1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a safety net assembly for catching falling items from one or more floors of a multi-floor building being constructed. More specifically, the invention relates to a mounting assembly for operatively connecting a safety net to only a single one of any of the plurality of floors of a building as versus adjacent floors and/or a plurality of floors of the building during various phases of its construction.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has long been known to install safety nets to the exterior face about the margin of a floor of a multi-story building under construction so as to catch falling objects. Information about the safety net field and its importance can be found in the literature generally and in particular, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,949,834 to Nusbaum, which is incorporated herein by reference. As shown in the drawings, in particular FIG. 1, of the Nusbaum patent, the invention disclosed therein relies on at least a two-floor connecting or mounting system. More specifically, a bracket is secured to the lower floor of two adjacent floors of a building being constructed and a support pole extends outwardly and upwardly there from. A safety net extends from the upper floor to the support pole and is thereby disposed to catch any objects that might fall from the upper of the two adjacent floors as well as a floor located above the safety net. It will be appreciated that the assembly and installation of the patented Nusbaum invention would be a time consuming process involving some repetitive travel between the lower floor and the adjacent upper floor, and/or require more than one person to install the assembly. Because of the safety concerns associated with falling objects, as well as required governmental restrictions imposed on the construction industry, there is a need for an improved safety net assembly, which is safe, reliable and efficiently installed on buildings under construction.
Accordingly, a proposed safety assembly of this type should be capable of being attached to a single one of any of a plurality of floors in a multi-floor building, during the construction thereof, without the need for concurrent attachment or connection to two or more floors. Moreover the ability to attach to a single floor overcomes recognized disadvantages associated with known safety net mounting or installation assemblies, while assuring a preferred and required degree of safety at the construction site. The single floor installation provides easier and less time consuming assembly, which in turn renders it more cost effective and may increase the chances that such a device would be installed and used at an early stage of construction.
This invention is intended to present a solution to these and other needs which remain in the art, and relates to a mounting assembly for supporting a safety net to catch objects which might otherwise fall from a floor of a building under construction, to the ground. The mounting assembly is structured to be secured to a single one of any of the floors of a multi-floor building during its construction.
Also, the structural versatility of the one or more preferred embodiments of the mounting assembly of the present invention is such as to facilitate attachment to concrete slabs, or other structures defining the building's floor plates, of various sizes. Accordingly, the mounting assembly of the present invention includes an adjustable feature to accommodate variations in the thickness or depth of the building floor to which it is attached. This same structural and operative adjustable features facilitate installation, connection and removal of the mounting assembly at appropriate stages in construction of the building.
Therefore it is an overall object to provide a safety net which is installed on and extends outwardly from a single floor utilizing at least one, but more practically, a plurality of mounting assemblies of the type described to increase the efficiency and the cost of such installations.
Moreover, each of a plurality of mounting assemblies selectively disposable to support a corresponding safety net includes a stanchion preferably having a multipart structure including at least a first or upper portion and a second or lower portion. The safety net mounting assembly also includes an attachment assembly for removably but securely attaching the stanchion, as well as the remaining, associated components of the mounting assembly, to a predetermined single one of the floors of the building being constructed. In at least one preferred embodiment of the mounting assembly of the present invention, the attachment assembly comprises a plurality of at least two gripping structures. The gripping structures are fixedly connected to predetermined portions of the stanchion and as such are capable of being adjustably positioned relative to one another and relative to the single floor to which the attachment assembly is removably but securely attached.
Accordingly, the attachment assembly comprises an adjustability feature, wherein portions thereof, including the gripping structures, are separable at a variety of spaced distances from one another to receive floor slabs of different thicknesses there between. Moreover, the attachment assembly includes an upper gripping structure and a gripping structure adjustably interconnected to engage the oppositely disposed upper and lower surfaces of the single cement or other constructed floor slab to which the attachment assembly is mounted. Further, the upper and lower gripping structures of the attachment assembly are movably interconnected adjacent the peripheral or marginal portion of the single floor to which the attachment assembly is secured.
Each of the one or more mounting assemblies further includes a support arm operatively disposed and structured to at least partially support the safety net in its operative position. A connecting assembly is disposed and structured to movably connect the support arm to the stanchion thereby facilitating the selective disposition of the support arm into and out of its operative, supporting position relative to the safety net. As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the operative supporting disposition of the support arm comprises it being substantially cantilevered outwardly from the periphery of the single floor slab to which the mounting assembly is connected. However, the structure of the connecting assembly, movably securing the support arm to the stanchion, further facilitates selective disposition of the stanchion into a non-operative position. The non-operative position may be generally described as the support arm being disposed in an at least substantially upright, vertical orientation or even in a substantially parallel or similar alignment with the stanchion. In this non-operative position the support arm and the safety net do not extend outwardly from the side of the building. As such, clear passage is available for hoisting materials to and from the plurality of floors along the corresponding side of the building.
To support the weight of the safety net and any falling object caught thereby, a cable or other appropriate structure defines a tether connected between predetermined portions of the stanchion and the support arm. Additional structural features of one or more preferred embodiments of the present invention include structure of the support arm provided to attach the safety net in its intended operative position, as being supported by the support arm. When installed on a single floor of a building being constructed, the safety net opens so as to be to be exposed to the higher floors of the building and/or higher portions of the building face to trap and catch any items which fall from the single floor to which the safety net is attached or one or more floors above the safety net.
Accordingly one feature of the present invention is to provide a mounting assembly for a safety net capable of being installed on a single one of any of the plurality of floors of a multi-floor building in a more efficient manner than known mounting assemblies requiring installation on two or more floors. Moreover, one or more preferred embodiments of the present invention include an adjustability feature of the mounting assembly, which facilitates the removable attachment to cement slabs or other constructed floors of different thicknesses or transverse dimensions.
Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
It is to be understood at the outset that the present invention is susceptible of embodiment in different forms. Of course, there is shown in the drawings and will be described in detail herein at least one specific embodiment, with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiment or embodiments illustrated.
With primary reference to
With primary reference to
The mounting assembly 10 also includes a support arm 15, having an inner or proximal segment 16 and an outer or distal segment 17, wherein the support arm 15 is pivotally connected as at 18 to the stanchion 11 at preferably, but not necessarily, the first portion 12. The pivotal or other preferred movable connection of the support arm 15 to the stanchion 11 facilitates a selective positioning of the support arm 15 between the operative position as demonstrated by the cantilevered orientation of
With primary reference to
More specific structural details of the gripping structures 24 and 26 are represented in the preferred embodiments of
With primary reference to
In this regard, it is pointed out that floor slabs are typically constructed to have a thickness of in a range of somewhere between six inches (6″) to twelve inches (12″), and given the adjustable nature of the attachment assembly 20, it can be installed on these or other sized floor thicknesses. The adjustability feature is also important because there are variations within a given floor slab, meaning that even an eight inch (8″) slab may have variations because it is not entirely flat or level.
The gripping structures 24 and 26 of the attachment assembly 20 are also preferably provided with connectors specifically structured to accomplish a “biting” attachment or engagement into the opposite surfaces of the floor 50 to enhance the gripping action of the gripping structures 24 and 26 there with. With reference to
Each of a plurality of mounting assemblies 10 also comprises a support arm 15 connected to and at least partially supporting the safety net 30 at least when the support arms 15 and safety net 30 are in the operative position illustrated in
When the arm 15 is in the attitude seen in
Additional structural features of at least some of the preferred embodiments of the present mounting assembly invention include, a retaining assembly which may comprise an elongated strap 45, having predetermined dimensions such as, but not limited to, about one inch wide and generally between about eighteen inches and twenty-four inches in length. Retaining strap or like structure is provided for securing the support arm 15 when in a non-operative, vertical, and/or aligned position as indicated in phantom lines as 15′. Further a cam buckle or like connecting/adjusting structure 41 may be included and used for adjusting and securing the retaining strap. In use, the mounting assembly 10, including the stanchion 11 and attachment assembly 20 is positioned laterally as shown in
With reference to
Since many modifications, variations and changes in detail can be made to the described preferred embodiment of the invention, it is intended that all matters in the foregoing description and shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. Thus, the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.
Now that the invention has been described,
Number | Date | Country | |
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60659048 | Mar 2005 | US |