Patent Application
20210017777
The invention relates to devices for improved roofing safety, and particularly to improved devices used for installing, maintaining, and repairing sloped roofs.
Roofing has long been known to be a dangerous occupation. Slips, falls, injuries and deaths are too common. A number of solutions have previously been proposed, yet problems persist, with respect to both safety and the contributions of the solutions to efficiency in getting the job done,
For example, the bracket shown in
As a result of these shortcomings, the foot guard 12 is likely to slip upward along the support portion 912 of the bracket 900, in the direction of the arrows 905, even if the worker 90 is constantly vigilant to avoid shifting it, potentially causing both the foot guard 12 and the worker 90 to fall from the roof, creating a hazard not only for the falling worker and any tools he/she may be working with, but for anything that might be below—including passersby.
Moreover, the presence of the gap 910 means that if the worker drops any hammers or other tools or hardware, they are likely to slide along the roof to the gap 910, fall between the roof 100 and the foot guard 12, and endanger anything and anyone below.
And the absence of any means for securing himself to the roofing bracket, via a personnel restraint device, means that the worker 90 is in constant danger of falling from the roof to whatever happens to be below.
In its various aspects, the invention disclosed herein addresses these problems, and offers further advantages.
In various aspects and embodiments the invention provides improved roofing safety devices. In particular, the invention provides improved roofing guard devices configured for permanent or releasable attachment to roofing surfaces, in order to provide permanent or removable support, with greater reliability, for foot guards such as 2″×4″, 2″×6″, or other boards in such manner as to help prevent carpenters, shinglers, and other roofing workers from falling from rooftops.
For example, in one aspect the invention provides a roofing guard device, such as a bracket, comprising at least a mount portion, a foot-guard brace portion, and a fall-arrest safety mount. The mount portion can be adapted for permanent or releasable and in all cases secure, attachment, e.g., by means of nails or screws, to a roofing surface, such as a plywood or other wooden substrate, for example. The foot-guard brace portion can be adapted to permanently or releasably support a foot guard in a generally orthogonal relationship with respect to the roofing surface. For secure support of the foot guard, the foot-guard brace can include a retainer flange adapted to firmly restrain the foot guard from moving away from the foot-guard brace or the roof, in order to ensure that a worker on the roof might is not deprived of needed support.
Fall-arrest safety mounts in accordance with such embodiments can be adapted for permanent or releasable attachment of one or more personnel fall arrest devices, such as safety straps or safety lines, and can be provided on either or both of the mount portion and the foot-guard brace portion. As described below, a very wide variety of fall-arrest safety mounts can be provided, for cooperation with a very wide variety of personnel safety devices, such as restraining straps.
In various embodiments, roofing guard devices in accordance with the invention can include one or more lateral braces configured to extend away from sides of the mounting portion, in order to provide greater stability to the roofing guard device, and therefore increased roofer safety. In such embodiments, the mount portion and the foot-guard brace portion can be integrally formed of flat sheet or bar stock.
Among the additional improvements offered by various aspects and embodiments of the invention is placement of lateral brace(s) as described above, one on either side of the mounting portion, at such a distance from the foot-guard brace portion that when the roofing guard device is installed on a roofing surface with lower edge(s) of the lateral brace(s) aligned with a lower edge of the roofing surface, there is substantially no gap between the lower edge of the roofing surface and an edge of an installed foot guard.
These and further aspects, advantages, and embodiments of the invention are disclosed below, with reference to the attached Figures.
Various aspects and embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which are meant to be exemplary and not limiting, and in which like references are intended to refer to like or corresponding parts.
Preferred embodiments of the various aspects of the invention are described through reference to the drawings.
Mount portions 210 of
In the embodiments shown in
Alternatively, or in addition, foot guards 12 can be restrained from movement in directions 17, 19, etc., by driving nails, screws, or other fasteners into the guards 12 through some or all of holes 236.
In the embodiments shown in
In the embodiments shown in
As noted above, among the improvements provided by the invention is configuration of roofing guard devices 200 in such fashion that gaps between foot guard(s) 12 and roofing surfaces 100 are minimized or eliminated, such that objects dropped on the roofing surfaces are not able to slide or roll along the roofing surface and drop between the foot guard(s) 12 and the roof 100 and fall onto people and other objects below.
This feature can, for example, be implemented by configuring a distance 250 between the lateral braces 240 and the foot-guard brace potion 220 such that, when the roofing guard 200 is attached to the roof surface 100 with a lower edge of the substantially collinear later braces 240 substantially aligned with a lower edge 101 of the roofing surface and a foot guard 12 is supported by the foot-guard brace portion, there is substantially no gap between the lower edge of the roofing surface and a lower edge or side 13 (
This can be accomplished, for example, by configuring the roofing guard device 200 so that the length or dimension 250 is less than or approximately equal to the width 15 of the foot guard 12 (
As will be appreciated by those skilled in the relevant arts, the thickness(s) or gauges “t” (
For example, in some currently preferred embodiments roofing devices in accordance with the invention are formed from flat steel sheet of thickness or gauge t of approximately ⅛th inch, with lengths L and W of approximately 12 inches and 6 inches respectively, heights H of approximately 5 inches, and uniform or varied flange widths FW of between 1 and 2 inches (
As previously noted, fall-arrest safety mounts 230 can be provided in a very wide variety of configurations, depending upon the desired types of fall-arrest harnesses or systems 400 (
In some presently-preferred embodiments, fall-arrest safety mounts 230 are provided in the form of swiveled rings 234 provided in swivels 235 welded or otherwise permanently attached to any or all of foot-guard brace portion(s) 220, mount portions 210, and/or lateral support portion(s) 240, as shown for example in
While the disclosure has been provided and illustrated in connection with specific, presently-preferred embodiments, many variations and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention(s) disclosed herein. The disclosure and invention(s) are therefore not to be limited to the exact components or details of methodology or construction set forth above. Except to the extent necessary or inherent in the processes themselves, no particular order to steps or stages of methods or processes described in this disclosure, including the Figures, is intended or implied. In many cases the order of process steps may be varied without changing the purpose, effect, or import of the methods described. The scope of the invention is to be defined solely by the appended claims, giving due consideration to the doctrine of equivalents and related doctrines.
