Sustaining device for a beam, preferably of a suspended structure, and method for using it

Abstract

Sustaining device (10) for sustaining a beam, for example of a suspended structure for safely carrying out work on a building construction. The sustaining device (10) comprises a first sustaining element (13) and a second sustaining element (14) coupled together so that they can assume either an open position, in which they can be associated with a beam, or a closed position, in which they together define a cavity (21) with a substantially rectangular shape inside which a beam can be housed.

Description

[0001] SUSTAINING DEVICE FOR A BEAM, PREFERABLY OF A SUSPENDED STRUCTURE, AND METHOD FOR USING IT

[0002] FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The present invention’s scope of application is that of suspended structures for carrying out any type of work whatsoever, for example maintenance, construction, or completion and installation of systems and services, on building constructions in general and on their elevated parts in particular. Specifically, the present invention concerns both a sustaining device for a beam, preferably configured to support resting elements that define a walkable surface of a suspended structure, and also a method for using it.

[0004] BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0005] To carry out maintenance work, or completion and installation of systems and services on, or in correspondence with, the elevated parts, in the broadest sense, of building constructions as defined above, especially those of very large sizes, even of several thousand square meters, it’s not always possible or cost-effective to assemble scaffolding that starts from the ground and reaches the proximity of the ceilings, or other elevated parts, on which intervention is desired or required. Consider, for example, beams or scaffolding of viaducts, which are sometimes even a few hundred meters above the ground, or of bridges with spans ranging from a few tens of meters to a few kilometers in length, or road or motorway structures, such as tunnels, where it is necessary to intervene on their elevated parts, possibly without interrupting, even temporarily, vehicular traffic, sometimes even for long periods of time, measurable in months or years.

[0006] In these cases, it is known to create suspended structures resting on, or attached to, the same building construction on which any given maintenance is to be carried out or completed with the installation, for example in the soffit part or in proximity to the ceiling, of systems and services.

[0007] The same inventor of the present invention some time ago created a suspended structure which comprises support beams configured to support resting elements that define a walkable surface, as well as support elements that allow each of the beams to be sustained by a plurality of chains to be attached to the same elevated part of the building construction on which to intervene in order to carry out the aforementioned work.

[0008] One of the important aspects to create the aforementioned suspended structures is to supply those in charge of their assembly with very reliable sustaining devices, to be coupled to the aforementioned support beams and to be attached to the aforementioned support elements.

[0009] So far, very heavy sustaining devices have been used in the prior art, which are difficult to couple to the beams using mechanical coupling members such as bolts, clamps, or suchlike, making the attachment / detachment operations very long and difficult to carry out.

[0010] Other known sustaining devices, all having the disadvantages outlined above, are disclosed in patent documents US 9,718,649 B2, WO 2008 / 022368 Al and US 2018 / 135316 Al.

[0011] There is therefore the need to perfect a sustaining device for supporting support beams that can overcome at least one of the disadvantages of the state of the art.

[0012] To do this, it was first necessary to solve the technical problem of providing a sustaining device that is not only robust and capable of safely sustaining the beams and the loads bearing thereon and which are set forth by current regulations, but which is at the same time compact and easy to handle, allowing it to be easily coupled to and / or uncoupled from the beam to be sustained.

[0013] In particular, one purpose of the present invention is to provide a sustaining device for a beam, and to develop a method for using it, that are simple and reliable and do not require the use of external mechanical coupling members or special tools.

[0014] Another purpose of the present invention is to provide a sustaining device for a beam, and to develop a method for using it, wherein the time to carry out the operations to couple, or attach, the sustaining device to the beam, or their decoupling or detachment is shorter.

[0015] The Applicant has devised, tested and embodied the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art and to obtain these and other purposes and advantages.

[0016] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0017] The present invention is set forth and characterized in the independent claims. The dependent claims describe other characteristics of the present invention or variants to the main inventive idea.

[0018] In accordance with the above purposes and to solve the technical problem described above in a new and original way, also achieving considerable advantages compared to the state of the prior art, a sustaining device according to the present invention for sustaining a beam, for example and preferably of a suspended structure for safely carrying out work on a building construction, is configured to be removably connected to the beam so as to sustain it with respect to the building construction, and comprises a first sustaining element and a second sustaining element coupled together, for example pivoted, so that they can assume either an open position, in which they can be associated with the beam, or a closed position, in which they together define a cavity inside which the beam can be housed.

[0019] In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the sustaining device also comprises safety means configured to prevent the two sustaining elements from accidentally passing from the closed position to the open position.

[0020] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, when the two sustaining elements are in the closed position, the cavity has a substantially rectangular shape with its two larger sides parallel to a transverse axis, which during use is vertical and parallel to a median plane of the beam; moreover, the first sustaining element is shaped so as to be substantially C-shaped, in order to define both a first larger side of the two larger sides and also the two smaller sides of the cavity.

[0021] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the second sustaining element is shaped so as to have substantially the shape of an inverted L and is pivoted with a lower part thereof on a pin attached to a lower end of the first sustaining element in order to define, in the closed position, a second larger side of the two larger sides.

[0022] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the second sustaining element is pivoted on the pin so that, during use and in the open position, it remains positioned by gravity downward with respect to the same pin and substantially vertical, so that it is easily couplable laterally to the beam.

[0023] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the safety means comprise both a peg disposed transversely in an upper part of the first sustaining element, and also a through hole present in a free end of the second sustaining element and configured to accommodate the peg.

[0024] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the peg protrudes toward the outside of the first sustaining element by a little more than the thickness of the second sustaining element.

[0025] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the safety means also comprise both a slot present in an upper part of the first sustaining element and aligned with the median axis, and also a recess present in the free end of the second sustaining element and aligned with the slot when the two sustaining elements are in the closed position.

[0026] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a lifting shackle is preferably insertable in the slot.

[0027] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, in a lower part of the cavity there is disposed a cradle configured to act as a resting surface for a lower stringer of the beam.

[0028] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method for using a sustaining device according to the present invention comprises a first step in which the sustaining device, in the open position, preferably with the second sustaining element positioned downward with respect to the pin and in a substantially vertical position, is associated with the beam to be sustained, making the latter rest on the bottom of the cavity, and a second step in which the sustaining device is driven to bring it from the open position to the closed position and thus close the beam inside the cavity, wherein first the second sustaining element is rotated with respect to the pin, until the recess is aligned with the slot and the peg is inserted in the through hole, and then the possible lifting shackle is brought back into the upper part of the slot and of the recess.

[0029] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the method also comprises a third step in which, in order to remove the sustaining device from the beam, the sustaining device is made to pass from the closed position to the open position, first by lowering the possible lifting shackle inserted in the slot until it comes out of the recess, whilst keeping it in the lower part of the slot; then by tilting the second sustaining element with respect to the first sustaining element by a distance such as to disengage it from the peg; and finally by rotating the second sustaining element with respect to the pin until it is returned to the open position. DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] These and other aspects, characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description an embodiment, given as a non-restrictive example with reference to the attached drawings wherein:

[0031] - fig. 1 is a perspective view of some sustaining devices according to the present invention that sustain some beams of a suspended structure for carrying out work on a building construction;

[0032] - fig. 2 is a front view of a sustaining device according to the present invention, in a closed position;

[0033] - fig. 3 is a lateral view of the sustaining device of fig. 2;

[0034] - fig. 4 is an enlarged detail of fig. 3;

[0035] - fig. 5 is a three-dimensional view of the sustaining device of fig. 2 in a partly open position;

[0036] - fig. 6 is a front view of the sustaining device of fig. 2, but in a fully open position;

[0037] - fig. 7 is an image of the sustaining device of fig. 2, attached to a beam of the sustaining structure of fig. 1.

[0038] We must clarify that the phraseology and terminology used in the present description, as well as the figures in the attached drawings also in relation as to how described, have the sole function of better illustrating and explaining the present invention, their purpose being to provide a non-limiting example thereof, since the scope of protection is defined by the claims. We must also clarify that the drawings are not to scale.

[0039] To facilitate comprehension, the same reference numbers have been used, where possible, to identify identical common elements in the drawings.

[0040] DESCRIPTION OF SOME EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[0041] With reference to fig. 1, a sustaining device 10 according to the present invention is configured to sustain, or support, a beam 11, for example and preferably of a modular type suspended structure 12, usable to safely carry out work on a building construction and in particular on an elevated part thereof. For example, the suspended structure 12 and the beams 11 can be as described in the international patent application that the same Applicant filed at the same time as this application. Normally, the beam 11 has a substantially rectangular crosssection, rounded on at least one of its smaller sides. Some embodiments provide that the sustaining device 10 (figs, from 2 to 7) comprises a first sustaining element 13 consisting of a metal plate shaped so as to be substantially C-shaped, and a second sustaining element 14 also consisting of a metal plate, but shaped so as to have substantially the shape of an inverted L.

[0042] The plates constituting the two sustaining elements 13 and 14 are preferably made of steel, or aluminum, and have a thickness of about 6 mm.

[0043] In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the second sustaining element 14 is pivoted with a lower part 15 thereof on a pin 16 attached to a lower end 17 of the first sustaining element 13 so that, with respect to the latter, it can both rotate (figs. 5 and 6), as well as tilt by a few degrees (figs. 3 and 4) with respect to the plane on which the first sustaining element 13 lies, so that a free end 19 of the second sustaining element 14, hook-shaped (figs. 2, 5 and 6), can be spaced apart by a certain distance D (fig. 4), for example of about 15 mm, from an upper part 20 of the first sustaining element 13, for the reason that is explained further below.

[0044] The two sustaining elements 13 and 14 are configured to selectively assume either an open position (fig. 6), in which they can be associated with a beam 11 to be sustained, or a closed position (figs, from 2 to 4 and 7) in which they together define a cavity 21 (fig. 2) inside which a beam 11 can be safely housed with sufficient clearance.

[0045] When the two sustaining elements 13, 14 are in the closed position, the cavity 21 has a substantially rectangular shape with its larger sides 22 and 23 parallel to and equidistant from a transverse axis Y (fig. 2) that during use is vertical and parallel to a median plane of a beam 11 to be sustained.

[0046] In particular, the first sustaining element 13 defines both a first larger side 22 of the cavity 21 and also the two smaller sides 25 and 26 thereof, while the second sustaining element 15 defines only a second larger side 23 of the cavity 21. The sizes of the cavity 21 are consistent with, and slightly larger than, those of the cross-section of a beam 11 to be sustained. For example, if the beam 11 has a height of 250 mm and a width of 48.3 mm, the cavity 21 can have a height of about 340 mm and a width of about 56 mm.

[0047] On the lower part of the cavity 21 (figs. 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7) there is disposed a cradle 27 configured to act as a resting surface for a lower stringer of a beam 11. The cradle 27 is atached to the lower part of the first sustaining element 13 by means of a small bolt 28 (figs. 2 and 3), so that the cradle 27 itself can have a slight degree of freedom with respect to the first sustaining element 13.

[0048] In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the sustaining device 10 comprises safety means 29 (fig. 2) configured to prevent the two sustaining elements 13 and 14 from accidentally passing from the closed position to the open position.

[0049] The safety means 29 comprise both a peg 30 (figs, from 2 to 6) disposed transversely in the upper part 20 of the first sustaining element 13 and protruding outward by a litle more than the thickness of the second sustaining element 14 (figs. 3 and 4), and also a through hole 31 present in the free end 19 of the second sustaining element 14.

[0050] Furthermore, the safety means 29 comprise both a slot 32 (figs. 2, 5 and 6) present in the upper part 20 of the first sustaining element 13 and aligned with the median axis Y, and also a recess 33 present at the free end 19 of the second sustaining element 14 and aligned with the slot 32 when the two sustaining elements 13, 14 are in the closed position. A lifting shackle 35 of a known type is possibly, but preferably, insertable in the slot 32.

[0051] Thanks to the safety means 29, when the two sustaining elements 13 and 14 are in the closed position they cannot open accidentally, because the peg 30 is inserted in the through hole 31. Furthermore, during use, that is, when the sustaining device 10 sustains a beam 11 (fig. 7), the possible lifting shackle 35 is inserted both in the slot 32 and also in the recess 33, therefore there is a double safeguard that prevents the sustaining device 10 from opening accidentally.

[0052] The present invention also concerns the method for using the sustaining device 10 described above, which is also new and original and comprises a first step in which the sustaining device 10, in the open position (fig. 6), preferably with the second sustaining element 14 disposed below the pin 16 and in a substantially vertical position, is easily associated, for example laterally, with the beam 11 to be sustained, by making the latter’s lower stringer rest on the cradle 27. We must clarify that the second sustaining element 14, in its open position, remains by gravity positioned downward with respect to the pin 16 and substantially vertical, so that it is easily couplable laterally to the beam 11. In order to make the sustaining device 10 pass from its open to its closed position (figs, from 1 to 4 and 7), the method comprises a second step in which first the second sustaining element 14 is rotated with respect to the pin 16, for example clockwise with reference to fig. 6, until the recess 33 (fig. 2) is aligned with the slot 32 and the peg 30 is inserted in the through hole 31, and then the possible lifting shackle 35 is brought back into the upper part of the slot 32 and of the recess 33 (fig. 7), which in this position are once again aligned and partly coincident.

[0053] Conversely, to make the sustaining device 10 pass from its closed position to the open position (figs. 5 and 6), the method comprises a third step in which first the possible lifting shackle 35 inserted in the slot 32 is lowered until it comes out of the recess 33, whilst advantageously keeping it in the lower part of the slot 32; then the second sustaining element 14 is tilted with respect to the first sustaining element 13 by the distance D so as to disengage it from the peg 30 (dashed position in fig. 4); and finally the second sustaining element 14 is rotated with respect to the pin 16, for example counterclockwise with reference to figs. 5 and 6, for example by about 180°, so as to then laterally remove the sustaining device 10 from the beam 11.

[0054] We must clarify that the sustaining device 10 can be coupled to a beam 11 (fig. 7), or removed therefrom, without the need to unhook the possible lifting shackle 35 or to detach the corresponding tie rod to which the latter is attached, it being sufficient to loosen the tie rod.

[0055] We must clarify that, advantageously, the sustaining device 10 is very robust, because it can sustain loads of at least 20 kN with a 4: 1 safety coefficient, it is very simple and easy to use, coupling it to and / or decoupling it from a beam 11 without the aid of either external mechanical members, such as bolts or other, or particular tools, but simply thanks to the safety means 29.

[0056] It is clear that modifications and / or additions of parts and / or steps may be made to the sustaining device and to the method for using it as described heretofore, without thereby departing from the field and scope of the present invention, as defined by the claims.

[0057] It is also clear that, although the present invention has been described with reference to some specific examples, a person of skill in the art will be able to achieve other equivalent forms of sustaining devices and / or methods for using them, having the characteristics as set forth in the claims and hence all coming within the field of protection defined thereby.

[0058] In the following claims, the sole purpose of the references in brackets is to facilitate their reading and they must not be considered as restrictive factors with regard to the field of protection defined by the claims.

Claims

CLAIMS1. Sustaining device (10) for sustaining a beam (11), wherein said sustaining device (10) is configured to be removably connected to said beam (11) to sustain it, and comprises a first sustaining element (13) and a second sustaining element (14) coupled together so that they can assume either an open position, in which they can be associated with said beam (11), or a closed position, in which they together define a cavity (21) inside which said beam (11) can be housed, characterized in that it also comprises safety means (29) configured to prevent said two sustaining elements (13, 14) accidentally passing from said closed position to said open position, in that, when said two sustaining elements (13, 14) are in the closed position, said cavity (21) has a substantially rectangular shape with its two larger sides (22, 23) parallel to a transverse axis (Y), which during use is vertical and parallel to a median plane of said beam (11), and in that said first sustaining element (13) is shaped so as to be substantially C-shaped, in order to define both a first larger side (22) of said two larger sides (22, 23) and also the two smaller sides (25, 26) of said cavity (21), and in that said second sustaining element (14) is shaped so as to have substantially the shape of an inverted L and is pivoted with a lower part (15) thereof on a pin (16) attached to a lower end (17) of said first sustaining element (13) in order to define, in said closed position, a second larger side (23) of said two larger sides (22, 23).

2. Sustaining device (10) as in claim 1, characterized in that said second sustaining element (14) is pivoted on said pin (16) so that, during use and in said open position, it remains positioned by gravity downward with respect to the same pin (16) and vertical, so that it is easily couplable laterally to said beam (11).

3. Sustaining device (10) as in any claim hereinbefore, characterized in that said safety means (29) comprise both a peg (30) disposed transversely in an upper part (20) of said first sustaining element (13), and also a through hole (31) present in a free end (19) of said second sustaining element (14) and configured to accommodate said peg (30).

4. Sustaining device (10) as in claim 3, characterized in that said peg (30) protrudes toward the outside of said first sustaining element (13) by a little more than the thickness of said second sustaining element (14).

5. Sustaining device (10) as in claim 3 or 4, characterized in that said safetymeans (29) also comprise both a slot (32) present in an upper part (20) of said first sustaining element (13) and aligned with said transverse axis (Y), and also a recess (33) present in said free end (19) of said second sustaining element (14) and aligned with said slot (32) when said two sustaining elements (13, 14) are in said closed position.

6. Sustaining device (10) as in claim 5, characterized in that a lifting shackle (35) is preferably insertable in said slot (32).

7. Sustaining device (10) as in any claim hereinbefore, characterized in that in a lower part of said cavity (21) there is disposed a cradle (27) configured to act as a resting surface for a lower stringer of said beam (11).

8. Method for using a sustaining device (10) as in claim 5 or 6, characterized in that it comprises a first step in which said sustaining device (10), in said open position, is associated with said beam (11) to be sustained, making the latter rest on the bottom of said cavity (21), and a second step in which said sustaining device (10) is driven to bring it from said open position to said closed position and thus close said beam (11) inside said cavity (21), wherein first said second sustaining element (14) is rotated with respect to said pin (16), until said recess (33) is aligned with said slot (32) and said peg (30) is inserted in said through hole (31), and then said possible lifting shackle (35) is brought back into the upper part of said slot (32) and of said recess (33).

9. Method as in claim 8, characterized in that it also comprises a third step in which, in order to remove said sustaining device (10) from said beam (11), said sustaining device (10) is made to pass from said closed position to said open position, first by lowering said possible lifting shackle (35) inserted in said slot (32) until it comes out of said recess (33), whilst keeping it in the lower part of said slot (32); then by tilting said second sustaining element (14) with respect to the first sustaining element (13) by a distance (D) such as to disengage it from said peg (30); and finally by rotating said second sustaining element (14) with respect to said pin (16) until it is returned to said open position.

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