SAFETY RAILING FOR BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

Abstract

A post support for a safety railing used in building construction comprises a hollow post socket having an open top and a through bore extending horizontally therethrough. An anchor is received within the post socket. There is a bar received through the bore of the post socket. The bar intersects with the anchor and restricts movement of the anchor relative to the post socket.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a safety railing and, in particular, to a safety railing for building construction.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

United States Patent Application Publication Number 2007/0137135, which was published on Jun. 21, 2007 in the name of Shymkowich, discloses a method of installing a safety railing in a building under construction. The method comprises providing post supports having open-topped post sockets on socket supports, mounting the post sockets on a concrete floor formwork with the post sockets spaced above the concrete floor formwork by the socket supports, casting concrete to form a concrete floor on the concrete floor formwork and thereby embedding the post supports in the concrete floor with the concrete extending beneath the post sockets. The lower ends of posts are then inserted into the post sockets to support the posts above the concrete floor and rails are supported on the posts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

There is provided a post support for a safety railing used in building construction comprising a hollow post socket having an open top and a through bore extending horizontally therethrough. An anchor is received within the post socket. There is a bar received through the bore of the post socket. The bar intersects with the anchor and restricts movement of the anchor relative to the post socket.

The anchor may include a slot and the bar may be received within the slot. There may be a rod received within the slot and secured to the anchor. The rod may be positioned within the slot adjacent to the bar. The post support may include support members extending downwardly and radially outwardly from the post socket. The post support may have a removable cap which releasably closes the open top of the post socket. The cap may have an aperture and an elongate member received through the aperture. The elongate member may be flexible and may include burrs which engage a surface of the cap to prevent the elongate member from being uncoupled from the cap.

There is also provided a safety railing for building construction comprising a plurality of posts and a plurality of post supports. The posts each have a post body and a male threaded portion on an end of the post body. The post supports each have a hollow post socket having an open top and a through bore extending horizontally therethrough. There is an anchor received within the post socket. The anchor has a slot and a rod received within the slot which is secured to the anchor. There is a bar received through the bore of the post socket. The bar intersects the slot of the anchor adjacent to the rod to restrict movement of the anchor relative to the post socket. The male threaded portions engage with corresponding ones of the rods to couple the posts to the post supports.

The post may include a D-ring connected to the post body and spaced-apart from the male threaded portion. There may be a spacer disposed between the D-ring and the male threaded portion. The post may include a support bracket for supporting a rail. The support bracket may have a first support member connected to the post body and a second support member extending upwardly from the first support member. The post may include a collar with a cable extending therefrom. The cable may have a hook on an end thereof which is securable to the support bracket. The post may include a tab with an aperture for receiving a fastener.

There is further provided a method of installing a safety railing in a building under construction comprising inserting an anchor into a post socket of a post support. A bar is inserted horizontally through the post socket so that the bar intersects the anchor and restricts movement of the anchor relative to the post socket. The post supports are mounted on a concrete floor formwork. Concrete is cast to form a concrete floor on the concrete floor formwork, thereby embedding the post support in the concrete floor. A lower end of a post is inserted into the post socket and a male threaded portion of the post is engaged with the anchor of the post support to support the post above the concrete floor. A rail is supported on the post.

The post socket may be covered before casting the concrete to prevent concrete from entering the post socket. The post socket may be uncovered after casting the concrete to allow insertion of the post into the post socket. The post support may be mounted on the concrete floor formwork by inserting fasteners through apertures in respective support members extending downwardly and radially outwardly from the post socket.

The rail may be supported on the post by placing the rail on a support bracket of the post and securing the rail to a tab extending from the post. Alternatively, the rail may be supported on the post by placing the rail on a support bracket of the post, winding a cable extending from the post around the rail, and securing a hook on an end of the cable to the support bracket.

The post may be removed from the post socket and a layer of finish concrete may be applied onto the concrete floor to fill the post socket with the finish concrete. The concrete floor formwork may be removed from the concrete floor after the concrete floor has set. The underside of the concrete floor may be ground and a finish layer may be applied to the underside of the concrete floor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be more readily understood from the following description of the embodiments thereof given, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a safety railing installed on a concrete floor, post supports of the safety railing being shown partly in ghost and the concrete floor being shown in fragment and partly broken away;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of a post support of the safety railing of FIG. 1 shown covered with a lid;

FIG. 3 is a partly sectional view of the lid of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a post of the safety railing of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of the post of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the post of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a partly broken-away, partly sectional view of the post support of FIG. 2 embedded in the concrete floor, the concrete floor being shown in fragment and partly broken away;

FIG. 8 is a partly sectional, elevational view of an anchor of the safety railing;

FIG. 9 is a partly broken-away, partly sectional view of the post support coupled to the post and embedded in the concrete floor, the concrete floor being shown in fragment and partly broken away; and

FIG. 10 is a partly broken-away, sectional view of the post support embedded in the concrete floor, the concrete floor being shown in fragment and partly broken away.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

Referring to the drawings and first to FIG. 1, there is shown a safety railing 10 which is installed on a concrete floor 12. The safety railing 10 includes post supports 14a and 14b, posts 16a and 16b, and rails 18a, 18b, 18c and 18d supported on the posts 16a and 16b. Lowermost rails or kick rails 20a and 20b are supported on the concrete floor 12 by the posts 16a and 16b.

Referring now to FIG. 2, one of the post supports 14a is shown in greater detail. The post supports 14a and 14b are substantially similar in structure and function. Accordingly, only the post support 14a is described in detail herein with the understanding that the post support 14b has a substantially identical structure and functions in a substantially identical manner. The post support 14a includes a post socket 22 having an internal cavity 23 and an open top 24. The post socket 22 is generally cylindrical in this example but may be other shapes. The post socket 22 in this example is supported by support members, for example, ribs 28a, 28b and 28c which extend downwardly and radially outwardly from the post socket. The ribs 28a, 28b and 28c in this example are generally triangular and terminate in respective foot portions 30a, 30b and 30c. The foot portions 30a, 30b and 30c are enlarged compared to the ribs 28a, 28b and 28c and are tapered towards respective bottoms 29a, 29b and 29c thereof. There are apertures 31a, 31b and 31c extending vertically through the respective foot portions 30a, 30b and 30c to the bottoms 29a, 29b and 29c thereof. The post support 14a as thus far described is conventional and generally similar to the post support disclosed in United States Patent Application Publication Number 2007/0137135. However, the post support 14a further includes a through bore 26 which extends horizontally through the post socket 22.

The post support 14a may include a removable lid 32 for releasably closing the open top 24 of the post socket 22. As best shown in FIG. 3, the lid 32 includes a body 34, which is generally disk-shaped in this example, and a rim 36 extending circumferentially about the body adjacent a top 35 thereof. There is a central hole 38 extending through the body 34 which is in communication with a recess 40 and an opening 42 of an annular member 44 extending centrally from the body 34 at a bottom 37 thereof. The opening 42 in this example is flared towards a bottom 45 of the annular member 44. The hole 38 receives an elongate member 46 having a shaft 47 and a flared base 48 which is complementary in shape to the opening 42. There is a plurality of burrs, for example, burrs 50a and 50b extending from the shaft 47 proximal to the base 48. The burrs 50a and 50b extend downwardly and radially outwardly with respect to the shaft 47. The base 48 engages the opening 42 in the annular member 44 when the shaft 47 is received through the hole 38. This prevents the elongate member 46 from being completely pulled upwardly through the hole 38 of the lid 32. Similarly, the burrs 50a and 50b engage an annular ledge 41 at the bottom of the recess 40 when the shaft 47 is received through the hole 38. This prevents the elongate member 46 from being removed downwardly from the lid 32 once the shaft 47 is inserted into the hole 38. The body 34 of the lid 32 has an outer cylindrical surface 52 which fits within an inner surface 54 of the post socket 22 as can be seen in FIG. 2. This ensures that the lid 32 fits tightly over and securely covers the post socket 22.

Referring now to FIG. 4, one of the posts 16a is shown in greater detail. The posts 16a and 16b are substantially similar in structure and function. Accordingly, only the post 16a is described in detail herein with the understanding that the post 16b has a substantially similar structure and functions in a substantially similar manner. The post 16a has a body 17 which in this example is pipe-like and is generally cylindrical. The body 17 includes a male threaded portion at a lower end 58 thereof which in this example is a nut 56. There is a D-ring 60 connected to the body 17 near the lower end 58 by a strap 61. The strap 61 is welded to the body 17 in this example. There is a recessed portion 63 adjacent the D-ring 60 in this example which has a reduced diameter compared to the body 17. A spacer 62 is disposed between the nut 56 and the D-ring 60. There are one or more support brackets, for example, support brackets 64a and 64b for supporting the rails 18a, 18b, 18c and 18d as shown in FIG. 1. Referring back to FIG. 4, the support brackets are generally L-shaped in this example and include a vertical member 66 extending upwardly from a horizontal member 68 as shown for one of the support brackets 64a. The horizontal member 68 in this example has a generally triangular shape and is connected to the body 17 by welding. The horizontal member 68 has an opening 82a in this example which is also generally triangular in shape.

The post 16a includes tabs, for example, tabs 70a, 70b and 70c spaced-apart along the body 17. The tabs 70a, 70b and 70c are rectangular in this example and extend tangentially from the body 17. The tabs are spaced-apart along the body 17 such that the tabs 70a and 70b are positioned near the support brackets 64a and 64b respectively, and the tab 70c is positioned near the D-ring 60. The tabs 70a, 70b and 70c include respective apertures 72a, 72b and 72c. As best shown in FIG. 5, the rails 18a and 18b are supported on the horizontal member 68 of the support bracket 64a. The vertical member 66 of the support bracket 64a retains the rails 18a and 18b on the horizontal member 68. The rail 18a is secured to the tab 70a by a fastener which, in this example, is a nail 74 extending through the aperture 72a. The rail 18b is secured to the rail 18a by a fastener which, in this example, is a nail 76. Similarly, the kick rail 20a is secured to the tab 70c by a fastener which, in this example, is a nail 78 extending through the aperture 72c. The kick rail 20b is secured to the kick rail 20a by a fastener which, in this example, is a nail 80. The kick rails 20a and 20b in this example are not supported by support brackets. Instead, the kick rails 20a and 20b are supported on the concrete floor 12 as shown in FIG. 1.

The rails 18c and 18d may be supported on the support bracket 64b in a similar manner as described above for the support bracket 64a and as shown in FIG. 1. However, the support bracket 64b may be further provided with a retaining mechanism 81 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The retaining mechanism 81 includes a collar which, in this example, is a slip collar 83 with a cable 85 attached thereto. The slip collar 83 is slipped over the post body 17 during manufacture of the post 16a before the support brackets 64a and 64b are welded to the post body. The slip collar 83 in this example is positioned on the post 16a at a desired location by a bead 87 welded to the post body 17. The bead 87 prevents the slip collar 83 from slipping down the post body beyond the desired location. As best shown in FIG. 6, the cable 85 has a hook 89 at an end 91 thereof opposite the collar 83 which engages with an opening 82b in the support bracket 64b to retain rails 93a and 93b against the post 16a. The retaining mechanism 81 accordingly allows the rails 93a and 93b to be supported on the support bracket 64b without being secured to the tab 70b with a fastener. This may be desirable if the rails are made of a material, such as steel, which cannot be readily penetrated by a fastener.

Referring now to FIG. 7, the post socket 22 of the post support 14a receives an anchor 84. The anchor 84 is generally U-shaped in this example as best shown in FIG. 8 and has a slot 86 which receives a rod 88. The rod 88 is a threaded rod in this example but may be other types of rods. The rod 88 is secured within the slot 86 by welds 90 and 92 in this example. The rod 88 is only partially received within the slot 86 which results in a gap 94 between a bottom 89 of the rod 88 and a bottom 96 of the slot 86. The anchor 84 is inserted into the post socket 22 so that the gap 94 is generally aligned with the through bore 26, shown in FIG. 2, of the post socket 22. This allows the gap 94 to receive a bar 98 inserted through the through bore 26 of the post socket 22 as shown in FIG. 7.

The post supports are mounted so that they are spaced-apart from one another on a concrete floor formwork 100 as shown for one of the post supports 14a in FIG. 7. The concrete floor formwork 100 may be made of plywood. The post support 14a is temporarily secured to the concrete floor formwork 100 by fasteners, for example, bolts 102a, 102b and 102c which are inserted through corresponding apertures 31a, 31b and 31c, shown in FIG. 2, of the foot portions 30a, 30b and 30c. Referring back to FIG. 7, once the required number of post supports is secured to the concrete floor formwork 100, concrete is poured onto the concrete floor formwork 100 to the level of the tops of the lids as shown for one of the lids 32 of the post support 14a. The concrete surrounds the post support 14a and forms the concrete floor 12 once hardened as shown in fragment and partly broken away in FIG. 7. When the concrete of the concrete floor 12 has sufficiently set, the concrete floor formwork 100 is removed to expose an undersurface 104 of the concrete floor as shown in FIG. 9. The undersurface 104 is ground to smoothen it as is conventional. Any ends of the bolts 102a, 102b and 102c and/or the foot portions 30a, 30b and 30c protruding beyond the undersurface 104 are also ground away and smoothened. A thin finish layer 106 of concrete is then applied to the undersurface 104 to conceal any parts of the bolts 102a, 102b and 102c and the foot portions 30a, 30b and 30c which may be visible at the undersurface 104.

The lid 32, shown in FIG. 7, is removed from the post socket 22 to allow the lower end 58 of the post 16a to be inserted into the post socket 22 as shown in FIG. 9. Since the top of the lid 32 is level with a top surface 108 of the concrete floor 12, as shown in FIG. 7, the lid can be removed by pulling on the elongate member 46 which extends beyond the top surface of the concrete floor. Referring back to FIG. 9, the nut 56 threadedly engages the rod 88 to secure the post 16a to the post support 14a. The spacer 62 positions the D-ring 60 on the top surface 108 of the concrete floor 12 when the post 16a is fully threaded into the post support 14a. The bar 98, which intersects the post support 14a and is embedded in the concrete floor 12 as can be seen in FIG. 1, restricts upward movement of the anchor 84 relative to the post socket 22 so that the post support 14a and the post 16a remain coupled together and the post 16a is supported above the concrete floor 12 as shown in FIG. 9. The rails 18a, 18b, 18c and 18d and the kick rails 20a and 20b are then installed on the post 16a to form the safety railing 10. The safety railing 10 can be installed around the periphery of a floor in a multi-floor building under construction to prevent workers from falling from that floor. Workers can also attach their safety harness to the D-ring 60 for additional protection from falls.

When the safety railing 10 is no longer required, the rails 18a, 18b, 18c and 18d, the kick rails 20a and 20b, and the posts 16a and 16b are removed. A finish layer 110 of concrete is then applied to the top surface 108 to fill the interior of the post sockets and conceal the post supports embedded in the concrete floor 12 as shown in FIG. 10 for the post support 14a.

The heights of the post supports determine the thickness of the concrete floor. The post supports may accordingly be produced in different sizes to cast floors of corresponding different thicknesses.

It will be understood by a person skilled in the art that many of the details provided above are by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention which is to be determined with reference to the following claims.

Claims

1. A post support for a safety railing used in building construction, the post support comprising:

a hollow post socket having an open top and a through bore extending horizontally therethrough;

an anchor received within the post socket; and

a bar received through the bore of the post socket, the bar intersecting with the anchor and restricting movement of the anchor relative to the post socket.

2. The post support as claimed in claim 1 wherein the anchor includes a slot and the bar is received within the slot.

3. The post support as claimed in claim 2 further including a rod received within the slot and secured to the anchor, the rod being positioned within the slot adjacent to the bar.

4. The post support as claimed in claim 1 wherein the post support includes support members extending downwardly and radially outwardly from the post socket.

5. The post support as claimed in claim 1 further including a removable cap which releasably closes the open top of the post socket.

6. The post support as claimed in claim 5 wherein the cap has an aperture and an elongate member received through the aperture.

7. The post support as claimed in claim 6 wherein the elongate member is flexible and includes burrs which engage a surface of the cap to prevent the elongate member from being uncoupled from the cap.

8. A safety railing for building construction, the safety railing comprising:

a plurality of posts, the posts each having a post body and a male threaded portion on an end of the post body; and

a plurality of post supports, the post supports each having: a hollow post socket having an open top and a through bore extending horizontally therethrough, an anchor received within the post socket, the anchor having a slot and a rod received within the slot, the rod being secured to the anchor, and a bar received through the bore of the post socket, the bar intersecting the slot of the anchor adjacent to the rod to restrict movement of the anchor relative to the post socket;

wherein said male threaded portions engage with corresponding ones of said rods to couple the posts to the post supports.

9. The safety railing as claimed in claim 8 wherein the post includes a D-ring connected to the post body and spaced-apart from the male threaded portion.

10. The safety railing as claimed in claim 8 wherein the post includes a spacer disposed between the D-ring and the male threaded portion.

11. The safety railing as claimed in claim 8 wherein the post includes a support bracket for supporting a rail, the support bracket having a first support member connected to the post body and a second support member extending upwardly from the first support member.

12. The safety railing as claimed in claim 11 wherein the post includes a collar with a cable extending therefrom, the cable having a hook on an end thereof which is securable to the support bracket.

13. The safety railing as claimed in claim 8 wherein the post includes a tab with an aperture for receiving a fastener.

14. A method of installing a safety railing in a building under construction, the method comprising:

inserting an anchor into a post socket of a post support;

inserting a bar horizontally through the post socket so that the bar intersects the anchor and restricts movement of the anchor relative to the post socket;

mounting the post support on a concrete floor formwork;

casting concrete to form a concrete floor on the concrete floor formwork and thereby embedding the post support in the concrete floor;

inserting a lower end of a post into the post socket and engaging a male threaded portion of the post with the anchor of the post support to support the post above the concrete floor; and

supporting a rail on the post.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14 further including covering the post socket before casting the concrete to prevent concrete from entering the post socket and uncovering the post socket after casting the concrete to allow insertion of the post into the post socket.

16. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein mounting the post support on the concrete floor formwork includes inserting fasteners through apertures in respective support members extending downwardly and radially outwardly from the post socket.

17. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein supporting the rail on the post includes placing the rail on a support bracket of the post and securing the rail to a tab extending from the post.

18. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein supporting the rail on the post includes placing the rail on a support bracket of the post, winding a cable extending from the post around the rail, and securing a hook on an end of the cable to the support bracket.

19. The method as claimed in claim 14 further including removing the post from the post socket and applying a layer of finish concrete onto the concrete floor to fill the post socket with the finish concrete.

20. The method as claimed in claim 14 further including removing the concrete floor formwork from the concrete floor after the concrete floor has set, grinding the underside of the concrete floor and applying a finish layer to the underside of the concrete floor.