Patent Issued for Transportable Roof Safety Training Systems and Methods (USPTO 9886876)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Journal of Engineering -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by VerticalNews journalists, a patent by the inventors Pierce, Michael Todd (Chunchula, AL); Jones, Charles E. (Mobile, AL), filed on July 9, 2015, was published online on February 6, 2018.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 9886876, is Pilot Catastrophe Services Inc. (Mobile, AL).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: "Technical Field

"The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods to teach people about roof safety and more particularly to a transportable, trailer mounted, roof for training and teaching people about roof safety.

"Description of the Related Art

"Roofers, insurance adjusters, home inspectors, and other professionals that work on roofs, in particular sloped roofs, are at risk of serious bodily harm when they are not safely trained to work on roofs and when they do not practice safe roof working procedures. Initial and follow-up training are important to keep people safe when working on roofs. In addition to classroom safety instruction and printed material, actual demonstrations and supervised practice of roof safety techniques help to properly train professions to safely work on roof tops.

"The demonstration portion of training currently includes training on flat ground that lacks the inclined plane of a roof, using a steep surface on the ground or taking trainees onto actual roof structures high above the ground where new trainees are at risk of falling if they have not mastered safe roof techniques.

"Some roof working professionals may go weeks or months without stepping on a roof and may forget their training. For example, some insurance adjusters may only inspect roofs during storm seasons and may never step on a roof between storm seasons. Many insurance adjustors may also travel long distances to visit storm damaged areas. Roof safety instructors will also travel to the storm damaged areas where they will try to find a suitable roof or other structure to train insurance adjusters in roof safety techniques.

"The subject matter discussed in the Background section is not necessarily prior art and should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its discussion in the Background section. Along these lines, any recognition of problems in the prior art discussed in Background section or associated with such subject matter should not be treated as prior art unless expressly stated to be prior art. Instead, the discussion of any subject matter in the Background section should be treated as part of the inventor's approach to the particular problem, which in and of itself may also be inventive."

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, VerticalNews editors also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent: "According to principles of the embodiments as disclosed herein, a transportable roof safety training system with a trailer including a movable roof platform is provided which allows for mobile training of professionals who work on roofs. The transportable roof safety training system includes a roof platform mounted to a trailer. The roof platform may have an anti-slip coating on its upper surface and may be movable from a stowed position that has a low resistance to wind to one or more inclined positions that mimic the slope of a roof. A lift moves the roof between the various positions.

"In one or more embodiments, the transportable roof safety training system may include a trailer frame that has a front end and a rear end. A trailer bed may be attached to the trailer frame. The trailer may also include at least one wheeled axle and a hitch coupled to the front end of the trailer frame and configured to couple to a trailer hitch.

"The training system may also include a platform including a first portion and a second portion, the first portion having a first end rotatably coupled to the second portion and a second end rotatably coupled to the trailer. Roofing material may be mounted to an upper surface of the platform. The system may also include a lift having a fixed end coupled to the trailer bed and a lifting end coupled to the first portion of the platform.

"In one or more embodiments a portable roof includes a trailer having at least one axle with rotatable wheels. The portable roof may also include a hitch coupler, the hitch coupler coupleable to a trailer hitch of a vehicle. The portable roof also includes a platform having an anti-slip upper surface and a lift coupled to the trailer and coupled to the platform, the lift configured to raise at least a portion of the platform to an inclined position.

"By using a transportable roof safety training system, a roof safety instructor may quickly and easily transport the system to storm damaged locations to provide roof safety instruction and training on a realistic roof in a less dangerous environment as compared to using a roof on a building."

For more information, see this patent: Pierce, Michael Todd; Jones, Charles E.. Transportable Roof Safety Training Systems and Methods. U.S. Patent Number 9886876, filed July 9, 2015, and published online on February 6, 2018. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=9886876.PN.&OS=PN/9886876RS=PN/9886876

Keywords for this news article include: Business, Risk and Prevention, Pilot Catastrophe Services Inc..

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