CONCRETE ANCHOR

Technical Field

The present invention is directed toward a concrete anchor and, more particularly, toward a concrete anchor that is adapted to be connected the lanyard of a harness of a construction worker to help prevent injury to the worker in the event of a fall.

Background Art

During the construction or repair of buildings, bridges, road overpasses and other structures, workmen of various specialties frequently have to work at high elevations. To prevent injuries from falls, these workmen are provided with a harness and lanyard. Frequently, the lanyard is connected to a fall safety device such as described in U.S. Patent No. 4,51 1 , 123 which issued to the present Applicant and which controls the decent and stops a worker from falling. In any event, the lanyard or the fall safety device must be secured to a fixed part of the structure. This can be directly to part of the iron work or to a horizontal life line such as shown in U.S. Patent No. 6,640,727 which also issued to the present Applicant.

There are, however, times when iron work or the like is not available and the lanyard or lifeline must be secured directly to a concrete slab. The concrete may be a floor or wall or even a concrete ceiling. To accomplish this, concrete anchors have been proposed and marketed in the past. To Applicant's knowledge, however, none has been satisfactory.

U.S. Patent Nos. 6,729,821 ; 7,01 1 ,281 and 7,357,363 to Guthrie et al, for example, describe an expansion bolt that can be used in the construction industry and which is intended to be inserted into a bore formed in a concrete slab. The anchor shown therein includes a pair of semi-cylindrical outer chucks that are forced apart by an inner cone when a pulling force is applied to the cone. It has been found, however, that the patented anchor is not always reliable and can slip out of the bore if sufficient force is applied.

A similar arrangement is taught in U.S. Patent No. 7,258,316 to Reeves. This patent also shows a pair of semi-cylindrical outer chucks forced apart by an inner conical or tapered member. As with the Guthrie et al. device, the Reeves' anchor can slip if sufficient pulling force is applied.

Steel balls that are forced outwardly by an internal cone or cam when the cam is axially moved have also been known. However, these function primarily as quick release locking pins rather than anchors. See, for example, U.S. Patent Nos. 6,386,789 to Chausse et al. and 7,736,109 to Schiemer, II. To Applicant's knowledge, devices such as these have never been designed to function as concrete anchors.

Because the prior art has not proven to be satisfactory, a need exists for a concrete anchor that can be quickly installed but which will safely and effectively hold in place so as to protect a worker from injury in the event of a fall.

Disclosure of the Invention

The present invention is designed to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art discussed above. Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a concrete anchor that is easy to install.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a concrete anchor that will securely hold a worker and prevent injury in the event of a fall.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a concrete anchor that includes an indicator thereon which will advise the user if the anchor had previously been used to actually prevent a workman from falling. In accordance with the illustrative embodiments demonstrating features and advantages of the present invention, there is provided a concrete anchor for securing the lanyard of a workman's harness to a fixed position on a concrete surface which includes a cylindrical housing having an outer wall with openings therein and a rod that extends above the housing to which a harness can be attached. Hard metal balls within the housing are associated with each opening and are dimensioned so that a portion of each ball can pass through each opening but the entire ball can not pass therethrough. A pair of cones within the housing move the balls radially outwardly as the cones are moved upwardly by the rod which is spring biased upwardly. A visual marker carried by the rod normally lies within the housing but is visible from outside of the housing if said rod has moved up by a predetermined amount. This gives an indication that the anchor has been used to prevent a fall so that it can be refurbished or replaced.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the drawings. Brief Description of the Drawings

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the accompanying drawing one form which is presently preferred; it being understood that the invention is not intended to be limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a concrete anchor of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a vertical cross-section of the anchor shown in Figure 1 in a first position;

Figure 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view similar to Figure 2 but showing the anchor in a second position; Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view taken through the lines 4 - 4 of

Figure 2, and

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken through the lines 5 - 5 of Figure 3.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein like reference numerals have been used throughout the various figures to designate like elements, there is shown in Figure 1 a concrete anchor constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention and designated generally as 10. The anchor 10 is comprised of a substantially cylindrically shaped housing 12 having a substantially cylindrically shaped outer wall 14 and a substantially hollow interior 16. The housing 12 has a length defined by a lower end 18 and an upper end 20. As should be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, the outer dimensions of the housing 12 are such as to fit within a similarly shaped bore in the surface of a concrete slab.

The wall 14 has a plurality of openings therein such as shown at 22a and 22b and at 24a and 24b. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, there are six openings 22a - 22f and six openings 24a - 24f. The first set of six openings 22a - 22f are arranged around the housing 12 so as to be

substantially equally angularly spaced around the same but all at the same axial distance from the lower end 18 of the housing. Similarly, the second set of six openings 24a - 24f are arranged around the housing but axially offset from the first set of openings. Again, the second set of openings are all located at the same axial distance from the lower end 18 of the housing but are closer to the end 18 than the first set of openings.

A first set of balls 26a - 26f are arranged within the interior 16 of the housing 12 and are positioned within the openings 22a - 22f and a second set of balls 28a - 28f are arranged within the housing 12 and are positioned with the second set of openings 24a - 24f. The balls are made of a hard metal, preferably stainless steel. The diameter of each of the balls is slightly greater than the size of the openings. As a result, a substantial portion of each ball can pass through its respective opening but the entire ball can not pass

therethrough.

First and second cones 30 and 32 are located within the housing 12. The first cone 30 is in contact with the first set of balls 26a - 26f so as to be capable of camming or moving them radially outwardly as the cone 30 moves vertically upwardly. The second cone 30 is in contact with the second set of balls 28a - 28f so as to be capable of camming or moving them radially outwardly as the cone 32 moves vertically upwardly. The cones 30 and 32 are preferably connected together by having the upper end 34 of the cone 32 threaded into the lower end 36 of the cone 30 so that the two cones always move in unison.

As shown best in Figures 2 and 3, the cones are moveable between a lower position (Figure 3) whereby the balls lie substantially within the housing and a plurality of vertical positions wherein said balls are forced radially outwardly so as to extend into the openings and out of the housing (Figure 2). A spring 38 located within the housing 12 biases the cones 30 and 32 upwardly so as to bias the balls outwardly.

An elongated rod 40 is connected to the top of the first cone 30 and extends upwardly through and out of the upper end 20 of the cylinder 12. Preferably, the upper end 42 of the rod 40 is threaded into a piston 44 that has an outer dimension that is just less than the inner dimension of the cylinder 12. The piston 44 slides easily in the cylinder and acts essentially as an extension of the rod 40.

Attached to the upper end of the piston-rod combination, is a loop 46 to which a lanyard from a safety harness can be attached. The upper end 20 of the housing 12 includes a finger grip 48, the purpose of which will become apparent. Furthermore, the outer surface of the piston 44 is provided with a visual marker such as shown at 50. The visual marker may be a contrasting color applied to the surface or markings or the like etched into or otherwise formed thereon. The visual marker 50 is normally not visible as it is normally located within the interior of the housing 12 in either of the two normal positions shown in Figures 1 and 2 but may become visible as explained below.

In use, the concrete anchor 10 is inserted into a bore drilled in a concrete slab. This is done by holding the finger grip 48 while pushing down on the top of the piston 44 against the force of the spring 38. This removes the outward bias on the balls 26a - 26f and 28a - 28f allowing them to move inwardly. The anchor 10 can then easily be inserted into the bore. Once inserted, the piston and finger grip are released and the balls are forced outwardly by the cones and spring to retain the anchor in the bore. Once the anchor is in place in the concrete slab, a workman's lanyard is attached to the loop 46.

In the event of a fall, the lanyard from the worker's safety harness will pull with significant force upwardly on the piston 44 and rod 40. This upward force will move the cones 30 and 32 upwardly to force the balls outwardly where they will engage the walls of the concrete ball and prevent the anchor from being dislodged from the bore. The upward movement of the rod and piston, however, will cause them to be higher than their normal position shown in Figure 2. This will expose the visual marker 50 which obviously signals anyone seeing the anchor that a fall had occurred and that the anchor should be repaired or refurbished before it is used again.

To remove the anchor 10 from the concrete bore, all that is necessary is to again grasp the finger grip 48 while pushing down on the piston 44. As pointed out above, this removes the outward bias on the balls, allowing them to move away from the walls of the bore and releasing the anchor. If the visual indicator is visible when the anchor is removed, it must be repaired or refurbished or replaced. If, however, the visual indicator is not visible, the anchor can be use again. The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof and accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing specification as indicating the scope of the invention.