GB2102115A - Fireguard and support bracket therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

A support bracket (4) for a fireguard (2) comprises a strut (10) with arms (8) attached thereto. Flat portions (12) are provided at the end of each arm to accommodate a foot or castor (14) of a room heater or the like (6). The feet (14) are retained on the flat portions (12) and the heater is thereby immobilised, and at the same time the fireguard is securely held so that it will not move relative to the heater. The position of the flat portions (12) of the arms can be moved both parallel to and transversely to the struts (10), which are secured to lower edges of the sidewalls of the fireguard. In an alternative embodiment, the arms (8) are bolted directly to the fireguard. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Fireguard and support bracket therefor This invention relates to a support bracket for supporting a fire-guard and at the same time immobilising a heater around which the guard is placed.

Castor-mounted mobile room heaters, such as gas or paraffin stoves, are known which can be moved around a room on castors. For safety, a fire-guard must be placed around the heater. Such fire-guards are typically made of wire mesh and it is therefore important that the sides of the fireguard should be kept at a minimum distance from the heater itself so that the heater cannot be reached through the wire mesh, for example by a child's hand.

In one known type of fire-guard support, the heater is mounted on a base which itself is mounted on castors. The base has a perimeter frame which supports the fire-guard in such a way that the latter cannot be moved relative to the heater. It is thus not possible to push one of the mesh screens of the fire-guard up against the heater so that the gas flame can be reached through the mesh. However, the heater and the fire-guard together are still movable and could for example be pushed by a young child. The present invention therefore seeks to provide a support for a fire-guard which not only fixes the position of the fire-guard relative to the heater but also immobilises both.

The present invention provides a support bracket for a fire-guard comprising a strut having means thereon for attachment to a lower portion of a fire-guard and having extending therefrom at least one arm at the end of which remote from the strut is a flat portion adapted to receive a foot, castor or the like of a heater and means for retaining said foot or castor on the flat member, the position of the flat member relative to the strut being adjustably movable in directions along the axis of the strut and transversely thereto.

The strut preferably has at least two said arms extending from it. In a preferred arrangement two said struts are used, these being positioned on opposite sides of the heater with their respective arms extending underneath it. Heaters of the type referred to above will usually have four feet or castors, each of which preferably stands on its own flat member attached to an arm extending from one of the struts and is retained thereon. The flat portions at the ends of the arms are preferably cup-shaped and not much larger in area than is required to accommodate a foot or a castor, so that little movement of the heater in the cup is allowed.

The adjustability of the positions of the flat portions of the arms relative to the struts enables the brackets to be fitted to any of a wide variety of heaters having different configurations of feet or castors. In the case of a heater having more than the usual four feet or castors, additional arms can be attached to one or both of the struts, A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: Figure 1 shows a fire-guard in position around a gas heater and held in position by two support brackets in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 is a side elevation of one of the support brackets shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a perspective view showing how four castors of a heater are positioned in the support brackets of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a top plan view of one of the support brackets shown in Figures 1 to 3; and Figure 5 is a rear elevation of one of the support brackets shown in the previous Figures, showing how a bottom edge of the fire-guard is attached to it.

Referring first to Figure 1, a wire mesh fireguard indicated generally at 2 is mounted upon a pair of support brackets (4) and surrounds a gasfired room heater (6) mounted on four castors (14). The support brackets each comprise a pair of arms (8) adjustably mounted on struts (10) in the form of box-sections.

Each arm 8 terminates in a flat-bottomed cupshaped portion (12) in which is located a castor (14) of the heater (6).

The wire mesh fire-guard (2) is foldable and comprises four planar top, side and front sections (16a), (16b), (16c) and (16d). Sheet metal hinges (18) attach various pairs of sections (1 6a), (16b), (16c) and (16d) together along respective edges thereof so that they are pivotable relative to one another. Positioning clips (19) on side sections (16b), (16c) support edge portions of top section (16a) in the correct position relative to the other three planar sections (16b), (1 6c) and (16d).

Resilient clips (20) snap-engage edge portions of top section (16a) and side section (16c) and (16b) respectively.

Figure 2 shows one of the arms (8) mounted on one of the box section struts (10) by means of a bolt (21) and nut (22). The arm (8) is in two parts of which a first part (23) comprises a horizontal planar portion (24) having a slot (25) therein (see Fig. 3) and connected to a downwardly inclined planar portion (26) which is in turn connected to a horizontal planar portion (28) contiguous with the flat-bottomed cup-shaped portion (12).

The second part (27) af the arm is the part secured to the strut (10), and is also secured to the first part (23) by means of a nut and bolt (29), the bolt passing through the slot (25) and through an aligned holes in the second part (27) so that loosening the nut and bolt allows both angular movement of the first part of the arm relative to the second and movement of the first part (23) towards and away from the strut (10).

In use, the base (30) of the cup-shaped portion (12) rests on the floor, as does a turned-down portion (31) of the arm, and the configuration of the arm (8) ensures that strut (10) is raised off the floor so allowing the bolt (21) to be inserted.

Referring now to Figure 3, there is shown two support brackets (4) as assembled, comprising two struts (10), each having adjustably attached thereto two arms (8) at the ends of each of which cup-shaped flat-bottomed portions (1 2) support a castor (14) of a heater (not shown). The strut (10) is provided with a plurality of spaced holes (32) to receive the nuts (21) and bolts (22) securing the arms (8) to the struts, so that the arms can be secured at different positions along the strut depending on the positions of the feet or castors which they are to accommodate. This, together with the pivotal movement allowed by the nut and bolt attachment and the adjustable length of the arms, enables the cup-shaped portions of the arms to be positioned in the required configuration, with the struts spaced the correct distance apart on either side of the heater.

Figure 4 shows a plan view from above of two of the arms (8) attached to one of the struts (10).

This view illustrates that the downwardly inclined planar section (26) of the arm (8) is tapered outwardly towards planar section 28 to provide additional strength. The portion (23) of the arm (8) comprises an elongate slot (25) disposed centrally lengthways of planar portion (24) to accommodate the nut and bolt fixing (29), which enables adjustable attachment of this part of the arm (8) to the other part (27).

Figure (5) illustrates that one side of the base of the fire-guard (2) has two spigots (36) configured to fit into two of the holes (32) in the strut (10).

The spigots (36) each have a screw thread on their lowermost portions and nuts (37) are used to secure the fire-guard (2) to the strut (10). The spigots (36) maybe positioned in any of two appropriate holes (32) in the strut (10) so that the relative position of the fire-guard (2) with respect to the heater (not shown) is adjustable.

In the arrangement shown, the arms (8) are .secured to the struts (10) by means of nuts (22) and bolts (21). They could however be secured to the spigots (36) by nuts (37) if the positions of the castors required it.

In use, the cup-shaped flat-bottomed portions (12) at the ends of each of the arms (8) are preferably positioned individually under the castors (14) of the heater (6) prior to attaching the arms (8) to the strut (10), so obviating any need to lift the heater bodily. This method of attachment also reduces the amount of transverse and longitudinal adjustment of the arms (8) with respect to the strut (10).

It is also envisaged that the strut (10) could be dispensed with and the arms (8) bolted directly to the lower edges of the fire-guard walls, their adjustable length and capacity for angular movement being sufficient to accommodate feet or castors in different positions. To provide greater adjustability, a plurality of projections could be provided at intervals along the lower edges of the sidewalls to enable the arms to be secured at different positions.

Accordingly the present invention provides in a further aspect a fire-guard comprising a plurality of arms secured to lower edges of sidewalls of the fire-guard, the end of each said arm remote from the sidewall to which it is attached having a flat portion adapted to receive a foot, castor or the like of a heater, the position of the flat member relative to the sidewall being movable in directions parallel to and transverse to said sidewall and means being provided for securely fixing the position of each said flat portion relative to the fire-guard.

Claims (12)

1. A support bracket for a fire-guard comprising a strut having means thereon for attachment to a lower portion of a fire-guard and having extending therefrom at least one arm at the end of which remote from the strut is a flat portion adapted to receive a foot, castor or the like of a heater and means for retaining said foot or castor on the flat member, the position of the flat member relative to the strut being adjustably movable in directions along the axis of the strut and transversely thereto.

2. A support bracket according to Claim 1 wherein the strut has at least two said arms extending from it.

3. A support bracket according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the said flat portion at the end of the arm is cup-shaped.

4. A support bracket according to preceding Claim wherein a plurality of holes are provided in the strut, spaced at intervals along its length, to enable said arm or arms to be secured to the strut at different positions thereon and to enable the strut to be secured to a fire-guard.

5. A support bracket according to any preceding Claim wherein the or each said arm is of adjustable length to enable the flat portion to be moved towards or away from the strut.

6. A support bracket according to Claim 5 wherein the or each said arm is in two parts, means being provided for securing the two parts together in a plurality of different positions relative to one another.

7. A support bracket according to Claim 6 wherein said securing means can be loosened to allow the two parts of the arm to be moved relative to one another without being detached.

8. A support bracket for a fire-guard substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in ther accompanying drawings.

9. A fire-guard fitted along a lower edge thereof with at least one support bracket according to any preceding Claim.

10. A fire-guard according to Claim 9 having a pair of said brackets secured to the lower edges of opposite sidewalls of the fire-guard.

11. A fire-guard fitted with support brackets, substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings.

12. A fire-guard comprising a plurality of arms secured to lower edges of sidewalls of the fireguard, the end of each said arm remote from the sidewall to which it is attached having a flat portion adapted to receive a foot, castor or the like of a heater, the position of the flat member relative to the sidewall being movable in directions parallel to and transverse to said sidewall and means being provided for securely fixing the position of each said flat portion relative to the fire-guard.