Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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BUILDING ROOF EAVE MOUNTING GUARD STRUCTURES
Field of the Invention
This invention provides a new building roof eave
mounting guard structure member, and new building roof eave
mounting guard structures employing such members. The
invention also provides a new building roof eave mounting
catch and guard structure member, and new building roof eave
mounting catch and guard structures employing such members.
Review of the Prior Art
When working on building roofs for the purposes of,
for example, repairing shingles and removing and replacing
shingles, it is desirable to provide some means at the eaves
to support the workers and to guard against the possibility of
accidentally falling or sliding from the roof to the ground
below. The installation of new shingles produces a certain
l5amount of debris, such as dropped nails, broken and part
shingles, and it is desirable to ensure that these are
gathered easily at specific locations and do not drop to the
ground. It is also desirable during the removal of old
shingles to gather them in a convenient location or locations
20where they do not fall randomly to the ground, and from which
they can conveniently and quickly be loaded onto a transport
for disposal.
It is common of course in all phases of building
construction and repair to use various forms of safety and
25supply scaffold which may be, for example, supported on
brackets attached to the building, mounted on ladders, or
directly mounted on the ground. The use of ladders is not
favoured, since it difficult to provide a safe effective
structure, while if the scaffold is directly supported from
30the ground substantial construction is usually required to
raise the scaffold high enough. Much time and effort is
usually required in building the scaffold to the proper
height, adding considerably to the cost and time taken in
completing the job.
35 It has been proposed in the past therefore to
support the scaffold directly from the roof by means of
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brackets attached to the roof. A typical example of a roof
supported scaffold employing such brackets is that shown in
U.S. Patent Serial No.1,558,425, the brackets being spiked to
the roof with the scaffold pinned onto the brackets to adapt
to various roof pitches. The structure disclosed does not
permit access to the whole of the roof edge since the brackets
and~the attachment of the support structure interferes with
the surface of the roof near the edge. Alternative
arrangements are illustrated in U.S. Patents Serial
Nos.3,158,223 and 4,074,792, both of which show a scaffold
supported from the roof, but in which the supports are not
attached to the roof, but merely maintain their position by
frictional engagement with the roof; in the structure
disclosed in the latter patent such frictional engagement may
be supplemented by the use of prongs.
A further roof-supported scaffold structure is
disclosed in U.S. Patent Serial No. 4,957,185, comprising a
roof cleat that is removably nailed to the roof surface and
has a hooked end plate pivoted at its lower end about a
horizontal axis. The cleat is installed with the hooked end
plate hanging over the roof edge and a vertically extending
bracket member is hooked onto it so as to be pivotable about
an axis parallel to the roof eave. The part of the bracket
member that actually engages the end plate extends above the
roof edge and is inclined to the vertical away from the roof,
forming a support for a plank constituting a safety foot rest
for the roofer. The majority of the vertical bracket member
extends a considerable distance below the roof edge and
telescopes vertically so that its length can be adjusted; it
has at its lower end a horizontally extending member that also
telescopes for its length to be adjustable. The inner end of
the horizontal member engages the building wall, while its
outer end protrudes beyond the vertical bracket member part
and supports a horizontal support plank on which the roofer
can stand at the side of the building; the outer end also
supports parallel to the building wall a safety rail disposed
a suitable distance above the support plank. The length of
the horizontal member is adjusted with the bracket member
pivoting about the pivot axis with the roof cleat until the
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vertical bracket member is truly vertical and the support
plank is truly horizontal.
Summary of the Invention
It is a principal object of the invention to
provide a new building roof eave mounting guard structure
member, and new building roof eave mounting catch structures
employing such members.
It is another object to provide a new building roof
eave mounting catch and guard structure member, and new
building roof eave mounting catch and guard structures
employing such members.
It is a further object to provide such a structure
member and associated structures that are simple and
inexpensive both to manufacture and to install, assisting in
ensuring that they will be used by roofers, especially with
relatively small jobs where cost is a prime consideration.
In accordance with the invention there is provided a
building roof eave mounting guard structure member for
installation at the edge of a building roof eave comprising:
a roof cleat comprising a flat apertured metal plate
removably fastenable to the roof by at least one nail passing
through respective plate apertures into the roof;
the roof cleat having at its end that is its lower
end when it is fastened to the roof, at least one hinge
aperture for the reception of a hinge pin to form a hinge
pivotable about a hinge axis parallel to the eaves
an elongated support member which when the structure
member is installed extends vertically above and below the
eave, the support member having at a junction portion thereof
along its length at least one hinge aperture cooperating with
the roof cleat hinge aperture and the hinge pin to form said
hinge;
the portion of the support member which when it is
installed extends below the eave being a shorter portion
thereof, and having thereon a generally horizontally extending
member engagable with the building structure below the roof
line, for example with a rafter tail (the end of a rafter) or
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with the fascia board, to retain the support member in a
vertical attitude;
the portion of the support member which when it is
installed extends above the eave being a longer portion
thereof, and comprising when so installed an outward upward
inclined shorter part extending from the junction portion, and
a vertical longer part extending from the inclined shorter
part to the end of the longer portion;
a toe board retainer member mounted on the inclined
shorter part for retention thereon in an inclined attitude of
a horizontally extending toe board; and
at least two back rail support members mounted on
the vertical longer part for retention of respective
horizontally extending elongated back rail supports thereon.
Also in accordance with the invention there is
provided a building roof eave mounting guard structure for
installation at the edge of a building roof eave comprising:
a plurality of horizontally spaced roof cleats, each
as specified in the preceding paragraph;
a corresponding plurality of horizontally spaced
elongated support members, one for each roof cleat, and each
as specified in the preceding paragraph;
a horizontally extending inclined toe board mounted
thereon; and
at least two back rail support members mounted
thereon.
The structure member may comprise a catch board
retainer member mounted on the vertical longer part adjacent
to the inclined shorter part for retention thereon in a
vertical attitude of a horizontally extending catch board,
whereby the toe and catch boards can cooperate together to
provide a catch space for debris. Such a catch board
retainer member may be mounted for longitudinal movement for
adjustment to accommodate catch boards of different widths,
and it may accommodate two catch boards placed face-to-face to
permit overlap of end junctions between two immediately
succeeding boards.
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The toe board retainer member may be mounted for
longitudinal movement for adjustment to accommodate toe boards
of different widths, and the member may accommodate two toe
boards placed face-to-face to permit overlap of end junctions
between two immediately succeeding adjacent boards.
Each support member may comprise a safety strap
retainer member mounted on the underside of the shorter
portion, this member receiving a metal safety strap that
extends longitudinally beneath a respective toe board for
engagement by the toe board upon any excessive sag thereof
downward.
The member engagable with the building wall may be
of adjustable length for adjustment of the vertical attitude
of the support member, and it may terminate in a pressure pad
of increased surface area engaging the building structure
(e.g. rafter tail), being connected to the pressure pad by a
hinge pivotal about an axis parallel to the eave.
Each back rail support member may be a closed loop
member in which the elongated back rail support is inserted
endwise, and each loop member may accommodate two elongated
back rail supports placed face-to-face to permit overlap of
end junctions between two immediately succeeding supports.
Description of the Drawings
Building roof eave mounted catch and guard
structures which are particular preferred embodiments of the
invention will now be described, by way of example, with
reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, wherein:-
Figure 1 is a perspective view from below and to one
side showing a structure mounted at the edge of a building
roof eave, parts thereof being shown exploded and broken away
as necessary for better illustration;
Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view from above
of a cleat and adjacent portion of a support member to
illustrate in more detail the mode of attachment of the
structure to the roof; and
Figure 3 is a perspective view similar to Figure 1,
of a part of a structure which is another embodiment of the
invention. 5
Description of the Preferred Embodiments
Figure 1 illustrates a conventional wood frame roof
construction comprising spaced rafter frames 10, the
horizontally extending lower members of which protrude beyond
the vertical building wall 12 on which they rest. The outer
ends of these lower members are commonly referred to as the
rafter tails. The sloping members of the frames are covered
with wooden roof sheathing 14, moisture resistant building
paper sheathing (not shown), and overlapping rows of shingles
1016. A fascia board 18 is fastened to the outer ends of the
rafter frames, while the spaces between the protruding ends
are closed by soffit sheathing (also not shown). The usual
procedure is to lay a single row of a double layer of shingles
at the extreme lower edge of the roof, and thereafter to lay
l5successive rows of single layers.
In using the structure members and the structures of
the invention the first step is to attach a plurality of
horizontally spaced roof cleats 20 to the roof, each of which
comprises a flat elongated metal plate of appropriate
20thickness. Each cleat is provided with a plurality (five in
this embodiment) of parallel downward inclined spike or nail
receiving slots 22 that will permit ready removal of the cleat
at the end of the process by moving it upward, as will be
described below. Preferably these cleats are attached at
251ocations along the roof where the headed attaching nails 24
will pass through the sheathing 14 into the rafters to
maximize their holding power; for the same purpose the maximum
possible number of nails may be used. The slots 22 are
alternately shorter and longer in length so that the nails can
30be set in a staggered lengthwise pattern. The longer large
headed spiral galvanised nails normally used for roofing will
usually be satisfactory, especially since the load on the
nails is virtually solely in shear. If an established roof
is to be reshingled the shingles are torn away at the selected
35 locations so that the cleats can be nailed directly onto the
sheathing 14. The first row of shingles is then nailed down
over the top of the cleats.
Each cleat is provided at its lower end with a pair
of spaced hinge parts 26 providing coaxial horizontal passages
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receiving a hinge pin 28 to form a corresponding hinge having
its hinge axis parallel and close to the roof edge or eave.
Each roof cleat is used together with an elongated support
member, indicated generally by the arrowed reference 30, each
support member having at an intermediate junction portion 32
thereof a hinge part 34 that cooperates with the parts 26 and
pin 28 to form the hinge. The hinge part 34 is welded to the
support member with a strengthening gusset 36, and a pin
retainer 38 is provided to ensure that the pin cannot
accidentally be withdrawn from the hinge.
The support member 30 has a shorter portion 40
extending below the roof eave, and a much longer portion
extending above the roof eave, this longer portion comprising
a shorter part 42a extending from the junction portion and
inclined outward and upward at a suitable shallow angle to the
horizontal, and a vertically extending longer part 42b
extending from the inclined portion. The inclined shorter
part 42a has a sleeve 44 mounted thereon for sliding movement
towards and away from the roof, this sleeve carrying a toe
board retainer 46 that engages around the adjacent edges of a
pair of horizontally extending cooperating toe boards 48
against which the roofer's feet can be braced. This sliding
mounting of the retainer permits its adjustment to receive and
retain boards of different widths, in accordance with the
roofer's preference or availability. Also the size of the
retainer is such that it can accommodate two wood boards of
standard nominal thickness dimension face-to-face, for example
5cm (tins) thick, so that the joints between immediately
successive boards can be overlapped. Once the toe boards are
placed in position the retainers are held in place by
respective clamp screws 50.
In this embodiment the vertically extending part 42b
has a similar sleeve 52 mounted thereon for vertical sliding
movement, this sleeve carrying a catch board retainer 54 that
engages around the adjacent edges of a pair of cooperating
horizontally extending catch boards 56 which can butt against
the toe boards and cooperate with them to form a horizontally
extending catch space into which debris, such as discarded
shingles, shingle parts, building paper, and nails can fall
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and will be retained against falling to the ground until they
are removed for disposal. As with the toe board retainer its
adjustable mounting permits it to accommodate boards of
different standard nominal width dimension face-to-face, of
width decided by the roofer, while its size permits it to
accommodate boards of different standard nominal thickness
dimension face-to-face, so that again the joints between
immediately successive boards can be overlapped. Moreover,
the retainer allows the two boards to slide in their face-to-
lOface engagement so that they can more fully close the wedge-
shaped gap between the vertical part 42b and the adjacent
edges of the toe boards. Once the boards are in position the
retainers are held securely in place by respective screws 58.
The upper end of the part 42b is provided with two
l5vertically spaced outwardly extending back rail support
members 60 consisting of closed metal loops welded to the
part; each loop receives a pair of horizontally extending back
support boards 61 that are threaded endwise through the loops.
As with the toe and catch board retainers the loop sizes
20permit them to receive two wood boards of standard dimensions
face-to-face, for example nominal 5cm by lOcm (tins by 4ins),
so that again the joints between immediately successive boards
can be overlapped. It is a requirement in a number of
building safety codes to provide at least two such vertically
25spaced back supports, so that the use of less than two is
unlikely, while more than two can of course be provided.
In a basic particularly economical structure only a
toe board and the back rails are provided, but it will be seen
that in this embodiment comprising a catch board and two
30vertically spaced back boards they cooperate with one another
to provide a very effective safety barrier against falling
from the roof in case the roofer should slip, with a structure
that is otherwise relatively simple and inexpensive to
manufacture, and simple, fast and inexpensive to install.
35 With this embodiment, once each support member is
attached to its respective cleat, if the support member is too
much out of vertical it can be moved to a sufficiently
vertical attitude by operation of an adjusting assembly
comprising a pressure plate 62 having hinge pin housings 64 on
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its outer face, these housings receiving the head of a T-
shaped horizontally extending member 66, the head comprising a
hinge pin so that the member is hinged to the plate about a
horizontal hinge axis. The foot of the member 66 is screw-
s threaded and passes through a housing 68 attached securely to
the bottom end of the shorter part 42a, and an adjusting nut
70 is fastened to the inner end of the housing 68, for example
by welding. The pressure plate 68 butts against the fascia
board 18, and with the cleats in their preferred locations
nailed through into the rafters each pressure plate will, as
illustrated, automatically be located in its preferred
position at the respective rafter tail. The inclination of
the support member to the vertical is adjusted by adjustment
of the effective length of the foot of the member 66, and in
this embodiment this is done by rotating the pressure plate
and the attached T-shaped member in the appropriate direction
in the fixed nut 70.
The face of the pressure plate that butts against
the building structure is provided with a plurality of spaced,
Parallel ridges 72 that are usually positioned to be at least
approximately horizontal, so that they can assist in
preventing slippage due to any outward force on the upper part
of the support member. Even with a pressure plate it is
preferred that the plate contacts the building structure at or
as close as possible to a respective rafter tail, and the use
of a pressure plate is preferred because of the relatively
long leverage resulting from the substantial difference in
lengths between the parts of the support member above and
below the roof line. The hinge accommodates the resulting
changes in the engagement of the plate with the T-shaped
member 66. With this adjustment made and all of the parts of
the structure in place the roofer is able to proceed with
stripping shingles from the roof, and/or placing new shingles,
with the knowledge that debris will not easily fall to the
ground, and that an excellent safety structure has also been
provided in case of an accidental fall or downward slide on
the roof .
In a more basic structure, such as the one described
above, in order to reduce cost an adjustment assembly is not
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provided and the pressure plate is attached fixedly to the
shorter part 42a, the roofer depending upon suitable location
of the cleat member and the hinge axis in relation to the roof
edge for the structure to be sufficiently upright; in practice
a small deviation from the truly vertical in either direction
is tolerable.
At the conclusion of the job the structure is easily
disassembled by removing the toe, catch and back boards and
then the hinge pins 28. As with its assembly, because of the
relatively small and convenient size of its parts, as compared
for example with ladders or ground mounted scaffolding, they
are easily handled and stored. The cleats 20 are readily
removed by pushing them upwards, hammering them if necessary,
when the nails slide in the inclined slots 22 until the cleats
are free of them; the cleats can then be slid out from beneath
the shingles and, if desired, the nails further hammered down
into the roof sheathing.
In a particular preferred embodiment the cleats are
of mild steel of 4.75mm thickness (0.187in), are 30cm (l2in)
20in length and are 3.8cm (l.5in) wide at the slotted part and
12.5cm (sins) wide at the hinge part. The hinge pin is
forged and is about l6cm (6.25ins) length and l.4cm (0.56in)
diameter. The support member is of H.S.S. seamless square
cross section steel tube of side lOcm (2.5ins). The shorter
25support portion 40 is of about 8.2cm (3.25ins) length, while
the pressure pad measures Sins by l.5in (7.5cm by 3.75cm).
The shorter upper part 42a is 31.25cm long (12.5ins); the
overall length of the upper portion 42b is 97.5cm (39ins) and
the distance between the two back rail support members 60 is
3040cm (l6ins) .
The embodiment illustrated by Figure 3 is intended
for use with toe boards 48 of standard width, and accordingly
the toe board retainer 46 is not adjustable and is welded in
place. For maximum safety the toe boards 48 should be of new
35or nearly new structural grade lumber, but there is the
possibility that the roofer will instead use any lumber that
is readily available, which may not be of adequate grade
and/or may have become weakened by aging, weathering and use.
This embodiment takes account of this possibility by the
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provision on the underside of the shorter part 42a of a metal
U-shaped bracket 7$4 welded to the part, comprising a safety
strap retainer member which can receive two overlapping
bridging safety straps 7~6 that extend lengthwise beneath the
toe boards. If for any reason a toe board cracks or
otherwise sags downward excessively it engages the respective
safety strap and cannot break catastrophically. When the
spacing of the adjacent support members has been set and the
straps are in position with the necessary overlap they are
secured against lengthwise movement by a clamp screw 7~. A
suitable material for the safety straps is, for example, mild
steel of 4.7mm (0.187in) thickness and 3.75cm (l. Sin) width.
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