Patent Application
20200157839
This specification relates to guard rail systems and components and in particular to temporary reusable guard rail systems and components for construction sites.
The following background discussion is not an admission that anything discussed below is citable as prior art or common general knowledge. The documents listed below are incorporated herein in their entirety by this reference to them.
Temporary guard rail systems are well known for use at construction sites. Such systems typically include a combination of posts and rails that may be temporarily erected to guard dangerous areas.
A problem with current temporary guard rail systems is that the systems, and in particular the posts, cannot be stored or transported in a compact and cost-efficient manner. Furthermore, many of the systems are costly to manufacture and have components that are not sufficiently durable to allow the systems to be used multiple times. Also, many of the systems do not conform to local safety standards or are not adapted for different applications such as flat surfaces, stair rail, handrail and offsets from walls for drywall installations.
There is a need for guard rail systems and components to overcome one or more of the problems identified above.
In one aspect the invention provides a post for a guard rail system, said post comprising:
a base, for securing to a surface;
a body extending from said base;
a plurality of rail supports adapted for supporting rails; and
at least one stacking opening defined in said body for stacking a corresponding second post in an upside down orientation.
In another aspect, the invention provides a post for a guard rail system, said post comprising:
a base, for securing to a surface;
a body extending from said base; and
a plurality of rail supports adapted for supporting rails;
wherein said body and said rail supports are integrally formed from a single piece of material.
In another aspect, the invention provides a guard rail system, said system comprising at least two posts, each said post having:
a base, for securing to a surface;
a body extending from said base; and
a plurality of rail supports adapted for supporting rails between said at least two posts; and
at least one stacking opening defined in said body of each of said at least two posts for stacking a corresponding second post in an upside down orientation. Other aspects and features of the teachings disclosed herein will become apparent, to those ordinarily skilled in the art, upon review of the following description of the specific examples of the specification.
The drawings included herewith are for illustrating various examples of articles, methods, and apparatuses of the present specification and are not intended to limit the scope of what is taught in any way. For simplicity and clarity of illustration, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the drawings to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.
Various apparatuses or methods will be described below to provide examples of the claimed invention. The claimed invention is not limited to apparatuses or methods having all of the features of any one apparatus or method described below or to features common to multiple or all of the apparatuses described below. The claimed invention may reside in a combination or sub-combination of the apparatus elements or method steps described below. It is possible that an apparatus or method described below is not an example of the claimed invention. The applicant(s), inventor(s) and/or owner(s) reserve all rights in any invention disclosed in an apparatus or method described below that is not claimed in this document and do not abandon, disclaim or dedicate to the public any such invention by its disclosure in this document.
A guard rail system in accordance with the present invention is shown generally at 10
Posts 12 each include a base 16, body 18 and a plurality of rail supports 20. Posts 12 are preferably formed of powder coated steel.
Base 16 is adapted to be secured to a surface 22 using fasteners (not shown) extending through holes 26 defined in base 16. Fasteners may be screws, bolts or other suitable fasteners that extend through holes 26. Fasteners could alternatively comprise clamps or the like that engage base 16 without the need to use holes 26.
Body 18 extends from base 16 to a desired height H. Body 18 extends at an angle A from base 16 that in most instances is 90 degrees. Angle A could be less than 90 degrees however for use in securing base 18 to an inclined surface such as a ramp or roof line (not shown). Base 16 and body 18 may be permanently secured together with welds or may be removably and/or adjustably attached through the use of bolts or other attachment mechanisms (not shown).
Body 18 may be of tubular construction as shown in
Rail supports 20 are disposed on posts 12 at desired locations to support rails 14. Most preferably, rail supports 20 include a toe rail support 20a, a mid rail support 20b and a top rail support 20c. The distance of each rail support 20 from surface 22 is determined by local building codes. In a preferred embodiment, at least for the building codes of the North American market, top rail support 20c is spaced 35.5 inches from base 16 and mid rail support 20b is spaced at the mid point between top rail support 20c and base 16. Preferably, rail supports 20 are disposed on adjacent orthogonal faces 28a and 28b of body 18. This allows post to support rails 14 in two directions if desired to form a 90 degree corner.
Mid rail support 20b and top rail support 20c may each include a base portion 36, extending from body 18 parallel to base 16, and a side portion 38, extending upwardly from base portion 36 parallel to body 18. Toe rail portion 20a may simply include a side portion 38 extending upwardly from base 16 (as shown for example in
Referring to
Referring to
Post 12 includes base 16, body 18 and rail supports 20. In this embodiment however body 18 and rail supports 20 are preferably integrally formed from a single piece of material. Rail supports 20 include a toe rail support 20a, a mid rail support 20b and a top rail support 20c. Rail supports 20 each include a base portion 36 and a side portion 38.
Body 18 is preferably formed with two orthogonal faces 28a and 28b. Base portions 36 of each rail support extend in the same plane as the respective faces 28a, 28b of body 18. Side portions 38 of each rail support extend orthogonally to the respective base portions 36. As a result, side portion 38 extending from face 28a is disposed parallel to face 28b and side portion 38 extending from face 28b is disposed parallel to face 28a.
Body 18 further includes a plurality of first stacking openings 32a and second stacking openings 32b that allows two posts 12 to be stacked together in a reverse (upside down) orientation (as shown in
Referring to
Post 12 includes base 16, body 18 and rail supports 20. In this embodiment however rail supports 20 are defined through body 18 on all four faces 28a-d.
While the above description provides examples of one or more processes or apparatuses, it will be appreciated that other processes or apparatuses may be within the scope of the accompanying claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 184271 | Oct 2018 | CA | national |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 29688666 | Apr 2019 | US |
| Child | 16661279 | US |
