Embodiments of the present invention deal with stadium and arena seating systems, and in particular to seating systems which utilize a hybrid composition understructure having a combination of concrete and non-concrete support components.
The grandstand, stadium and arena seating industry has traditionally relied on two main types of construction to provide adequate walking surfaces, or treads, and associated riser surfaces therebetween. The first of these is a reinforced concrete system utilizing concrete for both the horizontal tread and vertical riser portions. Concrete provides excellent performance in relation to vibration, noise transfer, and deflection. However, concrete also has its drawbacks. For example, in a typical concrete system, two or three row precast pieces spanning twenty to fifty feet are poured at the factory and shipped to the jobsite for installation. The pieces include very thick reinforced concrete treads and risers. Caulk must then be used to seal the horizontal joints where the precast pieces meet and prevent water seepage. The forms needed to pour these pieces are fairly expensive and typically cannot be reused from one project to the next due to custom configurations in the seating bowl. Some systems utilize concrete treads which are poured on site, which causes other concerns regarding the unpredictability of jobsite temperature and humidity conditions in addition to the added cost of on-site concrete pouring equipment.
In addition, an all-concrete system requires that epoxy or expansion anchors be used to attach the seats or benches to the concrete treads and risers, a process that typically requires expensive field drilling and time for the epoxy to cure. The concrete system is also extremely heavy and difficult to install and requires a stronger steel or concrete understructure for support.
The other type of construction commonly used involves metallic treads and risers, often aluminum, supported by a steel understructure. The aluminum treads typically span only about six feet, and are typically supported by steel stringers positioned on six foot centers. The aluminum system provides more cost effective options for installation, final adjustment, and seat mounting, although typically cannot match the performance characteristics of the concrete system. Aluminum systems also offer more options in terms of vertical surface coloring and may be more easily modified on a project to project basis.
An improved alternative which offers some advantages of both above previously described constructions is disclosed in applicant's prior U.S. Pat. No. 8,266,842 entitled “Stadium Seating Construction” issued Sep. 18, 2012, the disclosure of which is fully incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. This patent generally discloses a stadium seating system having a hybrid support understructure which includes a combination of concrete and non-concrete support components. The present invention provides an alternative enhancement of this design which provides advantages as herein described.
According to one aspect, an improved stadium seating system is disclosed. The system comprises a tiered support understructure, a plurality of tiered concrete treads, and a plurality of tiered risers. The treads are mounted to the stadium seating support understructure and have a pre-cast concrete body portion, and a non-concrete front embed embedded within a front end of the concrete body portion. The front embeds and risers may be formed from a non-concrete material such as metal, plastic, or fiberglass.
According to another aspect, the pre-cast concrete body portion includes an integrally formed upwardly extending lip portion for shedding water from the upper adjacent riser and that eliminates the need for a rear embed, thus providing a significant cost savings.
According to another further aspect, the upwardly extending lip portion may optionally be formed with a plurality of pre-formed mounting holes through which fasteners for fastening a lower portion of the riser which overlaps with a forward side of the upwardly extending portion may be received.
Additional embodiments, as well as features and advantages thereof, will be apparent to those of ordinary skilled in the art from the descriptions herein.
For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended. Any alterations and further modifications in the described embodiments, and any further applications of the principles of the invention as described herein are contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates. One embodiment of the invention is shown in great detail, although it will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art that some features that are not relevant to the present invention may not be shown for the sake of clarity.
As used in the claims and specification, the term “stadium seating” refers to any tiered structure built to provide seating or standing accommodations for spectators at a sporting or other public or private event.
As used in the claims and specification, the term “seat” refers to chairs, benches or any structure upon which a person may sit and intended for use in a stadium seating structure.
In a preferred embodiment, floor treads 40 are placed on top of runner supports 35 such that multiple runner supports 35 are supporting each tread 40. The treads 40 are preferably comprised of individual concrete sections, each with a span of approximately six feet, although the span may be adjusted to be shorter or longer (such as for one further illustrative example, eight feet) depending on the application requirements. In a preferred embodiment, the treads 40 will be pre-cast in a controlled factory environment before being delivered to the jobsite, although cast-in-place concrete may be used as well. Pre-cast treads are also easier to install and typically provide greater strength in relation to an equal size cast-in-place unit. The reduced span length also eliminates the need for prestressing.
The treads 40 may optionally include at least one front embed 45 which is embedded into the front portions, respectively, of treads 40 (
In order to provide a self-sealing continuous surface which will shed water and other debris and prevent seepage into the understructure, the front embed 45 may optionally comprise a connection device, shown in
When the riser 65 is attached to the upwardly extending concrete lip portion 42 of tread 40 as shown in
It shall be understood that while the illustrated embodiment depicts an arrangement wherein the upper male lip portion 60 of the risers 65 interlock with the front embed 45 of an upper adjacent tread 40, other variations on this arrangement are contemplated to be within the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the front embed 45 may simply comprise a downwardly-extending lip which overlaps the front side of the upper portion of a lower adjacent riser 65 in a shingled manner. Likewise, the lower portion of the riser 65 may comprise a connection device which interlocks with a corresponding connection device within an upwardly extending concrete lip portion 42 of a lower adjacent tread 40.
In certain embodiments, the treads 40 may include holes mounting 110. Holes 110 are preferably formed when the concrete treads 40 are poured, or alternatively cut into the treads 40 at the factory. The holes 110 allow the treads 40 to be easily mounted to the runner supports 35 from the top side of the treads 40 using any appropriate fastener known in the art. In one embodiment, studs 115 may be welded to the runner supports 35, whereby the studs 115 serve as the lower portion of a fastening device (
As shown in
The described embodiments provide the noise reduction, minimized vibration and deflection, and appearance of a fully concrete system, while at the same time offering the ease of installation, mounting flexibility and lower cost of a metallic system. In addition, certain embodiments of the disclosed system allow the installation of the risers 65 after the installation of the concrete treads 40 is completed. This eliminates the need to have multiple crews on the jobsite at one time and allows the metallic riser portions to be shipped to the jobsite later in the project.
The disclosed system also allows the use of a durable factory-applied finish on metallic risers 65 that is typically not available for concrete. For example, the risers 65 may be powder coated, whereas a concrete vertical surface would typically need to be painted to achieve a similar aesthetic impression, and would still lack the durability of powder coating.
While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only the preferred embodimens have been shown and described and that all changes, equivalents, and modifications that come within the spirit of the inventions defined by following claims are desired to be protected. All publications, patents, and patent applications cited in this specification are herein incorporated by reference as if each individual publication, patent, or patent application were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference and set forth in its entirety herein.
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