Guard rail system and components

Abstract

A guard rail system is provided. The guard rail system includes posts and rails. The posts include a base, a body and a plurality of rail supports. In one embodiment, a stacking fin extends from the base for fitting into an opening defined in a top portion of a corresponding post that is in an upside down orientation to allow two posts to be stacked together. In another embodiment, body and rail supports are integrally formed from the same material. In another embodiment, openings are defined in the body to act as rail supports.

Claims

1. A guard rail system, said system comprising at least one pair of posts, each of said posts comprising: a base, for securing to a surface; a body extending from said base; a plurality of rail supports extending from said body, said rail supports being adapted for supporting rails between said at least one pair of posts; a stacking opening defined in said body; and a stacking fin disposed on said post, said stacking fin being sized to fit within said stacking opening of another one of said posts; wherein said at least one pair of posts is releasably stacked for storage or transport with one of said at least one pair of posts disposed in an upside down orientation relative to the other of said at least one pair of posts and with the stacking fin of each post disposed within the stacking opening of the other post.

2. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, for each of said posts, said stacking fin is disposed on said base.

3. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, for each of said posts, said stacking opening is defined at a top portion of said body.

4. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said body of each of said at least one pair of posts comprises at least two orthogonal faces.

5. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 4, wherein said plurality of rail supports of each of said at least one pair of posts extend from two of said at least two orthogonal faces.

6. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said plurality of rail supports of each of said at least one pair of posts each includes a base portion, extending parallel to said base from a corresponding one of said at least two orthogonal faces of said body, and a side portion extending upwardly from said base portion parallel to said corresponding one of said at least two orthogonal faces of said body from which said base portion extends.

7. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 1, wherein, for each of said posts, said plurality of rail supports include a top rail support located at a top portion of said body and a mid rail support located between said top portion of said body and said base.

8. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 7, wherein, for each of said posts, said plurality of rail supports further include a toe rail support located proximate to said base, said mid rail support being located between said toe rail support and said top rail support.

9. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 8, wherein, for each of said posts, said base forms the base portion of said toe rail support.

10. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 8, wherein, for each of said posts, said toe rail support comprises a side portion extending upwardly from said base portion.

11. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 1, wherein, for each of said posts, said body and plurality of said rail supports are integrally formed from a single piece of material.

12. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said stacking fin is sized to fit diagonally in said stacking opening of said corresponding second post.

13. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said posts comprises power coated steel.

14. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 1, wherein, for each of said posts, said base comprises holes through which one or more fasteners are extended for securing to the surface.

15. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 1, wherein, for each of said posts, the base and the body are removeably attached to each other.

16. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 1, wherein, for each of said posts, the base and the body are adjustably attached to each other.

17. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 1, wherein, for each of said posts, the body is a hollow tube with a square cross section.

18. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 1, wherein, for each of said posts, said stacking fin is disposed at a 45 degree angle relative to a face of the post.

19. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 1, wherein, for each of said plurality of rail supports, said rail support comprises a hole through which a fasteners is extended for securing to a rail to the rail support.

20. A guard rail system as claimed in claim 1, wherein, for each of said posts, the base and the body are welded to each other.

Description

DRAWINGS

(1) The drawings included herewith are for illustrating various examples of articles, methods, and apparatuses of the present specification and are not intended to limit the scope of what is taught in any way. For simplicity and clarity of illustration, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the drawings to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a guard rail system in accordance with one aspect of the present invention disposed at a construction site;

(3) FIG. 2 is a top perspective view of a post for a guard rail system in accordance with one aspect of the present invention;

(4) FIG. 3 is a bottom perspective view of the post of FIG. 2;

(5) FIG. 4 is a top view of the post of FIG. 2;

(6) FIG. 5 is a top perspective view of the post of FIG. 2 with a second identical post stacked in an upside-down orientation thereon;

(7) FIG. 6 is a top perspective of a post for a guard rail system in accordance with another aspect of the present invention;

(8) FIG. 7 is a top perspective view from a different angle of the post of FIG. 6;

(9) FIG. 8 is a top view of the post of FIG. 6;

(10) FIG. 9 is a top perspective view of the post of FIG. 6 with a second identical post stacked in an upside-down orientation thereon; and

(11) FIG. 10 is a top perspective of a post for a guard rail system in accordance with another aspect of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS

(12) Various apparatuses or methods will be described below to provide examples of the claimed invention. The claimed invention is not limited to apparatuses or methods having all of the features of any one apparatus or method described below or to features common to multiple or all of the apparatuses described below. The claimed invention may reside in a combination or sub-combination of the apparatus elements or method steps described below. It is possible that an apparatus or method described below is not an example of the claimed invention. The applicant(s), inventor(s) and/or owner(s) reserve all rights in any invention disclosed in an apparatus or method described below that is not claimed in this document and do not abandon, disclaim or dedicate to the public any such invention by its disclosure in this document.

(13) A guard rail system in accordance with the present invention is shown generally at 10 FIG. 1. System 10 includes posts 12 and rails 14. System 10 may be temporarily installed at a construction site to provide guard rails where desired or as required by local building codes. System 10 may then be removed, stored and transported for reuse at another construction site in future. Posts 12 are described in more detail below. Rails 14 are typically formed from lengths of 2×4 lumber that may be locally sourced and require no further modifications. Alternatively, rails 14 may be formed of other suitable materials, such as lengths of metal or plastic provided that the materials meet the applicable local building codes.

(14) Posts 12 each include a base 16, body 18 and a plurality of rail supports 20. Posts 12 are preferably formed of powder coated steel.

(15) Base 16 is adapted to be secured to a surface 22 using fasteners (not shown) extending through holes 26 defined in base 16. Fasteners may be screws, bolts or other suitable fasteners that extend through holes 26. Fasteners could alternatively comprise clamps or the like that engage base 16 without the need to use holes 26.

(16) Body 18 extends from base 16 to a desired height H. Body 18 extends at an angle A from base 16 that in most instances is 90 degrees. Angle A could be less than 90 degrees however for use in securing base 16 to an inclined surface such as a ramp or roof line (not shown). Base 16 and body 18 may be permanently secured together with welds or may be removably and/or adjustably attached through the use of bolts or other attachment mechanisms (not shown).

(17) Body 18 may be of tubular construction as shown in FIGS. 1-5. Most preferably, body 18 may be a hollow tube with a square cross section and a plurality of outer faces 28a-d. Body 18 may further include a top portion 30 defining a stacking opening 32 for receiving a stacking fin 34 as described further below.

(18) Rail supports 20 are disposed on posts 12 at desired locations to support rails 14. Most preferably, rail supports 20 include a toe rail support 20a, a mid rail support 20b and a top rail support 20c. The distance of each rail support 20 from surface 22 is determined by local building codes. In a preferred embodiment, at least for the building codes of the North American market, top rail support 20c is spaced 35.5 inches from base 16 and mid rail support 20b is spaced at the mid point between top rail support 20c and base 16. Preferably, rail supports 20 are disposed on adjacent orthogonal faces 28a and 28b of body 18. This allows post to support rails 14 in two directions if desired to form a 90 degree corner.

(19) Mid rail support 20b and top rail support 20c may each include a base portion 36, extending from body 18 parallel to base 16, and a side portion 38, extending upwardly from base portion 36 parallel to body 18. Toe rail portion 20a may simply include a side portion 38 extending upwardly from base 16 (as shown for example in FIG. 2) or may include a base portion 36, extending from body 18 parallel to base 16, and a side portion 38, extending upwardly from base portion 36 parallel to body 18 (as shown for example with a different embodiment in FIG. 6). Side portion 38 of rail supports is spaced sufficiently from body 18 to allow a single rail 14 to be seated between body 18 and side portion 38. Holes 40 are defined in side portion 38 of rail support 20 for receiving fasteners to secure rails 14 to rail supports 20.

(20) Referring to FIGS. 3-5, stacking fin 34 extends upwardly from base 16 parallel to body 18. Stacking fin 34 is sized to fit within stacking opening 32 of top portion 30 of a second post 12 that is stacked in an upside down orientation (as shown in FIG. 5). As a result, stacking fins 34 of the adjacent posts 12 fit within the corresponding stacking openings 32 to securely stack the posts 12 together for storage and transportation. Preferably, stacking fin 34 is disposed at a 45 degree angle relative to one of faces 28c or 28d of body 18 that oppose one of faces 28a or 28b where rail supports 20 are attached. Preferably, stacking fin 34 is sized to fit diagonally within stacking openings 32. In this configuration, it is possible to stack numerous posts 12 closely together to fit on a pallet for storage or transportation.

(21) Referring to FIGS. 6-9, another embodiment for post 12 is shown. Similar reference numerals are used to refer to similar elements for the embodiments described herein.

(22) Post 12 includes base 16, body 18 and rail supports 20. In this embodiment however body 18 and rail supports 20 are preferably integrally formed from a single piece of material. Rail supports 20 include a toe rail support 20a, a mid rail support 20b and a top rail support 20c. Rail supports 20 each include a base portion 36 and a side portion 38.

(23) Body 18 is preferably formed with two orthogonal faces 28a and 28b. Base portions 36 of each rail support extend in the same plane as the respective faces 28a, 28b of body 18. Side portions 38 of each rail support extend orthogonally to the respective base portions 36. As a result, side portion 38 extending from face 28a is disposed parallel to face 28b and side portion 38 extending from face 28b is disposed parallel to face 28a.

(24) Body 18 further includes a plurality of first stacking openings 32a and second stacking openings 32b that allows two posts 12 to be stacked together in a reverse (upside down) orientation (as shown in FIG. 9). First stacking openings 32a are defined between the adjacent edges 44 of side portions 38 and the edges 46 of their respective faces 28a and 28b. As shown in FIG. 8, first stacking openings 32a have a width W that is wider than the width w of respective side portions 38 to allow side portions 38 to slidably fit within first stacking openings 32a when two posts 12 are being reverse stacked. Side portions 38 are also inset a distance I from the plane of the respective orthogonal faces 28a and 28 b to allow side portions to slide along the inside face of the respective base portions 36 a desired distance D to achieve a locking orientation as shown in FIG. 9. Second stacking openings 32b are defined between the adjacent edges 48 of each adjacent pair of side portions 38. Second stacking openings 32b define an imaginary right angle with sides having a width W′ that are wider than the width w′ of each respective orthogonal face 28a and 28b to allow the orthogonal faces 28a and 28b of a second post 12 to slidably fit within second stackable openings 32b when two posts 12 are being reverse stacked. In this configuration, it is possible to stack numerous posts 12 closely together to fit on a pallet for storage or transportation.

(25) Referring to FIG. 10, another embodiment for post 12 is shown. Similar reference numerals are used to refer to similar elements for the embodiments described herein.

(26) Post 12 includes base 16, body 18 and rail supports 20. In this embodiment however rail supports 20 are defined through body 18 on all four faces 28a-d.

(27) While the above description provides examples of one or more processes or apparatuses, it will be appreciated that other processes or apparatuses may be within the scope of the accompanying claims.