GB2439073A

GB2439073A - Post mounting means

Info

Publication number: GB2439073A
Application number: GB0521450A
Authority: GB
Inventors: S Langston; A Trotter
Original assignee: GUARD UK Ltd K
Current assignee: GUARD UK Ltd K
Priority date: 2004-10-22
Filing date: 2005-10-21
Publication date: 2007-12-19
Also published as: GB0521450D0; GB0423491D0

Abstract

A post mounting means comprises a base part 1 for connection to profiled decking 22 and a stub post 5 extending from the base part 1. The stub post 5 has an upper part 6 adapted to mount an adaptor element 7 for removably mounting the lower end of a post 9. The decking 22 may be profiled to have alternating strips below 26 and above 25 a median plane. The base 1 may have a raised central portion 3 and two side regions 4 which, in use, sit in regions of the decking 26 below the median plane. The adaptor 7 may comprise a socket, a lower end of the socket may be connected to the stub post 5 by a screwed stud engaging with annular support plates secured in the adaptor and in the stub post 5. An upper end of the adaptor socket 7 may engage telescopically with a lower end of a post 9. The post 9 and socket 7 may be connected by a pin 10 or bolt extending through bores in the socket 7 and the post 9. The decking 22 may be covered with concrete such that the stub post 5 does not project above the concrete. The post 9 may form part of a safety barrier system.

Description

POST MOUNTING MEANS

This invention relates to the mounting of posts, pillars or the like upon a surface.

In particular the present invention is concerned with the mounting of posts, pillars or the like onto metal decking arrangements as used in particular with building constructions.

In further particular the present invention is concerned with facilitating the mounting of posts/pillars, serving to support edge protection barriers for personnel whilst working in the vicinity of an exposed edge region of a building during the construction thereof working, to metal decking used in connection with the construction of the buildings In addition this invention relates to security and edge protection barriers for personnel whilst working in the vicinity of an exposed edge region of a building.

During the construction of buildings an/or the repair of buildings it is frequently necessary for work persons to be involved in such construction and/or repair 1 5 activities at exposed building locations such as may be present at or near where they are standing or working. Frequently such locations are adjacent to or otherwise very close to elevated edge regions of a building which edge regions are totally exposed thereby creating conditions for the occurrence of such work persons falling over such edge regions or accidentally dropping tools or building materials that could injure any persons passing below or otherwise located beneath such an edge region.

Present day building regulations require that any exposed area or region should be provided with a suitable barrier of such form and construction as to satisfy all appropriate current building working and safety regulations then in place.

One well known form of barrier provision involves the erection of a scaffolding/framework of a building during building construction and/or subsequent repair/maintenance, to which scaffolding suitable barrier forming sheeting is mounted at those locations usually immediately adjacent to the exposed side regions of the building.

As is well known the erection of scaffolding is an expensive time consuming activity involving not infrequently several work persons and is additionally one which frequently intrudes upon ground areas surrounding the building.

In many building constructions the building incorporates a structural steel frame that defines the overall dimensions of the building and also the locations at which it is desired to provide floor support members and major internal space dividing walls and supporting uprights within the general outer framework.

With such metal framed buildings it has become a common practice to form a floor by bridging the horizontal floor frame members located at the required 1 5 levels for the intended floor with a profiled metallic decking comprising a side by side arrangement of lengths of profiled metal sheeting, the profiling being such as to provide physical strength to the resulting floor.

This metallic decking is subsequently covered/encapsulated with a layer of concrete and possibly also a layer of reinforcing steel mesh is laid upon the decking. prior to the application of the concrete layer.

Since such decking conventionally rests upon the upper surfaces of the floor supporting horizontal members of the frame of the building it is of great importance that a work person is protected from falling by a barrier system.

Since the decking is as mentioned is required to be covered in i.e., by a concrete layer this results in post decking placing activities upon the thus formed floor so that is important that barrier protection is provided at the regions where the decking rests upon the building frame members since edge regions are invariably unprotected and as mentioned form a risk to persons working in the vicinity of such edge regions who may well be concentrating upon some activity and thus from time to time unaware of the nearness of a edge region.

It is an object of the present invention to provide means for facilitating the mounting of posts, pillars or the like to a support surface.

It is a further object of the invention to facilitate the mounting of protective barrier systems to the edge region of metal floor decking or the like provided upon a steel building frame during the construction/repair of a building, According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided post, pillar, or the like means for facilitating the mounting of a post, pillar or the like to a profiled metal decking, including a base part adapted for connection to the decking, and a stub post upstanding from the base part, the upper part of the stub post being adapted removably to mount an adapter element for readily removably mounting the lower end of a post pillar or the like.

In accordance with a second aspect of the invention there is provided post, pillar or the like means for facilitating the mounting of a post, pillar or the like to a profiled metal decking that is so profiled that alternate strips of the decking are located below a median plane of the general profile of the decking and in which the strips of the decking between said alternate strips are located above said median plane, wherein said mounting means includes a base part adapted for connection to the decking, and a stub post upstanding from the base part, the upper part of the stub post being adapted readily removably to mount an adapter element for removably mounting the lower end of a post pillar or the like, and wherein the said base part is dimensioned and shaped so as to be connectable to strips below the median plane.

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how to carry the same into effect reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which:-Figure 1 is a schematic sectional view of a mounting unit for mounting a post, pillar or the like to a metallic floor forming decking of a building; and Figure 2 schematic view of a the mounting unit of Figure 1 when mounted to a profiled floor forming metallic decking.

Referring now to Figure a mounting means I includes a stepped base forming part 2 including a raised centrally located portion 3 and two side strips 4 one to to each side of the raised central part, the strips being in a common plane An upstanding tubular stub post 5 is firmly secured to the raised centrally located part portion 3.

The upper end 6 of the stub post is adapted releasably to mount a tubi'lar socket member 7 whose upper end 8 is adapted to provide for a releasable locking connection with the lower end of a post, pillar or the like 9 that telescopically engages in the upper end 8 of the socket member In the figure this releasable locking connection is indicated as a pin/bolt 10 engaging in appropriate bores 11 and 12 respectively provided in the post/pillar 9 and the socket member 7. In a particular application the post/pillar 9 can used as a support post for the barrier units (not shown) of a barrier safety system.

Whilst the Figure 1 has illustrated a pin/bolt arrangement other forms of locking could be utilised for example, a bayonet type of locking connection.

The lower end 13 of the socket member is connected to the upper end 6 of the stub post 5 by means of a screwed stud 14 whose lower end 15 engages with a threaded bore 16 provided in an annular support plate 17 firmly secured to the stub post upper end and whose upper end 18 engages with a threaded bore 19 provided in a similar annular plate 20 firmly connected to the interior of the lower end region of the adapter tubular member 7.

Referring now to Figure 2, this Figure schematically illustrates a profiled metal decking 22 of the kind commonly used with present day framed building frames for the purposes of forming the basis for a constructing a floor. The decking is conventionally laid upon the upper flanges 23 of rolled steel joists or I beams 24 that form the framework of the building.

In the decking embodiment shown the profiling is such as to provide a stepped formation in which a plurality of side by side spaced apart raised portions 25 of the same size and shape are separated by spacer strips 26 all lying in a common plane. In other words the decking can be regarded as including alternate spaced strips 25 located above a median line of the profile whist the intervening strips 26 are below said median line of profile It will be noted that each of the raised portions is provided with a centrally located further stepped portion 27 and that each one of the interleaving strips 26 is provided with a centrally positioned raised rib28.

As will be noted from the Figure 2 in use the decking is placed upon the horizontal beam members of the building frame work so that the spacer strips rest upon beam flanges 23.

As will be seen from Figure 2 the post support units of the invention are provided at those locations across the width of the decking at which it is desired to erect a barrier frame supporting post/pillar 9.

In practice the further stepped portions 27 and the ribs 28 provide additional stiffness to the decking in relation to the load it is expected to carry when in use.

The post mounting units of the invention are secured to the interleaving portions at each location at which it is required to provide a support post/pillar for a safety barrier system.

Conveniently the side strips 4 are secured to the decking by screws (not shown) It will be noted that the provision of the central step 3 in the base part provides clearance with respect to the rib 28 of the interleaving spacer 26 section to which it is secured.

Once the base forming part has been secured to the decking the socket unit 6 is mounted to the stub post 5 followed by the mounting of the barrier support post/pillar 9.

Conventionally once the decking 22 has been secured to the supporting I beams the decking is covered in by a layer of concrete (not shown) so that the whole 1 5 decking is effectively hidden or encapsulated.

The direct result of this is that the base forming part 5 is encased by the concrete * and thus remains in situ after removal of the socket unit following removal of any safely barrier and associated posts.

As has been mentioned the height of the stub posts are selected so that after the laying of the concrete the stub post does not project above the surface of the concrete layer.

Claims

CLAIMS

1. Post, pillar, or the like means for facilitating the mounting of a post, pillar or the like to a profiled metal decking, including a base part adapted for connection to the decking, and a stub post upstanding from the base part, the upper part of the stub post being adapted removably to mount an adapter element for readily removably mounting the lower end of a post pillar or the like.

2. Post, pillar or the like means for facilitating the mounting of a post, pillar or the like to a profiled metal decking that is so profiled that alternate strips of the decking are located below a median plane of the general profile of the decking and in which the strips of the decking between said alternate strips are located above said median plane, wherein said mounting means includes a base part adapted for connection to the decking, and a stub post upstanding from the base part, the upper part of the stub post being adapted readily removably to mount an adapter element for removably mounting the lower end of a post pillar or the like, and wherein the said base part is dimensioned and shaped so as to be connectable to strips below the median plane.

3 Post, pillar or the like means for facilitating the mounting of a post, pillar or the like to a profiled metal decking as claimed in claim I or 2, wherein the base part includes a raised centrally located portion and two side strips one to to each side of the raised central part, the strips being in a common plane 4. Post, pillar or the like means for facilitating the mounting of a post, pillar or the like to a profiled metal decking as claimed in claim 3 and wherein n upstanding tubular stub post is tubular and is firmly secured to the raised centrally located part portion 3.

5.. Post, pillar or the Ii ice means for facilitating the mounting of a post, pillar or the like to a profiled metal decking as claimed in claim I,2,3 or 4, and wherein the adapter element comprises a socket whose lower end is adapted for releasable connection to the upper end of the stub post.

6. Post, pillar or the like means for facilitating the mounting of a post, pillar or the like to a profiled metal decking as claimed in claim 5, and wherein the lower end of the socket is connected to the stub post by way of a screwed stud whose lower end engages with a threaded bore provided in an annular support plate firmly secured to the stub post upper end.

7. Post, pillar or the like means for facilitating the mounting of a post, pillar or the like to a profiled metal as claimed in claim 6, and wherein upper end of the screwed stud is engageable with a threaded bore provided in a second annular plate that is firmly connected to the interior of the lower end region of the adapter socket..

8 Post, pillar or the like means for facilitating the mounting of a post, pillar or the like to a profiled metal decking as claimed in claim 6 or 7, and wherein the upper end of the tubular socket member is adapted to provide for a releasable locking connection with the lower end of a post, pillar or the like that teLescopically engages in the upper end of the socket member.

9. Post, pillar or the like means for facilitating the mounting of a post, pillar or the like to a profiled metal decking as claimed in claim 8, and wherein the releasable locking connection comprises a pin/bolt engaging in appropriate bores respectively provided in the postlpillar or the like and the socket member.

10. Post, pillar or the like mounting means, as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, and wherein, when the decking is covered with a layer of concrete or other covering material the length of the the height of the stub post is such that it does not project above the level of the concrete or other material.

11 Post, pillar or the like means for facilitating the mounting of a post, pillar or the like to a profiled metal decking as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9, and wherein the post pillar or the like forms support for safety barrier units of a barrier safety system.

12. Post, pillar or the like means for facilitating the mounting of a post, pillar or the like to a profiled metal decking substantially as herein before described with reference to the accompanying drawings.