Tie-on arrangement and bracket for a tank

Abstract

An installation for supporting a worker on a tank: The tank includes a plurality of vertical staves held to define a peripheral wall by a plurality of hoops. A top bracket at the top hoop has a tie-on receiving fixture for attachment to a worker's tie-on at the outer end of the bracket. The tie-on bracket on the top hoop is shaped to not pivot up and down around the top hoop. At least one lower hoop is located on the side of the tank. Each lower bracket at each lower hoop has a tie-on receiving fixture for attachment to a worker's tie-on at the outer end of the bracket. Each lower bracket is shaped and positioned for being able to be pivoted up and down around its lower hoop. A threaded end region on the end of a hoop segment passes through a hole in the respective bracket. A nut is tightened on the threaded end region for holding the bracket to a junction fixture on the end of a respective hoop segment. The adjacent hoop end regions or hoop segment end regions are held in the junction fixture to form the respective hoop.

Claims

1. An arrangement for attaching a tie-on to a tank, comprising: a tank comprising a top, a bottom and a peripheral wall extending between the top and the bottom; an upper hoop toward the top of the tank and around the peripheral wall; at least one lower hoop below the top of the tank, below the upper hoop, above the bottom of the tank and around the peripheral wall; at least some of the hoops being configured to support a respective bracket on the hoop; a non-pivotable bracket supported on the upper hoop and extending outward from the peripheral wall, the non-pivotable bracket including a first hole in the non-pivotable bracket through which the upper hoop passes for supporting the non-pivotable bracket on the upper hoop; the non-pivotable bracket having an inward surface facing toward the peripheral wall of the tank, the inward surface is shaped such that with the non-pivotable bracket supported on the upper hoop, the inward surface of the non-pivotable bracket cooperates with the peripheral wall of the tank to prevent pivoting of the non-pivotable bracket up or down around the upper hoop and with respect to the peripheral wall of the tank; a pivotable bracket supported on at least one of the lower hoops and being pivotable around the at least one of the lower hoops and extending outward from the peripheral wall of the tank, the pivotable bracket including a respective second hole in the pivotable bracket through which the at least one lower hoop passes for supporting the pivotable bracket on the at least one of the lower hoops; the pivotable bracket having an inward surface toward the peripheral wall of the tank, the inward surface of the pivotable bracket is located, shaped and configured so as to not prevent and to permit pivoting upward and downward of the pivotable bracket around the at least one lower hoop and with respect to the peripheral wall of the tank; and each of the non-pivotable and the pivotable brackets having a tie-on receiving fixture thereon spaced outward from the respective first or second hole of the respective bracket and configured for receiving a worker's tie-on fixture, by which a worker's tie-on is attached to a tie-on receiving fixture; and cooperation between the tie-on at the pivotable bracket and the pivotable bracket being configured to permit pivoting of the pivotable bracket upward and downward with respect to the respective lower hoop for the pivotable bracket and with respect to the peripheral wall of the tank.

2. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein the peripheral wall of the tank is comprised of a plurality of vertically extending staves extending between the top and the bottom of the tank, and the hoops surrounding the peripheral wall of the tank and the staves to define the tank.

3. The arrangement of claim 2, wherein the inward surface of the non-pivotable bracket engages a first stave inward of the non-pivotable bracket, and the location and shape of the inward surface of the non-pivotable bracket is selected to cooperate with the first stave for blocking pivoting of the non-pivotable bracket up and down with respect to the upper hoop.

4. The arrangement of claim 3, wherein the inward surface of the pivotable bracket faces toward a respective second stave of the tank and is shaped and located with respect to the respective second stave so that the inner surface of the pivotable bracket does not contact the respective second stave, thereby permitting the pivotable bracket to pivot up and down around the respective hoop for the pivotable bracket.

5. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein each hoop comprises a plurality of hoop segments, each segment having end regions at opposite ends of each segment and respective end regions of each hoop segment being joined to adjacent end regions of adjacent hoop segments to form the hoops.

6. The arrangement of claim 5, wherein a respective end region of each segment of each of the upper and lower hoops is threaded and is sized to pass through one of the first or the second holes through a respective one of the brackets which receives a respective one of the hoops; a respective one of the brackets is disposed on the threaded end region of the respective hoop segment for the bracket; and a nut threaded on the threaded end region of the segment of the hoop, the nut being configured for being tightened on the threaded end region and against the respective bracket on the threaded end region and for urging the respective bracket into engagement with a surface at the respective hoop for preventing movement of the bracket around the respective hoop.

7. The arrangement of claim 6, further comprising a junction fixture between adjacent hoop segment end regions wherein the adjacent hoop segment end regions are held by a respective one of the junction fixtures, and each junction fixture is shaped to expose the threaded end region at each junction fixture to receive the nut on the threaded end region; and a surface on the hoop to which the respective bracket is urged is on the junction fixture.

8. The arrangement of claim 7, wherein each of the segments of at least one hoop has end regions and at least one of the end regions of each pair of adjacent hoop segments of the at least one hoop is threaded; the respective bracket for the at least one hoop is placed on the threaded end region of one of the segments of the hoop; and the nut threaded on the threaded end region is located and configured for holding the respective bracket on the threaded end region and at the respective junction fixture of the at least one hoop.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Other objects and features of the present invention are disclosed with reference to the accompanying drawings in which

(2) FIG. 1 schematically represents a tank on the roof of the building with a worker safety installation as disclosed herein;

(3) FIG. 2 illustrates a non-pivotable hoop bracket for a worker's tie-on in an embodiment which prevents pivoting of the bracket up and down around a hoop at a peripheral wall around the tank;

(4) FIG. 3 illustrates a pivotable hoop bracket for a worker's tie-on in an embodiment which permits the bracket to pivot up and down around a hoop at a peripheral wall around the tank;

(5) FIG. 4 is a partial, enlarged side view of a tank wall including an embodiment of the invention;

(6) FIG. 5 is a view of a mounted non-pivotable bracket;

(7) FIG. 6 is a view of a mounted pivotable bracket; and

(8) FIG. 7 illustrates a hoop formed of a plurality of hoop segments joined at adjacent end regions of adjacent segments.

DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

(9) FIGS. 1 and 4 are schematic views of a tank 10 for containing a fluent material or liquid material, here a tank for containing water. The tank 10 is disposed above a roof 12 of a building and is supported by an appropriate structure 13. But, such a tank may be located elsewhere, as its particular use requires. The tank 12 is comprised of a circular array of upstanding staves 14, preferably of wood, arrayed around a vertical center axis and defining a circular shape of a peripheral sidewall 16 for the tank. The staves are arranged side by side around the tank defining the sidewall which retains water in the tank.

(10) A plurality of hoops 20 are arrayed around the tank staves 14 at various heights above the bottom 22 of the tank and including an upper hoop 26 at or just below the top 24 of the tank. Down from the top of the tank, there are an array of vertically spaced apart lower hoops 30 around the tank sidewall.

(11) As shown in FIGS. 4 and 7, a hoop 20 may be comprised of a plurality of arcuate segments 42, 43, 44 which are assembled together into a hoop by the adjacent end regions 36, 38 of neighboring segments being attached together by a junction fixture 40 to an end region of a respective adjacent hoop segment for the segments to be attached to define a circular hoop. Adjacent segment ends are attached at a junction fixture 40 to hold both hoop end regions 36, 38 and allows or enables the hoop end regions to be drawn to tighten the hoop 20 around the staves 14.

(12) The end regions of adjacent hoop segments are held in their junction fixture 40 so that one end region 36 of the hoop segment extends out an opening 46 in one side 47 of the junction fixture in one direction, while the other adjacent end region 38 of a hoop segment extends in the opposite direction out through another opening 48 in the junction fixture 40. An end region 36 of a segment further extends through a below described hole 62, 84 in a respective below described tie-on receiving bracket 60, 80.

(13) On the upper hoop 26 at or toward the top of the tank, there are in this embodiment a plurality of worker supporting non-pivotable brackets 60, each configured to prevent pivoting of the non-pivotable brackets 60 up or down around their respective upper hoop 26. The non-pivotable brackets are useful for their placement at or just below the top 24 of the tank on the upper hoop 26. In its simplest illustrated form in FIG. 2, the non-pivotable bracket 60 comprises a metal or steel plate of sufficient material and thickness as to support a worker who may be falling from the top of the tank. But, it may have another configuration such that it performs the functions described herein. When installed on the upper hoop 26, each non-pivotable bracket 60 projects out from the tank wall. See FIG. 5.

(14) Each non-pivotable bracket 60 has a first bracket mounting, hoop receiving hole 62 near a radially inwardly facing end 64 of the bracket. The inwardly facing end 64 is uncurved and of such height along the adjacent stave 14 that when the non-pivotable bracket 60 is attached to its upper hoop 26, the bracket 60 is prevented from moving laterally around the hoop by the bracket being urged against the respective junction fixture 40 and is prevented from pivoting either up or down when pulled upwardly by a worker on the tank wall or downwardly by a worker who may have moved down the tank wall or fallen off the tank.

(15) In particular, the non-pivotable bracket 60 is prevented from moving laterally around the hoop by the end region 36 of the hoop segment on which the bracket is positioned being threaded and by nuts 68 holding the non-pivotable bracket 60 on the threaded end region of the hoop segment, preferably pressed against the junction fixture 40, as the hoop holds the non-pivotable bracket inward surface 64 against the adjacent tank stave 14. The nuts 68 are tightened to hold the bracket 60 to the end region of the hoop segment on the threaded end region 36 until the nuts urge the respective bracket 60 against a surface of the junction fixture 40.

(16) Tightening the nut 68 also tightens the hoop around the wall of the tank, which secures the neighboring staves together in the peripheral wall and fixes the upper and lower hoops at their selected heights.

(17) Referring to FIGS. 1, 3, 4 and 6 on the lower hoops 30 located vertically down along the tank wall 16, there is a different type of pivotable bracket 80, which projects out from the side wall of the tank. Like the non-pivotable bracket 60, the pivotable bracket 80 may be a metal or steel plate of a material and thickness that a worker who may pull up or down on the bracket 80 or may fall past that bracket will not cause that bracket to deform. The bracket 80 has a radially inward end region 82 with a hole 84 through which a threaded end region 86 of a hoop segment passes. A nut 88 is tightened on the threaded end region 86 and urges the bracket 80 against the surface of the junction fixture 40 located between end regions of the hoop 30 or hoop segments, as occurs with the other bracket 60. As each bracket is positioned on an end of a hoop segment, there is only one bracket held on a junction between adjacent hoop segment ends for each hoop segment. If a hoop comprises three hoop segments, only three of the brackets are held at the spaced intervals between hoop segments as seen in FIGS. 4 and 7.

(18) As shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 6, the inward side 92 of the pivotable bracket 80 is not flat like the inward side 64 of the non-pivotable bracket 60. Rather, the inward side 92 is illustrated as rounded in shape and is positioned so as to not contact the adjacent, radially bracket stave 14. This permits the pivotable bracket 80 to pivot up or down, depending upon whether the worker's harness or attachment to his safety fixture is above or below the bracket 80, where the worker wants it positioned, or if the worker has fallen off the tank toward the roof.

(19) Toward the radially outward end of each of the non-pivotable 60 and the pivotable 80 brackets and spaced away radially from the stave 14 inward of each bracket, there is a respective tie-on attachment fixture, 94 for the non-pivotable bracket 60 and 96 for the pivotable bracket 80, which is configured to cooperate with a corresponding tie-on 98 or other fixture on a worker's harness 104 or safety belt, or the like. The tie-on receiving fixture 94, 96 is configured to receive the tie-on for detachable attachment of the tie-on to the bracket.

(20) As shown in FIG. 1, the tank has a flat top 24. A worker can stand on it to work. Above top 24, the tank has a conical shape outer cover 99 shown in FIG. 4. When a worker works on or at the top of the tank, the cover 99 may be temporarily removed so it is shown in broken lines in FIG. 1.

(21) As shown in FIG. 1, one or more workers 110 may stand on or work on the top 24 of the tank typically with the cover 99 temporarily, entirely or partially removed broken lines in FIG. 1. Workers may work at a side of the tank and either may stand on a catwalk 108, or the like, around the tank, e.g. toward the bottom of the tank, or may be suspended from the tank by a connection and particularly a tie-on 98 between the harness 104 on the worker 110 and a bracket 60, 80 on the tank.

(22) A worker 110 on the top of the tank, whose tie-on is attached to a non-pivotable bracket 60 toward the top of the tank, can move about without the corresponding bracket 60 pivoting either up or down with respect to an upper hoop 26, because pivoting of the non-pivotable bracket 60 is prevented due to the shape 64 of that bracket.

(23) FIGS. 4 and 7 shows hoop 20 comprised of three hoop segments 42, 43, 44 and adjacent ends of neighboring adjacent segments are attached by a junction fixture 40. The number of hoop segments is a matter of choice for a particular tank. A hoop design without segments, but with one separation at is ends may be used.

(24) Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.