Static structures (e.g. – buildings) – With stadium or auditorium feature – Seating arrangement
Patent
1986-12-31
1988-05-31
Ridgill, Jr., James L.
Static structures (e.g., buildings)
With stadium or auditorium feature
Seating arrangement
297243, E04H 312
Patent
active
047472383
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention concerns a terrace installation with seats a so-called gradin system, for spectators in theatre premises and circuses, at sports grounds, open air theatres and the like. The installation comprises in each section, a pair of sloping joists, each one with a number of vertical seating beam pillars, a corresponding number of parallel and horizontal seating beams which are mounted on the pillars and which stretch between opposite seating beam pillars on the hard joists, also a flat floor surface between each pair of parallel seating beams.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Spectator stands or terrace installations with seats, the so-called gradin system, are generally permanent. They are usually made of wood, steel or concrete construction. In certain cases they are made of prefabricated elements, which are assembled on the site. Examples of such permanent tier systems are described in Swedish patent specifications 73 676 and 206 022 and also in U.S. Pat. No. 2,524,769.
However, installations are often needed which can be quickly set up and dismantled and which consist of portable parts. For example in circuses such systems have been used for a long time. The constituent elements, are often very heavy. Its is desirable that no element should weigh more than 20 to 25 kg. The greatest weakness is, however, that the joints are not reliable. In general they use connecting elements of the types with hooks and eyes, pins, ball and socket joints, screws and nuts and the like. A disadvantage of such connecting elements is that they can slacken (there is no screw connection that is completely safe) and come apart during handling. In addition the usual systems are more or less unstable. Furthermore they are often troublesome to erect. An example of a portable stand or gradin system intended to be assembled with the aid of pins is the construction which is described in Swedish patent specification No. 424 210.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The purpose of the invention is to offer a portable so-called gradin system, which is easy to erect and dismantle, that is to say a terrace installation with seats, which is not based on the use of screws, nuts, pins or the like or on the use of connecting elements which in their turn are fastened to a load-bearing member with the aid of screws or the like for assembly of the system's basic elements for a coherent system. More precisely the invention aims to offer a system in which the constituent parts are assembled so as to be self-locking. By self-locking it is here not only understood that the need for such measures as bolting, securing of pins and the like is eliminated but also that the locking effect becomes greater the greater the load on the gradin system becomes under the effect of the weight of the spectators, without the elements at the same time being wedged tight into each other, which would make dismantling difficult.
It is also an aim of the invention that all main parts in the system should be able to be made of aluminium profiles, and that no part should weigh more than 20 to 25 kg.
These and other aims can be achieved in the portable terrace installation of the invention by the joists being laid upon free-standing trestles, with each seating beam pillar being fitted, on the side which is turned towards the seating beam, with a first connecting element running essentially vertically along the side with its length being essentially as long as the height of the seating beam or longer, with the height of the seating beam being greater than its width, with each one of the ends of the seating beam being fitted with a second, essentially vertical connecting element linking with the aforementioned first connecting elements, with is span in the vertical direction being essentially as great as the height of the seating beam, with the aforementioned first and second connecting elements being so arranged that the seating beams can be connected together with the seating beam pillars through the seating beams being lowered between the seating beam pillars
REFERENCES:
patent: 1715885 (1929-06-01), Annand et al.
patent: 1839679 (1932-01-01), Hoppes
patent: 2186866 (1940-01-01), Hussey
patent: 2524769 (1950-10-01), Blair et al.
patent: 4345406 (1982-08-01), Motley
Madsen Ruben
Wikstrom Ulf
Ridgill, Jr. James L.
Sit Down Aktiebolag
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