AU697544B2 - Flooring - Google Patents

Description

slaas~a~arn~ P00011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act, 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT a t.

n e€ o o f of a o* ft a ft *0 a ar a a TO BE COMPLETED BY THE APPLICANT NAME OF APPLICANT: ACTUAL INVENTOR: ADDRESS FOR SERVICE: VEREYKEN BROTHERS PTY LIMITED ACN 003 543 548 HENK VEREYKEN Peter Maxwell Associates Level 6 Pitt Street SYDNEY NSW 2000 INVENTION TITLE: FLOORING :i The following statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to me:- 2'i This invention relates to flooring and more particularly to flooring for animal enclosures such as piggeries.

For the sake of convenience, the invention will be described in relation to flooring for piggeries but it is to be understood that the flooring of the invention will have other applications.

Modern piggeries have enclosures for pigs that incorporate a flooring made of spaced apart metal bars, the spacing of the bars being sufficient to ,a allow for animal refuse to fall therethrough but insufficient to allow a pig's 'or piglet's trotter to become wedged or caught between adjacent bars.

10 One such prior art metal flooring utilises triangular, parallel steel bars i that are welded to support bearers with a flat side of the triangle I.r uppermost to provide a substantially planar floor. Typically, the triangular ,bars are of isosceles cross-section with the upper face of each bar being wide. The downwardly facing apex of each bar is welded to the a 1 5 support bearers to form a grid-like flooring with the spacing between the upper flat face of adjacent bars being 10 mm.

A problem with such prior art flooring is that the substantial planar I upper face does not incorporate any means for preventing a pig from sliding sideways on the flooring. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention i 20 to provide such a flooring that does incorporate means to prevent, or at least limit, the sliding of an animal along the otherwise substantially planar surface of the flooring.

According to the invention there is provided an animal enclosure flooring comprising a plurality of elongated spaced apart bars of triangular cross-section mounted on cross support bearers, each bar having a substantially planar upper face so that adjacent bars provide a substantially planar upper face for the flooring, and wherein the upper face of each I I4 17w spaced apart triangular bar has transverse grooves formed therein with each adjacent pair of grooves being separated by a flat surface.

In one form of the invention, the flooring further includes a plurality of restrictor bars each positioned between a pair of adjacent spaced apart triangular bars, each said restrictor bar having a height somewhat higher than the height of the spaced apart triangular bars to define a discontinuity in the planar upper face.

The restrictor bars may be of square cross-section. The use of square bars will ensure that the spacing between the sq:-re bar and the o 10 upper face of the adjacent triangular bars is the same irrespective of the height of the square bar.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which:oo 15 Fig. 1 is a broken away perspective view of flooring according to one embodiment of the invention, o Fig. 2 is a side view of the flooring shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a broken away enlarged perspective view of the flooring shown in Figs 1 and 2, Fig. 4 is a side view of the flooring shown in Fig. 3, and Fig 5 is an end view of the flooring shown in Fig. 3.

The flooring 10 shown in Fig. 1 includes support bearers 11 to which are welded triangular bars '12 and square bars 13. Each triangular bar is of isosceles cross-section and is welded to the bearer 11 by apex 15 and has an upper planar face 14. Adjacent bars 1 2 provide a substantially planar upper face 16 of the flooring 10. In this instance, each triangular

I,

4 bar is 8 mm high and its upper face 14 is 10 mm across with the spacing between each bar being 10 mm.

Spaced along the flooring 11 are square bars 13 which in this instance have sides of 10 mm so that their upper face is 2 mm higher than the upper face of the triangular bars 12 thoreby providing a means for preventing sideways sliding of animals across the flooring 10. Although in this instance there are nine triangular bars 1 2 between each square bar 13, the number of triangular bars 12 between each square bar 13 could be a, t "varied to suit particular circumstances.

The portion of the flooring 10 shown in Fig. 1 is part of a sheet that is 755 mm wide with four triangular bars 12 at each side and four square bars 13, the first square bar 13 being after the fourth triangular bar 12 and each of the other square bars 13 being spaced apart by nine triangular bars 12.

15 As shown in Figs. 3 to 5, the upper face 14 of each bar 12 is not be flat or planar. In this instance, the upper face 14 has a plurality of spaced apart transverse grooves 20 formed in the upper face 14 with each adjacent pair of grooves 20 being separated by a flat surface 21. In one instance, the flat surfaces are 2 to 3 mm wide and the grooves are 4 to 6 mm wide both dimensions being in the longitudinal direction of the triangular bars 12. The depth of the groove may be of the order of 1 to 2 mm. Any configuration of grooves could be formed in the upper face 14 of each triangular bar 12.

Various modifications may be made in details of the design and construction without departing from the scope and ambit of the invention.

Claims (7)

1. Animal enclosure flooring comprising a plurality of elongated spaced apart bars of triangular cross-section mounted on cross support bearers, each bar having a substantially planar upper face so that adjacent bars provide a substantially planar upper face for the flooring, and wherein the upper face of each spaced apart triangular bar has transverse grooves formed therein with each adjacent pair of grooves being separated by a flat surface.

2. Flooring according to claim 1 and further including a plurality of i restrictor bars each positioned between a pair of adjacent spaced apart triangular bars, each said restrictor bar having a height somewhat higher than the height of the spaced apart triangular bars to define a discontinuity in the planar upper face.

3. Flooring according to claim 2 wherein the restrictor bars are square bars.

4. Flooring according to any one of the preceding clkims wherein each flat surface is from 2 to 3 mm wide in the longitudinal direction of the triangular bar.

Flooring according to any one of the preceding claims wherein each groove is from 4 to 6 mm wide in the longitudinal direction of the triangular bar. 23/07/98 rL~ P- i 6

6. Flooring according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the depth of each groove is from 1 to 2 mm.

7. Animal enclosure flooring substantially as hereinbeforb described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this 23 day of July, 1998 VEREYKEN BROTHERS PTY LIMITED Patent Attorneys for the Applicants PETER MAXWELL ASSOCIATES *it- it i itit it it'' it it, it 9 P r NI it Irr ,il i I '1 r IC It i _rr i _i ABSTRACT Flooring for an animal enclosure includes a plurality of elongated spaced apart triangular bars (12) mounted on cross support bearers (11). Each triangular bar has a substantially planar upper face so that adjacent triangular bars (12) provide a substantially planar upper face (14) for the flooring. The upper face of each spaced apart triangular bar (12) has transverse grooves (20) formed therein with each adjacent pair of grooves oa (20) being separated by a flat surface (21). 00 So 0 *0 0 0 Sa Otf *t~oQi L t -1 CI i r -r F