Stair forming apparatus and related methods

An adjustable stair forming apparatus, adapted to form a flight of stairs of a settable material in an inverted condition, said flight of stairs including a series of treads interconnected by intermediate risers, said apparatus comprising

• a plurality of forming units, acting in concert to collectively provide a forming surface,
• a frame to support said forming units,
• each of said forming units including
• (a) a tread defining formwork that includes a rectangular shaped tread forming surface, slidably and pivotally mounted to said frame from or toward a first major edge of said tread forming surface, and
• (b) a riser defining formwork that includes a rectangular shaped riser forming surface with a first major edge located at the opposite major edge of said tread forming surface in a rotationally adjustable manner relative thereto, said riser forming surface at least in part co-extending with said tread forming surface in a stair width direction, said riser forming surface including a bearing surface parallel to and distal from its said first major edge,
• said plurality of forming units each adjustably held in an array by and/or relative to said frame with said bearing surface of each riser defining formwork supported against the tread forming surface of an adjacent said forming unit by an adjustable support member that can move relative to the tread forming surface of the adjacent forming unit to allow it to be set in a position to support the riser in a position to define a desired amount of tread protection of the tread to be so formed.

An adjustable stair flight forming system to form a flight of stairs of a settable material in an inverted condition, said flight including a plurality of stairs each including a tread and a riser that extend substantially perpendicular to each other, adjustment of said system allowing for the forming of different flights of different shaped treads and/or risers to occur, said system comprising

• a frame,
• a plurality of tread defining formwork elements, each including a tread forming surface to each define said tread of a stair, movably engaged to and supported by said frame in a spaced apart manner, and
• at least two sets of a plurality of identical riser defining formwork elements, each including a riser forming surface to define said riser of a stair,
• wherein an angle between said tread forming surface and a said riser forming surface of each said stair can be adjustably set by an adjustable stop abutting said riser forming surface, said adjustable stop capable of movement that causes said riser forming surface to move forward or back, and setting the tread forming surfaces of adjacent stairs parallel to each other by virtue of:
• (a) an adjustable support of each said tread defining formwork element relative said frame and relative the other said tread defining form work elements, and
• (b) selection of an appropriate set of said riser defining formwork elements that comprises of riser defining form work elements of a size that can span and close the space between adjacent said tread defining formwork elements.

An adjustable stair forming device, to form stairs of a settable material, each step of said stairs including a tread and a riser, wherein a landing is formed intermediate of a first and second set of steps, said device comprising

• two moulding apparatus to each mould a set of first and second set of steps,
• each moulding apparatus including
• a frame,
• a plurality of abutting forming units to receive the settable material, each forming unit reconfigurably mounted from said frame in:
• (a) a pivotal manner about an axis parallel to pivot axes of the other forming units, said axis extending in a direction parallel to the width direction of stairs to be formed, and/or
• (b) a translational manner in a direction perpendicular to the width direction,
• each of said forming units comprising;
• (i) a tread forming member defining a tread forming surface with an upper edge substantially parallel to a lower edge, and
• (ii) a riser forming member defining a riser forming surface that includes
• a. a first edge bearing on the tread forming member at or toward said upper edge of said tread forming member, and
• b. a bearing edge parallel to and distal from said first edge,
• said riser forming surface at least in part co-extending in said width direction with said tread forming surface,
• said plurality of forming units each arranged relative said frame with said bearing edge of one said forming unit located by an adjustable support at said tread forming surface of an adjacent said forming unit, adjustment of said support rotationally positioning said riser forming member relative said tread forming member to allow an angle between said riser forming surface and said tread forming surface to be varied to set a desired amount of tread protection,
• wherein prior to receiving said settable material, said forming units can be configured to a desired configuration, and
• wherein a first of said moulding apparatus can be configured relative to a second of said moulding apparatus to position a distal end located forming unit of said first moulding apparatus relative a distal end located forming unit of said second moulding apparatus in a manner to allow a landing forming member to span there between to allow the forming of a landing member intermediate of the set of steps defined by the first and second moulding apparatus.

An adjustable stair moulding device adapted to form stairs, comprising

• at least two apparatus that each include a series of adjustable forming units to act in concert to define a mould for a settable material to form the set of steps of a desired number of steps, said forming units each including a riser defining formwork and a tread defining formwork, wherein one of said riser defining formwork and tread defining formwork is part of a set of formwork, each formwork of said set of formwork being of an identically settable configuration,
• a landing formwork member that can be located intermediate of the distal end located formwork units of each of said apparatus,
• wherein said forming units are adjustably settable, including by selection of the appropriate set of formwork, to allow a setting of the following stair parameters:
• tread depth,
• riser height,
• tread width, and
• tread protection.