AU2005201318B2 - Temporary anchor for a safety device - Google Patents

Description

CHRYSILIOU LAW 15 - 19 PARRAWEEN ST CREMORNE SYDNEY NSW 2090 AUSTRALIA PHONE: 02 9953 4222 FAX: 02 9953 4755 SPEED DIAL: 541 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name of Applicants: ARVO POLDMAA, KATHLEEN POLDMAA, ROBYN POLDMAA AND DANIEL POLDMAA Actual Inventor: ARVO POLDMAA Address for Service: Chrysilou Law 15-19 Parraween Street Cremorne NSW 2090 Invention Title: Temporary Anchor For A Safety Device The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: ./3 \\scrver\e\docs\tr\0503g034.doc c \\serr\docs\patents\comp\14053.doc TEMPORARY ANCHOR FOR A SAFETY DEVICE Technical Field This invention relates to a temporary anchor for a safety device and more particularly, to spreading the load received by a safety device such as an eye-bolt, attached to a roof 5 structure of a building. Background Art The building industry is becoming evermore conscious of the need for ensuring the safety of its workers and, indeed, authorities in many jurisdictions have introduced, or are in the process of introducing, recommendations and regulations which seek to make 1o building sites and buildings on which workers must perform their duties safer workplaces. It has long been recognised that a primary cause of injuries, particularly to inexperienced workers, arises from falls from elevated building structures resulting sometimes in severe injury or even death. Prior art methods of addressing this problem 15 include the mounting of temporary rails around the periphery of roof areas and the fixing of personal safety harnesses and ropes to anchor points, such as exposed rafters, etc. Whilst the rails may be helpful in most situations, there remains the possibility that an unsecured worker may still topple over the railing. Anchor points, such as those which may be mounted on exposed beams or rafters, may 2o not be satisfactory as the structural members themselves may not be capable of sustaining the loads necessary to withstand the damage resulting from the impact occasioned by the fall of a worker. Moreover, such falls will end in a severe jolt to the worker when the full extent of the rope or cable is taken up, which may itself occasion injury. 25 Consequently, safety devices having the capacity to sequentially deform, especially those disclosed for example in my earlier Australian patent 750758, which incorporate an eye-bolt as described therein, are a useful solution. However, whilst methods have been developed for affixing these safety devices such as eye-bolts to existing roof 2 structures in a so-called retro-fit, including for example that disclosed in my Australian patent application No 2001283678, no adequate solution has yet been devised for fitting such a safety device to an existing roof without causing some permanent change to the roof. In other words, there has not been to date, a useful means of temporarily fitting 5 such a safety device as my eye-bolt to an existing roof without damaging the roof sheeting or indeed compromising the way in which the safety device is likely to function. In other words, the eyebolt, if simply fixed directly into the roof, or at least into a batten below the roof in the simplest possible way, without any reinforcing, is likely to fail when a load is placed upon it, as in the case of a person falling, when attached by a safety rope io thereto. Object of the Invention It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a suitable anchor means whereby a safety device, for example an eye-bolt of the type disclosed in my earlier Australian patent 750758, may be temporarily affixed to a metal roof by means is thereof in such a way that the anchor allows any load applied to the safety device to be spread over the roof surface, ie allowing the safety device itself to be fully utilised as was intended. At the very least, the invention provides an alternative means of anchoring a safety device to a roof or similar structure. Disclosure of the Invention 20 According to a first aspect of the present invention there is disclosed herein an anchor for securing a safety device, in the form of an energy absorbing eye-bolt or the like, indirectly to a roof structure, the anchor including a pair of elongate members arranged in cross-wise fashion, which may be removably affixed to the exterior of a roof structure, the anchor having engagement means located at the intersection of the elongate 25 arms for securing the safety device to the anchor, each elongate arm having means to allow for variable multiple points of fixing along its length to facilitate attachment to the roof structure, and wherein the length of the elongate members is sufficient to ensure that when fixed to the roof structure at sufficient points, a load received by the safety device is 3 spread across the roof structure rather than being concentrated at the anchor point itself, thereby ensuring that the safety device itself deformably absorbs any impact when it is subjected to such a load, with little or no damage to the anchor itself, thereby allowing the safety device to be used to its maximum potential by itself deforming to absorb the load. s In a preferred form of the invention the elongate members are formed of any suitable material, including but not necessarily limited to metals such as aluminum, or high density composite materials or high density plastics, the overall cross section preferably being flat or U-shaped. The means of fixing the elongate members to the battens of a roof structure, ie through the roofing material, is provided by a series of slots 1o or holes located in a suitable array along the elongate member. For example in a simple plate like version, these holes may be longitudinal slots located in spaced arrangement therealong. One the other hand, in a U-shaped embodiment, where the side walls extend sufficiently high and are themselves bent along their length inwardly to form a partially enclosed track or channel, smaller plates may be 15 inserted therein with holes therethrough which can be usefully slid along the track thus formed to locate such holes with any corresponding pre-existing holes in the roof, so that in essence all that is required is to line up sufficient holes along the length of the elongate members with existing holes, remove the screws therefrom at those locations, reinsert the screws through the holes of the elongate arms and then screw them back into the existing 20 holes. In this way the elongate members and hence the anchor itself will be held securely to the roof. It is recommend that a minimum of four fixing points along each arm of the anchor be employed. Where the elongate members have a channel or track-like cross section, end caps may be fitted to free ends of the elongate members for not only aesthetic but safety 25 reasons, as well as others including conveniently retaining any plates therein for attaching the elongate members to the roof structure, which might otherwise become detached from the anchor when it is not in use.

\\server\e\docs\patents\comp\14053.doc Preferably the screws which are used to attach the anchor to a roof, are fitted with washers, such as domed or spring washers, designed to assist in absorbing energy. Rubber or other suitable cushioning material may be fitted to the underside of the elongate members to minimise scratching of the roof surface, 5 In one particularly preferred form of the invention, the engagement means for receiving and securing the safety device to the anchor, for example an eye-bolt, is provided in the form of a pair of plates located at the junction of the elongate members, for example having a track like profile referred to above, the plates secured therein by means of rivets or welding. A hole is provided through each plate to receive the lower threaded io end of the eye-bolt, a nut being affixed and tightened to secure the eye-bolt to the anchor. Brief Description of the Drawings The invention may be better understood from the following non-limiting description of a preferred embodiments, in which: 1s Figure 1 is a plan view of an anchor for a safety device according to one embodiment of the invention, the anchor being formed from the cross-wise arrangement of a pair of elongate members; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the anchor of Fig 1, showing a safety device in the form of an eye-bolt secured therein; 2o Figure 3 is a cross sectional view of one of the elongate members of the embodiment of Figures 1 and 2; Figure 4 is a perspective view of one of the elongate members of the embodiment of Figures 1 and 2; Figure 5 is an end cap for use with the embodiment of the anchor shown in Figs 1 to 4; 25 Figure 6 shows in detail the way in which the eye-bolt is connected to the attachment plates by means of a cone lock nut as described in my aforementioned earlier patents; 4 \\server\e\docs\patents\comp\l4053.doc Figure 7 is a plan view of a single attachment plate as used in Figure 6; Figure 8 is a side elevation of a single plate shown in Fig 7; Figure 9 is a plan view of a pair plates as used in the anchor of Figures 1 and 2; and Figure 10 is a side elevation of the plates of Fig 9. 5 Detailed Description of the Drawings Referring to Figs 1 and 2, there is shown an anchor arrangement generally referenced 11 which is suitable for attaching a safety device in the form of an eye-bolt 12 indirectly to a roof (not shown). The anchor 11 is formed from a pair of elongate members 13, 14 joined in cross-wise arrangement for example by welding or by other suitable means. lo The detail of the elongate members 13, 14 is shown in Figs 3 and 4. The elongate members 13,14 each have a cross section in the form of a channel and are provided underneath along their length with fitted rubber footings 15 to ensure the anchor 11 does as little damage to the roof as possible. Slots 16, are provided along the members 13,14 to provide an array of possible fixing 15 points. Besides having such an array of slots 16 as illustrated, a sliding plate with suitable holes, capable of sliding in the channel may be utilised. Figure 3 in particular shows a screw 17 fitted through a hole 16 for securement of the anchor 11 to a batten (not shown), by which means the anchor 11 may be affixed to the aforesaid roof. The screw 17 is supported by a domed washer 18 to facilitate energy 20 absorption. An endcap 19, the detail of which is shown in Figure 5 is fitted to the free ends of the elongate members forming the anchor. Referring generally to Figures 6 to 10, there is shown the way in which the attachment plates 20 are crossed and adapted to receive the lower threaded shaft 21 of the eye-bolt 25 12. Each plate 20 is shaped so as to fit in a respective central portion of the elongate members 13, 14, as shown in Figure 1. The eyebolt 12 is affixed to the plates 20 by means of nut 22 and cone nut 23 as described in my earlier aforementioned patents. 5 \\server\e\docs\patents\compX14053.doc In use, the anchor 11 is affixed to a roof structure in the desired location, various holes allowing location of screws 17 therethrough for fixing the anchor 11 to the roof at locations from which screws have been removed so that they may be refitted through the holes in the anchors and thence into original holes. An eye bolt 12 having been fitted 5 may be used to attach a safety rope or the like thereto, so that if a load is placed on the eye-bolt 12, the anchor 11 tends to distribute the load across the roof, thereby allowing the eye-bolt 12 to function as expected, ie in accordance with the description thereof in my aforementioned patents and patent applications, without significant deformation itself. There may however be instances where further deformation of the anchor itself is 10 utilised or even desirable, but it will be understood that this should not be at the detriment or expense of the energy absorbing characteristics of the eye-bolt 12. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that many modifications and variations may be made to the embodiments described herein without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. 15 Throughout the specification the word "comprise" and its derivatives are intended to have an inclusive rather than exclusive meaning unless the context requires otherwise. 6

Claims (11)

1. An anchor for securing a safety device, in the form of an energy absorbing eye-bolt or the like, indirectly to a roof structure, the anchor including a pair of s elongate members arranged in cross-wise fashion, which may be removably affixed to the exterior of a roof structure, the anchor having engagement means located at the intersection of the elongate arms for securing the safety device to the anchor, each elongate arm having means to allow for variable multiple points of fixing along its length to facilitate attachment to the roof structure, and wherein the length of the elongate io members is sufficient to ensure that when fixed to the roof structure at sufficient points, a load received by the safety device is spread across the roof structure rather than being concentrated at the anchor point itself, thereby ensuring that the safety device itself deformably absorbs any impact when it is subjected to such a load, with little or no damage to the anchor itself, thereby allowing the safety device to be used to its maximum 15 potential by itself deforming to absorb the load.

2. An anchor for securing a safety device according to claim 1, in which the elongate members are formed of any suitable material, including metals such as aluminum, or high density composite materials or high density plastics. 20

3. An anchor for securing a safety device according to either claim I or claim 2, in which the overall cross section is flat or U-shaped.

4. An anchor for securing a safety device according to anyone of the 25 preceding claims in which the means of fixing the elongate members to the battens of a roof structure, is provided by a series of slots or holes located in a suitable array along the elongate member.

5. An anchor for securing a safety device according to claim 4, wherein in 30 a simple plate like version, the holes are longitudinal slots located in spaced arrangement therealong. \\servere\docspatents\comp\14053.doc

6. An anchor for securing a safety device according to claim 4, wherein in a u-shaped embodiment, where the side walls extend sufficiently high and are themselves bent along their length inwardly to form a partially enclosed track or channel, smaller plates are inserted therein with holes therethrough which can be slid along the track a thus formed to locate such holes with any corresponding pre-existing holes in the roof, so that in essence all that is required is to line up sufficient holes along the length of the elongate members with existing holes, remove the screws therefrom at those locations, reinsert the screws through the holes of the elongate arms and then screw them back into the existing holes. 10

7. An anchor for securing a safety device according to any one of the preceding claims, where the elongate members have a channel or track-like cross section, and end caps are fitted to the free ends of the elongate members for not only aesthetic but safety reasons, as well as conveniently retaining any plates therein for attaching the elongate members to the roof structure, which might otherwise become detached 15 from the anchor when it is not in use.

8. An anchor for securing a safety device according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the screws which are used to attach the anchor to a roof, are fitted with washers, such as domed or spring washers, designed to assist in absorbing energy. 20

9. An anchor for securing a safety device according to any one of the preceding claims, in which Rubber or other suitable cushioning material is fitted to the underside of the elongate members to minimise scratching of the roof surface.

10. An anchor for securing a safety device according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the engagement means for receiving and securing the safety device 25 to the anchor, for example an eye-bolt, is provided in the form of a pair of plates located at the junction of the elongate members, for example having a track like profile, the plates secured therein by means of rivets or welding, and wherein a hole 8 \\server\e\docs\patents\comp\14053.doc is provided through each plate to receive the lower threaded end of the eye-bolt, a nut being affixed and tightened to secure the eye-bolt to the anchor.

11. An anchor for securing a safety device substantially as herein described with reference to the drawings. 5 Dated this 24th day of March 2005 Arvo Poldman By his Patent Attorneys 10 Chrysiliou Law 9