Road coverage, comprising a cover and cover supporting means

Abstract

 In a road a cover (2) is provided above a gutter or a well, said cover (2) bearing on cover supports (4). In order to avoid rattling of the cover (2), the cover (2) engages by a wedge effect with the cover supports (4), however with such a small wedge surface that same will deform through the load of vehicular traffic until the cover (2) is bearing on sufficiently large bearing surfaces (7) (8).

Description

[0001] Road coverage comprising a cover and cover supporting means.

[0002] The invention relates to a road coverage comprising a cover for closing an opening and supporting means for holding said cover, said supporting means comprising at least one pair of standing supporting elements, which are in engagement by a wedge effect with standing bearing elements of the cover. Said wedge effect is necessary for avoiding rattling by traffic.

[0003] Such a road coverage is known from GB-A-1,588,251. In this case there is a great risk of breakdown of the cover and/or the supporting means thereof under the load of heavy vehicular traffic.

[0004] The invention has for its object to obviate this drawback. For this purpose the standing supporting elements comprise lying supporting elements and the-cover . comprises, apart from the standing bearing elements, lying bearing elements and the standing supporting elements and the standing bearing elements initially co-operating by wedqe action have such small dimensions that by the load of the vehicular traffic the standing supporting elements are deformed until the lying bearing elements are bearing on the lying supporting elements. In this way a firm and rattle-free road coating is obtained.

[0005] In the following description the invention will be explained more fully with reference to a drawing which shows in

Figure 1 a road surface partly broken away consisting of a quay provided with a road coverage embodying the invention,

Figure 2 an enlarged plan view of detail II of Figure 1,

Figure 3 a sectional view taken on the line III-III in Figure 2 in an initial situation,

Figures 4 and 5 a sectional view taken on the line IV-IV in Figure 2 in an initial and a later situation respectively,

Figures 6 and 8 each a perspective view of different road coverages embodying the invention,

Figure 7 an enlarged sectional view taken on the line VII-VII in Figure 6,

Figure 9 an enlarged elevational view of detail IX partly broken away of Figure 8 and

Figure 10 an enlarged elevational view of a detail of a variant of Figure 4.

[0006] The road 9 of Figure 1 consists of a quay having a gutter 10 for cables and/or conduits. This gutter 10 is covered by a road coverage 1 embodying the invention. The road coverage 1 comprises a plurality of I-section steel profiles 11 spaced apart by distances b, on which a plurality of metal covers 2 bridging the distances b are bearing. On the I-section profiles 11 lying supporting means 4 are lying comprising four steel carriers 13 secured by bolts 12 to the I-section profiles 11. The carriers 13 comprise, apart from standing supporting elements 5, lying supporting elements 7. Each cover 2 has a lying top plate 15 having longitudinal ribs 14, transverse end ribs 16 and transverse intermediate ribs 17. The corner pieces of the transverse end ribs 16 constitute standing bearing elements 6, whereas the bottom edges of these transverse end ribs 16 constitute lying bearing elements 8. The transverse end ribs 16 and the carriers 13 are proportioned so that the standing supporting elements 5 and the standing bearing elements 6 initially co-operate, that is to say, directly after the covers 2 are deposited on the carriers 13, by wedge effect. Initially the covers 2 remain bearing on wedge faces 18 of the standing supporting elements 5 and on wedge faces 19 of the standing bearing elements 6, whereas the lying bearing elements 8 remain at a small distance of play a of, for example, 2 mms, above the lying supporting elements 7. Only after a vehicular load or an extremely heavy load, for example, a heavily laden crane passes over the covers 2 the lying bearing elements 8 of >Figure 5 come into contact with the lying supporting elements j7 so that they are satisfactorily and firmly supported, since the standing supporting elements 5 and/or the standing bearing elements 6 deform at the area of the contact face, 3 for example, by locally loading the wedge faces 9 above the yield value, said faces having for this purpose a correspondingly small contact surface. In Figure 4 the wedge face 18 has a small surface.

[0007] As shown in Figure 3, in the longitudinal direction of the covers 2, the longitudinal ribs 14 have lugs 20 co-operating with rounded-off edges 21 of the standing supporting elements 5 for centering the covers 2, when deposited on the carriers 13. These lugs 20 are constantly lying with a given amount of play f at the side of the edges 24.

[0008] Figures 6 and 8 show covers 2 of reinforced concrete plates 23 having an edge 24 formed by a U-section steel profile, the corner edges 25 of which constitute standing bearing elements 6 having wedge faces.

[0009] The supporting means 4 shown in Figures 6 and 7 are formed by top flanges 46 of I-section profiles 11. These top flanges 46 constitute the lying supporting elements 7. To the flanges 46 standing wedges 32 (standing supporting elements 5) are welded, which are in engagement with matching slots 34 in the lower flange 47 of the edge 24. Above the slots 34 foam plastics (not shown) are embedded. After the deformation of the standinq bearing elements 6 the cover 2 sinks down onto the top flanges 46.

[0010] The road coverage 1 of Figures 8 and 9 comprises supporting means 4 consisting of a carrying plate 40 forming lying supporting elements 7 and being fastened by spot welds 41 to the I-section profiles 11 and furthermore consisting of conical pins 42 (standing supporting elements 5) standing on the carrying plate 40 and being welded thereto. In their metal edges 24 the covers 2 have holes 43 having a width which is smaller than the lower ends of the conical pins 42. At the initial deposition of the covers 2 the edge of each hole 43 deforms to the position shown in Figure 9 so that lower strips 44 (lying bearing elements 8) of the cover 2 will bear on the carrying plates 40. The edges of the holes 43 are sufficiently rigid for ensuring a rattle-free deposition of the covers 2. Above the holes 42 sleeves 45 are welded in._The holes 43 are round at one end of each cover 2 and at the other end slot-shaped in the longitudinal direction of the cover 2 in order to compensate for manufacturing

of the distance b.

[0011] The small contact surface 28 may be provided either on the standing bearing elements 6 or on the standing supporting elements 5 or on both of them. Thus in the variant shown in Figure 10, in contrast to Figure 4, each standing bearing element 6 is formed by a small salient lug 27, which is, by wedge effect, in contact with the sloping tangential surface 28 of the standing supporting element 5. The angle c between the tangential surface 28 and the vertical plane 29 is small and has a tangent of, for example, 1/10.

Claims

1. Road coverage (1) comprising a cover (2) for closing an opening and supporting means (4) supporting said cover (2), said supporting means (4) comprising at least one pair of standing supporting elements (5), which are, by a wedge effect, in engagement with standing bearing elements (6) of the cover (2), characterized in that the supporting means (4) comprise, apart from the standing supporting elements (5), also lying supporting elements (7), and that the cover (2). comprises, apart from the standing bearing elements (6), also lying bearing elements (8) and in that the standing supporting elements (5) and the standing bearing elements (6) co-operating by wedge effect have such small dimensions that the standing supporting elements'(5) and/or the standing bearing elements (6) are deformed until the lying bearing elements (8) are bearing on the lying supporting elements (7).

2. A road coverage as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that the standing supporting elements (5) and the standing bearing elements (6) are deformed not until a vehicular load is applied resulting in the lying bearing elements (8) bearing on the lying supporting elements (7).

3. A road coverage (1) as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which the cover (2) and the supporting means (3) are made of metal, characterized in that during the application of the vehicular load the standing supporting elements (5) and the standing bearing elements (8) are loaded beyond the yield value .

Drawing