IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO A SCAFFOLD

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to improvements in or relating to a scaffold. In particular it relates to means for securely engaging scaffold planks with a scaffold structure, as well as scaffold support members for use with the means. More particularly but not exclusively, it relates to an arrangement for engaging and securing scaffold planks to a scaffold frame.

BACKGROUND

Scaffold frames are widely used both indoors and outdoors to provide a safe, supported surface from which workmen operate to perform tasks such as painting, construction, welding, and the like. Scaffold frames usually comprise a plurality of steel or bamboo poles which have been secured to one another to create a support frame, across which is laid supporting members. Supporting members currently used include wooden or plastic planks. In this manner, workmen or users are provided with a substantially flat surface form with to perform their operations.

Scaffold frames may be constructed to great heights, and for this reason, the secure engagement of the support members with the scaffold frame is of great importance. The support members are currently secured to the frame by means of pieces of wire, bolts and the like.

Further, because many types of operations are performed from scaffold, the scaffold frame may be coated with a wide variety of substances, such as paint, dust, water, molten metal pieces, soap, and the like. These substances may make the scaffold frames slippery, with the result that support members may be easily dislodged or slip off the scaffold frame.

Because of the effort involved in securing each of the support members to the frame, this aspect of safety may be ignored, resulting in potentially dangerous conditions for users.

In this specification, where reference has been made to external sources of information, including patent specifications and other documents, this is generally for the purpose of providing a context for discussing the features of the present invention. Unless stated otherwise, reference to such sources of information is not to be construed, in any jurisdiction, as an admission that such sources of information are prior art or form part of the common general knowledge in the art.

It is an object of the present invention to provide improvements in or relating to scaffold that overcomes or at least ameliorates some of the abovementioned disadvantages or which at least provides the public with a useful choice.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the invention may broadly be said to consist in a support member, suitable for engagement with a scaffold frame comprising horizontal and/ or vertical frame members, said support member comprising

• a moulded support platform; and

• at least one gripping member secured to the support platform, for operationally increasing the friction between the support platform and a frame member. Preferably, the support platform may be elongate.

Preferably, the gripping member may be secured to the underside of the support platform.

Preferably, there are provided a plurality of gripping members.

Preferably, the gripping member may be integrally formed with the support platform.

Preferably, the support member further comprises a reinforcing element for reinforcing the bending characteristics of the support member.

Preferably, the reinforcing element is tubular.

Preferably, the reinforcing element is substantially rectangular form in cross section.

Alternatively, the reinforcing element has substantially circular cross-section.

Preferably, the reinforcing element is composed of metal, hard plastic material, wood or the like.

Preferably, the gripping member may be composed of a high factional material such as rubber, polyurethane, polymeric material, or the like. Preferably, the gripping member has a surface configuration increasing its effective factional coefficient from that without said surface configuration.

Preferably, the surface configuration is a tread pattern.

Preferably, the gripping member may be secured to the support platform by means of a gripping formation. Preferably, the gripping formation may be a recess in the support platform for receiving the gripping member.

Preferably, the recess in the support platform is a channel.

Preferably, the gripping member is an insert for being received into the channel. Preferably, the gripping formation may be a snap-fit type formation.

Alternatively, the gripping member is integrally formed with the support platform.

Preferably, the recess in the support platform may be substantially triangularly shaped in cross section. Preferably, the support member may include securing means adapted and configured to secure the support member to a frame member.

Preferably, the securing means may comprise securing lugs.

Preferably, the securing lugs are integrally formed with the support platform.

Preferably, the securing means comprises securing recesses. Preferably, the securing recesses are configured and dimensioned for receiving the securing lug of an adjacent similar support member, thereby securing and stabilising the adjacent support member.

Preferably, the securing means further comprises at least one securing strap.

Preferably, the securing strap is configured and dimensioned for being engaged with at least one securing lug.

Preferably, the securing strap is configured and dimensioned to engage with the securing lugs of longitudinally adjacent support members.

Preferably, the securing strap is configured and dimensioned to engage with the securing lugs of longitudinally adjacent support members and extend around at least one scaffold frame member, thereby securing the adjacent support members to the scaffold frame member.

Preferably, a plurality of securing straps are provided.

Preferably, the securing straps are resiliently flexible.

Preferably, the securing straps may be composed of an elastic substance such as rubber, polymeric substances or the like.

Preferably, the support platform includes a tread pattern on its top surface.

Preferably, the tread pattern is integrally formed with the support platform.

In a second aspect the invention may broadly be said to consist in a scaffold engaging arrangement suitable for engagement with a scaffold frame comprising horizontal and/ or vertical frame members, said scaffold engaging arrangement comprising

• a support member as described above; and

• a sleeve member configured and dimensioned to receive a scaffold frame member. . Preferably, the scaffold engaging arrangement may further include a plurality of support members as described above.

Preferably, the securing means of adjacent support members may be adapted and configured to engage with each other.

Preferably, the securing strap of a support member may be configured and dimensioned to engage with a securing lug on an adjacent support member.

Preferably, the securing strap of a support member may be dimensioned to be able to wrap around a frame member to engage with a securing lug on an adjacent support member.

In a third aspect the invention may broadly be said to consist in a scaffold structure that includes

• a scaffold frame; on which is laid

• a support membef as described above.

In a fourth aspect the invention may broadly be said to consist in a scaffold structure that includes

• a scaffold frame; and • a scaffold engaging arrangement as described above.

In a fifth aspect the invention may broadly be said to consist in a construction arrangement comprising

• a building; and

• a scaffold structure as described above, wherein said scaffold structure is used as a platform to perform work on the building. ^■

Other aspects of the invention may become apparent from the following description which is given by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As used herein the term "and/ or" means "and" or "or", or both. As used Herein "(s)" following a noun means the plural and/ or singular forms of the noun.

The term "comprising" as used in this specification [and claims] means "consisting at least in part of. When interpreting statements in this specification [and claims] which include that term, the features, prefaced by that term in each statement, all need to be present but other features can also be present. Related terms such as "comprise" and "comprised" are to be interpreted in the same manner.

To those skilled in the art to which the invention relates, many changes in construction and widely differing embodiments and applications of the invention will suggest themselves without departing from the scope of the invention as deSned in the appended claims. The disclosures and the descriptions herein are purely illustrative and are not intended to be in any sense limiting.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the drawings in which:

Figure 1: shows a cutaway perspective view of a first embodiment of scaffold engaging arrangement; Figure 2: shows a plan view, side view and front view of a first embodiment of a support member;

Figure 3: shows an assembly perspective view of a first embodiment of a scaffold engaging arrangement;

Figure 4: shows a cross sectional view of a first embodiment of a support member;

Figure 5: shows a cutaway perspective view of a second embodiment of scaffold engaging arrangement having a reinforcing element;

Figure 6: shows an assembly perspective view of a second embodiment of a scaffold engaging arrangement; Figure 7: shows a cross sectional view of a second embodiment of a support member;

Figure 8: shows a top cutaway view of an end of a second embodiment of a ^■ support member; and

Figure 9: shows a perspective view of a securing strap.

With reference to the above drawings, a support member according to a first aspect of the invention is generally indicated by the numeral 100, and similar features in alternative embodiments are generally indicated by similar reference numerals.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention there is provided a support member 100, suitable ^' for engagement with a scaffold frame 200 having horizontal and/or vertical frame members 210a & 210b. The support member 100 comprises a moulded support platform 110; and a pair of gripping members 150, in the form of rubber inserts

154, which are received into recessed channels 120 in the lower part of the support

platform 110. The rubber inserts 154 are secured to the support platform 110 by bonding, or by being integrally moulded as part of the support platform, for operationally increasing the friction between the support platform 110 and a frame member 210a & 210b. Typically the support platform 110 will be elongate in the form of a plank or decking member having a tread pattern 130 on its upper surface, and will be moulded in a moulding process, such as a polymeric or thermoplastic moulding process.

In the embodiment show in the figures, the gripping member 150 is triangularly shaped in cross section, and is received into and secured to complementary shaped recessed channels 120 in the underside of the support platform 110. It is envisaged that the gripping member 150 will be integrally formed in the recessed channels 120 in the moulding process described above.

However, in an alternative embodiment, the gripping member 150 may be secured to the support platform 110 by means of a gripping formation such as a snap-fit-type formation (not shown). The gripping member 150 is composed of material having relatively high frictional qualities when used on metal frame members, such as rubber, synthetic polymers, or the like.

The gripping member 150 further includes a tread pattern 160 on its lower surface 152 to increase its effective frictional coefficient against the frame members 210a & 210b.

In a preferred embodiment shown in figures 5-9, the support member 100 further comprises a -reinforcing element 180 for reinforcing the bending characteristics of the support member 100. The reinforcing element 180 is envisaged as being integrally moulded with the support platform 110, however, it may also be engaged with the support platform 110 by alternative means, such as by means of snap-fit engaging formations (not shown), or by more permanent securing means such as screws, bolts of the like (not shown).

The reinforcing element shown in figures 5-7 is tubular, having a square cross section, however, it is envisaged that the reinforcing element 180 can be of a wide variety of shapes, including circular, rectangular, triangular, or any other shape.

Q

Typically, the reinforcing element 180 will be composed of metal, such as steel, although it could be composed of any other material having the required bending characteristics, including hard plastic, wood or the like.

In addition, the support member 100 includes securing means 170 in the form of a combination of securing straps 172 and securing lugs 174 located towards the end of the support platform 110. The securing straps 172 are configured and dimensioned to be wrapped around a frame member 210a or 210b to engage with a securing lug 174 of a longitudinally adjacent support member 100, thereby securing the support member 100 to the frame member 210a & 210b. It is further envisaged that the securing straps 172 -will be composed of an elastic substance such as rubber, polymeric substances or the like, so that it is resilientiy flexible, to hold the support platform 110 against the frame member 210a & 210b. It is envisaged that each support member 100 will typically be secured to a scaffold frame at both ends of the support member 100. Typically, the securing lugs 174 will be integrally formed with the support platform 110, although the securing lugs may be attached to the support platform 110 by any other means, such as securing formations (not shown), thread ^■ formations (not shown) or the like.

The securing means 170 further comprises securing recesses 176 which have been moulded into the support platform 110. The securing recesses 76 are configured and dimensioned for receiving the securing lug 174 of an adjacent similar support member 100 laying alongside each other, thereby securing and stabilising the adjacent support members 100, and creating a wider stable platform for workers (not shown) to operate on. In a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a scaffold engaging arrangement 300, as shown in figures 1, 3, 5 and 6, suitable for engagement with a scaffold frame comprising horizontal and/or vertical frame members 210a & 210b. ^' The scaffold engaging arrangement 300 comprises a plurality of support member 100 as described above; and a plurality of sleeve members 310 configured and dimension to receive a scaffold frame member 210a & 210b. As shown in figure 1, and 5 the securing straps 172 and supporting lugs 174 of adjacent support members

100 are adapted and configured to engage with each other. In this way, the adjacent support members 100 can be secured to the frame members 210a & 210b and each other.

It is envisaged that a scaffold structure that includes a scaffold frame 200; on which is laid a plurality of support members 100 as described above will provide safer working conditions on a construction site, without significantly increasing the amount of effort required to erect the scaffold structure.

Where in the foregoing description reference has been made to elements or integers having known equivalents, then such equivalents are included as if they were individually set forth.

Although the invention has been described by way of example and with reference to particular embodiments, it is to be understood that modifications and/or improvements may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.