GB2378209A

GB2378209A - Scaffolding bracket

Info

Publication number: GB2378209A
Application number: GB0118043A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Scaffolding Limited Qed; Ian Peter Hodgson
Original assignee: EADES BRIAN; QED Scaffolding Ltd
Current assignee: EADES BRIAN; QED Scaffolding Ltd
Priority date: 2001-07-24
Filing date: 2001-07-24
Publication date: 2003-02-05
Also published as: GB0118043D0

Abstract

A hop-up bracket is provided which can be attached to a substantially horizontal scaffolding tube 14 and has an attachment portion 4,5 capable of receiving the horizontal tube 14 and a fixing portion 7 capable of cooperating in use with a part of the scaffolding structure 13 below the scaffolding tube so as to be capable of stopping the bracket from rotating about the scaffolding tube 14. The bracket may be formed from three struts (1,2,3 Fig 1) creating a substantially triangular rigid structure and having a hooked portion 4 for engagement of a lateral scaffolding tube 14.

Description

Scaffolding Bracket The present invention relates to brackets for use with scaffolding capable of being assembled and disassembled and generally located in close proximity to the outer surfaces of buildings and other structures as well as the completed parts of buildings and structures which are under construction to provide access for building workers and such like.

By scaffolding it is intended to refer to a system of generally mild steel components including load bearing mild steel tubes rigidly fixed to each other by load bearing tube coupling clamps. The scaffolding consists generally of vertical riser tubes or uprights each of which is attached to the top of a rectangular base plate which in turn rests on the ground beneath the scaffolding structure. The risers or uprights are interconnected with laterally and diagonally disposed tubes by means of load bearing tube coupling clamps which generally receive two tubes of different directional orientation. Typically a number of boards are located adjacent to one another and end to end so as to make a rigid and safe working platform or floor adjacent the building or structure. Depending on the height of scaffolding required, there may be several working platforms which are typically located at regular intervals one above the other. The boards are usually supported, between the uprights, on tubes which are fixed generally horizontally. The boards are typically of standardised dimensions and are usually of wooden

material, however they may be of synthetic material or any other material suitable for the purpose of carrying workers, building materials, tools, equipment and such like. The standards which apply to the various components as well as the spacing and orientation thereof is in general the subject of detailed governmental regulation.

The brackets to which the invention relates are what are commonly know in the construction industry as hop-up brackets. The purpose of these brackets is to support laterally disposed boards, which will usually be the same type of boards as are used in the main body of the scaffolding between the uprights and these boards are also capable therefore of carrying workers, materials and such like. The boards they carry can typically be disposed on the same level as the boards of the respective main working platforms of the main body of the scaffolding, but this is not necessarily so. When located on the same level as the main working platforms the boards carried by the hop up brackets can be disposed adjacent to the boards of the main working platforms to thereby form an extended working platform on one level supported partly by lateral tubes between uprights and partly by hop-up brackets.

For certain kinds of work it is necessary to provide an intermediate working platform supported on hop-up brackets at a level between the main working platform levels. The hop-up brackets of these intermediate working platforms are generally of the same design and dimension as the hop-up brackets

used for the extensions to main working platforms.

The intermediate platforms are outside the main body of the scaffolding as per the working platform extensions already described, : : 2 only difference being that the intermediate working platforms are at a different height to the levels of the main working platforms so that an edge of the intermediate platforms is roughly in vertically alignment with an edge of the main working platforms.

The scaffolding to which the invention relates also includes various attachments to other scaffolding parts, including such items as safety equipment, safety rails, weather sheeting and such like. It is normally a safety requirement thai edges of working platforms include protection for workers who are at risk of falling off the scaffolding and this protection typically takes the form of horizontal tubes, fixed to the uprights, which serve as safety hand rails and such like. Similarly vertical kick boards are also provided which project a short distance upwards at the exposed edges of the working platform and protect workers from falling from the scaffolding as well as reduce the likelihood of items, debris etc. falling from a working platform and causing injury.

The construction of known hop-up brackets generally involves the use of three struts arranged to provide a rigid triangulated structure, and designed for attachment to the risers or uprights of the main body of the scaffolding construction, whereby the strut which is intended to be vertically disposed and parallel to the uprights of the main body of the

scaffolding supports a scaffolding tube coupling clamp consisting of two halves which grip from either side the upright tube and which are clamped together by a nut and bolt attached to one half cooperating with a slot or opening on the other half.

The problem is that the necessity for attachment to uprights places severe limitations on the installation, spacing and use of the hop-up brackets. In the UK for example it is usually the case that uprights adjacent the building or structure are spaced at intervals of 2 metres whereas hop-up are required according to the regulations of government bodies to be spaced at maximum intervals of 1.2 metres. The practical implication of this is that in order to use hop-up brackets, the whole of the-ain body of the scaffolding has to be designed around the spacing requirements of the hop-up brackets. If there is a need to add hop-up brackets to an existing main body of scaffolding, which has for example employed a separation between uprights of 2 metres, in order for example to add an intermediate working platform, then either the whole of the main body of the scaffolding has to have uprights added between the original uprights or it has to be dismantled and rebuilt with a spacing between uprights of 1.2 metres.

A further problem with the known hop-up brackets is that they are difficult if not impossible to install on existing scaffolding due to the fact that they employ a tube coupling clamp on the strut which in

use is vertically disposed. This coupling clamp requires a certain lateral space, both during installation and when in its final fixed position.

This space is often not available in practice since spacing between the main body of scaffolding and the building or structure may be fixed according to official standards, typically the width of two boards at 225 mm each plus a maximum gap of 50 mm, making 500 mm in total, which leaves insufficient space for a hop up bracket capable of carrying two boards which employs a scaffolding tube coupling clamp.

One aim of the invention is therefore to be able to create an intermediate platform or shelf at any level including an extension to a main working platform without the need to carry out alterations to the existing main body of scaffolding which are not only expensive and time consuming in themselves but which also have the effect of delay and expense being added to the building work.

According to a first aspect of the invention a scaffolding bracket is envisaged which in use extends away from a substantially horizontal scaffolding tube to which it is attached and which is capable of supporting a board, the bracket including a board supporting surface, an attachment portion capable of receiving said lateral or substantially horizontal scaffolding tube and a fixing portion capable of cooperating in use with a part of the scaffolding structure below said scaffolding tube so as to be capable of stopping the

bracket from rotating about said scaffolding tube under the weight on the board supporting surface.

It has been found that a scaffolding bracket according to this embodiment of the invention can attach to a horizontal scaffolding tube, including for example an existing tube such as an existing safety ledger. Installation is relatively easy, it does not involve tube couplers and makes the positioning of the hop-up bracket independent of the position of vertical uprights or risers.

Preferably a scaffolding bracket is envisaged wherein the attachment portion includes hook means or has a substantially hooked profile which is capable of hooking onto and thereby receiving the lateral or substantially horizontal scaffolding tube.

One possibility envisaged by the present is for the attachment portion to have a substantially hooked profile which is capable of hooking over the lateral scaffolding tube and thereby receiving the lateral scaffolding tube from underneath.

The attachment portion according to the invention may include further securing means to secure the attachment portion to the lateral scaffolding tube. The securing means preferably involves a threaded bore capable of receiving a threaded bolt so as to enable the lateral scaffolding tube and a surface of the scaffolding bracket to be urged together in a releasable clamping arrangement.

The fixing portion of the invention may preferably be in the form of a scaffolding tube coupling clamp or load bearing scaffolding tube coupler.

The fixing portion of the invention may preferably be in the form of an abutment capable of abutting a part of the scaffolding structure below said lateral scaffolding tube. The abutment may preferably be in a form which is capable of cooperating the outer surface of a scaffolding tube and which includes e. g. a portion of corresponding mating shape to the outside surface of a scaffolding tube. According to one embodiment the fixing portion is arranged to be capable of cooperating with either an upright scaffolding tube or a lateral scaffolding tube.

The board supporting surface may preferably include an abutment portion capable of horizontally retaining one or more boards which are resting thereon. The supporting surface is preferably adapted to carry two boards of approximately 225 mm and positioned side by side.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the scaffolding bracket preferably employs three struts, the first strut carrying the board carrying surface, the second strut carrying the fixing portion, the first strut being disposed substantially at a right angle to the second strut, the third strut being attached to the first and second strut to form a rigid triangulated structure. Either of the first or the second strut may carry the attachment portion. The three struts are typically attached together by welding, however

other means of attachment sucn as riveting and mechanical interlocking are also possible. The hooked portion is carried by, held by or attached to any one of the three struts.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, when the bracket is in use, a part of the second strut is preferably positioned adjacent to or in close proximity to said lateral scaffolding tube.

A further embodiment of the invention relates to a method of manufacture of the scaffolding bracket of the preferred embodiments described above.

A preferred embodiment of the scaffolding bracket of the present invention, when used as a hop-up bracket for an intermediate working platform as well as a when used as a hop-up bracket for an extension to a main working platform, will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, the scope of the present invention is in no way limited to this preferred embodiment, in which :- Fig. l shows a scaffolding bracket according to an embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 2 shows a scaffolding bracket according to an embodiment of the present invention when used to create an intermediate working platform; and Fig. 3 shows a scaffolding bracket according to an embodiment of the present invention when used to create an extension to a main working platform.

A scaffolding bracket according to a particular embodiment of the invention is illustrated in Fig. 1, the bracket consisting of three struts (1,2, 3), the first strut (1) defining a the board carrying surface, the second strut (2) carrying the fixing portion, the first strut being disposed substantially at a right angle to the second strut, the first and second struts are welded together. The third strut (3) is welded to the first and second strut to form a rigid triangulated structure as illustrated. The bracket includes an attachment portion (4, 5) having a substantially hooked profile which is capable of hooking over a lateral scaffolding tube and thereby receiving the lateral scaffolding tube from underneath. The second strut carries the fixing portion (7) which consists of a plate welded to the second strut and which includes a substantially circular recess which is of corresponding shape to the scaffolding against which it abuts when in use, the scaffolding against which it abuts being below the lateral scaffolding tube which is received in said hooked attachment portion (4, 5). The fixing portion stops the bracket from rotating about said horizontal scaffolding tube under the weight on the board supporting surface and this gives the bracket further lateral stability with respect to the scaffolding structure to which it is attached.

A scaffolding bracket is illustrated in Fig. 2 in use as one of a series of hop-up brackets in horizontal alignment supporting two boards (15) on the outside of the main scaffolding structure. The main scaffolding structure consisting of vertical

scaffolding or'uprights' (1 :) which are attached to base plates (12), horizontal scaffolding ledgers (13) fixed to the uprights and boards forming main working platforms (10) on which workers can walk and work on the structure of the building. The hop-up bracket hooks over a horizontal safety ledger (14) which is above a corresponding main working platform (10) which it protects and abuts with its fixing portion (7) against the horizontal scaffolding tube (13) beneath the safety ledger. The hop-up bracket extends laterally and substantially perpendicular to the horizontal safety ledger (14) and towards the building or structure (16) requiring scaffolding access. The two boards (15) supported by the hop-up bracket and held in place by abutment member (6) form an intermediate working platform which is at an intermediate height relative to the main working platforms (10) and which is suitable for carrying workers as well as the tools and materials they require to carry out their work. As illustrated in Fig. 3 the board supporting surface extends into the hooked portion (4,5), part of which (5) is located beneath the boards and above the lateral supporting ledgers of the main working platform.

A scaffolding bracket is illustrated in Fig. 3 in use as one of a series of aligned hop-up brackets supporting two boards (15) on the outside of the main scaffolding structure, where said boards form an additional working platform and are fixed at the same level as an adjacent main working platform. The hop-up bracket illustrated provides therefore an extension to the main working platform in the direction of the building or structure (16)

requiring scaffolding access, but instead of being hooked over a safety rail as in the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 2, the hop-up brackets are hooked over the horizontal scaffolding tubes of the main working platform which they are extending.

The invention is not limited to the embodiment described above or shown in the figures and is intended to include further modifications which fall within the scope of the appended claims. In particular the scaffolding brackez is intended to be hooked over any horizontal ledger and its fixing portion is intended to cooperate with any convenient part of the scaffolding structure below the horizontal ledger over which it is hooked.

The use of expression in this specification such as lateral, horizontal, vertical, upright, perpendicular, at right angles, and such like is intended to imply approximate orientation consistent with how the skilled man working in the building industry would interpret such expressions and the wide tolerances in usage in this area of activity.

Claims

Claims 1. Scaffolding bracket which in use extends away from a substantially horizontal scaffolding tube to which it is attached and which is capable of supporting a board, said bracket including: a board supporting surface; an attachment portion capable of receiving said scaffolding tube; and a fixing portion capable of cooperating in use with a part of the scaffolding structure below said scaffolding tube so as to be capable of stopping the bracket from rotating about said scaffolding tube under the weight on the board supporting surface.
2. Scaffolding bracket according to claim 1 wherein the attachment portion includes hook means capable of hooking onto and thereby receiving the substantially horizontal scaffolding tube.
3. Scaffolding bracket according to any preceding claim wherein the attachment portion has a substantially hooked profile which is capable of hooking over the substantially horizontal scaffolding tube and thereby receiving said scaffolding tube from underneath.
4. Scaffolding bracket according to any preceding claim wherein the attachment portion includes further securing means to secure the attachment portion to the substantially horizontal scaffolding tube.

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5. Scaffolding bracket according to any preceding claim wherein the securing means includes a threaded bore capable of receiving a threaded bolt so as to enable the substantially horizontal scaffolding tube and a surface of the scaffolding bracket to be urged together in a releasable clamping arrangement.
6. Scaffolding bracket according to any preceding claim wherein the fixing portion is in the form of a scaffolding tube coupling clamp
7. Scaffolding bracket according to any preceding claim wherein the fixing portion is in the form of an abutment capable in use of abutting a part of the scaffolding structure below said substantially horizontal scaffolding tube.
8. Scaffolding bracket according to any preceding claim wherein the abutment of said fixing portion can be in a form which is capable of cooperating the outer surface of a scaffolding tube and which includes e. g. a portion of corresponding mating shape to the outside surface of a scaffolding tube
9. Scaffolding bracket according to any preceding claim wherein the fixing portion is arranged to be capable of cooperating with either an upright scaffolding tube or a substantially horizontal scaffolding tube.
10. Scaffolding bracket according to any preceding claim wherein the board supporting surface includes an abutment portion capable of horizontally retaining one or more boards located thereon.

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11. Scaffolding bracket according to any preceding claim wherein the bracket includes three struts, the first strut carrying the board carrying surface, the second strut carrying the fixing portion, the first strut being disposed substantially at a right angle to the second strut, either of said first or second strut carrying the attachment portion, the third strut being attached to the first and second strut to form a rigid triangulated structure.
12. Scaffolding bracket according to claim 11 wherein the hooked portion is carried by either the first strut, the second strut or the interface between the two struts.
13. Scaffolding bracket according to either of claims 11 or 12 wherein the component parts of said bracket include welded, riveted, mechanically interlocked attachments or wherein some or all of the component parts are of unitary or cast construction.
14. Scaffolding bracket according to claims 11,12 or 13 whereby in use the second strut is positioned adjacent to or in close proximity to said substantially horizontal scaffolding tube.
15. Method of manufacture of the scaffolding bracket according to any preceding claim.
16. Scaffolding bracket substantially as any one embodiment herein described with reference to Figs 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings.