to claim l or 2, c h ar a c t e r i z e d in that said remotelycontrolled and autonomously operated adjustment mechanism (402, 403; 507,508), is provided With a first fixed portion (506) and a second pivotal portion(504) Wherein at least one, preferably two linear actuators (507, 508) are used to achieve pivoting. Method according to claim 6, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by providing said linear actuators (507, 508) are in the form of serially connected hydraulic cylinders 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. (507, 508) connected to a valve unit (509) enabling control of said hydraulic cylinders (5 07, 508) by means of one source of incoming hydraulic power flow. Method according to claim 7, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by providing said valve unit(509) with an electronic control device (510) enabling remote control of saidvalve unit (509). Method according to claim 9 c h a r a c t e r i z e d by operating said control device (510), preferably wirelessly, by means of an operator held control unit (511). A lifting arrangement to carry out a method according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said lifting arrangement (7) includes at least oneremotely controlled and autonomously operated adjustment mechanism (402,403; 507, 508, 506, 504), arranged to enable adjusted positioning of at least onepart of said lifting arrangement (7). A lifting arrangement according to claim 1 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that saidlifting arrangement (7) includes lifting forks (70) and said remotely controlledand autonomously operated adjustment mechanism (402, 403; 507, 508) includes at least one linear actuator, preferably two linear actuators (507, 508) A lifting arrangement according to claim 1 1 or 12, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in thatsaid adjustment mechanism includes a slid able body (403) carrying a liftingmember (402), arranged to adjustable positioning of said lifting member (402) in relation to said support structure (400). A lifting arrangement according to claim 1 1, 12 or 13, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in thatsaid lifting arrangement (7) includes forks (70) that are slid ably arranged in relation to a support frame (400) of said lifting arrangement. A lifting arrangement according to claim 1 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that saidremotely controlled and autonomously operated adjustment mechanism (5 04,506, 507, 508), includes a first fixed portion (506) and a second pivotal portion(5 04) wherein two linear actuators (5 07, 508) are arranged to achieve pivoting ofthe pivotal portion (5 04). 11 15. A lifting arrangenient according to claini 15, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that saidlinear actuators (507, 508) are serially connected hydraulic cylinders (507, 508)connected to a Valve unit (509) arranged to control said hydraulic cylinders (507,508). 16. A lifting arrangenient according to claini 16, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that saidValve unit (509) is arranged With an electronic control device (5 l0) enablingremote control of said valve unit (5 09) by means of an operator held control unit (5 l l), Wherein said control unit (510) preferably operate Wireless.