Apparatus for connecting a structural element to a gutter

Abstract

An apparatus 2 for connecting a structural element 3 to a gutter 1 is described. Apparatus 2 comprises a bracket 5 assembly that is adjustable in length. The bracket assembly comprises two hollow bodi

Description

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for connecting a structural element to a gutter, and relates particularly, but not exclusively, to an apparatus for connecting a structural element to a gutter to form a barrier or handrail during construction to prevent falls from height. The present disclosure also relates to an assembly comprising an apparatus for connecting a structural element to a gutter and at least one fastener, a barrier, handrail or railing assembly mounted to a gutter of a building and a method of connecting a structural element to a gutter. During building construction, scaffolding is often erected up to the roof level of the building. A handrail or barrier is required, commonly known as temporary edge protection, to provide construction workers with something to hold on to and to provide a barrier to prevent falls for safety reasons. However, known roof edge protection rails and barriers are designed to be installed on to the main structural steel frame of the building by attachment to structural columns and purlins for example. In order to enable this, significant areas of wall cladding, soffits and facias need to be left un-installed until all roof work is complete and construction workers are no longer working at height. As such, the edge protection system cannot be removed until all workers are finished working on the roof. As a consequence, cladding contractors are often required to extend their programme of works which increases cost and time and in some cases they must return periodically to the construction site after all other cladding works have been completed to reinstall the areas of cladding left incomplete due to the presence of the edge protection system. These works then have to be completed using mobile elevated working platforms, which again, increases cost and complexity of the construction project. CN117386170A describes a safety protection apparatus for use during construction of a sloping roof. The apparatus uses a series of bracket assemblies that mount to the gutter of the roof to enable railings to be connected between the bracket assemblies. Each bracket assembly connects to the gutter at the two inner end walls of the gutter. The bracket assembly has two mounting portions which are slidably interconnected to be able to adjust the distance between the mounting portions. The first mounting portion is fastened to a first inner wall of the gutter through fastener holes and the second mounting portion hooks over the opposite gutter wall and has a pad that is screwed against the inner wall to tighten the assembly against the gutter. The first and second mounting portions are parallel to one another. This apparatus suffers from the drawback that it can only be used with gutters having parallel walls. It must also be hooked over one of the gutter walls and can therefore be cumbersome to use. JP2012031643 describes a bracket used to mount fall prevention railings to a roof. The bracket has arms which lodge against opposite indentations in the walls of the gutter and a spring-loaded arm which pushes against the underside edge of the roof to hold the bracket in place. This apparatus suffers from the drawback that it is relatively complicated to set up and requires gutters to have indentations in the opposite walls to enable the apparatus to be rigidly held in place. US1392966A describes an adjustable brace used to attach guttering to a roof. However, no means for supporting a handrail for fall protection is described. EP3597839B1 describes a fall prevention device that can be mounted between the rafters of roofing. The apparatus comprises an adjustable bracket having two ends which are screwed into parallel roofing rafters. A post with an eyelet for a rope to be used for safety extends from the bracket. This apparatus suffers from the drawback that it is not adjustable to be used with different types of guttering. A Preferred embodiment of the present disclosure seeks to overcome the above mentioned disadvantages of the prior art. According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an assembly for connecting a structural element to a gutter, the assembly comprising: a bracket assembly of adjustable length; a first attachment member disposed at a first end of the bracket assembly for attaching the bracket assembly to a first inner wall of a gutter in use; a second attachment member disposed at a second end of the bracket assembly for attaching the bracket assembly to a second inner wall of the gutter; a mounting member for attaching the bracket assembly to said structural element in use; and wherein the first and / or second attachment member is rotatable relative to said bracket assembly to enable the bracket assembly to be mounted in different gutters having different angles formed between said first and second inner walls . By providing means to connect a structural element directly to a gutter that is easily adjustable in length and therefore can be fitted to gutters of different size, this provides the advantage of enabling a hand rail or barrier to be mounted to a building under construction at roof level without the need to leave areas of wall cladding, soffits and facias uninstalled so that the barrier and / or hand rail can be attached to the structural steel frame. This significantly reduces the cost and complexity of construction whilst providing a means of preventing falls from height for construction workers. By providing a first and / or second attachment member that is rotatable relative to said bracket assembly, this provides the advantage that the bracket assembly can be mounted to gutters having varying angular relationships between the walls of the gutter. The bracket assembly may further be telescopic. This provides the advantage of a compact means of enabling adjustment of length. The bracket assembly may further comprise a locking assembly to prevent a change of length of the bracket assembly. The said first and / or second attachment member may further comprise a plate. Furthermore, the first and / or second attachment member may comprise at least one aperture formed through said plate for receiving a fastener. The mounting member may be a tube. This provides the advantage of enabling the apparatus to be readily mounted to scaffolding to simplify construction of a fall protection assembly. According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an assembly comprising an apparatus as defined above; and at least one fastener. According to a further aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a barrier, handrail or railing assembly mounted to a gutter of a building, the assembly comprising: at least one apparatus as defined above; and at least one structural element forming part of a barrier, handrail or railing mounted to a gutter in use by use of said at least one apparatus. According to a yet further aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for attaching a structural element to a gutter, the method comprising: mounting an apparatus as defined above in a gutter; and connecting a structural element to said mounting member. Preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described, by way of example only and not in any limitative sense, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side view of an apparatus embodying the present disclosure for connecting structural elements to a gutter; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the apparatus of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a front view of the apparatus of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a side view of the apparatus of Figure 1 shown mounted to a gutter and structural elements, the gutter being shown in cross section; Figure 5 is a perspective view corresponding to Figure 4; Figure 6 is a close-up perspective view of a tube for mounting to structural elements; Figure 7 is a perspective view of the apparatus of Figure 1 showing the locking mechanism in detail; Figure 8 is a perspective view of the apparatus of Figure 1 shown connected to a gutter and structural elements; Figure 9 is a perspective view corresponding to Figure 8 in which two apparatus are shown connected to guttering and structural elements; and Figure 10 is a side view of an alternative embodiment for connecting to valley guttering. Referring to Figures 1 to 9, apparatus 2 for connecting a structural element 3 to a gutter 1 is shown. The term structural element should be understood to include parts of barriers, railings and hand rails (also known as temporary edge protection for preventing falls from height) and also includes anything that can be mounted to enable a barrier or handrail to be provided on the outside of a building during construction such as parts of scaffolding. The term structural element should also be understood to include part of any assembly which may be desirable to be temporarily connected to the outside of a building, such as parts of walkways and other structures. Apparatus 2 comprises a bracket assembly 4 that is adjustable in length. The bracket assembly 4 comprises two hollow bodies 6 and 8 that are telescopic in nature, body 6 telescoping inside body 8. The apparatus has a first attachment member 10 at one end of the bracket assembly mounted to the end of the first hollow body 6. First attachment member 10 enables the apparatus to be mounted to a first inner wall 11 of the gutter. A second attachment member 12 is provided at a second end of the bracket assembly 4 at the end of the second hollow body 8 for attaching the apparatus to the second inner wall 13 of gutter 1. Apparatus 2 also comprises mounting member 14 for attachment to a structural element 3. Mounting member 14 comprises a plate 14a mounted to tube 14b for receiving a structural element 3. For the purposes of clarity, tube 14b is not shown in some drawings. Use of a tube 14b simplifies construction of a handrail / fall protection assembly from scaffolding because all the user needs to do is set the assemblies 2 in place in a gutter and drop vertical scaffolding elements 3 into tubes 14b. First attachment member 10 is rotatable about an end of hollow body 6 to enable attachment to different gutter geometries. For example, first inner wall 11 and second inner wall 13 define an acute angle relative to one another and this is accommodated by first attachment member 10. However, if first and second inner walls 11 and 13 were parallel to one another, first attachment member could be rotated about hollow body 6 to enable the assembly to be used in parallel walled gutters. A bolt 16 enables the orientation of first attachment member 10 to be locked. In the alternative embodiment of Figure 10, apparatus 102 comprises bracket assembly 104 having both first 110 and second 112 attachment members which rotatable to facilitate mounting to a valley gutter . Referring to Figure 7, a locking assembly 18 comprises a bolt 20 projecting through longitudinal slot 22 formed in body 8 and projecting through a corresponding slot in body 6. When tightened, bolt 20 locks the length of assembly 4 and the extent to which hollow body 6 projects out of hollow body 8 to enable the length of the assembly for to be adjusted to fit into different sizes of guttering. To connect the first 10 and second 20 attachment members to gutter 1, apertures 24 are formed through attachment members 10, 12 to receive fasteners such as captive rivnuts 26 and rigidly connect the attachment members 12 and 14 to gutter 1. Referring to Figures 4 and 7 to 9, the use of apparatus 2 to mount a structural element 3 to gutter 1 will now be described. Apparatus 2 is placed inside gutter 1 at a position in which a structural element 3 is required. The length of assembly 4 is set such that first and second attachment members 10, 12 contact the inner walls 11 and 13 of gutter 1. Bolt 20 is then tightened to lock the length of bracket assembly 4. Fasteners such as captive rivnuts 26 are then placed through apertures 24 to mount the apparatus to the gutter 1. A structural elements 3 can then be placed into tube 14b and the structural elements 3 built up to provide handrail 5 or a barrier . It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the above embodiment has been described by way of example only and not in any limitative sense, and that various alterations and modifications are possible without departure from the scope of protection as defined by the appended claims. In particular, the assembly 4 does not have to be telescopic. Hollow bodies 6 and 8 could be mounted side by side and interconnected by a rail to enable length adjustment. Also, 5 structural element 3 does not have to be connected to the assembly by way of tube 14b and other methods for this will be readily apparent to the skilled person.

Claims

1. An apparatus for connecting a structural element to a gutter, the apparatus comprising:a bracket assembly of adjustable length;a first attachment member disposed at a first end of the bracket assembly for attaching the bracket assembly to a first inner wall of a gutter in use;a second attachment member disposed at a second end of the bracket assembly for attaching the bracket assembly to a second inner wall of the gutter;a mounting member for attaching the bracket assembly to said structural element in use; andwherein the first and / or second attachment member is rotatable relative to said bracket assembly to enable the bracket assembly to be mounted in different gutters having different angles formed between said first and second inner walls .

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the bracket assembly is telescopic.

3. An apparatus according to claim any of the proceeding claims, further comprising a locking assembly to prevent a change of length of the bracket assembly.

4. An apparatus according to any one of the proceeding claims, wherein said first and / or second attachment member comprises a plate.

5. An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the first and / or second attachment member comprises at least one aperture formed through said plate for receiving a fastener.

6. An apparatus according to anyone of the proceeding claims, wherein the mounting member is a tube.

7. An assembly comprising an apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims; andat least one fastener.

8. A barrier, handrail or railing assembly mounted to a gutter of a building, the assembly comprising:at least one apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6; andat least one structural element forming part of a barrier, handrail or railing mounted to a gutter in use by use of said at least one apparatus.

9. A method for attaching a structural element to a gutter, the method comprising:mounting an apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6 in a gutter; andconnecting a structural element to said mounting member.

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