SUPPORT FOR SUPPORTING FLOOR COMPONENTS

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a support for supporting floor parts at an adjustable height relative to an underlying surface.

[0002] US 6363685 B1 and US 8302356 B2 each show a generic support. This has a base section that rests on the ground, a vertical assembly projecting from the base section, and a support assembly carried by the vertical assembly. When used as intended, a portion of the floor to be supported rests directly from above on a portion of the support assembly. The vertical assembly comprises several sections, each having a top surface and a bottom surface and a peripheral surface connecting them, and which can be mounted one above the other in such a way that the top surface of the lower section rests against the bottom surface of the upper section, and that the peripheral surface of the two sections together form a continuous bolt thread. The longitudinal dimension of the vertical assembly can be adjusted in stages by adding or removing sections.The connection between the support assembly and the vertical assembly and / or between the vertical assembly and the base section is designed as a threaded connection with a vertically aligned thread axis and a continuously adjustable length of the thread engagement between the nut thread and the screw thread. This allows the vertical longitudinal extension of the support and thus the height distance between the support assembly and the base section to be continuously adjusted in addition to the stepwise adjustment by screwing at least one of the thread engagements closer together or further apart.

[0003] In the most common method of installing a floor using such supports, the supports are placed on the subfloor at a low height. The floor components to be directly supported by these supports are then placed on the supports. The length of the supports is then adjusted by adjusting the threaded connections mentioned above and, if necessary, by adding additional sections of the vertical assembly. A disadvantage of the support designs discussed is that the supports cannot perform a supporting function while a section of the vertical assembly is being added or removed. This leads to assembly work that is comparatively cumbersome and time-consuming and requires considerable manual skill.

[0004] Document US 2002 / 148173 A1 discloses a support according to the preamble of claim 1.

[0005] The object underlying the invention is accordingly to design a support of the type discussed in such a way that a part of the vertical assembly can be added to or removed from it without the load-bearing capacity of the support being impaired during the addition or removal.

[0006] To achieve this objective, it is proposed to provide a space area on a load-bearing part of the support which is to be screwed to one of the sections of the vertical assembly when the support is in use, which lies between the threaded area to which the part is to be screwed to the section of the vertical assembly and the area to which the part is to be connected to another part of the support or to the load to be borne by the support, wherein this space area is high enough to accommodate another section of the vertical assembly, including the space required for its assembly or disassembly, and wherein this space area is open in the horizontal direction on one side at least as wide as the other section of the vertical assembly is wide.

[0007] A "load-bearing part of the support during use of the support" in this sense is a part which, when the support is loaded by a weight force applied to it from above, is loaded with this weight force and transfers it downwards.

[0008] The invention is illustrated by means of stylized drawings of exemplary embodiments of supports according to the invention. Fig. 1: shows a side view of a first support according to the invention and a section of the vertical assembly that can be additionally mounted thereon. Fig. 2: shows a part of the support assembly of the support of Fig. 1 which in Fig. 1 indicated sectional view. Fig. 3: shows a view from above of a support according to Fig. 1 used in the vertical assembly. Fig. 4: shows a side view of a second support according to the invention and a section of the vertical assembly that can be additionally mounted thereon. Fig. 5: shows a side view of the vertical assembly of a third support according to the invention.

[0009] On the support according to Fig. 1 From bottom to top follow the foot section 1, the vertical assembly 2 and the support assembly 3.

[0010] The base section comprises a plate underneath and a threaded bolt protruding from the plate.

[0011] The vertical assembly comprises sections 4 mounted vertically to one another. The sections 4 are essentially threaded sleeves with a vertically aligned axis and an external thread running along their entire length. At least the lowest of the sections 4 also has an internal thread, which is screwed to the thread of the threaded bolt of the base section 1.

[0012] The support assembly 3 comprises a spacer 5 and a holding part 6 which is arranged so as to be rotatable on the upper side thereof, wherein the axis of rotation coincides with the axis of the threads of the sections 4. When used as intended, a part of the floor which is to be carried by the support and which is to be held by several of the supports shown ultimately rests on the holding part 6 from above. In the present example, the holding part 6 is optimised so that a slat of a slatted substructure of a floor surface rests on it. The spacer 5 is designed in its lower area as a threaded nut 7 which, as intended, is in threaded engagement with the external thread of a section 4 of the vertical assembly. The holding part 6 is rotatable relative to the spacer 5. This ensures that even in the event ofthe spacer part 5 can be rotated about the axis of the threads of the sections 4 relative to the section 4 on the part of the floor to be supported which is already resting on the holding part 6, whereby the height of the support can be finely adjusted in a continuous manner.

[0013] Of crucial importance according to the invention is that the spacer part 5, above its underlying threaded nut 7, spans a spatial area 8 which is free of parts of the spacer part 5 and which is open towards the threaded nut 7 and at least in one lateral (horizontal) direction. The height and horizontal dimensions of this spatial area 8 and its downward and lateral openings are dimensioned so large that a section 9, which is to be added as a further part to the sections 4 already forming the vertical assembly 2, can be introduced through said lateral opening into the spatial area 8 and mounted on the upper side of the uppermost section 4 of the previously existing sections 4 without the spacer part having to be moved relative to the vertical assembly 2.

[0014] This design makes it possible for the first time to adjust the height of a support, whose vertical assembly comprises several sections arranged one above the other, over a greater height range than the height of a section 4, without ever having to relieve the support's load in between. This is possible because the support effect of any newly added section 9 or any section 9 to be removed can be bridged by the spacer 5 during its assembly or disassembly on the vertical assembly.

[0015] In the examples shown here, adjacent sections 4, 9 of the vertical assembly of the support are connected by a plug-in connection between a protruding area 10 and a groove 11 complementary to the protruding area 10, with the plug-in direction being transverse to the axial direction of the sections 4, 9, i.e., horizontal when the support is upright. This design eliminates the need for any relative movement of the two sections 4, 9 in the direction of their threaded axes to join or separate them. This means that a relatively low overall height of the spatial area 8 is sufficient, and the process of joining or separating sections 4, 9 is also relatively simple.

[0016] Of course, as in the prior art, sections 4, 9 could be designed to be joined by a plug-in connection, with the plug-in direction parallel to the thread axis. Furthermore, other types of connections, such as bayonet connections, threaded connections, etc., between sections 4, 9 are also applicable within the scope of the inventive concept.

[0017] In Fig. 4 An exemplary support according to the invention is shown, in which the base part 12 has the spatial area 13 required according to the invention, which in this case is open at the top to a threaded nut 14 which is in threaded engagement with a section 4 of the vertical assembly. The support assembly 15 is formed in this case by a disc part 16, which also serves as a handle, and a holding part 17, wherein the disc part 16 is connected to the uppermost section 4 of the vertical assembly 1 by a plug connection, and the holding part 17 is rotatably mounted on the upper side of the disc part 16, wherein the axis of rotation is coaxial with the axis of the sections 4.

[0018] With this construction method, when adding or removing a section 9 of the vertical assembly, it may be necessary to always handle the lowest end of the vertical assembly. With very high supports, this may be less convenient than if, instead, as in the construction method according to Fig. 1 can be handled at the top end of the support.

[0019] For the sake of completeness, Fig. 5 A vertical section of another support according to the invention is sketched, in which a section 4 of the vertical assembly 18 can be removed or added at a selectable height. For this purpose, the support has a cage-like spacer 19, in which the space 20 required according to the invention for adding or removing a section 4 of the vertical assembly 18 is located between two threaded nuts 21, which are arranged coaxially at a distance from one another and are connected by walls or rods.

[0020] In this design, a first upper section 4 of the vertical assembly 18 is screwed into the upper threaded nut 20 and a second, lower section 4 is screwed into the lower threaded nut 20. The space area 20 then lies between the two aforementioned sections 4 and a third such section (not shown) of the vertical assembly 18 can be inserted into this and connected to the upper and lower sections 4.

Claims

1. Supports for supporting floor elements in an adjustable height in relation to the underlying surface with a foot part (1, 12), a vertical assembly (2, 18) raised from this part and a support assembly (3, 15) borne by the vertical assembly, wherein the vertical assembly (2, 18) has several parts (4, 9), each of which has a top surface and bottom surface as well as a sheath surface that joins the two, and these parts can be fitted together one above the other such that the top surface of the bottom part (4) abuts the bottom surface of the top part (4) and the sheath surface of the two parts (4) provides a continuous bolt thread, wherein an initial load-bearing segment of the support has a threaded nut (7, 14, 21) in a thread engagement with the first part (4), followed by a space region (8, 13, 20) in the vertical direction, followed by a connecting area of the first load-bearing part to a second load-bearing part of the support, characterised in that the space region (8, 13, 20) and an opening aligned in the horizontal direction are adequately dimensioned to integrate an additional part (9, 4) of the vertical assembly (2, 18) in the space region (8, 13, 20) in which it can be connected to the first part (4).

2. A support according to claim 1; characterised in that the first load-bearing part is part of the support assembly (3).

3. A support according to claim 2; characterised in that the first load-bearing part is a spacer (5), which is part of the support assembly (3), wherein the support assembly (3), in addition to the spacer (5), has a holding part (6) positioned on top of the spacer (5), mounted for rotation around a vertical axis in relation to the spacer (5), which is intended to come into direct contact with the load to be carried as intended by the support.

4. A support according to claim 1; characterised in that the first load-bearing part is part of the foot part (12).

5. A support according to claim 1; characterised in that the first load-bearing part is a spacer (19) with two threaded nuts (21) arranged coaxially to one another at a vertical distance to each other and connected by walls or rods, and which are each in threaded engagement with a holding part (4) of the vertical assembly (18), wherein the space region (20) is located between the two threaded nuts (21).

6. A support according to claims 1 to 5; characterised in that two of the parts (4, 9) of the vertical assembly (2, 18) can be connected to each other by a removable plug-type connection in that a relative movement of the two parts (4, 9) in relation to one another allows a protruding area (10) on one of the parts (4, 9) to slide into a slot (11) on the other part (4, 9), wherein the direction of the relative movement is perpendicular to the axis of the bolt thread on the sheath surfaces of the parts (4, 9).