Apparatus for unrolling rolls of insulation in vertical strips from the top down
OwnerEric S. Gallette, Jason L. Weaverinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus for unrolling rolls of building insulation in vertical strips from the roof eave down, and adapted to be carried by an aerial work platform that in turn is carried by an elevator, has a pair of spars as well as an arbor and a tensioning control mechanism. The spars are spaced apart and are mounted to as well as project away from the aerial work platform. The arbor is carried between the spaced spars for inserting through the core of a role of insulation and allowing the insulation to be unrolled from the roll in the form of strips to be hung on the building. The tensioning control mechanism is provided for controlling the unrolling of the roll.
Claims20
Apparatus for insulating a building by unrolling bulk rolls of insulation in vertical strips on a wall or frame of the building from an upper attachment extreme on the building wall or frame down to a vertically-spaced away lower attachment extreme thereon and across multiple rows of vertically spaced intermediate attachment positions on the building wall or frame, each bulk roll of insulation comprising a stiff cylindrical hollow core that is axially elongated between opposite ends and a longitudinally elongated strip of building insulation wound in a roll around said core in coils such that a free edge the outside-most coil of the roll is the head of the roll, wherein the building is surrounded by a job site that has a ground such that a plurality of said bulk rolls of insulation are distributed about on the ground;
- said apparatus comprising:
- an aerial work platform for carrying a worker aloft and having a floor for the worker as well as a handrail;
- a pair of spaced spars extending between base ends mounted fixed relative to the aerial work platform, and, terminal ends;
- wherein said spars are mounted to project away from the aerial work platform such that the spars hold one bulk roll of building insulation below the elevation of the handrail;
- an elevator carrying the aerial work platform and adapted to lift the aerial work platform from the ground to the upper attachment extreme;
- wherein said spars are further mounted to project away from said aerial work platform so that the spars can be lowered by the elevator to where the spaced terminal ends of the spars straddle the opposite ends of the core of one roll on the ground for loading the roll onto said apparatus, whereby no worker has to manually lift any roll to load the roll between the spars and, thereby, the upper limit of the weight of a roll which can loaded and handled by said apparatus is determined by factors including the lifting capacity of the elevator, but not the limit of the manual strength of one or more workers;
- engaging provisions associated with the terminal ends of the spars for rotatably engaging the core of said one roll by or through the opposite ends of said core and thereby allowing the insulation to be unrolled from said one roll and applied to the wall or frame of the building in the form of vertical strips;
- and
- a tensioning control mechanism for controlling the unrolling of the roll.
Apparatus for insulating a building by unrolling bulk rolls of insulation in vertical strips on a wall or frame of the building from an upper attachment extreme on the building wall or frame down to a vertically-spaced away lower attachment extreme thereon and across multiple rows of vertically spaced intermediate attachment positions on the building wall or frame, each bulk roll of insulation comprising a stiff cylindrical hollow core that is axially elongated between opposite ends and a longitudinally elongated strip of building insulation wound in a roll around said core in coils such that a free edge the outside-most coil of the roll is the head of the roll;
- said apparatus comprising:
- an aerial work platform for carrying a worker aloft and having a floor for the worker as well as a handrail;
- a pair of spaced spars extending between base ends mounted fixed relative to the aerial work platform, and, terminal ends;
- wherein said spars are mounted to project away from the aerial work platform such that the spars hold one bulk roll of building insulation below the elevation of the handrail;
- an elevator carrying the aerial work platform and adapted to lift the aerial work platform from the ground to the upper attachment extreme;
- engaging provisions associated with the terminal ends of the spars for rotatably engaging the opposite ends of the core of said one roll and allowing the insulation to be unrolled from said one roll and adapted to be applied to a building in the form of vertical strips;
- and
- a tensioning control mechanism for controlling the unrolling of the roll;
- wherein said tensioning control mechanism comprises a pedal disposed intermediate the elevation of the floor of the aerial work platform and the handrail, a brake shoe, and an actuation system operatively linking input from the brake pedal into becoming output motion for the brake shoe;
- wherein the brake shoe and actuation system are configured to apply braking pressure directly to the outside of the roll thereby braking rotation of the roll by clamping pressure between the brake shoe as against the outside-most coil of the roll, and, the stiff cylindrical hollow core for the roll, and whereby not only braking for anti-backlash prevention but also allowing the worker to control tensioning by foot and thus freeing both hands for other work.
Apparatus for insulating a building by unrolling bulk rolls of insulation in vertical strips on a wall or frame of the building from an upper attachment extreme on the building wall or frame down to a vertically-spaced away lower attachment extreme thereon and across multiple rows of vertically spaced intermediate attachment positions on the building wall or frame, each bulk roll of insulation comprising a stiff cylindrical hollow core that is axially elongated between opposite ends and a longitudinally elongated strip of building insulation wound in a roll around said core in coils such that a free edge the outside-most coil of the roll is the head of the roll;
- said apparatus comprising:
- an aerial work platform for carrying a worker aloft and having a floor for the worker as well as at least one generally horizontal cross member above the elevation of the floor;
- a pair of spaced spars extending between base ends mounted fixed relative, to the aerial work platform, and, terminal ends;
- wherein said spars are mounted to project away from the aerial work platform such that the spars hold one bulk roll of building insulation below the elevation of the at least one generally horizontal cross member, whereby the worker can pull up on the head of the roll and attach the head of the roll to the upper attachment extreme while working by hand at about an elevation between the floor of the aerial work platform and the at least one generally horizontal cross member;
- an elevator carrying the aerial work platform and adapted to lift the aerial work platform from the ground to the upper attachment extreme;
- engaging provisions associated with the terminal ends of the spars for rotatably engaging the opposite ends of the core of said one roll and allowing the insulation to be unrolled from said one roll and adapted to be applied to a building in the form of vertical strips;
- and
- a tensioning control mechanism for controlling the unrolling of the roll.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.