A roller support for sliding formwork, also called flying formwork, of this nature is known, for example, from WO 93/16253, in particular Figure 6c of this publication. This known roller support is unsuitable for use with heavy sliding formwork, unless the construction of the support is of very robust and therefore heavy design. This high weight and the large dimensions make this known roller support impractical in use.

The object of the present invention is to provide a compact and robust roller support and, to this end, the invention provides a roller support according to claim 1. The roller support according to the invention can be used for various applications, but is particularly suitable for use in the building industry for supporting sliding formwork.

The present invention also relates to the combination of a roller support of this nature and sliding formwork for pouring concrete.

Advantageous aspects of the roller support according to the invention are described in the claims and the following description given with reference to the drawing, in which: Fig. 1 shows a side view, partially in section, of a preferred embodiment of a hydraulic roller support according to the invention which has been placed on a floor, and a bearing rail, which is supported thereon, of sliding formwork, Fig. 2 shows a plan view of the roller support shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 shows a cross section on line III-III in Fig. 2, with the roller having slid to the other side.

Figures 1,2 and 3 show a hydraulically adjustable roller support 1, which is particularly suitable for use as vertically adjustable support for sliding formwork. As is known, sliding formwork is used for pouring concrete. In a specific embodiment, sliding formwork of this nature comprises two wall formwork panels, which are spanned at their top sides by a floor formwork panel which forms the underside of the next floor of the building. A formwork element of this nature, which is substantially in the form of an inverted U, usually covers only part of the storey of the building which is to be constructed and is therefore repeatedly displaced a certain distance in the horizontal direction in order to allow another part of the storey to be poured.

In the drawing only the metal bearing rail 2, which is present on the underside of a limb of the U and in this example is composed of a box section 3 and a strip 4 lying beneath it, of sliding formwork of this nature can be seen. In cross section, the rail 2 is approximately in the form of an inverted T.

Figures 1 and 3 also show part of the concrete floor on which the roller support is positioned.

The roller support 1 comprises a frame 5, which defines a base surface 6, which is to be placed on the floor, of the roller support. The frame 5 comprises a robust, elongate metal baseplate 7, which forms the base surface 6, and two raised cheeks 8,9. In Figure 1, the cheek 8 has been left out for the sake of clarity.

The roller support 1 furthermore comprises a pair of rotatable rollers 10,11 with axes of rotation 12,13 which are parallel to and at a distance from one another and are substantially parallel to the base surface 6.

Each roller 10,11 of the pair of rollers is accommodated in an associated tilting yoke 14,15. Each tilting yoke has a roller-bearing axle 16,17 for the roller 14,15.

The ends of each roller-bearing axle 16,17 project into a tilting-yoke arm 20,21 and 22,23. These tilting-yoke arms of each tilting yoke are fixedly connected, in this case via welded joints, by a tilting axle 24,25, which is tiltably mounted in

the frame 5. The tilting-yoke axles 24,25 are in this case robust steel axles with journals which project outside the tilting-yoke arms and each fit into a bearing recess in the cheeks of the frame 5. The bearing recesses, for which reference numeral 26 alone is used, are such that each tilting yoke can be put into and removed from the bearing recesses transversely with respect to the direction of the tilting axle. A locking element 27, which is secured by bolts, prevents the tilting yokes from inadvertently coming out of the frame 5.

Via the journals of the tilting axle 24,25, each tilting yoke 14,15 is attached to the frame 5 in such a manner that it can tilt about an associated tilting axle 24,25, which lies at a distance from and substantially parallel to the rotation axle 16,17 of the associated roller 10,11.

Each tilting yoke 14,15 furthermore comprises an actuator-attachment element 28,29 which, on that side of the tilting axle 24,25 which is remote from the roller-bearing axle 16,17, is arranged between the tilting-yoke arms 20,21,22,23 and which is in the form of an axle which is parallel to the tilting axle.

The tilting yokes 14,15 are in this case arranged in such a way that they face towa-rds one another on the sides of their actuator-attachment elements 28,29.

Figures 1 and 2 also show a hydraulic actuator 30, which in this case is designed as a double-acting linear hydraulic cylinder and is located between the cheeks 8,9 of the frame 5.

The cylinder 30 has a cylinder housing 31, which at one end has an attachment point 32 which is pivotably attached to the axle 29 of the tilting yoke 15. Furthermore, the cylinder 30 has a piston rod 33 which can be extended and retracted and, at its free end, is provided with an attachment point 34, by means of which the piston rod 33 is pivotably attached to the axle 28. It will be clear that the cylinder 30 is shown in its fully retracted position.

As is known with double-acting cylinders, the cylinder 30 has two connectors 35,36 for hydraulic lines leading to the working chambers of the cylinder 30. These connectors 35,36 are in this case designed as quick-connection couplings.

In the cheek 8, there are holes through which the connectors 35,36 fit.

When hydraulic fluid which is pressurized, for example at 700 bar, is fed to the connector 36, the cylinder 30 extends, and when this fluid is fed to connector 35 the cylinder 30 retracts.

In an embodiment which is advantageous in practice, the roller support is combined with a first hand pump connected to the connector 36 and a second hand pump connected to the connector 35.

The cylinder 30 is free from the frame 5 and-is attached only to the tilting yokes 14,15.

As a result of hydraulic fluid being fed to the connector 36, the distance between the attachment points 32,34 will increase and, consequently, the tilting yokes 14,15 tilt in opposite directions, in such a manner that the rollers 10,11 move upwards with respect to the base surface 6.

As a result of the cylinder 30 being arranged between the tilting yokes 14,15, the cylinder 30 is subjected purely to compressive loads and not to bending loads, so that the cylinder 30 can be utilized optimally. The hydraulic actuator 30 enables the height of the bearing rollers 10,11 to be set accurately.

To prevent bending of the cheeks 8,9, there is provision for them to be fixed, on the underside, to the baseplate 7 and to be connected to one another, on the top side, via transverse webs 37,38. It should be noted that these transverse webs are therefore not attached to the cylinder 30. For this attachment, in this case bolts 39,40 are used in order to allow the assembly to be dismantled easily.

The roller-bearing axles 16,17 fit into associated holes in the tilting-yoke arms and small locking plates 42, which are releasably fixed by means of bolts, hold the roller-bearing axles 16,17 in place.

The roller-bearing axles 16,17 are longer than the rollers, and the rollers 10,11 can each slide to and fro along the associated roller-bearing axles 16,17. Furthermore, for each roller 10,11 there is a U-shaped guide member 44,45, having a limb at each end of the roller, through which the

roller-bearing axle fits, and having a web running parallel to the circumference of the roller. Each limb of a guide member 44, 45 furthermore forms a positioning projection 46,47 which projects above the roller 10,11 and extends as far as above the strip 4 of the bearing rail 2. At the top end, each positioning projection 46,47 engages over that edge of the strip 4 which projects outwards.

The guide members 44,45 in combination with the ability of the rollers 10,11 to slide along their axles 16,17 enables the bearing rail 2 to be displaced, within a defined range, transversely with respect to the direction in which it rolls along the rollers 10,11. This prevents the bearing rail 2 from running off the rollers 10,11 when the sliding formwork is displaced and also facilitates the positioning of the roller support 1.