Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a safety
fence assembly for mounting to a floor of a building
under construction.
BACICGROUND OF THE INVENTION
. . . _ . . . _ _ _
Safe-ty fences or barriers are used in
connec-tion wi-th -the construc-tion of bui]dings and are
adapted for temporary ins-tallation adjacen-t the outer
perimeters of floors to provide for -the persona:L safe-ty
of -the workers and also -to preven-t i-tems lying on the
floor from being accidentally displaced over the edges.
These fences are usually made up of
individual sections, each section including
longitudinally extending spaced rails which are secured
in their space relationship by uprights positioned at
ntervals along each~section.
These safe-ty fence assemblies are temporary
and therefore should possess the attributes of ease of
mounting and dismounting. In addition, they should be
adjustable in length to guard platform perimeters of
various leng-ths wi-thout the need of having to carefully
align adjacent guide rail sections or fixed sectional
components together.
It lS often desirable that some sections be
made easily openable to provide access ou-tside the
perimeter of the floor whenever required.
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OBJECTS AND STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the inven-tion to provide a
safety fence assembly which may be easily and quickly
moun-ted to and dismoun-ted from platform perimeters.
It is also an object of the invention to
provide a safe-ty fence assembly in which any section
may be easily opened.
The present inven-tion -therefore relates to a
safe-ty fence assembly for mounting to a floor of a
building under cons-truc-tion which comprises:
post means adapted to be vertically mounted
to -the floor;
- at least one guard rail struc-ture including
at least an upper rail and uprigh-t means secured to the
upper rail to define therewith a frame;
- first hinge means mounted -to the upper rail
at one end thereof, these hinge means including a
vertically extending pivot member adapted to be
pivotally mounted to the upper end of a pos-t means, or
to hinge means of an adjacently disposed guard rail
structure, and a horizontally extending support member
having an opening therethrough to receive a pivot
member of an adjacently disposed guard structure-; and
- movable second hinge means slidably mounted
-to the upper rail at an opposite end thereof, the
movable hlnge means including:
-- a member slidably moun-ted to the upper
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rail;
- a pivot member ver-tically extendi.ng
from the sliding member and adapted to be pivotally
mounted to hinge means of an adjacently disposed guard
rail struc-ture, or to the upper end o~ the post means;
and
- a support member horizontally
extendlng from the sliding member and having an opening
for receiving therethrough a pivot member of a hi.nge
means o~ an adjacently disposed guard rail frame
.structure.
In one forrn of -the invention, both hinge
means are movable along the upper rail whi.le, in a
second form, one hinge means is fixed to the upper rail
while the other is movable thereon.
Other objects and further scope of
applicability of the present invention will become
apparent from the detailed descripti.on given
hereinafter. It should be understood, however, that
this detailed description, while indicating preferred
embodiments of the invention, is given by way of
illustration only7 slnce various changes and
modifications within the spirit and scope of the
invention will become apparent to those skilled in the
art.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
... . ... . _ _ _
Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a
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safety fence assembly made in accordance with the
present invention mounted on a floor of a building
under construction;
Figure 2 is an enlarged perspective view
showing one section of the fence assembly shown .i.n
figure l;
Fi.gure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken
along lines 3-3 of F:i.gure l;
Figure 4 is an enlarged perspec-tive vi.ew
showing another embodiment of a fence section made in
accordance with the present invention;
Figure 5 is an exploded perspective view
showing another embodiment of a safe-ty fence assembly
made in accordance with the present invention; and
Figure 6 is an enlarged perspective view
showing one section of the guard rail structure shown
in figure 5.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to figure 1, there is shown a
series of components which make up -the assembly of a
safety fence which is temporarily installed adjacent
the outer perimeter of a wooden or concrete floor of a
building under construction for the personal safety of
: workers.
The fence illustrated is made up of a series
of sections, three being shown as 10, 12 and 14. Two
of these sections (10 and 14) are supported on a series
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of vertical pos-ts 20 and 22, 24 and 26 each having
their lower end loosely engaged to a series of anchor
devices 32 and 34, 36 and 38 which are appropriately
si.tuated on the building floor 42 ad~acent the
perimeter 44 thereof. Section 12 of the fence is
pivotally ~ounted, as desc:ribed hereinafter, to
sections 10 and 14 to define an openable section to
provide access outside the perime-ter of the floor.
Sections 10, 12 and 14 are identical in shape and
construction and a description of such a section will
now be given in rela-tion to figure 2. Section 10
comprises an upper rail 46, an intermedia-te lower rail
48 and a pair of uprights 52 and 54. The upper and
lower rails and the uprights are tubular in shape and
define a rectangular rail structure. The upper ends of
uprights 52 and 54 are integral with (or fi.xedly
secured to) the under side of the upper rai.1 46 while
their lower ends are free. The rail 48 is fi.xedly
secured to a side wall of the tubular uprights 52 and
54 so that the upper rail 46 and the uprights 52 and 54
extend in a same vertical plane, which is slightly
offset relative to a vertical plane passing through
rail 48.
In this embodiment, the fence section has a
pair of hinge connections 56 and 58 which are slidably
mounted at the opposite ends of the upper rail 46.
Each hinge 56, 58 includes a tubular collar
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60, 62, a vertically ex-tending member 64, 66 in the
form of a cyli.ndrical rod, and a horizon-tally extending
support member 68/ 70 which projects laterally from
rail 46.
Each support member 68, 70 has a circular
opening 72, 74, the diameter of which is slightly
greater than the outer diameter of -the cylindrical rods
64, 66.
Rods 64 and 66 extend in the same ver-tical
plane that includes the upper rail 46 and the uprights,
52 and 54 whi.le the central axis of holes 72 and 74 is
in the same vertical plane that includes the rail 48
and which is offset relative to the firs-t mentioned
vertical plane.
The outer diameter of rods 64 and 66 i5 also
smaller than the rectangular open ends o~ the posts 20,
22, 24, 26 so that these rods may be freely pivot
within -the posts.
Referring to figure 3, each post has i-ts
: 20 lower extremity loosely fitted over a short upstanding
support member 76 fixedly secured to a base plate 78 of
the anchor device 34. The latter is bolted, in the
case of a concrete floor, or nailed, in the case of a
wooden floor. Each anchor device al.so includes a line
fastener 80 allowing a construction worker to hook his
safety cable at the various work locations on the
floor. A more detailed description of such anchor
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device is given in a patent application filed
concurrently herewi-th by applicant.
To assemble a fence assembly made in
accordance with the present invention, sections 10 and
14 are mounted -to their respective posts 20, 22, 24,
26, by inserting rods 64 and 66 of each section in the
upper open end of the pos-ts. Then, sec-tion 12 is
mounted to fence section 10 by inser-ting rod 64 in the
opening 74 of hinge 58 of section :L0.
The movable hinge 58 of section 12 is
longitudinal1y displaceable on rail 46 so that,
whenever section 12 is to remain a fixed section, its
rod 66 may be positioned over and slid into opening 72
of the hinge support member 68 of section 14. Once
mounted, section 12 is situated in a vertical plane
which is slightly offset relative to a vertical plane
that includes the upper rail 46, 46" and uprights 52,
54, 52", 54" of sections 10 and 14.
Referring to figure 4, another embodiment of
a fence section is illustrated. Section 212 comprises
an upper rail 246, a lower rail 248 and a series of
uprights 250, 252 and 254. The upper and lower rails
and the uprights are tubular displaying a rectangular
cross-section. The upper ends of uprights 250, 252 and
254 are integral with or fixedly secured to the
underface of the upper rail 246 while their lower ends
are fixedly secured to a side wall of the tubular lower
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rall 248 so that the upper rail 246 and the uprights
250, 252 and 254 ex-tend in a same vertical plane, which
plane is slightly offset to a vertical plane that would
include the longitudinal axis of the lower rail 248.
This fence sec-tion 212 has a fixed hinge
connection at one end 256 of the upper rail and a
movable hinge connection slidably moun-ted a-t the
opposite end 258 thereof.
The fixed hinge connection includes a
vertically extending pivot member 260, in the form of a
cylindrical rod, and a horizontally extending support
member 262 which projects from a side wall of the
-tubular upper rail 246.
The movable hinge connection includes a
tubular collar 264 to which are fixedly secured a
vertically extending pivot member 266, in the form of a
cylindrical rod, and a horizontally extending support
member 268.
Each lug 262, 268 has a circular opening 270,
: 20 272, the diameter of which is slightly greater than the
outer diameter of the cylindrical rods 260, 266.
The rods 260 and 266 extend in the same
vertical plane that includes the upper rail 246 and the
uprights 250, 252 and 254 while the central axis of
holes 270 and 272 is ln the same vertical plane that
includes the~lower rail 248 and which is offset to the
vertical plane just described.
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g
The ou-ter diame-ter of the rods 260 and 266 is
also smaller than the rectangular openings at the upper
extremity of the posts 20, 22, 24, 26 (shown in Eigure
1) so that these rods may be freely received and pivot
within the posts.
ReEerring to flgures 5 and 6, there is shown
another embodiment of a fence assembly made in
accordance with the presen-t invention. In this
embodiment, three sections of identical constructions
are shown as 100, 102 and 104 wi.th four posts 106, 108,
110 and 112, the lower ends of which are loosely
mounted in anchor devices 114, 116, 118 and 120, the
construction of which somewhat differs from -that shown
in figure 1 (i.e. different location of -the short
lS support member).
Referring more particularly to figure 6, -the
construction of one section of the fence assembly is
shown. Section 100 is defined by a rectangular frame
that includes an upper rail 122, a lower rail 124 and
uprights 126 and 128. A screen 130 extends between the
two uprights 126 and 128 and the lower rail 124. An
intermediate stabilizing bar 132 extends transversely
of the frame with one end 134 protruding outside the
upright 128. The lower rail 124, the uprights 126 and
128, the screen 130 and the transverse bar 132 all
extend in a common vertical plane. The upper rail 122
is secured to a side wall of the uprights 126 and 128
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so that i.t lles in a plane which is offset relative to
-the said vertical plane of the remaining structure of
the sec-tion.
The upper rail 122 has a protruding end 136
to which is a fixed hinge connection tha-t includes a
vertically extending support member 138, in the form of
a cylindrical rod, and a horizontally extending support
mernber 140 displayi.ng a circular opening 142. At -the
opposi.te end of the upper rail 122 is a movable hinge
connection that consists of a tubular collar 144, a
vertically extending rod 1.46 and a support 150
displaying a circular opening 148. Both rods 138 and
146 extend in a vertical plane that includes -the upper
rail 122 while the central axes of holes 142 and 150
extend in the vertical plane that includes the lower
rail 124, the uprights 126, 128 the screen 130 and the
transverse bar 132.
The assembly of sections 100, 102 and 104 is
accomplished by inserting rods 138 and 146 of sections
100 and 104 in the upper extrernity of posts 106, 108,
110 and 112. The middle section 102 is then mounted to
sections 100 and 104 by inserting their rods 138 and
146 in their corresponding and associated opening 150
of section 100 and opening 142 of section 104. Once
assembled, section 102 lies in a plane which is
frontwardly offset -to the plane including the main
portion of sections 100 and 104. Section 102 may be
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made pivotable relative to sections lO0 and 104 to
define a door section in the fence by inserting one of
the rods 138 or 146 in opening 150 of section 100 or
opening 1~2 of section lO~ to act as a pivo-t.
A1-though the invention has been described
above in relation to -three specific forms, it will be
evident to the person skilled in the ar-t -that it may be
refined and modified in various ways. It is therefore
wished to have it understood khat -the present invention
should not be limited in interpretation except by the
terms of the following claims.
