Background

The present application claims priority from Patent Application No. 240679 filed in Israel on 19 August 2015 by the present applicant.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a self-erecting scaffolding system.

Description of Related Art

Scaffolding systems are widely used in the building industry, to facilitate work at an elevated height. Such work may include walls and ceiling painting, installation of electrical wiring and outlets, installation of air conditioning systems, maintenance and repairs, etc.

Prior art scaffolding units may be difficult to install and to move about inside buildings.

There is a need for a light-weight scaffolding which is easy to transport, easy to carry and to erect on site.

These and other problems in prior art scaffolding devices are addressed with the present invention.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention comprises a light-weight scaffolding which is

easy to transport using a small truck; its parts can be manually carried by two workers; the scaffolding is self-erecting, to achieve ease of assembly on site. According to a novel feature of the present invention, in a preferred embodiment, the self-erecting scaffolding is assisted by two workers, to achieve a controlled erection process.

According to another feature of the present invention, gas springs are used to store mechanical energy for raising the scaffolding.

Preferably four gas springs are used, to exert a simultaneous, balanced

erection force on the four corners of the scaffold board; this structure

improves the stability of the scaffolding during the erection process.

According to another feature of the present invention, there is no need for any external source of energy for erecting the scaffolding: no electricity,

internal combustion motors, pneumatic or hydraulic energy are required.

Rather, the gas springs are manually loaded during an initial phase, and the novel structure of the scaffolding uses the energy thus stored for raising the scaffolding in a subsequent phase.

As the scaffold board raises, the gas springs expand and the erection force exerted now prevents movements between the components of the scaffold.

The novel scaffolding structure allows for workers to assist the erection during its final stage, by applying a horizontal force.

The legs of the scaffold may be temporarily held by permanent magnets until the traverse fasteners are put in place.

A lever effect is achieved, of force multiplication, for easy erection.

The scaffold board is supported by four fixed legs; this structure facilitates the assembly of the scaffolding, and allows work at either full height, or a reduced height. A stable, safe and reliable scaffolding structure is achieved by means of four stops, as well as handrails and securing rods.

Further purposes and benefits of the current invention will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reading the present disclosure and the related drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Embodiments of the invention are disclosed hereinafter with reference to the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates a perspective view of the scaffolding in its upright,

assembled state.

Fig. 2 illustrates a scaffold unit.

Figs. 3A and 3B illustrate a front view and a side view, respectively,

of the scaffolding in its upright, assembled state.

Fig. 4 illustrates an exploded view of the scaffolding prior to assembly.

Figs. 5 to 9 detail the stages of assembling and erecting the scaffolding.

Fig. 10 details the forces acting on the scaffolding during the self-erecting

stage. Detailed Description of the Invention

The current invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 illustrates a perspective view of the scaffolding in its upright,

assembled state. A scaffold board 11 is held elevated using four support rods 21, 22, 23, 24; each of the support rods 21, 22, 23, 24 has a corresponding rotatable part 212, 222, 232, 242 connected to the rod via one of the

joint means 217, 227, 237, 247.

The scaffold board 11 has an access door 19, with ladder 2261. A second ladder 2262 is located on the opposite side of the scaffolding.

The scaffolding can be moved on the floor using casters 219, 229, 239, 249; the casters mounted on casters base means 216, 226.

Brake stops 218, 228, 238, 248 can be used to secure the scaffolding in a

desired location.

Threaded rods in the stops may be rotated, to lower down the

brake stops, so that the scaffolding is supported by the brake stops rather

than by the casters.

Securing rods 41, 42 are used to achieve a rigid scaffolding structure.

For safety, there are handrails 44 mounted on the upper part of the scaffolding.

In a preferred embodiment, the scaffold board 11 is made of aluminum. The support rods 21, 22, 23, 24 and the rotatable part 212, 222, 232, 242 are made of an aluminum profile. The profile dimensions may be 73 by 25 millimeters (mm). In one embodiment, the scaffold board 11 has the dimensions 1600 by 700 mm. Fig. 2 illustrates a scaffold unit 1, comprising:.

scaffold board 11,

attaching means 12 to support rods,

attaching means 13 to gas springs,

securing rod 17,

access door 19,

safety frame 18 and

support legs 15.

Figs. 3A and 3B illustrate a front view and a side view, respectively, of the scaffolding in its upright, assembled state.

The drawing shows the scaffold board 11 with the support rods 21, 22, 23, handrails 44, casters 219, 229, brake stops 228, 238 and securing rods 41.

Also shown are exemplary dimensions of the scaffolding; in one embodiment, these dimensions may be as follows, in millimeters (mm):

dimension 81= 785

dimension 84= 1301

dimension 85= 1940

dimension 86= 1050

dimension 87= 2400.

The stability of the scaffolding may be enhanced by increasing the

distance 84 between the brake stops 228, 238.

Preferably, the structure is not symmetrical; rather, a pair of brake

stops illustrated with stop 228 may be closer to the scaffolding, when it is closer to a wall for example; the other pair of brake stops, exemplified with brake stop 238, may extend farther away from the scaffolding.

Fig. 4 illustrates an exploded view of the scaffolding prior to assembly, the main components of the self-erecting scaffolding are:

a scaffold unit 1, two pairs of support rods 2, and

gas springs unit 3.

The scaffold unit 1 comprises:

scaffold board 11,

attaching means 12 to support rods,

attaching means 13 to gas springs,

securing rod 17,

access door 19, and

support legs 15.

For work at a reduced height, the scaffold unit 1 may be used by itself, rather than it being elevated with the support rods 2.

The height of the scaffold board 11, in one embodiment, at this reduced height, is about 600 mm.

Each pair of support rods 2 comprises:

two support rods such as rod 21,

two rotatable parts such as part 212, connected to the support rods using corresponding joint means 217, 227, 237, 247.

The support rods 2 further include:

attaching means 211, 221, 231, 241 to the scaffold board 11, and

attaching means 213, 223, 233, 243 to gas springs 3.

For work at full height, the scaffold unit 1 is held at an elevated height by the four support rods 2.

The height of the scaffold board 11, in one embodiment, at its fully elevated height, is about 2400 mm.

The gas springs unit 3 comprises:

gas springs 31, 32, 33, 34, with corresponding attaching means 311, 321, 331, 341 to the scaffold board 11, and

attaching means 312, 322, 332, 342 to the support rods 2.

Figs. 5 to 9 detail the stages of assembling and erecting the scaffolding.

Stage 1, see Fig. 5:

The scaffold unit 1 and the support rods 2 are placed next to each other on the floor or ground 7 as shown.

The scaffold board 11 is fixedly mounted on four support legs 15.

The board 11 has four attaching means 12 to support rods.

Four attaching means 13 to gas springs are located on a pair of securing

rods 17 on unit 1.

Each of the support rods 21, 22 is connected to one of the rotatable parts 212, 222 via one of the joint means 217, 227, respectively.

The four joint means 217, 227, 237, 247 are identical. Each joint means has two states: free rotation, wherein its corresponding rotatable part can be rotated about, and a secured state, wherein each support rod is aligned with its

corresponding rotatable part to form one rigid rod.

For example, in Fig. 5 the rotatable part 212 is rotated to the state as shown, close to support rod 21.

Each rotatable part includes attaching means to gas springs, as illustrated

with attaching means 213, 223.

Each joint means includes attaching means to scaffold board, as illustrated with attaching means 211, 221.

The structure (joint means 217 + attaching means 211) is so devised, that it can be attached to its corresponding part 12 to implement an axis of rotation for the support rod 21 and its rotatable part 212; the parts 21 and 212 can each rotate freely independently of each other, or these parts are rotating as one rigid rod, depending on the state of joint 217, as detailed above.

The same description applies to the other three structures indicated with part numbers (227 + 221), (237 + 231) and (247 + 241).

Stage 2, see Fig. 6:

The support rods 21, 22 are attached to the scaffold board 11 as shown.

The joint 217 allows the rod 21 and the part 212 to rotate freely in the plane of the drawing.

The gas springs 31, 32 are attached between the securing rod 17 and the rotatable parts 212, 222, as shown.

The rotatable parts 212, 222 are rotated about their corresponding joint means 217, 227 as indicated with arrows 89, until part 212 aligns with rod 21 and part 222 aligns with rod 22; the joint means 217, 227 are then secured, to only allow rotation of each of the pairs (21, 212) and (22, 222) as one rigid rod.

Actually there are four rods with corresponding rotating parts, the other pairs being (23, 232) and (24, 242), see for example Fig. 1.

A force must be applied to align the rotating parts with their corresponding support rods, because the gas springs 31, 32 are being compressed.

Thus, when the rotating parts are rotated to become aligned with their support rods, as shown in Fig. 7, the gas springs are compressed (loaded with potential mechanical energy, just like ordinary springs).

The above description refers to all the four gas springs 31, 32, 33, 34; see for example Fig. 4. Stage 3, see Fig. 7:

The scaffolding is now ready for erection; the scaffold board 11 is not yet elevated. In a preferred embodiment, each of the gas springs 31, 32, 33, 34 exerts a force of about 50 kg when fully compressed; the stroke (distance between spring fully compressed and released) is about 150 mm.

Stage 4, see Fig. 8:

This is the erection stage- as the four gas springs such as 31, 32 exert each a force on their rotatable parts 212, 222 respectively, the support rods 21, 22 rotate so as to elevate the scaffold board 11 above the floor or ground 7.

The distal part of the rods 21, 22 slide on the floor on casters 219, 229.

Stage 5, see Fig. 9:

The scaffold board 11 reaches its final elevation with the support rods 21, 22 and their rotatable parts 212, 222 achieving a vertical orientation.

Actually, the above discussion refers to all the four support rods 21, 22

23, 24 and their corresponding rotatable parts 212, 222, 232, 242.

The scaffolding board is then secured in place, using the four brake stops 218, 228, 238, 248 and the securing rods 41, 42 as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3.

The handrails 44 are installed as well.

Fig. 10 details the forces acting on the scaffolding during the self-erecting stage. Only half of the parts are shown, the parts located on front.

The springs 31, 32 exert a force Fl on their corresponding rotatable parts 212, 222; this creates a moment about the axes of rotation formed by the joint means 217, 227; thus, the support rods 21, 22 exert each a force F2 on the floor 7.

The four forces F3 applied on the floor 7 result in the force F3 (the sum of these four forces) which raises the scaffold board 11. In a preferred embodiment, the force F3 is less than the weight of the scaffolding; thus, workers aid and support the scaffolding during the erection stage. This may improve the control upon the scaffolding during its erection.

To aid in erecting the scaffolding, workers may push it up, or may exert a force F4 horizontally as shown. Two opposite and equal forces F4 may be applied, or just one force on the side where the support rods move on casters, with the other side being held in place with brake stops or other means.

When the angle 88 is greater than 45 arc degrees, the support rods act as a lever, or force multiplier: The upwards force acting on the scaffold unit 1 is greater than the sum of the forces F4.

To lower and disassemble the scaffolding, the abovedetailed stages are performed in their reverse order:

The handrails 44 are removed;

the securing rods 41, 42 are removed;

the four brake stops 218, 228, 238, 248 are raised up, to allow free movement of the extremal parts of the support rods 21, 22, 23, 24 on the floor;

the scaffold board 11 is pulled down, wherein the two pairs of support rods move apart from each other;

the joint means 217, 227, 237, 247 release the rotatable parts 212, 222, 232, 242 to rotate with respect to support rods 21, 22, 23, 24 to allow the removal of the gas springs 31, 32, 33, 34; and

the two pairs of support rods 2 are separated from the scaffold unit 1.

Various modifications of the present description may be implemented, without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

For example, other embodiments may have different dimensions. The dimensions of the scaffold board 11 may be adapted to the task at hand. The length of the support rods 21, 22, 23, 24 may vary according to the desired elevation of the scaffolding.

It may be possible to replace the gas springs with ordinary springs.

In one embodiment, the rotatable parts 212, 222, 232, 242 may each rotate independently of each other; in another embodiment, each pair of parts (212, 242) and (222, 232) move together as one unit.