Reinforcing bar protection cap

A reinforcing bar protection cap for location over the exposed end of a concrete reinforcing bar so as to protect against injury to workers, the protection cap including:

• a load spreading cap portion which in use is arranged to be located over the exposed end of the bar so that contact with the end of the bar from the generally axial direction is intercepted by the load spreading cap portion;
• a support portion comprising a housing having a generally cylindrical body, the body having an inner end and an outer end, the load spreading cap portion being located at and closing the inner end of the body, the outer end of the body being open so as to receive therein the end of the bar;
• at least three retaining members for engagement with the reinforcing bar so as to locate and retain the load spreading cap portion at the end of the bar, the retaining members comprising retaining webs having radial outer edges mounted to the generally cylindrical body of the housing and being arranged generally symmetrically around the axis of the cylindrical body and extending inwardly generally radially but not directly towards the axis of the cylindrical body, the radial outer edges of the webs being generally parallel to the axis of the cylindrical body and defining hinging or flexing lines for the respective webs whereby the retaining webs contact the reinforcing bar along respective lines of contact extending substantially axially along the bar, the retaining webs being mounted to the cylindrical body only and not being connected to the load spreading cap portion so that the retaining webs can generally pivot or flex at their respective outer edges without constraint of such pivoting or flexing movement being caused by connection to the load spreading cap portion and whereby the respective lines of contact of the retaining webs with the bar are substantially parallel to the axis of the bar and so that there is no significant inclination of the lines of contact in the axial direction which would otherwise cause a tendency of the bar protection cap to creep along the bar and disengage from the end thereof, the load spreading cap including a substantially impenetrable metal disc for resisting piercing of the load spreading cap by the end of the bar upon an external impulse loading being applied externally to the protection cap.

A reinforcing bar protection cap for location over the exposed end of a concrete reinforcing bar so as to protect against injury to workers, the protection cap including:

• a load spreading cap which in use is arranged to be located over the exposed end of the bar so that contact with the end of the bar from the general axial direction is intercepted by the load spreading cap;
• at least two retaining members for engagement with the reinforcing bar so as to locate and retain the load spreading cap at the end of the bar;
• a support portion for the load spreading cap, the support portion generally surrounding the end of the bar in use,
• the retaining members being operatively connected to the support portion and arranged to contact and to bear against the bar at points located lengthwise of the bar, the retaining members being resiliently movable so as to contact the bar so that the contact points are along respective contact lines which are substantially parallel to the axis of the bar so that there is no significant inclination of the contact lines in the axial direction which would otherwise cause a tendency of the bar protection cap to creep along the bar and disengage from the end thereof,
• the load spreading cap including a substantially impenetrable insert portion which is made of a structurally resistant material so as to resist penetration of the load spreading cap by the end of the bar upon the occurrence of an externally applied substantial magnitude impulse loading upon the load spreading cap, the insert portion comprising a metal disc moulded inside of the protection cap, the support portion being securely fastened to the metal disc.