Removable protective feet for skips

Abstract

Protective feet 1 for skips 2 are attached to an underside 4 of a metal skip. Feet 1have magnets 3 embedded therein which sit in magnet seating holes (Figure 3, 7). Further adhesion of magnets within

Description

PATENT APPLICATION OF RICHARD ANDREW HAWLEY FOR REMOVABLE PROTECTIVE FEET FOR SKIPS Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the use of waste skips and their handling. Background The use of waste skips is common since their arrival in around 1922, they are provided in 2, 4, 6 and 8 metre sizes. Skips are commonly used to hold open-topped loads of construction and demolition waste, garden waste or other waste and litter types. The construction debris may originate from a building, renovation, or demolition site; building supplies can be delivered to a site in a skip that is later used to remove waste. Skips are also used for various cleaning-out jobs that need much material to be taken away, and at factories producing large quantities of scrap metal. The material in the skip may be taken to a landfill, recycled or recovered / disposed of in some other way. There are wide range of uses of skip bins including construction building, home renovations, handyman maintenance or repair projects, garden or green clean up. Skip hire companies typically print 'level fill' on the sides of skips to instruct users that the contents should not fill or have contents showing above the height of the sides of the skip. This is a safety requirement, enforced by the DVSA, to ensure that the skip is safe for transportation. If the content overtops the skip, it may slip off during transport and become dangerous. Many tradesmen and builders will make use of what are termed 'greedy boards', old doors and other scrap sheet based material, to artificially heighten the sides of the skip and thus get more value for money out of their skip hire. If they do that, the skip bin hire provider will charge them an extra fee as the skip will be classed as overloaded. They are typically a large open-topped waste container designed for loading onto a special type of lorry called a skip loader. Typically skip bins have a distinctive shape: the longitudinal cross-section of the skip bin is either a trapezium or two stacked trapezia. The lower trapezium has the smaller edge at the bottom of the skip bin, and a longer edge at the top. The smaller edge on either end is lower which makes it easier to load. Where there is an upper trapezium, it has the smaller edge at the top. There is a sloping floor or wall at each end. There are usually two lugs on each side of the bin onto which chains can be attached, permitting the heavy skip to be lifted onto and off a skip lorry or skip truck. A special skip-carrying lorry or crane is used. One end of the skip sometimes has a large door that hinges down to allow manual loading and unloading, these skips are called 'drop-door skips'. Skips are usually durable and tough, made to withstand rough use by tradespeople and labourers. The size of skip bins can vary greatly depending on their use, with sizes ranging from small 2 m mini-skips to the very large 40 m roll-on / roll-off skips. Even though these large bins can store many tons of waste, most lorries are limited to carrying around 7.5 tons of material in the container. A typical small skip, when empty, weighs about 187kg. Open skips allow easier loading of waste materials and are commonly found on construction sites, closed skips are more secure and prevent unauthorised use. They ensure that the volume of waste does not exceed the maximum limit. Roll-on / roll-off (RORO) skips are similar to open skips, but instead of being lifted onto a skip loader wagon by chains, they are rolled onto a wagon with a hook. They are more common as industrial containers and are not suitable for domestic use. Mobile skip bins are usually set on a trailer with four wheels. A lifting mechanism is used to load and unload the skip from the trailer. Normal sizes used in Australia are 3 m3, 4 m3, and 6 m3. However, sizes ranging from 8 m3, 10 m3, and 12 m3 are also available for larger waste management jobs. When being delivered the skip often is placed on the ground, being transported on a skip lorry and then automatically lowered down using a lowering mechanism. The ground may often be a surface which can be damaged under the heavy weight of the skip and also by the sharp angular comers and rough underside of the metal of the skip. Surfaces which are commonly damaged include tarmacs of all types and concrete driveways or platforms, texture treated drive surfaces, soft ground, grass and soil and paved surfaces. The skip has a heavy impact on the ground surface which can affect these and scratch or gouge the surface damaging it, often beyond repair or certainly needing substantial costs to bring the surface to a reasonable standard again. The skip has a tendency to slightly swing on the lowering chains of the skip lorry mechanism as it is being lowered and as it contacts with the ground. The swinging may only be very slight in most cases, sometimes there is no swing at all, depending on the angle of decent and the pitch of the surface, wind conditions and the skill of the driver. This swinging action adds to the problem of the underside of the skips scraping or gouging the surface, which for example, could be someone’s home driveway which has had considerable costs applied to making the surface as they wanted it. !n modem times driveways can be coated with tarmac or concrete by also a whole range of other expensive finishes including; porcelain paving, block paving, anti-slip stone carpet finishes and various resin bound gravel or fine stone material coatings. A further issue with standing skips is rust marks, these are created by the rusty metal underneath the skip releasing rust and water during certain weather conditions which can permanently mark a driveway or any reactive ground surface. It is also possible for rust marks to be made by the underneath of the skip in dry conditions, as very rusty skips can often leave a score mark of rust as well as surface damage. Therefore, the present invention aims to provide removable protective feet for the underside of the skip, to prevent any such damages to ground surfaces. The prior art therefore shows that there is a need for a more effective way of protecting ground surfaces when using a skip. The present invention aims to provide feet which have powerful magnets inlaid into their surface to enable them to be magnetically attached to the underside of the skip prior to it being fully lowered onto the ground. Summary of the invention According to the present invention there is provided substantial feet which are attached to the underside of a skip to protect the ground underneath the skip when it is delivered and standing. The feet are removable and may be made of a dense rubber or any other suitably hard-wearing material which is able to withstand the standing weight and impact of a delivered skip and provide a foot that will not damage the ground surface, which may include; wood. A substantial foot may be located on each corner of the underside of the skip, or on the front and rear or right and left hand sides of the underside of the skip. The feet each have strong magnets to attach them to the metal skip underside and the magnets are imbedded into magnet seating holes in the top surface of the feet. The magnets seating holes may vary in depth and are at least preferably a third of the whole depth of the foot itself and of a size which enables the magnets to fit within the magnet seating hole in a tight firm manner. The magnets may be held within the hole further by a strong adhesive which the hole is coated with prior to the magnet being pressed into the tight fitting magnet seating hole. The upper exposed surface of the magnets is exactly level with the upper surface of the feet, the surface of the magnet and the surface of the feet are level. This is the skip attachment surface of the feet. When the skip is on the skip lorry and is raised in the air either the skip driver and I or controller may attach the said magnet skip feet to the underside of the skip prior to it being lowered onto the ground at the delivery site for the skip. The feet may also be attached to the underside of the skip at the beginning of the journey to deliver the skip. In a further example; the builder or workman I tradesman who has ordered the skip may also attach them to the underside of the skip, in the locations on the underside of the skip as aforementioned, when the skip is held in the air by the skip lowering mechanism on the skip lorry. The feet are positioned by the person to the underneath the skip where they want the feet to be, on each corner of the underside of the skip, or on the front and rear or right and left hand sides of the underside of the skip. The magnets then hold the feet as they are pushed onto the metal of the underside of the skip. The feet may be removed and used again on other skips after the skip has been used. This may be done when the skip is raised once more by the skip lorry raising and lowering mechanism. The feet are pulled away and off of the underside of the skip to be stored for repeated use. The ground on which the skip was standing has been protected by the feet. In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the Patent Office and the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide new and improved protective feet for skips which has all the advantages of the prior art protective feet and none of the disadvantages. It is another object of the present invention to provide new protective feet for skips which may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed. It is a further object of the present invention to provide new and improved protective feet for skips which are of durable and reliable construction. An even further object of the present invention is to provide new and improved protective feet for skips which are susceptible of a low cost of manufacture with regard to both materials and labour, and which accordingly are then susceptible of low prices of sale to the consuming public, thereby making such a product available to the buying public. Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide new and improved protective feet for skips which provide in the apparatuses and methods of the prior art some of the advantages thereof, while simultaneously overcoming some of the disadvantages normally associated therewith. These together with other objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and detailed descriptive matter in which there is illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention. Brief description of figures Figure 1 shows a dimensional view of the protective feet for skips attached to a skip. Figure 2 shows a front elevation view of the protective feet for skips attached to a skip. Figure 3 shows a dimensional view of the protective foot for skips. Figure 4 shows a plan view of the protective foot for skips. Figure 5 shows an end elevation view of the protective foot for skips with the magnet seating hole and magnet depth visible. Figure 6 shows a dimensional view of the protective foot for skips with the magnet seating hole and magnet depth visible. Figure 7 shows an end elevation view of the protective foot for skips with the magnet seating hole and magnet removed. Figure 8 shows an end elevation view of the protective foot for skips with a shallower magnet seating hole and a thinner magnet visible. Figure 9 shows a plan view of the protective foot for skips with a longer single rectangular magnet. Figure 10 shows a dimensional view of the protective feet for skips, with a foot being installed. Figure 11 shows longer protective feet for skips attached to a skip to the front and rear. Figure 12 shows longer protective feet for skips with additional magnets, attached to a skip on the right and left side. Figure 13 shows round protective feet for skips. Detailed description of figures A typical embodiment of the coupling device is shown in Figure 1. It comprises the protective feet for skips 1 which are shown attached to a skip 2 by means of said embedded magnets 3. The feet 1 are attached to the underside of the skip 5 on the outer underside edges 4. The skip 2A located on the ground 6 does not damage the ground due to the protective feet for skips 1A preventing contact of the underside of the skip 5 with the ground 6, as shown in Figure 2. Figure 3 shows the protective foot for skips 1B having magnets 3B embedded in magnet seating holes 7 and held with an adhesive (not shown) disposed within said magnet seating holes 7. The protective foot for skips 1C is shown from a plan view with magnets 3C in Figure 4. The protective foot for skips 1D has magnet seating hole 7D into which magnets 3D are fitted, as shown with a depth of the magnet seating hole 7D, in Figure 5. A dimensional view of the protective foot for skips 1E may have a longer rectangular magnet seating hole 7E into which longer magnets 3D may be fitted, as shown with a depth of the magnet seating hole 7E, in Figure 6. An end elevation view of the protective foot for skips 1 F with the magnet seating hole 7F and magnet 3F removed is shown in Figure 7. A thinner magnet 3G may be used in the protective foot for skips 1G as shown in Figure 8. This longer magnet 3H in the protective foot for skips 1H is shown as a plan view in Figure 9. The protective feet for skips 11 are attached to the skip 21 on its metal underside as shown in Figure 10. Figure 11 shows longer protective feet for skips 1J attached to a skip to the front and rear via magnets 3J. Figure 12 shows longer protective feet for skips IK with additional magnets 3G, attached to a skip on the right and left side. Figure 13 shows round protective feet for skips 1L with magnets 3L.

Images