Classifications

• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04F—FINISHING WORK ON BUILDINGS, e.g. STAIRS, FLOORS
  • E04F11/00—Stairways, ramps, or like structures; Balustrades; Handrails
  • E04F11/02—Stairways; Layouts thereof
  • E04F11/022—Stairways; Layouts thereof characterised by the supporting structure
  • E04F11/032—Spiral stairways supported by a central column
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04F—FINISHING WORK ON BUILDINGS, e.g. STAIRS, FLOORS
  • E04F11/00—Stairways, ramps, or like structures; Balustrades; Handrails
  • E04F11/18—Balustrades; Handrails
  • E04F11/181—Balustrades
  • E04F11/1817—Connections therefor
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04F—FINISHING WORK ON BUILDINGS, e.g. STAIRS, FLOORS
  • E04F11/00—Stairways, ramps, or like structures; Balustrades; Handrails
  • E04F11/18—Balustrades; Handrails
  • E04F11/181—Balustrades
  • E04F11/1817—Connections therefor
  • E04F11/1834—Connections therefor with adjustable angle, e.g. pivotal connections
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04F—FINISHING WORK ON BUILDINGS, e.g. STAIRS, FLOORS
  • E04F11/00—Stairways, ramps, or like structures; Balustrades; Handrails
  • E04F11/02—Stairways; Layouts thereof
  • E04F2011/0203—Miscellaneous features of stairways not otherwise provided for
  • E04F2011/0205—Stairways characterised by the use of specific materials for the supporting structure of the treads
  • E04F2011/0209—Stairways characterised by the use of specific materials for the supporting structure of the treads mainly of metal
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04F—FINISHING WORK ON BUILDINGS, e.g. STAIRS, FLOORS
  • E04F11/00—Stairways, ramps, or like structures; Balustrades; Handrails
  • E04F11/18—Balustrades; Handrails
  • E04F11/181—Balustrades
  • E04F11/1817—Connections therefor
  • E04F2011/1819—Connections therefor between balustrade posts and horizontal or sloping balustrade members
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04F—FINISHING WORK ON BUILDINGS, e.g. STAIRS, FLOORS
  • E04F11/00—Stairways, ramps, or like structures; Balustrades; Handrails
  • E04F11/18—Balustrades; Handrails
  • E04F11/181—Balustrades
  • E04F11/1817—Connections therefor
  • E04F2011/1819—Connections therefor between balustrade posts and horizontal or sloping balustrade members
  • E04F2011/1821—Connections therefor between balustrade posts and horizontal or sloping balustrade members between balustrade posts and handrails

Definitions

• the invention relates to a modular spiral staircase and a method of assembly thereof.
• Spiral staircases are known in the art to comprise a central pillar onto which are successively mounted stair treads forming a spiral pattern as the staircase rises around the central pillar.
• Such a staircase is deliverable either with the angular rotation and rise of the stair treads and further the position where the stairway terminates being fixed by the manufacturer with the central pillar being perforated to comprise stair tread receiving slots in a standardized pattern thereby limiting consumer's choice or otherwise it might entail a possibility to vary angular rotation and rise of the stair treads to suit particular customer requirements, but then customized design of the central pillar prior to execution of each particular order of the spiral staircase has to be perforaied and the staircase is thus not deliverable on request.
• US 5,088,248 and GB 1,047,846 do not provide for a variable rise in between stair treads and in this respect GB 1,047,846 proposes the employment of collars in between the mating tubular portions to increase the rise between treads should the required height of the top stair tread from the base not be an exact multiple of the effective length of the mating tubular portions. It is noted that such collars if inserted in between successive tubular portions would render an aesthetically deteriorated result and would adversely affect the rigidity of the staircase.
• the spiral staircase is designed to comprise a central pillar divided in a plurality of mating tubular portions and a plurality of independently provided stair treads suspendable and screwed thereupon. Due to such independency of the mating tubular portions and stair treads, a stock of 11 different stair tread sizes with a length varying from 50 to 100 cm, i.e.
• the overall number of items to be stocked arrives at the manageable number of 480 items, that is substantially lower, approximately 6 times less, the aforementioned number of 2860 pieces of stock requirements of the prior art.
• This substantial improvement is further emphasized if the awkward to store or carry tube-tread combination of the items of the prior art is taken into consideration and compared to the orderly storing or carrying of the separate cylindrical central pillar forming tubular portions and planar stair tread members of the present invention.
• FR-2,041,584 proposes a stair tread being provided with a pair of hook extensions which are inserted into a corresponding pair of slots of the central pillar, so as to suspend the stair tread from the central pillar, it is however evident that due to the tolerances allowed in the slots to enable free insertion of the hook extensions therein, following its suspension, the stair tread might be laterally movable and therefore it may fail to provide a rigid, strong vibration free connection of the stair tread to the central pillar.
• a further object of the invention is to provide for an improved capacity of varying angular rotation of the stair treads and in particular of a fine adjustment of the angular rotation, such capacity being obtained by machining the ends of the tubular portions to provide a gear engagement of adjacent tubular portions, wherein both ends of each one of the plurality of mating tubular portions are provided with a plurality of teeth to ensure fine adjustment of angular rotation and thereby ensure desirable exit of the staircase, wherein the gear engagement of the tubular portions has the further advantage of eliminating any undesirable circumferential and/or centrifugal displacement of the mated tubular portions.
• a further object of the invention is to propose a hand railing structure and supporting members thereof easily mounted at the outermost ends of the spiral pattern of stair treads, with a capacity of on site regulation.
• Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a part of the assembled modular spiral staircase of the invention.
• Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of one from the central pillar forming tubular portions and associated stair tread suspended thereupon.
• Fig. 3 shows a detailed enlarged view of the assembly of tubular portion and associated stair tread of Fig. 2.
• Figs. 3a shows another detailed enlarged view of the assembly of tubular portion and associated stair tread of Fig. 2 with the tubular portion being partially cut to reveal the inner walls of the tubular portion at the region of connection to the stair tread, including the pair of annular rings delimiting the central supporting rod.
• Figs. 3b and 3c show two successive phases of mounting the stair tread to the tubular portion.
• Fig. 4 shows a frontal view of the tubular portion with the hook receiving slots and guide protrusions receiving slots and one hole for fixedly screwing the stair tread onto the tubular portion.
• Figs. 5 and 6 show a cross sectional view of the stair tread approaching the tubular portion onto which it is mounted and assembled thereupon respectively.
• Fig. 7 shows a planar view of the stair tread assembled with the tubular portion.
• Fig. 8 shows an assembly of a tubular portion onto a stair tread including in perspective an optional stair tread bottom cover.
• Fig. 9 shows the spiral staircase of the invention with a perimetrical hand railing.
• Figs. 9a and 9b show in perspective alternative forms of the hand railing structure supporting members.
• the staircase of the invention that is made from steel, stainless steel, aluminum or other suitable metal or other material comprises a central pillar 1 onto which are radially fitted stair treads 2 forming a spiral pattern.
• the central pillar 1 is being built by a plurality of identical mating tubular portions 4, each of which is machined at both ends thereof to form a plurality of teeth 8, whereby adjacent tubular portions are brought to a gear engagement when one sits above the other and a rigid mating thereof is obtained without circumferential or centrifugal displacement thereof being possible.
• Each tubular portion 4 is adapted to receive one of the plurality of identical stair treads 2 and it is therefore, as shown in Fig. 4 perforated to form a pair of adjacent identical slots 4a onto its surface and a pair of adjacent identical slots 4b, axially underneath slots 4a.
• Each stair tread 2 comprises a pair of identical rods 3 connected by means of rod 7 at the outermost end thereof, whilst rods 3 converge towards the tubular portion 4 and are connected by means of short length of sheet metal 17 that is curved at a curvature such as to fit around the tubular portion 4.
• Rods 3 extend beyond the connecting sheet metal 17 to form a pair of upper identical hook extensions 3 a and an underlying pair of guiding protrusions 3b, such hook extensions 3a and guiding protrusions 3b constituting the means of suspension of the stair tread 2 onto an associated tubular portion 4.
• each stair tread 2 is provided with a sheet metal plate 21 welded along the inner walls of rods 3 and the inner wall of end connecting rod 7 to form a basement whereupon may be fitted tread items made from a variety of materials, such as wood, marble, glass, stainless steel or sheet metal grid, etc.
• an additional sheet metal portion 20 formed in the configuration of the stair tread with side members 2a covering the pair of convergent rods 3 of the stair tread and further inwardly bent into extensions 2a' that lock into longitudinally extending upper recessions 2a" of convergent rods 3, whereby sheet metal portion 20 with side members 2a thereof provides a bottom coverage of the stair tread 2 and substantially adds in the aesthetic result obtainable with the stair treads of the invention.
• longitudinal slots 7a are provided on either side of the outermost rod 7 of the stair tread to provide for connection of the supporting members of a hand railing structure.
• each tubular portion is provided with a pair of equivalent longitudinal slots 4a with the appropriate dimensions and spacing for receiving the above mentioned hook extensions 3 a of the stair tread 2.
• a pair of further slots 4b is provided axially underneath the abovementioned hook extension receiving slots 4a, said slots 4b being adapted to receive the pair of guiding protrusions 3b of the stair tread accordingly.
• the process of suspending a stair tread 2 from a tubular portion 4 is depicted in Figs.
• one or two bolts passing though coincident holes 9, 9' or 9, 9a and 9', 9a' of the curved connecting sheet metal 17 of the stair tread and of the tubular portion 4 respectively, are employed to fixedly connect the stair tread and tubular portion assembly of the invention. It is hereby noted that if a pair of holes 9, 9a and 9', 9a' is employed, the bolt passing through 9a, 9a' might be elongated to reach the inner supporting rod 5 and thereby render a thoroughly fixed structure.
• Figs 3a-3c, 5-7 all present various views of the assembling process of one stair tread onto an associated tubular portion.
• Each one of tubular portions 4 is provided with a pair of annular rings 6 welded around the inner walls of the same at the proximity of both basements thereof, such annular rings 6 having a diameter such as to receive the supporting rod 5 cut to a size corresponding to the overall height of the spiral staircase and fixedly mounted at ground level of the two floors being connected through the spiral staircase of the invention.
• Fig. 9 shows a portion of the assembled staircase of the invention with a perimetrical hand railing structure mounted thereupon.
• the hand railing structure comprises a plurality of support members 10, each support member connecting a pair of successive stair treads and comprising a pair of elongated holes 16 to allow adapting to a varied rise in between successive stair treads, wherein these elongated holes 16 become coincident with the elongated side holes 7a of the outer connecting rod 7 of the stair treads which allow applicability to variable angular rotation of the stair treads, whereby connection of support members 10 onto the stair treads 2 is effected by means of bolts passing through coinciding holes 16 and 7a.
• support members 10 The upper end of support members 10 is shown to comprise a pivotally mounted basement 11 with a planar surface provided with holes 11a onto which a desirable design of handrail (not shown) is being mounted.
• Two alternative illustrative designs of the hand railing support members 10 are presented.
• Fig. 9 and the detail in Fig. 9b shows a support member 10 comprising a single sheet metal, whilst an alternative design of a double sheet metal structure with a pair of parallel bars 10a- 10b with the first support member being anchored onto ground level with plate 12 is shown in Fig. 9a.
• Lengthwise support members 10 are provided with an arrangement of equidistantly spaced pivotally mounted barrels 14a or 14b respectively, whereby a flexible railing 15 passing through successive barrels is connected in the perimeter of the staircase.
• the modular spiral staircase described hereinabove defines a novel method to build spiral staircases in accordance with customer requirements and yet immediately executable following receipt of an order, since all that one has to do is, after being given the height in between floors to be connected by the spiral staircase as well as the orientation of entrance and exit therefrom, to select from stock, after defining the applicable rise and angular rotation of the particular staircase, an appropriate size and number of gearly engaged tubular portions 4 and a corresponding number of appropriately sized stair treads 2 which are immediately deliverable on site together with an appropriate length of the supporting rod 5, hand railing and miscellaneous connecting fixtures.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Architecture (AREA)
• Civil Engineering (AREA)
• Structural Engineering (AREA)
• Steps, Ramps, And Handrails (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=34685514

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Cited By (10)

Citations (10)

• 2004
  • 2004-01-21 GR GR20040100025A patent/GR1004891B/el unknown
• 2005
  • 2005-01-21 WO PCT/GR2005/000002 patent/WO2005071182A1/en active Application Filing

Patent Citations (10)

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