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DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a cabin for construction scaffolds.

Construction work of a certain significance requires using fixed metal scaffolds which are normally available on the market.

Companies that safely mount construction scaffolds use fixed-end, prefabricated frames which include at least two portals with vertical, horizontal and diagonal scantlings which are fixed together through bushes or pins pre-arranged on the frame.

Removable panels to be applied to construction scaffolds are known for increasing the safety of operators and the public involved when treating hazardous materials which are not to be disposed of in the environment, or when protecting the operators from atmospheric events, or such as in US Patent US2010264390 where the removable panels mounted on the scaffolds concern building foundations and serve to shield the operators from any sliding of the surrounding excavated land.

Small building tool depots are known for scaffoldings such as in Patent US2012043160, where a removable box is coupled above the transversal scantlings of two prefabricated frames . in the place of prefabricated planks, and functions as a walkway for the operators. Said box may be closed with a lid and made secure by means of a padlock device. An ill-intentioned person may easily break the chain of the padlock and remove the contents of the box, or more easily remove the entire box from the scaffolding and open it at a later time.

US2006076191 describes a construction scaffold.

JP2004316156 and EP2236698 show some cabins.

Construction operators currently do not have secure storehouses available on the work surface of the scaffolding where they are operating and therefore they may not shelter work tools of a certain size at the end of the working day.

This implies that before the end of the work period, the construction operators are to waste precious time to transport the most cumbersome and costly tools by bringing them from the work surface of the scaffolding to the ground level.

Another problem is due to the fact that the storage boxes of the tools actually being used may only shelter small tools and may be easily removed by ill-intentioned persons who intend stealing the contents thereof.

One of the strategies used by construction workers to protect the equipment from theft is that of collecting it, at the end of the day, in a large container, which during the day is used to contain building materials and move them within the site, covering it with an impermeable sheet and lastly, hoisting it to a given height off the ground by means of a crane, and also placing it in a well lit position. The problem is that this activity requires a certain amount of time and resources.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a cabin that can be quickly and easily reversibly installed on a construction scaffold to protect the security of the costly or large work tools.

In accordance with the invention, such an object is achieved by a cabin for construction scaffolds, characterized in that it comprises

angular uprights adapted to be connected to uprights of construction scaffolds by means of anchoring brackets,

a pair of rectangular frames restrained to said angular uprights, at least one of which supporting a door,

a pair of lower and upper cross members adapted to be longitudinally connected to said angular uprights close to the lower and upper ends thereof, a plurality of vertical panels slidingly supported by said lower and upper cross members, and forming the lateral sides of the cabin,

a plurality of cover panels to form the roof of the cabin, which rest at the bottom on the upper cross members and are secured thereto by means of blocking means which can only be operated from inside the cabin.

It is one advantage of the present invention to securely store cumbersome and costly tools within a cabin forming a real storehouse, which is directly connected with its entire inner volume to a whole scaffolding module and hence said building storehouse is easy to be mounted in and removed from any scaffold module, even by one construction operator alone, but at the same time is difficult to be removed by those who do not have keys for accessing the inside of the module equipped with the storehouse.

A further advantage is that of having a building storehouse, a site office, a chemical WC, or a technical room which can be set up as needed, having significant dimensions, i.e. slightly smaller than those identified by the entire inner volume of the scaffold module.

Yet a further advantage is that said cabin may also be easily and safely mounted in a few minutes by one construction operator alone from within any module of the existing scaffold.

An undoubted advantage is that said cabin may in fact be anchored to any tubular structure allowing it, thus forming a room that can be securely closed, with maximum versatility, which can be installed in exhibitions stands, gazebos and more, for example.

Furthermore, all components of said construction scaffold with reversibly mountable secure cabin may advantageously be re-used several following times without limiting the will of the construction operators involved in subsequent assemblies and disassemblies. Moreover, an ill- intentioned person may not disassemble or remove said cabin from the outside without breaking the scantlings of a scaffolding module.

These and other features of the present invention will become increasingly apparent from the following detailed description of one of its non-limiting practical embodiments disclosed in the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a cabin for construction scaffolds according to the present invention;

Figure 2 shows a side view of the cabin for scaffolds in Fig. 1 ;

Figure 3 shows a top view of the cabin for scaffolds in Fig. 1;

Figure 4 shows a front view of the cabin for scaffolds in Fig. 1;

Figures 5A and 5B show a view from the outside and one from the inside, respectively, of a panel forming the lateral sides of the cabin in Fig. i ;

Figure 6 shows a side perspective view of the assembled elements forming the roof as seen from the inside of the cabin in Fig. 1 ;

Figure 7 shows a side view of the roof in Fig. 6;

Figures 8A and 8B show a view from the outside and one from the inside, respectively, of an angular upright of the cabin in Fig. 1 ;

Figure 9 shows a top view of a bracket for anchoring to a construction scaffold of the cabin in Fig. 1, connected to the angular upright in Figures 8A-8B;

Figures 1 OA and 10B show a view from the outside and one from the inside, respectively, of an upper cross member of the cabin in Fig. 1 ;

Figure 11 shows a perspective enlarged view of a blocking plate accommodated on the upper cross member in Figures 10A-10B;

Figure 12 shows a front view from the outside of a rectangular frame forming the cornice of a door for the cabin in Fig. 1;

Figures 13A and 13B show a view from the outside and one from the inside, respectively, of a door for closing the cabin in Fig. 1 ;

Figure 14 shows a perspective enlarged view of the coupling between an angular upright and a lower cross member of the cabin in Fig. 1 ;

Figure 15 shows a module of a construction scaffold.

With reference to the above-listed figures, it should be noted that a cabin 1 for scaffolds according to the present invention comprises brackets 3 for anchoring to uprights 110 of a scaffold 2, and in particular a pair of brackets (Fig. 9) is provided for each upright 110, an upper one arranged in the immediate vicinity of the upper end of upright 110, and a lower one arranged in the immediate vicinity of the lower end of the latter.

Each pair of brackets 3 is intended to anchor an angular upright 5 for cabin 1 parallel to the upright 110 of a scaffold 2. As can be noted (Fig. 1) in the embodiment suggested, cabin 1 is substantially parallelepiped in shape and two lateral sides 7 and two transversal walls 8 and a roof 10 may be identified.

As can be noted, each transversal wall 8 (Fig. 12) consists of a rectangular frame 12, each vertical side 121 has rivets 122, preferably with a round head, intended to couple with the angular uprights 5, by means of specific slots 51 thereon. The rectangular frame acts as cornice for a door 14 (Figures 13A - 13B) and on one of the vertical sides 121 of the rectangular frame 12 there are hinges 123 of known type, intended to carry said door 14, which is intended to make the transversal wall 8 closeable and openable. On the other side 121 of the rectangular frame is a release slot 124 for a lock 141 on said door 14.

Each rectangular frame 12 is connected to the other by means of a pair of lower cross members 16, with concave downward facing U-shaped cross section, forming a resting guide for vertical panels 71, having a concave downward facing lower base for coupling with said guide, which form the lateral sides 7 of cabin 1.

Each rectangular frame 12 is also connected to the other by means of a pair of upper cross members 17 (Figures 10A - 10B), with concave downward facing U-shaped cross section, the inner cavity 171 of which forms an upper restraining element for the vertical panels 71.

In the embodiment described in the accompanying figures, each lateral side 7 of cabin 1 consists of three side-by-side matching vertical panels 71, which rest at the bottom on the guide formed by the lower cross members 16 and are arranged at the top inside cavity 171 (Figures 5A - 5B). It is worth noting that the lower concave end of the vertical panels 71 embraces the lower cross member 16, while the upper concave end of the vertical panels 71 is embraced by said concave downward facing U-shaped cross section of the upper cross member 17. This construction detail, combined with a greater play of the upper coupling with respect to the lower one, allows an easier assembly in particular of the last panel 71 which would otherwise not be mountable.

The lower cross members 16 terminate at the ends with a backing plate 162 of the cross member 16 intended to be engaged in a lower slit 52 obtained in the near vicinity of the lower end of the angular upright 5.

Similarly, the upper cross members 17 terminate at the ends with a backing plate 172 (fig. 11) of the cross member 17 intended to be engaged in an upper slit 53 obtained in the near vicinity of the upper end of the angular upright 5.

Roof 10 consists of cover panels 20, which rest at the bottom on the upper cross members 17, having specific blocking slots 173 intended to accommodate specific blocking devices 21 provided on said cover panels 20 (Fig. 11).

In particular, said blocking devices 21 consist of a thin plate 21 1 hinged to the cover panel 20 and with a free disc-shaped end 212 adapted to cross said slot 173 to engage the upper cross members 17.

Each cover element 20 rests on the cross members 17 by means of supports 171 of various thickness which ensure a given slope of roof 10 (Fig. 7). This technical solution allows the drainage of the rainwater which would otherwise settle on roof 10 and penetrate cabin 1.

In practice, cabin 1 according to the present invention is truly very fast and easy to be mounted. A user who would like to set it up by anchoring it to a scaffold 2 starts by fixing the anchoring brackets 3 to the uprights 110 of scaffold 2. By anchoring the brackets 3, the user will already have installed the angular uprights 5, which are already connected to the brackets 3. Then the rectangular frames 12 are installed so that the round-headed rivets 122, which are on the vertical sides 121 that in fact form the cornices for the doors 14, are engaged with the slots 51 on the angular uprights 5. Now the lower cross members 16 are mounted by placing the backing plates 162 thereof in the lower slits 52 on the angular uprights 5 and similarly the upper cross members 17 are mounted by placing the backing plates 172 thereof in the upper slits 53 on the angular uprights 5.

The user mounts, one by one, the panels 71 forming the lateral sides 7, while ensuring that the lower edge of the panels 71 rests by embracing them on the lower cross members 16 which will form a guide together with the lower edge of the upper cross member 17 which will be externally engaged on the upper edge of panels 71.

The user slides the first panel 71 until it matches with an angular upright 5; the second panel slides 71 until it matches with the first, and the third panel 71 completes a lateral side 7. Once a first lateral side 7 is assembled with three vertical panels, the user also assembles the other one.

Now the three cover panels 20, which form roof 10, are positioned in sequence by inserting, for each panel, the pair of blocking devices 21 into the blocking slots 173 on the upper cross members 17, thus obtaining the double object of blocking roof 10 to the upper cross members 17 while blocking the vertical panels 71 in the position in which they were previously assembled.

Lastly, the doors 14 are hinged on hinges 123, to obtain a cabin 1 for scaffolds 2 which is assembled and ready to accommodate tools, an office, a chemical WC or whatever else required.

The suggested cabin 1 consists of corrugated galvanized sheet iron, but may be built with various types of materials, depending on the needs.

It is worth noting that the construction scaffold 2 consists of a plurality of modules 50 each comprising at least two separated portal frames 100 which are connected to each other by four horizontal scantlings 140 and by two diagonal scantlings 130 (Figure 15).

The portal frame 100 comprises at least two separated vertical scantlings or uprights 1 10 which are connected to each other by means of a horizontal scantling 120 in the upper part of frame 100. Said horizontal scantling 120 acts as a rest and coupling for prefabricated planks on the market which are useful as walkways for construction operators. The horizontal scantling 120 is carried and reinforced by an arched scantling 121 soldered thereto 120 and comprising at least two oblique elements 128 and 129 which are in turn soldered to the two vertical scantlings 110.

Advantageously, cabin 1 may be mounted inside module 1 after the assembly thereof, i.e. after scaffold 2 is completed.

The modularity of cabin 1 allows progressive assembly, which substantially allows the entire space to be occupied within module 50, which is much larger than the tool boxes of the above-described known art. This does not simply involve enlarging a box, rather implementing a special assembly and disassembly technique.

To disassemble cabin 1, there is a need to enter the cabin itself because, as the angular uprights 5 fixed to the uprights 110 of module 50 are the first to be mounted, they are to be the last to be disassembled: in other words, it is not possible to access the room inside cabin 1 even when brackets 3 are released.

Furthermore, cabin 1 occupying the entire space inside module 50 prevents anyone from nearing the cabin unless they do so from the front or the back, which are closed with suitable locked doors.

Regardless of the structure of the above-described cabin 1, it is therefore essential for the first components of the cabin to be fixed to the uprights 1 10 of module 50 to be components restrained to internal elements that can be disassembled only once said elements have been removed, which elements may otherwise only be reached by accessing the inner room of the cabin which is closed by conveniently locked doors. If needed, cabin 1 may be anchored to any tubular structure which allows the anchoring brackets 3 to be attached thereto; metal gazebos, or stands for fair exhibitions or metal structures for stages are only examples of the possible use of cabin 1.

The above-described cabin 1 may be extended with suitable modules.

Any materials and dimensions may be used, depending on the needs.