This invention lies in the field of fencing or palisades, in particular paling fencing; the invention is applicable to fencing of all kinds of materials, including metal, timber, plastics and composites, for example. The invention could also be applied to grids and gratings.

BACKGROUND

Paling fences are widespread and many proposals have been made for their construction; they comprise generally horizontal rails or joists on which are mounted horizontally spaced vertically oriented pales or bars, the rails being fixed to posts or standards founded in the ground. Metal palisades are common, and steel is by far the most used metal. A common construction is in the form of panels consisting of pales welded to rails in a factory and transported to site, where the panels are erected between posts founded in the ground. While welding is an attractive fabrication technique and widely practised, it has the disadvantage of sensitising steel to rust and destroys galvanizing or pre-painting at the weld site, if that is employed. The panels are space consuming and therefore uneconomical to transport.

Where the ground to be fenced is inclined it is usual to keep the pales and the posts vertical and rails horizontal, the panels being raised or lowered step¬ wise to accommodate the rising or falling ground. Some proposals have been made, which provide pales and rails, which can be assembled on site and joined to posts, avoiding the use of welding and in some respects, avoiding bolting. These proposals preserve the step-wise accommodation of rising or falling ground and this tends to complicate the fixing of the pales to the rails and the rails to the posts.

This invention addresses the problem discussed above in regard to fencing and palisades on rising and falling ground.

THE INVENTION

A palisade in accordance with this invention comprises a plurality of pales mounted in at least one rail, preferably two or more rails by passing through apertures in the rail or rails, the rail or rails fixed to posts in a hinged or pivoted manner, the apertures providing clearances with respect to the pales sufficient to enable a freely pivoting action of the pales and rails to move from a rectangular shaped outline to adopt a parallelogram shaped outline, the pales having pivot formations that locate the pales with respect to the rails and control pivoting of the pales with respect to the rails when the pivoting action occurs.

Advance preparation of the palisade for a particular slope is not necessary, it simply adopts the required inclination as it is erected.

The pales and rails will not be fixed to each other by any rigid means, for example, they will not be welded to each other and preferably the rails will not be fixed to the posts in any rigid way, e.g. not welded to the posts, providing for a complete absence of welding requirement on site and at a factory. The pales and rails can conveniently be assembled on site, allowing dense packing of the pales, rails and posts separately and hence economical transport to site.

The key integer of the invention is the features specifically aimed at the facility for a substantial, free pivoting action of the assembled pales and rails, which allows the palisade simply to follow the ground surface as it inclines or declines. The pivot formations are preferably singular protrusions on the pales, in order to facilitate the pivot action. The pivot formations are provided in a convenient manner during manufacture of the pales: steel pales can conveniently have button-like protrusions pressed from the pale. By providing for a protrusion to be located above a bottom rail and a protrusion below a top

rail and fixing the rails to posts, each pale can not be vertically removed from the rails.

Alternatively, pales can have pins passing through the pale to form a pivoting axis, in relation to the rail and other mechanically equivalent pivot formations or means of pivoting can be adopted. A pair of singular protrusions can be provided at diametrically opposite positions of a pale, to provide a more positively controlled pivoting.

The pivot formations can also have the favourable effect of providing a tight connection between each pale and the rails, preventing looseness or any tendency to rattling, despite the clearance. A preferred arrangement is to have the protrusion above the bottom rail and below the top rail, where two rails are provided. The bottom rail is secured to the posts, the pales are passed into the apertures in the bottom rail and then the top rail is passed over the pales. When assembled this way and the top rail is secured onto the posts, the pales can neither be lifted up nor forced down. This is achieved without restricting the pivot action. As an alternative the pales can be assembled to the rails as a panel on the ground or shop floor and then the panel fastened to the posts.

The pivoted fixing of the rails to the posts can use fasteners directly from rail to post or indirectly using hinges, brackets or fish plates or the like.

The invention can be applied to pales and rails of various cross sectional shapes, e.g. rolled steel joists of angled or other cross sections, steel plate bent into prismatic forms, i.e. elongated with an extending cross sectional shape, extrusions e.g. of aluminium, a plastic or composite, timber of various cross sectional shapes as can be produced by joinery machines. Metal pales are commonly made in a "V" or "W" cross sectional shape, rails in a "V", channel or round or angular tubular cross sectional shape, which may be mentioned merely by way of example, many cross sectional shapes are suitable for this invention. Solid square, round, diamond or rectangular shapes can also be used. It is an advantage of the invention that it is not specific to a particular cross section. Where solid or hollow shapes are used pairs of

singular pivot formations will preferably be used. Similarly the posts or standards can be of various different cross sectional shapes, extending longitudinally. Where rails of solid cross sectional shape are used, tapered apertures are preferably provided, the taper corresponding to the maximum angle of inclination of the pales relative to the rails deviating from orthogonal, which is provided for. The aperture size in the cases of both solid and tubular rails will differ on an upper surface of the rail from a lower surface of the rail, to allow for the pivoting.

The ease of installation on site, which is provided by the invention suits it to do-it-yourself applications and to small jobbers, who may purchase kits of the components that make up the invention from manufacturers or building suppliers etc.

THE DRAWINGS

The invention is further described by way of non-limiting examples, with , reference to the drawings, in which : -

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a palisade according to the invention,

Figure 2 is a side elevation of a post according to the invention,

Figure 3 is a plan view of the post according to the invention,

Figure 4 is an end elevation of a post according to the invention,

Figure 5 is a side elevation of a paling according to the invention,

Figure 6 is a plan view of a paling according to the invention,

Figure 7 is a side elevation of a rail according to the invention,

Figure 8 is a plan view of the rail according to the invention,

Figure 9 is an end elevation of the rail according to the invention,

Figure 10 is a plan view of an alternative rail according to the invention,

Figure 11 is a side elevation of a bracket according to the invention,

Figure 12 is a plan view of the bracket according to the invention,

Figure 13 is a side elevation of a palisade panel according to the invention,

Figure 14 is a side elevation of another palisade panel according to the invention, where the use of more than two rails is illustrated,

Figure 15 is a side elevation of another palisade panel according to the invention,

Figure 16 is a side elevation of a pivotal fixing of a rail to a post,

Figure 17 is a side elevation of another pivotal fixing of a rail to a post,

Figure 18 is a side elevation of another pivotal fixing of a rail to a post,

Figure 19 is a side elevation of a hinged fixing of a rail to a post,

Figure 20 shows how the palisade adjusts to sloping ground,

Figure 21 is a plan view on a solid pale of square cross section,

Figure 22 is a plan view on a solid pale of round (circular) cross section,

Figure 23 is a cross sectional end elevation on a solid rail, with a pale passing through,

Figure 24 is a cross sectional end elevation on a hollow square tubular rail, and

Figure 25 is a cross sectional end elevation of a right angle section rail, with a pale passing through.

THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Figure 1 shows the appearance of a palisade 1 according to the invention, traversing a ground surface 2, which has a decline 3 followed by an incline 4 - 5 of varying inclinations. The palisade has posts 6, which are founded in the ground, rails 7 and 8, which are fixed to the posts and pales 9, which are mounted in the rails.

Figures 2 to 4 show a post or standard 10 according to the invention, which has the cross sectional shape of an "I" beam, in steel. The top end 11 is shaped to an apex 12 and a series of spaced holes 13 is provided for bolting rails to the post.

Figures 5 and 6 show a pale 14, which has two notches or protrusions 15 and 16 located on the longitudinal centre line of the pale to serve as pivot formations; the top 17 and bottom 18 of the pale are given spiked shapes to discourage scaling the palisade or crawling under it. The pale has a flattened "W" cross sectional shape, with wings extending from the limbs of the "W" shape.

Figures 7 to 9 show a rail 19, which has a cross sectional shape of a right angle, being a stock rolled steel joist. It has punched out of it a multiplicity of apertures 20, which are shaped to accommodate the pales with a clearance that allows the pales to pivot in the apertures on the notches, which act like pivots. Holes 21 at the ends of the rails allow pivotal connection to the posts of the palisade.

Figure 10 shows another rail 22, in which the pales are more widely spaced when inserted into the apertures 23 provided in this rail.

Figures 1 1 and 12 show a right angle bracket 24, which has slotted holes 25 and 26, the bracket is bolted to a post through one hole and bolted to a rail through the other hole, allowing pivotal connection of the rail to the post.

Figure 13 shows a palisade 27, in which pales 28 are retained in place by two rails 29 and 30, the rails fixed to posts 31 , which are founded in concrete 32 and 33 in the ground 34. Singular protrusions 35 above the lower rail 30 and 36 below the upper rail 29, not only retain the pales in position, but serve as the pivotal points of intersection between pales and rails, from which they cannot be removed. The rails are shown as solid bars or square tubes, in this example. The protrusions wedge in the apertures in the rails to make a tight fit without limiting the pivotal action. The bolts used can be of the type that cannot be removed once tightened.

Figure 14 shows another palisade 37 made by using the invention, with three rails 38, 39 and 40 and alternating long pales 41 and short pales 42. The posts 43 are set in concrete 44 in the ground 45. The long pales are held in place by protrusions that form pivot formations located below the top rail 38 and above the bottom rail 40 or middle rail 39. The short pales are held in place by pivot formations located below the middle rail 39 and above the bottom rail 40.

Figure 15 shows another palisade 46, using three rails 47, 48 and 49 with pales 50 and 51 set alternately between the top rail and middle rail and the middle rail and bottom rail. Posts 52 are again set in concrete 53 in the ground 54. Protrusion formations are again provided in the manner described before to hold the pales in position, and specifically to serve as a pivotal point of interaction between pales and rails.

Figure 16 shows the brackets 24 of figures 11 and 12 used to bolt the rails 19/22 of figures 7 to 10 to a post 11 of figures 2 to 4. The brackets are fixed t~

the posts by use of rivets 55, which have nuts 56 swaged to the rivets or self shear nuts are used and thereafter not removable. Similar rivets are used to fix the rails to the brackets pivotally. This allows the palisade to adjust in a parallelogram fashion to the inclination of the ground at the position in which the palisade is erected. Advance preparation of the palisade for a particular slope is not necessary, it simply adopts the required inclination as it is erected. The brackets are staggered to provide that the rails show a continuous line visually, from one side of the post to the other. It is for this reason that the post is given sets of holes, as shown in figures 2 to 4. It is also for this reason that the brackets have slotted apertures in order to accommodate maximum adjustability according to the various degrees of slope of the ground.

Alternatively, as shown in figure 17, the brackets may be bolted at the same height on the post, using a single bolt, which holds both brackets; for slight slopes as well as level ground this will be satisfactory visually. Structurally there is no disadvantage.

Figure 18 shows a means of fixing the rails 19/22 to the post 11 , which employs a fish plate 57, which has slotted holes 58 and 59 and bolts 60 and 61 are used to bolt the fish plate to the rails. The fish plate is passed through , a slotted hole 62 in the post and once the rails are bolted on, cannot be removed. The hole has a sufficient clearance to allow the fish plate to be angled as required to accommodate the parallelogram-like adjustment of the palisade to inclines. Likewise the slotted holes allow for this inclination.

Figure 19 shows the use of hinges 63 and 64, which are bolted by blind rivets 65 and 66 respectively to the post 67, shown in this example as a square tube. The hinges are in turn bolted to the rails 68 and 69 by bolts and self shear nuts 70 and 71 respectively. The ends of the rails are cut off obliquely to accommodate the angling of the rails, alternatively slotted holes can be used to provide for this accommodation. Again the hinges allow the parallelogram action, which is a feature of this invention.

Figure 20 shows an example of how the palisade adjusts to sloping ground. All of the palisades shown in figures 13 to 15 can adjust in this way, as required by the ground surface.

Figure 21 shows a square pale 72 passing through an aperture 76 in a rail 73 with a pair of singular protrusions 74 and 75 at diametrically opposite positions. The protrusions wedge in the aperture and provide a pivot function for the pale in the rail. The aperture in the rail has a clearance especially in the longitudinal direction 88 of the rail, to provide unrestricted pivoting of the pale in the aperture.

Figure 22 shows an analogous arrangement for the case of a round pale, the same reference numerals are used for corresponding parts as described with reference to figure 21. In the case of the round pale, however, a nick 77 and 78 must be provided at diametrically opposite positions in the aperture in the rail, in which the protrusions wedge to ensure that the pale will not rotate about its axis in use. The aperture is a slotted hole, in the longitudinal direction to allow unrestricted pivoting of the pale in the aperture.

Figure 23 shows a solid rail of some thickness, in which a tapered aperture is provided to allow unrestricted pivoting of a pale in the aperture. The aperture is thus smaller in the top surface 79 of the rail than in the bottom surface 80.

Figure 24 shows a similar provision for pivoting in the case of a hollow rail, where the top wall 81 has a smaller size (that fits the pale) and the lower wall 82 has a larger size, e.g. a slotted hole.

Figure 25 shows a pale 83 in the form of a right angle section bar passing through a rail 84 also in the form of a right angle bar. The pale has a button protrusion 85 pressed out at 86, which wedges in the aperture 87 provided in the rail. This provides a pivot for the pale in the rail. This illustrates a lower rail, with the protrusion above the rail, which prevents the pale from being removed vertically downwards.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

1 palisade

2 ground surface

3 decline

4 incline

5 incline

6 post

7 rail

8 rail

9 pale

10 post or standard

11 top end of post

12 apex

13 spaced holes

14 pale

15 protrusions

16 protrusions

17 top

18 bottom

19 rail

20 aperture

21 hole

22 rail

23 aperture

24 bracket

25 slotted hole

26 slotted hole

27 palisade

28 pale

29 rail

30 rail

31 post

concrete concrete ground protrusion protrusion palisade rail rail rail long pale short pale post concrete ground palisade rail rail rail pale pale post concrete ground rivet nuts fish plate hole hole bolt bolt slotted hole hinge hinge blind rivet

blind rivet post rail rail bolt bolt square pale rail singular protrusion singular protrusion aperture nick nick top surface bottom surface top wall lower wall pale rail protrusion indent forming protrusion aperture longitudinal direction

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