AU635425B2

AU635425B2 - Anti-slip surfaces

Info

Publication number: AU635425B2
Application number: AU78238/91A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Charles Edward Allsop
Original assignee: Johnson Filtration Systems Australia Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Aqseptence Group Pty Ltd
Priority date: 1990-06-12
Filing date: 1991-06-07
Publication date: 1993-03-18
Anticipated expiration: 2011-06-07
Also published as: AU7823891A

Description

t35425 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 Name of Applicant(s): Address for Service: Invention Title: SURESCREEN-MANUFACTURING CO. PTIY.

LTD N. 009 739 940

CULLENV-~C.

Patent,&-Trade Mark Attorneys, -240- Queen Street, Bri-sbane, Qid. 4000, Australia.

ANTI-SLIP SURFACES

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S S Details of Associated Provisional Applications: Nos. PK 0584 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: of THIS INVENTION relates to anti-slip surfaces, especially for floors and floor members, and particularly but not exclusively for floor gratings, the word "grating" being understood to embrace grids, grilles, grates and the like tread assemblies.

The invention arises principally from our desire to provide anti-slip surface improvements in relation to a type of floor grating-which we have made popular in recent years, the improvements being directed to the components and the assemblies as well as the methods of and apparatus for making same. However, the application of the invention to

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S" other surfaces for different or analogous purposes will be readily apparent from the descriptions herein.

While gratings having lengths of wire or bar secured in age parallel relationship by cross bars or rods have been known for many years, we have for some time produced and sold special forms of gratings comprising assemblies of desired length and width employing stainless steel wire or bar having wedge-shaped profiles. These gratings have proved superior in appearance, durability and efficiency in many applications, the wedge-shaped profiles ensuring that the

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slot openings between the wires or bars allow for easy passage of dirt particles through the gratings.

Thus, our current types of gratings as aforementioned are useful where it is desirable that surfaces adjacent or surrounding the gratings are to be kept clean, as in the case of entrance floor gratings adjacent carpeted or tiled surfaces in heavy traffic areas at airports, shopping centres and hotels for example. Our gratings are also used extensively as wet area grates in kitchens for hotels, resorts and catering establishments. They are also popular for use in high traffic areas in offices, such as in front of photocopiers, drawing boards and the like. They are widely used in reception and entry areas in both domestic and commercial locations. They are popular for use as surrounds for swimming pools to effectively drain splash water, while analogous uses include, hotel or resort bar Ssurfaces as well as floor grids in mens toilets. The a. S" gratings have other analogous applications too numerous to S list in detail.

While our aforedescribed gratings could be made of various metals, we have preferred the exclusive use of stainless steel which is exceptional in appearance and is S very hard and long-lasting in use, especially when the profile wires are cold-formed as in our practice. Our grating products have high inherent strength, and the upper surfaces are resistant to adhesion and build up of dirt and grime, the products being very easy to clean. In our products, the wedge-shaped profile bars or wires are simply machine welded to the cross bars or rods at any desired spacings, the slots suitably ranging from about 0.25mm wide up to say 30mm in some instances. Each of the parallel wires is in fact a "floor member" which can be produced by roll-forming to desired length and cross-section and assembled in parallel relationship to form "grating assemblies". The roll-forming process results in smooth surfaces according to standard practices, so that smooth planar supporting surfaces of desired characteristics are a feature of our products which not only have a long life but are superior in adverse conditions such as a corrosive environment, with long term maintenance and replacement costs being reduced.

The wires or basic floor members are preferably of desired wedge-shaped profile, selected as to width, depth o ,e and side angles of the profile according to the application.

The upper edges of the wires allow for point contact in relation to particles, and the tapered opening then offers S no further passing resistance, leading to easy passage of particles through the surface of the assembly. In selecting the profile and the spacing between wires or basic floor members, regard must be had to the desired relationship o ro between slot widths and load-carrying capacity.

o°°C o o While gratings as described have been found highly efficient for the reasons stated, we have found that ooe slippery conditions can lead to a person's foot slipping in 2. the direction along the wires, and accordingly our present invention has been devised to provide such improvements as will lead to such surfaces having anti-slip characteristics.

On a wider scale, it is an object of the invention to provide a tread surface usable for anti-slip purposes in a wide variety of applications additional to the said floor grating surfaces as currently supplied by us. Another object is to provide anti-slip features as aforementioned which will prove strong and durable in use without being harmful or dangerous to users, without adding significantly to current costs, and without acting to reduce the effectiveness of the other advantageous characteristics for which our products are renowned.

A further object of the invention is to provide novel features in relation to the method or process for producing our new form of anti-slip surface, as well as improvements in apparatus for use in such methods or processes. Other objects and advantages of the invention will be hereinafter apparent.

e• In one form, the invention resides in a method of oo forming a projection on an elongate metal member, said method •0 comprising contacting a surface of the metal member with a peripheral surface of a roll forming wheel, said peripheral surface being provided with at least one aperture, said metal member contacting said roll forming wheel under conditions of ons*: temperature and pressure to extrude the metal member into the 9099 at least one aperture to result in the formation of the projection on the surface of the metal member.

o Preferably, the elongate metal member comprises a wire, bar or strip like member. It is preferred that the S elongate metal member has a wedge wire profile comprising inclined converging side walls, a rounded bottom surface and an upper surface with the projection being formed on the upper surface.

To maximise the anti-slip properties of the elongate metal member, it is preferred that a plurality of the projections are formed on the surface at regularly spaced intervals therealong. Preferably, the projections are formed approximately mid-way across the surface of the metal member as this may facilitate assembly of a number of said metal members into a grate or grid like structure.

It is preferred that conventional cold drawn rollforming be used while the apertures in the peripheral surface of the wheel may have such depth that the projections or grip members are extruded only part way therein, thereby to allow for continued use and resultant wear of the roll forming wheel IQ periphery while still producing grip members of uniform length over a prolonged period. It is preferred that the roll forming wheel comprises a plurality of spaced said apertures formed in a row about the periphery of the wheel. This S resi ts in the formation of a plurality of the objections on the elongate metal member.

As the roll forming wheel is subject to wear and tear due to the conditions of temperature and pressure it operates under, it is preferred that the wheel has two or more and preferably three spaced rows of apertures about its periphery, each row being spaced relative to each other across the peripheral surface of the wheel. In this manner, when continued roll forming using one row of apertures results in wear of this portion of the roll forming wheel, the roll forming wheel can be adjusted such that further metal members pass along a second set of rows and so on. This increases the period of use of the wheel before it needs to be either replaced or reformed by machining. It is preferred that the apertures on the wheel are of a cylindrical or tapered 7 cylindrical internal configuration to produce correspondingly profiled projections on the elongate metal member.

To assist in extrusion of the metal member into the apertures on the roll forming wheel, a second roll forming wheel may be positioned next to the first roll forming wheel with the metal member passing between the wheels, the wheels together providing the pressure conditions effective to extrude the metal member into the aperture thereby forming the projections on the metal member.

1 In another aspect, the inyention resides in an elongate metal member having an upper surface provided with a row of identical upstanding projections at regularly spaced .9

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intervals therealong to provide anti-slip properties to the member, said upstanding projections being formed integrally with the metal member.

It is preferred that the elongate metal member is of a wedge wire profile having inclined converging side walls, a *9*4 rounded bottom surface and upper surface formed with the projections. It is preferred that the projections are linear alignment relative to each other and the projections are preferably formed approximately mid way across the upper surface of the elongate metal member.

To facilitate anti-slip properties, it is preferred that the projections have a height of less than magnitude than their width at the junction of the projection with the upper surface. That is, the projections are stub or button shaped in configuration. In a preferred configuration, the projections are of a frustro conical configuration.

8 It is preferred that the elongate metal member is formed of stainless steel being of an elongate wire-like formation produced by roll form, the wire being of constant width and the row of projections (or grip members) being on the medial longitudinal line of the upper surface of the wire.

The elongate metal member can be used to form a grate or grid like arrangement with a plurality of the metal members being spaced from each other with the projections being formed uppermost on the metal members. The metal members may be spaced parallel relative to each other and may be interconnected by interconnecting means such as rods, bars 9 or struts. The interconnecting means may also be elongate Smetal members as described above.

In a further form, the invention resides in a roll forming wheel for a roll forming assembly, said roll forming wheel being mountable to a shaft and having a peripheral .surface formed with at least one aperture therein, said 99*R peripheral surface being adapted to roll form an elongate S metal member. It is preferred that the roll forming wheel comprises a plurality of apertures formed in a row about the S peripheral surface. To improve the life span of the roll forming wheel, a plurality of rows of apertires may be provided, each row spaced about the peripheral surface and being spaced axially from each other across the peripheral surface. The apertures may have a cylindrical or tapered cylindrical configuration.

The invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: Fig. 1 shows in perspective view one known type of basic floor member provided with an upper anti-slip surface according to the invention; Fig. 2 shows in side elevational view, broken away at one end, the floor member of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view, taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a top perspectiye view of a grating assembly made up of a plurality of floor members as S' shown in Figs. 1 to 3; Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the assembly shown in Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is an underneath plan view of the assembly shown in Figs. 4 and Fig. 7 is a fragmentary end view taken on the section line 7-7 of Fig. Fig. 8 is a fragmentary elevational view taken on the section line 8-8 of Fig. 5, and Fig. 9 is a perspective view, partly in dotted outline, showing two roll-forming wheels, one of which is of novel form for use in forming floor members according to the invention.

Referring initially to Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawings, these Figures show a basic floor member 10 having a body 11 of wedge-shaped profile, the latter having an upper surface 12, two side faces 13 converging downwardly, and a bottom surface 14 which is arcuate in cross-section. According to the invention, the upper surface 12 of the member 10 has a row of identical upstanding grip members 15 at regularly spaced intervals and formed integrally with the body 11 of the floor member 10. It will be noted that each grip member is of less height than it is wide at the bottom where it joins the body 10. In this embodiment, each grip member is substantially frustro-conical, but radiused at its junctiot with the body 11, and also shaped at its upper end to avoid a jagging effect which could cause physical harm to users or cause other damage. Typical dimensions in one

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practical instance would be approximately 5mm high by 4mm maximum width for the body 11, each gripping member having a base width of about 1mm and a height of up to about 0.35mm from the level of the upper surface 12. The row of grip members 15, at 1cm spacings, follows the medial longitudinal line or the upper surface 12 as is clear from n the drawings.

As shown in Figs. 4 to 8, the floor members 10 are mounted in parallel relationship to form a grating or tread assembly 1. of known type, being welded to the tops of cross bars 17 in standard manner. The feature of the invention is the provision of the grip members 15 formed integrally with the body 11 of each floor member 10. Using stainless steel or equivalent hard metal, the grip members 15 will be durable and effective to prevent slipping in the direction along the floor members 10, but they must be extruded from the metal in the process of forming the wire from metal strip using roll-forming wheels as shown at 18 and 19 in Fig. 9. For this purpose, the wheel 18 which shapes the upper surface 12 of the floor member strip 10 is provided with a series of apertures or grooves 20 of cylindrical or tapered cylindrical form, each having its axis directed towardz the axis of rotation of the wheel 18 and of 3mm or more depth when first installed. The illustrated wheel 18 is typically about 20cm diameter but this could be varied in the general range of 10cm to 30cm for example.

The roll-forming process results in the stainless steel of the floor member 10 being extruded into the apertures to the extent that the grip members 15 are formed as short effective projections. In use, the periphery of the wheel 18 will wear around the ring defined by the apertures but the depth of each aperture say 3mm initially allows the height of each grip member say 0.35mm to be maintained as wear occurs, until such time as it becomes desirable to re-grind the worn periphery and provide fresh apertures. To extend the time between re-grindings, the periphery of the wheel 18 may be provided initially with two or three rows f apertures 20, as shown in Fig. 9, the rows being used in turn over a period of operation. We have found that normal cold drawn processe. afford sufficient extrusion of the stainless steel into the apertures 20 when high operating pressures of conventional magnitude are employed in the roll-forming process to produce grip members of the size and deisign mentioned above. The cylindrical form of each grip member 15 is advantageous in that we have found that this .,ures that no problems are caused in the resistance welding at the interstices of floor mf rs 10 with cross bars 17. Certainly the use of higher temperatures would make extrusion easier, but other problems could then be expected. Thus, we believe that quite desirable results can be achieved using the customary high pressures provided that careful design is employed in the grip members themselves and the nature of the apertures in which they are cxtruded.

While the most desirable metal used will be stainless steel, other equivalent metals could ibe employed with the 4. 44 g invention. The material should be very hard and wear- S. resistant, necessitating the use of a roll-forming wheel 18 44 *o whose degree of hardness is in the order of 60 Rockwell.

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Tool steel is the logical choice of metals from which wheels and other apparatus would be made for carrying out the invention. The apertures 20 may be formed in the periphery too**: of the wheel 18 by drilling or by spark erosion, and where .4.

4.• three rows of apertures 20 are provided as shown in Fig. 9, the apertures of the first and third rows may be converniently in register, while the middle row is out of register and midway between the others.

While floor members and grid assemblies or gratings having grip members as outlined herein will therefore be found very effective, it will be understood that many modifications of constructional detail and design may be made, as well as obvious alterations in the processes and apparatus as described. The invention is to be understood to embrace all variations as will be readily apparent to persons skilled in the art and residing within the broad 13 scope and ambit of the invention as defined in the following claims.

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Claims

2. The elongate metal member as claimed in claim 1 wherein the projections are frusto-conical.
3. The elongate metal member as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the projections are formed approximately mid-way across S: said upper surface.
4. A method of forming the elongate metal member as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, said method comprising contacting the upper surface of the metal member with the peripheral surface of a roll forming wheel, said peripheral surface being provided with a plurality of spaced apertures S• formed in a row thereabout, said roll forming wheel contacting said metal member under sufficient pressure to extrude a portion of the metal member sequentially in each of said apertures as the roll forming wheel rotates and the metal member passes by in contact therewith, to provide a plurality of projections on the surface of the metal member. An anti-slip floor member comprising a plurality of the elongate metal members as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3.
6. The anti-slip floor member as claimed in claim wherein the elongate metal members are in spaced parallel arrangement being interconnected by elongate interconnecting members extending across the bottom surface of the elongate metal I i/ members.
7. The anti-slip floor member as claimed in claim 6 wherein the bottom surface of each of the elongate metal members are received in recesses in the elongate interconnecting members.
8. An elongate metal member substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
9. A method substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. An anti-slip floor member substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. I 1 ABSTRACT An anti-slip floor member (10) comprises a metal member formed in a wedge wire profile, the upper surface of which (12) is provided with a plurality of anti-slip projections (15) formed integrally with the metal member. Projections (15) are formed by roll forming the metal member between two roll forming wheels, at least one of which is provided with a number of apertures the conditions of pressure and temperature being such that the metal member is extruded into apertures (20) to form the resultant projection The resultant metal member (10) can be formed into grids or grates having anti-slip properties due to projections