Abstract:
The present invention relates to a safety apparatus and process for use by a workman in the installation of roofing truss and roofs on buildings and especially to a fall protection safety apparatus for securing a worker during installation of a roof.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    This invention relates to a safety apparatus and process for use by workmen in the installation of roofing truss and roofs on buildings and especially to a fall protection safety apparatus for securing a worker during installation of a roof. 
         [0002]    In the construction of buildings, workers are often required to work on installation of roofing truss and roofs thereover. In these situations, it is desirable to secure the worker to a safety line to minimize the risk of a fall. Not only must a worker be careful of missed steps, he must also contend with unexpected gusts of wind and other unanticipated circumstances. Thus, it is known to attach a safety line to some portion of the roof or roof truss and then to attach a safety line to a worker either with a safety harness or safety belt or the like. This not only prevents injury but helps in reducing construction costs by reducing the insurance rates for construction work of a hazardous nature. 
         [0003]    In the past, workers must move a fall protection safety line and re-anchor the safety line in different positions as the roof is going up. Building roof trusses are generally attached to a building header starting at one end and extending across as each adjacent truss is attached to the building. 
         [0004]    The present invention contemplates a fall protection safety process and apparatus for roof installations which allows anchoring means for a roofing truss to be moved or walked along the roof truss while having the roof truss attached at times. 
         [0005]    Past roofing safety devices can be seen in the Smith U.S. Pat. No. 3,217,833 for a safety device for use by workmen on steel or like structures in which flanged beam members are used and in the Poldmaa U.S. Pat. No. 6,786,020 for an anchor for a safety rope. In the Walcher et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,720, a standing clamp for standing seam roofs is provided. A safety clamp engages the standing seam to hold three standing seams in clamped relationship between the tabs for supporting a safety line attached to a worker. In the Glynn et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,713, a roof attachment member for a safety line is provided which attachment member attaches to the roof peak to which a safety line can be clipped. The Gray U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,646 is a retractable fall restraint device for restraining a workman from a fall from a roof or other structure. The Curtin U.S. Pat. No. 6,966,531 is for a roof anchor for securing a working line as is the Nichols U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,202 for a fall arrest lifeline roof anchor and U.S. Pat. No. 5,248,021. The Arisman, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,346,036 is a roof lifeline anchor while the Crocker et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,949 is a motion stopping safety system for workers. 
         [0006]    The present invention allows a roofer or workman to be connected to a safety line which is anchored to the roof truss and which is moved across a series of truss without ever disconnecting the safety line from at least one roofing truss. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    A fall protection safety process for roof installation includes the step of selecting a roof truss attaching apparatus having an elongated arm having two end portions. A first clamp is rotatably attached to one end portion and a second clamp is rotatably attached to the other end portion of the elongated arm. The elongated arm has a safety line attachment thereon between the end portions thereof for attaching a safety line. The first clamp is clamped to one roof truss while the second clamp is attached to an adjacent roof truss with the arms spanning between the two truss. The process includes unclamping the first clamp from one roof truss and rotating an elongated arm on the second clamp to bring the first clamp to the next adjacent roof truss and then clamping the first clamp to the next adjacent roof truss so that a roof attachment apparatus remains attached to one roof truss while moving the roof attachment-apparatus across a plurality of roof truss. The process also includes rotating an unclamped first clamp to align it with the next adjacent roof truss. The process includes selecting a roof truss attaching apparatus having a safety line attachment which may be a traveler eye attached to the elongated arm and attaching a line swivel member thereto which has the safety line attached thereto. A safety harness for a workmen is attached to the elongated arm with the safety line. The process includes selecting first and second clamps which are rapidly attaching toggle clamps. The elongated arm has a shaft extending from each end portion thereof so that the first and second clamps are each rotatably attached to one arm shaft. 
         [0008]    A fall protection safety apparatus for a roof installation is provided which includes a roof truss attaching apparatus having an elongated arm having two end portions and having a first clamp rotatably attached to one end portion thereof-and a second clamp rotatably attached to the other end portion of the arm. The arm has a safety line attachment thereon between the end portions thereof for attaching a safety line. A safety line is attached to the safety line attachment of the roof truss attaching apparatus. The roof truss attaching apparatus can be attached between two adjacent roof truss for holding a workman on a safety line and then one clamp unclamped to allow one end of the arm to be rotated on the other clamp clamped end for clamping onto an adjacent roof truss to thereby always have the roof truss attaching apparatus clamped to at least one roof truss while installing a roof. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the written description and the drawings in which: 
           [0010]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a roof installation having the present fall protection safety apparatus attached to a pair of roofing truss; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a cutaway elevation of a portion of the fall protection safety apparatus clamp; 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a cutaway elevation of the clamp of  FIG. 2  in an unclamped position; and 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is a cutaway perspective of the fall protection safety apparatus illustrating the fall protection safety process. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0014]    Referring to the drawings  FIGS. 1 through 4 , a roof truss attaching apparatus  10  as seen in  FIGS. 1 and 4  includes an elongated arm  11  having a safety line attachment member or traveling eye  12  attached between the ends thereof. The elongated arm  11  has a shaft  13  extending out of one end portion and a shaft  14  extending out of the other end portion thereof. Shaft  13  rotatably holds a clamp  15  thereon while shaft  14  rotatably holds a clamp  16  thereon. The clamps, as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 4 , are attached to a pair of adjacent roofing truss  17  being installed on a building  18 . The roofing trusses are normally spaced  44 ″ on center. As seen in  FIG. 1 , a crane hook  20  has lifted a roofing truss in place which is positioned and held in place by a temporary board  21  while the roofing truss is anchored to the header  22 . A workman  23 , as seen in  FIG. 1 , has a safety harness  24  attached to him with a safety line  25  attached thereto. The safety line  25  is attached to a safety line swivel  26  which in turn is attached to the safety line attachment  12 . The fall protection safety apparatus  10  has the clamps  15  and  16  attached to adjacent truss members  17  to hold the elongated arm  11  between the two truss members  17  spanning a space between the truss members. When clamped, as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 4 , the fall protection safety apparatus  10  allows a workman  23  to be safely held by the safety line  25  attached to the safety line attachment member  12 . 
         [0015]    The operation of the clamps  15  and  16  are illustrated in  FIGS. 2 and 3 . The clamp  15  is seen attached to the shaft  13  and has the elongated arm  11  supported thereon. The clamp  15  has a body  27  having a truss member  17  slid thereinto, as seen in  FIGS. 2 and 3 . Each clamp  15  and  16  can be a push/pull toggle clamp, such as a Carr Lane Manufacturing Company, St. Louis, Mo., Model CL-355-2PC push/pull toggle clamp. The toggle clamp is a quick acting mechanical linkage where two of the elements make up a toggle action. Actuating the clamp first moves it into position then applies a clamping force by compressing or stretching the linkage elements after contacting the workpiece and then positively locking the workpiece and moving the toggle actions center pivot past the center line of the other two pivots against a stop. 
         [0016]    As seen in  FIG. 2 , the toggle clamp has a handle  28  pinned to the housing  30  with a pin  31 . The handle  28  has an arm  32  in  FIG. 3  connecting to a link  33  with a pin  34  and is connected to the ram  35  so that rotating the handle  28  from the position in  FIG. 3  to the position of  FIG. 4  rotates the arm  32  to drive the link  33  forward or backwards which in turn drives the ram  35 . The ram  35  may have a gripping plate  37  attached thereto for gripping the truss members  17 . 
         [0017]    Turning more specifically to  FIG. 4 , the process of the present invention is illustrated in which the fall protection safety apparatus  10  is clamped with clamps  15  and  16  to adjacent truss  17  and is holding the safety line  25  with a swivel  26  connected to the safety line attaching member  12 . To move the fall protection safety apparatus between adjacent truss requires the loosening of the rapid clamp  16  to loosen the clamp from the truss  17  and then rotating the arm  11  on the shaft  13  while rotating the clamp  16  on the shaft  14  to align it for the next roofing truss  17 , swinging the arm  11 . As shown in phantom in  FIG. 4 , this allows the clamp  16  to be brought down upon the adjacent truss  17  and clamped with the clamp  16  to move the fall safety apparatus from between one pair of truss to the next adjacent pair of-truss to, in effect, walk the fall safety apparatus from one pair of truss to the next, always having a clamp clamped to a truss  17  so that the workman  23  is always held by a safety line  25  that is always clamped to at least one truss member even when moving from one truss to another as the truss rafters are put in place. This allows the workman to have a safety harness held by a safety line while installing a series of roofing truss and to be able to walk a roof truss-attaching apparatus on the roofing truss as each new truss member is put in place. 
         [0018]    Thus, the fall protection safety process is illustrated for a roof installation which selects a roof truss attaching apparatus  10  having an elongated arm  11  having two end portions and having a first clamp  15  rotatably attached to one end portion of the arm  11  and a second clamp  16  rotatably attached to the other end portion of the elongated arm  11  and the arm having a safety line attachment  12  thereon between the end portions of the arm for attaching a safety line  25 . The selective roof truss attaching apparatus is first clamped by the first clamp to one roof truss and the second clamp is clamped to an adjacent roof truss with the arms spanning between the two roof truss. Then as new truss are added, one clamp can be unclamped from one roof truss and the elongated arm  11  rotated, as seen in  FIG. 4 , on the second clamp  15  to bring the first clamp onto the next adjacent roof truss. The process then includes clamping the first truss  16  in the drawings to the next adjacent roof truss so that a roof attachment apparatus remains attached to one roof truss  17  at all times while moving the roof attachment apparatus across the roof trusses. The process also requires that the unclamped first clamp  16  be rotated as the arm  11  is rotated to bring the clamp onto the next adjacent roof truss. The safety line attaching member  12  may be a traveler&#39;s eye and may have a line swivel member  26  attached thereto for holding a safety line  25 . The safety line  25  may then be attached to a workman&#39;s harness or belt. Clamps  15  and  16  are rapid attaching toggle clamps and are mounted on shafts extending from the elongated arm  11  for easy rotation of the arm on each clamp or each clamp on the arm. 
         [0019]    It should be clear at this time that a fall protection safety process and apparatus have been provided which allows a workman installing a new roof to be held with a safety line which is always attached with a roofing truss as the attachment is moved across the roofing truss as new truss are added to the roof while always being clamped to at least one roofing truss. This provides for the rapid movement of the roofing truss attachment while maintaining the safety of the workman. However, the present invention should be considered illustrative rather than restrictive.