US2315516A - Removable stanchion for protective railings - Google Patents

Description

M. GRAY April 6, 1943.

REMOVABLE STANCHIONS FOR PROTECTIVE RAILINGS Filed April 6, 1942 Marsha/l Gray Patented Apr. 6, 1943 2,315,5lii

REMOVABLE STANCHION FORI PRUTECTEVE RAILING'S Marshall Gray, St. Louis, Mo.

Application April 6, 1942, Serial No. 437,753

(Cl. E56-l) (Granted under the act of March 3, 1383, as

amended April 30, 1928K; 370 O. G. '757) 4 Claims.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to protective railing for use on a surface and more particularly it is directed to removable stanchions for the protective railing.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a protective railing including removable stanehions adapted to be easily and quickly raised out of a surface into an operative position for supporting a rail member, and easily and quickly lowered into an inoperative position within the surface.

Another object of the invention is to provide casings adapted to be placed at spaced points below a surface, and stanchions for the protec tive railing removably mounted in the casings, said stanchions adapted to be rigidly supported in an operative position on the casings above the surface.

The present invention is directed particularly to removable stanchions which may be easily and quickly positioned in an operative position on boats for providing supports for a life-line to protect the employees on a deck from the danger of falling orf, and which, during loading operations may be easily and quickly placed in an inoperative position so as not to interfere with the loading devices. Some other applications of the invention may be on transportation barges where it is desirable to allocate certain areas to certain types of commodities, also on buildings and wharves for temporarily allocating certain areas and providing safety railing on walls, bridges, dams, and highways or the like.

Briefly stated, the improved invention com' prises casings adapted to be mounted in openings provided at spaced points within a floor or other surface, with the upper ends of the oasings being provided with hanged rings which are suitably secured to the lower inner surface of the door around the openings, stanchions adapted to be lowered into and slidably mounted on the covers removably mounted on the upper ends of the stanchions and adapted to fit into said openings, with the upper surfaces of the covers being ush with the floor, whereby when the stanchions are lowered into the casings no obstruction is provided in the floor, said stanchiens adapted to be raised substantially out of the casings and detachably locked in a raised or operative position for supporting chains forming the protective railing of the invention, said chains being adapted to be detachably connected between the covers on the upper ends of the stanchiens when forming the protective railing and to be placed in the stanchions and lowered therewith into the casings when not in use.

With the above and other objects and adfvann tages in View, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction and operation of parts, as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the specication, draw ing, and claims appended hereto.

In the drawing, which illustrates an embodiment of the invention, and wherein like reference characters are used to designate like parts:

Fig. l is a fragmentary side elevation, partly in section, of a pair of casings mounted beneath a surface and illustrating the stanchions in a raised locked position on the casings, with a chain forming the protective railing removably connected between the covers on the upper ends of the stanchions;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective View, partly in section, of one of the casings having a stanchion lowered therein and illustrating the manner of supporting a chain within the stanchion when not in use, with the cover on the upper end of the stanchion fitted into an opening in the iloor and being flush with the upper surface of the floor, thereby eliminating any obstruction thereon;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view illustrating the stanchion, being partially raised out of the casing, with the cover on the upper end of the stanchion removed therefrom and having a chain detachably connected thereto;

Fig. Il is an enlarged fragmentary perspective View of the stanchion placed in a raised locked position on the casing and showing the cover mounted on the upper end of the stanchion, with a rail member connected thereto.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, i designates the deck of a boat or other surface, such as a floor, pier, wall, wharf, or highway, where it is desired to have a removable protective railing. The deck l has openings or apertures 2 formed therein at spaced intervals apart, and flanged rings 3 secured in any suitable manner to the inner lower surface thereof beneath apertures E as illustrated in l. Each flanged ring 3 has an internal diameter less than the diameter of an aperture 2, and has a sleeve or casing t threadedly connected at its upper end thereto, as more particularly illustrated in Fig. 4.

The sleeves or casings fl depend downwardly from the hanged rings 3, concentric with the apertures 2 in the deck I, and are closed at their lower ends by caps 5, each of which caps 5 is provided with a removable plug 6 for permitting any uid in the sleeves to be drained therefrom should they extend into the hull of a boat. A collar I having suitably spaced, vertically extending grooves or slots 'I' is fitted within each of the upper ends of the sleeves 4, with the upper surface of the collar 'I being flush with the upper end of a sleeve and with the upper surface of a flanged ring 3, whereby a seat 8 is provided beneath each of the apertures 2 in which a top portion 9 on a cover I0 is adapted to seat.

Slidably mounted on the collars 'I on the upper ends of the sleeves 4 are stanchions II which are adapted to be lowered into the sleeves, said sleeves being made of a suitable length for receiving the sliding stanchions. The stanchions II are in the form of tubes having outer diameters which are less than the inner diameters of the sleeves and the stanchions are closed at their lower vends by plates I2 and have stop rings I3 provided thereon adjacent to the bottom plates. The bottom plates I2 and stop rings I3 have suiiicient diameters to abut slidably against the inner surfaces of the sleeves, whereby they act as guides during the raising or lowering of the stanchions on the sleeves. Adjacent to the upper surfaces of the vstop rings I3 are vertically extending lugs I4 which are suitably secured and arranged in spaced formation around the outer circumferential surfaces of the stanchions. The outer surfaces of the lugs I4 are beveled downwardly and outwardly, with the lower ends of the lugs spaced from the upper surfaces of the stop rings I3 a distance at least equal to the thickness of the collars 'I for a purpose which will hereinafter appear.

The removable covers I each have a short tubular extension I5 projecting downwardly therefrom, which tubular extension I5 is adapted to slidably t within the upper end of a stanchion. The lower end of the tubular extension I5 on a cover is provided with a transversely eX- tending anchor rod I6, to which a snap hook I'I, provided on one end of a chain or cable I8 forming the protective railing of the invention, is adapted to be detachably connected when the chain I8 is not in use, said chain I8 being adapted to be stored in a stanchion II as illustrated in Fig. 2. The diameters of the top portions 9 on the removable covers I0 are substantially the same as the diameters of the apertures 2 and are of substantially the same thickness as the deck or other surface I, whereby when the stanchions II are mounted in the sleeves 4, the top portions 9 on the removable covers III are ush with the deck and form no obstruction thereon. Hand gripping portions I9 are provided on the top portions 9 for removing the covers IGI from the upper ends of the stanchions II and transversely extending bolts 24 are mounted on the lower ends of the sleeves 4. The bolts 2/1 provide rests for the stanchions I I when lowered into inoperative positions within the sleeves.

Assuming that the stanchions I I, including the chain I8 forming a part of the protective railing of the invention as illustrated in Fig. 1, have been lowered into inoperative positions within the sleeves 4 with the stanchions II resting on the bolts 25, and with the top portions 9 on the cover members I0 fitted into the apertures 2, flush with the surface I as illustrated in Fig. 2, and it is desired to easily and quickly form a protective railing on the surface, a cover I0 is first removed from the upper end of a stanchion by pulling upwardly on the cover by means of the hand gripping portion IS until the chain I8 is removed from within the stanchion, which chain I8 is then removed from the anchor rod I6 on the tubular extension I5 of the cover by means of the snap hook II.

The snap hook II on one end of the chain I8 is then caused to engage either of the holds 25 provided in the upper end of a stanchion and the stanchion is pulled upwardly by means of the chain I8, which causes the stanchion to be slidably raised in a sleeve, with the lugs I4 on the stanchion sliding up in the grooves 'I' in a collar I on the upper end of the sleeve. The stop rings I3 on the stanchions II prevent the stanchions from rising above a desired point on the sleeves by abutting against the lower surfaces of the collars '1. The stanchions II are then each given a quarter turn which causes the lugs I4 to become out of alinement with the grooves 'I' in the collars "I and to cause the lower ends of the lugs to rest on the upper surfaces of the collars, thereby preventing the stanchions from going back into the sleeves, with the bottom plates I2 acting as stabilizers for the stanchions. The cover members I@ are then mounted on the upper ends of the stanchions and the chain I8 is connected between the covers Ii) on the stanchions by means of the snap hooks I'I and I1 which are caused to engage in holes 2B formed in the top portions 9 on the cover members Iii. Lugs 2l are provided on the cover members Iii, which lugs 2l are adapted to t into slots Z2 formed in the upper ends of the stanchions, thus preventing the cover members from turning on the sleeves when the chain i8 is connected therebetween. A coiled tension spring 23 may be provided on the chain I8 to keep it taut between the stanchions II.

When it is desired to remove the protective railing and return the stanchions II into the sleeves 4, the chain I8 is disconnected from the top portions 9 of the covers I!! between the stanchions and one end of the chain is detachably connected to the anchor rod Iii on a cover Ii). The chain is then placed inside of a sleeve and the covers I0 are mounted on the upper ends of the stanchions, after which the stanchions are lowered into the sleeves with the lower ends thereof resting on the bolts 24 on the lower ends of the sleeves and with the top portions 9 of the covers I0 tting into the openings 2 ush with the surface I thereby preventing any obstruction on the surface.

It will thus be seen that there is provided herein a novel and efcient form of protective railing which is well adapted for all of the purposes indicated. Even though there has been herein shown and described certain features of construction and operation of parts, it is nevertheless to be understood that various changes may be made therein if the changes do not depart from the spirit or scope of the claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and wish to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a protective railing for a surface comprising a plurality of tubular casings mounted at spaced point-s in said surface, collars containing grooves provided on said casings, stanchions slid ably mounted on said collars and adapted to be lowered into inoperative positions within and to be raised to operative positions on said casings, lugs provided on said stanchions, said lugs adapted to pass through said grooves in said collars upon the raising of said stanchions, to operative positions on said casings, said stanchions adapted to be rotated on said casings for moving said lugs out of alinement with said grooves, whereby the stanchions are held from returning to said casings, and a rail member connected between said stanchions.

2. In a protective railing for a surface comprising a plurality of tubular casings mounted at spaced points in said surface, collars mounted in the upper ends of said casings, stanchions slid ably mounted on said collars and adapted to be lowered into inoperative positions within and to be raised to operative positions on said casings, stop rings provided on said stanchions and coacting with said collars for limiting the amount of raising of said stanchions on said casings, means for detachably locking said stanchions in operative positions on said casings, removable covers closing the upper ends of said stanchions, and a rail member connected between said covers.

3. In a protective railing for a surface comprising a plurality of tubular casings closed at their lower ends and mounted at spaced points in said surface, tubular stanchions slidably mounted Within and adapted to be raised to operative positions on said casings, plates closing the lower ends of said stanchions, means on the lower ends of said casings for supporting said stanchions within said casings, removable covers closing the upper ends of said stanchions, and hand engaging portions on said covers whereby said covers may be grasped by the hand for removing said covers from the upper ends of said stanchions, and a rail member connected between said covers.

4. In a protective railing for a surface comprising a plurality f sleeves mounted beneath apertures formed in said surface, said sleeves being closed at their lower ends and having col lars containing grooves mounted in their upper ends, stanchions slidably mounted on said collars and adapted to be lowered into and raised to operative positions on said sleeves, lugs provided on said stanchions, covers removably mounted on the upper ends of said stanchions, said covers adapted to seat in the apertures in said surface and said lugs on said stanchions adapted to pass through said grooves and coact with said collars for holding the stanchions in operative positions on said sleeves, and a rail member connected between said covers.

MARSHALL GRAY.

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