US-12618249-B2 - Toe board for scaffolding

US12618249B2US 12618249 B2US12618249 B2US 12618249B2US-12618249-B2

Abstract

The safety of scaffolding is enhanced by providing a scaffolding toe board system comprising a plurality of toe boards constructed of a panel and a pair of brackets used to couple the ends of the panel to adjacent support posts of the scaffolding. The brackets are all identical, quick and easy to deploy, and designed so that the brackets of two toe boards coupled to the same support post will not interfere with each other.

Inventors

Rodney Michael Scott Skelton
Chris Osswald
Jonah Higgs
Jeremy Falkowski
Archie Troy Lumsden
Troy Kowalski

Assignees

Applied Laser Technologies, LLC

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20211105

Claims (13)

1 . A scaffolding toe board assembly comprising: (a) a toe board having a panel with an inside surface, an outside surface, a first end, a second end, a top edge, bottom edge, a first engagement slot extending through the panel adjacent the first end of the panel, and a second engagement slot extending through the panel adjacent the second end of the panel; and (b) a first bracket and a second bracket each adapted to temporarily couple the toe board to a support post of a scaffolding assembly, said first bracket and second bracket each comprising: (i) a plate extending along a first plane; (ii) a support post receiving channel assembly extending outwardly from the first plane, said support post receiving channel assembly comprising a first arm, a second arm, and a third arm, said first arm and said third arm extending along the first plane, said second arm having a first arm portion extending at a first angle from the first plane, and a second arm portion extending from the first arm portion at a second angle, said second arm cooperating with the first arm and the third arm to create a space adapted to receive the support post; and (c) first coupling means for joining said first bracket to the first end of the toe board and second coupling means for joining the second bracket to the second end of the toe board with the first arm, the second arm, and the third arm of the first bracket offset from the first arm, the second arm, and the third arm of the second bracket so that the first arm of the first bracket is closer to the top edge than the first arm of the second bracket, the second arm of the second bracket is closer to the top edge than the second arm of the first bracket, and the third arm of the second bracket is closer to the top edge than the third arm of the first bracket.
2 . The scaffolding toe board assembly of claim 1 wherein said first coupling means comprises a first coupler having a first leg extending from the plate of the first bracket, a first foot, and a first transition connecting the first leg to the first foot, said first foot adapted to be passed through said first engagement slot so that the first foot engages the inside surface of the panel, the first transition resides within the first engagement slot, and the first leg engages the outside surface of the panel.
3 . The scaffolding toe board assembly of claim 1 wherein said second coupling means comprises a second coupler having a second leg extending from the plate of the second bracket, a second foot, and a second transition connecting the second leg to the second foot, said second foot adapted to be passed through said second engagement slot so that the second foot engages the inside surface of the panel, the second transition resides within the second engagement slot, and the second leg engages the outside surface of the panel.
4 . The scaffolding assembly of claim 1 wherein said first coupling means comprises a first bolt hole, said first bolt hole extending through the plate of the first bracket and adapted to be aligned with said first engagement slot, a first bolt adapted to pass through said first bolt hole and said first engagement slot, and a first nut adapted to be attached to the first bolt.
5 . The scaffolding assembly of claim 1 wherein said second coupling means comprises a second bolt hole, said second bolt hole extending through the plate of the second bracket and adapted to be aligned with said second engagement slot, a second bolt adapted to pass through said second bolt hole and said second engagement slot, and a second nut adapted to be attached to the second bolt.
6 . The scaffolding assembly of claim 1 wherein a first additional engagement slot extends through the panel adjacent the first end of the panel and a second additional engagement slot extends through the panel adjacent the second end of the panel.
7 . The scaffolding assembly of claim 6 wherein said first coupling means comprises a first coupler having a first leg extending from the plate of the first bracket, a first foot, and a first transition connecting the first leg to the first foot, said first foot adapted to be passed through said first engagement slot so that the first foot engages the inside surface of the panel, the first transition resides within the first engagement slot, and the first leg engages the outside surface of the panel; and wherein said first coupling means further comprises a first additional coupler having a first additional leg extending from the plate of the first bracket, a first additional foot, and a first additional transition connecting the first additional leg to the first additional foot, said first additional foot adapted to be passed through said first additional engagement slot so that the first additional foot engages the inside surface of the panel, the first additional transition resides within the first additional engagement slot, and the first additional leg engages the outside surface of the panel.
8 . The scaffolding assembly of claim 6 wherein said second coupling means comprises a second coupler having a second leg extending from the plate of the second bracket, a second foot, and a second transition connecting the second leg to the second foot, said second foot adapted to be passed through said first engagement slot so that the second foot engages the inside surface of the panel, the second transition resides within the second engagement slot, and the second leg engages the outside surface of the panel; and wherein said second coupling means further comprises a second additional coupler having a second additional leg extending from the plate of the second bracket, a second additional foot, and a second additional transition connecting the second additional leg to the second additional foot, said second additional foot adapted to be passed through said second additional engagement slot so that the second additional foot engages the inside surface of the panel, the second additional transition resides within the second additional engagement slot, and the second additional leg engages the outside surface of the panel.
9 . The scaffolding assembly of claim 6 wherein said first coupling means comprises a first bolt hole, said first bolt hole extending through the plate of the first bracket and adapted to be aligned with said first engagement slot, a first additional bolt hole, said first additional bolt hole extending through the plate of the first bracket and adapted to be aligned with the first additional engagement slot, a first bolt adapted to pass through said first bolt hole and said first engagement slot, a first additional bolt adapted to pass through said first additional bolt hole and said first additional engagement slot, a first nut adapted to be attached to the first bolt, and a first additional nut adapted to be attached to the first additional bolt.
10 . The scaffolding assembly of claim 6 wherein said second coupling means comprises a second bolt hole, said second bolt hole extending through the plate of the second bracket and adapted to be aligned with said second engagement slot, a second additional bolt hole, said second additional bolt hole extending through the plate of the second bracket and adapted to be aligned with the second additional engagement slot, a second bolt adapted to pass through said second bolt hole and said second engagement slot, a second additional bolt adapted to pass through said second additional bolt hole and said second additional engagement slot, a second nut adapted to be attached to the second bolt, and a second additional nut adapted to be attached to the second additional bolt.
11 . The scaffolding toe board assembly of claim 1 further comprising a first hook extending from the inside surface of the plate of the first bracket and a second hook extending from the inside surface of the plate of the second bracket.
12 . The scaffolding toe board assembly of claim 1 wherein said toe board has a support lip projecting from a bottom edge of the panel.
13 . The scaffolding toe board assembly of claim 1 wherein said toe board has a reenforcing lip.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCED TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/953,557 filed Nov. 20, 2020. STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT Not applicable BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION I. Field of the Invention This invention relates to scaffolding systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to toe boards used to protect (a) workers from over-stepping the edges of a scaffolding platform, and (b) those adjacent to and below a scaffolding platform from injuries that might result from objects sliding off the edges of a scaffolding platform. II. Discussion of the Prior Art Scaffolding systems are employed to provide a safe, raised working surface for carrying out construction, maintenance, and repair activities. Scaffolding systems typically comprise a frame made of rails and connectors that support one or more platforms at designated heights above a floor or the ground. Workers stand, kneel or sit on such platforms to perform construction, maintenance and repair functions. Safety is a major concern at all construction sites. It is well understood that workers can accidently step off the platform. It is also well understood that workers, or even pedestrians, standing or walking near scaffolding may be injured by objects falling from the platform. A common solution to prevent workers from inadvertently stepping off a scaffolding platform and objects from falling from the platform is to provide toe boards about the periphery of the platform. Such toe boards are shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,499 granted to Fisher on Jan. 1, 1974, U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,854 granted to Davis on Sep. 5, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,976,557 to Becker on Dec. 20, 2005, and U.S. Pat. No. 8,973,707 granted to Kreller on Mar. 10, 2015. While safety is a major concern when performing construction, maintenance and repair services, so is efficiency. This is because bidding is a common practice and contracts for services are often awarded to the lowest responsive bidder. The more efficiently one can be to complete a project, the lower the price one can bid and still earn a reasonable profit. Some projects are so large that erection and dismantling of scaffolding is often bid separately from other work performed to complete the project. As such, the contractor awarded the scaffolding project may be different than the contractor(s) involved in performing the actual construction, maintenance, or repair. Even when this is not the case, whoever is responsible for erection of the scaffolding needs to be efficient. There is an ongoing need to improve scaffolding systems not only to address safety concerns when in use, but also to enable expeditious assembly and dismantling of scaffolding systems. As such, considerable effort has been directed toward designing components for scaffolding systems to achieve improved safety and improved efficiency with respect to assembly and disassembly of scaffolding systems. Efficiency is particularly important when it comes to the installation and removal of toe boards. While toe boards represent an important safety feature, they are not necessary, as are the frames and platforms of a scaffolding system, to complete the project. They are often not installed when they should be because, heretofore, doing so has been both relatively difficult and time consuming. As such, there currently exists a need in the marketplace for a toe board and toe board latch design that enables efficient assembly and disassembly of the scaffolding systems while providing the safety benefits offered by toe boards. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Safety, efficiency, ease of assembly and cost effectiveness are all enhanced by providing scaffolding toe board assemblies, each comprising a toe board and a pair of brackets, each bracket of the same design, that can be quickly deployed to attach the two ends of the toe board to two support posts of a scaffolding assembly. Such toe boards have a planer panel with an inside surface and an outside surface. Engagement slots extending through the planar panel. Depending on the design of the brackets employed, a single engagement slot or multiple engagement slots may be present adjacent each of the first end and the second end of the planar panel. For improved rigidity, a reinforcing lip may be provided that is integrally formed with and projects from a top edge of the panel. A support lip projecting from a bottom edge of the panel may also be provided. This support lip will typically extend in face-to-face registration with the top surface of a scaffolding platform when the panel is installed. The panel may be constructed of any suitable material including metals such as steel or aluminum, or plastics such as polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride. Ideally, the brackets employed will all be of the same design. Two such brackets are required to couple a toe board to two adjacent support posts of the scaffolding assembly. The brackets a