EP0348885B1 - A non-vertical scaffolding element with a connecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

The connecting device is designed as a locking claw (15) having an opening (16) for the load-bearing member. The said opening is open at the bottom. It is associated with a catch (21) mounted on the pin (22). The said catch has a supporting indentation (30) which enables it to support the locking claw, in the unlocked state, loosely on the load-bearing member (12) in order to simplify disassembly. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a non-vertical scaffolding element with a holding device, in particular a scaffolding floor, a horizontal bar or a diagonal bar, the holding device having at least one claw provided at the end and extending from above over a horizontal support bar with a downwardly open support bar opening and with one is mounted in a claw housing, swiveling, preventing accidental unhooking, in the locked state below the horizontal center on the support bar with a locking end attacking spring pawl is provided.

Such holding devices are dealt with in DE-A-2535205 or DE-U-7128051 = CH-A-542973 and are referred to as snap-in claws. The pawl is mounted in the mostly used embodiment in front of the support bolt opening somewhat above it. As a result, the movement circles of the support bar engagement surface end points are given a position which, when the pawl is pivoted upwards, readily releases the catch. On the other hand, when pivoting backwards, the support bar engagement surface below the horizontal center of the tube attacks. This prevents the scaffolding element from being raised without actuating the pawl. Such pawls can also be equipped with a nose protruding from the pawl for actuating the same in the opening direction, so that one does not have to touch the end which is located directly next to the horizontal support bar. This avoids the risk of the finger becoming trapped.

In the aforementioned publications, the return spring is designed as a compression spring. However, practical embodiments of such holding devices generally have a torsion spring wound around the hinge pin of the pawl, the force of which is so matched that on the one hand it well supports the falling of the pawl due to its own weight and on the other hand a restoring force applies, which prevents accidental opening, but is not too tiring for the operating personnel during assembly.

Such holding devices are used in particular on scaffolding floors that are suspended between two support bars. If you want to assemble the scaffolding floor, the restoring force effective on the pawl is of no great importance, because a single assembler can first place one end of the scaffolding floor on one of the support bolts or even snap it in and then swivel the other end down and against the restoring force of the Spring can pivot the pawl.

However, if you want to dismantle the scaffolding floor, there are considerable difficulties with the conventional holding devices, so that the disassembly has so far only been possible for two people. If you lift one end of the scaffolding floor while putting the pawls back out of the catch and hooking and try to loosely support it on the edge of the pawl, in order to then raise the other end of the scaffolding floor, which is at least 2 m apart, the weight of the Scaffolding floor, the pawls usually back and the support bolt openings lie over the support bolt and the pawls fall back into the locking position. Therefore, one-man dismantling is currently not possible.

This is where the invention comes in and has set itself the task of designing the holding device in such a way that, with slight actuation, it allows the scaffolding element to be dismantled by one person and, in the unhooked position, to loosely support at least one end of the scaffolding element on the horizontal support bar .

According to the invention it is provided that the outer, lower locking end of the pawl below its support bar engagement surface is equipped with a support recess adapted to the radius or the profile design of the support bar, and that the effective restoring force resulting from the force of the return spring on the weight of the scaffolding element is coordinated so that it carries the scaffolding element without snapping.

The additional support recess provided on the pawl now allows the end of the respective scaffold element raised by a disassembly person to be loosely but definedly placed on the horizontal support bar after the pawl has been reset with this support recess. As a result of the coordination of the force of the spring with the respective weight of the scaffold element, it is ensured that the pawl is not inadvertently swiveled back and thus the support bolt opening reaches over the horizontal support bolt again and the pawl is moved back into the locked position. If one end is securely supported in the raised position, the disassembly person can go to the relatively far away other end of the scaffolding element and release the pawl there and unhook the scaffolding element and then - because it is now with certainty completely free - remove and bring to the shelf. The astonishingly simple, additional measure on the pawl, which is made possible without any noteworthy manufacturing effort only by skillful shaping of the end of the pawl, leads to a considerable improvement in disassembly. It is expedient that a strongly inclined intermediate surface is provided between the end of the support bar engagement surface and the support recess so that the locking end attains sufficient stability and on the other hand the support recess can be formed in a suitable position with respect to the support bolt and on the other hand a suitable contact edge design is achieved, which allows the pawl to be pivoted back onto the relevant end of the scaffolding element by pressing from above and to hook in the locking claw. So that such frequent occurrences of wear on the support bolts and the claw do not become too large, pawls of this type have long been in deviation from the type discussed in the aforementioned publications Flat sheet metal part made with molded plastic extrusion. This plastic encapsulation makes it possible to change the surface shape in a simple manner and to give the attacking and supporting surfaces the suitable width even without too much production effort.

An embodiment of the invention is explained below with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1

Einen schematisierten Schnitt durch ein Gerüstfeld mit eingehängtem Gerüstboden;

Fig. 2

eine Seitenansicht auf ein einzelnes Halteelement im eingehängten Zustand mit Darstellung der im Innern des Gehäuses verdeckt untergebrachten Bauteile;

Fig. 3

eine der Fig. 2 entsprechende Darstellung, bei der die verdeckten inneren Bauteile nicht angegeben sind;

Fig. 4

eine der Fig. 3 entsprechende Darstellung in der ausgehängten und abgestützten Position.

Show it:

Fig. 1

A schematic section through a scaffold bay with suspended scaffold floor;

Fig. 2

a side view of a single holding element in the suspended state, showing the components hidden in the interior of the housing;

Fig. 3

a representation corresponding to Figure 2, in which the hidden internal components are not specified;

Fig. 4

a representation corresponding to FIG. 3 in the unhooked and supported position.

The scaffold 10 has stems or frames 11 which are equipped with horizontal support bars 12. A diagonal strut 13 is partially indicated.

A scaffolding floor 14 has two latching claws 15 at both ends, the support bolt openings 16 of which are open at the bottom and are inserted over the support bolts 12, as is customary. The support bars 12 are designed as cylindrical tubes, in particular made of light metal. They can also be profiled elements and can also be made of steel in any shape.

The scaffold floor 14 can be of any conventional type, e.g. consist of a frame construction with a support plate, be formed entirely from sheet steel or be constructed in a construction from several materials. The scaffolding floor 14 has fastening ends 17 in which the housings 18 of the latching claws 15 are fastened. The housings 18 are designed as bent and profiled stamped and bent sheet metal parts, preferably made of steel, and are provided with a corrosion-protective surface coating, for example galvanized. The outer, lower end has a rounded end nose 19. The center or the central axis of the support bar 12 and support bar opening 16 is designated 20.

The pawl 21 is pivotally mounted in the interior of the housing 18 on a bearing pin 22 which penetrates the housing 18 in a conventional manner. The support bolt 22 is in relation to the scaffold floor 14 in front of the support bolt opening 16 and somewhat above the same arranged. The pawl 21 has the shape that can be seen in particular in FIG. 2 with a plurality of reinforcing ribs 23 which protrude from a central flat part. It is preferably designed as a component formed with plastic by injection molding in the form shown, a flat sheet metal part corresponding to the shape being injected in the central plane. It can also consist of other materials, for example a suitable die-cast metal or a steel forged part. The pawl 21 has a stop end 24 which extends beyond the bearing arrangement at the support pin 22 and is supported on the inner front wall 25 so that the pawl 21 protrudes only slightly into the support bolt opening 16 when there is no support bolt therein. Thus, the pawl 21 can be opened automatically by pressing it down. A return spring 26 is designed as a torsion spring in the manner shown, as was previously customary in known pawls of this type, but the force of the spring 26 is now dimensioned in a special manner in the manner according to the invention, as will be explained in the following.

The lower locking end 27 of the pawl 21 has the rounded support bolt engagement surface 28 inside. It has the same radius as the support bolt 12 and is below the horizontal central plane 29 of the support bolt 12 or the support bolt opening 16. As can be seen, it locks in the engaged position in the usual manner. By pushing the pawl 21 against the force of the return spring 26, it is released. To facilitate pushing up a nose 31 is provided on the outside, which you can touch.

At a considerable distance below the support bar engagement surface 28, a support recess 30 is formed as a partial cylinder surface of the entire width of the pawl, for which purpose the edge legs 34 are provided on both sides of the central web of the pawl. A relatively steep intermediate surface 33 extends from the end 32 of the support bar engagement surface 28 to the support recess 30 in order to bring the support recess into a suitable position on the one hand and on the other hand to create a mouth between it and the rounded end nose 19 which roughly corresponds to the support bolt 12 corresponds, so that you can press the locking claw 15 with the appropriate force and appropriate system in the locked position.

As shown in FIG. 4, the entire scaffold floor can now be supported with one end lying freely on the support bar 12, namely by the support recesses 30 extending from the vertical center towards the back towards the scaffold floor 14 lying loosely on top, but secured against easy displacement if the pawls 21 were previously lifted using the nose 31 and into the Rest position are pivoted back. Now the same person can unhook at the other end of the scaffolding floor and then you can remove the scaffolding floor. The force of the return springs 26 is designed so that, taking into account the lever ratios shown in the drawings, the supporting force acting on the support recess 30 is sufficient to support the respective proportion of the weight of the scaffolding floor 14 or another scaffolding element. On the other hand, however, it is dimensioned such that the pawl 21 can be pivoted back by hand.

At each end 17 of the scaffold floor 14 two such latching claws are provided lying on both sides at a distance of approximately 33, 50, 60 or 70 cm. It is basically sufficient if pawls 21 in the form shown here are provided at only one end, because one end only needs to be supported. However, the same pawls can also be provided at the other end in order to be able to unlock and support each end. You can also generally use the pawls for other scaffolding elements, such as diagonal bars, horizontal bars or even lateral clamps, if this makes sense. The manufacturing effort is low, new components are not required, but a great handling advantage is achieved.

The holding device is designed as a latching claw (15) which has a support bolt opening (16). This is open at the bottom. It is assigned a pawl (21) mounted on the bolt (22). This has a support recess (30) which allows the latching claw to be loosely supported on the support bar (12) in the disengaged state in order to simplify dismantling.

Reference symbol list:

10th

framework

11

Handle / frame

12

horizontal support bar

13

Diagonal strut

14

Scaffolding floor

15

Snap claw

16

Support bolt opening

17th

Fastening end

18th

casing

19th

Tail nose

20th

Center / center axis

21

Pawl

22

Supporting bolt

23

Reinforcement rib

24th

End of stroke

25th

Front wall

26

Return spring

27th

lower blocking end of 21

28

Support bar attack surface

29

Horizontal center plane

30th

Support recess

31

nose

32

End of 28

33

Interface

34

Marginal thighs

Claims (2)

1. Non-vertical scaffolding element with connecting device, in particular a scaffolding platform (14), a horizontal bolt or a diagonal web, whereby the holding device is provided at the end with at least one claw, which reaches from the top over a horizontal support bolt (12), having a downwardly open support-bolt opening (16), and with a sprung locking catch (21), which is mounted in a claw housing (18), is pivotable, prevents unintentional unhooking and engages in the detent state underneath the horizontal middle at the support bolt (12) with a locking end (27), characterised in that the outer lower locking end (27), of the locking catch (21) is provided underneath its support-bolt engaging surface (28) with a support recess (30), which is matched with the radius or the profile arrangement of the support bolt, and that the return force, which is effective at the locking end (27) as resulting from the force of the return spring (26), is matched to the weight of the scaffolding element (14) in such a way that it carries the scaffold element (14) without engagement.

2. Non-vertical scaffolding element with connecting device according to claim 1, characterised in that the support recess (30) is positioned at a distance under the end of the support-bolt engaging surface (28), and that between them is provided a steep intermediate surface (33), which defines an insertion mouth.

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