Masonry Magazine March 2001 Page. 20
Photo Non-Stop Scaffolding
Photo: Hydro-Mobile
Photo: Hydro Mobile
One of the first frame type adjustable scaffold developed by Justin Briethaupt being used on an apartment complex in Louisiana in early 1976.
Aerial view showing the wide clean platform attainable with the Mast Climbing Platform. Brick and mortar are readily accessible to the bricklayer for more efficient production.
INSIDE OUTSIDE CORNERS BEAN BUILDING
This shows the application of the Mast Climbing Platform on inside and outside corners.
and built a triangular, cross-section, welded truss tower. The whole design of tower-type scaffolding is simple. It involves a carriage that provides a support platform for the masons, a raised platform for their material, and a third platform for mason tenders. The carriage is suspended from the tower and was raised and lowered by the mason tender with a cable winch (see photo 5).
Morgen received a patent for his design in 1950 which was for light commercial, schools and warehouses that were one-story and built with brick and block loadbearing walls. Most were about 12 feet in height, so the first towers were 12 feet tall and had three levels. Material handling was all manual by wheelbarrow with the material stocked by hand. A rope and pulley suspended from an outrigger arm at the top of the tower was used to raise tons of brick and block to the raised platform.
The demand for scaffolding that could go to greater heights led to the development of sectional towers with bases and inserts which could be assembled for much higher walls. American Road Equipment Co. saw the potential in this system and modified one of their farm tractors to raise brick, block and mortar to the working platform. They were one of the first to develop a forward reach forklift, the Econ-mobile (see photo 6). The scaffolding was redesigned with the platform for the tender and material to be combined in a single deck level. The MCAA Material Handling Committee in 1954 was working with the brick and block industry to develop packaged or unitized delivery of materials. This being accomplished made the delivery of materials to masons working on the scaffold much more efficient.
Recently Morgen introduced a new concept: a cableless adjustable scaffolding, using dogs engaging the tower structure, thus eliminating the need for wire rope. An electric drill activates the mechanism which moves the platform at a rate of 12 fpm. The entire unit has been beefed up, which now enables the use of 16 feet wide bays between towers.
FRAME TOWER ADJUSTABLE SCAFFOLDING
In 1970 in Shreveport, LA, mason contractor Justin Breithaupt landed a 40-unit, one-story, brick veneer retirement village and decided to try corner poles to boost his productivity. It was successful. He then began to do larger commercial jobs, so he rented some of the new adjustable scaffolding which advertised a large production increase-and indeed it did. The original adjustable scaffold utilized several braces which were difficult to crank when loaded, and after two jobs Breithaupt's men wanted the frame scaffolding back. He knew the concept was a good one, but decided a different approach had to be made to the towers to give the scaffold more stability.
He made a fresh start. Using the knowledge that he had gained, he designed a frame assembly for the towers to give them more stability. He then put rollers in the carriages so that they wouldn't rust, and used galvanized cables to prevent rust. He made other adjustments to the platform which made it easier to service the bricklayer. Today the tower-type scaffold utilizing the frame or truss tower has become one of the most used scaffolding on masonry projects (see photo 7).
Recently Non-Stop Scaffolding introduced a smaller prototype of his system for use on small commercial and residential work. It is light and can be easily moved around by hand. "We prefer the adjustable tower type scaffolding because we can set it up to fit almost any configuration, in any circumstance which allows us to be produc-
20 MASONRY MARCH, 2001