Protective railing device

A railing device comprising a plurality of support bars having opposite side walls and a groove in each side wall spaced from the ends of the bars, said grooves having a portion in the direction of the adjacent end which extends inwardly substantially perpendicularly from the side wall and a contiguous portion which extends from the inner end of the groove outwardly to the side wall, and a pair of elongate rail members in spaced parallel relation having a base portion with a plurality of longitudinally spaced openings dimensioned to enable passage of the end portion of the bars therethrough, and side walls extending integrally substantially perpendicularly from the lateral edges of the base portion and spaced one from the other by an amount slightly greater than the width between the side walls of the bars with the side walls of one rail member extending in the direction away from the side walls of the other rail member so that the rail members define U-shaped members with oppositely facing concavities, the adjacent inner surfaces of the side walls, in at least the portions aligned with the openings, having a portion spaced from the base portion which tapers inwardly in the direction towards the opposite side wall to provide cam surfaces which terminate in a ridge which extends outwardly substantially perpendicularly to the side walls and which, at least at their terminal portions, are spaced one from the other in the adjacent side walls by an amount less than the width between the side walls of the bars whereby responsive to endwise displacement of the end portion of a bar through an opening in the base portion of the rail into the space between the side walls, the cam surfaces are engaged by the end portion of the bar to cause displacement of the side walls of the rail in the direction away from one another to increase the spaced relation therebetween until the grooves clear the terminal portions of the cam surfaces and enable return of the side walls thereby to establish an interconnected relation between the spaced walls and the bars in between.