Building frame construction safety-barrier system and method
A cable safety-barrier system for use along an elevated region of lateral exposure in a building structure having plural, spaced, laterally next-adjacent uprights distributed along the exposure region. The system, in an operative condition, includes (a) plural cable-threading brackets distributed along the exposure region and anchored, at least one each, to each of such uprights, (b) an elongate cable having ends and a long axis, and between such ends plural elongate portions, operatively threaded as a continuum between the cable's ends through each of the brackets, and (c) adjacent each bracket, an associated securing device functionally locked to an associated, elongate portion of the cable, inhibiting any appreciable motion of the cable portion generally along the cable's long axis relative to the associated bracket.
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Job safety for workers, such as for high-steel construction workers engaged in assembling the steel beams and columns in a plural-story building frame, is an ongoing, major concern. It is to a particular aspect of this concern that the present invention addresses attention.
As the assembly of such a plural-story, steel, column-and-beam frame progresses, it is critical that there be provided an effective lateral guard-rail-type system to protect frameworkers against a fall from high-elevation locations of dangerous lateral exposure. Such locations typically exist adjacent the edges of laterally exposed floor expanses, which edges are most usually, though not always, disposed along the outer sides of an emerging building frame, but can, of course, exist anywhere within the overall footprint of such a frame.
Such a guard-rail system, referred to herein as a safety-barrier system, should be robust and highly reliable, while at the same time being relatively simple and inexpensive, easy to install with a minimum of work effort and time, and readily and very easily removable when no longer needed. Preferably, with regard to removeability, such a system should be permissive of staged, sequential removal from regions no longer requiring special lateral protection, without such staged removal compromising the security of remaining portions of the system.
A preferred and best-mode embodiment of the present invention, and a modified form thereof, are disclosed herein in the context just described, i.e., in the context of a building-frame assembly project of the type just generally outlined above. These embodiments of the invention fully and uniquely address all of the safety, reliability, simplicity, cost-savings, and staged-removeability considerations mentioned so far herein.
More particularly, the safety-barrier system of the present invention takes the form of a cable system useable along an elevated region of lateral exposure in a building structure of the type having plural, spaced, laterally next-adjacent uprights (typically columns) distributed along the exposure region. This system, when in an operative condition, includes: (a) plural cable-threading brackets distributed along the exposure region, and anchored, at least one each, to each of such uprights; (b) an elongate cable having ends and a long axis, operatively threaded substantially as a continuum between its ends, with a different elongate portion of the cable extending through each of the mentioned brackets; and (c), disposed adjacent each bracket, an associated securing device, such as a clamp or a wedge, functionally locked to the associated, elongate portion of the cable, inhibiting any appreciable motion of that cable portion generally along the cable's long axis relative to the associated bracket.
In this system, and disposed intermediate the next-adjacent, mentioned “elongate portions”, the cable possesses pairs of next-adjacent, spaced reaches, also called segments, that extend, with respect to each pair of these reaches, in opposite directions relative to, and away from, an associated, intermediate, elongate cable portion and securing device, with each bracket and associated securing device being designed to collaborate to create a structural strain-relief condition relative to the paired cable reaches that extend oppositely away from the relevant, associated securing device.
With respect to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the mentioned uprights take the form of columns distributed in a building frame structure.
As will be seen from the detailed description of the invention which follows below, it is a relatively easy matter to thread an elongate cable through the mentioned brackets, and thereby to “divide” the cable into segments (“spaced reaches”) extending between next-adjacent columns, with opposite ends of each segment suitably locked against axial longitudinal motion relative to the brackets through which the cable is threaded. When a segment of cable is no longer needed to provide lateral safety protection, and because of the mentioned, important strain-relief condition which exists in the system of the invention, that segment may simply be cut away adjacent its opposite ends in a manner which does not compromise the protection capabilities of its two next-adjacent cable-segment neighbors.
When no part of the system is any longer needed to furnish lateral safety, all cable lengths and securing devices may easily be removed. The cable-threading brackets, if such are welded, as is preferable, to the sides of columns in a frame, may be left in place.
These and other objects and features of the invention, and its advantages, will now become more fully apparent as the detailed description thereof which follows below is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Turning attention now to the drawings, and referring first of all to
An outside corner in frame 10 is shown generally at 10A, and two orthogonally intersecting, lateral, outer sides of frame 10 are shown at 10B, 10C. The specific columns, nodal connections and interconnecting beams referred to above are seen to occupy a portion of frame lateral side 10C.
The rectangular spaces bounded by next-adjacent columns and beams may be referred to as being building panes which, ultimately, will be surface-skinned, such as by panels of various different characters, or other similar structures, like the very simple rectangular panel shown generally at 38 in
As was mentioned, frame 10 is a plural-story frame, and the portion of this frame which is illustrated in
With respect to, and included in, the portion of building frame 10 which is shown in
In general terms, system 42 includes an elongate preferably steel cable 46 which is threaded as a continuum through cable-threading brackets such as those shown at 48, 50, 52 in these figures. In
In system 42, cable 46 is divided, or segmented, because of the nature of system 42 as will become apparent, into plural, next-adjacent, inter-column segments (or cable reaches), such as those shown generally at 46(1), 46(2), 46(3). Lying intermediate these next-adjacent cable segments, and specifically passing directly through the previously mentioned brackets, are what are referred to herein as elongate cable portions, such as those shown at 46a, 46b which extend through brackets 50, 52, respectively, and which are anchored substantially against motion within these brackets by securing devices in the form of clamps, such as clamps 54, 56 shown attached, as will explained shortly, to cable portions 46a, 46b, respectively. Clamps 54, 56, in the structure and operation of system 42, effectively prevent relative motion of their associated cable portions 46a, 46b, respectively, along their long axes which are coincident with the long axis of cable 46. This cable-46 long axis is coincident with previously mentioned dash-dot line 44, and accordingly, line 44, as was just mentioned above, functions herein also to represent this axis.
A point to be noted, which will soon be more fully explained, respecting something about the way in which cable segment 46(3) is illustrated in
In
Completing a description of what is shown particularly in
The tunnel structure in each bracket allows for the easy threading through-passage of cable 46, with the open bifurcation which exists in each bracket furnishing an exposure opening which is window-like in nature, and wherein an associated securing-device clamp, such as clamps 54, 56, may be anchored to cable portions, such as cable portions 46a, 46b, effectively to lock these cable portions against relative motion along the cable axis, and thus effectively capturing clamped portions of the cable at the locations of the associated brackets.
An observation made with respect to the right-hand side of
Clamps 54, 56 are conventional U-bolt clamps, as is made clearly evident by
In terms of the use and operation safety-barrier, of system 42, at the time that frame 10 is ready for the installation of this system, the brackets in the system are welded at the appropriate elevations to the outside surfaces of the columns at locations of lateral exposure wherever it is desired that there be a safety cable run to provide lateral safety and security for workers. With the brackets in place, steel cable 46 having a suitable length is simply and easily threaded through the tunnel structures in the brackets, and when thus threaded and in place, is anchored by attached clamps, such as clamps 54, 56, which are secured to the elongate portions of the cables that are exposed in the open bifurcations existing in the brackets. Such anchoring both effectively locks the cable in place, and additionally divides it into the mentioned cable segments (reaches). Clamp-anchoring thus effectively prevents any movement of the cable and its mentioned elongate portions along the cable's long axis relative to the tunnel structures in the brackets.
This anchored condition thus also describes the mentioned, important, strain-relief condition now existing in system 42. In this condition, removal, as by cutting, of any cable segment between next-adjacent brackets does not compromise the safety-furnishing ability of any other cable segment in the system.
The system of the invention, thus, in terms of its installation and basic structure, is extremely simple in nature, and is easily and inexpensively usable.
When protection is no longer necessary, for example, when a skin panel, such as that shown at 38 in
Shifting attention now to
Fundamentally what differs in this modification of the invention is that the specific kind of securing device which is employed with respect to each bracket in order to lock, against relative axial motion, an associated elongate portion of a cable passing through the tunnel structure in the associated bracket, takes the form, instead of a U-bolt clamp, of an elongate wedge. This wedge, suitably driven vertically downwardly into place, effectively performs, in relation to the previously discussed clamps, functionally the same kind of locking action, and the same kind of creation of a strain-relief condition in the overall cable system from segment-to-segment between brackets.
Looking specifically at
There have thus been described and illustrated herein a preferred and best mode embodiment, and one modification thereof, of a cable safety-barrier system constructed in accordance with the present invention. All of the important economy, safety, and ease of use and placement considerations relating to this system are clearly disclosed in the specification text and drawings, and all of the important advantages of the invention should be immediately apparent to those generally skilled in the art from their reading of this specification and of the drawings.
It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the design and mounting of thread-through brackets may be different from that which is specifically shown herein, so long as the mounting thereof of uprights, like columns, remains a simple task to perform, and through-threading of an elongate cable, as a substantial continuum along its length, and anchoring of the threaded cable at the site of each bracket so as to create the important strain-relief condition, are performed to implement the safety features of this invention.
Accordingly, while preferred, and suggested-modified, versions of the invention have been disclosed herein, it is appreciated that other variations and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.
Claims
1. A cable safety-barrier system for use along an elevated region of lateral exposure in a building structure having plural, spaced, laterally next-adjacent uprights distributed along the exposure region, said system, in operative condition, comprising
- plural cable-threading brackets distributed along the exposure region and anchored, at least one each, to each of such uprights,
- an elongate cable having ends and a long axis, and between said ends plural elongate portions, operatively threaded as a continuum between its said ends through each of said brackets, and
- adjacent each bracket, an associated securing device functionally locked to an associated, elongate portion of said cable, inhibiting any appreciable motion of said cable portion generally along the cable's long axis relative to the associated bracket.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein, relative to the mentioned region of lateral exposure, the brackets present in that region are disposed at a substantially common elevation.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein each securing device is releasably locked to its respective, associated cable portion.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein each securing device takes the form of a releasable clamp.
5. The system of claim 3, wherein each securing device takes the form of a wedge removeably driven between its associated, cable portion and the nearby, associated upright.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein said cable possesses pairs of next-adjacent, spaced reaches that extend, with respect to each pair of said reaches, in opposite directions relative to, and away from, an associated cable portion and securing device, and each bracket and associated securing device collaborate to create a structural strain-relief condition relative to the paired cable reaches that extend oppositely away from the securing device.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein each securing device is releasably locked to its associated cable portion.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein each securing device takes the form of a releasable clamp.
9. The system of claim 7, wherein each securing device takes the form of a wedge removeably driven between its associated cable portion and the nearby, associated upright.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein each bracket includes an elongate tunnel having opposite ends bracketing a generally central, open bifurcation which is included in the tunnel, said cable extends through said tunnel with one of its elongate portions being disposed within said bifurcation, and the securing device which is associated with said one elongate portion is disposed substantially non-moveably within said bifurcation.
11. The system of claim 1, wherein the building structure is a building frame, and the uprights take the form of columns in that frame.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 6, 2008
Publication Date: Dec 10, 2009
Applicant:
Inventor: Robert J. Simmons (Hayward, CA)
Application Number: 12/157,062
International Classification: E04H 17/02 (20060101);