Static structures (e.g. – buildings) – With entrance for persons or objects in horizontal or... – With additional enclosure structure; e.g. – manhole
Reexamination Certificate
2002-10-10
2004-01-27
Yip, Winnie S. (Department: 3637)
Static structures (e.g., buildings)
With entrance for persons or objects in horizontal or...
With additional enclosure structure; e.g., manhole
C052S200000, C052S072000, C182S113000, C182S045000, C248S237000, C256S065140
Reexamination Certificate
active
06681528
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention pertains to safety equipment for building structures and specifically to a railing system to be used with roof access hatches.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Safety railing systems have been used in both new construction and existing buildings for many years. Typically, the rail systems have been firmly secured to the building about its periphery to prevent an accidental fall to a worker which can cause major and permanent injury.
The safety railing concept has also been applied to other locations for the prevention of an accidental fall from an appreciable vertical height. One location where safety railings have been adapted is in the area adjacent to a roof access hatch. These railings not only prevent accidental falls, but they also can serve as a grab bar to assist in balance for someone both climbing onto a roof and descending from the roof through the access hatch.
For a typical roof hatch installation, the hatch is positioned over a hole in the roof and is thus substantially supported upon the roof surface. The base of the hatch usually comprises a lower lateral support surface which contacts the roofing surface, a flange or vertical section, and coping above the flange. Insulation is typically positioned upon the outer flange surface and thereafter, roofing material is typically used to cover the lower lateral support and insulation surrounding the flange and then permanently bonded into position using a sealant applied to the roofing material adjacent to the coping. The sealant provides a water-proof seal to insure that water damage to the hatch installation will not occur.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,167,659 issued to Swindell discloses a safety railing system having at least one pole where each pole is secured in place between an associated bracket which is bolted to the base member of a roof access hatch adjacent the pole's lower end. The pole extends vertically and the upper end of the pole may be adapted with a handle to assist a person traversing through the hatch.
One drawback to the Swindell patent is that it is necessary to drill holes into the base member to facilitate attachment. As a result, these holes are drilled first through the roofing material, then through the insulation and finally through the flange. It is possible to compromise the integrity of the insulation, the roofing materials, or the gasketing in the immediate area surrounding the hatch thereby increasing the probability of undesirable water leakage.
Another prior art design utilizes a safety rail having brackets which are secured to the coping by using screws which threadably engage the coping. A problem associated with this type of design is the higher coping profile required for mounting the bracket. This bracket requires a wider coping surface to mount to than is commonly found on standard roof hatches in order for the cover to properly close.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Our safety railing system presents an alternative to those of the prior art. The safety railing system can incorporate a low profile, satisfy building code insulation requirements, and is easy to assemble and disassemble. It does not require that holes be drilled into the base member which can compromise the water seal integrity about the hatch installation.
The ability to quickly disassemble the railing from the hatch can be advantageous in certain situations. For example, if an item is desired to be lifted through the hatch opening, it may become snagged or caught on the railing making the lifting procedure more difficult.
Although a prior art railing which is directly bolted to the base can be disassembled and then reassembled, this design is not desirable because reassembly may not be as strong as the original assembly due to thread wear associated with the disassembly/reassembly procedure. By contrast, our design uses brackets which do not impose any detrimental wear to the coping. The vertical rail legs of our safety railing can be removed and then repositioned for attachment. Attachment can utilize new bolts and nuts thereby avoiding the possibility of damage associated with thread damage to the coping which may occur with direct bolt attachment.
Our new rail system is designed to be an optional attachment to roof access hatches. When installed, the safety rail is designed to prevent a person from accidentally falling through an open roof hatch. The safety rail system can also serve the same function as a grab bar to assist a person when traversing through the roof hatch opening.
Our safety railing meets the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) definition for a railing which requires that there be both a top horizontal rail and a mid rail; the top horizontal rail located at least 42 inches from the floor, and the mid rail located approximately half way between the top horizontal rail and floor. Our safety railing also satisfies the OSHA 200-pound load requirement for the top rail.
A unique feature of our hatch railing system is the mounting bracket design. Our hatch comprises a base having a vertical section and coping located at the top portion of the vertical section. The coping comprises a sidewall having a plurality of preformed openings or slits formed about its outer periphery, preferably, in the case of a square hatch design, about three of the four sides.
The vertical distance or height of the coping sidewall can be of a lower profile than that for the prior art bolting directly to the coping. This is because the portion of the mounting bracket inserted through the slit acts as a load bearing surface to the inside surface of the coping. A portion of this particular load bearing surface can be located nearer the top of the coping than the lowermost portion of the hatch cover when in the closed position. Therefore, a coping having less vertical height can be incorporated with our design. The access hatch cover can close without coming into contact with the mounting brackets of our design.
A mounting bracket is provided for each respective slit and is inserted into the slit located on the outer facing side of the base. The mounting bracket can be described as generally having a U-shape design, a mid-section and two distal portions extending away from the mid-section in a parallel direction. One of the distal portions incorporates an aperture near one end. The mounting bracket is sized so that the end portion of the bracket not having an aperture can be inserted into the slit so that the mounting bracket end portion having the aperture is outside of the slit and can be positioned for facilitating the securement of a respective rail leg to the coping.
When properly inserted into the slit, the mounting bracket will have most of its mid-section and the side having the aperture located outside the coping. Further, the end portion having the aperture will be orientated so that it will extend upward from the mid-section.
This orientation is necessary so that a respective leg of the safety railing can be supported upon the mid-section and secured in position typically by inserting a bolt or screw through the end portion aperture and into engagement with an appropriately sized hole adjacently located in the respective leg having a common axis of symmetry with the mounting bracket aperture. Another means for attaching rail legs to mounting brackets include the use of cotter pins but other methods common in the art can also be utilized. Another means, if removability is not desired, is to weld the bottom portion of the rail leg to a respective bracket.
In the preferred embodiment, each mounting bracket further comprises an offset brace which will contact and become a load bearing surface against the outside surface of the coping while the end portion received through the slit will become a load bearing surface against the inner surface of the coping.
The positioning of the mounting bracket partially within the base makes bolted attachment of the railing directly to the base not necessary.
In the preferred embodiment, two attachments of the rail system are made to the hatch cover, rath
Profeta Jeff
Saucedo Enrique
Schellhase Scott
Activar, Inc.
Chabot Ralph D.
Yip Winnie S.
LandOfFree
Hatch safety railing system does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Hatch safety railing system, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Hatch safety railing system will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3195259