Fire escape – ladder – or scaffold – Self-sustaining
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-09
2002-07-23
Stodola, Daniel P. (Department: 3634)
Fire escape, ladder, or scaffold
Self-sustaining
C182S178500
Reexamination Certificate
active
06422345
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a dismantlable facade scaffold and to a method for the assembly and dismantling of such a facade scaffold.
Such facade scaffolds, in which the vertical support consists of support elements which can be separated from one another (CH-A-658878; GB-A-0276487), are used extensively for erection at the facade of a building in order to carry out external work there, for example applying a coat of paint.
Such facade scaffolds are generally assembled by successively erecting the individual scaffold planes, with the individual support elements of the, vertical supports of a first scaffold plane ending as a rule in each case just above a floor plate belonging to a second scaffold plane lying above it. This upper end of the support elements is then coupled by the installer to the lower end of the support elements for the second scaffold plane, in particular by means of a plug connection.
Thereafter, one or more substantially horizontally extending railing elements are mounted on the support elements in that scaffold plane (the second plane), in which the installer was present during the last discussed working step. These railing elements serve to reduce the danger of falling.
Once all the railing elements for the second scaffold plane have been installed, the floor plates belonging to the third scaffold plane lying above the second scaffold plane are coup led by the installer above his head with the previously installed support elements.
Finally, the scaffold is additionally stabilized during of the individual planes with transverse and/or diagonal struts.
In known facade scaffolds of the named kind it is a disadvantage that the installer has to work both during the erection of the support elements for the next scaffold plane and also during the installation of the railing elements for this next scaffold plane without any form of side protection, or without any form of side railing. This causes a considerable accident danger.
In order to counter this, it has already become known (FR-A-2336532) to install the railings of a new story to be erected from the already finished story and only then to place the floor plate belonging to the next story onto the already finished part of the scaffold, so that a worker treading on the new floor plate is already protected against falling by the previously installed railing. The pre-installation of the railing of the next story makes it necessary for vertical struts to extend downwardly from both sides of the railing which must first be connected to the already finished part of the scaffold and later also to the support elements of the following story.
In a further known dismantlable scaffold (FR-A-2516141) of the same kind, downwardly projecting struts are provided at one end of the railing by means of which the railing which is suspended at the other end of a vertical support can thus be swung upwardly to the next story and then secured to an already previously erected vertical support element.
The known solutions thus require additional downwardly extending vertical supports in order to move a railing element up to the next story and to secure it to the vertical support elements of the scaffold.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to make available a dismantlable facade scaffold and also a method of assembling and dismantling such a facade scaffold of the initially named kind, in which not only the danger of an accident during the assembling or dismantling is reduced to a minimum, but rather the assembly/dismantling can be carried out economically in a simple manner.
Thus, in accordance with the invention, the railing elements which are pivotally connected at one end to an already installed support element are coupled at the other end to a not yet installed further support element, whereupon the further support element is lifted up, with a pivoting of the railing element into a horizontal position, and is set onto the associated support element of the already finished story. Thus, no additional vertical supports are required for the vertical pivoting of the railing element, but rather the support element which later forms a component of the scaffold is itself used.
Since, with facade scaffolds, several vertical units are as a rule erected alongside one another, with their floor plates adjacent to one another in a plane, it is sensible to design the coupling between the railing elements and the support elements so that two railing elements can be secured at one end of a support element and can then respectively extend horizontally in opposite directions.
A particularly simple coupling between railing elements and support elements results when the railing elements can be hung into the fastening positions of the support element provided for this purpose. In this respect it is again of advantage when the suspended connection is equipped with a security device against unintentional release in order to ensure, in this manner, that the railing element is reliably connected to the support element when a horizontally directed force is exerted on a railing element, such as for example occurs when an installer leans against the railing element.
The said securing device is preferably so designed that it is achieved solely by the coupling of the railing element and the support element, without special devices having to be actuated for this purpose or without the installer having to carry out additional manual actions.
The suspended connection is preferably realized by a projection element which extends substantially perpendicular to the support element and is fixedly connected to the latter, and also by a lug provided at the end region of the railing element and which can be coupled to the projection element. It is an advantage of this embodiment that moveable parts do not need to be provided either at the railing element or at the support element.
The projection element is preferably executed as a stamped part, which can for example be welded onto the support element. Thus, the manufacturing costs can be restricted to a minimum because the stamping procedure can be carried out at low cost.
The projection element can, for example, be made substantially areal or flat, with it naturally having to have a certain thickness in order to be able to withstand the forces which arise.
In one possible embodiment of the projection element, the latter is provided with at least two mutually displaced projections at its upper and lower sides in each case. In this case the lug of the railing element can be threaded onto the projection element while executing pivotal movements when the railing element is aligned perpendicular to the support element, with the lug being moved over one projection of the projection element during each pivotal movement. Through sequential, opposite pivotal movements the lug is thereby alternatively moved over the projections provided at the upper and lower side of the projection element.
It is preferred when the lug is executed as an elongate slot which extends in the longitudinal direction of the railing elements, since in this case the lug can be pushed onto the projection element while executing a substantially linear movement, when the support element and the railing element include an angle, which is for example smaller than 45°. The support element and the railing element include an angle of this kind at the stage of the erection or dismantling in which the railing element has a free end, i.e. an end which is not coupled to a support element, and the other end is connected to a support element or to be released from such an element.
In this case the coupling position between the support element and the railing element stands, for example, approximately three meters above the floor plate, on which the installer is actually standing, so that it is of advantage when the corresponding coupling can be easily produced or cancelled by a simple linear movement.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention two fastening positions, in each case for a separate railing element, are pro
'Peri GmbH
Stodola Daniel P.
Thompson Hugh B.
Townsend and Townsend / and Crew LLP
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